Eric stared at the flickering scanner display in front of him, watching
a trace draw closer and closer to the centre.  There shouldn't have been
anything there, so far from civilisation, but he had reasonable faith
in the scanner system, if not in its display unit.  He rubbed the top
of his shaved head, then spun his seat round to face the salvage ship's
navigator station.

"Hey, Alex," he called out.  "We got a trace.  Looks like a freighter.
I can't get any life sign readings at this range, but it's drifting with
no engine power."

Alex nodded, keeping his eyes firmly on the navigation console.  "Yeah,
I see it, it's coming up on the hazard monitor now.  You reckon we should
check it out?"

Eric grinned.  "Hell yes.  It's one damned big freighter.  There's gotta
be something worth having in the priority cargo bay if nothing else."
A niggling doubt hung in his mind as he spoke, though.  What was
a civilian freighter that size doing drifting at the fringes of a
lifeless star system that only pirates, smugglers, and scavengers ever
went through?

Alex tapped at the navigation console, then spun his chair round to
face Eric.  "Course set for standoff at a hundred km.  I'll go start
warming up the shuttle."

Eric watched Alex head off down the ship's spinal corridor to the shuttle
bay, and turned back to the scanner display.  Data streamed across the
top of the screen as the derelict freighter drew closer.  He sighed with
relief when the "LIFE SIGNS CONFIRMED ABSENT" message scrolled across.
Whatever had done for the crew, it wasn't there any more.  He looked
over the rest of the data.  No hazard beacon, no marker buoy, no Omega
transmission, and the hull design looked to be over two hundred years old.
Nobody was going to come looking for *this* cargo.

			*	*	*

Eric watched nervously as the scanner trace of the shuttle moved out
towards the freighter.	They'd done this sort of thing far too many
times, yet something about this one was still making him nervous.
If anything did go wrong while the others were over there, he was going
to be stuck on an unreliable old salvage hauler with no company and no
suspended animation bays.  Men went mad in those kinds of conditions,
and he didn't want to go mad.

The shuttle's scanner trace merged with that of the freighter, and Alex's
voice crackled over the com-link.  "We've latched into the freighter's
left-side shuttle bay.	Looks like it uses the old control interface,
so we'll be stuck for a couple of minutes while I get the damn thing
talking to the shuttle."

Eric sighed with relief and tapped the "talk" button.  "Excellent.
Keep me posted."  He pulled a cigarette from the pack in his shirt
pocket and sparked up.	He knew Alex didn't approve of him smoking at
the scanner station, but the air filtration was working nicely right
now and he wanted his nicotine hit.  He leaned back in the chair and
daydreamed about sleazy bars and dancing girls.

			*	*	*

Alex led his crewmates into the freighter's embarkation area, gun in hand.
He knew Eric had said there was nothing alive on the ship, but he didn't
want to be the one who discovered a previously unknown kind of life by
being eaten by it.

He looked around for a few moments, then smiled.  "OK, looks like we're
clear.	Air is... air is good.	They built these life support systems
to last.  No microbes, no poison gas."

Kara, the salvage ship's medic, flipped open the visor of her spacesuit.
"Doesn't even stink," she noted.

Eric's voice came over their com-links.  "Hey people, keep me posted, OK?
I don't wanna have to fly this crate home by myself and go mad."

Alex chuckled, and snapped open his own visor.	"You worry too much,
Eric.  You've said yourself this ship's dead."	He turned to Kara.
"Kara, see if you can find the medical log.  Melanie, you come with me
to check out the holds.  Richard, go check out this thing's engine room
and see if it'll move under its own power."

			*	*	*

Kara resealed her visor before opening the medical bay's armoured hatch.
Even if the ship was dead, there might be nasty fumes or something inside.
The door slid open with a hiss, revealing two dessicated corpses locked
together as if they'd been fighting with each other.  She stepped gingerly
through the hatch and sealed it behind her.

"Guys, this is Kara.  It looks like something really weird happened in
here.  These two dead bodies in the med bay look like they were fighting.
I'm just looking for the log now."  She released the com-link stud and
started rummaging through the cupboards.

Eric's voice crackled over the com-link.  "Guys, there's a subspace
energy surge in there.	Looks like it's a couple of bulkheads forward
of you, Kara."

Kara grabbed what she was looking for - the armour-cased datapad used
for medical notes - and turned it on.  "Tell me later, Eric.  I've just
found the medical log." She stared in disbelief as she read the last
few entries in the medical log.

"November 14th, 113.  Jettisonned the left side shuttle with Brennan
and Callahan's dessicated corpses inside.  I've never seen anything like
this before.  It was like every drop of moisture got sucked out of their
bodies in a single instant."

"November 16th, 113.  Rodriguez went insane and tried to kill me.
We subdued her and put her in a locked suspended animation capsule.
There's something odd about her eyes."

			*	*	*

Richard scratched his head as he looked around the engine bay.	All the
cable runs were sound, the engines looked like they were intact, there was
plenty of power, and yet he couldn't even get the first-stage diagnostics
to run, let alone bring the engines on-line.  It was all far, far too
strange for him.  He walked back out into the corridor.

On a random impulse, he tapped on the controls of one of the suspended
animation pods mounted in the wall.  Its shielding panel slid back to
reveal a rather attractive dark-haired young woman in a somewhat scuffed
boiler suit.  He turned on his com-link.  "Guys... there's a woman in
one of these SA capsules.  Status lights say she was alive when it got
switched on."

Alex's voice replied.  "Let's wait until Kara finishes with the medical
log before we unseal it.  There's some mad shit in this cargo hold and
it's making me nervous."

"You got it, boss man."  Richard shrugged, and went back into the engine
room.  There had to be *some* way to get the damn thing moving again.

			*	*	*

Kara lay sprawled on the floor of the medical bay, a strange glowing
ball of light hovering above her face.	She could hear Richard talking
about finding an occupied suspended animation pod, but couldn't make her
lips move to say anything.  The light pulsed and flickered, implanting
strange thoughts on her mind.  She snapped open her visor, and the light
flashed downwards and vanished into her.

She got to her feet.  The other host needed to be released.  Both of them
needed to get back to the salvage ship.  There was a whole civilisation
to be filled with the light, and they were the only hosts remaining.
She snapped her visor back down, and then grabbed the medical log datapad
and crushed it with her suddenly titanically strong grasp.

Kara opened the door and stepped out into the corridor.  She made her
way down to the suspended animation bays outside the engine room, and
tapped the "unlock" code into Maria's bay.  The pod hissed open, and Maria
blinked unsteadily.  Kara raised her visor, and the two of them looked
into each other's strangely-coloured eyes, communing on a deep level.

Richard emerged from the engine room.  "Kara?  What are you doing?"

Kara turned to face him, her eyes glowing an eerie blue.  He stared,
transfixed, and she walked up to him.  "I'm doing what I must," she said.
"Let me take your mind off it."  She took off her helmet, then his.

She leaned forward and kissed him deeply.  Blue light enveloped them
both as her tongue explored his mouth.	She could taste his life force
pulsing inside him.  He sagged in her arms as she drew it out, sucking
every last fragment of his vital essence out of his body.  Finally,
she dropped his now-dessicated body on the floor.  "There.  Nothing for
you to worry about."

			*	*	*

Eric looked at the suit telemetry screen and panicked.	He slapped the
"talk" button.	"Get the hell out of there!  Richard just dropped dead!
What's going on, guys?"

Melanie's voice responded. "What? Shit! Alex, come on!	We need to get
back to the shuttle!"

Eric watched the scanner display, desperately willing the shuttle to
move off.  Finally, Alex's voice came over the comm.  "We're all on
the shuttle.  Kara's found one of the crew who was in SA.  Launching
*now*." Eric slumped back in his chair with relief as the shuttle's
scanner trace peeled away from the freighter.

			*	*	*

Melanie leaned against a bulkhead in the salvage ship's boarding area.
Kara and Maria had vanished into the medical bay as soon as they'd got off
the shuttle, and Alex had gone tearing down the corridor to the bridge.
She reached into the thigh pocket of her spacesuit and pulled out the
strangely carved figurine she'd retrieved from a crate on the freighter.
As she contemplated its sinuous curves and angles, her comlink chimed.

"Melanie?  Could you come into the medical bay, please?  And bring the
figurine." said Kara's voice.  Melanie blinked in surprise.  How did
Kara know about the figurine?  She shrugged, and walked through into
the medical bay.

She was confronted with the sight of Kara and Maria both completely naked,
their eyes glowing with an eerie blue light.  The figurine began to
pulse with the same light, and Melanie stood transfixed by Kara's gaze.
Maria worked the door control, closing and locking the door, while Kara
started to unfasten Melanie's spacesuit.

"You'll have to help me get this off you, dear Melanie," said Kara.
Melanie shivered with delight at the thought of being naked with Kara
and Maria, and eagerly helped Kara remove her from her spacesuit and
her clothes.

As Melanie dropped her knickers to the floor, she felt Maria's hands
caressing her naked arse.  Melanie shivered with delight, then gave a
low moan as Kara's fingers started to stroke and squeeze her nipples.
A corner of her mind feebly protested that she couldn't possibly be
enjoying being felt up by two naked women, but she ignored it.	Kara and
Maria's hands were doing utterly wonderful things to her, and she wasn't
about to stop them.

Kara pointed at the floor.  "Lie down and spread your legs, Melanie.
It will be much easier for us to do what we must, then."  Melanie obeyed,
an anticipatory thrill running through her body.  Kara and Maria knelt
to either side of her, Maria fondling her breasts while Kara's fingers
stroked the already-wet lips of her sex.

Maria leaned down to whisper in Melanie's ear.	"We are going to fill you
with the light.  You will become its host just as we have." She picked up
the glowing figurine and rested it between Melanie's breasts.  "Then, you
will fill one of your friends with the light, and he will fill the other."

Melanie felt Kara slip two fingers into her sex and rock them back and
forth, sending waves of pleasure through her body.  Melanie's whimpers
of delight were swiftly muffled, though, by Maria kneeling astride her
head, her sex over Melanie's mouth.  Melanie took her cue, and started
to lick Maria's clitoris.  Maria arched her back, groaning with delight,
and Melanie felt Kara slipping a third finger into her wet and hungry sex.
Melanie licked faster, flickering her tongue into Maria's sex, savouring
the taste of her juices.  Kara's fourth finger slipped into Melanie's
sex, making her gasp.  Maria ground down on Melanie's face, moaning with
pleasure, and Melanie felt Kara's thumb enter her.

Kara's hand curled into a fist inside Melanie, and suddenly a blazing
yet strangely painless heat exploded outwards from her sex.  She writhed
and bucked, screaming in ecstasy, her sex pulsing rhythmically around
Kara's fist, and suddenly she knew that taking the figurine had been
the best thing she'd ever done.

			*	*	*

Eric opened the hatch of his cabin and walked in.  As the door hissed
shut, he became aware that there was someone already in the room.
He turned around to see Melanie leaning against the wall, naked, watching
him with glowing eyes.	She smiled at him, and he gave a helpless whimper
as his cock hardened in his trousers.

"M-Melanie?  What's going on?" he asked, as she stepped up to him and
unfastened his trousers.

"I'm going to fill you with the light.	You'll like being filled with
the light," she said, pulling his trousers down and stroking his erection.

He groaned with pleasure as she ran her tongue along the shaft of his
cock and swirled it around the head.  "I promise that this will be
the best sex you've ever had," she said, standing back up.  "Take me.
You want my body."

Eric grinned, pushing her back against the wall.  He grabbed her by the
arse and hefted her off her feet, sliding his cock effortlessly into the
wet heat of her sex.  She wrapped her legs around him and whispered in
his ear. "Fuck my brains out," she ordered, and he started to thrust,
pressing her hard against the wall as his cock pounded into her sex.

She moaned with pleasure, squeezing his cock with the walls of her sex,
making him thrust even harder.	His balls tightened, ready to empty
themselves into her.  "I'm gonna come..." he groaned, thrusting even
more forcefully into her.  She kissed him deeply, and his cock started
to pulse, sending come spurting into the depths of her sex even as a
wave of heat exploded through his head.

Suddenly, Eric became aware of his new duty to the alien light that now
filled him.  There was only one person left on the ship who did not bear
the light, and that had to change.  He opened the hatch and walked down
the corridor, unbothered by the chill of the metal flooring against the
soles of his feet.

			*	*	*

Alex punched in the last coordinate set of the course for home.  He wanted
to get to a decent bar as soon as he could and drink himself stupid.
He punched the "course engage" button and leaned back in his chair,
eyes closed.  He felt something bump against the seat, and then there were
hands - large, manly hands - caressing his neck.  He sighed contentedly.

"I was wondering when you'd work out I fancy you, Eric. Keep doing that,"
said Alex, leaning into the caress.  Eric's hands prodded and probed
expertly, melting the tension in his shoulders and neck.  Alex purred,
sinking slightly in his chair and unbuttoning his shirt.  "How are you?"

"I'm very well," said Eric, leaning round the chair to kiss Alex. Alex
eagerly explored Eric's mouth with his tongue, running one hand up
his arm.

"You're very naked, aren't you?" asked Alex.  This was a turn-up for
the books.

"Yes," replied Eric, slipping one hand down inside Alex's unbuttoned
shirt to caress his nipples.  "And I want to give you the buggering of
your life."

Alex groaned as his cock hardened in his trousers.  "I think I can
live with that," he replied, kicking off his boots and unfastening his
trousers.  He wriggled out of them, then got to his feet and looked down
admiringly at Eric's stiff cock.  "I can *definitely* live with that."

Eric pushed Alex over to the map table.  Alex bent over, offering
his arse.  He felt Eric's wet tongue licking around his hole, pushing
into it, channeling saliva into him.  Alex groaned with pleasure,
his cock twitching with every movement of Eric's tongue in his arse.
"Oh god yes.  That's wonderful."

Eric stood back up, and pressed the head of his cock against Alex's
well-tongued hole.  "Ready, slut?" asked Eric.

"Bugger me," replied Alex.  He gasped as Eric's cock plunged forcefully
into him, stretching open his ring and sinking into his guts.  Eric
started to thrust rhythmically, pushing deeper into Alex's bowels with
each inward stroke.  Alex groaned at the feeling of Eric's cock rubbing
against his prostate.  "Yes.  That's it.  That's it!"

Eric thrust faster and harder, burying his cock to the hilt in
Alex's arse.  Alex whimpered, his balls tightening, pressure building
up inside.  He wondered for a moment why Eric had taken so long to get
round to screwing him, and then Eric's cock started to pulse in his arse.
Come spurted inside Alex's bowels, followed by a staggering explosion
of heat that pushed him over the edge, sending his own come spurting
across the map table.

Eric withdrew his cock from Alex's arse and smiled.  "You're with us, now.
You are a host to the light.  Everyone on this ship is a host of the
light.	And we're going to help take the light to the rest of mankind."

Alex nodded, smiling.  He was happy now.  It was a shame that Richard had
had to die to give the light enough strength to start spreading again,
but that was just one of those things.	He was going to the bar when
he got to port, but drinking himself into a stupor would be a waste of
precious time.