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  Orlgo was alarmed at first, thinking something was wrong with his new female, but his worries soon dissipated when he saw the lazy smile on her face, and she sighed deeply, “Wow! I needed that!”

  She rose from her seat on the shower floor and shut off the water. When she stepped from the shower, Orlgo had to move quickly backward to avoid her bumping into him. Chloe reached for the clean towel that she’d taken from the steel shelves and dried herself, drying between her legs last. She tossed the towel thoughtlessly onto the cleansing room counter and went into the sleeping chamber of this particular living space. She removed the coverlet from the bed and placed it on the floor; it was dusty, but the pillows and sheets underneath were nice and clean. She slipped between the sheets and before long was sound asleep.

  Orlgo waited until she’d left the cleansing chamber and rushed to the towel she’d discarded, allowed his body to flow over it, and absorbed her most intimate scent from it. His body began to quiver in excitement — she was his host! There was no mistaking her scent, her taste — just enough of which was left on the towel from contact with her body for him to sample. She. Was. His. Host!

  Orlgo watched her sleeping. This was his chance, and he was going to take it. His kind could invade the dreams of any other species. In their natural state, they were invisible, just a shapeless, colorless, though highly intelligent, sentient blob of energy and emotion — but could imitate any form they chose quite easily. They could present themselves as any creature their chosen host dreamed of. This was only part of the reason most species feared them. They could be deadly, though without provocation, rarely were. But in order to become a being that others could interact with, they needed a host. They were semi-parasitic. But not in a bad way. They needed the emotions of their host to survive. They needed the thoughts, the dreams; the interactions of their host ‘fed’ them, kept them alive. Without a host, they’d slowly go insane, wither and die. Other species feared them, thinking they’d invade their host, take over his or her body, and able to replicate any form they fancied, do away with their host and take over their place in life. Nothing could be further from the truth. True, they tended to use their invisibility to infiltrate crowded places — they needed to, crowded places were filled with an array of emotions of varying degrees, and they fed on those emotions — but they never killed their host and took their place; well, hardly ever. Most of his kind just wanted a host to bond with, to become one with. Someone to share their own hopes and dreams with. If one’s host loved them, as they loved their host, there was no sweeter emotion to feed upon. If that host, the one who was meant for only them, was ever found, they would never leave that host. They would shelter, provide for and love their host forever. Their very lives depended on their host; if lost, they’d die a miserable death, mourning their loss. There was no female or male in the world loved more completely and selflessly than one loved by Orlgo’s people. Yet, they were feared and loathed, hunted to extinction — when all they wanted was to love and be loved.

  In her sleep, Chloe turned from her side to her back, her arms splaying out above her head. He laid down on the bed next to her and closed his eyes. He needed to sleep in order to join her dreams. Soon he was in her mind, walking through her imaginings with her. He saw a home full of children. Some were wearing mere scraps for clothing. There were many different species of children here. Ah, he understood, a place for children who had nowhere else to go. He looked around the rooms as her memory moved through them; then suddenly, he spied her. There she was — a tiny little red-haired child, sitting in the corner all alone. Her face defiant, angry that she was made to sit alone in the corner. There were scratches on her arms, but she didn’t seem to care. There was a woman there, wearing a long black dress, with a matching headpiece trimmed in white, trying to clean the scratches, but Chloe kept yanking her arms away, “No! Leave me alone!”

  “Chloe, you must allow me to clean your arms, child,” the woman said.

  “No! I shouldn’t be in time out! I didn’t do anything wrong!” the Chloe child screamed at the woman.

  “You threw the cat over the wall, child. How is that not wrong?” the woman answered.

  “I was saving him! The other kids was hurting him, so I throwed him over the wall, so they couldn’t get to him!” she responded, now in full-fledged tears.

  “That’s not what the other children said. They said you were hurting the cat.”

  “No! They were hurting him. So I fought ‘em. Then I freed him over the wall.”

  “Chloe, you have to stop fighting against everyone.”

  “They make me. They are mean to me. They pretend to be friends, then they aren’t!”

  “Perhaps you should learn to stand on your own a little better. Then you won’t be so disappointed when the others let you down. Learn to stand alone, Chloe. You are strong, smart. You don’t need to depend on anyone.”

  Chloe didn’t answer, but she heard the nun’s words, and for the first time she actually agreed with someone. She didn’t need anyone. She’d learn to fight alone.

  Then the nun spoke to her again, “Allow me to clean those scratches. You'll get a fever from the cat scratching you,” the woman told her.

  “NO!” the child yelled back.

  Finally the woman gave up and left the Chloe child in the corner alone.

  The child thought of the cat she’d saved from torture by the other children, and Orlgo saw the small animal in the child’s mind. Felt the love and concern the child had for the small furry creature, and he knew exactly how he’d introduce himself to his host.

  The next morning Chloe woke, dressed, and went straight to her transport ship to get her things. She spent a little time putting away her clothing, her toiletries, and the projector that contained the few holograms that she carried with her. There weren't many — one of the damned mean cat that she’d saved as a child and one of the nun that had done her best to turn Chloe into any resemblance of a respectable woman. They were the only two creatures she’d ever managed to form a bond with. After she was done moving her things into her new bedroom, she went to the dining hall to have breakfast. She’d rehydrated her meal and was sitting, enjoying her meal when she suddenly went from sitting and daydreaming, to food flying across the table and her standing on it shrieking.

  Chloe stood atop the table, shouting, “NO! It can’t be! There is no way you are still alive, much less way out here! Go! Get away!” at the cat that had leisurely strolled into the dining hall. Orlgo realized his mistake at once. He couldn’t be exactly the same furry creature; she’d know that it was impossible, so he changed slightly his appearance. Elongating his snout, enlarging his eyes, though they remained the same white-crystalline pupils of his own eyes, and he shortened his tail as he ran across the room. Hoping the movement kept her from noticing the changes as they took place. It worked. She watched him go around the room, rubbing on the tables and chairs as he went, ever circling closer to her.

  When he got to her table, he jumped up into her chair and looked at her, waiting for some sign from her. He meowed at her like he’d seen in her dreams, which resulted in a pained expression from her. He tried again — he didn’t know that he sounded more like a broken chain saw than a cat, though he tried hard. He meowed again and reached out a huge, eight-toed paw toward her food, but didn’t quite touch it.

  Chloe watched the cat thing reach toward her food as though asking for some. Her animal lover’s heart melted, “Ohhh, are you hungry? Poor baby, probably had nothing to eat except what you could catch around here. Did they leave you here all alone?”

  Orlgo meowed again and reached a paw toward her food once more. Chloe climbed down from the table and placed the food on the floor. Orlgo jumped down on the floor and ate some of her food. When he was done, he pushed the plate toward her with one paw and waited.

  “Aww, you’re sharing with me. Well, thank you, but I’ve had quite enough,” she told the cat thing. Chloe picked up the plate, took it into the galley
, washed it, and put it away.

  She turned and looked at the cat thing, who sat patiently watching her. He stood, walked over to her and wound his way between her ankles. She watched him, thinking, it’s just like an earth cat, only kinda weird.

  When the cat thing stopped winding between her ankles and sat down, looking up at her, she asked him, “If I pet you, are you going to eat me?”

  Orlgo meowed at her.

  “Hmm, we’ll see. If you bite me, I’m not feeding you anymore,” she grumbled at it.

  Chloe leaned over, hesitantly reaching out to pet the cat thing. When her hand almost touched it, he raised up off his paws, bumping his head into her hand and releasing a loud rumble that resembled a purr.

  Chloe laughed, “Yep! Just like a cat.” She leaned over, petting him fully. The cat loved it and flipped over on his back to allow her to pet his belly.

  “Well, then, I guess you are who I kept feeling watched by yesterday. Nice to meet you, Cat. I’m Chloe.”

  Orlgo stood up and rubbed himself against her ankles again, loving the feel of touching his host.

  “Oh, aren’t you sweet? Okay, well, we’ll be buddies now. I have some things to take care of, so if you want to tag along, you’re welcome to,” Chloe told him.

  She went about the day with Cat on her heels. She checked all the system controls in the control room, she checked on the plants in the hydroponics room. She did a diagnostic of her ship and tried to determine what the problem was, then, she started cleaning the station.

  She spent a week alternately working on her transport ship, insuring that her SOS signal was still going out, checking the scanners in the control room of the sectors of space surrounding them, and cleaning the station. And every single step of the way, Cat was with her. Whenever she’d sit for long enough, he’d jump into her lap and curl up for pets and strokes. And he slept with her, every night. She’d quickly become attached to Cat. Whether she got her transport repaired, or help came for her, she was taking Cat with her when she was finally able to leave.

  After a particularly tiring and frustrating day of working on her transport, she turned over in bed, snuggling the covers closer, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Where are you? It’s bedtime!”

  Sure enough, she heard the patter of paws on the metallic floor as he ran to answer her call. He jumped into her bed, snuggled into her arms and settled down to sleep. Or rather, to watch her sleep, so he could learn even more about her from her dreams. The last few nights she’d dreamed of a male. The best he could tell, the male was a figment of her imagination, no one that she actually knew. But he needed to know more about what the male did for her. She always woke too soon. Tonight he would keep her asleep so that he could see the culmination of her dream, see if he needed to become this male for her. This sleep cycle would change their lives forever.

  Chloe tossed and turned, her covers becoming tangled between her legs. Her body was sweating. She was panting, moaning, and dreaming of a nameless man her imagination had supplied her with. Big, all over. Dark tousled hair that brushed his shoulders, muscled chest and torso, long tanned limbs, full pouty lips, high cheek bones that hinted of Native American ancestry, a straight, perfectly-shaped nose and long black lashes that framed his… white-crystalline pupiled eyes? In her dream she lifted her body to get closer to him to better see his eyes; yep, they looked like shiny white crystals on a bed of black irises — beautiful. He was holding himself above her as he pushed inside her, slowly, methodically, driving her insane in her need to orgasm. His wicked smile, revealing one single dimple in his left cheek, told her he knew the power he held over her, not allowing her to come until he decided it was time. She wrapped her legs around his waist in an effort to pull him closer, and he allowed it. But he still didn’t increase his speed. Then she became even more infuriated when he pulled out of her and slid down her body. It seemed as though he completely stopped touching her, left her. But then he was back, warmer than before, his body heavier, more dense, and she forgave him when he used his mouth and tongue on her. She let out a gasp and arched her hips toward him as he closed his mouth around her, his tongue — his suddenly rough tongue, slipping between her folds to tease her. That was new, she didn't remember his tongue being rough when he kissed her. He sucked her clit into his mouth and flicked it back and forth, the roughness of his tongue sending her to the ceiling with sensation, and she forgot everything but that sensation. He wrapped his arms around her thighs to hold her still; she was writhing all over the bed. As soon as he had her controlled, he intensified his attentions on her, and only moments later the screams of her release were spilling from her sleeping chamber and echoing down the empty hallways of the station she now called home. In her dream he rushed back up her body and plunged inside her, her juices easing his assaulting entrance. Her hips surged up to meet his every thrust, his thrusts pounding her into the mattress, both she and her lover completely lost in one another. She looked up into his eyes and knew without a doubt the love, the devotion, the undying commitment she saw there was true. It was as real as she was. His pounding intensified — as one they tensed, heads thrown back, hands clutching at one another, bodies joined, screaming their pleasure they convulsed in ecstasy, then collapsed into a tangle of arms and legs onto the bed. Chloe’s last thought was how mind blowing it was to be able to feel what her lover felt; it was almost as though they’d joined consciousnesses when they’d orgasmed together. Then… nothing. She slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

  The next morning brought all kinds of changes to her world. For one, Cat was nowhere to be found. Secondly, when she went to the bathroom to relieve herself, she wiped away more than pee. That was weird; yeah, she’d had one hell of a dream, but surely she wouldn’t still be sticky from that. She shrugged, maybe she’d been more turned on than she thought she’d been. A quick run through the shower would take care of it.

  Ten minutes later she was in the dining hall, having called Cat the whole way there. Still, he hadn’t answered. She was really worried about him. He hadn’t left her side since she’d found him, well, he’d found her, and now he was nowhere to be seen. She made her breakfast, his too just in case he showed up, and decided she’d go look for him if he didn’t. Only she never got the chance. As she sat there, eating, wondering where the hell her Cat had gotten off to, she realized that she wasn’t alone. There, standing in the doorway, waiting for her to notice him, was her dream lover. Her heart skipped a beat — she was dumbfounded, speechless. She got up and starting backing away from her table, away from him as he cautiously advanced on her.

  She held her hands out toward him, “Stop! Don’t come any closer!” she cried. She reached for the blaster on her hip. Damn! She’d gotten too comfortable and had left it on the dresser in her sleeping quarters. She darted over to the counter top and snatched a carving knife out of the knife block, wielding it high and in front of herself.

  “I will kill you if you come closer to me! Stay away!” she screamed at him.

  Her lover paused in his approach, looking at her sadly, a plea in his eyes.

  “I don’t know who you are, or how you got in here, but I will kill you,” she threatened. Then she realized on a sob, “It wasn’t a dream was it? It was you! You had no right!” she shouted.

  He opened his mouth, and words that she understood tumbled out, yet they sounded strange, an unusual accent twisting them so, “I am yours. You dreamed of me. Here I am.”

  “No! You made me dream of you, so you could take advantage of me — you had no right!” she accused.

  “But I love you. I need you. Think of it, Chloe, you felt my devotion to you,” he pleaded.

  She did remember, and that freaked her out even more. “Get away from me! I will never forgive you; I thought you were a dream, or you’d never have touched me! Go!” she screamed.

  His face became a mask of pain. He turned and ran from the room, his chest heaving with the pain, with the shame he felt for hurting his host this way, an
d confusion for not understanding what she truly needed. Now he knew, he was not good enough for a host — even with his ability to read her needs, he’d gotten it wrong. And now she’d ordered him away from her.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Chloe flopped into the nearest chair, shock and bewilderment suffusing her. How could this happen? It was not possible. He’d invaded her dreams, then become them. Or had he caused her to dream of him so that she’d welcome him. She didn’t know. But one thing was for sure, she was not alone. Hadn’t been since she’d arrived. She had to return to her transport ship. She couldn’t leave the station, but she could damn well barricade herself in her ship. She left the food on the table, rushed to her sleeping quarters still wielding the knife, grabbed what she could, strapped her blaster to her hip and hightailed it for her transport. A few moments later she stood inside her ship, the hydraulic entry door firmly closed behind her. She dropped onto a passenger bench along the interior wall of her ship and sobbed, this devastating sadness weakening her — and where the hell did it come from? It was as though she was feeling another's sorrow. She wanted Cat — he’d make her feel better. She stood, slid the knife into her belt, drew her blaster, checked the setting, and started to exit the ship with Cat on her mind. Chloe stopped, something niggling at her sub-conscience. It was right there, but she couldn’t grasp it. She thought of Cat, and each time she did, her thoughts would lead her to him, her dream lover, as he turned away from her after she threatened him in the dining hall. His eyes, the sorrow and pain that filled them… That was it! His eyes, the pupils of his eyes were white-crystalline. His eyes were just like Cat’s. It couldn’t be, yet it was! Oh my, Creator — he was Cat! There was no other explanation. Dream lover was Cat!