Symbiosis

In the heart of the lab, a team of scientists has just received a signal from the globular star cluster M4 that contained a copy of their own signal they sent in that direction 33 years ago. At first, they had difficulty decompressing the data stream, as it was found to have been sent at speeds faster than light, an as-of-yet unknown technology. In Star Trek, it would be the equivalent of subspace. After finally decompressing the data, what they saw was the single biggest moment that mankind has been waiting for.

"It appears to be a most intelligent species indeed. Not only have they sent a signal back at speeds we have yet to achieve, but they have apparently already achieved a basic grasp of our English language," said David Stromberg, a specialist in communications and signal manipulation.

The head of the research team, Dr. Kenneth Baker, leaned into the screen to closely study the images that came with the message. What he saw was not only their own map of the human body, but a new and highly detailed 3D map of what appeared to be not one, but two different species. One looked surprisingly human-like, but its skin color was a dark green and the physical appearance seemed remarkably like that of a caveman, but without the unibrow. And what looked like skin was actually very fine and small scales that lined its body from head to toe.

The other was completely different. It was much smaller and shaped. It was described as a foot in width and ten inches in length. It appeared to have an exoskeleton over what was presumed to be its back. Upon rotating the image, it showed a rather soft underside that had short and thin fiber strands that protruded out from under it. He wasn't sure what purpose they served. It didn't appear to have any known eyes or ears.

"Will you be patient?!" Ken said shortly, obviously upset at the interruption of his thoughts.

Received signal. Would like to meet. Sending a representative to make contact at the source. Will send signal when reach Earth,' it said.

"I'm still decompressing the signal. But I have just found what appears to be an image of their home planet," Dave said.

Dave tapped some controls on his console and the screen switched to an image of a stunningly beautiful planet that looked remarkably like Earth itself. The only difference was there wasn't as much land mass covering the planet, and what was assumed to be the water had a green hue to it. The other scientists looked at it in awe as the image switched to the most technologically advanced metropolis they have ever seen. It looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. There were monorails, skyscrapers of an advanced design, and air vehicles traveling all over the place. A closer look showed what appeared to be the humanoid people walking along on the ground back and forth, like in the streets of New York.

Ken leaned back and turned around to face everyone. "Well everyone, it seems big congratulations are in order. It appears the human race will finally make First Contact. This will go down in history as the single greatest discovery ever made. And to celebrate, I'm going to throw us a party tomorrow night. But don't forget that we have a lot of work ahead of us."

He gestured to the screen. "This is only the beginning. We need to fully analyze and study the information that has been sent to us. I must contact the President and make him aware of this. Remember, though we have been waiting many years for this day, we cannot automatically assume they will be friendly. Preparations must be made."

He turned back to face the screen which was cycling between the images of the two species, the planet, and the city.

The weather was a bit warmer than before and the sky was once again clear. It was midday and the sun was shining. At the S.E.T.I. institution, activity was abundant. The rest of the facility staff had received only essential word of the news, but the details were being kept under wraps. In the main lobby and display galleries, people who take an active interest in things extraterrestrial visit to read the many facts about the worlds beyond Earth. It's kinda of like a small museum. Since the staff has been strictly ordered not to release information about the recent discovery to the public yet, no one is aware of what is going on behind the closed doors. At the service desk, a secretary named Samantha O'Reilly, or Sam as she likes to be called, is taking a moment from her paperwork to watch the people enjoying themselves. She is 35 years old, but because she takes such good care of herself, she looks like she's in her mid-twenties. She's 5'4", 125 lbs, long red hair, which she keeps in a bun when she works, and gorgeous green eyes. She's married to an automotive technician named Kevin O'Reilly and has a daughter named Virginia. For all intents and purposes, Sam has everything anyone could want. She has always been into sci-fi movies and it was her passion for what's out there that pushed her to pursue this job. But being a secretary obviously isn't enough for her. She hopes to eventually work her way up and become part of the actual research team that actively scans the stars in hopes she can make discoveries of her own.

Unfortunately, the one thing that she wishes would change was her role as secretary. While she has all the necessary knowledge to answer most questions about what SETI does and the constellations, she's not taken very seriously by the rest of the staff and is typically the last person to hear of any pertinent news. In fact she only just found out about the recent extraterrestrial discovery from overhearing two of the scientists talking about it on their way out. She's a nice combination of beauty and brains.

A young boy walks up to her, "Excuse me. But is it true that you get to communicate with aliens?"

Sam smiles as she leans on her desk, "Well yes, we try to. But space is very big and we haven't actually talked to any yet."

The boy smirks. "Is it true that aliens abduct people and perform weird experiments on them?"

Sam feels a bit awkward at the question, but begins to answer when the boy's mother walks up and grabs the boy by the arm and scolds him. "Hey, what did I tell you about wandering off like that?!"

The mother walks off with her son as Sam returns to her paperwork. She wonders what the discovery is about, but knows that the staff here is a lot like the government. There are various levels of clearance one must have, and all that good stuff. She knows that until the whole experience has been pretty much milked for all it's worth, it won't get past those sealed doors where the real excitement takes place. And so she is left with her work as the day continues.

Later in the afternoon, Sam finally gets off work. She always looks forward to coming home to her husband of fifteen years and her daughter of thirteen years. Kevin was off that day so he watched over Virginia. Unlike many girls her age, Virginia was quite well-behaved and had a fondness for reading fiction. She has a sort of spacey personality about her and, despite her good grasp of common sense, she can be a bit naive at times. And while she has a few friends at school, many of the other girls tend to avoid her because she is so different. Until now, she has never been interested in having a boyfriend. She was quite content with hanging out with her friends at the mall and the movies.

As Sam walked in the door, Virginia, who was sitting on the couch, looked up from her book and smiled.

Virginia was used to her Mom's sarcasm and witty sense of humor so she didn't react awkwardly to any of this.

Sam hung up her coat and took off her shoes. "You could say that. Of course I don't know any details, but from what I am gathering, they finally made contact with someone from another world."

Virgina sprung off the couch, ran over, and gave her Mom a hug. "That's great! I hope they're friendly and not some invaders," she said excitedly.

"Yeah, me too. Well go ahead and get back to your book. I'm going to see how your Dad is doing," Sam said.

Virginia went back to the couch without another word and resumed reading her book. Sam went upstairs to find Kevin on his computer checking his email. As She walked in Kevin got up to greet her at the doorway.

"Well hell, my Wife," he said as they kissed passionately. Kevin and Sam prided themselves on having the ideal marriage many other couples couldn't seem to grasp. Even though they've been married for fifteen years, they still like to refer to each other affectionately as Husband and Wife. It keeps the affection alive and well.

Sam took in Kevin's appearance. Normally, he comes home looking dirty from the dirt and oil he gets on him; but now, he's clean. He is 5'11", 180 lbs, has a fit and mildly muscular build, is 38 years old, and keeps his hair short. He typically sports a goatee, but sometimes he'll shave it. As well as being an auto mechanic, he's also exceptionally skilled with computers and was even once a hacker back in the day. Though he gave that up for the most part since he started a family with Sam, he can still find out things within government agencies that most people can't, even without hacking. He still keeps a special laptop that he keeps updated with the latest special hacking software that he can use just in case; some of it he programmed himself. He keeps it securely locked, with a very tricky encryption algorithm, in case it somehow got stolen.

"I prepared dinner downstairs. I was actually just finishing up here with my email to come down and eat. You ready yourself?" he asked.

"You bet! I'm starved!" she said as she kissed him and walked out of the room and headed downstairs. Kevin closed out and shut off the computer and went downstairs himself.

As Sam got to the bottom of the stairs, she glanced over at Virginia. "Let's go sweetie, dinner's ready."

"Coming Mom," she said. She book-marked her place and got up to join them as Kevin came down and walked by. Kevin had the plates already set out as he grabbed the dinner - spaghetti and meatballs for himself and Virginia, and ramen with vegemeatballs and spinach and carrots for Sam - and served it. Sam was a vegetarian and preferred to eat leafy greens a lot. But she would sometimes indulge in the vegetarian versions of the many meats others ate. They immediately began to eat as Kevin sat down to join them.

It was late in the evening, anticipation was in the air, and the government had taken an active role in the meeting of the alien species. An event of this magnitude hadn't happened since Roswell, New Mexico; something that has, to this day, been kept from being completely released. They knew that if this got out, there would be mass chaos. People would either be terrified, excited, or hostile about the notion of an alien civilization coming to Earth. They had to be certain they didn't pose a threat. And, like Roswell, it would be kept under the tightest security. Everyone not directly involved in the project who worked at S.E.T.I. was under strict orders from the CEO of operations not to discuss anything regarding "the discovery" to anyone, including their families. Anyone found to be doing so would be arrested.

Sam was working a late shift that evening when this news got to her. Naturally she was worried; she had told her daughter about it and didn't think to swear her to secrecy. If Virginia told anyone at school, it would lead back to her and her career would be over. She waited until the officer who delivered the message was out of sight and got on her cell phone and called home. When Virginia picked up, she told her not to discuss the discovery she had told her about with anyone. She agreed and asked why. Sam told her what she was warned about and Virginia understood fast; she promised not to tell anyone. With that said, Sam was relieved she got to Virginia in time and went back to her duties. She really wished she could see the meeting herself. It really frustrated her to no end. She let out a sigh and feverishly pressed on with her work, as she had much to do before she left.

In the science lab, computer monitors were lit up everywhere. An attache from the military arrived.

"Major Blake Newman. I'm here under orders from the President himself to provide military backup just in case this project goes south," Blake told him in a southern accent.

Dr. Baker already didn't like this man. He knew that the government would be involved, but to this extent was a bit excessive in his opinion. Nevertheless, he agreed to go along with Newman's presence...for the time being.

One of the monitors flashed a warning. It was coming from Dr. David Stromberg's station.

"Sir, if these readings are correct, it looks to be...wait a minute. It...sir, it's them! We're getting a signal, text only!" David said excitedly.

'Greetings. We are here to establish relations. Please, allow permission to land.' it said.

Blake chimed in. "Send a message in the same way telling...it that permission is granted."

"No, open a channel. We've already established that they have no apparent eyes."

Blake eyed Kenneth with anger for that action, "You need to watch yourself. Do not countermand my orders again without consulting with me about it."

After a tense moment, Blake finally gave David the nod to go ahead.

Kenneth turned to Blake, seeing the sullen anger in his eyes. He got a personal satisfaction out of pushing his buttons. "Your show, Major."

Blake eyed Kenneth once more. He knew he was intentionally pushing him. He would have a talk with him afterwards about this.

"This is Major Blake Newman. I am authorized to tell you that you have permission to land. There is a pad waiting for you on the top of this building. Do you understand?" he asked.

Kenneth spoke up, as the channel was still open. "Where is your spacecraft? Our radar isn't picking it up."

Another few moments: 'We use a special cloaking technology that shields us from detection. I scanned several satellites in orbit over various continents. I assume you didn't want the whole world to know about this contact yet.'

"Your assumption is correct. There is a pad waiting for you on the top of this building where you can land. Do you understand?" he asked.

A shimmer of light appeared as two objects materialized in the middle of the lab. Everyone was on their feet trying to get a good look at what seemed to be small round pods. Newman had his gun drawn an aimed at them, expecting some kind of hostile act. But nothing happened.

"For God sake Major, put that away! You really want their first impression of us to be that we shoot anything we don't understand?" Kenneth yelled.

But Blake didn't move. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it you who advised caution in case they aren't friendly? I read your reports, by the way."

"Yeah, well, I have a gut feeling such caution should not be necessary," Kenneth said.

"Let's see it," Kenneth said. Blake finally put his gun away, but kept a close watch on the pods.

"Are you communicating from your pods sitting there and not from your spaceship?" Kenneth asked.

'That is correct. As for our spaceship, it is already on course back to our home planet.'

Kenneth was shocked by this. "Now wait a minute! You're telling us that you're staying, just like that?"

There was another pause. 'If we are to establish the relations that you seek, our presence is required for the unforeseeable future', the text read. 'However, if you do not wish to establish relations, then we will regretfully summon our ship back to retrieve us. But if we do, we cannot return here ever again.'

'It is difficult to communicate in this primitive manner. Please place these pods on an elevated surface.'

Kenneth turned to the pods, which were sitting there quiet and unmoving. He slowly walked over to them and leaned down to pick one up. All the while, Blake was watching very closely, his hand on his holstered side-arm ready to spring into action.

Surprisingly, the pod wasn't as heavy as Kenneth anticipated. He carried it to the table, set it down, and did the same with the other pod. After both were on the table, they opened up. What the assembled scientists saw was unlike anything they had ever seen before. It was the second species from the alien's communication. They had these outstretched fibers that seemed to be hooked into various parts of the interior of the pod, as if they were a part of it. As in the communication image, they looked completely alien. Kenneth felt at ease for some unknown reason. It was as if his close proximity to them allowed him to feel their intentions. At that moment, suddenly it all made sense.

There was no apparent movement from them, but the screen behind them did display another set of words. 'In a manner of speaking. But our true means of communication can only be established by bonding with you.'

Blake was tense at the suggestion. Even Kenneth was taken aback at this, but this was his dream. This was his hard work finally coming to fruition and he wasn't going to stop here; not now.

'I must apologize. I'm afraid I should have explained ourselves better. You see our survival is dependent on a symbiotic relationship with another life form. A special medical procedure is required back home just to allow us to exist independently for long periods of time. But we cannot use our true potential this way. We prefer bipedal species but, any of your relative size is usually sufficient.'

Kenneth asked what everyone was thinking. "And how is such a relationship symbiotic. How would we... would I benefit?"

'All of this can be made clear if you will trust me. Otherwise, we'll be on our way. We can't remain separated from a host like this for much longer.'

"Perhaps it's better then if you two left. If you can't explain..." Blake began to say, but Dr. Baker, after some quick thinking and deciding, interrupted.

Blake pulled his gun and pointed it at Kenneth. "Now understand Dr. Baker, you are interfering with military procedure. I could have you removed!"

But Kenneth, undeterred by the show of force, looked at Blake determined. "And you need to realize that this is my operation. If it seems like there's a clear danger, then you can step in. But until then, these creatures are to be treated with respect and courtesy! So put that gun away, Major!"

Blake put his gun away, but kept his gaze focused. "You've got some serious guts challenging my authority like this. Very well. But if either of them so much as moves the wrong way, they will be met with due force."

Kenneth turned around and saw that one of the creatures had detached all of its fibers from the interior of the pod. David called out, "Sir, there's one more message."

'Please don't be alarmed. You will feel momentary pain as I bond with you, but it will quickly pass.'

As Kenneth turned back around, facing the pods, the creature sprang out from the pod at his chest. Blake pulled his gun and aimed it at the creature, ready to shoot. Kenneth at first went to reach for the creature as it made its way around to his back, but stopped himself. When the creature had reached his back at the base of his skull, it inserted its fibers into his skin. Kenneth flinched with pain as the fibers weaved themselves into his spinal column and embedded into his nervous system with the main fiber attaching to his brain stem. After the bonding was complete, the pain quickly subsided.

Blake had his gun aimed at the creature, which seemed a lot smaller without the fibers visible. It flattened itself against Kenneth's neck so it wasn't easily noticeable to the untrained eye, its color changing to match his skin color, looking like a mere protrusion from his neck. Kenneth turned around and looked at Blake again.

Kenneth's face turned into a slow smile. "Yes, she. This one is female. The other one still in the pod is male. She has allowed me access to her basic memories. These creatures are definitely telepathic. She is communicating with me through telepathy within my own brain. They prefer to let us talk our own way, sharing what they want to say this way. These creatures are referred to as the Amazoa. They are symbiotes with life spans of hundreds of years, spanning many generations. They are a peaceful species, gathering knowledge from the various alien civilizations they share their presence with. There are thousands of them scattered all over the Universe with several inhabiting a planet with a sentient species. After establishing contact with them, they bond with the native inhabitants and essentially live through their eyes, learning about their way of life, expanding their knowledge of the Universe collectively. This is essentially how they live. They have no independent ability to exist on their own on a permanent basis."

Despite sounding normal, though in a calmer manner, Kenneth didn't quite seem like his usual self.

"I feel... good. I can't quite explain it. It's like possessing a higher consciousness. These creatures have several lifetimes worth of memories. But that's not what our benefit is in this symbiotic relationship. You see, they live off the fat stored in our bodies as well as some of the nutrients from the foods we eat. This sustains them, which in turn lets them produce a sort of serum into our bodies that... optimizes it," he said.

Kenneth, who still felt disdain towards Blake, despite his newfound feelings, responded: "It means that even as we speak, my excess body fat is being consumed and the creature is injecting a serum into my body that is, in essence, making it healthier... stronger. My immune system is being given a major boost of power that will make me highly resistant to even the most deadly viruses and bacteria. She doesn't know exactly how long it will be before my body is optimized. But once it is, I'll essentially be constantly at my healthiest. This also means my lifespan will become much longer, possibly by decades."

"I think we can agree that you submit to an examination of this symbiosis that you two share," Blake said.

David started to object, but Kenneth held up his hand to stop him. "It's OK, David. He doesn't believe me when I say that I'm fine. I guess this will ultimately prove that I'm telling the truth. But first, the other will need a host soon."

But Blake stepped in. "No! I stood back while you allowed this to happen. There will be no more experiments until you submit to a thorough examination."

David looked at Kenneth. "If what you say is true, I would welcome that. I mean, who wouldn't want to be perfectly healthy?"

Kenneth smiled as he turned back to Blake. "Fine. The other creature can wait for a little while longer. But he must bond with Dr. Stromberg as soon as this examination is over, OK?"

Blake looked at the pod containing the other creature. From the start, he was suspicious of their motives. Even now, he thought that they must have some ulterior motives and he would find out what they were, one way or another.

It took an hour. But after performing every known test available, Dr. Edward Holland, the head physician of the SETI institute, emerged from the examination room.

They went inside. The room had a line of examination beds and a large monitor on the wall. Various instruments lined the room. Ken lay on one of the beds. His expression was unusually calm; it was like very little could bother him.

Dr. Holland tapped a control which caused the screen to display an image of Ken's physiology.

"This is amazing. Not only is he in better health, but it's continuing to improve. The creature's neural fibers have formed an interconnecting link to Ken's entire nervous system, as well as his brain stem. As I was monitoring the interaction, I saw that the creature..." Edward was saying but Ken interrupted.

Blake looked at Ken with even more suspicion as Edward continued. "Right then, Sal, was actually feeding off of Ken's fat stores. But not as a parasite. On the contrary, Sal is leaving all necessary nutrients for Ken's body to absorb as she absorbs all else that our bodies would consider... miscellaneous."

"Anyway, as Sal consumes the miscellaneous fat and other nutrients, she puts out some sort of serum that quickly makes its way throughout the bloodstream and enhances Ken's immune system several fold. In theory, if he had, say, HIV, his immune system would actually be able to detect and eradicate it all on its own. But that's not all it does. It's acting like the type of steroids that bodybuilders use. In other words, his muscles are beginning to strengthen and increase in size. To what extent, I don't know. But even now, he's getting stronger."

Blake looked again at Ken. He couldn't believe his ears. But as he looked at him, Ken's shirt being off, he could see the outline of his muscles all over him. And he was not young either. Ken saw the military man's disbelief and sat up.

"What part of this don't you get Blake? Are you that determined to see threats where none exist? Open your eyes dammit! These creatures are peaceful! Well..." Ken began.

"It doesn't matter! Every known culture has their black sheep. But the Amazoa have only a handful in comparison," he said.

Edward looked up from a smaller monitor on the table. "I'm still analyzing the results. There's definitely more to this than just the mutual exchange of sustenance."

Ken looked at the Doctor. "With all due respect Edward, I need to get back to the lab. There's still a lot going on and I need to be there. Look, I'm still the same. Sal has given me access to her thoughts and memories. It is a most enlightening experience and will go a long way in furthering the advances of SETI. This could very well be what is needed to establish firm contact with other worlds!"

But Newman answered instead. "No, Dr. Baker. You may be optimistic, but after what you said, this seems a bit too good to be true. I'm ordering you to remain here until the full results of your examination are released."

But Blake answered by drawing his gun and aiming it at Ken. "And you're in no position to question me! I call the shots around here now, not you! It's my duty to ensure the stability and safety of this country against any that might be a threat to it. This creature obviously has a connection to your mind and that disturbs me. You will remain here. Try to leave, and I have authorization to shoot you."

Ken's mouth hung open in disbelief, but he knew he wasn't going to win this round.

Blake put his gun away and walked over to Edward. "When you're finished, I want you to find me and tell me everything I need to know about him and the creature."

"There's no need to wait. I just finished as you two were talking. And you're not going to believe this. Please come over here with me for a moment," he said.

Ken was nervous about what this discovery was, but then something different came over him. He felt fear; his mind began racing a mile-a-minute. He couldn't tell what was being said. But they didn't seem to be directed at him...

Blake and Edward were talking in the far end of the room quietly. Finally, Blake turned around and walked back to Ken, a smirk played across his face.

"Well, well, well. It looks like you DID have something to hide, didn't you?" he said.

"You say you come in peace and wish to co-exist with us. Yet you chose to leave out that little detail about having the ability to assert control over whoever you're bonded with," he said.

Blake saw this and pressed on. "That's right, Ken. Those neural fibers that share your body's food stores also have the ability to override your own neurological functions. The one attached to your brain stem can be thanked for that. So for all we know, you may have been controlling him the whole time and we didn't even know it."

"That's not true! Yes, they have that ability, but it takes a lot of effort for them to control their host. They don't strive to learn through control. They strive to learn through shared observation through our eyes!" Ken pleaded.

But Blake merely drew his gun once again and aimed it at the back of Ken's neck where the Amazoa now nested. "Sorry Ken, but anyone or anything that can take away our God-given free will cannot be allowed to exist."

Ken was frozen with fear, not only for himself, but for Sal as well. Blake cocked his weapon and took aim.

"If you kill her, we'll both die! You'd be committing murder you obtuse bastard!" Ken shouted.

Suddenly, the door broke open as David burst in and caught Blake off guard. He rapidly went for his gun and the two began wrestling with it as Ken heard a loud voice reverberate in his head: "RUN!"

"No! Security! Stop that man!" Blake shouted as he kept struggling with David. He noticed movement on David's neck. The other Amazoa was attached to him.

Ken ran with speed beyond what he was usually capable of when two security guards blocked his path. Suddenly, as if someone had flipped a switch, he lost all feeling in his body. But he was still moving. In fact, he saw himself moving with amazing speed and precision as he kicked one guard in the midsection and lifted the other over his head and threw him into the wall, cracking it. And just as suddenly, his feeling returned and he was controlling himself. He felt really strong all of a sudden, like he just had a boost of strength given to him. But it was his adrenalin flowing, yet it seemed amplified by the serum that Sal was putting into him. It felt good. But he had no time to think; he had to get out of there. He felt such compassion for Sal and knew she was telling the truth about the Amazoa meaning no harm. He had to protect her at all cost!

Meanwhile, Blake and David were wrestling with all their might. Blake couldn't understand it. David was just a civilian. He had all the ability to overpower him with ease, yet he couldn't quite seem to gain the upper hand. Finally, he found an opening and drove his knee into David's diaphragm, knocking the wind out of him. Without hesitation, he aimed at the male Amazoa on David's neck...

Suddenly, a pain shot through his head causing him to double over. Intense sadness swept over him. But it wasn't his own, it was Sal's. Almost instantly he called out, "Hal no!!"

Ken couldn't stop now. Blake would be in hot pursuit of him, and he would not let him kill Sal, too. He ran through the lab as he saw only a handful of his team still there.

"What's going on Ken!? The other creature just launched itself at David and seemed to take him over. Are these creatures here to control us?!" one of the guys asked.

"No! They're telepathic! Sal could sense Blake's intentions and telepathically warned Hal, the male Amazoa!" he yelled.

"But..." he began. But Ken dashed out as crashes were heard from the direction he had come. Moments later, Blake came bursting through, his gun raised.

The guy knew what he had to do given the circumstances. He got on the paging system to the rest of the institute, "Attention everyone! You are hereby ordered to evacuate the building immediately. This is not a drill! I repeat! Evacuate immediately!"

Samantha heard this as she was just finishing her work and sprung to her feet. People began dashing for the exit.

"What's going on? What's happening?" she tried to ask. But no one was answering her as people hurried out of there.

Suddenly, the door that had been sealed burst open with incredible force and a man ran through it. She recognized him as Dr. Kenneth Baker. He was the head of the research team. But he seemed scared. He stopped suddenly and looked at Sam.

"I have no time left. Please, take care of her for me. Don't let her fall into military hands. I'm sorry this has to happen so suddenly," he said as a movement came from behind him. Something she couldn't recognize pulled away from him, withdrawing various fibers from inside him. It freaked her out, but she stood there in shock. Suddenly, it sprang onto Sam, latching on to her. At first she panicked, but something told her not to fear this creature and she too began to run out. Ken was already out the exit as Sam saw another guy chasing after him.

Ken was feeling rapidly weaker by the second; his life was draining from him. He had to draw Blake far enough away for his plan to succeed. He ran with every last bit of strength he had left as Blake began to catch up to him. Suddenly, he found himself surrounded by several other soldiers with guns drawn. And then, "BANG!" A bullet passed through his neck where the creature had been. He felt the blood rushing out of him. Blake stood over him as he fell...into darkness...into light.

Sam was at her car in the back of the parking lot as she looked back to see what was going on in front of the building. There were military everywhere. She had no idea they were even here this whole time. But what caught her attention was the gunshot that rang out and the man that was Ken, she saw fall to the ground as he was surrounded. She couldn't believe what just happened. Suddenly, she was aware of the creature that was latched onto her. But she felt no pain. She had no time to consider what to do with it right now and gunned it out of there with the rest of the evacuees.

CHAPTER IV: THE JOINING
Sam and Sal are joined, but what happens after that is not what either of them would expect

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

-March 18th, 2010-

It was after midnight and Kevin was sitting with Virginia on the couch with the news on. Word of the chaos at the SETI institution had spread at this point. So far, there has been no word of Sam's whereabouts.

"What if she was..." Virginia began.

"No! Don't you dare think that!" Kevin interrupted. "They would have said something if that happened. It seems only the head science members were killed. I'm sure your mother had gotten away." Kevin said.

Suddenly, the door opened. It was Sam. Aside from the obvious exhaustion, she looked no worse for wear.

"Mom! It's you!" Virginia said with immense relief.

"Sam, what happened to you!?" Kevin asked.

Sam's eyes filled with tears. "There's been a horrible tragedy at the institute. Dr. Baker, who was in charge of the team that monitors space for extraterrestrial life, was killed by some soldiers. I don't know all the details. But it seems they did indeed make contact with a life form from outer space. One of them is on the back of my neck."

Kevin and Virginia looked with caution at Sam's neck, but they saw nothing there.

"There's nothing there." Kevin said.

Sam was surprised at this. She put a hand on her neck, but couldn't feel anything. The creature wasn't there.

"I don't get it. It was there the whole time I was driving home. Ken - the scientist I told you about - was in a panic when he asked me to take care of... her. I guess they have gender just like us," she said as she felt her neck for the creature. But it wasn't there.

Kevin was rightfully concerned. "Could this creature have anything to do with what happened?"

Sam was confused. "Maybe, but something tells me there's more to this than these creatures. I don't think Ken would've pleaded with me to protect her if they were dangerous."

"Maybe she just needed to get away from there and you merely aided in doing that and she has now set off on her own," Virginia suggested.

"I don't think so. None of this makes sense," Sam said.

Kevin went over and looked at the news on TV. It was showing something else now.

"Well, it doesn't seem like we're going to get any other answers, especially if the military is involved. I wonder if you'll even be able to return to your job," Kevin said.

Sam felt that harsh realization at those words and wondered if she would be returning to work. With all that happened, surely the government isn't going to want the public involved at all until they regain complete control over the situation. And when would that time come?

Sam put her hand over Virginia's shoulder. "Well there's not much point worrying about it now. It's time for you to go to bed sweetheart."

Virginia let out a sigh. "Oh alright. I'm tired anyway."

After Virginia went upstairs, Kevin walked over to Sam and took her hand.

"After you my love," he said.

Sam smiled as she went upstairs after Kevin to go to bed, unaware that Sal was clinging to her back, waiting for the right moment to make her move. She didn't want to outright scare her. And though it's not something she was proud of, she knew it was best that it happen this way.

After some passionate kissing, which would've led to more if it wasn't so late, Kevin did his usual routine of tucking Sam in. Ever since they first started living together many years ago, Kevin has always been content to tuck her in. It was one of the many things she loved about him. In turn, Sam would scratch his back for a couple minutes after he lay down with her, as he tends to be itchy there a lot. After she was done, they got comfortable.

"Goodnight Husband," she said.

"Goodnight Wife," he replied with a smile.

And with that, they both went to sleep.

After half an hour, both were sound asleep. Sal, who patiently waited nearby, finally removed the invisibility field that she generated to stay hidden. It took effort to maintain, and at that point, she was approaching exhaustion. She had to act fast. She paused as Sam rolled over. After a few moments, Sal slowly eased toward her and made her way behind her neck. After bringing up her neural fibers, she quickly made her move as the joining began.

Sam was dreaming. In it, she was running from some kind of monster. It seemed intent on killing her. She was consumed by fear and was scared to even look at it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't outrun it. In fact, the monster was catching up to her. She started to scream for help, but no one was answering. When the monster was nearly upon her, a bright light appeared ahead of her. It was so bright, she had to cover her face at first. But then she felt a wave of courage sweep over her. She looked up and turned around to see the monster cowering in pain, as if the light was hurting it. She turned to the source of the light to see a woman. She was absolutely beautiful. She had long flowing hair that glowed a golden blonde. Her eyes were a jade green. And she was wearing a gown that flowed like the wind. She reminded Sam of a Princess. This woman was staring past Sam at the monster as it began to crawl away. Then, this Princess-woman looked at Sam and smiled. And yet, she could swear that there was a sadness in her smile. She never spoke a word, but Sam seemed to know that she wanted her to be brave and strong. Almost instantly, Sam felt a surge of strength that made her spin around and dash toward the monster and destroy it with a single punch.

She stood there for a moment realizing what she accomplished and noticed that she was suddenly incredibly muscular. Her legs were like pillars, her abs were like bricks poking out of her stomach, and her pecs were like steel plates with her breasts seeming to defy gravity. But what really caught her attention was her biceps. They were huge, stretching her skin as the peaks pushed up from her arms like something trying to get out. She felt so incredible. In fact, it felt so good it began to turn her on really hot. She turned around to look at the Princess woman only to see her fade away.

Finally, a voice came from the void: "Be brave, and be strong! You are very strong! You are my eyes, and I am your strength!"

Suddenly, she felt an orgasm course through her in her dream. Her muscles exploded to maximum size as she felt strength that surpassed her newfound muscles' limits.

Suddenly, Sam woke up with a start. It took a moment to gather her bearings. Was all of that really a dream? And yet, it felt so real. So real in fact, that she quickly looked at her arms, which were readily available. To her disappointment, they looked the same as they always did, not a single sign of increased muscle tone. She felt a moistness in her vagina and saw that she'd had a nocturnal emission. She did feel unusually good. And the details of her dream were so fresh in her mind that she could still clearly picture that Princess she saw. In fact, she felt better than good. She felt... strong. Could the dream have affected her? Or was it the Amazoa that had joined with her?

"Wait a minute, how do I know what an Amazoa is all of a sudden? Sal? That name. She's the Princess I saw in my dream," she said to herself.

'It is me,' came a voice from inside her head.

"What? Is... who's that?" she asked.

'I am the one you saw in your dream. Or rather, I appeared as a human manifestation of myself,' the voice said.

"What's your name?" she asked.

'As you have come to know from my own memories, my name is Sal. Is your... husband going to wake up soon?' Sal asked.

Sam looked at Kevin, who was still asleep. He tended to sleep in a bit since his shifts leave him working late into the evening. It was one of the very few things she wished could change. It was hard sometimes waking up without him. But all in all, she had learned to tolerate it, given the circumstances.

"No, not for another hour anyway," she said softly, being careful not to wake him.

'That's good. And please, you can just as easily talk to me by just saying it in your mind,' Sal said.

"But... I tend to have a lot of stray thoughts," she said.

'Don't worry, I don't hear or see them if they aren't being actively channeled. Just direct your thoughts to me and I'll hear them as easily as I hear you now,' Sal said.

'Alright, Sal is it?' Sam asked.

'Yes. Can we go downstairs? There's much I must tell you.'

'All right,' Sam said as she quietly got up and put on her nightgown.

She went across the hall to look into Virginia's room. To Sam's relief, she was still asleep as well. She went downstairs and prepared some coffee. After it was finished, she poured herself a cup and sat down at the dining room table. Since she could talk to Sal in her mind, she could sip to her hearts content without having to pause at any point.

'So tell me, are you the one who started that chaos back at the institute?' Sam asked eagerly.

'No! We came in peace! And frankly, what you humans did was foolish! Did it ever once occur to any of you that your desperate call for fellowship with other beings could attract the attention of one that might want to attack your planet for, say, its vast resources? Not all otherworldly life forms are interested in making friends,' Sal said with anger in her voice.

'We wanted to establish that there's intelligent life out there. You've proven that,' Sam countered.

'No. You were so desperate for attention that you began sending signals calling out for just that. You should already know that as vast as this galaxy is - nevermind the whole Universe! - that there are others out there as intelligent or even more intelligent than you. Your actions are foolish and arrogant,' Sal said.

'So why did you come!?' Sam yelled.

'Because we were foolish enough to think that the human race was ready to take its place among us; to share in our collective wisdom while providing us with new wisdom!' Sal said.

Sam felt a twinge of sadness; of pain. Tears welled up in her eyes. Was this Sal's sadness? In the moment of silence, Sam experienced a rush of memories that were clearly not her own. And in one fell swoop, she saw it all: the arrival of the Amazoa, the show of symbiosis that could benefit the human race, and... Hal's death at the hands of that Blake Newman. How could someone in our own government commit this act?

The rush of memories began to overwhelm Sam as she clutched her head in pain. Sadness, anger, and despair flooded her. It was more than she could take.

"No! Stop this! Please!" Sam yelled out loud.

'It's a shocking reality, isn't it? That you humans would send out a friendly call for contact with other intelligent life. And when such contact finally occurs, you kill us because we're not bipedal like you. And that's why humans are a long way from ready to become a part of our society, or vice versa if you'd prefer to put it that way,' Sal said with angst.

"Sam! Are you all right!?" came a voice from behind her. She spun around to see Kevin with Virginia behind him on the stairway. Sam realized she'd yelled out loud and not in her mind.

"I'm fine. I drifted off in my seat and had a nightmare, that's all. Really, I'm ok," she lied.

Kevin came into the dining room and hugged her close. Sam leaned her head on his shoulder and began to cry.

"What's the matter, hun?" Kevin asked.

"Why are people so cruel?" she asked.

"Why do you ask this?" Kevin asked back.

Sam pulled back and looked into his eyes. "Why? Why would anyone kill someone they don't understand? Why?! Just because another is different, they assume they are a threat? Are we so bound by fear that we can't break free of our own limitations?"

Kevin wasn't quite sure what to say, but gave it his best shot. "I don't know, Sam. It's just... well, that's just how it is. There will always be bad people out there."

After a pause, he asked, "Does this have something to do with what happened last night?" Kevin asked.

Sam didn't answer; she couldn't.

Kevin looked downwards. "It does, doesn't it? So what happened that made you like this?" he persisted.

Sam looked at him, "I... don't know what happened. I'm the last person who knows what goes on behind those big closed doors."

Kevin's face became stern; he knew his wife all too well. "That's not true, Sam; you know more than you're letting on. And it's not just about that head scientist you said was killed. There's something else. Does it have something to do with the alien creature you mentioned before?"

Sam again didn't answer. She didn't want him to know that she was now sharing that creature's existence.

'It's OK; tell him,' Sal said.

'And risk having him not understand? After everything you showed me? You really want me to risk alienating the one person who truly matters to me?' Sam pleaded.

"Well?" Kevin said.

'I can't let you keep me secret from him,' Sal said, as she released the invisibility field around her allowing her to appear. Kevin saw this and looked at Sam in shock.

"What is that?!" he asked.

Virginia noticed and ran back upstairs in fear.

"Please don't be afraid or feel any different about me!" Sam pleaded.

She explained the rest of what happened yesterday to Kevin, thanks to Sal's memories. She told him how the Amazoa are peaceful and that they never meant any harm. But Kevin was finding it all hard to accept.

"So now what? Can... she be removed and placed with someone else?" he asked.

Sal silently revealed the explanation to Sam for her to answer. "I'm afraid that's no longer possible. At this point our vital systems are completely interlinked. If she were to be removed from me, I would die almost immediately. And she too would die soon after, unless she were joined with someone else. Ken didn't die right away because he wasn't joined for very long so, even though his strength fell rapidly after she separated from him, he still may have survived if he hadn't been killed by the soldiers."

Kevin was beside himself. "So. This means our marriage won't be between just the two of us, will it? That Sal will see everything that we say and do. I'm telling you, I just can't see how I can live with this!"

Sam's eyes filled with tears once again. "No Kevin! Please don't say that you're leaving me! I love you with all my heart! It can work! Sal is just a passive observer! She has no bearing on us!"

Kevin stood up. "That's where you're wrong. You're asking me to be open when there is someone with you all the time. It'll no longer be intimate. I can't see how I could even comfortably be myself knowing this."

A tear ran down Kevin's cheek. Sam's heart felt like it might tear in two at any moment.

Kevin walked back to the stairs. "I'm getting dressed and leaving. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I need time to digest this. But Sam, I don't see how we can be the same when there is another so forcefully in our presence."

Sam's pain overcame her as she put her head down and cried. Sal had a single thought that she made sure Sam wouldn't hear:

'What have I done?'

CHAPTER V: THE GROWTH
Sam begins to experience her steady muscle growth as Sal's serum takes effect

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

-March 20th, 2010-

It had been two days since Kevin left. Nothing but sadness had overtaken Sam and it had affected Virginia as well, as she said very little, and even became sick yesterday. Occasionally, Kevin would call to check up on Virginia. He was staying with a friend. He was still pondering how he could live a life with such an observer in their midst. Sam hadn't felt any different either. Her and Sal's state of mind were tied together. And Sal had felt much regret for letting her own anger and resentment tear an innocent family apart. She made herself come to terms with Hal's death after seeing what her mere presence had done. She hadn't been feeding as much as she should be. This was probably why her serum output was also weak and therefore doing little to change Sam. And because Sam was, as far as she could tell, out of a job, nothing was being done.

Sal then knew what had to be done. She would do everything in her power to make things right again. She remembered from experience at least one individual she was joined with that actually had a much better life with her joined with her. It was her only shot to make things right. The only reason it didn't occur to her sooner was due to Sam's intense pain from Kevin's possible departure from their marriage. It really had an effect on her. Sal could not let this happen. If this worked, not only could she save Sam's marriage, but she could also make it better than it had ever been.

She finally broke her silence. 'Sam.'

Sam didn't bother to talk in her head since Virginia was in bed upstairs and quite asleep and Kevin was obviously gone.

"What do you want?" she said with bitterness.

'I'm truly sorry I got you into this mess. I was consumed by my anger and it has endangered your marriage. You shouldn't have been involved,' Sal said.

"Yeah, well it's a bit late for that now, isn't it?" Sam asked.

Sal was silent, so Sam went on: "And seeing as how I can't just get rid of you... after all I would die, wouldn't I? You should've known that this was a life-altering decision!"

Sal didn't respond at first, but Sam had nothing else to say at that point. Finally, 'I want to make things right again. I can do this, but it's hard with you in such a negative emotional state. It adversely affects me which makes it hard to optimize your body.'

Sam was still resentful. "Well maybe I don't want your help."

Sal had to get serious despite Sam's anger. 'Remember that dream you had when we joined!?'

Sam finally looked up as if Sal finally got her attention. "What about it?"

'Do you remember how you felt after you killed that monster? Do you remember what happened to your body and how it felt?' she asked.

Sam pondered this a moment. She did indeed remember it. It was very pleasurable having all those muscles. The strength was just as intoxicating. It all felt so real. As disappointed as she was when she woke up to discover it was a dream, despite the energized feeling she did feel, she still convinced herself it was a dream.

"What's your point?" she finally asked.

Sal was finally starting to feel excited as she pressed her advantage. 'It's not just a dream like you think. It can really happen! Most of the individuals I join with are not only made as healthy as they can be but, because of the serum my body injects into them, they become very strong. Depending on the type of foods they eat, they gain varying degrees of muscle and strength. And I'm telling you, you have the potential to be the most muscular and strongest yet!'

Despite the anger Sam wanted to feel toward Sal, she liked the thought of having such a muscular body. It was one of her most secret fantasies, but she never even considered how it could be brought to life.

"You said you wanted to fix my marriage? How does this help?" Sam asked.

Sal answered eagerly. 'Listen, Sam. As one woman to another, I'm telling you that Kevin is likely the type to find a muscle bound female hulk very sexy and highly arousing. He just needs to know that my being a part of you is a good thing. He needs to know that even though I may see and hear everything that goes on between you two, I would never dream of interfering. I mean, when it comes down to it I'm a part of you, not the other way around. You and I Sam, are one. If you can focus on just how wonderful a feeling being very strong and muscular is, I promise it will amplify your sexual feelings ten fold. But we need Kevin here to pull this off. Once he sees you and you explain all of this to him, he might just come around. Besides, he needs you. And you need him. But most importantly, your daughter needs you both.'

Sam finally was feeling better since Kevin left. "Well then, it sounds like a plan. Just know that if this works, and he does fall head-over-heels for me all over again, I'm gonna kill him!"

Sal understood fast. 'Yeah I know. Since we're on the subject, there should already be some marked progress. You've just been too emotional to notice. Take a good look at yourself.'

Sam walked to a mirror and pulled off her shirt, leaving her in her bra. She was surprised to see that she indeed looked thinner. She had always had a bit extra on the sides, but it was always in the right places. But now that extra bodyfat was gone. And what's more, she looked fit. She flexed a bicep and her arm became firm, though no noticeable bicep sprang to life... yet.

Sam smiled. "Sal, how long does it typically take for you to completely transform a person?"

'Typically, a couple days usually does it. But it has been drastically slowed down because of your emotional state. But now that you're in better spirits, the process should accelerate once again,' Sal said.

Sam thought out loud. "I see. Well then, I can't wait to feel rock solid muscles all over my body!"

She then came to her senses. "I wonder how Virginia would take this?"

"Take what?" came a voice from the stairs. It was Virginia.

Sam looked behind her to see Virginia looking groggy, but awake.

"Oh, well, Mommy thought she'd exercise and workout. Would you find it weird if I looked... a lot more fit?" Sam asked her.

Virginia didn't seem to react much at all. "You mean you want to look like those bodybuilding women Dad looks at online?"

This took Sam by surprise.

"You mean wait, you've been spying on him?" Sam asked, perturbed.

Virginia seemed passive as always. "Not really spying, but he didn't exactly make it hard to notice."

Sam wasn't sure what to think. Did her husband... really prefer muscular women?

"Why did he never tell me about it?" Sam asked more to herself than anything.

"Maybe he was just too afraid you'd laugh at him if he confided this with you," Virginia said.

"I suppose you're right," she said as she looked at the clock. It was almost time for Virginia to catch the school bus.

"Look sweetheart, you better get ready; the bus will be here any minute. I'll throw a lunch together for you and give you some money just in case," Sam said as Virginia quietly ran back upstairs to get changed.

After making Virginia's lunch and giving her a couple dollars, Sam gave Virginia a hug and kiss on the forehead. As she headed out the door, Sam called after her.

"Please Virginia, let's keep this between us for now, OK?" Sam asked.

Virginia grinned. "Sure Mom."

After Virginia got on the bus, Sam returned to the matter at hand: getting stronger.

The next day came as Sam got up, sent Virginia to school and went to check her progress. She had noticed marked improvement in her physique. In just one day's time, she went from a slim fitness model to a muscled fitness model. She was really enjoying her rapid muscle growth; something that would normally take months if not years to achieve. Later that day, Kevin unrepentantly returned home. She decided that, if she wanted to make a lasting impression on Kevin, she'd have to stall him a bit longer. So, she threw on her largest clothes to hide her muscles and greeted Kevin at the door. Sal chose to make herself invisible.

"Kevin, hi," Sam said awkwardly.

"Yes, hi," he said as he looked toward her neck, but saw nothing.

Sam noticed this. "She's invisible Kevin. It's to help make this easier for you to bear."

Kevin's expression was unreadable. "What makes you think I'm here to stay?"

Sam wasn't in the mood to hear this. "Oh c'mon Kevin! You really willing to just throw away fifteen years of marriage just because an alien creature has become a part of me?"

Kevin began to answer, but Sam stopped him with a hand. "In fact, I thought I'd give you a damn good reason to stay, not just for our daughter, but for me. And I promise, your entire attitude will change completely."

Kevin was a bit puzzled at this. "What's this reason?"

Sam was ready for that. "In due time Husband, in due time. In fact, I'd like you to be scarce for say..."

Sal quickly knew what Sam was trying to determine and did her fast calculations.

'Two days.' Sal quickly said in Sam's mind.

"...two days. Sam finished.

Now Kevin was really curious about what was going on, but knew he wouldn't find out until Sam was ready to tell him.

"All right, if you insist," Kevin said as he turned to leave. But then, he spun back around and went to kiss Sam anyway. But she stopped him with a strong grip that surprised him.

"No, Hun. Just because I'm doing this doesn't mean I'm not still mad at you. After this is all said and done, you're going to have some explaining to do. For now, please just go," she said.

Kevin, feeling a bit embarrassed by this, left.

That night, Sam had that dream again. Sam saw that monster coming after her again. Then the light appeared, along with Sal's human form. She was as beautiful as she remembered. Sal joined her as she began to morph into an ultra-muscular hulk. She relished in her muscles as she flexed them. The monster was in obvious fear and began to run, but Sam grabbed the monster from behind and tore it in half like a sheet of paper. The monster's remains faded into nothingness as Sam stood there flexing muscles that were truly immense. The sensation was very erotic as she turned to Sal. Instead of the sad smile she had last time, she had a joyous smile. They looked each other in the eyes as the two, without even thinking, embraced each other in a passionate kiss. It was more pleasurable than she ever felt. It was like she's found a new kind of soul-mate. Sam was in love with this Princess version of Sal. They lovingly stroked each others' hair as their passion turned wild. Princess/Sal removed her dress to reveal the most perfect-looking feminine body ever on a woman. She had curves to die for and breasts that were a perfect size for her figure. They began to make love with each other as Sam fondled and sucked on Sal's breasts. Sal, in turn began sucking and licking Sam's pussy with amazing skill. This drove Sam to orgasm after orgasm. Sam began to feel her muscles become even bigger, especially her biceps. They were sitting tall on her arms like mounds of steel. But then something else began to happen. She began to feel her strength increase rapidly. Her muscles had reached their physical limit, but her strength continued to increase. It was so pleasurable for her that she felt like an animal. She went to work on Princess/Sal 's pussy, as she began to moan in sheer pleasure. It wasn't long until she began to experience multiple orgasms.

After what felt like a surprisingly long time, they finally stopped. Sal looked up into Sam's eyes.

"Remember: You are my eyes, and I am your strength. You are truly special," Sal said.

Sam opened her eyes. She literally felt like she shifted between realities, rather than just awoke from a dream. Her heart rate was up, her estrogen levels were peaking, and her senses had been hyper-stimulated. She sat up and, for a brief time, was aware of her surroundings in a superhuman way. She'd never before felt so alive in her life. She realized that she once again orgasmed in her sleep. And, from the feeling in her vagina, it happened several times. Once she slowly readjusted to being awake and not dreaming, she pulled her sheets off her.

Her jaw dropped and she let out a gasp of surprise and excitement. She was covered in muscle! She was ripped from head to toe. She looked like result of a master body sculptor. She got up and ran to her full-length mirror to gaze in awe at the hulking beauty that looked back at her. She looked at her legs first. Her calves were bulging out from her legs like footballs. Veins were prominent as she felt her calves with excitement. She flexed them and tried to squeeze them, but she couldn't even squeeze them.

"Oh wow," she said.

She moved her gaze up to her thighs. They felt like high powered generators for her legs. She flexed them and they responded by tightening into the most detailed supermuscle that was more than she had ever dared to imagine. She lifted her leg up and found that she was unbelievably flexible as she was able to bring her leg all the way up to as close to her face as her now larger breasts would allow. She lowered her leg and had to feel a taste of how strong her leg was, so she brought it back up again, but this time she swung her leg up as hard as she could. She wasn't prepared for what happened next as the force of her leg moving so fast threw her off her balance completely and she landed flat on her back.

She thought she would be hurt for sure from the angle of impact, but she got up feeling like nothing happened. She felt perfectly fine. She snapped out of it after a moment when she realized that Virginia might have heard her fall and would come in to check on her. She began to run out of her bedroom when she caught sight of the clock.

"No way! It's 9 AM!? When? How?" she began.

She then felt relieved when she knew that Virginia had already left for school. She was quick to sink back into her reverie as she returned to her mirror to further examine her newfound muscularity.

She knew now that she could probably do some serious damage with those legs. But now it was time to check out her back. She turned her back to the mirror and did her best to look behind her at it as she flexed every fiber of muscle on it. She was turned on by the way she looked from behind as well. She could see so many fine details of muscle that would make Mrs. Olympia jealous.

She took an extra moment to admire her now fuller butt. It was plumper than before and felt deliciously sexy. And yet, the glutes were as strong as the rest of her.

She turned back around to look at her abs. At the moment, they were relaxed, but still quite pronounced. She ran her fingers up and down the contours of the muscle that lay across her stomach. She was mesmerized by the sight. She knew what she had to do. Slowly and deliberately, she tensed her abs as they contracted and defined themselves into amazing definition and power. No punch would be able to easily overcome these solid muscles. Her attention moved upward to her chest. Maybe it's the size of her newfound pecs, which sat atop her chest with defiance, but her breasts seemed to have increased in size. She felt so turned on by the sight. She was secure in her sexuality despite evidence to the contrary in the dream world that she shared with Sal's human alter-ego, but she couldn't help but feel aroused by her breasts. She ran a finger over each nipple as they rose rapidly like dough to attention. Her areolae were nearly twice as wide in circumference as before, and she could even make out veins below the surface that showed indication that even they were strengthened. She pulled her stare away from her breasts and looked at her neck. She could see why she wasn't hurt from the fall. She had a set of trapezius muscles that were otherwise unnoticeable before. They were bulging with amazing defensive strength and power and provided a protective barrier for her neck. She took them in her hands and gave them a squeeze, but like her calves, they wouldn't give. She was loving this, but was eager to look at the best she had saved for last. She held out her arms in front of her and gave them both a good flex. Biceps bulged impressively from them. A small network of veins complimented her peaks. If she had to guess, her biceps were a good twenty inches. And much of that size was really evident in her peaks rather than the width of her arms. They looked like the sort of biceps that Popeye would have after eating spinach, only more realistic. She extended her arms straight and saw an equally impressive set of triceps that bulged in the opposite direction.

After flexing her arms repeatedly for several minutes, she found herself in heat. She needed sexual release badly. For once, she really wished Kevin was here, but knew she'd have to settle for herself. She jumped into bed and began a mixed display of flexing her muscles at random and fingering her pussy. She became lost in the muscle lust that consumed her being. She never thought it possible to be in love with her own body like this. She couldn't wait to show it off to her husband. Her movements reached a crescendo as she began moaning loudly.

"OH MY GOD!! WHAT STRENGTH!! WHAT MUSCLES!!! I LOVE MY BODY!! IT TURNS ME ON SO HOT!!! OH!!! OHHH!! AHHH!!! SO STRONG!!! SO MUSCULAR!!! SO POWERFUL!!!!" she moaned.

Her whole body shuddered as she arched her back into the air and let out an orgasm accompanied by a scream of ecstasy that rattled throughout the house. In the recesses of her mind, she was thankful she was completely alone. Ejaculate ran down her legs and formed a small puddle in the sheets that lay twisted beneath her. But she was still too lost in her orgasm to notice or care. She had to have more! Her muscles were the biggest turn-on of her life! She threw her fingers back to her pussy and began another round of masturbation and thoughts of what she could do with her muscles and strength! It seemed like the longer she went on, the stronger she felt! It was so incredible! Little did she know that Sal was silently enjoying the stimulation as much as Sam was. Her serum output had tripled at this point and the increase in estrogen was affecting Sal as well. But, since Sal didn't exactly have the ability to orgasm or feel sexual stimulation the way a human could, she instead felt positively charged. That, in turn temporarily increased her serum output, which fed Sam's strength. It was pretty much the equivalent to ecstasy for an Amazoa. After a couple hours of this, Sam had gained the strength of twenty men - and it was getting greater.

She was so completely lost in her sexual ride that during her biggest orgasm yet, she unknowingly brought her fists down on the bed with such force that it collapsed the frame beneath her, bringing the box spring and mattress crashing to the floor, and making the room shake. This finally snapped her out of her sexual trance and she finally stopped. Sal also snapped out of it and her serum output slowed back to normal. Finally, Sam felt exhausted from the prolonged sex she gave herself. She became aware of what she had done as the bed frame was destroyed and her love juices completely soaked the mattress and ran onto the floor. She would have to get a new bed frame, that's for sure. And nevermind the mess she would have to clean up. But wow! It was the best sex she had ever experienced. At the same time though, she felt guilty. This would be something she would want to share with her husband. For, despite it all, she loved him with all her heart. She vowed to repeat this sexual experience with Kevin and find an even greater enjoyment of it than she did just now.

CHAPTER VI: THE PREDICAMENT
Sam finds that being so muscular has a couple downsides to it when it comes to clothing

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

-March 22nd, 2010-

Sam surveyed the damage her muscles, strength, and masturbation had caused and knew that she would have to fix things before Virginia got home. She glanced down to see that her muscles had become even bigger than before, and all in her naked glory as her clothes would no longer fit her. It was no wonder she trashed the bed. While she was in the throes of passion, her muscles had gained considerable mass. She now looked even more muscular than Mr. Olympia. Her thighs were truly massive. Her abs were like bricks. Her chest seemed impenetrable, as her breasts were barely still more noticeable than her pecs underneath. But her arms, her biceps, they really looked Popeye huge. When she flexed them, they rose up from arms with a purpose and sat tall at what seemed like more than thirty inches.

She was quickly falling back into a sexual trance when a voice rang out: 'No! Wait, Sam!'

It was Sal.

"What?" Sam asked.

'As much as I know you enjoy this, perhaps you should put the focus back on getting this room fixed up,' Sal reminded her.

"Oh yeah, right," Sam said as she did one more flex of her incredibly bulging arm. She couldn't help it. But she knew Sal was right and had work to do.Sam had completely forgotten she was even there. She put a hand to the back of her neck and, sure enough, she could feel the exoskeleton exterior of the female Amazoa that now shared her existence. But there was now a new relationship that arose between them. In the waking world, she was the host and Sal was the symbiote. They were like companions who had each other to converse with, like a girl friend that she could talk to about things that are typically talked about exclusively between girls. But whenever she dreams, Sal has the ability to share Sam's dreams by manifesting in human form with her. In the dreams, Sal appears as a Princess with such beauty and sexual energy that Sam has formed a very secret sexual relationship with her. She never even thought it was possible to have sex in one's dreams and have it feel as real as in the waking world. In the dream world, Sam's feelings for Sal are greatly amplified. She loves her as much as she loves her husband. And yet, as powerful as her feelings toward Sal are in this state, she manages to not feel those feelings when awake. She's grateful for this because she truly loves Kevin above anyone else. She has justified her feelings toward Sal when dreaming as a love for a part of herself and not another person, a justification she has found herself able to live with.

And now she was ready, thanks greatly to Sal, to make things right. She still had a day left before Kevin would return and was intent on being at her physical best.

"Sal, I need to ask you something," Sam began.

'Sure, anything," Sal answered.

"First off, I can't tell you how grateful I am for everything. This new body is everything I have ever dreamed of having. And I'm sorry for my attitude towards you in the brief period right after we joined," Sam said.

'You're welcome. Besides, I should be thanking you as well. The more enhanced a person is from my feeding and serum output, the better I feel overall. It's a symbiotic relationship after all. But please, no apologies are necessary. I certainly don't blame you for feeling that way. That's why I'm doing what I can to make things right. Thankfully, circumstances have been in our favor,' Sal said.

Sam began cleaning up the mess she made with her love juices as she carried on her conversation.

"So tell me, has anyone else ever been made this strong and muscular before?" she asked.

'Surprisingly, no. You are actually the most muscular and strongest being I have ever seen become as a result of our joining. I have wondered how and noticed that you have not once eaten any meat,' Sal said.

Sam just smiled at this, "That's because I'm a vegetarian. I especially like raw spinach. Been a fan of Popeye cartoons since I was young and, well, I found myself eating only vegetables and non-meat foods ever since. I personally believe that we humans were originally created as herbivores."

'I see,' Sal said.

"You know, it really is such a satisfying bonus that I am the strongest and most muscular you have ever seen. I really think it's because I am a vegetarian," Sam said.

'You're right Sam. I analyzed your internal biological systems. I don't think your Earth scientists even know this, but there's not just a special combination of nutrients in vegetables, but they are a unique variety as well. At least they are for what I feed on. Something in those vegetables are giving my serum extra potency, especially the spinach,' Sal said.

Sam laughed. "No kidding! So it seems that I really AM strong to the finach for eating me spinach!"

'What does that mean?' Sal asked.

"Oh nothing. Just a popular catch phrase from that show I just told you about," Sam replied.

Sam finished cleaning up her love juices as she took the sheets and blankets to the laundry room and put them in the wash.

"So tell me, you can access my thoughts and memories, right?" Sam asked.

'If I really wanted to, yes. On the other hand, your access to my thoughts is limited to the level of such access I allow. But I have come to really respect you and in a different reality, well, you know. Besides, it takes some effort on my part to read your thoughts and memories. The older the memories, the greater the effort. And, if you want to, you can shield me to a good extent through willpower. But as I said, I realize that you value your memories and therefore, I won't read anything in your head without your permission. Besides, I find that communicating with you through this linguistic communication seems easier. This way, whatever I learn from you and vice versa is more easily remembered,' Sal told her.

Sam returned to the bedroom and walked over to the closet. It was then that she realized a new predicament.

"Um, there may be a problem," Sam said as she looked down at her hulking body.

'None of your clothes are going to fit anymore,' Sal finished.

"Hmmm, I wonder if any of Kevin's clothes might fit?" Sam asked, more to herself than Sal.

'I highly doubt it. Obviously, I've seen Kevin and, though he has a decent sized build, I don't think even his clothes will be able to accommodate your massive frame.' Sal said.

Sam rummaged through Kevin's closet and found one of his shirts that was rather large, even for him.

"Well, here it goes," Sam said as she attempted to pull it over her head. It got as far as a quarter of the way down her body when, without even realizing, she ripped it, not so much from her bulging chest, but from her strength as she pulled it down.

"Oh crap!" Sam said, as she pulled it back off.

'So much for that idea,' Sal said rather obviously.

"I'm aware of that," Sam said in panic. She certainly couldn't go anywhere naked. She went back downstairs to the living room and then it hit her.

"The coat rack!" she said excitedly as she went through the coats. None of them seemed like they would fit, and this really disappointed her.

"Now what am I going to do?" Sam asked.

She thought and finally, she had one last option. She went into one of the cabinets and grabbed a lab coat she got once during her aspirations to become a scientist for SETI. It wouldn't fit in its current state, but she had an idea, even though it's something of a sacrifice on her part. She tore off the sleeves and tied it off under her already ample breasts. And now she just needed something from the waist down to wear. She knew that nothing in this house would be able to accommodate her massive thighs. But her waist wasn't all that much bigger so she got one of Kevin's expandable shorts that he normally wore around the house to relax in; and as carefully as she possibly could, she relaxed her thighs, giving her just enough room for the shorts to slip by as she slowly slipped them up to her waist.

Being fashion conscious, Sam wasn't too pleased with the way it made her look as she looked in the mirror. But on the other hand, she was so enthralled by her muscularity that she quickly realized that she didn't care. In fact, she liked the idea of people seeing her physique. And knowing now how Kevin would react to this, the thought left her feeling excited and aroused. But she had a job to do and shook it off as she took a deep breath, grabbed her purse and keys, and headed out the door.

"You better make yourself invisible Sal," Sam said.

'I'm way ahead of you,' Sal said, as she was already invisible.

Sam decided, as a precaution, to go to a store that was a bit out of town, so the drive took a little while. She didn't want anyone who recognized her to start questioning how she got so muscular so fast. When she finally arrived, it was just as she predicted. She was accustomed to guys and even girls staring at her and was able to notice it without looking at them. But this time, there were a lot of people staring at her as she walked to the bedroom furniture. A sales associate offered her some assistance but she turned it down. She knew he wanted an excuse to hang around her and help her lift any of the heavy boxes that much of the furniture came in. But she wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible. As much as she would typically enjoy this, she had a feeling that as exposed as she was, it would attract unwanted attention and the fact that she worked at SETI made her realize that if there was an investigation going on over the deaths of those men, someone could very well recognize her and it could go downhill real quick.

She picked out a bed frame that looked fairly similar to the previous one and placed it in the cart with ease. She realized that she was even stronger than she first thought. It would've taken some considerable effort just to move it. But to her, it felt like the box was empty. She noticed a small group of people around her staring. She felt a bit embarrassed at this, something she shouldn't be feeling. But being new to having this body, she was still getting accustomed to it, so having people gawking at her made her feel nervous and even uncomfortable. She did her best to ignore them and walked across the store to the clothes section. A couple of the people were following her under the pretext that they were just going her way, but she knew better. After she reached the women's clothing, she found that the largest sizes were still not big enough; she had to resort to the plus size section. So she made her way there and, after much searching, finally found some shirts and pants that hopefully would fit her. She noticed that another small group was scattered around her staring. She had enough of this.

"Do you people mind?! Either go about your business or I'll you'll be seeing black as these muscles crush you!" she yelled as she attracted even more attention for a moment. But then everyone finally went back to their shopping. A couple of sales associates nearby kindly and quietly asked the few still near here to give her some room. She thanked them and asked if she could try on some of the clothes. They obliged and showed her to the dressing room. She found that half of the shirts wouldn't fit her. And the other half would sort of fit, but none of the sleeves had any hope of accommodating her hugely bulging biceps, even when they were relaxed.

"I guess I'm going to have to get some custom shirts made, that's all there is to it," Sam said to herself in frustration as she put her ripped lab coat back on. She quickly made her way to the pants section and, like her shirts, found that nothing they had would be able to fit over her massive muscle thighs. She reluctantly picked out a couple of shorts with the widest legs and waist and tried them on as well. Thankfully they fit, but only just. Being satisfied she at least had a small wardrobe to hold her over, she made her way to the checkout, paid for everything, and left.

Sal, who hadn't said anything since Sam left, broke her silence. 'Well that was an interesting experience.'

"You're telling me," Sam said as she put the bed frame box in the back of the car, got in, and left.

It was mid-afternoon and knew that Virginia would be arriving home soon. After Sam got home, she had to hurry as she put the bed frame together, placed the mattress and box spring on it, and went downstairs to put the laundry in the dryer. She grabbed one of her new shirts and shorts and put them on. She forgot that none of the sleeves would fit around her muscular arms and she heard a rip coming from them as she finished putting on the shirt.

"Aw dammit!" Sam yelled and, in a fit of anger, ripped the shirt right off her body like it was wet tissue paper.

'Whoa, take it easy Sam. You don't have many of those,' Sal said as Sam realized what she had done.

"Oops. Guess I forgot that I needed to tear off the sleeves before putting any of them on," she said as she grabbed another shirt, ripped the sleeves off, and put it on. It was snug on her, but it would have to do for now. The shorts seemed like a second skin as she looked at them. She looked in the mirror and felt a bit better about her attire. But she still wanted to have shirts with sleeves and knew she would have to get some shirts custom made.

She heard the bus pull up, pulled back the curtain, and saw Virginia getting off. She wasn't sure how she would react to seeing her mother like this, but hoped for the best. She waited with anticipation as Virginia entered. Sam intentionally stood out of sight at first as Virginia took off her backpack and coat.

"Mom!" she called out.

Sam took a deep breath. "Yes sweetheart, I'm here."

Virginia began to make her way towards Sam when she told her to wait.

"Please wait a second. Before you see me, remember how I looked yesterday?"

"Well yeah, you looked pretty good. I never imagined you as having such muscle tone before," Virginia said referring to yesterday.

"Well, this might surprise you," Sam said, and slowly walked into the living room.

Virginia's jaw just dropped as she saw her mother for the first time since she became truly muscular.

CHAPTER VII: THE RETURN
Sam and Kevin are finally reunited, but little do they know that a new threat is drawing near

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

Virginia was at a complete loss for words. After several moments of tense silence, Virginia finally found her voice again.

"M...Mom! You're huge! You look like a female version of the Incredible Hulk! Forget She Hulk, she doesn't even compare!" Virginia said excitedly.

Sam blushed at this. "So...you don't think I'm ugly with muscles?" she asked.

"Are you kidding!? You look awesome! I bet no one would have the guts to mess with you now!" Virginia said with such enthusiasm.

"Thanks Virginia. I'm really glad you think so. Let's just hope your father feels the same way," Sam said.

Virginia smirked. "Oh, I'm certain he will."

"Well go ahead and get your homework done sweetheart. I'm going to get dinner started and I thought later we'd go play out back for a little bit. That is if you don't mind," Sam offered.

Virginia's face lit up, something she didn't typically do given her usually passive nature. "Cool! How about arm wrestling? I want to see how strong you are!"

Sam chuckled at this. "I don't think you'd be able to move my arm, much less beat me, but OK."

Virginia ran upstairs as Sam made dinner. Afterwards, she called Virginia down and they ate. And eat Sam did. Her appetite was more than triple what she used to eat. Virginia noticed this, but figured it had to do with her increased bulk.

The conversation that Sam knew would come finally began.

"So Mom, just what is that thing that I saw on your neck the other day?" Virginia asked.

"Well, remember everything I told you about SETI's attempts to make contact with intelligent life from outer space? Well, this is it. Her name is Sal," Sam said.

Sal was visible and Virginia cautiously glanced at her as Sam craned her neck to give her a better look.

"That's wicked. Can... can I touch her?" Virginia asked.

"Well..." Sam began.

'It's fine with me, Sam. She can if she wants to,' Sal said to Sam.

"Well alright. She told me it's OK," Sam said as Virginia got up and reached over and felt the Amazoa's really hard exoskeleton exterior.

"So... she can't talk?" Virginia asked.

"Not out loud; she's telepathic. Only I can hear her speak, but in my mind. She has no mouth or eyes. Basically, she sees and speaks through me," Sam said.

"You mean she can control you like The Puppet Masters?" Virginia asked.

Sam felt a bit embarrassed by that question. "Well yes and no. You see, while she does possess the ability to control me, it takes a great deal of effort to do so. Anything she wants to say would normally be directed to me to say myself," Sam said.

"Can she say something through you?" Virginia asked boldly.

"Well..." Sam again began.

'Come to think of it, Sal hasn't controlled me before now,' Sam thought to herself.

This sparked her curiosity.

'How bout it Sal; want to say something to her?' Sam asked Sal telepathically.

'Sure, why not?' Sal answered.

Sam's mouth opened, but a completely different female voice emerged. It was a beautiful voice, one which Sam immediately recognized as the voice of Sal's human form in her dreams. This really felt weird for her to be literally disconnected from her mouth's motor functions like this. But she remained calm about it as Sal spoke through her out loud for the first time.

"Hello Virginia. I'm sorry to have... imposed on your lives like this," Sal began.

But Virginia wasn't upset in the least, "No! It's all right! In fact, I should be thanking you! My life has been rather boring until now. And what you've done for my Mom, I think it's so cool! Just how strong did you make her?" she asked excitedly.

"Well, I don't know. You see it's because of the vegetables she eats that she's become as muscular as she has," Sal said.

Sam smiled as Sal's voice continued. "I guess this is another good reason why you should eat your vegetables."

Virginia chuckled at this. She certainly couldn't argue with that.

"As I said, even though you seem ok with it, I'm still sorry it happened the way it did. You see, I can't leave your mother at any time for as long as she lives. Our lives are connected to each other's survival. If I disconnect from her, she would die. And then so would I if I didn't find another host soon," Sal said.

Virginia never thought of this. And even though she liked seeing her Mom in such amazing physical shape, she never considered this creature's continued existence with them for the rest of their lives.

"Well... well that's all right! I can get used to the idea! You have no reason to leave now, do you?" Virginia asked.

Sal felt a stab of sadness at this question. She had been so certain that she and her Amazoan brethren could find a new home with these humans. But that was obviously not possible. These humans are too volatile for her species to share their existence. And yet now, she is faced with remaining with them herself. If she tried to leave, she would doom Sam to death and the impact on her conscience would be too much to bear. On the other hand, she may never again be with her kind. Even if she did stay with Sam until she died, there's no guarantee she'd be able to return to her home world in time to rejoin. It seemed that either way, her life would never be as it was.

"No, I couldn't leave even if I wanted to," Sal said, not sure herself if she was right.

Sam could sense Sal's uncertainty, and that made her uncomfortable.

'Sal, you don't really believe that, do you?' Sam asked in her mind.

'Look, I can't blame you for me being here. Ken was trying to protect me and it seemed like the only practical solution at the time,' Sal answered.

'Please Sal, return control to me now,' Sam said.

Without a word, she felt herself back in control of her voice once again.

"Well, what's going on?" Virginia asked, because of the silence since Sal answered.

"It's me; I'm back in control," Sam said.

Virginia saw the look of uncertainty on Sam's face.

"Is everything OK, Mom?" Virginia asked.

Sam looked out the window as she chewed down another bite of her dinner. "I'm OK. It's just..."

She knew the truth would be hard for Virginia to hear, but felt it was the right thing to do. She had to know what could happen.

And so Sam told Virginia everything she knew about what happened back at SETI, the deaths of the scientists at Blake's hand as well as his very negative view on the Amazoans, Hal's death, the hesitation Sal feels of being on Earth by herself for Sam's lifetime, and most importantly what would happen if Sal did leave. In spite of it all, Virginia took it rather well. She made it clear that living with them would be a good thing for Sal. Virginia also revealed that it would be a unique thing for Sal to be the sole Amazoa with firsthand knowledge of life with the humans.

After dinner was over, Sam asked Virginia to get her homework done before she went to bed. Seeing her Mom with such huge muscles, while being so cool to her, was also quite intimidating and she didn't dare defy her. When Sam was alone once again, she went outside in the back yard. She sat down on a bench she had, where she and Kevin used to watch the sunset, since the backyard faced west, and started flexing her arm repeatedly. It seemed no matter what mood she may be in, be it happy or depressed, seeing her biceps bulge to such immense size had a rapidly stimulating effect on her. She wanted to test the limits of her strength sometime, but wasn't comfortable with the idea of going to a gym; not yet anyway.

As the sun was setting, she gazed around the yard. Aside from the bench she sat on, there was only a tree that stood in the far left corner of the yard. Virginia always enjoyed climbing it and sometimes even reading her books up there. Sam had since knew she was quite capable of handling herself up there.

Without really thinking, Sam got up and walked over to the tree. She stared absentmindedly at it as she put a hand up to it. She found herself looking down at her bulging bicep as she did this and clenched her hand into a fist, pulled it back, and, still unthinking, drove it into the side of the tree's trunk. Her fist hit it with a loud crunching sound as it embedded itself in the tree, producing a gaping hole extending halfway through it.

"Holy shit!" Sam yelled as she pulled her fist out. She half-expected her hand to be punctured by splinters. But to her amazement, her hand was completely unharmed.

"Oh wow! This is so... mmmm sexy," Sam cooed to herself as she felt an erotic feeling sweep over her. It was one thing that her muscles easily aroused her, but a mere exertion of her strength such as this felt so orgasmic. It was all she could do to keep from having an orgasm on the spot. As she stood there flexing, a sound brought her out of it as she heard more crunching sounds behind her. She turned around just in time to see the tree losing its balance. The hole she punched into was bigger on the inside than she thought and it was falling apart from where she hit. If it fell all the way down, it would hit the house for sure. She reached up as high as she could and caught it as it neared the ground. She got her answer to what her limits were when she found herself struggling hard to hold it up. It wasn't a small tree either. And the uneven distribution of weight among the branches above made it even harder to balance. All of Sam's muscles were bulging to their max with size that blew away the most muscular men on the planet.

Virginia heard the racket, looked outside to see what was going on, and upon seeing this, ran downstairs to see what was happening. But as she got to the bottom of the stairs, she saw the front door open...

Sam was beginning to lose her battle with the tree, which began to bear down on her with its extreme weight. She began to panic. If it fell any further, it would damage the house. She poured every ounce of strength into her arms that she could. Biceps and triceps worked in unison as they were bulging to superhuman size. When Sam's adrenalin kicked in, something unexpected happened. She felt her strength skyrocket. The adrenalin mixed with Sal's serum producing an insane potency in it that caused her muscles to reach their limit, but become far stronger. As if in a dream, she saw herself suddenly pushing the tree off the stump that once held it, and away from the house and held it above her head. Though she could still feel a little effort being put into holding it, it felt a lot lighter. It totally messed with her perception of its weight, but she held it there with little effect from its uneven balance.

Virginia was standing at the doorway as this happened. But she wasn't the only one standing there. Kevin also stood there, his jaw hanging open. They watched as Sam slowly turned around to face them. When she noticed that Kevin was with Virginia, she blushed. He wasn't supposed to come back until tomorrow. She had to set the tree down, but there was no way she could do so without damaging some part of the fence that bordered the back yard. She got an idea and carefully maneuvered the tree so that half of it hovered partway into one of her neighbors' yard. She then took her right hand off leaving her left to support it. But even with her newfound superhuman strength, it was going to tilt off her lone hand. She acted fast and clenched her right hand into a fist and drove it as hard as she could next to where her left hand was holding the tree, and was able to break it in half. With incredible speed, she caught the half hovering over her neighbor's yard and was barely able to keep it from hitting the fence as the half behind her fell safely into her own yard where there was now enough room. She had to exert herself to regain a good grip and balance on the half that was now in front of her as she moved it back to a center position above her. She then walked to the center of the yard and set it down on top of the other half.

Sam let out a sigh of relief as she looked at her arms. She just couldn't believe how huge they were. And the strength she felt; it was unreal. She looked up and saw her family staring a hole through her, one with awe and the other with obvious sexual longing. It was the answer she had hoped for; she knew that Kevin had changed his mind.

She walked up to them and looked at Virginia. "Sweetheart, I want you to go to bed now."

"But Mom!" Virginia began to object, but Sam interrupted.

"I have to sort something out with your father. You don't need to see this, now go!" Sam ordered.

"Oh fine," Virginia said reluctantly as she went back inside and upstairs.

Kevin and Sam stood there outside. It was dark out and quiet, despite the contrary just moments earlier. It didn't seem like any of the neighbors noticed. That was fine by her; she preferred not to draw unnecessary attention to herself.

Kevin was eyeing Sam up and down. She saw this and said nothing. She wanted him to take in her physique well. As he was doing this, she felt her strength decreasing. Her muscles also began to recede back to their previous size. It felt very disconcerting, but she gathered from not only her thoughts, but Sal's, that the adrenaline was the catalyst for her brief superhuman strength. Sal had been quiet the whole time since Sam took control of her mouth back. She had only just now remembered this and wondered what was going on with her. But there wasn't any time at the moment.

"Kevin," Sam said.

"Yes, Hun?" he asked.

She looked into his eyes, saw he was still staring at her muscles, and though she personally was enjoying being admired in such a new way like this by her husband, wanted to be serious with him for a moment. She put a hand on his chin and gently moved it upward so his face was facing hers.

"I should be mad at you for jumping to conclusions and leaving me alone like this. I really should be. But for some reason, I'm not," Sam said.

Kevin looked downward, feeling the guilt. "I'm... sorry Samantha."

"Hey," Sam began to say, getting Kevin to return his eyes to hers.

"Just promise me you'll never leave me like that again. I'm not like most women who think divorce is the answer to any marital problems. I'll tell you everything about what happened to me. But I need you to promise me this. I want you to be with me forever. I want to be with you forever. Please promise me this," Sam asked.

Kevin took Sam's hands into his and looked deep into her eyes as he smiled. "Yes my love, I promise; never again will anything come between us."

He remembered that the alien creature was on Sam's neck and looked in her direction.

"Your name again, it's Sal right?" he asked.

'Go ahead Sal, you have the floor,' Sam said to her in her mind.

Sam's expression changed as Sal's voice once again emerged from Sam's mouth. "That's right."

Kevin's expression was humble. "I'm sorry I was quick to judge. I hope you can forgive me."

Sam's face lit up. "Thank you, but it's not necessary. I may see everything through Sam's eyes; but if you think about it, she and I are essentially as one, even if we are two separate personalities. And I don't want you to think you and she can't continue your marriage with me joined with her. And as you can see, it's safe for me to say that your marriage - our marriage - will flourish better than ever before."

Kevin still found it weird having a wife composed of two entities. But the sight of Sam's unbelievable musculature had such an intoxicating effect on him. He was feeling very tempted to take Sam right there and then, but he wanted to make it right.

"Hey, Hun," Kevin said.

Sam's voice returned. "Yes, baby?"

"I'm going to take Virginia to my brother's place to spend the night," Kevin said.

Sam caught on quick to where Kevin was going with this. "I see. Well as long as he doesn't keep her up with his TV. You know how he likes to watch movies. And he'll need to be able to get up early enough to get Virginia to school tomorrow morning."

Kevin nodded in understanding as he went inside with Sam close behind. It was decided that Kevin would go alone. Virginia wasn't too happy to have to get out of bed like this when she was just getting ready to go to sleep, but she finally relented when Kevin hinted to her why. He knew Virginia in ways Sam didn't, and knew that she was old enough to understand some of the things adults do to a certain extent.

An hour later, Kevin returned. Sam wanted to wear something sexy for him. But because of her still limited wardrobe supply, she had to resort to using a large beach towel that she tied around her breasts as it hung halfway down her legs.

"Well hello sexy," Sam cooed, her arms the only thing exposed. That alone had Kevin almost drooling.

A thought occurred to Kevin. "Did you know I have a thing for female bodybuilders?"

Sam clutched his arm gently, knowing her strength could easily break it, in a teasingly sexual way. "I'll confess, someone we know and love saw you ogling those female bodybuilders on the computer. I won't say who."

Kevin felt embarrassed and guilty by this. "Sam, I'm...I..."

She just put a hand to his mouth, "It's alright; you don't have to apologize or explain. Maybe back then perhaps, but now I have more muscle than any of them will ever have. Just put it out of your mind and come with me upstairs. I want you to fuck me like your life depended on it."

She looked down and saw the bulge in his pants. "And judging from the prominent boner you're sporting," she continued with a smile, "it looks like your life DOES depend on it."

When they entered their bedroom, she spun around and took off the towel, exposing every naked inch of her muscular flesh. The sight was enough to drive Kevin wild, so wild that he actually came right in his pants. He quickly removed all his clothes and threw them in the hamper. Normally, that would be it once he orgasmed. But just the sight of this musclebound superwoman, that he had the privilege to call his wife, was enough to drive him back into his highly aroused state. And soon enough, he was sporting another stiffy as he jumped on top of her.

"Baby, wait one sec," she said as Kevin was feeling the strain from his arousal.

Sam picked the mattress and box spring off the bed frame and laid them on the floor next to it.

"Just a precaution," she said innocently.

Kevin didn't care. They laid down on the bed and he got on top of her. The look in her eyes was feral, "Go ahead, you won't hurt me. Have your way with me! Do everything with me you've always wanted to do with those muscle women! And know that all of that can now be focused on me! Those other muscle women are insignificant compared to me!"

"You know it! You are now the embodiment of my perfect woman, in both personality and physicality! You are my perfection and my fantasy!" Kevin exclaimed as he attacked her with kisses with all the strength he could muster. He started feeling her all over, exploring the rock hard muscles that covered her. It was more pleasurable than he ever imagined! And sooner than he realized, he was drawn to her pussy. It was clean-shaven, just as he always liked it. Normally, he was rarely the type who went down on her. It wasn't exactly his sexual act of choice. But now he was driven to do nothing less than just that. Sam's legs were quick to spread as Kevin started sucking and whipping his tongue in and out with a vengeance. Sam was being driven wild with sexual fervor. She began experiencing orgasm after orgasm as Kevin found himself lapping up her love juices, and really liking it! It tasted sweet. He kept this up for several minutes as Sam was screaming with pleasure.

"OH KEVIN!! YES! YESSS!!! KEEP GOING!! SUCK ME!! LICK ME!!! EAT ME!!! FEELS SO GOOD!! UNNN!! OHHH!! AHHH!! BABY YES!!! OH KEVIN!!! AHHH!!!" Sam screamed as all her muscles tensed up and bulged to their maximum. Kevin could actually hear the muscles stretching! It was unbearably erotic! Sam's back had arched really high as she splattered Kevin with cum! It was pure bliss for her. But she wanted his cock and she wanted it deep inside her.

"Inside lover; I'm not done with you yet! It's time for you to experience a new level of ecstasy the likes of which you have never imagined!" Sam said with a raspiness in her voice.

She didn't have to tell him twice as he got back on top of her and placed his erect member inside of her. With a swift and fluid motion, Sam spun them around, putting her on top.

"Here baby, allow me," she cooed as she began slowly thrusting her pussy up and down on Kevin's hard cock. His eyes were rolled up in his head; he was feeling such dizzying pleasure. Moans began escaping his mouth as Sam slowly picked up speed. She too, was enjoying this as much as he was, and very quickly they were both moaning with absolute pleasure.

"OH SAM!! I LOVE YOU!! UHHH!! YOU'RE SO STRONG!! SO MUSCULAR!! SO SEXY!! YOU TURN ME ON SO HOT!!! A MUSCLE GODDESS!! I WANT YOU!! DON'T STOP!!! AHHH!!!" Kevin was saying loudly through his moans as Sam's thrusting reached speeds that weren't normally possible for a woman - or even a man. And very soon, their screams echoed throughout the house as they exploded together in a huge orgasm.

Kevin thought he was spent, but Sam felt so much strength coursing through her and she wanted to give Kevin a very special orgasm. She first decided to whip him back into shape by getting up and doing a series of poses while flexing her muscles for him. He laid back as she showed off her perfectly cut thighs, glutes, and back. She flexed her abs as they bunched together while sticking out from her stomach with so much detail, veins crossing over them. She started flexing her pecs, bouncing them up and down like pistons. She increased the speed of these flexes as they began to move almost as fast as actual pistons in a car. And Kevin knew it took tremendous strength as well as control to move them that fast. His throbbing penis was more than ready at this point, but Sam wasn't done yet. She wanted to show off her favorite muscles, hers and his. She held her arms out to the sides and in slow motion, flexed them as hard as she could. Her biceps peaked at over thirty inches of solid mounds of steel. Veins were pulsating all over with one big one lining the top. Kevin wanted nothing more than to feel her muscled body against his. But Sam wouldn't be satisfied until she finished flexing her arms as hard as she could. With one final double flex, her biceps seemed to gain a couple more inches and her triceps bulged with equal intensity. If you could put an image on her arms, they would be two nuclear explosions, one in each bicep. She felt so strong and so horny, it was enough to induce a spontaneous orgasm in her as she shuddered in front of him while moaning loudly and fingering her pussy to draw it out.

After she finally finished cumming all over the floor, she knew Kevin had waited long enough. He was mere moments from orgasming himself as Sam climbed seductively on the bed and took his long, stiff member in her hand.

"Ever want to know what it feels like to have multiple orgasms like women do lover?" Sam asked seductively.

"Is that even possible for a guy?" Kevin asked knowing full well that men always need a few minutes for their balls to reload.

"Oh, I am willing to bet I can make you cum in my mouth at least twice in under two minutes," she said.

Before Kevin could say anything else, Sam was sucking on his cock with passion and longing. Thanks to her feverish muscle display, Kevin was quick to orgasm almost immediately after she started. Sam swallowed every last bit of his semen, personally enjoyed how it tasted, and began sucking on his cock even faster than before. It was beginning to loose its erection, but she wouldn't allow that. She held out her left arm to her side and began repeatedly flexing her monstrous bicep which coupled with the amazing blowjob she was giving him, brought his cock back to full attention just as the first minute passed. She then began to hold her bicep flex in place as she started increasing the speed of her blowjob. It shouldn't be possible for her jaw to handle such strain to move that fast, but it had no effect on her at all. Her lips were moving up and down his cock five times per second and, as he watched this, he began to feel another even bigger orgasm well up inside him. A minute and a half had passed and she managed to increase her speed to six times per second. Kevin returned his gaze to her throbbing bicep. His eyes went wide as he saw it swell in size to thirty-five inches. More veins were appearing and, as they hit the minute and fifty second mark, Sam topped off at seven sucks per second as Kevin just screamed in pure sexual bliss, and exploded in her mouth. It was such a powerful orgasm that, not only did Sam fail to swallow it all, causing a little of it to run out of her mouth, but Kevin passed out from its overwhelming intensity. Suffice to say, he had a smile that played across his face.

Sam was unaware that her bicep had increased in size as she began fingering her pussy and flexing her arms in unison. There was just no getting tired of this. She saw how big her arms had become and felt so much raw strength coursing through her that she knew she would cause damage, even to the mattress. She got up and began to stride downstairs to the cellar, with its cement floor. Her legs were shuddering, like she was about to lose control of herself. The moment she reached the cellar, she fell to her knees as she had her most uncontrollable orgasm yet. Her screams of pleasure were loud as ever as she uncontrollably brought her fists down to the floor, causing rather large cracks at the points of impact. Her pussy was blasting love juice all over the floor in copious amounts as her muscles were once again at their maximum. After what seemed like an eternity, her orgasm finally subsided. She plopped down on the floor as she reveled in the aftermath of it all. The floor was just soaked all around her. Who would've known anyone could put out so much cum. But, for her massive body, little seemed impossible.

Sam slowly pulled herself to her feet, did her best to clean up the mess she made on the cellar floor, and dragged herself back upstairs. Her biceps had once more receded back to their regular thirty-inch size, twenty-five unflexed. Regardless, she remained a thing of beauty and power. She entered the bedroom to see Kevin fast asleep. Even though she could probably get away with staying up, she felt that she could still benefit greatly from a good night's rest. Even Sal agreed with this. She looked at the clock to see that it was midnight. That had to be a record for them as far as the duration of sex went. She covered Kevin up with a blanket, crawled into bed herself and, within minutes, fell into a deep sleep.

-March 23rd, 2010-

In the far reaches of the Galaxy, a small space pod was making its way toward Earth. It had the same configuration as the pods that carried the two Amazoa. In the interior, we see that it is indeed another Amazoa, a male one. And on the screen in front of him was a readout that displayed just one line:

'Terminate the Princess...'

CHAPTER VIII: THE HISTORY
Sal explains her culture and her past. Meanwhile, unknown to them, a sinister force approaches Earth

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

In the recesses of Sam's subconscious, a dream is taking place. In it, Sam and Sal are in a large room with windows made of colored patterns. It had a surreal beauty to it, like a castle from ancient times. Sam stood at the entrance to it and, to her delight, Kevin was with her. She called out to Sal, but she didn't answer.

When they didn't hear any response, Sam and Kevin walked forward. They looked to the sides of the hall as they saw large statues of various bipedal species they didn't recognize. While they all were human-like in appearance, they were anything but human. They noticed that each was well built, much like Sam herself. It was like a royal palace. As they made their way to the front, they could actually see a throne. And in it was none other than Sal in her human form. She was as beautiful looking as ever and was wearing a royal dress. Sam gasped at this possible revelation, but suddenly woke up.

-March 23rd, 2010-

It was morning and the sun was coming up. In the bedroom upstairs, Kevin and Sam lay asleep together, Sam in Kevin's arms, looks of contentment on their faces. Sam's muscles, while a lot more relaxed than usual, were still a sight to see. Suddenly, Sam opened her eyes. Though she was getting used to it by now, she put a hand to the back of her neck to feel Sal there. Lately, her dreams all had a connection to the real world. Sal's telepathy had created a new reality within her own subconscious that they share together. What's more, they are lovers in that reality. Sam has since figured it as loving a part of herself and not another person.

She sat up in bed and looked over at Kevin, whose eyes were open and looking at her. His mouth was hanging open.

Somehow, Sam knew...

"What did you see? In that dream, what did you see?" Sam asked.

Kevin's eyes were wide as he answered. "A large hall, like in a royal palace. We were standing there when you called out to someone though I can't remember what you said. We walked toward the front of the hall when I saw this beautiful woman with long flowing hair. She looked like some Princess. Before anything could happen, I woke up."

"That's exactly the dream I had," Sam said with shock.

'I believe I can explain this,' Sal said in Sam's mind.

'How then, Sal?' Sam asked.

"Sam..." Kevin began to say.

"One minute please Hun, Sal is telling me something." Sam interrupted.

'Actually, it's probably a good idea that he hear what I have to say as well. May I borrow your voice?' Sal asked.

'Sure, but I assume I'll be in on the conversation?' Sam asked.

'Of course. And if you want to say anything, just direct your thoughts to me as you normally would. You'll still have control over them,' Sal said.

'OK,' Sam said.

Her eyes closed for a moment, then opened. Kevin looked into her eyes and could swear they changed color from their usual blue to green. It actually looked a bit eerie. A different voice emerged from Sam's lips.

"I'm speaking through Sam with her permission, Kevin. Please don't be alarmed. My telepathy causes me and Sam to share the same dream, right? Well I think what happened was that your physical contact with Sam caused my telepathy to reach into your mind as well, to a certain extent, allowing you to share her dream," Sal said.

"Hmm, that makes sense. But... but what was that place?" he asked.

"Well, you see, last night had the same relaxing effect on me as it did you two. During the early hours of the morning, I found myself thinking about back home. It manifested as the royal hall. I didn't exactly intend for her to see that. It caught me off guard when Sam's voice called out to me." Sal said.

"So you really are a Princess?" Kevin asked.

After some hesitation: "Yes. I'm the head of the ruling class of the Amazoans. I wasn't ready to tell either of you this yet, but..."

"But what Sal?" he asked impatiently.

"Well, you see by all accounts, I shouldn't even be here. The others had objections to me making contact with you humans. You see, we've learned more about you than you realize. You didn't exactly make it difficult. We studied your culture in all it's aspects. We've looked into your history and your technology. I personally felt the humans deserved the chance they were longing for to make contact with a people like us. But most of the ruling class were opposed to the idea. They felt you were too, how should I put this primitive. Not in terms of your technology, but the behavioral patterns many of you possess. You have a rather extensive history of violence. There are so many conflicts among you, past and present. And this has left the majority of us with reservations of making any contact with you, much less joining with you humans," she said.

She turned and looked out the bedroom window at the scenery beyond. "You see, everyone was so focused on the negative aspects of humans. But I looked at the positive aspects. And embedded within all the turmoil lies a promising future. I've studied your literature and media. You have quite a bright outlook on the future; a hope for one of not only worldwide peace, but peace with civilizations from other worlds. One such media uses the term Federation."

Kevin smiled at this. "Sounds like Star Trek. That's so awesome that it actually appealed to an alien civilization!"

Sal turned back around and smiled back. "Indeed. I guess you can say I try to read between the lines. While your world may not exactly be a paradise, you have such strong ambitions and that was what drove me to come here."

'So tell me Sal, what is your civilization like?' Sam asked.

"Well, it's funny Kevin mentions this Star Trek. Because in a way, we Amazoans have our own type of coalition of worlds. Throughout the ages, we have formed bonds with a few other worlds, each with bipedal species like your own. Only one was a quadruped, but it didn't exactly work out. We have since limited our exploration to bipedal species. Anyway, our civilization consists nowadays of our kind scattered throughout the galaxy with other species on other worlds. We do have our own home world, but only a few of us actually remain there, and they are known as the unjoined. Meaning they have never joined with another species and never will for as long as they live," Sal explained.

'Sounds awful if you ask me.' Sam said.

"You may think so. But on the contrary, they are quite content with their lives. Our home world is the only planet that has a virtually inexhaustible supply of the type of external foods that we live on. And because there are only a few of us there, it is in no danger of ever being depleted since the biosphere is rich with life. And the majority of them are actually a part of that ruling class," Sal said.

'So those statues I saw in the dream, were they other species you've joined with?' Sam asked.

"About those statues..." Kevin began to ask.

"Yeah, Sam just asked me the same thing. Yes, they are. In fact, those are the individuals I myself have been joined with in the past. I carry their memories and experiences," Sal said.

"So, does that mean Sam has access to those memories and experiences?" Kevin asked.

"Well, yes and no. While Sam can indeed see my memories to a certain degree, my experiences aren't exactly something she can just pick up. You see, I've analyzed the human brain while joined with both Ken and Sam, and have determined that you must learn everything you know and experience. To just do it from an existing cache is not something the human brain is easily capable of. The sudden stimulus would exhaust the brain and the nervous system. The only way Sam could do any of the things I have actually experienced, I would have to be in complete control of her body for it to happen. And as I said before, controlling the host takes a lot of effort on my part," Sal said.

'Hey Sal, there's one thing I must know. Are there any... criminals among your kind? Have there been any conflicts among the Amazoans specifically?' Sam asked.

There was a pause. Sam knew already that Sal's answer wouldn't be pleasant.

-Meanwhile in outer space-

The small pod is rapidly approaching Earth. As sensors go off inside it, the sole occupant triggers a control which activates a cloaking device.

-Meanwhile at SETI-

At SETI headquarters, the building is currently restricted to military and high ranking personnel. A search is out for the missing Amazoa. Every employee past and present who was there at the time of the attack is being investigated and subjected to testing. Security cameras are being examined to determine the identity of every possible civilian who was there at the time as well. At the station in the main lab, a military officer monitoring space looks up from his station.

"Sir," he said.

Major Blake Newman, the head of the military contingent assigned to oversee SETI until further notice, walks over to the officer's station.

"What is it? What did you find?" he asked.

"I'm not sure sir. There was a blip on the long-range radar, then it just vanished. It appeared to be moving at extreme velocity in our direction. Might've just been a false reading," he said.

Blake knew better. "Never make any assumptions soldier! Or I'll have your career! If I know any better, it could be reinforcements sent to attack or worse, invade! I'm betting an advanced stealth technology is being used and we just caught a faint glimpse of it."

The military officer turned around to face Blake. "But sir, it was only one signal, not a group."

Blake stood defiant. "It doesn't matter. Do what you can to find out what that blip was and report any findings to me immediately."

-Cut back to Sam, Sal, and Kevin-

"For the most part, we Amazoans have never had any cause for conflicts. Given our way of living, we have always been perfectly content with how we existed. I can honestly say that we have never had any real conflicts among us given that we are so scattered across the galaxy. But there was one..."

-Cut back to outer space-

The pod has passed Mars on fast approach toward Earth, undetected. The occupant: silent... still...waiting.

-Cut back to Sam, Sal, and Kevin-

"He had different views on our way of life; our very existence. He believes Amazoans should be the dominant part of the symbiosis between us and the hosts we inhabit. Despite the fact that such dominance would be too much for an Amazoan to handle on a regular basis, he feels it's better than how we live now. He was the only one who had such views. He was once a part of the ruling class back on our home world as an unjoined. Naturally, the others felt threatened by his views and removed him from the class. At first, things seemed to calm down for a bit. But it was soon discovered that he took a host by force and began performing experiments. It was believed he was trying to find a way to alter his physiology to make it easier for him to maintain control over a host. We Amazoans had never had to deal with such a case as one of our own acting in such a rebellious way, and as such, were ill-equipped to track him down," Sal said.

Kevin finally spoke up. "So what became of him?"

Sal looked at him, a note of concern in her voice. "Well you see, I was in the transition state between hosts during this situation. And through my acquired skills and knowledge, took my next host and assembled a team of Cyclereans, one of the species we were sharing our existence with, and treated him as a fugitive. It took longer than we predicted to finally track him down. But when we did, we found out that he had taken over several hosts in a short period of time, no doubt to perform his many experiments! The host he was attached to looked up at us and just laughed. He recognized me and wanted me to join him. Given my status as the ruler of the Amazoans, he wanted to regain his power through me. But I refused. Before we could apprehend him, he detached from his host, and escaped via space pod. The host died before we could save him. None of us have been able to find him since."

There was a moment of silence as they took this in.

'What happened to the rest of the Amazoans?' Sam asked.

"Mercifully, most of them are still unaware of any of this. They're still out there living their lives with their current hosts. But I'm sure those who have returned to the home world between hosts have learned of this. It caused quite a stir among us. But still, we remain set in our ways. We value our memories and experiences too much. But since he never had any of those, he was more easily swayed in his own beliefs," Sal said.

She looked at Kevin as she returned her thoughts to the present. "Make no mistake, to try to exist with others through force would only lead to conflicts that would threaten not only our way of life, but our very existence. He doesn't understand this!"

"What's his name?" Kevin asked.

"His name is Nil." she said.

'You know it's certainly understandable for species like us to have reservations about being joined with someone who can control your body, but I don't feel threatened by you,' Sam said.

"Of course not. Believe me, if I had such an evil intent, you wouldn't feel so at ease with me. Our minds are interlinked. My emotions and intentions can be sensed by you. It's not just a one way street between us here." Sal said.

"Any idea where this Nil is right now?" Kevin asked.

"I don't know. But wherever he is, I'm sure he's still out there... performing his twisted experiences," Sal said.

Sam clenched her fist and her bicep tensed up to increasing size. Sal could sense her concern and understood it.

-Cut back to outer space-

A small monitor lit up as Earth came into view. The controls were being worked within the craft as it neared Earth.

-Cut to SETI-

Back at SETI, all military and SETI personnel were hard at work. Though unaware of the approaching craft specifically, they were preparing for any possible attack or invasion.

Meanwhile, a car pulls up in Sam's driveway. Two military officers and Roger Davis, a SETI official, step out. One of the military officers leans in Roger's ear.

"This better be it. We've searched everyone else with no success. This Samantha O'Reilly is the only one left. She may have just been a secretary in the museum, but she was there regardless and we must search her too," he said.

"We'll see." Roger said.

-Cut to the Amazoan space pod-

The pod has reached Earth as a control is activated in it. The pod begins its descent into Earth's atmosphere...

Chapter IX: The Confrontation
As Blake and his military forces close in, Nil arrives on Earth with his sights set on Sal

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

Kevin had just gotten off the phone with his brother to make sure that Virginia was taken to school on time. Sam was standing in the living room absentmindedly flexing her muscles. She was getting used to having them, and found herself just flexing them whenever nothing was going on around her. She found it to be not only pleasurable to see the detail in her physique, especially her arms, but relaxing as well. Kevin stood in the archway to the living room and just silently watched her. He had come to realize that he was wrong about Sal. She may be a third person, so to speak, that is always with him and Sam, but she was also a part of Sam now. And he found that he no longer needed his pictures of the thing he had always fantasized about. He was somewhat ashamed of this, given his married status. But he would have never actually cheated on Sam with such a woman. But now, he has everything he could ever hope for in a woman. Sam was now truly his ultimate fantasy of a woman, and he didn't even have to start over with her. The sight of such a muscle bound she-hulk made him easily aroused. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to control himself around her, even if she wasn't flexing. Her body was just perfect to him.

His reverie and Sam's flexing were both interrupted by a knock at the door. Sam finally noticed that Kevin was standing there, but began to walk over to the door when Sal's voice rang out in her head.

'No, wait Sam. I sense something is wrong with this,' Sal said with urgency.

Sam walked over to Kevin. "Hey, Sal senses something wrong. Can you answer the door? Who ever it is, I'm not here," she said quietly.

Another knock on the door. Kevin nodded and as Sam ran upstairs, Kevin answered the door. His eyes went wide when he saw two men there. One in a military uniform, the other in a scientist###s jacket.

"Yes, can I help you?" Kevin asked.

The guy in the jacket answered, "Hello. My name is Roger Davis. I'm an official from SETI. You must be Samantha's Husband, Kevin, correct?"

Kevin eyed him suspiciously. "That's right. What is it you need?"

"Well, you see we are here to see Samantha. I'm sure by now you've heard about the shootout that took place back at SETI a few days ago," Roger said.

"Sam mentioned something happening there, but she didn't know the details. She's just a secretary for the public museum branch of SETI. What could you possibly want with her?" Kevin asked with annoyance.

The military guy put a hand to his ear, listening to something being spoken to him in an earpiece he was wearing.

"SETI has established contact with its first ever species from globular star cluster M4, a race of symbiotic creatures called the Amazoa. There were two of them. When it was discovered they have the ability to take over the body of whoever they are joined with, they were determined to be a potential threat. One of them had joined with our head scientist, Dr. Kenneth Baker and, when that detail, which had not revealed, was discovered, action was taken. Ken tried to escape and attacked two of the military guards. That was all that was needed for them to use all necessary force to stop him. We lost sight of him for a moment as he made his way out through the museum where Sam works. When they caught up with him - it was their Major Blake Newman that caught up to him - and Ken was regretfully killed. But the creature was no longer attached to him. At some point, that creature left him and had to have joined with someone else. She was incapable of moving around effectively on her own..." Roger was saying.

"Enough Roger, we have a job to do! This lengthy explanation isn't necessary. Look Kevin, we insist that you have Sam come with us. We have authorization to search the premises," the officer said.

"She's not here, alright!? She's out running errands!" Kevin lied, having lost his patience.

The officer put his hand to his ear again. His expression changed. Kevin knew that something was up.

"Stand aside. We'll take her by force if..." he began to say, when a loud crash was heard from a window at the side of the house at the upstairs level. It was another officer.

"Sam no!" Kevin yelled. But the officer standing there hit Kevin over the head with his sidearm, knocking him out. Suddenly, another loud crash was heard and the officer saw a sudden swift movement out the corner of his eye, drawing his attention back to the window from outside. The other officer was seen flying out of it really fast, crashing hard against the side of the neighbor's house several yards away. The officer fell to the ground with a thud.

Undeterred, the officer that knocked Kevin out ran upstairs, gun at the ready, and kicked down the bedroom door. He saw the broken window on the far side of the room. A rapid movement descended on him and, before he realized it, his gun was no longer in his hand. And then he saw her. His eyes went wide with shock. He expected to see a slender woman. But she was massive. He saw more muscle on her than he believed possible. And they were all bulging with muscular intensity as she stood there, holding his gun. Without a word, she took the gun in both hands and bent it in half without the slightest hint of strain. He began to fear what this muscle freak was capable of when she began to advance on him.

"You shouldn't have come here," Sam said with controlled fury.

The officer swung his fist at her face with all his might. It was like it was happening in slow motion. Sam could clearly see it coming and could easily block it. But out of curiosity, she let him connect to see how well she could take a punch in her strengthened state. To her amazement, the punch felt more like a tap. She didn't flinch one bit. The officer began to back away. He knew then that he was no match for her. She could tell he was going to make a run for it and grabbed him by the throat with movements swifter than he could follow. With one hand, slowly and deliberately, she lifted him up in the air until his head was touching the ceiling. The officer was struggling for air with everything he had.

'Don't kill him Sam. That'll only give them more reason to want to kill us,' Sal said.

'No! They have already killed two innocent men for trying to protect you. They deserve no mercy for what they've done!' Sam yelled in her mind in anger.

'Please! My love!' Sal said.

Those words snapped Sam out of it. It was the first time their dream state love affair was acknowledged so openly in the waking world. Sam didn't want to feel those feelings while awake. She wanted all her love to be focused on Kevin. She finally put the officer down. But before he could do anything, she lightly drove her fist into his midsection, knocking him out. She then carried him to the window and dropped him to the ground below.

"That was not fair Sal!" she said.

'I'm sorry to bring such a thing up, but it was the only way I could get your attention. You were going to kill that guy!' Sal pleaded with her.

"And why should I let them live?" Sam asked, her anger rising again.

'Because it's me they're after! Not you! And I'm asking you not to stoop to their level! Don't you see, if you start killing, even to protect me, that will be all the reason they'll need to hunt down not just me, but my brethren too! I'm sorry to say this, but people like Blake are exactly the reason the majority of us didn't want to make contact with you,' Sal said.

Sam was fed up with this. "Look! You said it yourself that you wanted to come! And I'm sorry things had to turn out this way. But you have to understand that we humans are just irrational! It's just something we can't change. And if that makes us unworthy of becoming a part of your coalition, then so be it!"

Sal didn't respond. Sam knew she got her point across.

"Sam! Get down here!" Kevin called from downstairs.

Sam dashed down the stairs to see Kevin with Roger pinned against the wall by the throat.

"Ugghhnnooo, I...can...explain," he said through choked breath.

"Let him go Kevin. He wouldn't dare try anything with us both here," Sam said.

Kevin turned his gaze back towards the man. And with a momentary look of anger, released him.

Sam walked up to him and crossed her very powerful arms.

"So tell me, what's going on? Why did you come here?" Sam asked.

Roger took a moment to catch his breath. "Isn't it obvious? They want Sal. But please, I'm not your enemy. Unfortunately, the military is trying very hard to take complete control of SETI over this. But it's really that Blake guy. I wasn't there to witness it, but I was told how he killed Ken and David in cold blood. Of course, none of the other military guys saw it that way. We have worked so hard for this moment. And what happens, the military shows up with fear of the worst case scenario and kills one of the Amazoa. We never did know his name.

Memories came to Sam as Sal laid on the story for her to relay.

"His name was Hal. He and Sal were close for many years. One of their previous host-couples were married. It's not something that normally happens between two people that both host an Amazoa, but it happened with these two. As the time went on, Sal and Hal found their own closeness with each other and, in a way, it became a double marriage for them. You see, the Amazoa exist to explore the galaxy through the eyes of the hosts they inhabit. It's considered taboo for any two Amazoa to share two hosts that have a close relationship of a kind, and for a good reason. You see, Amazoa don't think and feel like the many hosts they share do. But that doesn't mean it can't happen," Sam told both Roger and Kevin.

Sam walked over to the couch to sit down along with Kevin.

"Well come on, have a seat Roger," Sam said.

Roger complied as he took a seat.

Sam leaned forward in her seat. "I may have a theory for Sal and Hal's relationship."

'So you're going to tell them, are you?' Sal asked her.

'Not about you and me specifically. But they have to know the general details.' Sam said.

"I think that close physical contact among the two joined individuals created a secondary telepathic link between Sal and Hal through their hosts. The couple's love could have rubbed off on them, which created these normally nonexistent feelings between these two. Sal... is one of a kind in more ways than one. She knows what it feels like to love. Even if she has felt that love from a host to another person, it was always a one-way street for her and thus she never experienced it personally. This is why two Amazoa don't share two hosts that are close," Sam said.

'Sam, I must say something. I must tell them something myself.' Sal told her.

After some hesitation: 'Right.'

Sam's eyes closed a moment, and reopened with her eye color changed once again from blue to green. Her voice was also once again changed as she spoke.

"Roger, is it?" Sal asked.

"Yes," he said.

"I'm sorry that we were rather cryptic in the beginning. You see, I explained it to Sam and her husband here. If it wasn't for my own insistence, along with Hal's, that we come, you never would've met us. And since you are indeed an active official, I'm telling you now that you humans are not ready to be a part of the coalition of worlds that we are an interweaving part of. You can thank your Major Blake Newman for that!" Sal said with signs of anger in her voice on that last part.

Roger took a step forward "Look, I'm sorry about what happened. I really am. Believe me, we never asked the military to get involved. And Dr. Baker was strongly opposed to the idea. But because a military presence was at the request of the President himself, we didn't have much choice. In any case, I don't blame you for your resentment. But I must warn you all, things have taken a turn for the worse since you disappeared. You obviously know that Blake is looking for you. And I'll admit I was looking for you too, but for different reasons."

"Go on." Sal said.

"Well. You see, even though I didn't play a direct role in first contact, I know about everything that took place. And I didn't get a chance to say this then, but I wanted to say it now: It's an honor and privilege to meet you. I can only hope you'll forgive us one day and maybe even return to give us a second chance at establishing relations," Roger said as he bowed.

Sal was silent. She wasn't sure how to react. Slowly, a smile crept across her face.

"Someday, Mr. Davis. Someday," Sal said.

Roger checked his watch and looked up at them. "Well I better get going."

"Wait a minute Roger," Sam's voice said as she had regained control of her voice.

"Yes?" Roger asked.

Sam went outside around to the side of the house and came back carrying the two unconscious soldiers back with her, one under each arm.

"Take this trash with you. When they wake up, just tell them you had no choice and that I would've broken every bone in your body if you didn't leave. They'll understand, especially after experiencing my strength firsthand," Sam said.

Roger stared at Sam with amazement. The change in attitude with Sam's sudden reemergence caused him to really notice the mass of muscle covering her body. He found himself really intimidated by it, and well aware of what this woman was capable.

"All right then, I guess just put them in the back," Roger said.

"Good answer," Sam said as she deposited the two in the back seat of the car.

As Roger got in, he turned and looked at Sam. "Look, I know that everything that has happened has had a negative impact on you as well. And I'm sorry. The pods that Sal and Hal came in are still at SETI headquarters. They're being analyzed as we speak. If, for whatever reason, Sal wants to leave to return to her home world, you'll have to get them."

"Why are you telling me this?" Sam asked.

Roger started up the car and put it in drive with his foot on the brake. "Because as long as Blake is head of the military group assigned there, you'll be endlessly pursued. He sees Sal and her kind as a threat to us given their abilities. But I know better. All of us who work there regularly know better. As for yourself Sam, you may want to consider getting out yourself. Like it or not, you're involved now. And with that body of yours, he'll see you as a threat as well. Just think about this, all right?" Roger said as he drove off.

Meanwhile, in the middle of a wide-open area, a couple people are jogging down a long road as the wind suddenly picks up in a spot several meters to the left of them, drawing their attention. Their confusion turns to surprise when a distortion appears in the center of the gust in which a small space pod appears. They stand there frozen as the pod lands, the sounds coming from it fade away. One of the joggers begins running over to it when the other stops him.

"No don't, it could be dangerous," the second jogger said.

"Hey, c'mon! We could be the first people to ever meet an alien. I'm willing to bet they're friendly. Just come on and look with me," the guy said as he ran over to the pod with the other guy reluctantly following behind. The first guy leans in to see the pod apparently closed. No signs of movement. He was curious about what the aliens might look like. In a pod that small, they couldn't be bigger than his head. In fact, he had no idea what to expect. As the second guy finally stopped next to him, the pod suddenly whirred as the door on top opened up. They looked as the interior appeared to them. But they saw nothing inside, nothing at all.

The first guy turned around to face the other guy, "Hey, what's going on here? Why would a space pod just come here with no one in it?"

"I don't know. Maybe there's a message inside somewhere."

As they were talking, another distortion of a different kind appeared inside the pod. The Amazoa appeared, fibers and all withdrawn from the controls. Neither of the men saw this right away, as the Amazoa was crouched low. The second guy noticed the movement just over the first guy's shoulder.

"Hey, wait. What's that?!" he said.

But it was too late. Before the first guy could turn around, the Amazoa leapt onto his back and rapidly made his way up to his neck and drove his fibers into him. The second guy stood there in shock as he saw what was happening. The first guy was in pain for a few moments, then became still. Finally, he opened his eyes. But they were a different color from their usual brown; they were maroon. The second guy finally found his voice once more.

"Um### hey, are you ok? What happened to your eyes?" he asked.

The other man's lips curled into a half smile; a different voice emerged. "I'm fine."

In one swift movement, he grabbed the other guy's throat. His strength was surprising. The second guy was as fit as he could be. But he couldn't overpower him. He was squeezing him too hard for him to speak.

"You can call me... Nil," he said as he gave a powerful squeeze which crushed the other guy's neck. He let go as the guy dropped to the ground dead. Nil, clearly in control of his new host, grabbed the dead body and threw it behind a nearby bush.

"Well then, time to find her," he said as he took off running at quick speed.

Inside, back at Sam's house, Kevin and Sam were sitting on the couch in disagreement, having thought of what Roger said.

"Well what do you suggest, leaving Earth altogether?" Kevin said, his temper rising.

"Actually, that's a good idea. I love my muscled body and all, but how would I be able to work anywhere? I'd be a freak. Not even bodybuilding would work for me as I'd be accused of using enhancements or something." Sam said.

"And what about Virginia, huh? Taking her to another home on Earth is one thing, but to take her off of Earth altogether? That's crazy!" Kevin yelled back.

Sam clenched her fist and her bicep swelled threateningly. "Don't you see? There's intelligent life out there; as intelligent as we are. Possibly more so! Sal agrees with me! It would be paradise compared to this! Here, it's taxes and slave labor! But out there, it's stability and peace! Your technical and computer skills could be put to truly important use. It can really make a difference! And I can be an emissary of the human race. Don't you see, we can make a difference! And so can Virginia! There's lots to learn out there! It's a shot at a completely new life with more freedom and knowledge than you can possibly imagine!"

Kevin was silent as he looked at the family portraits behind her.

"I realize that both of our immediate families have died and that the rest of our families live several states away. But how would you explain to them that you're leaving Earth to live on another world?" Kevin asked.

"As far as I'm concerned, I have nobody here; they haven't gotten in touch with me in years. And neither has your family and you know it. We've had to forge this family here completely on our own. Please Hun, consider this: Sal has told me that we would be welcome on the home world of the Narcians, one of their first hosts. From what Sal has told me, they look fairly similar to humans so it wouldn't be so weird living among them. And they have unbelievable technology. Just think about it," Sam said.

After a few moments Kevin spoke up, "Well there's just one small problem. Even if we did do this, just how do you expect us to get there? For one, the space pods are secured at the SETI building under guard. And second, even if we could retrieve them from there, how would we fit inside? From what you said, it would be too small for us to fit inside. And besides, there's three of us including Virginia."

Sam looked toward the door. "Sal says that during long distance trips, the pods are designed with data banks that convert anything - from equipment to people - into energy and back again. It's virtually the same concept as the transporter from Star Trek, except it can be sustained for long periods of time without any problems. Virginia can travel in one of the pods with one of us. We'll have to break into SETI and get them."

She turned back toward Kevin. "I think it's time you broke out your laptop. With your hacking abilities, we should be able to bypass most of the security."

Kevin was turning the gears in his head. This wasn't just a quick decision. Despite how incredibly strong and muscular Sam is, they have made it a lifetime promise to always consult each other on big decisions. And the thought had occurred to him how Sam could use her physique to forcefully get what she wants.

"Samantha..." Kevin began.

Sam was a bit perturbed. She knew that whenever Kevin called her by her full first name, something was up.

Kevin looked into her eyes. "I just... before I agree to this, I must know. You aren't going to let your muscles and strength go to your head, are you? What I mean is, you aren't going to use your body as a means to force me into doing things? Remember the promise we made? That no matter what, we would make big decisions together. I need to know you're still the woman I married. Don't get me wrong, you have become everything I have every desired in a woman. And I couldn't be happier. But, I don't want you to start treating me like an inferior."

Sam walked up to Kevin, held up her arm in front of him, and flexed it hard. Her bicep seemed to rapidly inflate like a balloon right in front of him, complete with veins. It was such an arousing sight that he couldn't find himself maintaining his serious composure. His reaction was all she needed to see.

"I have no intention of treating you like an inferior. You're my husband and I'll always love you. But I have to admit, I do find myself enjoying the reaction I get out of you when I show off these guns. Don't completely write off the things we can do together with this body. You'd be surprised just how erotic things can be between us," Sam said softly as she tightened her flex a little more. Her bicep seemed to emanate power. Kevin remained silent for a few moments as his eyes finally turned to her eyes.

"Alright. Let's do this. We'll have to get Virginia. I'm sure I can convince her to go along with this. But we must be able to return to Earth every once in a while. If nothing else, I would want to visit my brother from time to time," Kevin said.

"I understand," Sam said as Kevin ran upstairs and grabbed his gear.

After Kevin came back downstairs, he saw Sam looking around the room.

She turned around to see Kevin with his backpack loaded with his laptop and other computer gear.

"What is it, Hun?" Kevin asked.

Sam turned toward him. "Well### it's just that we'll probably have to leave a lot of things behind. And even though we won't be living on Earth anymore, I'd still want to take certain critical things with me like important documents and such."

Kevin realized this little reality and understood fast. "Well if we're seriously going to live on another world for the rest of our lives, then we should at least try to tie up a few loose ends before we go."

Sam looked around some more but Sal's voice emerged this time. "Nah. I think you should just leave it all. I mean, who cares what happens to this place. We don't even have to worry about money; it doesn't exist on the Narcian home world ##" or any of the other worlds that we share. Everyone contributes their fair share of work to maintain a peaceful civilization. That's probably one of the many reasons that most of us were opposed to meeting you. Just the fact that you humans require this currency to get you to work is so... uncivilized. And that you tend to want everything, that money is needed to regulate the acquisition of material needs is kind of pathetic. We work, have a home in which to live, possess a modest amount of material goods### and that's it. Nobody wants to rule the world or have everything. We have a core of special forces that ensure the peace on all the worlds we share. Because - don't get me wrong - there are some criminals out there. But they are few because the special forces are empowered to use whatever force is necessary to stop them."

Kevin wasn't sure what to think. For there to be no financial system is almost too good to be true. But from his vantage point, he can't see how anyone would work if they don't need to.

As if she read his mind, Sal continued: "Oh, and I almost forgot. Working is a necessity if you want to have those things. There is a ranking system that measures your status in society based on the trade you take up and the level of work you do. But, it's essentially done without money as a factor."

Kevin finally smiled. What the hell, it still sounded like a paradise in comparison, now that he thought about it. And add to the fact that there would be lots of muscular women all around him to go along with the men. He was content with his wife. But to have all that muscle all around him is something he could get used to. Shameless maybe, but he could enjoy the sights.

"One more thing before we go. And I ask this to you Sal. Could... I... have an Amazoa to be joined with?" Kevin asked.

Sal smiled. "You mean you want to have a muscular body like Sam's?"

Kevin blushed with embarrassment. "Well### not really. But I think it would be nice to share the knowledge with one who knows the ways of those worlds out there. And... yes, I admit it would be nice to have some more muscle myself."

Sal's smile slowly faded. "Look... Kevin. I completely understand where you're coming from. Really, I do. But I just don't think that would be a good idea. You see, we Amazoa exist in an impartial manner. Our very way of life depends on not having personal attachments to other Amazoa. Take myself and Hal for example. We exist to further our collective knowledge of the galaxy and beyond. But if we get bogged down by personal attachments to other Amazoa directly, it would undermine our way of life, and that could lead to disaster."

Kevin lowered his head in disappointment. While he was very much looking forward to life on another world, he was hoping he could experience what his wife did.

Sal's voice spoke up again. "Hey, don't get yourself down. I'll have you know that there are thousands of people on all the worlds we share who aren't joined. And many of them are still well built. Being joined with us isn't the only way to get strong, you know. It's just fast. But you can live a wonderful life unjoined, I promise you. Just wait til we get there."

Kevin looked up at her. He smiled a faint smile. "Right."

Sam's voice finally cut back in as she poised herself in a stance that showed her excitement. Her muscles were flaring, "Well then, what are we waiting for! Let's head back to SETI!"

Chapter X: The Attack
Sam and Blake come face to face as does Sal and Nil

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

Outside SETI headquarters, an unknown man walks up to the door. He was tall and had muscles that made him comparable to a lightweight body builder. On his neck was Nil, who had switched hosts on his way here. He used his invisibility field to conceal himself as a security guard approached him.ML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O />

"I'm sorry, but entry is prohibited to the public," the guard said.

The man merely looked at him with a calm demeanor that concealed any signs of his true intentions. The guard was getting irritated and put a hand to his holster, which held his weapon.

"This is now a military installation. If you fail to comply, I am authorized to use lethal force! Turn back now!" the guard yelled.

The man smirked. Suddenly, with speed too quick for the guard to react to, Nil lunged at him. And with strength that was greater than what his muscles indicated, punched him in the face, knocking him out. He rolled the guard over onto his stomach and leaned down as Nil proceeded to detach himself from the guy he was joined with and leaped onto the guard, penetrating his neural fibers deep into his neck. Slowly, the guard stirred and got up. He was no longer himself as Nil took over his mind and body completely. He grinned an evil grin as he went inside to execute his plan.

Meanwhile, Sam and Kevin had just arrived at Kevin's brother's house to pick up Virginia. After she got into the car, they took off for SETI.

"What's going on? Where are we going?" Virginia asked, a clear note of concern in her voice.

"We're going to SETI. There's something we must do," Sam said.

"But what about school?" Virginia asked.

Neither Sam nor Kevin were sure how to tell her. Then suddenly, Sam's mouth opened, but Sal's voice emerged, "Virginia, how would you like to start a new life with your parents? And not just any new life, but one on a new world. One that is free of taxes, money, war, and poverty?"

Virginia went slackjawed. "Are you saying that Star Trek is real?"

Sam and Kevin couldn't help but chuckle at her unusual sense of humor.

"Yes sweetheart, it looks like we'll be closer to Star Trek than anyone has ever been," Kevin told her.

Virginia's face lit up at the news. She had always felt out of place in this world. It was too good to believe. If it wasn't for the fact that her mother was a muscle-bound hulking Amazon as a result of her joining with a life form from outer space, she probably wouldn't believe it. As she leaned back against the seat, she began to feel a twinge of disappointment at one thing. This means she would have to leave her friends behind. She could tell them where she was going, but it was unlikely any of them would believe her.

At SETI HQ, a security guard burst into the main science lab as all eyes turned to him, especially Blake's.

"What is it!?" Blake asked.

"Sir! We have an intruder! I think he may be joined with Sal! He already took out most of the guards!" the security guard shouted.

Blake's expression hardened. "Very well, alright soldiers! You know what we've prepared for! Stop him, with all necessary force! I want that symbiote dead!"

Just then, a thought occurred to Blake. "Wait a minute, how do you know about Sal? That's classified..."

He was interrupted by gunfire. The security guard had drawn his weapons and began firing at everyone around him with uncanny precision. Some tried to return fire, but he was too quick. He dropped his guns and took out the remaining two with his bare hands. He shoulder tackled one and broke his neck and grabbed the other by the throat and held him in the air. He looked at Blake and, with a wicked grin, snapped the guy's neck with a very strong squeeze. Blake went for his gun, but the guard just threw the body at him, knocking him down and causing him to drop his weapon.

"It's you! You're Sal! I knew you'd try to execute your plans to take over us!" Blake spat.

Nil just grinned as he slowly walked over towards him, his true voice finally emerged.

"You wish I was Sal, but no. My name is Nil. And it seems you and I have one thing in common. We both want Sal. And I'm here to help you find her. After all, she is a threat to you, right?" Nil said.

For the first time, Blake was unable to say anything. Fear had begun to creep into him. He reached for his gun as Nil slowly advanced on him.

"You humans are such a weak species. You fear what you don't understand. And what's more, you are quick to judge and slow to understand. Sal was a fool to even consider coming here," Nil said.

Blake managed to grab his gun. With all his strength, he turned it on Nil and fired. Nil got the guard's hand up at the last moment and caught the bullet in it. As blood poured from his hand, he merely grinned again as he wrestled the gun from Blake.

"Yes, I think you'll be the perfect vessel for me during the rest of my time here. I sense a lot of hatred in you; you have a lot to offer me. And don't worry," he said as he leaned in close to Blake's face so they were eye to eye.

"You'll have a front row seat to all of the action!" Nil said loudly as he grabbed Blake with his undamaged hand and held up firmly against the wall by the neck. Blake flailed and kicked in desperation but Nil was just too strong. Nil drove his fist into Blake's midsection, stunning him momentarily. As Blake slumped to the floor, Nil leaned over and detached from the security guard. He made his way over and began the joining process.

They were approaching SETI. Everyone was pretty quiet with anticipation as Sam, Sal, Kevin, and Virginia were eager to face the challenge ahead of them. As they entered the parking lot, Sam pulled over near the entrance. Just as she shut the car off, a sight caught her attention as she gasped. There was someone laying a few feet from the entrance. Everyone got out of the car and walked over to the man who was dead. Sam leaned in and suddenly, Sal's voice was heard in her mind.

'Check behind his neck,' Sal said.

Sam rolled the guy over and saw to her horror the clear signs of penetration marks on it.

'Could...could this be that Nil you were talking about?' Sam asked Sal.

'It could be no one else. It appears we're too late,' Sal said.

Sam looked up, a grim determination on her face.

"Guys, Sal tells me this is Nil's doing. We must form a plan. If Nil is in there, things have gotten worse," Sam said as she turned to Virginia.

"Virginia, get in the car and wait there. This is too dangerous for you," Sam said.

"But Mom, I can help!" Virginia protested.

"Look, don't argue with me! Do as I say!" she said.

Virginia reluctantly gave up and returned to the car.

Sam went to enter her code to open the door, but it was rejected. She turned to Kevin. "It seems that the security code I was given no longer works. Are you able to crack the security at this place?"

Kevin pulled out his laptop and brought it out of standby mode. He rapidly punched in a series of codes and algorithms as he waited for the result.

"I'm having difficulty cracking their security. Just a minute, let me try the back door," he said.

After another tense moment; "Got it. The doors have been placed on complete lockdown. Whatever is going on in there, it's not pretty. I'm sorry Sam, but I am unable to override access."

Sam was mad. She wasn't going to let herself get stopped by this. She looked down at her bulging muscles and remembered the strength she had at her disposal. She flexed one of her arms as her bicep swelled to amazing size.

"Stand back, Hun. Time to do this the hard way." Sam said as she drove her fist into the door. Her punch caused a loud clang as a deep impression was made. She pulled back and, with a scream, drove her fist into it even harder. The adrenalin rush caused her already incredible strength to spike as the impact completely caved in the door and sent it flying inward several feet before it fell to the ground.

As she began to walk in, she turned around and looked back at the car where Virginia was. She had never done anything like this before. And even with her muscled body, she wasn't entirely certain she could survive this. She then looked at Kevin, her husband whom she dearly loved. She couldn't bear the thought of either of them dying at the hands of either the military or Nil himself.

"Hun, can you please wait here?" Sam asked.

Kevin was taken aback at this. "What? And let you go into this alone? No way!"

Sam, instead of being angry at his protests, turned around and put a hand on Kevin's face.

"Please, my love? I'm the only one equipped enough to handle this. And if something happens to me, I'll need you to be around to take care of Virginia," Sam said softly.

Kevin took her hand into his own. "I can't let you face this alone. I love you too much to allow it."

Sam leaned in and kissed him most tenderly. Kevin's tension eased as he felt her bulging biceps, something he has found himself doing automatically nowadays. After she pulled away, she drove her fist into Kevin's jaw, causing him to lose consciousness. Virginia saw this and started to get out of the car, but Sam would have none of it.

"No! Stay right there Virginia! I must face this alone! Don't you dare get out of that car! He'll be fine; he'll wake up soon," Sam said. Virginia saw how serious she was and got back in.

Sam turned and went inside. She found the lobby surprisingly empty. Further investigation showed she was wrong. There were people, all laying on the ground. She couldn't tell if they were dead or not. She had no time to look around. She had to get those pods. But it's become more than just that. Sal could sense that Nil was here; she just knew it. And something told her than he knew she was here too.

'Sam, please be careful. Nil is not to be underestimated should you encounter him!' Sal warned.

"I know, I know," Sam said as she made her way deeper into the building. She knew the terrain obviously since she worked there so she wasted no time making her way to the science lab. As she reached the second floor, she carefully made her way closer to her destination. As she rounded a corner, she heard voices heading her way. They sounded urgent. She saw two military guys running in her general direction. She saw nowhere to hide unless she turned back, but time was against her and she had to get there before someone else did. She waited until they were upon her, and jumped out at them. She knocked one out with one good punch and ripped the gun from the other soldier's hand. He stared at her aghast as she took the gun and with a quick flex of her massive muscles, bent it in half and tossed it at his feet. The guy began to back up, but Sam couldn't risk letting someone that dangerous run around with her family outside back there. She grabbed the guy by the neck and lifted him in the air. He struggled as hard as he could, but he was no match for her strength. As the lack of oxygen overcame him, he lost consciousness. She dropped him to the floor and proceeded onward.

She passed through the museum and couldn't resist taking a good look around. If everything went as planned, she'll never see it again. She kept herself going and got to the door leading to restricted areas. It required a security code and the door was made of steel two inches thick. A small part of her began to wish that she did bring Kevin along. But she knew that would be dangerous for him.

"Well Sal, guess it's time to see how strong I really am," Sam said aloud.

'Sam, listen. I can increase my serum output by almost double. It will greatly increase your already immense strength. All of your muscles will grow a bit more in size as well, though I don't know the limit of the human body's muscle growth. But be warned; if I do this, make sure you get the job done. Because the increased serum output will leave me exhausted, and will cause the level to drop drastically below normal. Your strength and your muscles will almost completely return to their old state, leaving you vulnerable,' Sal said.

"Thanks Sal. I don't want that yet," Sam said as she flexed her biceps, causing them to swell to the size of melons, a large vein running across each of them. She felt the strength flowing through her. It really turned her on every time she did this. If she were at home with Kevin, she'd be using her muscles on him instead. She brought her attention back to her goal.

"Yep, I think I have everything I need right here," she said as she clenched her fist and drove it into the steel door. It gave a little. A sizeable dent was left by her fist as she laid into it again. She wasn't sure if she could handle putting such force against steel, but she hardly felt any pain at all. Sure enough, her hands felt fine. As she continued to pound at the door, she began to feel a new sensation. Even though it didn't cave in yet, it felt good.

She stopped a moment and got an idea.

"Time to turn myself into a battering ram!" Sam said with excitement as she backed up a few good feet.

She ran at the door as fast as she could. Her tree trunk thighs bulged with power as her legs carried her at a speed greater than any other human on Earth. She brought out her shoulder as she made contact with the door. The force of the impact sounded throughout the building. If anyone didn't know she was there before, they would certainly know now. The door just exploded inward from the impact, and it fell a few feet to the floor.

This was unfamiliar territory for her as she had never been allowed in here. But it didn't seem like she'd have to search around as she found herself in a corridor that seem pretty straightforward. She ran with her muscled legs to the end of the passageway. She was beginning to really notice the distinct absence of military personnel. She had a bad feeling about this as she made it to the door that was marked as the science lab. She reached for the door handle and found that it was open.

She went inside and found it a bit dark in there. Very few lights were on and many of the computer stations were trashed.

Sal's voice rang out in her head. 'Be careful! It's Nil! He's here! I sense him!'

Sam looked around, but saw no one. Suddenly, she noticed what she came here for. It was the space pods, still sitting in the place where they first materialized. As she walked up to them to inspect them, a voice came from behind her.

"Hello Sal. I've been waiting for you."

Sam spun around and saw the man responsible for killing Dr. Baker, Blake Newman. Only, he looked different. His body was more muscular. His face gave off a more sinister appearance.

Sal's anger was rising, as was Sam's.

"So you just couldn't leave this alone, could you?" Sal said, having took over Sam.

Nil just gave her an evil grin. "You know why I'm here. Our purpose is wrong. We should be establishing a more prominent role in the universe. But instead we just sit by and feed on our hosts while they reap the benefits. We have the ability to make their power our power."

Sam's voice broke through. "I know Blake can hear me! I can never forgive you for what you did! Your foolishness has led to this pointless tragedy!"

Nil grinned again. "You know what's funny? This one hates you. He hates all of us. And yet, now that he has finally experienced what it's like to be joined, I'm convincing him that it's better to live this observant life and experience things he could never experience on his own. But I've read his thoughts. It seems he and I do have one thing in common: Sal. And she's going to die for her ignorance!"

"Not if I kill you first!" Sam yelled as she tensed up her muscular body and charged at him.

'Sam no!!' Sal yelled.

But she was too late to stop Sam. She lunged at Nil and punched him hard in the jaw, causing him to stagger. She threw several more punches in his midsection and landed one more as hard as she could, sending him crashing to the ground.

Sal was shocked at this. She expected more resistance than this. Looking down at him, there was a small trickle of blood coming out of Blake's mouth. He began to stir, trying to move. Sam moved in and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him close. She was going to end this here and now.

Suddenly, a pain shot through Sam's chest, forcing her to freeze in place. It was like her whole body seized up. Without warning, she coughed up blood from her mouth in a spurt. Finally, her gaze drifted downward and saw that Nil merely had two fingers outstretched and pressed against her chest where her heart is. There was no way...

Nil opened his eyes and grinned. "Is that all you got?"

Sam's grip on Nil weakened. He held his two fingers in place as he reared his other hand back and with his palm facing forward, drove it into Sam's midsection, knocking her backwards to the floor and knocking the wind out of her. She covered her heart area and she struggled for breath. Her strength began to leave her.

'Sam!!' Sal called out, but Sam was in too much pain to answer back.

Nil pulled himself to his feet and wiped the blood from his face. He began to slowly walk over to her as he savored the moment.

"Tell me Sal, did you really think I'd come unprepared? Your host may have more physical strength than mine, but I carry a knowledge of an effective fighting technique known as the Gentle Fist style," Nil said.

He leaned down, picked her up and held her over his head. He began walking toward a large window that revealed a view of the surrounding landscape.

"What's your name human?" he asked suddenly.

"S...Sam... why do you want to know?" she asked with all her effort.

Nil looked out the window as he held the defenseless Sam above his head with ease.

"Sal, this is why we Amazoa should be in control of the hosts we join with. Face it, we're smarter than they are. We can achieve so much more as the dominant species," he said as he reached the window.

He smirked as he leaned his arms back, ready to do his worst.

"Take that message into oblivion!" he said.

"PUT HER DOWN NOW!!!" came a loud voice behind him. He turned around and saw someone standing in the doorway. It was Kevin.

Nil just glanced at him with that wicked smile, "Well, well, it seems I'm outnumbered. OK, you win. I'll put her down right now."

And sure enough, he set her down on the floor. Kevin began to run over to her when all of a sudden, Nil reared back and kicked Sam hard, sending her crashing through the window and out of view.

It was all a blur to Kevin as this nightmarish event unfolded. He ran at Nil with pure hatred in his eyes and swung at him, but Nil just caught his fist and held it in place as he swung his fist into Kevin's stomach, making him double over in great pain. He turned him toward the broken window and held him right in front of it.

"You're just a meddlesome pest. I have achieved my goal and will restore the Amazoa to their rightful purpose. They will come to see this for what it is. And I won't let anyone get in my way," he said as he inched Kevin toward the opening, ready to throw him to his death.

Suddenly he lurched forward as he was struck from behind in the head. The hit was enough to knock Blake's body unconscious and let go of Kevin, but Nil was able to persist long enough to turn Blake's head around to see the attacker
. It was Virginia, armed with a metal bar. She took it and swung it hard at his chest, making him stumble back. She ran at him full force and shoved him out the opening in the window, sending him crashing to the ground outside below.

Virginia ran over to the window followed by Kevin, who slowly got up from that punch to his midsection, and looked over the edge. Both Sam and Blake were lying there motionless. Kevin grabbed Virginia by the arm.

"Come on. We gotta get down there," he said as they ran out of the room and down the stairs. When they finally got outside and around to where Sam and Blake were, they arrived to find Blake gone. Sam was still there and not moving. Kevin took Sam into his arms.

"Come on Sam, you can't die! Please don't die! Snap out of it!" he said as Virginia watched with tears in her eyes.

Kevin noticed that Sam's muscled have begun to recede slowly back to their original size. As this happened, Sal's voice slowly emerged.

"She will... recover. Must... rest. I'll do... everything I... can..." was all Sal was able to get out of Sam's mouth.

A wave of relief swept through Kevin and Virginia.

Kevin picked Sam up in his arms and turned toward Virginia.

"I'm going to hurry back inside and get the space pods. Wait with Sam in the car!" Kevin said.

He took Sam and placed her in the back seat of the car. He knew the authorities would show up soon; he hurried back inside, was able to locate the space pods and, with some effort, carried them both back down and out of the building. He loaded them into the trunk and they finally left for home.

Chapter XI: The Preparation
Sam is recovering from her injuries thanks to Sal. Elsewhere, Nil is preparing for a final assault

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

-March 26th, 2010-

It was morning and Kevin, Virginia, and Sam were back at home. Nil, on the other hand, had been out searching once again for Sal and laying low. SETI Headquarters has been officially shut down until further notice. Kevin had fully recovered from his brief encounter with Nil. But Sam, on the other hand, was still in pretty bad shape. Sal was doing her best to speed up her recovery. With the pods in their possession, they had everything they needed to depart. But they knew that they couldn't leave with Nil still out there.

"This is crazy! How can that guy possibly defeat my Mom?" Virginia asked out of frustration.

Kevin walked over and put a pillow under Sam's head. Sal had remained visible ever since the attack. She needed every bit of her energy to speed up Sam's healing. It was still something Kevin wasn't entirely used to seeing, but that didn't matter to him now.

"I did some research last night. This Gentle Fist Style that Nil spoke of is actually a unique form of martial arts known here on Earth. Nil must've assimilated that knowledge from a host at some point. It derives its name from the ability to channel one's own chi into their hands. When a person strikes another in this manner, the physical attack itself causes little damage. It's the energy that shoots out of the person's palm or fingers and attacks the victim's internal system. Basically, it is like punching an internal organ directly. So no matter how muscular Sam was, a successful blow could still cause internal damage. You see; no matter how physically strong the body gets, you can't strengthen the internal organs," Kevin explained.

Virginia kept her gaze on Sam, who was still unconscious. She put her hand over Sam's.

"Still, I hope I can be big and strong just like you someday," she said.

She looked up at Kevin. "You think it is possible to make your insides stronger?" she asked.

Kevin sat there as he took a sip of some milk he was drinking. "I don't know. It would certainly help, especially if your Mom intends to fight that guy again."

Suddenly, Sam began to stir. She gently squeezed Virginia's hand. Though to her it was supposed to be gentle, but to Virginia, it has painful. She winced in pain as Sam suddenly let go.

"Sorry," she said.

Virginia clutched her hand. "It's OK, I'm fine. How are you feeling?"

Sam slowly sat up. Her body was noticeably less muscular than before, but her strength was still above what it used to be before she was joined. The sight of herself in such a weakened state was disconcerting to say the least, especially after everyone had just gotten used to her being super-muscular.

She looked at her small family. "Are you two all right?"

Kevin was the one who answered. "Yes, we're fine. In the end, it was actually Virginia who saved us. I tried to fight that Nil guy off, but he was much too strong. But Virginia was able to catch him off guard and send him crashing through the window to the ground. Though by the time we got to you, he was gone."

Sam felt her neck for Sal. 'Hey, how are you?'

'I'm tired, but I'll be fine. I had to reduce your body to a weaker state to put enough focus on healing your injuries. I just need to rest for a bit. I hope you don't mind remaining in your current state for a short time. You may lose even more of your enhanced strength. But don't worry; you'll get it all back once I'm rested. I just need to feed for a bit. The fact that you eat vegetables will certainly speed up the process,' Sal said.

Sam smiled. "Yes Sal, you did save my life. It's the least I can do for you."

She turned toward Kevin and Virginia. "But we can't leave Earth just yet. Nil is out there, and so is Blake. Both of them are a serious threat and must be stopped. And... Sal and I both underestimated Nil. He's very strong and very skilled at fighting. And, well let's face it, Sal doesn't carry much experience of specialized martial arts and neither do I. All I have is my strength. Which means even if I did face Nil again, I'll just be defeated again. I'll have to find a way to either learn some serious martial arts in a short time or strengthen my internal organs to better withstand direct hits."

She began looking out the window at the rising sun. "The thing is, I know my strength could overpower his. But without any protection on the inside, what good would it do?"

Sal's voice sounded in her head. 'I may have one idea. But I must tell Kevin and Virginia.'

'Of course Sal,' Sam said.

Her voice changed to Sal's, "I may have one way to protect Sam both inside and out and even increase her strength to true superhuman levels. But it's something I would only use as a last resort. You see, the serum I put out that gives Sam her enhanced strength is usually more than enough for any host that I or another Amazoa is joined to. What you don't know is that the serum output is balanced with the nutrients I absorb from Sam's body so that I'm always in strong shape along with Sam. But, that balance can be offset even to the point where it's one-sided. Obviously, I could stop putting out the serum altogether and I'll be as fine as ever, but Sam would just recede back to her old physique and strength. But, if I increased my serum output to its highest levels, Sam would become stronger than her wildest fantasies. But there's a catch. You see, she would have a very limited amount of time with such an extreme level of superhuman strength. And there's a strong possibility that I could die from it, and as a result so would she."

Sal paused to let Kevin, Virginia, and even Sam take this all in. And it was Sam who broke the silence.

"Then perhaps it's time I learned the Gentle Fist Style. I obviously can't rely on my strength alone. Surely this fighting style employs a series of defenses against the attacks they use. If I'm to stand a chance and not have to resort to what you're saying, it's the only way," Sam said.

'Well, we don't have much time. Nil will find us sooner or later. If we're really going to prepare fast enough, then we'll have to find someone who's a master at the Gentle Fist Style and assimilate that knowledge,' Sal said.

"Assimilate it, how?" Sam asked.

"Hey, what is it you two have in mind?" Kevin interrupted

Sal's voice came through. "Oh I'm sorry. I think it's best if I just put everything on the table. You see, Sam wants to learn the Gentle Fist Style that Nil used against her in an attempt to better prepare for the next fight against Nil and be on more even ground. The thing is that Nil will track us down soon and there's just no time to learn this the old fashioned way. It goes against my own principles, but the only way to learn it fast enough is to find someone who's a master at it and assimilate the knowledge by joining with him. I am able to leave Sam's body for a brief period, provided I take the necessary steps. I would then have to attach to this person and assimilate the knowledge from him and then detach from him before his body becomes dependent on my presence. At best, he'll just be physically weak for a couple hours as his body readjusts to its former state."

"I see," Kevin said.

"What's more, it's not enough that I just join with this person and take the knowledge. He has to be willing to share it with me. Oh sure I can forcibly take that knowledge. But the process will make it more difficult and by the time I would have taken it from him, his body will have become completely dependent on my presence. Which means he will die when I detach from him," Sal said.

After another moment's pause, Sam came to her resolve. "Then we'll just have to find a way to convince him to cooperate."

Sam turned to Kevin. "Kevin, Hun, can you look up the nearest...Gentle Fist Master?" she asked with a smile.

Kevin reached for his laptop. "Got it. Just give me a minute," he returned, also smiling.

After a couple minutes: "Well, I hate to say this, but the nearest one is in Tibet. And that's a long way away," Kevin said reluctantly.

This time, it was Virginia who chimed in. "What about using the pods?"

Sal's voice came through. "That's a good idea. The space pods are quite capable of intra-atmospheric travel and are also capable of very high speeds with little wind resistance."

"So what do you think? Are these pods capable of carrying all four of us?" Kevin directed his question to Sal.

"Yes. They can hold the data patterns of two people per pod," Sal said.

"Great! Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sam said with eagerness.

Kevin glanced at her. "You know, I'm getting used to you having such a wonderful body, but I don't think I can ever get used to your voice changing back and forth like that. It certainly gives new meaning to having multiple personalities."

Sam just responded by kissing him. "Very funny, but I'm sure you can get used to it. Well Sal, the floor is yours. Do what you must to get us in these pods and to the destination," Sam said.

Without a word, Sal took over Sam's body as she walked over to the pods and began programming them for pattern conversion.

"Kevin, can you give me the coordinates of the destination?" Sal asked.

"Sure," he said as he walked over and held out his laptop with the coordinates displayed. Sal punched in the coordinates in each pod and closed the panels.

After taking the pods outside, "Alright everyone, stand back. The pods will automatically scan us to confirm data storage capability and once that's set, will begin the data conversion process," Sal said as everyone stood back while listening to the pods going through its processes.

"Say, will this hurt?" Virginia asked.

"No, though it will feel... weird," Sal said.

Then suddenly, a wide beam of light shot out from both pods, each one scanning two of them. And just as suddenly, it disappeared. A humming sound sounded from the pods, which started out low, but then became increasingly louder. Finally, it culminated as an elaborate series of laser beams shot out from the pods and encompassed the four individuals. It was like something right out of Tron as each limb disappeared from their bodies as their physical patterns became digital. After the last of the physical was absorbed by the laser, the whole load was drawn into the pods as they immediately took off and with great speed, took off into the skies towards Tibet.

It wasn't long til they reached their destination as they entered into a secluded area. It was heavily wooded with lots of wildlife. The pods hovered mere inches off the ground as they shot the laser along with everyone's bodies in the exact same position they were in prior to absorption. Everyone except Sal was a bit disoriented to say the least. To them, it was like no time has passed and the surroundings just morphed from their previous location to their new one.

"Whoa, that felt weird." Kevin said.

"Let's not waste any time. Nil is still out there and who knows what kind of trouble he'll cause if he doesn't find us soon," Sam said as she led the way. Kevin noticed that her muscles and strength were steadily returning to her as both host and symbiote were nearly fully recovered.

Within minutes, they came upon a clearing where they saw a lone bamboo hut. They approached the hut, but didn't immediately see anyone there.

'You better remain invisible Sal,' Sam suggested.

'I was just thinking that.' Sal answered.

Sam walked up to the door and knocked. A man who looked elderly answered, but said nothing and just looked at her. She could tell her muscles had his attention.

"Hello, are you the well-known master of the Gentle Fist Style?" Sam asked in a pleasant tone.

But he didn't respond right away. He seemed to be eyeing her with caution. Finally, "What if I am?"

Sal could sense the man's suspicions and warned Sam that he knows. Sam had no other choice than to come clean.

"Look, I know that you've heard about the tragedy that has taken place with one of your fellow Gentle Fist masters. We're here to stop the one who did this. But we need your help," Sam was saying.

The old man interrupted. "And why should I trust you? Already, you're hiding something from me. You think I can't tell?"

Sam realized that he wasn't as isolated out here as she thought and knew he was well in-tune with what was going on around him.

"Very well then," Sam said.

'Sal, show yourself,' Sam said.

Sal became visible on Sam's neck as the old man's eyes went wide. Then, with movements too quick to follow, he lunged at her and delivered a series of blows that knocked her off her feet. And in an instant, he was astride her. His palm was extended and aimed at Sam's heart.

"No! Stop! We're not here to hurt you!" Kevin shouted.

"Please! She's my Mom! Don't hurt her!" Virginia pleaded.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't beat your heart to a pulp? Your kind not only killed my fellow master, but stole his knowledge; his secrets!" he said, his anger most apparent.

Sal answered: "I'm truly sorry that that happened. But the one we call Nil, is a rogue Amazoa and I'm here to kill him! You must believe me!"

The old man pondered this for a moment, then finally he let go. Sam was slow to get up. Her whole body, while still on course to regaining its full musculature, suddenly felt wobbly.

The old man knew her next question. "Do not worry; it's only temporary. I weakened your body's physical supports. Gentle Fist works on muscles as well as the internal organs. You'll recover. If you want my help, then I believe you owe me an explanation."

And so they went inside and sat down where Sal proceeded to tell the old man, who introduced himself as Choden, everything from SETI's attempts to reach out to extraterrestrial worlds to Nil's attempt to turn the Amazoa into a race that subjugates their hosts rather than co-exists with them.

Afterwards, Choden stood up. "I'm sorry I attacked you like that. I'm sure you can understand the situation like that. So, just what is it you want me to do? Teach you Gentle Fist so you can be more of a match for Nil?"

"Actually, we don't have enough time to effectively learn it. If we don't stop Nil soon, he's likely to start killing more people in an attempt to get to me. Which is why the only other option... is to directly assimilate the knowledge. But I would need you to allow this. I know it may feel like something of a violation to you. But there are many lives at stake," Sal said.

Choden turned to her, his look was somber. "Try to be in my shoes for a moment. How would you feel if you were asked to let some alien essentially take over your body and take a lifetime's worth of knowledge and experience from you. It's one thing to teach one the Gentle Fist Style. But it's another for someone to take it directly from my mind; my soul. I can't allow it."

All hope began to slip away at this, but Sam wasn't ready to give up yet.

"Please. For one, you'll still retain all that knowledge. And you have my word that such knowledge would not be abused. Try to put yourself in my shoes this time. How would you feel if your co-workers were killed without reason? How would it feel if you were faced with a man who would kill someone innocent because he believes him to be guilty without any proof?" she asked.

It took Choden a minute to consider this, but he finally turned around. "Very well then. This goes against my principles. But I'm putting my faith in your words. Do not disappoint me."

Sam walked up to him. "Thank you. Now please stand still. It will hurt a little, but that will soon pass. Sal's taking special precautions to ensure I remain stable long enough for her to detach from me and assimilate the knowledge from you. She'll have to do it quickly. This is why I needed you to be willing. To take it by force would take a lot longer and you would die after she detached from you."

"Just do it before I change my mind," Choden said.

Sal carefully removed her tendrils from Sam's neck. She leapt on to Choden as Sam slumped into a chair. She felt weak, but no worse for wear. Sal attached herself to him and completed the bonding. Choden turned around as, with a special flow of memories, he finally understood Sam's plight in a new light.

"I am really sorry I doubted all of you; I hope you all succeed. Though I personally believe we humans should keep to ourselves, I realize that the deed has already been done. So please, use this knowledge wisely. I'm counting on you," he said.

And with that, he sat down as Sal began to detach from him. Sam walked over as she climbed back onto her and rejoined with her. Choden looked fatigued, but otherwise was going to make it.

The trio stood at the doorway as Sam walked up him. "Thank you very much. Your knowledge and experience will live on in good hands."

She gave him a hug and along with Kevin and Virginia, they left. After they reached the pods, Sal took over Sam's body and began reprogramming the pods for the return trip.

'Hey Sam. Just thought I'd let you know that we are both back to a hundred percent. As soon as I'm done here, take a look and see for yourself. And if I may say so myself, I feel even better than before. And so should you,' Sal said.

She finished as Sam stepped away from the pods to take a good look at herself. Sure enough, she seemed to finally notice just how good she felt. Her strength seemed to always feel incredible to her, no matter what. She flexed her enormous biceps and marveled at the detail they showed. She ran her hand over it and found that not even she could squeeze it. Her peaks were very defined and her triceps complimented them perfectly. Her legs were just a symphony of muscle, and yet they were not so big to prevent full range of movement. She kicked straight up so her leg was just an inch from her face. She had the perfect balance of muscle, strength, and flexibility. Kevin couldn't help but be turned on by this. Virginia was simply admiring the fact that such a powerhouse was her mother.

At last, her show of strength ended as she walked over and, through Sal's influence, set the pods to convert them once again into digital data.

Sam briefly took Kevin's and Virginia's hands. "Alright, it's time to put a stop to Nil's plans and begin life anew."

And with that, the pods did their work and they took off for their final trip to their old home.

Meanwhile, the door to Kevin and Sam's house is kicked in with tremendous force. In the doorway stands Blake with Nil controlling him.

"So this is where you live. I guess I can wait for you to return. And while I wait, I think I'll have a little fun!" Nil said as he walked inside.

Chapter XII: The Showdown
The final muscled battle between Sam/Sal and Nil

Chapter I: The Discovery / Chapter II: The Bondage / Chapter III: The Escape / Chapter IV: The Joining / Chapter V: The Growth / Chapter VI: The Predicament / Chapter VII: The Return
Chapter VIII: The History / Chapter IX: The Confrontation / Chapter X: The Attack / Chapter XI: The Preparation / Chapter XII: The Showdown

-March 26th, 2010-

The two pods took off and accelerated to velocities greater than any jet. And before long, they were back at their house. The pods set down in the back yard as the lasers shot out, restoring the occupants back to physical form. Almost immediately, their attentions were turned to the house as terror washed over them. It was engulfed in flames.

"No!" Kevin yelled.

Sam and Sal instantly knew that it was Nil who caused this. Sam grabbed Virginia.

"Listen to me! You've got to get away from here! It won't be the same as before! Nil can very easily kill you and I cannot allow that!" she said as she let her go.

"You too Kevin! I know how much you want to help, but he's just too strong for you! And his attack will surely kill you as well! Just take Virginia and get away from here!" Sam said.

Kevin was reluctant, but he knew they would no longer have the element of surprise on their side. He took Virginia, grabbed the pods, and left.

Sam turned back to the flaming house. She knew it was too late to save anything. All of her memories and her possessions... gone. In a small way it even felt fitting; she would be starting life anew on another world. But now wasn't the time to think about that.

"Come on out Nil! I know you're there!" Sam yelled.

And sure enough, a shadowy figure emerged from the basement. It was like something out of a scary movie. He seemed unfazed by the flames.

"Heh heh. So you finally showed up Sal. But no more games, this ends here! Time to show you the true purpose of the Amazoans!" Nil said.

Blake's chest began to expand under his shirt. He brought his arms out to his sides and they too began to expand. He clenched his teeth as hulking muscle began to tear through the whole of his shirt. Bicep peaks rose into mounds of solid muscle. His pecs swelled further as his shirt ripped right down the middle. A highly defined six-pack of abs appeared. His forearms had the look of deadly weapons that could effectively pound anything. And all this wasn't just above the waist. His legs took on a similar growth. Thighs were expanding, causing even more tears along the pantlines. Calves assisting in the loss as they grew to football size. After it was all done, Blake now looked like a smaller version of The Incredible Hulk.

While quite muscular herself, Sam felt concerned. "I have bad feeling about this," she said more to herself than anything.

'It's not possible for an Amazoa to produce this effect in such a short time without a severe strain on the Amazoa!' Sal said in disbelief.

"Just what twisted experiments did you perform to achieve this Nil?! How many hosts did you sacrifice for this?!" Sal cried through Sam.

Nil's evil grin didn't change. "Oh please! What makes you think I performed experiments on anyone? What if I told you I completely used my own means to achieve this? In fact, before I end your life and take over as ruler, I'll indulge you. You see the answer is quite simple. You and the rest have just been too weak to go this far. I merely consumed a much larger amount of this host's nutrients and all life-sustaining provisions. This in turn allowed me to generate a far greater amount of power into this body, giving it true superhuman strength. It's not just a simple sharing of life. We aren't a mere host and symbiote. We are ONE! This body is an extension of my own, a vessel used to carry my will. The person you knew as Blake no longer exists; he is dead. And once I'm finished here, so will you!"

Sam's muscles tensed as she braced herself for the fight of her life. Sal's voice called out in her head.

'I'm going to be fighting alongside you. Try not to fight it. I retain the knowledge I acquired from the Gentle Fist master as well as my own personal experience. Just let your movements flow as your will intertwines with mine. Nil may be strong, but he can still be taken down,' Sal said.

'Got it,' Sam said.

Sam made the first move as she lunged forward. She clenched her fist as her muscles tensed and bulged all over, making her look like a true she-hulk. But Nil just stood there as Sam's fist made contact with his abs... nothing! It was like punching a steel plate. Sam threw a series of punches at him, but none seemed to faze him. But she was determined to harm him. She cocked her fist back for a powerful right hook and aimed it right at Nil's face, but he caught her fist in his and began squeezing it. Sharp pain coursed through her wrist as he began to twist it backward, forcing her to her knees.

"So you doubt my strength, eh?" Nil said with arrogance.

Sam was in terrible pain. Any moment and her wrist would break. Suddenly, she felt her left hand extend its palm forward and thrust at Nil's midsection. Nil quickly let go and leapt back to avoid it. Sam realized that it was Sal who did this.

'Please trust me,' Sal said simply.

'I will,' Sam replied.

"So, you learned my fighting style. Guess that man wasn't the only one skilled in the art of Gentle Fist. This will be interesting!" Nil exclaimed.

He tensed his body as mountainous muscle rippled all over his body. Then, just as suddenly, he lunged forth and extended his palm, aiming for Sam's heart. She managed to dodge in the nick of time and attempt a counter of her own, but Nil was already out of reach. Sam lunged at him and planted some more punches, but his rock hard muscles withstood the hits. Sam found an opening and threw another punch, but at the last moment, her palm turned up as Nil swung his palm back at her and parried the blow, canceling it out. The two began launching a series of palm thrusts, each putting out their chi which could easily bypass their intense musculature and hit their insides. It was a blur of shots, but neither side was connecting. Finally, Nil hit her with a backhanded fist and then connected with his palm aimed for her heart again, but she turned at the last possible moment and made the blow land at her midsection. She could feel the impact inside her, but was fortune enough to aim it away from any vital organs. Still, it hurt a great deal.

Sam leapt back to gather herself. Now she understood why so very few people knew this fighting art: It was very dangerous. One good hit and it would all be over. But that wasn't all. She felt her energy slowly draining. Sal realized that with every Gentle Fist style attack, her energy is drained. It indeed takes a lot of energy. She had to rely on direct physical attacks and only use the Gentle Fist to parry Nil's. She ran at Nil to strike, but he was ready. Sal noticed an opening and took control of Sam and slid between Nil's legs, sprung to her feet, and struck hard at Nil's lower back. It worked! His musculature was weakest there, and he flinched in pain. But she didn't count on him to recover so quickly as he spun around and backfisted her again. The momentum of the attack sent her flying at the blazing inferno that was Sam's house, causing her to crash into it.

Nil clutched his lower back, the pain there was evident. He immediately began sending serum to the lower back of the host's body to repair what damage he could, while watching the blazing house for any signs of movement. He knew that she couldn't possibly be killed that easily and was ready. But still, nothing.

"So, perhaps you aren't as strong as I thought," Nil said.

He walked over to the blazing house and saw as it suddenly collapsed from the fire damage. Sirens could be heard as fire trucks and police were speeding up the road to the front. Nil had no time to deal with more humans. He had to set his master plan into motion. He began to leave as a crashing sound was heard from the pile of burning wreckage. Sam was in the air and before he could react, she planted a flying drop kick right at his midsection. The force of the blow was enough to send him crashing to the ground several feet away. Sam landed; she had black powder on her from the charred debris within, but was surprisingly unscathed. She walked over to the tree she held in the air a couple days prior and proceeded to lift it again with that same magnified strength as before. With an unbridled fury, she swung it like a baseball bat, nailing Nil with it and sending him flying through the air, over a couple of city blocks, until he finally crashed into a tree in a lightly wooded area just outside of town. He slumped to the ground, momentarily knocked out.

Sam, experiencing an adrenalin rush, had become superhuman in her strength. Her muscles were a sight to behold as they rippled with power. She wasted no time: she dropped the tree trunk and took off after him, leaving the firemen and police to do their job and, ironically, remain where it was safe.

Nil finally regained consciousness. He put a hand to the back of his head.

"Amazing! Sal sure picked a good host for herself. That woman was able to overcome even my enhanced body. Guess it's time I got serious!" he said.

Sam was soon to catch up to him. With no more houses and people nearby, it was the best place for them to finish their battle once and for all. Sam stood there, eyes blazing and muscles bulging with veins in all the right places. Her bulk was nothing to take lightly, and Nil knew it. Even with his bigger size, he knew somehow that Sam was capable of even greater strength than he. He had to finish it fast.

"Your move Nil!" Sam shouted.

He grinned. "Gladly."

He was quick to lunge at her, ready to strike. But Sam held her ground. She would not be intimidated by him. Nil put all his power into his punch, but Sam caught it. He swung with his other fist, but Sam caught that one too. They were now in a deadlock, trying to overpower each other. It was Nil's massive strength against Sam's adrenalin fueled strength. But Sam's adrenalin only held on for so long and it began to wear off. Nil pushed back one of her fists and swung with his two-finger Gentle Fist attack that he used on her before. She couldn't avoid it in time, but barely managed to shift her right shoulder in its path causing it to hit there. Though it was a non-vital area, it still caused some damage. But Nil had his other hand as he pulled it back and aimed right for the middle of her rib cage. He was about to target the center of the internal organs; a certain deathblow. Sam caught his fist and held it at bay. But his strength was still currently greater than hers and he slowly forced his palm closer to her chest. She could feel the pain from his energy as it permeated her skin and began to come in contact with the whole of her vital organs. Finally, the pain was too much and the blow made full contact with her, sending her to the ground with a thud.

Nil walked over to her, grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up off the ground.

"Have I made my point yet? You can't win! My way is superior to yours! Time to end this little game and put you out of your misery!" Nil yelled as he raised his free hand, ready to finish her off.

"Put my Mom down NOW!!!" cried a voice behind him.

Nil turned around to see that it was Virginia. Kevin was right beside her, a seemingly unwilling participant in this. They've been watching from the bushes the whole time, but Virginia couldn't bear to see her mother in pain any longer.

"Stop it Virginia! You'll be killed!" Kevin pleaded.

Nil faced her and began to laugh. "Hahaha! This is funny! And just what do you plan to do about it, huh?!"

Nil tossed Sam to the ground and began walking towards Virginia. She was scared, but her rage kept her from running.

"I won't let you hurt my Mom anymore!" she yelled.

Virginia began to run at Nil, ready to attack. Nil kept walking towards her. She reared her fist back and swung with all her might. Nil, out of amusement, let it connect with his cheek. The punch had no effect. Virginia stepped back, as is finally realizing the futility of what she attempted to do. But Nil advanced on her. Suddenly, Kevin stepped between them, ready to fight.

"You will not hurt my Daughter!" he said with fury.

Kevin began wailing on him with punches and kicks, but they had little effect on Nil. Finally, Nil grabbed Kevin's wrist and punched him hard in the stomach. Kevin reeled over, blood flying out of his mouth.

"Nooo!!!" Virginia screamed.

She ran in desperately to help, but Nil just swatted her away with a backhand. He lifted Kevin by the collar and began pummeling him with hits to his midsection. Virginia was helpless to stop him. Kevin barely hung on by a thread as his life was literally being beaten out of him.

Nil held him in place and flashed an evil grin. "This is just too easy. But I'm done wasting my time with you insignificant little bugs. This blow will end it!"

He let go of Kevin and swung his fist, aiming to send him flying into the ground with the deathblow. But a hand caught his wrist as Kevin fell to the ground. Nil, in surprise turned to see who interfered. His eyes went wide when he saw the perfect symphony of muscle and strength: Sam was back. But she seemed different. Her muscle mass had increased. And she had the most detail in all her muscles that he had ever seen. Veins were protruding along her body in various places. Her body could only be described as perfect. Her biceps were the size of basketballs, but as hard as titanium. And they weren't even being flexed. Her already large breasts stood out in front of her pecs which were as thick as granite blocks. And her abs; they now formed an eight-pack. Each one protruded heavily, leaving 1-inch grooves in between. And her legs; they were like weapons of destruction. A kick from one of them could break any normal person in half. All in all, Sam's body was supertight and jam packed with muscle.

Sam's strength had gone beyond all human limits, even more so than her adrenalin fueled state. Sal was visible on her, a few veins could even be seen on her as well. Virginia was awestruck by this. Then she remembered what Sal said and she became afraid.

"No! Don't do this Mom! Sal! You'll die!" Virginia yelled.

But there was no longer any room for debate with Sam. She knew what was at stake here. And to see her husband beaten to near death was more than she could bear. She could feel her strength soar to unheard-of levels as Sal continued to go all out in powering Sam's body. The process was draining her life energy fast. And Sam knew from the start that she had to get the job done. Without any hesitation, she cocked her fist back as Nil stood helpless against her strength. He could see the fire burning in her eyes as she landed a punch so hard that it sent Nil flying several yards into the air. He crashed and skidded along the ground for several yards more. Sam leapt high into the air, covering the distance that she sent Nil with that punch and landed on top of Nil, driving her knee into his midsection on impact. Blood shot out of Blake's mouth as Sam was astride him, hatred apparent in her gaze.

"This is for all those people you killed!" Sam shouted as she pulled back her immensely muscle arm and drove her palm clean through Blake's chest, taking his heart out with it and killing the human body. She held up the heart and squished it in her hand like a grape.

"And this is for Sal!" she shouted again.

She then reached behind Blake and grabbed Nil directly and ripped him from Blake's body and stood up and held him in the air in her two hands.

"And this is for Kevin and Virginia!!" she shouted as she squeezed her fists shut around Nil, killing him instantly.

She stood there, holding the remains of Nil. But just as quickly as it ended she suddenly collapsed, as her strength and energy just dropped away from her. Virginia ran over to her and held her head in her arms. She saw that her musculature was rapidly diminishing as Sal's voice emerged.

"Virginia. Take us to my home world. Only they... can possibly restore my life... and... your... Mom's..." Sal said as her voice trailed off.

* * *

It was black all around her. Sam stood amidst it all, feeling fatigued. A sound came from behind her. She spun around to see the Princess that was Sal's dream form. She lay there unmoving. Sam ran over to her and cradled her close.

"Oh, my love! You can't just leave me! Not now, after everything we've been through together!" Sam cried.

Sal slowly reached her hand up to Sam's lips. "It's OK, Sam. I did it to save your life. Oh! I love you so much, I would gladly give my life for you several times over. You represent the future of both our species. It's imperative that you survive."

Sam was feeling increasingly tired. "I don't know. I could be... dying too."

"No. I have put your body in a state of hibernation. Though you'll appear to be nearly dead to Virginia, it is the only way for you to live until you reach my home world of Amazona. Until then, you and I will remain here deep in the recesses of your subconscious. Your brain is sophisticated enough to sustain our essences. But my own body is just too weak to sustain you on its own," Sal said.

Sam held her lover closer to her still. "Now you listen to me! I won't let you die! You will stay with me until we can both be saved. I know Virginia can get the job done. Just stay alive here with me. Live!"

* * *

Tears welled up in Virginia's eyes as Sam lay there, still. Her muscles had faded and she was nearly dead. She suddenly remembered her Dad and she gently set Sam down and got up and ran over to him. She saw Kevin laying there, brutally beaten. She leaned in and clutched him gently.

"Dad! Dad! Please! Wake up!" Virginia pleaded.

Kevin barely managed to open his eyes as he looked up and Virginia and smiled weakly.

"I'm...so sorry. I don't..." he said as he coughed. Blood was streaming from his mouth as he struggled just to speak.

"Virginia. You must... be strong. Save your mother. Save Sal. There's a bright future for the human race with those Amazoans," he said.

"Dad... I..." Virginia began, but couldn't come up with the words.

Kevin put a hand to Virginia's cheek. "I... I love... you..."

And with that, his hand fell and the life left his eyes. Virginia couldn't control herself anymore as she broke down into tears.

She cried until she was nearly exhausted. In one swoop, she lost her Dad and had very nearly lost her Mom. And the only answer, the only future, she had was out there, in space. She took Sam to the pods which were carried there and was grateful she paid close attention when Sal was explaining how to activate them. The course to Sal's home world was already programmed in. But before she left, she had one last thing she needed to do.

After an hour, she had laid her Dad to rest in a makeshift grave she dug for him and covered with rocks. She would've wanted to give him a more proper burial at the cemetery, but there was just no time for it. After saying her final goodbyes, she had to force herself to walk away back to the pods.

It was originally planned to share the pods among them. But it would simply be her in one pod and Sam and Sal in the other. Remembering what she was told, she pressed a button on each of the pods and stood back as a ten second countdown commenced. Once it ended, a sophisticated laser shot out and began converting them from their physical selves to digital counterparts and stored them in the pod's memory banks. And almost immediately, they took off at high speeds. As soon as they completely left Earth's atmosphere, they accelerated to the speed of light as they began their trek to Sal's home. The salvation of the Amazoans, as well as Sam and Sal's lives, hung in the balance.

To be concluded in:
Symbiosis: Rejoined