Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:48:08 -0500
From: Ring Master <academygm@hotmail.com>
Subject: Welcome to the Jungle

Min hacked through the foliage in an attempt to make it back to the ship.
They had been pulled in from orbit just over a week ago while scanning for
the god of healing O'onerut had spoken of.  There were strange gravity
fluctuations on this planet, so keeping orbit would have been impossible
for any ship.  Min even felt them as he walked on the surface.  All of a
sudden, he'd feel much heavier or lighter for a few minutes to an hour or
two.  It would have been an interesting effect to study and play with if
thy weren't all stranded on a jungle planet.

Aboard the ship had been Min, the imprisoned god K'lemut, several hundred
thousand Vaneel, and a few hundred people who had been in varying stages of
becoming Vaneel.  Some of those were better off than others.  A few, like
Min, had been changed completely except for the mind-destroying insect to
end the pain and insanity caused by having one's skin eaten away.  The
humans in that state weren't doing very well.  It was tempting to just give
them the insect and finish the process, just to put them out of their
misery.

The other humans, the ones who only had parts of them changed, had all
chosen to come with Min to search for a cure.  All except one, who had felt
the need to steal a unique teleportation orb to return to Earth.  Min would
have included Cade in the offer to return, if the man had stuck around long
enough to hear it.  Min shook his head.  That was in the past.  The orb was
on Earth, not with him, and wasn't an option for him and his new people.

Min reached the ship, finally - a mile and a half of smoldering black
metal, twisted and broken in a mass of giant trees and bushes.  And heat,
too, apparently.  The humans with him kept remarking on how hot and
stifling the air was.  Vaneel skin didn't feel extremes of temperature that
well.  Nor did it feel pain.  The sense of touch was, however, quite a bit
higher than that of a human.  There was just no need for pain receptors.

Finding one of the tears in the hull, Min knocked on the makeshift door the
humans had placed on it.  It was a special code knock that all of them,
even the Vaneel, used.  No need for wild animals to make homes in their
space if they could help it, they had said.  The door opened and one of the
Vaneel let him in.  They had no names or any way of identifying which one
was which.  At some point, they had to devise a system.  Numbering,
perhaps.

The Vaneel had no minds of their own to speak of, and Min controlled the
bugs, which in turn controlled the bodies.  Neither he nor K'lemut had any
idea why he had gained control of the Vaneel, but once O'onerut was dead,
they lost all of the skills they had had before and now only knew the
skills Min knew.  Luckily, Min wasn't completely useless without his
powers, so the Vaneel could support themselves as well as he could, which
meant growing food, building rudimentary shelters, and more than basic self
defense.

Any skills that the humans aboard knew, that Min didn't already know, he
was learning from them - slowly.  Painfully slow.  He hated not being able
to just copy the skills from their minds like he could have when he had his
powers.  He hated not having access to pretty much all of his godly powers,
though one or two of them wouldn't be missed.  His only power now was his
control of the mindless creatures.  However, that, plus his natural
leadership abilities from being a god, made him captain of the ship, and he
worked hard to maintain the respect and trust of the humans on board.  As
such, he thought it was best to keep his origins to himself and just be an
exceptional human to his crew.  Knowing his divinity, and current lack
thereof, would only dissolve their confidence in him.  No, they needed
someone like them, who kept things under control in the worst of
situations.

He reached the area in the ship that served as his command center.
O'onerut's throne room was still all blackened stone blocks, but it looked
more official than other places on the ship.  "Nessa, report," he said to
his second in command.  She was dark haired and what most men would
consider the height of beauty.  Her neck showed a streak of Vaneel skin
creeping down her left side and into her shirt.  Min knew that her left
shoulder and half of her chest were Vaneel, but the rest of her were human.
She had to stuff the left half of her bra to keep an even appearance due to
the now-missing breast.

Being a god of male fertility and virility, Min had never taken much of an
interest in women.  His job had been to keep men aroused, so he had an
affinity for it.  Women, in his time, had been weaker willed and
subservient for the most part.  The modern women were different.

The Vaneel had only taken those who fought back to protect others, and
nearly a third of the humans on board were women.  Strong women who were
opinionated, not meek ones who lived to take orders.  For these women to
obey, Min had to gain their respect.  They listened to him because they
granted him the right to command them.  He liked these women.  He loved all
men, but he actually liked these women.  That said a lot.

"Nothing, Min," Nessa said.  A worried expression crossed her face.  "The
creatures Luke saw have kept themselves well hidden for several days.  He
and his people are still scouting, though.  Game around here is scarce.
We're going to be hard pressed until the farm starts producing.  How's that
going?"

"Very well," Min replied, "but that's as to be expected.  The Vaneel have
no desire to do anything but their jobs, and they're extremely efficient.
The land that has been cleared so far has already been cultivated and
planted.  If things grow on this planet like I expect them to, we'll have
crops long before our supplies run out."

"Excellent," Nessa replied.  "Luke and his people are also bringing in
fresh food.  No meat yet, but the fruits here are amazing."

"I'll take your word for that," Min said with a chuckle, which Nessa
shared.  The Vaneel didn't eat, so Min didn't either.  The farm they were
building was only going to be enough to support the humans on board.  "How
are Ashe and K'lemut doing with repairs?"

"Slowly," Nessa said.  "She may be technically savvy, but all of this is
alien to her, and K'lemut's having a hard time explaining things to her
without being able to point or touch things."

"Understandable," Min nodded.  That's why they were digging in their heels
and making camp.  There was no way of knowing how long they would be on
this planet, or if they could repair the ship at all.  A lot of the humans
were panicking or becoming depressed.  "How's morale right now?"

"Decent," Nessa replied with a sigh.  "As well as can be expected, really.
Zach keeps reminding them that there's no home for them to return to, since
the women can't survive on Earth, and the men aren't too keen on choosing
between being gay or celibate.  He's also pointing out that the Vaneel bits
are stronger and last longer than our human parts, so what's the rush in
getting rid of them."

"Sounds like he's doing a good job of preparing them for possibly staying
here," Min said with a nod.  It was a good call on his part.  The sooner
the humans accepted the fact that they might never leave, the better life
would be here if they had to stay.

"Well, he still has his hands full with the nearly changed," she reminded
Min.  Min understood.  Those who had gotten most of their bodies changed to
Vaneel had had their minds snapped.  The less one of the humans was
changed, the less insane they were.  Zach was leading the team to calm and
rehabilitate those poor souls.

The four of them, Zach, Ashe, Luke, and Nessa, surprised him at how well
they adapted to this new life.  They are actors, having been taken for
protecting a bunch of kids during a photo shoot in a theme park.  Min had
the suspicion that their closeness to each other gave them a strength of
family that the other humans lacked, and so they were the best leaders.  It
also didn't hurt that the two boys were incredibly attractive to Min.
However, as pleasing to the eyes as they were, it was Nessa that impressed
him the most, and she was his second in command because of it.  She took to
it immediately.

A commotion from the direction of the entrance brought Min's attention back
to the present.  He and Nessa went running and reached the hunting party as
they were finished coming through the nearest entrance.  One of them
spotted Min and went right to him.  "Sir, trouble," he said, out of breath.

"I gathered," Min replied.  "Where's Luke?"

"Captured," he replied.  "Newts have him."  The three words in succession
seemed to take more air than the man currently had the capacity for, and he
fell to the floor panting.

"What newts?" Min asked calmly.

Another of the hunters stepped forward.  This one was completely Vaneel
from the waist down, evident because he didn't need to wear pants.  He also
wasn't out of breath, since the Vaneel legs could run much longer than
human ones, and required less power to do so.  Min knew first hand.  When
he ran, it felt like his legs took over and did the running on their own,
just going where his mind wanted them to.  "Creatures that looked like
newts, sir.  They ambushed us.  We knew we were being followed, but we
didn't know there are so many.  We were lucky they didn't have us flanked,
or we would have never escaped.  Luke stood at the rear and held them off
so we could run, but they got him."

"How big are they and how many were there?" Nessa asked.  Practical to the
end, that girl.

"Not big," the man said.  "Maybe four and a half to five feet tall, but the
buggers flip around and run through the branches like they're nothing.  Our
foot speed is faster, but they're agile as hell.  And there were so many of
them.  There were only five of us and over fifty of them,"

Nessa stopped him.  "Anyone else want to verify that number?" she asked.
Good thinking on her part.  The human mind tended to exaggerate things in
times of stress.  There may have only been twenty or so.

"They were lining the trees," another of the men said.  "And there were at
least fifteen on the ground with us.  I'd say forty to fifty is accurate."
Nessa looked at the other two hunters in turn.  Both of them nodded.  So
now we were working on the assumption that there were about fifty to their
party, and possibly a lot more at their home area.  That didn't bode well.

"We need to go get him," Nessa said.  She had a blind spot where her cast
mates were concerned.

"No, Nessa," Min replied calmly.  A snappy retort wouldn't solve anything,
and wasn't what she needed.  He changed to a more businesslike tone and
continued.  "We don't know where they took him, and we're severely
outnumbered.  Wandering aimlessly into another ambush would be a very bad
idea.  We have to make a plan."

"But they could hurt him," she pleaded.  "You have to have a way to track
him or something, right?  You have control over the Vaneel."

At that moment, there was a tingling where his male parts used to be.  It
made him go weak in the knees and he clutched the wall to keep standing.
It was nearly orgasmic in the feel of it.  When it was fading, he had a
definite direction on where Luke was.

"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered.

Blind hope.  Nessa had needed so badly to believe in Min's abilities, that
she wished a new one into existence.  The was how the gods gained their
powers, and now Min had a brand new one.  He could sense where all the
Vaneel and partial Vaneel were, and had a feeling of what their physical
state was.

When he had changed himself to Vaneel, Min had lost nearly all his powers.
He had no followers, so no humans had any faith in him.  He was effectively
an immortal human with Vaneel skin.  He realized quickly that he still had
the deific ability to understand and speak all languages, but that was it.
He wasn't sure why he had gained power over the Vaneel, but K'lemut had
guessed recently that there may have been a small spark of hive mentality
in the creatures, and that they had the desire for someone to command them.
Min was their choice.  After that, they were content to merely follow
orders once again.

Luke was ok.  Luke had just been brought to orgasm.  "I think I can find
him," Min said.  "Stay here, everyone."  If they knew he could track them,
thy would start believing in his powers and he would slowly gain his
godhood again.  He wasn't ready for that.  They weren't ready for that
either.  Nessa looked to be about to argue.  "No," he told her.  "This is
something I have to do alone.  Besides, I need you to command things and
keep everyone calm while I go get him."

"Yes, Sir," she said with a nod.  Good, Min thought.  That was her second
in command voice.  When she used it, he knew she was acting as bravely as
she possibly could, and would do what had to be done.  Min nodded to the
group and set off into the jungle once again.

Once more while he ran in the direction of Luke, he felt that familiar pull
of sweet release in his nether regions.  The boy had to be getting tired by
now, but that didn't mean that they were ending whatever they were doing to
him.  The closer Min got to Luke, the more he could feel the newts
ministering to Luke's pleasure staff.

Finally, he reached the edge of the trees.  Before him lay a mass of brown
lumps, mounds of mud built up into domes and hollowed out to make huts.  If
min's people hadn't had the ship to take shelter in, they might have had to
rely on something similar.  Between the mounds walked small humanoid
lizards, upright, with a greenish-gray smooth skin that practically gleamed
in the sunlight.  A good number of them had bows or spears.  The only
clothing they wore were belts and straps to carry things.  From what Min
could see, they had no modest bits to cover.

Min circled the village.  He called it that because it seemed to large to
be called just a camp.  On the other side, he spotted the dome he was sure
Luke was being kept in.  There was no sneaking to be done.  The dome was
completely in the open, and in full sunlight.  It was time to do something
these newts wouldn't expect.  He walked in, straight for the dome that held
Luke, like he belonged there.

The young saw him and scattered, alerting his presence to the adults.  He
picked up the pace and walked into the dome's entrance.  Inside, Luke was
strapped to a table, legs apart, completely naked.  One of the newts had a
tube mounted over Luke's manhood, and there was definite movement inside.
Being this close, Min could feel it as if he still had one of his own.
Luke was very much enjoying himself, and Min chuckled.

At the sound of Min's laughter, the newt that was working on Luke looked up
and noticed him for the first time.  He hissed and said something garbled.
Inside his mind, he felt something turning, and finally clicking into
place.

"He will tell us everything he knows when I have finished with him," the
newt said.  He turned up the power on the device.  "This one screams so
nicely when I apply the suction."  On cue, Luke moaned in pleasure.  "He
even bleeds white every once in a while."

Behind Min, several more newts walked in.  "Lord, the prisoner isn't
replying to out best torturer.  I don't know how much more he can take
before we kill him," one of the newts behind him said.  It took him a
moment to realize they had addressed him.  One very helpful piece of wisdom
Min had learned over the years was: if a possibly hostile presence sees you
as superior to them, go with it.  The upper hand is never a bad thing in
these situations.

"He has no secrets," Min said in their language.  It was difficult, but his
ability to communicate in any language was returning.  "This one here is
one of my servants.  We have crashed far in the distance, and require
assistance to repair our vessel."  Min was rather glad Luke couldn't
understand what they were all saying.  He was trying to bring his people to
self reliance, not servitude.  Hearing Min call Luke his servant would not
help matters.

The lead newt tilted its head to the side.  "You are from overseas?" it
asked.  Min nodded.  It was close enough.  "And this one is yours?"  It
tilted its head again, to the other side.  "I do not know of these
creatures.  You have several of them, yes?"

"Several hundred, yes," Min replied.  "Plus a very large number of
warriors."

"Yet you came to us alone and your warriors remain with your ship?" the
newt asked.  Having it put that way, Min was suddenly feeling very foolish.
Just because it turned out that he wasn't in immediate danger from these
beings, didn't mean that it hadn't been a possibility.  Min wasn't in
danger of being hurt, but capture was another story, especially if these
things were as quick as the hunters claimed.

"I was hoping for a peaceful solution, yes," Min said.  "Bringing a hundred
thousand warriors to take back a single slave seemed like overkill."  Show
them you're willing to be reasonable, while still speaking from a base of
power had always been a good tactic.

"You have a hundred thousand warriors on your ship?" the newt asked
incredulously.  "That's not possible!"

"Closer to four hundred thousand, and it's a rather large ship," Min said
offhandedly.  "But rest assured, our business is not in this land at all.
We were passing by and had an accident.  It may take a long time to repair
our ship, but we are prepared to live as peacefully as possible in the
lands surrounding the ship until it is repaired, and then leave."

"What do you consider `as peacefully as possible'?" the lead newt asked.

"We intend to keep to ourselves," Min told him.  "No interaction with
anyone unless they come to us, and only then, they must come in peace.  We
will not become involved in local power struggles, as they do not concern
us."

Min walked over to Luke and removed the straps holding him by taking them
in one hand and jerking them free with minimal effort.  Showing them a
sample of Vaneel strength would have them think twice about attacking.  The
torturer gave a slight intake of breath when Min broke his straps, but the
others just tilted their heads.  Luke stood and went for his clothing to
get dressed.  The newts gave off a strange scent.  Min had an innate sense
that this was severe agitation.  "I will be taking my man home," Min told
them.  "You are upset about something.  What is it?"

"The device your servant was being tortured with," the torturer told him,
"when applied to our tails causes severe pain.  He should be half dazed and
unable to walk right now.  His tail was undergoing severe torture."

Min laughed.  He couldn't help it.  "No he wasn't," Min told him.  "On this
species, that part you referred to as a tail is no such thing.  That is his
reproductive organ."

"On the outside of his body?  Disgusting," the lead newt said.

"Which is why they cover themselves," Min pointed out.  The newts nodded
with sudden understanding.  "That organ derives great pleasure from the
feelings your device produces.  You were not torturing my servant, but
bringing him to the heights of ecstasy.  Over and over again, I might add.
In fact, I think he might be very fond of your torturer now."

The torturer looked a bit greener, while the other newts lifted their chins
a bit.  Min's sense of their body language said that this was amusement.
Luke finished dressing and came back over to Min.  "What's going on?" he
asked in English.  "Why are they letting me go and why can you speak their
language?"

"They're letting you go because they think I'm powerful and that you're my
servant," Min told him.  "Can you act like that until we get out of their
area?"

Luke nodded.  "Of course I can act.  That's my job," he replied with
amusement in his hushed voice.  He was already adopting a submissive
stance, and Min would have pegged him for a slave immediately.  This guy
was good.  The newts were buying it, too.

As they walked toward the door of the dome, the lead newt stopped them.
"We would like to know more about you and your kind," he said.  "Perhaps
some friendly discourse and a treaty or two.  Allies would benefit you
greatly in these lands."

Min thought about it for a moment.  He knew that this would be the first
step in them trying to secure the Vaneel as a force to fight for them for
whatever cause they were fighting.  Min wasn't interested in their wars or
politics, only in leaving the planet.  In that regard, however, they may be
of assistance.  They would know the land and resources much better than
their scouting force could find out.  So be it.  If he had to sleep with
the devil to get off this planet, that's what he had to do.

His people would, of course, have to be told and they would all come up
with a game plan.  Even if he had to play Emperor and his slaves for these
creatures, those slaves would have their say in things behind the scenes.

"Very well," Min replied.  "You may bring a delegation of no more than ten
to the place my servant was picked up, but you must give us three days to
prepare.  On the fourth day from now, we will meet there and talk."  The
newts agreed very quickly to these terms.

On their way out of the newt encampment, Luke asked softly, "you mind
telling me what's going on now?"

"We have to go back and ready the ship," Min replied.  "Company's coming."

***************************************

Author's notes: Considering the feedback I got from my friend Zao, I'm
thinking this story's gonna be a winner.  Also, thanks to Mathias, I have
set up a blog, where I will be posting the stories and chapters as they're
written, possibly even whatever sections I have written, and everyone can
comment there.  I like this idea even more than the usual emailing me,
because you can interact with each other as well.  You all have some
brilliant ideas, and I often wish, while I'm working on my email replies,
that I could get some of you talking to each other.  This might help with
that.

Another purpose of the blog is for me to be able to communicate en masse
with all of you, to give things like storyline ideas, personal history that
pertains to the stories, anecdotes, reasons behind certain stories and
chapters, and much much more.  I'll still be attempting to send the
"current" story or chapter to nifty every Monday, so those of you who are
too shy can still get your Godsend fix.

The big question: who will pop the blog cherry with a real comment (not: "I
popped the cherry", or "First Post", or anything to that effect, but a real
comment on the story)?  If the comment section gets spammed, the blog will
stop.

The blog: http://geocities.com/waterbearer99/blog.html
My email, for those who wish to talk only to me: academygm@hotmail.com