Beetle Juice (19 page)

No,
LadyBug thought.
Flies in the eyes can't be ignored. And I can send thoughts to amplify the pain of the stings. The sloth won't know it's not real damage.

“Well, now,” Tod said. “Let's do it.”

All you have to do is ask them. Speak and they will hear your mind.

“Ants,” Tod said. “Please sting the sloth. I will welcome you back when you're done.” Then, surprised: “I feel their agreement!”

Put your hand to the sloth's nose so they can drop onto it.

Tod reached down close to the sloth, which had come up on the trunk during the dialogue and was ready to strike. Wetzel saw or mentally felt a number of tiny insects drop down. They did not remain on the nose; they scurried across the head, down the neck, and into the body. Where were they going?

Meanwhile the Vanja bat hovered close. It seemed the mosquitoes had no more trouble with her transformations than LadyBug did with Wetzel's. The insects hummed down to surround the furry head.

Veee did not need to reach close. Her flower flies simply flew to the sloth's ugly face.

It did not take long for the sloth to react. It tried to sweep the flies from before its eyes, but they danced about as if flitting from flower to flower and could not be harmed by such sweeps. Meanwhile the mosquitoes found its relatively tender ears, crawling in and feasting. And the ants found another site. Wetzel read its mind and relayed its sensation.

“Ooooo!” Tod exclaimed jubilantly. “They're stinging its ass! And it hurts ten times as much as it should.”

Wetzel laughed, and even Veee had to smile. LadyBug was sending enhancement for all the insects' attacks. The sloth's eyes were blinking rapidly to avoid fancied bites by the flies, which it did not know were not the stinging kind. Its ears were itching madly. And its bottom was burning, especially where it counted. It would have trouble for hours if it wanted to defecate.

Before long it gave up the chase in the interest of scratching its ears and trying to rub its posterior against a branch. It slowly descended the trunk, realizing that the upper reaches of the tree had become uncomfortable.

“We have won,” Tod said. “Now let's collect our bugs.”

Call them back.

They followed the sloth down, collecting bugs as they went. The flower flies and mosquitoes were easy, but the ants had to be picked up from the branches and trunk. All of them helped Tod get them; there were a surprising number, and they did not sting any of the team members. Wetzel got several on his hand and passed them to Tod.

They had, indeed won, thanks to their friends. They had not before fully appreciated the advantages in having insect associates.

The sloth moved on to another tree, satisfied that this one was too awkward to hunt in. The team members returned to their two nests. “Where were we?” Wetzel asked, closing his eyes.

The humanized LadyBug reappeared before him, lovely and gloriously virginal. He held her and kissed her, feeling her delight in being so treated. It was an experience she could have in reality only immediately before her demise, so this had the added thrill of cheating death.

A bed appeared. He guided her to it, laid her on it, and kissed her breasts. This affected her only secondarily, as her species had no breasts; she merely felt his pleasure in the act. Then he entered her, and felt her tense.

“No,” he told her. “My seminal fluid is only a few drops, not remotely approaching your body mass. It will not distend you to the bursting point, even in imagination”

True.
But she remained tense. She simply could not have sex without the expectation of death, though it was what she desired.
Do it.

She wanted to be forced, at least to this extent. Could he do it?

Do it
she repeated urgently.

He did it. He let his climax come upon him, spurting into her. She felt his orgasm and the ejaculate, then relaxed as she confirmed its insignificant volume. She had no orgasm of her own; that would come only as she literally exploded in the course of real mating. She enjoyed his orgasm instead.

Phenomenal!

She had had the experience of sex. Yet she remained virginal. Wetzel continued kissing her, turned on by it.

I love you.

“I love you too, in my fashion,” he said. “The way I can love only a virgin.” That was absolutely true.

Then they sank together into sleep. Veee stayed out of it, though she too had received the broadcast of his orgasm. The two of them agreed that they had not had sex, not even dream sex. LadyBug had been the participant.

The following three days they explored the world of Refuge, alert for dinosaurs, sloths, and quakes, and slept in their tree nests. They had learned how to deal with the multiple threats of this planet and how to use their associated insects to good advantage.

LadyBug became a regular dream lover, her tension dissipating with experience, reveling in the romance she could never have on her own.
All too soon this mission will be finished, one way or another, and we will separate,
she explained.
I will revert to my bug self, without much intellect or power or more than the shadow of a memory of my time with you. I want to make the most of my opportunity.

Veee agreed, and continued to facilitate their vicarious affair. She had strong sympathy for any living thing. That was part of what made her such a good friend, for anyone.

As for Wetzel, he now had his closest approach to his ideal partner, who remained essentially virginal despite having virtual sex. Their relationship surely could not last long, but that virginity compelled and delighted him. He, too, was making the most of his opportunity. If only she wasn't a bug!

On the fourth day they saw the cloud approaching. They were ready. They climbed to the feasible height of the tree, and Vanja as a bat flew up into the fog well before it arrived. She was gone some time, while the cloud kept moving. Had something happened?

Then she reappeared.
Amplify your thoughts!
she thought.
Become beacons so Wizard can locate you. Now!

Her urgency was contagious. Wetzel and LadyBug extended their telepathy, encompassing the others, making their locations mentally clear.

Whoever first finds the chair, grab it.

Then they were floating up from the tree, into the passing cloud. Tod found the hanging chair and grabbed on. Wetzel and Veee rose on up beside the rope. Soon they emerged from the well, first Veee then Wetzel. They scrambled to the ground as the flotation left them. Vanja hovered, watching the well.

Wizard was collapsed in a chair, unconscious, supported by Pinkie. What was wrong with him?

Two girls were winding Tod up in the chair. He appeared, and grabbed the well wall, jumping to the ground. “What happened?” he demanded.

Vanja transformed to human. “Time!” she said. “Four days passed for us. Less than one minute passed here. They thought we were still getting ready to explore Refuge.”

“Under a minute?” Tod repeated. “Time dilation?”

“I don't know what you call it. But that's what happened. It took us a moment to realize. Then I dived right back down to alert you, and Wizard revved up his magic. We had to act immediately, before the portal cloud drifted too far off the mountain.”

“And Wizard is worn out from lifting us,” Veee said, understanding. Now Wetzel saw in her mind how Wizard could lift them magically, but it was a tremendous strain on him. That was why Tod had to grab the chair, relieving Wizard of his weight. Wizard might not have been able to complete the lift for all three at once.

Wetzel had not doubted that Wizard had magic power, but he had not seen this type in action before. This was impressive. He knew from the minds of the others that Wizard would recover in a few days. He had certainly come through when needed.

“Does this ruin Refuge for you?” he asked LadyBug. “It would be very difficult for humans to adapt to, because of the time differential.”

“Which I calculate at a ratio of about ten thousand to one,” Tod said. “Refuge advances ten thousand minutes for one minute here.”

That explained the seeming speedup of Vanja's thoughts when she first went out, and her statement that she had flown for fifteen minutes. She had.

No. We can prosper there.

“Then we have indeed found our haven.”

Tod and Veee nodded. This aspect was a success despite its surprises.

But it was only half of their mission. They still needed to find a male scarab, and a way to get him safely to Refuge. Which could mean tackling the vicious poachers.

They put Wizard on Wetzel's unicorn back, and he carried the man back to Pink Pebble Village. They had three days to wait while Wizard recovered. They were bound to need him at full magical strength for the next stage of their mission.

Pinkie braced them when they got there. “We have cooperated with you and helped you find a suitable refuge for the scarabs,” she said. “Once you get them there, they will leave our vicinity and we will be out of a job.”

“I suppose that is true,” Tod said. “You should still guard the portal, however.”

“We will do that. But our source of wealth will be gone, with no more scarabs coming to us to die.”

“I am not sure what we can do to help in that respect,” Tod said. “As you know, our mission is to save the scarabs from extinction, and this we are bound to do if we can.”

“We are doing you a significant favor by assisting you in your mission. We feel that a return favor is warranted.”

Wetzel began to fathom what she had in mind, but let Tod handle it his own way.

“We have three days to wait until Wizard recovers,” Tod said. “Can we do you that favor in that time?”

“Yes.”

“And what is that favor?” Tod was aware that Pinkie feared he would balk, so was being somewhat diffident.

“We are desperate for male company. Specifically, for the purpose of getting babies. We are in a section of the Amoeba where babies are allowed, as there have not been many recently.”

“So we have gathered,” Tod said carefully. “What do you have in mind?”

“Two men. Six women. One woman a day per man for three days. Attempting to get her pregnant.”

“But such a thing can not be guaranteed! If the woman is not fertile at the moment—”

“We will provide fertile women. We believe that the chances are that three of the six can get pregnant”

Tod looked somewhat helplessly at Veee. “Do it,” Veee said. “It's a fair exchange. We do need their help.”

Tod looked at her shrewdly. “The men guard the access to Scarabia. They will also lose their source of wealth. They may want a similar exchange.”

Vanja laughed. “They can't have it. We're not getting pregnant by any of them.”

But Veee understood his meaning. “We may have to buy access by having sex with six men.”

“If we men have to do it, don't you women too?” Tod asked.

“Damn it!” Veee swore.

Vanja interceded. “I can handle all six, and make them all satisfied. We can make that deal.”

Veee flashed her a grateful glance. “Then it can be done.”

Pinkie smiled with admiration. “We could use you in our village, to make up with the men.”

“How did it go wrong between your two villages?” Tod asked. “I would have thought that you would get along very well, with your common interest in saving the scarabs.”

“It was our fault, really. It seemed to us that all they wanted was free sex, and we refused to be used. Had we been smarter at the outset we would have used sex to handle them, making them amenable to our will. Men are easy to manage, being creatures of a single desire. As it was, balked, they turned ugly, and it worsened from there. Now we can't even approach them without risking rape or worse.”

Tod turned to Vanja. “When you go to RedBrick, why don't you tell them that the women asked you to negotiate a rapprochement? A new start, let bygones go. That you represent just a passing taste of what contrite PinkPebble offers, if they can come to terms? They should be interested.”

Vanja smiled. “Pinkie, tell your girls to hoist up their skirts and sharpen their management skills, because they'll soon have company.”

Pinkie smiled, understanding perfectly. “I will. If you send Red, tell him I'll be expecting him personally. He's a handsome brute.”

Vanja transformed and flew out of the house. Wetzel was sure it wouldn't be that easy, but it was certainly a start.

Pinkie reoriented on Tod. “You're a savvy leader. You have the touch. Can you handle a virgin?”

“Handle?”

“You turned down Pisa before. Remember the bee girl? She's ripe, and I think you can't deny her again.”

“You can't,” Veee agreed. Given her leave, Tod could not refuse. He nodded.

Pinkie turned to Wetzel. “Petula is a friend of Paige, and her wasps won't bother you. You should find her compatible.”

“I can handle her,” Wetzel agreed.

“I will tend to Wizard,” Veee said. “While the rest of you are busy.”

Pinkie led the two men outside. The two young women with the bees and the wasps were there. It seemed that Pinkie was no slouch as a leader herself.

Pisa took Tod's hand. “You may have to be firm with me, the first time. But you have to understand that I really do want this.” She led him away. She had evidently learned something from her experience with Wetzel.

That left Petula, a sultry black-haired wench. “I'm different from Paige. I want the illusion of romance. I want to be cuddled and stroked and kissed and savored. What do you want?”

“The same,” Wetzel said, smiling.

She led him to her comfortable apartment. “Would you like anything to eat?”

He read her mind, and saw that she was trying to put him at ease, thinking he wasn't. She knew this deal had been forged for reasons that had little to do with actual romance, but nevertheless preferred the illusion. She wanted pleasant interaction before they got to the point.