They lay, entwined, with arms and legs clasping each other, sharing the afterglow that their sex always gave them.

The dark was complete now, total blackness, leaving their sense of sight useless. They had watched the embers of the fire wink out, one by one; tiny sparks of orange that stayed bright until its dying second. The fire had warmed the cave walls, the rock absorbing the heat to radiate back throughout the night, keeping them comfortable in the ambient coolness of the outside.

Their coupling had to be carefully done now, almost choreographed, where the life growing inside her, was making it uncomfortable for any other position than his entry from behind while she lay on her side.

They had made the cave their home, adding any comforts they could find, picking up whatever came to hand in order to make their exile on this planet more bearable. It had been more than six months since they had been banished from the ship.

Their only crime was finding love, being caught in flagrante and her progressive pregnancy being diagnosed by the medico on board. They both knew that fraternising with crew members was absolutely forbidden, the sick bay unable to cope with childbirth or care. But human nature, being what it is, takes no notice of rules and regulations set out by man. Once they had been discovered, their fate was sealed. At the next available, habitable planet, they would be cast adrift to fend for themselves with no defensive weapons, tools, food or water. It was harsh, but rules are rules.

Together, hand in hand, they had watched the ship blast away from the surface, its legs bi-folding into its belly, even as it sped away. They faced an uncertain future, but it would be together and a new beginning.

Adopting the cave as their base took no more than a few days searching. The entrance was a couple of meters up from the bottom of an escarpment, semi-hidden by dense foliage. It had been formed in a limestone strata layer in the rock and hollowed out by the actions of a long-dead subterranean river.

Their first night, with a roaring fire at the mouth of the cave, was spent making love; cementing their bond of love. She sat astride him, pinioned on his manhood as she rode him, rocking her hips in a frenetic rhythm. This was turning out to be her favourite position, one that stimulated her clitoris while she felt him deep inside her body. It was a position that allowed her to watch his rapturous expressions as his climax approached. She witnessed that moment of release. It always brought her to her own orgasm.

They were pleasantly surprised and relieved to find that the planet provided them with just about everything they could possibly need. Food either grew on trees or ran around the surface, showing no signs of fear, just inquisitiveness that made them easy to catch and kill. Some of the large species could be dangerous, being cranky and unpredictable. They learned to avoid those and, usually heard them long before it was a problem.

Water was in plentiful supply. Refreshed often with downpours of rain, which could, sometimes, replicate the cleaner showers they were used to on board ship, only colder. They had no competition that they were aware of. A humanoid species with pronounced foreheads, squat bodies and powerful limbs existed deep in the forests, but up to now, had not been a problem. The occasional attempts to communicate with them had not gone well, the humanoid species ran away before simple greeting rituals had even begun.

Food proved to be not too much of a problem either. Fruit abounded the trees and some ground-level plants. They only ate what the other animals did, figuring that it would not be poisonous.

They steered clear of animals that carried bright colours, especially red or yellow, thinking the colours a warning.

Herbivores roamed the grasslands less than a click away. They were not difficult to trap, cook and eat while the hides, when dried, offered insulation against the elements as clothing and footwear.

It was, they decided, paradise, and all of their own.

Life could have been very different for them. The Captain had not bothered to scan the planet in any real detail, just checking the gas levels, deciding there was enough oxygen to support them, water to subsist by and flora and fauna enough for them to make some kind of rudimentary living. Beyond that, he could care less. They were outcast, no longer part of his crew. He might not be able to terminate them as undesirables, but perhaps the planet he cast them to might do the job for him.

They slept, resting and secure in the natural cave they had found. His arm was wrapped around her chest, keeping her close to him, keeping her warm under the dried pelt from some huge animal that had horns growing out of its head with finger-like projections, he named it elk. It had been killed by a predatory large cat, but was relinquished to them, after a brief standoff.

Some time in the early morning, she stirred and moaned in her sleep. He held her slightly tighter, protectively shielding her from her dreams. She moaned again, her knees drawn up into a curled position, still on her side.

A few minutes later, she woke and issued a guttural keening and curled into an even tighter ball.

“Adam,” she whispered. “Are you awake?”

“Yes, Eve, what’s the matter?” His concern for his partner echoed in his voice.

“I think the baby’s coming,” she managed to hiss between clenched teeth as another contraction brutally gripped her.

Their son was born into a new world, the first of his kind and the forerunner of a dominant species on planet Earth; Alien and unlike anything else before.