Dina’s dreams turned into nightmares as something loomed over her. In her half-woken state, she started to imagine it was some beast like a rabid tiger. As she rapidly woke up, reality replaced the fantastic tiger with something far worse, Lumme.

She could almost feel the thick, wedge-like fingers reaching her. She all too well the spiked cock that was growing harder with every second. It was only a matter of seconds before she was being torn apart on the cruel cock and raped almost to death.

Her breath quickened and she felt it dancing over her arm. She was on her side, face toward the back of the bench and her ass sticking out over the edge. Unwillingly, she tensed her buttocks in fear that Lumme would decide to rape the exposed opening, a feat that would no doubt slaughter her.

When she found herself wishing to be killed, guilt slammed into her. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for the brutality to begin.

A warm breath tickled her ear. “Wake up, Dina,” hummed Harmmon next to her. The low vibration shook Dina’s body.

Dina gasped. She turned, her lips were centimeters away from the female alien’s. "Har—”

Harmmon clamped her thick hand over Dina’s mouth. Her bright orange eyes almost glowed in the dim light. She leaned forward until her lips caressed Dina’s ear. "Come,” she hummed, the sound felt more than heard.

Confused, Dina stared at her.

"Come, I need help. Quiet. Discrete. Dina help?”

Her brow furrowing, Dina nodded. "Yes,” she hummed back.

Harmmon stepped back as Dina got to her feet. Reaching out, the alien held out her hand. "Dina quiet. Dina follow.”

Trembling, Dina took Harmmon’s hand and let herself be led out of her cell. After her previous sprint to grab her tablet, crossing over the threshold had the same intense feeling of vulnerability. Her half-forgotten nightmares of Lumme rose up and she stared down the hall in fear that he would be standing at the end, ready to torture her.

Body tensing, she glanced at the others cells. If one of the other victims raised their voices, both of them could be in trouble.

Most of the naked women were sleeping, curled up in tight fetal positions as they cupped and protected their ruined bodies. She could see bloody fingers and hear the soft cries. Others were awake, their eyes glittering as they watched her but they remained silent.

Her heart almost stopped when she saw their gazes, but then she realized the looks were dead and broken. These were women who hated her but they were also shattered by their surgeries and their obvious futures. Each one of them would spend the rest of their short lives being raped and tortured. They would suffer nothing but pain and agony until they died.

She looked away, the guilt gnawing at her. Unwilling to look back, she followed after Harmmon as the alien lead her down the hallway.

Dina had no clue why Harmmon wanted her. The alien didn’t give any hint to the specifics.

Then a flash rose in her thoughts. Harmmon had pleasured herself while Dina masturbated. The alien was obviously interested in her, what if she wanted more that night? What if the alien wanted to use her also? Was if this was something far more carnal?

A blush crossed her cheeks. She felt humiliated and nervous.

They approached the room where Lumme had raped Dina. The tension in her shoulders ratcheted up as a heat fluttered inside her.

Would Harmmon be gentle? With the strong hands, fingers capable of snapping bone, touch her like a lover or use her like Lumme did?

Harmmon drew her past the door.

The warm feelings faded into a burn with humiliation. Harmmon liked her too much to abuse her like the others.

When the female alien stopped in front of the surgery door, Dina’s humiliation turned into confusion.

"Harmmon? Here?”

"Dina wait here. Be quiet, do not make noise. Do not touch. Please?”

There was an insistence to Harmmon’s hum. Her quills were flattened against her back but they were tense, quivering with soft rasps and rustling. Dina looked into her orange eyes and felt something worrying.

Without another hum, she nodded and slipped inside.

To her surprise, the various devices inside the surgery were active and prepared for surgery. Lights and displays flashed on both the auto-surgery and the chemical vat.

Harmmon closed the door behind her.

Dina looked back at the door and shivered. It felt ominous. Wrapping her arms around her waist, she rested her fingertips on her breast as she padded around the room.

The soft beeps and pulses followed her as she went from one station to the other. After a few minutes of being uncomfortable, she drifted over to the auto-surgery. She half expected to see a program for altering her further. Instead, it looked like Harmmon had activated the critical care program. Flashing red lights implored the reader to place the victim on the bed with various warnings about effects of oxygen deprivation on long-term survival.

The liquid vat, boiling with activated chemicals, was also ready to run a program. This one she had more trouble understanding with her level of education, but she could tell it was a gene-altering program related to resistances of acid; she guessed it was the same program used to give her the ability to survive the alien’s atmosphere.

A small counter on the program menu told her that the same program had been used forty times in a row. Once they found a way, the used it.

The two programs worried her. She already had been altered to survive. She also wasn’t critically injuries.

A shiver of fear rippled down her spine.

It wasn’t for her. It was for someone else. Someone who Harmmon needed help with but couldn’t get it from the other aliens.

The door opened and she jumped.

Harmmon rushed into the room, pushing a laundry cart in front of her. The hard-sides of the cart were dripping something on the ground. "Dina!”

The door snapped closed behind Harmmon.

Dina froze, unsure of what to do.

Harmmon sighed and flung the top over. "We don’t have much time, he can’t breathe.”

"Him?” The world spun around her for a moment. Then she rushed forward.

The laundry cart was filled with a thick, blue-tinted fluid. It smelled of flowers and chemicals: hand soap. There was something in the bottom, a vague shape, humanoid.

She knew who it was, there was only one person. “K-Korin?”

Harmmon made an agreeing noise and plunged her hands into the soap. It poured off the sides as she grabbed Korin and pulled his naked body out of the liquid. Streamers of soap poured off his scarred body as she hoisted him across the room and tossed him into the gene-splicing vat.

As the liquid thinned the soap, she saw the deep wounds, blood flecking his lips, and the glaze look in his eyes. He looked almost like the victims she saw in the hallway.

With a sob rising in her throat, she rushed over to the auto-surgery. Hitting the activate button, she watched as the metal arms and tentacles sprung to life. They plunged into the vat and started to manipulate his body, scanning and poking as they did.

A diagnostics display flashed on the screen. Behind it, a list of injuries and warnings scrolled past. She didn’t know much of the words but “internal hemorrhaging” and “blunt force trauma” were not good words to see.

Then other displays came into play: heart and pulse, various levels in the blood. When she saw his heart beating and his brain working, she let out a loud sigh of relief. Tears burned in her eyes as she realized her husband wasn’t dead.

She gulped and fought the tears.

"Dina, what does it say?”

“I… I… "It’s bad.”

Harmmon came over, her powerful body looming over Dina. "I cannot read this fast enough to save him. What do we do?”

Dina gulped and read the displays. There were a lot of them and she didn’t understand, but the auto-surgery was designed to be operated in combat conditions. She pressed the largest flashing button.

The surgery began to operate, indicators showing the progress as it tried to heal her husband.

Dina stepped back. She only made it a step before she thudded against Harmmon’s chest. She turned into it and buried her face into the warm but hard flesh. A sob rose up as she forced herself not to look at either the controls or her husband.

Harmmon wrapped her arms around, a few quills scraping against Dina’s skin before they were tilted away. Powerful muscles squeezed down to a comforting pressure.

"Thank you, Harmmon.”

"Dina needs Korin.”

“I-I… I need you too.”

"I’m sorry. I cannot say anything else. I’m sorry.”

They held each other, Dina quietly sobbing into Harmmon’s chest. The auto-surgery and vat made various beeps, trills, and warnings. Slowly, the flashing danger indicators faded into amber and then green before fading away.

It felt like hours before the medical device made a chime and pulled away.

Dina peeled her face away from Harmmon and looked over. Korin was still in the vat, his eyes opened as he breathed in the colored liquid. There was a faint shimmer along his body.

Seeing his scars and injuries broke his heart. She knew his body intimately but what she saw was like looking at a stranger. The best way was to say he was harder than before. Years of living on the space stations gave him a softness but the countless gladiator fights had left him hard and wiry. He looked dangerous and powerful.

Her body grew hotter looking at him. It was an intense attraction, a rush of liquid heat boiling inside her.

She never thought she would like men with hard bodies, but seeing her husband brought something deep inside her to the fore.

Harmmon chuckled.

Dina looked up, a flush on her cheeks. "What?”

"You look happy.”

She didn’t know what to say. Clearing her throat, she hummed, "Where did you find him?”

"He was in the gladiator quarters, they were going to let him die before his next fight.” Harmmon’s quills shook. "I couldn’t let him, so I hid him in the soap until I could get him here without being seen.”

Dina’s mouth opened with surprise. "W-Why?”

Harmmon smiled. "For Dina.”

Dina sniffed. She started to say something but then Korin’s hand broke the surface of the vat. She spun around and stopped. Seeing that the gene-alteration was completed, she rushed over and took his hand. “Korin!”

Together, they helped him sit up in the vat. As the liquid cleared his face, Korin looked around in confusion. For a moment, he stared at Dina without comprehension. Then it blossomed across his face. “D-Dina?”

Crying happily, she hugged him tightly. “Korin!”

His arms wrapped around her, dripping with fluids but tight. They held each other.

He burned his face in her neck. “I didn’t think I would see you again.”

“Oh, love. I missed you so much.”

They kissed, the sharp taste not even ruining the moment as the two lovers met each other. They just hugged and touched. He stroked her face, staring at her as if he had lost her.

He had. She did the same, her fingers trailing over his body in fear that he would disappear in a moments notice.

Harmmon leaned in. "I’m sorry, but I must return him.”

Dina clutched Korin tightly. “What? No, I can’t lose him.”

Korin tensed, his body tightening as he stared at the orange alien. “Dina?”

“Oh, this is Harmmon. Harmmon, Korin. Korin, Harmmon.”

"Korin.”

Korin didn’t say anything.

Dina held him tightly as she addressed the alien. "Why do you have to return him?”

"I stole him. If they find him here, the three of us will be killed. He has to be returned before the day light.”

“I… I can’t lose him.”

“She’s right.”

Dina jumped and looked over at him.

Korin smiled and her heart almost broke at the familiarity to it. “I picked up a few words. I can’t speak it like you but she’s right. Escape prisoners are tortured right on front of us, it wasn’t pretty.”

“W-What will I do?”

Korin held her tightly. “Survive. Do whatever you can. If I have a chance, I’ll save you. I have to.”

She sniffed and smiled at him. “I… let’s save each other.’

He nodded. “I’m sorry, love. My beautiful, beautiful love. This marriage didn’t start off well but, I promise, I will do anything I can to make it right.”

Korin looked at Harmmon. “Will you help her?”

"Yes.”

He crawled out of the vat. His naked body looked perfect for Dina, the right size and fit. He was her lover, her passion. Turning to Dina, he held her hands for a moment and then pulled her into a tight hug. “I miss you so much.”

Tears in her eyes, Dina kissed him. “Don’t die, please don’t die.”

“I won’t.”

“You better.”

After a few moments of kissing, he pulled away. Looking around, he grinned and grabbed a few things from the shelves. He didn’t have anywhere to put them, so he tossed them into a cloth bag.

Harmmon gestured to the soap-filled cart. There was a massive puddle of liquid that had leaked out underneath it and the level was no longer high enough to cover him. It didn’t matter, though. He wasn’t affected by the acidic air.

“Well, I’ve been in worse.” He crawled into the cart. Leaning over it, he kissed Dina one last time. “I’ll be back.”

Dina felt another sob rising up in her throat. She wiped her eyes and tried to keep her wits.

With sickening dread, he watched as Harmmon pushed her husband out of the room. She didn’t know if she would see either of them again, she didn’t know if there would be anything other than rape or torture in her life.

But there was hope. The smallest shred of hope.

With a faint smile, she turned off the machines and slipped out of the room. She could probably make it back to cell before anyone caught her.