Time Travel to Ancient Times: Farming and Having Babies

The smell hit her first. A thick, metallic stench of rust mixed with something cloyingly sweet, like rotting fruit left in the sun. It coated the back of Karlie Holloway's throat, dragging her up from the dark void of unconsciousness.

She remembered the explosion-the sickening lurch of the plane, the screech of tearing metal, and then fire swallowing everything. She had died. Or should have. But instead of an afterlife, she woke here, on this alien ground, with Unit 9's cold voice in her skull explaining the impossible: she had transmigrated into a interstellar beastman world. A reality ripped from the trashy romance serials she used to mock. Here, the rules were inverted. Females were rare, their psychic energy capable of soothing the violent frenzies that plagued the males. A single high-ranking female could bond with multiple males, and she was now one of those precious, hunted few. The thought made her stomach turn.

Her eyes flew open. The world was a blur of shadows and jagged rock. A splitting pain hammered behind her eyeballs, pulsing in time with her frantic heartbeat. She gasped, the sound echoing too loud in the enclosed space.

She tried to push herself up. Her right palm slapped against something wet and sticky. Warmth seeped between her fingers. Karlie froze, her breath catching. She forced her head down, blinking away the haze.

Blood. Her hand was covered in it.

Half of it was hers, seeping from a gash on her forearm. The other half came from the twisted piece of metal shrapnel pinning her left leg to the dirt floor of the cave. The sharp edge had sliced through her pants, biting deep into her calf.

"Damn it." she hissed through clenched teeth. The pain was a live wire, shooting up her leg and making her stomach heave.

She grabbed the metal shard with her bloody hand, muscles tensing to pull it free, when a sound stopped her cold.

A low, guttural growl rolled out from the darkest depths of the cave. It wasn't human. It vibrated in the air, rattling the loose pebbles near her feet.

Karlie's hands dropped. She pressed her back against the cold, damp rock wall, her chest so tight she couldn't breathe. Her eyes darted into the blackness, searching.

Two points of crimson light flickered to life.

They weren't lights. They were eyes. Red, vertical slits that cut through the darkness like laser beams. Heavy, ragged breathing followed, the sound of a massive chest heaving with effort.

A shape detached itself from the shadows. It stood on two legs, but the proportions were wrong-too broad, too hunched. As it stepped into the faint light filtering through the cave entrance, Karlie's heart slammed against her ribs so hard she thought it would crack bone.

It was a man. Or at least, it had been.

Gavin Knapp. Even through the haze of terror, she recognized the broad shoulders and the dark hair matted with sweat. But his features were twisted into something animalistic. The veins on his forehead bulged like thick cords, pulsing with a feverish rhythm. His jaw hung slack, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were those crimson slits, devoid of any recognition or sanity.

He took a step forward. His left leg dragged behind him, leaving a thick smear of blood on the stone floor. The wound on his thigh was a mess of torn flesh and bruised skin, but he moved as if he didn't feel it.

His gaze swept the cave, wild and unseeing. Then, it locked onto Karlie.

A whine escaped his throat. It wasn't a sound of pain. It was hunger. A desperate, starving need.

He lunged.

Karlie didn't even have time to scream. He moved faster than a man that injured should be able to. One massive hand slammed into her shoulders, pinning her back against the rock. The force rattled her teeth. His fingers dug into her flesh, hard enough to grind the bones together.

Heat. He radiated heat like a furnace. It blasted against her skin, soaking through her torn shirt. His breath was hot and ragged against her neck, carrying a scent that was wild and aggressive, nothing like a human.

"No," she gasped, her hands coming up to push against his chest. It was like pushing against a concrete wall. "Get off me!"

He didn't seem to hear her. His other hand grabbed the collar of her shirt. The fabric tore with a loud rip, exposing her shoulder and collarbone to the damp air.

It wasn't desire. There was nothing calculated or sensual in his movements. He was a drowning man, and she was the only piece of driftwood in the ocean. He was acting on pure, biological instinct.

Warning. High-energy biological frenzy detected. The voice of Unit 9, her AI assistant, echoed in her mind, sharp and urgent. Hostile intent critical. Physical resistance futile. Immediate energy symbiosis recommended to stabilize target. Failure to comply results in high probability of host fatality.

"Energy symbiosis? What the hell is that?" The thought fractured in her panic-stricken mind. "Unit 9, are you insane? He's a monster! I can't get closer to him!"

"Explanation," Unit 9 replied, its tone maddeningly calm. "You are now in a interstellar beastman world. Females possess unique psychic soothing abilities. This male is in a berserk frenzy-a common affliction due to unstable energy reserves. Energy symbiosis is the primary method of calming. In this society, females are revered as scarce resources; one female may bond with multiple males to form a stable unit. Your survival depends on accepting this reality."

"I didn't sign up for this!" she screamed internally, thrashing against his iron grip. Her breaths came in short, terrified bursts. Her heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird. But as his jaws snapped inches from her neck, the hot, wild scent of his frenzy suffocating her, the cold reality of her situation crashed down. She had no weapons, no strength, and no way out. If she fought him, he would crush her. If she screamed, he would silence her. The realization hit her with icy clarity, cutting through the panic. It was either try this crazy AI suggestion, or die right here in the dirt.

Karlie stopped pushing. Instead, she reached up. Her hand trembled as she grabbed the back of his neck. His skin was burning hot, slick with sweat. She forced his face down toward hers.

The touch seemed to short-circuit his brain. Gavin let out a low roar, his body shuddering. He stopped tearing at her clothes and wrapped both arms around her, lifting her off the ground and crushing her against his chest.

The moment their bodies pressed together, fully and without barrier, the world exploded.

A torrent of raw, scorching energy flooded into her. It wasn't gentle. It was a dam breaking. It slammed into her nervous system, making every nerve ending scream. Pain and a bizarre, tingling electricity detonated in her skull at the same time.

Karlie's vision went white. Her fingers curled, her nails digging deep into the muscles of Gavin's back. She felt the skin tear under her nails, felt the hot wash of his blood on her hands, but she couldn't let go. If she let go, the energy would rip her apart.

Gavin's movements changed. The frantic, violent jerking slowed. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his breath coming in heavy, shuddering gasps. The growls turned into low, painful moans.

Inside her, something answered his call. That cold, dormant potential that had lived in her bones since the post-apocalyptic world ended-it woke up. It rose to meet his fire, not with fire of its own, but with a soothing, neutralizing chill.

She became a lightning rod. His chaotic, berserk energy poured into her, and her body filtered it, cooled it, and fed it back to him in a stable loop. It was exhausting. It felt like her veins were being scrubbed with sandpaper while her brain was submerged in ice water.

As the energy flowed, a secondary awareness bloomed in her mind-a fragment of this world's laws, forced into her by the AI or by the bond itself. Females were the cornerstone of survival. Without them, males succumbed to frenzy and died. In return, males protected and provided for their bonded female, often sharing her with others to form a polyandrous pack. The more powerful the male, the more he needed a female to ground him. And Gavin... his energy was immense. She had just tethered herself to a high-ranking beastman, and by this world's rules, that made her his anchor-and his, in ways she didn't yet understand.

Minutes stretched into an eternity. Karlie's consciousness frayed at the edges. The only things keeping her tethered to reality were the heavy thud of Gavin's heart against hers and the inferno of his skin.

Finally, the tidal wave receded. The manic energy draining from Gavin's body slowed to a trickle, then stopped.

His muscles went slack. The crushing pressure of his arms released. With a heavy sigh, he collapsed against her, his full weight pinning her to the cave floor. His breathing deepened, shifting from ragged gasps to the slow rhythm of deep sleep.

Karlie slid down the wall, her legs giving out completely. Every muscle in her body screamed in protest. She felt like she'd been taken apart and put back together wrong.

She pushed at Gavin's shoulder, her arms feeling like wet noodles. He rolled off her, landing on his side on the dirt floor. His eyes were closed, the crimson faded to a dull brown. The feverish flush was gone from his skin, leaving him pale and exhausted.

The cave was quiet again. The only sounds were their harsh breathing and the distant, alien chirping of insects outside.

Karlie lay there for a long moment, staring at the rocky ceiling. Her clothes were in tatters. Her shoulders throbbed where his fingers had dug in, the bruises already blooming dark and ugly. Her leg was still bleeding, though the flow had slowed.

Energy symbiosis complete, Unit 9 reported, its voice flat and emotionless in her head. Host vital signs stabilized. Energy reserves critically low. High-energy resource intake recommended. Note: You have initiated a proto-bond with this male. In this world, such a bond implies future cohabitation and potential additional mates. Females of your status are legally entitled to claim multiple males for protection and reproduction.

"Easy for you to say," Karlie muttered, her voice a raw scrape. "I didn't ask for any of this. I don't want a harem of monsters."

Reproduction is not mandatory, Unit 9 added. But survival is. Your psychic signature is now registered. Other males in the vicinity may sense you. Recommend securing a territory or acquiring additional bonded males for defense.

Karlie groaned and rolled her head to the side, looking at the man who had just attacked her. The man she had just saved. The man whose life was now tangled with hers, whether she liked it or not.

Her gaze traveled down his body, stopping at his left leg. The wound was still oozing, but now, in the dim light, she could see it clearly. The edges of the gash weren't red or pink. They were a deep, sickly purple-black, like ink spreading through water. It looked like rot. It looked like poison.

That wasn't a wound from a crash. That wasn't an accident.

Someone had done this to him.

A bitter laugh caught in her throat. She was stuck on an alien planet, in a cave that smelled like blood and rot, with a stranger who had almost killed her. And yet, looking at that poisoned leg, she felt a twist of something other than fear.

Sympathy.

He was a victim, too. And according to Unit 9, he was now her responsibility-her first bond in a world where females ruled through their soothing power, and males fought for the right to serve them.

The first rays of morning light crept through the entrance of the cave, piercing the canopy of the Bloodwood trees outside. The leaves were a strange, bloody red, and the light they filtered was cold and pale.

It fell across Karlie's face, drying the tears she hadn't realized she'd shed. It fell across Gavin's sleeping face, highlighting the furrow in his brow, even in unconsciousness.

She wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, smearing dirt and blood. She had to get up. She had to assess the situation. She had to survive-not just as a castaway, but as a rare female in a world that would either worship her or tear her apart to claim her power.

She reached for the corner of her vision, where the faint blue icon of the Nexus interface blinked. She had water. She had a few supplies. She had a brain that knew how to survive the end of the world-and now, a reluctant understanding of the matriarchal, polyandrous society she had fallen into.

It was time to use them.