Master Of My Domain, Volume 6: Eating Laughter

Full credit goes to Haltickling for this brilliant writing. While I've never known a TMF link to go dead, like this original:

Eating Laughter (*/FFFM)

I'm still reposting the full text here just in case.

“Cathy, c’mon, you know it’s your turn to feed the Alien today. You have survived it so many times, don’t be afraid of it. The beast won’t bite. It can’t, it hasn’t got a mouth!”

Trish said it with a smile. Inwardly she dreaded the day it would be her turn again. Tom, her First Officer, grinned in his usual twisted way. Joanne pretended to be a million miles away, as always when they spoke about the animal.

They were a spaceship crew of four. The best explorer team in NASA’s staff. Like in Star Trek, they roamed the galaxy searching for new forms of life. But unlike in the famous vintage TV-series, ships weren’t built that big nowadays. The bigger the ship, the more technical problems arose. A ship twice the size of theirs would consume 64 times the energy to transport them through the fifth dimension.

And they had found a new form of life indeed. Trish remembered…

***

The landing was smooth as usual. Trish had won the Smooth Landings Award three years in a row at the academy. After the customary atmospheric checks they opened the door. The automatic ramp glided down with a humming sound. The air smelled spicy and humid, it was hot outside. Like a summer day in Florida. Even the sounds were alike.

The three female astronauts walked through the high grass, careful where they put their feet. Joanne picked a few stalks of the yellow grass and put them into her herbarium. Cathy took a few samples of what looked like animal excrements. All routine. The pencil-sized cameras on their shoulders recorded everything automatically. Trish did a full 360° turn for an overview. Then they decided to walk the short distance to what seemed to be a forest.

Arrived there, they noticed a strange sound. It resembled the excited ‘ek-ek-ek-ek’ of small apes on Earth. Trish informed Tom who had stayed with the ship, then they followed the sound. There was only a small quantity of underwood, so their way was easy. After a hundred yards, they noticed a clearing where the sound seemed to originate. Very silently they stalked nearer, taking cover behind each tree. Then they reached the target, and they couldn’t believe their eyes:

On the low grass in the clearing’s center a small animal was writhing and screeching. It did indeed resemble an ape, but with a squirrel-like head. But the main reason for their utter disbelief was the reason for the animal’s agony: Eight very long brown tentacles were touching it all over its body, and they were wiggling in a way that only could be described as…
T I C K L I N G ! ! !

And the animal seemed to laugh its little head off. Trish rubbed her eyes and took a second look, but the view didn’t change. So much for Darwin’s theory that animals weren’t ticklish. The scientist in Trish became awake, she tried to find out where the tentacles came from. But she couldn’t see any tree or animal, the tentacles simply emerged from the ground below. However, she noticed the holes were forming an almost even circle. So the animal had buried itself in the earth, and when a prey entered the then invisible circle, the tentacles sprang out and caught it. But why the heck did they tickle the prey?

All three waited to see what would happen next. Will the tentacles’ owner emerge from beneath the ground, or will the prey get drawn down below the earth? They would have lost their bets. A few minutes later, the tentacles withdrew suddenly to vanish underground again, and the prey roamed free, fleeing to the next tree instantly, but with visible traces of exhaustion.

Trish was immediately on guard. Predators only left their prey when a new, even more powerful animal approached. That seemed to be nature’s law throughout the universe. She checked and rechecked her armband sensors, but there was no sign of big animals around. She relaxed. Maybe the underground octopus had sensed the astronauts, but she felt safe among the trees. Their roots surely made any underground movement impossible, and she didn’t intend to step into the clearing.

But somebody else did: Cathy ran to the spot where the animal had been caught, she wanted to find one of the tentacle holes. Both Trish and Joanne uttered a warning shout, but it was too late: The tentacles shot out from the ground and grabbed Cathy, wrestling her down easily. One tentacle each on her arms and ankles, she was completely helpless soon. Then the four remaining tentacles started to tickle her upper body. Her astronaut’s overall offered some protection, but of course it wasn’t construed to stall off tickling tentacles.

And how they tickled poor Cathy! She yelled and screamed and wheezed and laughed, all in one. Trish and Joanne didn’t dare to simply run over to their tortured colleague, as they had no idea how many more of the octopuses were buried underneath their way. Slowly, tentatively they moved forward step by step, always ready to jump back any second. That way it took them several minutes to get near Cathy. Their laser handguns were ready, but they were still too far away for a safe shot.

When they finally reached Cathy, she had a look of hysteric agony in her face, and her laughter was ear-shattering. Trish took aim with her gun, but suddenly the tentacles recoiled and let go of their prey.

A deep voice inside their heads exploded. “No hurt,” it said.

Cathy was still gasping and fighting for breath, but Trish and Joanne instinctively turned their heads to see the speaker. “Where did this voice come from?” asked the bewildered Joanne. “I don’t know,” replied Trish, “but it sounded like coming from inside my head. Telepaths?”

Mankind had found several species in space who communicated by telepathy. But they had a more imminent problem: Cathy. “Are you injured somewhere?” inquired Trish. “No, I’m just dying from embarrassment; I wet my pants,” the tickle torture victim replied. Despite of their situation, all laughed involuntarily.

“Laugh good.” Again the voice from inside. “What?” asked Trish. “You laugh good. You feed me?” They glanced at each other. Telepaths, certainly. “Talks like a Furby,” giggled Joanne.

“Giggle also good. You all good food!”

Trish tried to collect her wits. She recollected all she knew about telepathic communication. Her mind focused on the question she wanted to ask: ‘Why are we food? Do you want to eat us?’ But she didn’t pronounce the words. She just had to know if this Thing could read her mind. “No understand. Think loud!”

Aha, it can understand our thoughts when we speak, but otherwise the thoughts could only be heard faintly, not readable. Good! So they could at least communicate among each other in sign language or by writing, without being overheard. Now she spoke up. “Who are you?”

“I (unspeakable).” The thought produced an image of a giant turnip inside their heads. “I no hurt you, but I still hungry.”

“What kind of food do you eat?” asked Trish, already afraid of the answer. She felt like Red Riding Hood questioning the big bad wolf. But instead of the dreaded ‘You’, the Thing produced the sound of Cathy’s laughter in their minds, and the ‘ek-ek-ek-ek’ of the squirrel-ape. “This Things lives off laughter!” exclaimed Joanne. “No wonder it tickled poor Cathy.”

Trish remained the cool scientist. “You like laughter?” – “Yes.”

Suddenly her transceiver crackled. Tom asked: “What the hell is going on there? Whom are you talking to?” So he was too far away to hear the telepathic thoughts of the Thing. Trish filled him in briefly and added: “We’ll be back soon. Keep alert, but don’t worry. We are in control of the situation.” She wondered if they really were.

“Who talk?” the Thing wanted to know. Trish hesitated a moment, then replied. “An invisible friend. But by the way: May we take a look at you?” – “I come up? You no hurt me?” – “No, we are very peaceful, we won’t hurt you.”

The earth moved suddenly with vibrations. Slowly a crack appeared, and the ground around it crumbled apart. A huge turnip emerged, about five feet long and two in diameter. Beneath it, several hundreds of very small roots were attached, and on top the already familiar eight tentacles, each about ten feet long. “May touch? Only can see when touch.” – “Okay, but no tickling!” – “Understand.” One tentacle approached each girl and softly touched them on the shoulder area. Cathy broke into giggling again. “These tentacles even tickle me on my shoulder!” But the tentacles didn’t wiggle, they just made a light contact.

“You strange. Never see food like you. Where you live?” Oh shit, thought Trish. How can I give an idea of stars and planets to a Thing without eyes? “We come from a place very, very far away,” she said instead.

* * *

Cathy undressed in the animal’s anteroom. They had found out that if they let themselves be tickled naked, the Alien could hear louder and better laughter, and it became replete quicker. At first they had tried it with their overalls on, but then the torture took an hour or more. Undressed, the beast’s hunger was satisfied within twenty or thirty minutes usually.

And there was another reason: The Alien had obviously developed a taste for orgasmic thoughts. During a previous tickle session, it had experimented with tickling the genitals of its “food”, and Cathy was the first one to reach a thundering orgasm from the tender manipulations. She had always become horny when somebody tickled her, but this was her first climax in a “ticklish” situation. And she had relished it tremendously.

“New feeling very good,” the Alien had commented. “What feeling that?” Cathy had explained about sexual arousal, just like telling a kid about the birds and the bees. “Where good feeling feel best?” And she had shown it. Since then, no session had terminated without an orgasm.

She felt guilty sometimes to abuse this thing for her sexual pleasure. But the ever-practical Trish had calmed her: “It’s just part of the Alien’s food, and it’s asking for it. You could even see it as some kind of payback: You give food to the Alien, and you get an orgasm in return.”

They had tried to record the laughter, even on video, to see if the animal could get fed that way. But it didn’t work. The Alien needed the thoughts, the brainwaves of the tickled person, not the sights or sounds of laughter. And there was no way to record thoughts on tape. So they had decided to let themselves get tickled in turns. Once a day, one of them had to go down to the Alien’s hold and submit to the torture. It quickly became one of their chores on the day-to-day roster, but it was never boring. Only the anticipation was hard to bear, shortly before the action started.

“Here I am. Feed on me!” said Cathy, entering the Alien’s room. They had transported a lot of earth into the freight hold, and planted grass on it, to make the animal feel at home.

Instantly the eight tentacles sprung out of the ground, grabbed her wrists and ankles firmly but gently, and pinned her to the ground. Then the tickling started: Tenderly one tentacle began to caress one sole, then the other one. A second tentacle touched her rib area, and the laughter intensified. It tickled one rib after the other, approaching Cathy’s sensitive armpits slowly. Arrived there, her laughter became soundless, and the breathing troubles started. It became even worse as the third tentacle reached for the back of her knees.

No matter what spot Cathy concentrated on, she felt the tickling there. She wriggled and squirmed like a madwoman, to no avail. Finally the fourth tentacle participated, tickling her tummy muscles. Oh god, that was the worst! Long before the Alien had found out how to apply the most efficient touch. Some spots produced the best results if stroked tenderly, for other spots deep probing or squeezing did the worst tickling. The tentacles were very flexible, and there were no suction cups or hard spots on it. They were even able to vibrate.

Like they did now. One tentacle had wrapped itself around Cathy’s stomach, bent like a dozen waves. The wave bottoms touched her skin on a dozen individual spots, leaving the rest of the skin untouched. Then the vibrations started. They went through her whole body, she felt them deep inside her intestines. The feeling resembled her of deep-gut tickling, like if somebody squeezed her with hundreds of little fingers. It was horrible, and she became hysterical!

The Alien gave her a little break. It felt from her brainwaves when the torture became too much. Trish had found a simple explanation for it: “You can only stuff a certain maximum quantity of food into your mouth, then you have to chew and swallow first before you can take the next bite. Why should it be different with thoughts? The Alien needs small breaks for swallowing and digesting our brainwaves. Luckily for us, I’d say.”

But the next stage was already in progress. All four free tentacles concentrated on her feet now. The very tips slided between her toes and sawed back and forth. From time to time a tentacle would touch the center of her arch, only to maximize her ticklish laughter. She freaked out again, and got the next break.

“You other feeling now?” inquired the Alien. “Soon,” Cathy replied, but she could feel her moisture already. “No understand,” the beast retorted, but it sounded faked. It started anyway.

Two tentacles began to play with her nipples, and they took their time, circling around the aureoles. The tips became swollen fast, standing at attention. The animal loved tickling her nipples, and Cathy loved it, too. The ankle-holding tentacles spread her legs far apart. One tentacle started to caress the whole pubic area: beside her pussy, on her perineum, at the loin crease. Oh, it tickled alright, but it was so arousing! Then the next tentacle arrived at her vulva entrance, vibrating softly, its tip penetrating her only for a few millimeters, twisting and turning about in erratic movement.

Cathy’s feelings went wild with excitement. But she knew from experience: the best was still to come. She didn’t have to wait for long, though. One tentacle wrapped itself around her clit and started to vibrate. Then a new touch occupied her mind: The tentacle ring around her ankles moved, and the tips suddenly tickled her soles and toes. At the same time, the tip of the clit-embracing tentacle inserted itself into the self-created loop and touched the very tip of her lust knob, vibrating strongly.

That was too much! Cathy exploded in a mind-shattering multiple climax, shock wave after shock wave rolling through her. She screamed, panted, gasped, and writhed. At least six or seven orgasms racked her, she was in paradise. No human lover had ever given her so much sexual pleasure and satisfaction.

“Wow, very good. I enough food now, best food ever from you,” babbled the voice inside her brain. In her mind, she imagined the giant turnip lighting a cigarette now, underground. This made her laugh, but her stomach muscles ached. So she dressed and left.

* * *

It had taken them several weeks to find out more about the Alien. For example, it collected water and minerals through its multitude of tiny roots. But unlike other plants, it didn’t have any chlorophyll to convert the sun energy for photosynthesis. Instead, it used the five-dimensional psionic energy of tickled animals. They had never found an even remotely similar metabolism in the whole known universe.

The conversation with the Alien was somewhat unnerving. Although it possessed a certain amount of intelligence, it reacted like a stubborn child sometimes. Cathy, the expedition’s exobiologist, insisted on taking the exact measures for her records one day, but the Alien just refused to come up. It even stopped talking to them for several days when Tom scolded it for that. Since then, Tom had stayed in the spacecraft while his three colleagues tried to appease the Alien. It only gave up its stubbornness when Cathy offered to let her be tickled for “food”.

“Know Cathy. Cathy good laugh. But want other laugh today.” – “Whose?” – “Trish laugh. Want Trish. Want Trish!” The “object of desire” smiled sourly. This was the result of Trish doing most of the intercultural communication. It was her special talent, and this had got her the ticket to this expedition. But she had to admit, she was curious what it would feel like to be tickled by an exotic, half-intelligent plant. Maybe she could acquire new insights, so she consented and stepped into the circle of tentacles.

Immediately four of them held her down while the others tickled her upper body. She didn’t react very ticklishly though, the overall protected her better than Cathy. It was made of a tougher fabric, she had bought it on a very cold planet because her old one had got damaged.

The Alien seemed a bit disappointed. “Why you no laugh good?” But Cathy played a mean trick on her: She remembered the extreme ticklishness of Trish’s feet during a fun fight in the shower room, and she removed the heavy moon boots from the helplessly struggling girl. Then she addressed the Alien: “Try her feet! They are really tasty!” And it did, oh how it did! All four free tentacles tickled the now nude feet. It didn’t take the Alien long to find out the most sensitive spots, the arches, under and between the toes. Trish squealed heavily now, and the Alien relished it thoroughly. “Hmm, very good food.” Cathy and Joanne couldn’t help snickering and giggling.

When Trish was released finally, she shouted at Cathy: “You bitch! Why did you have to take my boots off? Oh, my poor feet, they won’t stop tingling even now!” She nursed her tortured peds with her hands. Cathy replied coolly: “Our aim was to bribe the Alien with food, remember? And the tickling through your thick overall just didn’t produce enough laughter, so I only tried to be helpful.” – “Oh, you’re so clever, aren’t you? Just wait, I’ll get you for this one day real soon!”

Since then, they outdid each other telling the Alien about the respective victim’s worst spots. They even tickled each other at every opportunity to find out the others’ weakness. And the giant turnip smiled inside their heads…

***

Next day, it was Joanne’s day for tickling. She was the shyest and most taciturn of the crew. Her special knowledge for this expedition was five-dimensional mathematics, essential for navigation in hyperspace. Joanne was a lovely, cute blonde with short-cropped blond hair and the delicate body of a sixteen-year old homecoming queen, although her last birthday cake had shown 24 candles. Slightly boyish, and with a carefully hidden lesbian tendency. She adored Trish secretly for her self-assured posture and her ability to make friends with everybody. And she loved Cathy even more secretly for her quick humor and her delectable body.

She used to hate tickling. At home, she had three elder brothers who always had picked her as the victim of severe tickle-torture whenever they were bored. But her acquaintance to the Alien had slowly changed her attitude towards tickling. She found out that it aroused her, something that had of course never happened during her brothers’ tickling. And when the Alien discovered its taste for orgasmic feelings, she was able to get her first real sexual satisfaction. After that, life had changed for her. She felt that finally now she had become a woman.

But she still was awfully ticklish, and she always trembled with anticipation when her turn arrived. She didn’t know yet that this day held a special surprise for her. The tickling began as usual: Four tentacles holding her down, four more tickling her nude body everywhere. She laughed and squirmed as usual, and the animal enjoyed it as usual.

Suddenly, the loudspeaker erupted with Tom’s voice: “Attention! We’re approaching a gravitation storm, I have to switch off our artificial onboard gravitation for a while to get away from it. Hold on to whatever you can get hold of, it’ll get bumpy!”

Joanne didn’t fear for herself, as the tentacles were pinning her down tightly as any safety belt. But she worried for the animal’s reaction. Imagine an animal living underground being suddenly exposed to zero gravitation; it just had to panic! But the continuous tickling prevented her from warning the Alien, she just couldn’t speak.

So the inevitable happened: The onboard gravitation went out, and she felt the nauseating first wave of weightlessness. “Oh, oh, what this? Danger? Help!” the Alien cried out in her mind. The tickling stopped, so Joanne soothed the beast: “No fear. This happens sometimes in space. Soon everything will be normal again. Just keep tickling me, it will help you to overcome your fear.” – “You say no danger? Just eat? Good. I trust you.” And the tickling continued.

But it received a new quality: The weightlessness lifted Joanne’s body a few inches off ground, and the tentacles could wrap around her without hindrance. The well known feeling of the tentacle wrap-vibration around her tummy appeared. The missing gravitation seemed to elicit a new inventive streak in the Alien. Suddenly, she felt flying higher and higher, then the tentacles turned her around. The animal had emerged from underground to fly with her, upside down. The turnip body came nearer and nearer until the hundreds of tiny roots touched her body. They seemed to be running, moving so quickly and ever so gently over her sensitive skin.

As if this wasn’t enough, the Alien gripped both her wrists with a single tentacle now to get a fifth one free to tickle her. She had one wrapping and vibrating around her body, one in each outstretched armpit, one playing with her nipples, the ankle-hold tentacles’ tips on her feet, and the new one – on her crotch! It danced around, vibrating madly, sending her through the ceiling with rapture. And she had roughly three hundred tiny roots crawling over her super-ticklish stomach and rib area.

Together, they drove her mad with agony and lust. She had no resistance whatsoever against her first thundering orgasm. But the Alien wasn’t satisfied yet: One of the vibrating tentacles pressed against her anus, tickling like hell, and another one entered her vulva.

A few sessions before, she had told the Alien about her G-spot. She had read about it, but never before felt what it was like to be touched there. Now the Alien concentrated on it, because it brought out the strongest sexual reactions from Joanne, thus the best “food.” The tentacle on her G-spot used only light pressure and very soft, almost purring vibrations, while another tip was circling around her clit, and a third one on her anus. Added to the constant tickling, it brought Joanne over the brink again and again, in an incredible series of rapid-fire orgasms, tasting sweeter and sweeter in her mind. She was in heaven, in more than one aspect.

Finally, she fainted shortly, and the Alien stopped. A few seconds later, she regained consciousness, and she thanked the Alien with all her heart. “No thank. I thank you. You give me very best food. When earth come back?” Oh god, they were still drifting in mid-air. Joanne hoped that Tom would bring back gravitation gradually, not all at once. But luckily Tom stuck to the academy book and switched on the onboard gravitation one tenth after the other. “The storm’s over, were back on normal course. Joanne, are you all right?”

They had agreed to switch off all cameras in the freight hold during the tickle sessions to ensure the victim’s privacy, so he really didn’t know about Joanne’s condition. He would only switch on the camera if she wouldn’t reply. So she said towards the mike: “Oh boy, you have no idea how alright I am…”

***

The time had come to leave the planet. They were due back on Earth in three weeks, and because of the enormous distance, they had to get on their way soon. Although the fifth dimension allowed them to travel much faster than light, their engines could transport them only over a maximum distance at one time. Then the “jump batteries” needed a day to reload.

Trish prepared the Alien for their leaving. “No good,” the animal protested. “Why go? You no like me?” In spite of the ridiculous idea, Trish suddenly felt the urge to embrace the turnip. But she said: “We are truly sorry, too. But I told you we live very, very far away. And we just have to go home. But I promise, we will come back.”

The Alien sent black thoughts. It was obviously sad to lose them. Suddenly its thoughts brightened up: “I go with you! You much better food than ek-ek-ek-ek.” Now that was the idea of the year! If the animal went with them back to Earth, they would surely be given all sorts of awards. The scientists would go berserk to get a chance to do research on this completely new metabolism.

But Trish cautioned their hopes. “Can you imagine what our scientists would do to the Alien? Just anything short of vivisection! And we are responsible for it!” She was right, of course. They told the animal they needed some time to think it over.

The held a hot discussion aboard their spaceship. But finally they agreed that the pros outweighed the cons. After all, the proposal came from the animal itself, and surely the “abduction” of only one animal would do no damage to the population.

So Trish informed the Alien about their decision. She didn’t hold back the consequences, because she wanted to animal to get a fair choice. “I go. All friends agree I can go. But you must carry me. I no can walk far.” Aha, so the animals had held a conference, too. Telepathic, no doubt.

So they prepared a cargo hold for the animal, and it left the planet with them…


***

Today, it was Tom’s turn. He was the crew member who feared the Alien most. Like any other macho man, he had problems to admit his weaknesses. One of them clearly was his extreme ticklishness. And he had problems to give up control to somebody else, let alone to an “it”.

“Take it like a man,” the girls had giggled when he had gone to feed the Alien for the first time. It was horrible to get tickled so much, but it became bearable when the Alien had discovered its taste for orgasmic feelings. Being confined to a small spaceship with three gorgeous girls around him wasn’t easy for him. But sex was definitely not allowed between crew members. If he needed relief, he had to stick to masturbation. But the Alien offered a new alternative.

So Tom submitted. He undressed and entered the cargo hold. The animal had waited for him, it was hungry. Instantly he was pinned down by the tentacles, and he received a heavy dose of merciless tickling. Twice he was almost about to faint. But then the interesting part of the game started: The tickling usually made him hard, and the Alien had learnt how to satisfy him thoroughly.

One tentacle wound two loops around his swollen manhood and convulsed, moving up and down simultaneously. This stimulation was even enhanced by the strong vibrations, and the other tentacles: One tip tickled his freely dangling balls from behind, another one entered his anus and vibrated on his prostate gland; two more were tickling his armpits viciously, and his soles weren’t spared the treatment either. The tickling made him lose his control quickly and completely, he became a laughing and moaning wreck soon, spasming in an incredible orgasm.

What Tom didn’t know: Against their mutual agreement, the girls were watching the session on the monitor. The cliché about women’s curiosity proved true in this case. They giggled as they saw him in his tickling agony, and they became quite hot when the Alien stimulated him so skillfully. And they moaned with him in his orgasm.


***

Next day, it was Cathy’s turn again. After the incredible show with Tom, she couldn’t wait to get her own share of satisfaction. In a hurry she undressed and entered the Alien’s room. “Here I am, do with me as you like!” Oh god, she sounded like a teenager at her first sex encounter. Luckily, the animal didn’t have much experience with teenagers…

But instead the expected instantaneous tickle assault, one of the tentacles beckoned her nearer: “Please call friends. All friends. Big surprise!” Well, why not? They were in safe territories now, only two days from home. The autopilot could easily handle the necessary maneuvers without supervision. So she went to the communication desk and pressed the button to summon the other crew members.

A few minutes later, the four astronauts were assembled in the converted cargo hold. Tom took the initiative: “Well, here we are. What’s all that fuss about?” – “Please all naked. Big, big surprise!” Obediently they undressed and stepped nearer.

Suddenly three additional sets of tentacles shot out from the ground, each taking hold of a different crew member. Cathy received her treatment from the original Alien, but the others were tickled as well. Had the Alien developed new tentacles? Was that the news it wanted to show them?

Through the haze and the tears of her own laughter, Trish observed that the tentacles tickling her were much smaller, but that made the tickling even worse! Their touch felt much defter, almost like children’s fingers compared to an adult hand. Of course, that’s it! This was the Alien’s offspring! But she was unable to tell the others, her laughter swamped her completely.

After half an eternity, the tickling changed to the well-known sexual stimulation. The tiny tentacles around their most sensitive body parts made them soar to new levels of excitement. Almost simultaneously, they drifted into their first climax, soon to be followed by more. A chain of multiple orgasms racked them, each other’s lust cries turning them on further. All four were on the brink of fainting when the tickling and vibrations finally stopped.

The Alien gave them time to catch their breaths. Then it explained: “This my children. They born this place, so belong to you and me. You like my children?” Trish had discovered this truth before, but the others were speechless. So Trish said:

“You have very nice kids, we like them greatly. Can you shown them to us?” The whole ground vibrated and shook as all the animals emerged from beneath. Yes, there were three identical copies of the Alien, only about a third its size. But the Alien continued:

“Children very hungry. I very hungry. You stay here for more?” But Trish intervened. “Only one at a time. We have other work to do. Very soon, you will see our own planet, then there will be much more food for all of you!”

“Good. Cathy stay here, you all come one, and one, and one. Right?” – “Okay,” Trish approved, much to Cathy’s horror. She protested: “But you can’t leave me alone with the four Aliens! They’ll tickle me so much, I will die!”

Trish grinned nastily: “That’s for showing the Alien how to tickle my feet! Have fun!” The animals had submerged again in the meantime, closer together than before. And they grabbed poor Cathy, tickling the living daylight out of her with thirty-two tentacles! The others couldn’t help watching for a few moments, laughing with her, but then they left in a hurry, anxious to get out of the danger. They still could hear Cathy’s desperate laughter even two corridors away…