She-devils of the Moon

James Abraham Carter

Warning: Erotic Content. Adults only

Foreword

This story has been inspired by the films Cat-women of the Moon (1953), and its remake Missile to the Moon (1958) as well as the science-fantasy nudist film Nude on the Moon (1961).

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The old farmhouse was suffused with memories as I sat across from my uncle, Alexander Bellingham, at the dinner table. The rustic walls, adorned with photos of family life that brought me comfort with their continuity, now seemed heavy with the concerns of the world outside. It was late autumn, and the crisp air heralded the coming of winter and perhaps, too, the end of civilization. Grim death had cast its black hand upon the globe — mighty earthquakes were ripping through major cities of the world, toppling skyscrapers and ending lives by the millions. Our conversation was tinged with anguish, and the air was thick with foreboding as I listened intently to my uncle’s voice.

"John," he began, his tone steady despite the fantastic information he was about to impart. “I fear what I’m about to say will chill you more than the coming snow of winter.”

I couldn’t suppress the shiver that crawled down my spine at his words.

As Uncle Alexander, a retired physicist, laid his thoughts bare, he explained something that rendered me utterly speechless. He had analyzed a strange data set from the ultrascope he’d designed, and what he’d discovered about the earthquakes was frightening. “These seismic events are not natural, John. The catastrophes are being engineered,” he declared, his fingers steepled in solemnity. “There’s a gravitational ray emanating from Mons Hygens, a mountain on the moon — a force that is disturbing the Earth’s tectonic plates. Our world is under attack by a hostile alien power.”

The eruption of thoughts in my mind was disharmonious. “But Uncle Alexander, couldn’t this just be a false reading, a malfunction of your ultrascope?” I fumbled, struggling to comprehend. “Have you shared this with anyone?”

“A few,” he said, his brows knitting. “The scientific community dismissed me. Fringe science, they said. The work I’ve done on antigravity is considered absurd.” His eyes began to blaze with conviction. “ Time is of the essence. I plan to visit the moon, locate the ray source, and destroy it before civilization is annihilated. John, you’re an army reservist. You’ve handled weapons and explosives. I need your skills. That’s why I asked you here.”

The weight of his words hovered in the air, dense and suffocating. “You truly believe we’re under attack by aliens?” I pressed, my heart racing. “To the moon? Incredible, impossible!”

“No, my boy, not impossible. All I’ve said is a certainty.” He rose abruptly, determination in every aspect of his bearing. “We must leave at once. The authorities are so embroiled in disaster management that they cannot aid us. Come, I’ll show you what I’ve built.”

The reality I had known began to unravel as he led me outside. The huge barn, which had always hosted memories of youth spent in the countryside, now appeared as the gateway to another world I had never dreamed of. Inside, I found not the familiar scent of hay and horses, but the metallic odor of machinery. There it stood - a cylindrical vessel tapered at each end. It was a reality born in defiance of my doubts - a silvery machine 30 feet in length and 15 in diameter resting horizontally on skids, like a helicopter.

“Behold Moonship 1,” Uncle Alexander announced with a hint of pride. “It’s the culmination of decades of antigravity research. When I’ve opened a section of the roof we can be on our way.”

An hour later, suspended in the vastness of space, my mind was filled with wonder. We had soared upward smoothly and silently, crossing in moments the threshold of Earth’s atmosphere — the blue globe receding beneath us, leaving only the glimmering stars as witnesses to our daring endeavor.

As we touched down on the moon’s surface, the pale, desolate landscape beckoned with its eerie beauty, making me acutely aware that the lives of billions hinged on our success. We donned our spacesuits and exited the craft. Guided by my uncle’s detector, we navigated through a labyrinth of shadows cast by the towering mass of Mons Hygens. We crossed the now forbidding crater pocked landscape, the way illuminated by the powerful flashlight I was carrying - a small circle of light in a vista black with thick shadows.

Suddenly, Uncle Alexander’s alarmed voice came though my headphones in a burst of fear tinged words. “John, look out,” he cried in wild warning.

Quickly I turned, following the signpost of his tensely thrust arm. The light of my torch caught the things. Two black metallic giants shambled from the gloom — terrifying humanoid robots with cyclops eyes, which glowed like coals from Abaddon. Before I could gasp in shock, or even reach for my sidearm, they rendered us helpless with paralyzing beams that shot forth from their demonic eyes. We were bathed in a satanic glow, which immediately robbed us of all movement. In an instant, we were captured, the iron grip of their pincer-like claws crushing our fleeting sense of heroism.

We were carried as if dolls towards a towering cliff. Here, a huge airlock had been concealed beneath a jutting overhang. Fear had tightened its bleak hand upon me. But inspired by my uncle’s bravery in challenging the unknown, I held fast to my courage. So long as we were alive Earth had a chance.

From the entrance to the alien’s lair, Uncle Alexander and I were taken deep within a cavern illuminated by glowing discs attached to its high ceiling. To my astonishment it was filled with dense tropical vegetation made weird by its amber translucency. Adding to my amazement was the fact that I felt heavy now. In the cavern the gravity seemed as strong as when on Earth, no doubt artificially produced.

As our mechanical captors followed a path that snaked its way through the lush undergrowth and towards the cave’s far wall, I wondered with understandable trepidation what manner of alien horrors awaited us. But not even my wildest dreams could have prepared me for the astounding sight we beheld.

Here, an exotic woman of mature years held court, seated on a glittering throne-like chair carved from a huge amethyst crystal, behind which was the dark and mysterious entrance to a dwelling burrowed out of the rock. I was shocked, not just by her strange appearance, but also because she was completely nude and engrossed in fondling a much younger version of herself, also utterly naked.

The teenage aspect, possibly 18, sat on the older woman’s lap, legs spread explicitly wide and draped across the arms of the crystalline chair. The older woman had two fingers thrust deeply into the moaning girl’s slit, a third up her anus, and with her other hand she was stroking her lover’s pert breasts.

In front of the throne, dancing in lewd and wild abandon, were two other identical maidens, hips suggestively swaying as they stroked their upthrust breasts and bald loins, which dripped with sexual arousal. The third member of the indistinguishable quartet beat a wild Bacchanal rhythm on a drum as she squatted, riding a thick stone phallus that projected up from the floor, which was slick with her honey hued secretions.

My brain reeled at the unbelievable sight of the wildly orgiastic spectacle in all its frenzied abandon. For some reason it reminded me of a hellscape depicted in The Garden of Earthy Delights, a weird medieval painting by the Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch. My tumbling thoughts were interrupted by the robots as they put us down and disarmed me of my revolver, and confiscated the time bomb my uncle had made to destroy their infernal machine.

The seated woman became aware of our presence. She clapped her hands. The savage music stopped and the dancers ceased their wild and explicit gyrations. All four identical teens knelt before her in placid and disturbing submission.

The mature woman gazed at us coldly, as if we were merely insects under a powerful lens. She was an older version of the teens. Her smooth skin was dark red. Her head was not covered by hair, but by glossy black scales, which peaked in two rows at each temple, giving the appearance of small horns. The woman’s full lips and nipples were jet black. Her eyes were large and amber in colour, reminding me of a restless lion I’d once seen at a zoo. I found her both beguiling and terrifying.

The entire situation was surreal - the strangeness of the women, their shameless nudity and blatant sexual activity that had no hint of bashfulness in the slightest. It forced home to me the fact that we were in a situation so outside the bounds of normality it rivaled an opium dream.

The older woman spoke to the robots in a strange tongue, which bore no resemblance to any language I’d heard before. Again, the towering metal giants bathed us in the satanic crimson glow of their sinister eyes. The gorgon-like paralysis that had gripped us instantly vanished.

“She-devils of the moon,” muttered Uncle Alexander with frowning disapproval as he stretched his cramped muscles, his usual imperturbably significantly shaken.

“Spare me your ridiculous superstitions,” contemptuously replied the alien Lilith. To my amazement the woman spoke English.

“Yes, I Aeshara, know your tongue,” she continued. “It’s one of many languages we’ve learned from your radio and television transmissions. You’ve obviously come here to stop us. But as you see your pathetic efforts have failed. We spotted your primitive ship the moment it left Earth’s atmosphere.”

I opened my mouth to shout defiance at this arrogant devil-woman. But Uncle Alexander gave me a warning look, and I kept prudently silent as he spoke, his emotions once again under control. The tenseness of his body and grim expression, however, hinted at well suppressed rage. His voice was firm and interrogative when he spoke, showing he wouldn’t be intimidated and served as an inspiration to follow his example.

“You can’t be natives of the moon,” he began, cautiously fishing for valuable information that might help wrest victory from the jaws of defeat. “Life couldn’t have evolved on our barren satellite. Where are you originally from?”

“I see no reason not to tell you,” Aeshara condescendingly began as she relaxed into a confident and languid pose, assured of her superiority, and of her mastery over us. “My ancestors were from Peran, a planet in the constellation known to you as Ophiuchus. They arrived on your moon in the year 1600 AD by your reckoning, and established this base in preparation for the conquest of Earth.

“But something went horribly wrong. There was an explosion in a deeper section of the complex. The blast killed everyone except my remote ancestor, who used the surviving equipment to clone herself and manufacture these robots. Only now, after the passing of many centuries of hard labour under the direction of my former selves, has the base been restored to full operational capacity. Now all is in readiness for Earth’s conquest, for Peran is imperiled. But by what I don’t know, for many records were destroyed in the blast.”

Like Uncle Alexander I’d also managed to regain my composure and had been listening intently. For some reason the date 1600 rang a bell. Then I remembered. Hope flared. Earth might yet be saved.

“Aeshara,” I began. “In the year 1604 the German astronomer Johannes Kepler witnessed a new star in the night sky. It was much brighter than Jupiter, but dimmed over several weeks. This was in the constellation Ophiuchus, where your home world resides.

“Our astronomers now know that the new star was a supernova. They named it the Kepler supernova remnant. The vast stellar explosion would have destroyed your civilization with a massive burst of intense radiation. This must be the threat your ancestors faced - the reason they sought to invade Earth. But now there’s no point in continuing the plan. Tragically, regrettably, your people are all dead. Why not seek peace. Why add death upon death?”

The young devil-girls gasped in horrified shock upon hearing my words. Aeshara paled. “You’re lying,” she cried in hot and obstinate denial. “It’s a desperate and pathetic trick to try and save Earth.”

Angrily, she turned to her robots and uttered sharp commands in her own tongue. The machines seized our arms in their iron grip. The pain silenced my protests as well as those of my uncle. Unceremoniously, we were dragged from her presence by the hulking mechanisms, which forced us along another path that paralleled the cavern wall. Soon, we arrived at a doorway cut into the rock, and were violently thrust into an empty room hollowed out from the stone. The door clanged shut behind us like a tolling bell of doom, not only for us but for Earth also, it seemed.

Half an hour passed, an eternity of bleak despair. Then the metal door squealed open to reveal a younger, softer version of Aeshara. “I am Rashuna,” she said, her demeanor strikingly different. “My mother is consumed by deranged thoughts of conquest, but I… I desire peace.”

The stillness in the room was pregnant with hope as I found myself yearning for her words to be true. Yet this might be some devilish trick to further torment us. “If you desire peace, why didn’t you oppose Aeshara long before we arrived?” I skeptically asked.

“We are not her assistants,” explained the girl. “Aeshara’s extensive robot workforce fills that role. Although we’ve been educated in all the sciences, my sisters and I were primarily created as slaves for her pleasure. You witnessed the scene before the crystal throne. It’s with your arrival that we have become aware of her terrible intentions, which only now has she revealed.” The devil-maiden turned to my uncle. “Is it really true that Peran is no more?”

Uncle Alexander, who also had a knowledge of astronomy, independently confirmed the frightening truth. He did so as gently as he could, which was very difficult considering the tragedy’s terrible magnitude.

“I’m so very sorry,” he sincerely concluded, head bowed in sympathetic sadness. “But what John said is a fact.”

She began to weep in a very human way upon hearing this dreadful affirmation. It negated her alien strangeness and I, moved by her deep distress, placed my arms around her in a comforting way. She settled, and slowly raised her teary face to mine.

“My people are all dead,” she lamented. “I don’t want your people to also die. My mother is old and deranged. But I am young as are my other selves. We’ve watched much of Earth’s television transmissions. We don’t want to die without knowing the love of a man, without knowing what it is like to be kissed by a man. Will you kiss me,” she desperately begged, pressing her vibrant body against me in an unrestrained manner potent with impish desire.

I’m not by nature a Casanova, but rather staidly restrained according to Janice, my ex-girlfriend, who’d left me for another man. Under normal circumstances I’d have been taken considerably aback by such devilish forwardness. But seeing a potential ally that could help save Earth, I overcame my hesitation and complied, not wishing to offend her with the same rejection I’d faced.

Her lips touched mine with eager passion - an affirmation of life and a negation of death. Her shapely nude body, alive with youthful desire, was as warm and inviting as any human woman’s. In an instant I found myself incredibly aroused beyond all rational thought and restraint. The fragrant scent of her skin had a powerful aphrodisiac effect, as if it was a love potion brewed by sex obsessed succubi.

I picked her up, a puppet to overwhelming desire, and swiftly carried her into a corner. My clothes fell away and we eagerly began making passionate and uninhibited love. Uncle Alexander, seeing what was happening, quickly stepped out of the room shaking his head in utter disbelief and reproof. He stood guard by the door as we wildly cavorted, sensibly watching for danger.

It didn’t take long for Rashuna to climax explosively. Her eyes roll back in her head. Sexual fluids resembling honey burst from her turgid slit in a flood as her body convulsed in intense and multiple orgasms. Then I groaned and with a final powerful thrust I shot my seed deep into the warmth of her yielding body. Never before had I experienced such exquisite passion.

As we slowly recovered from the intensity of the experience, Uncle Alexander poked his head through the doorway. “I hate to interrupt,” he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm, but I think robots are approaching through the undergrowth. We’d better get out of here fast. If you’re finished, that is.”

Hastily, I donned my clothes. Now, in a more sober mood I was mortified at what had occurred, what I had done with complete abandon in front of my uncle. But there was no time to dwell on such matters. We quickly exited the room. Rashuna led us down a branching path, then paused and pulled a satchel from some bushes where she’d hidden it. My heart leaped. I recognized the bag - it was the one in which I’d been carrying the time bomb.

“I brought this,” she said, handing me the satchel. “ Your gun and the bomb are in here. I was sure we could work together to stop my mother’s mad scheme of foul genocide. We must hurry to the gravity ray generator and destroy it. This way, quickly.”

As we ran a wailing siren sounded, chilling us with its weird satanic ululation. Rashuna gasped in fear. “The robots,” she cried. “They’ve discovered our escape and have raised the alarm.”

Our dash became even more frantic. With Rashuna leading the way, we darted into another tunnel and swiftly navigated its maze of rock hewed corridors. We surged into the room containing the ray generator - a huge device of bewildering complexity.

“Quickly, plant the explosives so we can get out of here,” urged Uncle Alexander as he glanced at the doorway. “Our pursuers can’t be far behind us.”

Just as I set the timer two robots burst into the room, swiftly followed by a raging Aeshara.

“Look out,” cried my uncle in dire alarm.

Too late came the warning. Fiery rays burst from robotic hands at the devil-woman’s screaming command. I gasped in horror as Rashuna was struck down. I drew my revolver as she collapsed, vengeance flaring hotly within me. Heart pounding, I fired at one hulking machine. The Colt roared deafeningly in the confines of the room. Hours of target practice at the gun range paid off. The bullet smashed into its single eye, which exploded in a livid shower of sparks. The machine toppled, thundering against the stony floor.

I rolled aside, and a ray from the remaining robot lanced the spot where I had been. I fired again, and the second machine crashed in a smoking heap to the stones beside its ruined companion.

“The timer,” I anxiously cried to my uncle, who had taken shelter behind some cubical equipment. “We’ve got to get out of here,” I warned as I snatched up Rashuna, tears in my eyes, unwilling to leave her body to be desecrated by the force of the bomb blast.

We rushed for the exit. With a mad cry Aeshara darted past us and towards the ray generator. It was a crazed attempt to defuse the time bomb I’d stuck to it using a powerful fast drying adhesive. As we exited the maze of corridors in a wild dash, bursting out into the open, a huge explosion knocked us to the ground. It was a furious eruption of light and sound that obliterated consciousness like the punch of a heavyweight champion’s fist.

I regained awareness to find Rashuna worriedly bending over me. “You’re alive,” I joyously gasped.

“Yes,” she replied, smiling. “Aeshara wouldn’t risk damaging the ray generator. The robots were commanded to use their stun beams - the light that came from their hands. The danger is over. The entire tunnel has collapsed, completely destroying the ray machine. But there is no sign of my mother. Where is she?” she worriedly asked.

I explained how Aeshara had tried to diffuse the bomb, and that only we had come out of the tunnel. “Is there any other exit?” I asked.

Rashuna began to weep and I had my answer. I wondered if she’d hate me because of what had happened. But when I sought to comfort her in my arms she didn’t push me away. Uncle Alexander groaned, the sound drawing our attention. We helped him stand and explained to him what had happened.

“Well, thank God that’s over,” he said, vastly relieved as he dusted himself off. “The human race is safe from extermination. I’d like to stay here awhile to study Peran technology. Then, we can return to Earth and use what I’ve learned to advance our world for the better.”

“Yes, added Rashuna. “From destruction a new beginning can come. My mother went about things the wrong way. With John’s help we can recreate our species by combining his male genes with ours, something we previously lacked. Our starship has been recently repaired. After you’ve left we’ll vacate the moon, taking with us all our equipment and robots. The destination - another world in a nearby solar system. It’s not as fertile as the Earth, which was our ancestor’s first choice, but it’s free of intelligent life. There, we’ll have ample room to expand our population.” She turned to me, “John, I want more than just your DNA. Will you come with us?” she asked, hopeful, yet afraid that I might decline.

But she had nothing to fear. Rashuna’s resolve and my experience with her had altered me. I realized I wanted to help rebuild what had been lost, not just for her people, but for myself also. I had never been lucky in love, but with Rashuna, even though we had known each other a short time I, like her, felt certain I had found my true soulmate in this devilish temptress.

“Of course I will come with you, Rashuna,” I announced, much to Uncle Alexander’s considerable amazement.

Further conversation was paused by the arrival of Rashuna’s three sisters. The girls placed their arms around me, shamelessly pressing their naked bodies to mine in overt desire. Fortunately, this time I was prepared for the arousal their enticing scent caused, and so was able to control my reaction.

“We share a psychic bond,” explained Rashuna, seeing my amazement at her sisters ribald affection. “When you made love to me so passionately you made love to all of us, except Aeshara, who didn’t share our occult rapport.”

My uncle smiled as he firmly shook my hand in congratulation, for he could see that my adventurous decision wasn’t based on mere lust, and that Rashuna and her sisters weren’t the satanic debauchees he had initially assumed them to be.

“I see you’re going to have an interesting future, and I’m truly happy for you,” he said.

I heartily agreed with that sentiment, and as I turned to meet Rashuna’s loving gaze and that of her sisters, the surety of my choice firmed in my heart. For I now belonged with purpose to a new world, poised on the cusp of rebuilding - a world where hope flourished, rising like a Phoenix from the black ashes of terrible disaster.

THE END