FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 7: Free Day

For the first time since arriving here I wake up in the morning under my volition. Instead of to the sound of the door opening. Or by the cold air rushing in from the outside when opened.

A small luxury I immediately cherish because it is possibly the only one I have. I also notice that sometime during the night I curled up on my cot. So much so that the tip of my tail tip is laying in front of my nose. The image of what I possibly look like is some over-sized dog sleeping.

Yawning I uncurl myself with a good stretch before hunger makes itself known to me. Oh yea, I didn't have the energy to eat last night. One carton of that crap and one bottle of water satisfies my stomach and fully wakes me up. It is only then do I notice what time it is, ten in the morning. Much earlier than I am used to waking up.

Smiling I realize I have at most twelve hours to myself here. Where to start using it though? I could start carving a hole into the particle board under the loose laminate, or I could try to get the back door of the fridge open.

With some thought on the matter the latter of the two options would be the best choice. Doing the former would require me to use the toilet in here suspiciously often to get rid of the evidence. If I decide to work on it during the week I can get rid of the evidence as I carve it out. Otherwise, I would have to find a way to hide the shavings till I can dispose of them. Increasing the chance of being discovered. Finding a way to the back of the residential container it is!

Discarding my clothes I retrieve the dull knife from under the padding on my cot. Then I make my way to the fridge with a slight smile. Opening the fridge door and swinging it all the way till it hits the wall allows me to easily remove each tray and all that is on it if I am careful.

Once the shelving is removed I crawl inside the now open space and examine the seal on the back door for any indication of where the latch would be. Finding no indication it is on the top of the door I find the hinges seem to be on the left side. So I focus my attention on the right.

It only takes me a short amount of time to lever the mechanism open with the butter knife. The door silently swings open reveling an unlit space much smaller than this side of the wall and fridge.

Florescent lights switch on with a loud hum as soon as I crawl through the fridge. Nice, they are on a motion detector so I don't need to worry about shutting them off before leaving. To my left is a service cabinet marked 'Cellular Equipment', no doubt to what is inside it. To my right is the heating and air conditioning unit for my residential container. Behind that is a simple terminal bolted to the wall, It looks a lot like the one I need to get inside to except that it seems to be thinner. As for what is on the display? It simply shows the levels of food and water along with electricity usage of this residential container.

Before doing anything else back here I go back through the fridge and grab the shelves to put them back into the fridge. I then close the inside door in such a way that the latch doesn't completely engage so I am not locked in here. Now no one will know I am in the maintenance area if they enter my residential container. They will just think I am somewhere else.

I was expecting more to be back here than just this stuff. Still, what is here is better than nothing. Examining the Hvac unit more closely shows that there is a vent I can open bare handed and use the inside space to hide some larger items. Due to my 'height' I am forced to stand on the tips of my toes to actually reach it. I hate being so short!

The vent is the extent of what I can access without the proper tools like torque screw drivers and socket wrenches. Looking over the telecommunication service cabinet puts a happy grin on my face.

It is exactly what I was hoping for. I can't call anyone since I can't speak anymore. I also don't know if I can get onto the Internet with that terminal, as it most likely lacks the cryptography chips. What I 'can' access with it is the ancient bulletin board system.

Technically it predates the Internet, but it has seen a full on revitalization after the T.A.N.C. law passed. Apparently the plain old telephone system is so old it doesn't register on the government's surveillance radar.

The cabinet is unlocked thankfully, and looking inside shows bog standard telecommunication equipment. Nothing exotic or stuff I have not seen before poking around abandoned buildings. Not to mention everything inside is fully documented on the panel of the cabinet door with colorful text. Hanging from said panel are all the tools needed to work on it.

A wire termination tool, a wire cutter / stripper / and crimping combo tool, a trash multi meter, and a simple cold tip solder iron. Sure, the tools are barely usable, and the soldering iron is only good for a quick and dirty circuit or wire repair. Even the cheapest quality tool can be useful given the right circumstance. Considering this is all I need tool wise to modify the terminal I would consider this the correct circumstance.

This good turn of events despite the basket full of cluster-fucks I have been given has me dancing on the spot.

Doing so also makes me learn why women wear bras in the first place. Ouch. Maybe it was a bad idea to go without that bra thing while doing this.

A quick crawl back through the fridge to put on the bra takes a bit longer than I wanted. Still, it seems to be necessary so these damn breasts don't go bouncing about as I move in any other fashion than a light walk. Once put on it is back through to the maintenance section and back to work. After closing the both the fridge and the cabinet door in such a way that they won't know I am back here.

Next I examine the rear door, it looks similar to the front door with one exception. This door has a lock on it, which can be unlocked from the inside.

Approaching it I am both nervous and excited about the simple act I am moments from doing. It does some odd things to the fur covering my body, it bristles and then poof up. Oddly similar to goosebumps when I was human. Using my hands I force my fur to lay flat, my. Fur.

No, No, NO! This is NOT my fur, this is NOT me! I am starting to think of this body as my own again and it is starting to scare me. Lets just focus on the task at hand so that I can actually escape this place.

The mechanism for unlocking the rear door is pretty simple, you pull a spring driven latch and from there its like opening the front door. The latch is harder to pull than I expect it to be, then again I have to begrudgingly admit I am weaker than I was from before being made into this.

All it takes is opening the door by a crack and the cold air from outside rushes in to replace what little warmth is on this side of the wall. I don't even try to suppress the shiver and the fluffing of 'my' fur following it. A decent sized part of me just wants to close the door and go back and curl up in the warmth under the vent. Forgetting the whole idea of venturing out there in the cold to try finding what I need next door.

No, I have to do this! I have to push myself like this I will never escape here. So I swing the door fully open to be greeted by the sight of a small service road, our residential containers are placed on one side of it. On the other side is another parking lot in front of a build that is fully boarded up.

Are they doing renovations? No, it looks more like a complete gutting of the building. You don't board up all the windows and doors unless you are removing the said windows and doors as well as everything that is inside.

Climbing down the container bellow me and onto the road Is harder than it looked. Not only is it twice my height, the metal is cold and slippery due to the snow we had earlier.

Oh dear god that's cold! I was too focused on not slipping so I wasn't looking at where I was going to end up on the ground. My feet plunge into a slush pile full of plowed snow and road salt. If anyone was watching it must have been hilarious to watch me hop and shake it all off my feet before continuing on to my destination.

Dashing across the road and into the small parking lot I have to dodge slush puddles and piles of snow. Not only would they cause me to slip and fall, they would make my feet even colder. Bad enough they don't give us shoes and I just HAD to land in that one pile soaking my feet.

When I reach the building I scurry from one boarded up door or window to another finding each of them locked until I finally find an unlocked door. It is made of plywood indicating it is temporary until the normal door is installed some time later. It emits a loud reverberating squeaking noise when I open it. Great, they used non galvanized hinges and the sound most likely traveled through the entire building.

While the air is cold inside the building, it is still warmer than it is outside right now. Even the floor is warmer giving me and my feet a bit of a respite and allowing feeling to return to them. Quickly shutting the door behind me prevents any more of the colder outside air from coming in.

A human would be blind as a bat in here. I have to admit that the better low light vision that comes with this damned body allows me to actually look around just inside the building. Okay, I guess that's a tick in the positive side of the equation. Everything else still outweighs any positives of this form.

If this room was not gutted to the metal posts and concrete foundation, I would guess it would be the main lobby of the building. With everything removed I can't tell what it is.

Set up in the corners of the room are some work lights, a few are tripod mounted ones while the rest are hanging off of hooks on the steel studs. Maybe they were left by the Bio-Morph construction crew owned by the company doing the renovations?

I wonder if there is power to run them right now? I didn't see a generator anywhere around the outside of the building when I came in. So maybe the mains have not been shut off? Only one way to find out.

I carefully walk up to one of the lights on a hook hanging from the steel stud, trying to make as little noise as possible and not step on anything sharp. Picking it up I fumble around the molded plastic handle until I find the heavy duty on switch before flipping it on, only for it not to light up. Maybe it's a defective one? I flip the switch a few more times ignoring the sound it makes until I finally notice that there is no power cord connected to it.

I am an idiot! Lights have to be plugged into an outlet to work. Fumbling around the floor I eventually find a power cord to plug it into. Once plugged in I flip the switch again and I am bathed in a bright and harsh florescent light. Upon flipping the switch this time my ears pin themselves against my head at the sound of it. My tail also involuntary twitches at the sound, stop that. I swear the thing has a mind of its own, damn fluffy appendage.

The light reveals that this place is not as stripped bare as I thought it was. Yes the walls are down to the steel studs, but there are piles of sheet rock and wood paneling placed here and there waiting to be installed. Similarly, the floor is not entirely bare concrete either. Some of it is covered with expensive marble tile.

Other than that the room is pretty much just an empty space, basically containing nothing I can use. What I need is stuff like network cords, copper wiring, and if I am real lucky some computer parts. A quick check of the power cord shows it is long enough to go to other rooms. Nothing I can do about it, if I want to find what I need I am going to have to head further into the building. So I start walking, as I do I notice the lamp has started to put off some decent heat, so as I walk I hold the back of it against my chest to help warm me up. Basically I'm cradling it for its warmth so I can get some feeling back in my arms and hands. At the other end of the room I come to a stop.

There are two identical hallways going opposite directions from where I assume the receptionist's desk will go. Neither of them are furnished enough to allow me to determine a fruitful path. So it is down to randomly choosing one and hoping for the best because I might only have time to check one of them.

Looking back and forth between both hallways I just up and decide to go left. Why? Hell if I know, I just felt like going in that direction over the other path. Luckily for me the cord plugged into the light into is long enough to reach, so far at least.

A few minutes of walking later and I reach the point where the new insulation stops and the only thing separating the rooms are the metal studs. This is not what grabs my attention, what does is at the end of the hallway. Piles of the building's original furnishings, walls as well as the old insulation scattered about. They were either not completely finished stripping the floor and cleaning out the junk, or they were refurnishing right behind the demolition to save time. Well one person's trash is another person's treasure.

Only for the cord to go taut mere yards away from the pile, figures. Considering everything good happening today I guess I was due at least a minor set back. Regretfully I place the lamp down in such a way that it is pointing at one of the piles.

From here I don't see anything useful on the top of the pile. Meaning I will have to move some stuff around to try to find anything useful, if there is anything other than chunks of drywall in it.

I involuntarily shiver as I leave the light and what little warmth it gave me to approach the pile so I can look through it for what I need. Only to stop moving when I notice my shadow cast by the flood light. For a moment I panic thinking someone must have followed me and then I notice the shadow moving when I feel my tail and ears move. Again, I am an idiot, I am in the body of a female vulpine Bio-Morph so of course I would cast a shadow of one. With little time to dwell on this I force myself to ignore it and finish walking over to the pile.

Once I reach it I start moving chunks of dry-wall, pieces of insulation, and other random junk off of the pile. Each piece of which is heavier than it looks. Are all female vulpine Bio-Morphs this weak, or did the conversion make me completely out of shape? I just add it to the growing list of things I hate about the body I have been forced into. As I work I try to make as little noise as possible.

It takes going through Half the pile to find some stuff that I can use. A length of network cord, from the date on the outer jacket it is from the early twenty-first century, well over a decade before I was born. It's a long segment of network cord, longer than my residential container. More than I need, still I will take it all.

So I roll it into a secure loop and place it next to the light before digging through the pile to see what else I can find.

Considering how cold it is in here I like the fact that the physical excursion of digging through the pile is warming me up. At the same time I find that the lack of strength I am used to having is annoying. My perseverance does not go unrewarded though.

I find a short but usable length of plain old voice telephone wire in the pile along with a USB keyboard someone possibly forgot to throw out with the old computer equipment. I wish it was actually a full on computer with a modem and everything else I need.

Having one would make it a lot easier to do what I plan on doing. I am just happy I found this much so far since beggars can't be choosers.

As I walk over to the light to deposit my latest find I hear the sound of a door opening and closing in a distant part of the building causing my ears to twitch. Never going to get used to feeling them do that, at least I hope I never do.

Back when I was human I quickly learned to run from people who had, or claimed to have had ownership over a pile of unwanted computer parts. It soon became obvious to me that this was a good reaction to have upon hearing someone approach while not knowing who they are.

That lesson seems to have been lost during my conversion. Instead, I stand and just stare in the direction of the sound with my ears up and erect with my eyes straining to see who made the sound. It takes longer than it should for the thought to cross my mind to grab what I found and start running.

Eventually I hear the sound of multiple muted footfalls and my sense of smell tells me that these must be the Bio-Morphs doing the renovation and not humans. Okay, time to leave! I add the telephone wire to the loop of network cord before slipping the entire bundle over my head and one arm.

Ignoring how it is resting on my bust I use the now free hand to pick up the keyboard and the flood light. Not wasting any time I dash back down the hallway retracing my steps as I hear their footfalls get closer. I'm in a full on run as I reach the lobby of the building, my mind running through the possibilities of what will happen if they catch me.

None of them seem pleasant considering what I am now and the fact I have technically escaped from my owner, well at least from my owner's property.

Discarding the light near the door I don't even bother turning it off, I just toss it aside letting the bulb shatter upon impact with the floor. Slamming open the door with my shoulder I can barely hear them behind me. They seem to be yelling at me but I can't make out everything they say.

The only words of theirs I can understand are the ones for 'who', 'stop', and 'female'. None of this helps in what I imagine they will do to me if they catch me.

Kicking the door shut behind me I make a mad dash back to my residential container. Not even caring as I run through slush puddles and snow piles causing my feet to go numb. All I can think about now is getting to the safety of my residential container, I don't even question why. It doesn't take me long to reach the service road and what screams 'safety' beyond it. I cross it in a blink of an eye.

With pure adrenaline I leap and grab the lip of the floor on my residential container with my free hand. As I pull myself up my feet scramble for purchase on the maintenance door of the residential container bellow mine. My arm's muscles burn with the strain of pulling my full weight and what I am carrying inside. At least it doesn't feel like I tore anything once I make it. How would I explain that to my 'owners'?

Scrambling to shut the door and keep the cold outside air, outside, I don't even think about all the strange noises I am making. No doubt the Bio-Morph that lives bellow me heard it all, I just fail to care about it right now. Dropping the keyboard and the bundle of wire I just collapse on the floor and pant rapidly. My quick breath visible in the air as I try to warm up.

This is only thing I can do for the next few minutes, panting and listening to my heart pounding as I try to calm down. Long enough for the motion sensors to shut off the lights back here.

They turn back on when I finally am able to stand again. I have heard of the term fight or flight for moments of survival, but I have never experienced it till this. Not even when I was taking huge risks in scavenging.

I have no clue as to why I acted like that! Surely I could've just talked to them like the rational being I think I still am? Well, maybe not 'talk' per se because I don't know enough words yet. Maybe I could have managed to write something down? What I mean is if I am standing here having rational thoughts surely they would be capable of being rational as well.

The only possibility I can come up with is an instinctual sense of territory, and the subconscious thought that I was purposefully intruding on theirs. So I panicked when it dawned on me they would find me. Except that would mean I am more animal mentally than human now, right? No! I am still human mentally, there is nothing they can do to take that away from me. The rest of this body can go straight to hell for what I care!

Once I calm down and I stop panting I open the fridge and toss the wires along with the keyboard to the warmer side of my 'home'. Once the fridge is put back together and closed I huddle under the heating vent to both dry off and regain feeling in my feet.

While I do this I let out a sigh, in the legal sense I was trespassing and stealing from the building. The fact remains that if it took me this long to even realize this, it means that I am sure it was not the cause for how I acted. When feeling returns to my feet and they are mostly dry I walk on over to my cot and place the butter knife under the padding before grabbing the sharper steak knife. With it in hand I decide to get to work on opening the control panel casing.

With such a small form factor I don't expect a modern computer in there connected to the touchscreen. What I 'hope' for is a system made within the last twenty years. Anything older and I may not be able to use it at all.

At least I know I will find a modem of some sort if the state of the cellular telecommunications cabinet in the back is any indication. So with deliberate caution as to not cut myself I take the blade tip and start to work it into the overlapping seam of the heat sealed plastic case.

It takes me well over an hour to separate the plastic and undo the clips on one side of the case. Granted, I had to stop every few minutes to look over at the front door after hearing sounds from the residential containers beside and bellow mine. Some of them are sounds of some adult activities. With no other forms of entertainment I guess that's what people resort to? I wasn't that sex crazed back at the center, then again we did have a television or radio.

By mid afternoon I manage to finish opening last side of the case. Slowly I lift the front half along with the touch screen off the rear half that is attached to the wall via a stand. What I find inside is not what I expected too.

Instead of a custom computer board I find your standard small form factor motherboard with a large heat-sink and a couple expansion boards. Yet that is not the weirdest thing I notice about it. By the manufacturing date codes on the few visible chips this computer was made before I was even born!

The damn device dates back to the year two thousand and twelve. No wonder the thing took so long to boot up the first time as well as run the controls, the damn computer is an antique. It should be in a museum rather than here! I set the top half on top of the case carefully aside and look at the two daughter boards plugged into the motherboard.

One board's function is obvious, it powers the touch screen display as the flat flex wires protruding from it run into this card. The other card takes me a moment to determine what it is until I notice the telephone wire running into it. It is a modem but not one I have seen before. No wonder why the manufacturing date codes on the chips indicate it is of a more modern vintage than I have worked on before. Still, it is a modem and that is 'exactly' what I need. Freedom here I come!

I just have to find a way to attach the keyboard and then get this system to dial to a known push install BBS system. After that it is a simple post or two to the right bulletin board and this 'whole' thing will be fixed by the proper people. That bastard will be put in jail for drugging me and what ever they did to me to change me into this will be reversed. Smiling I examine the rest of the system.

Peeling off some RF-shielding I see it is a commodity motherboard from the same era, not a custom system. Right under the shielding is the old ATX style rear input / output panel. Video, audio, input - output. It also seems to have USB, but what version I cannot tell.

Just as I am turning to pick up the keyboard I hear someones footfalls on the walkway outside, I panic. This is exactly what I feared happening to me when I got started. Someone walking into my residential container when I am doing something like this because there is NO DAMN LOCK on the front door! I have only seconds to hide things before who ever it is opens the door and sees me tinkering with the control panel.

With careful haste I put the top back onto the case so that at casual glance they won't notice anything wrong. Then quickly picking up the keyboard and wire loop I gently toss them behind the small privacy wall in front of the bathroom area. As long as who ever it is doesn't go back there, they won't see it.

Hearing whoever it is grabbing the handle I rush to quickly hide the knife under the padding. Yanking my hand out carefully as to not rip the padding I move to lay down on the cot. Making sure to face a different direction than the entrance.

I hear the door opening quickly and just enough to let the person in before who ever it is slams it shut. Sadly it was still long enough to drop the temperature inside here to the point that the heater kicks in to keep the place from freezing.

Glancing over I realize it is Alpha who has interrupted me. She even looks as relieved as I feel right now about it not being some other Bio-Mroph paying me an unwanted visit. Alpha is still nuts to be outside in this weather with nothing on except her fur and a pad and pencil in her hand. My luck also continues to hold, because of where I am laying down my body blocks some view of the privacy wall for the bathroom section.

Instead of waiting for her to hand over the writing utensils, I decide to greet her with the few words I have been taught so far. ~Hello Alpha Female Alpha~ After doing so I point to the pad and pencil she is carrying.

Alpha looks confused about this before realizing I was pointing at the pad and pencil in her hands. I still wonder how she gets these? Unless Red smuggles them out like I did those knives, in which case she is wrong for being angry at me about them. She hands them to me allowing me to write down what I want to say but can't due to my limited vocabulary.

'What brings you here Alpha?' With my question written down I hand it back to her to read. While waiting for her to reply I try to not glance over at the terminal. I also try to not look in the direction of the privacy wall either. Please don't notice what I am doing in here Alpha. My worried thoughts are interrupted when she hands me the pad and pencil.

'I came to see if you were alright Jack. The person bellow you told me that he has heard strange noises coming from your container. So I thought you did something stupid. Lately I have been concerned about your well being. Ever since you had to take care of that one customer's special order you have been acting weirder than normal.' Reading it over I try my hardest to not let my ears and tail betray what I am feeling. I don't know how successful I am, Alpha either doesn't care or doesn't notice.

In hindsight I guess I should have expected 'someone' here to report the noise of what I am doing. After all I can hear everything my neighbors are doing, and I mean everything. I quickly write down my reply to her, maybe I can get her out of here and get back to working on my escape plan.

'I'm fine. Just bored with little to do.' I'm able to keep my ears from betraying my nervousness of lying to Alpha. My damn tail betrays me though. It swishes back and forth. I was more focused on my ears than my tail, so it decided on its own to show my mood. Handing the pad back to Alpha it is obvious from the look on her face that she is not buying it. Not to mention I think she did notice my tail moving oddly.

The last thing I need is her nosing around in here. I don't want her to find everything I just procured next door. I doubt she would even understand what the stuff is and what it is for if I told her.

Alpha takes it from my hand and reads over while her tail sways back and forth in minor annoyance. No doubt about it, she doesn't believe what I wrote down. It's getting easier over time to pick up clues and tells on other Bio-Morphs to understand what they are feeling. I feel mixed about this development since on the one hand it means more of my mind has changed against my will, but on the other it is making communication easier. The latter is more of a day to day annoyance I want rid of. She hands me the pad and pencil bringing me out of my own thoughts yet again.

'I can tell you are not telling me everything are you? Well for the moment I will respect your privacy and not ask you about it. Since I am already here, how about I teach you another word or two? It would be such a wast to just come here for a simple question, not to mention its freaking cold out too.' Thank you for respecting my privacy, I didn't want to tell you what I am doing in here anyway.

As for learning some more of your language, why not? As long as it keeps Alpha from becoming curious about what I am trying to hide I am all for it.

Nodding I move to allow Alpha to sit down on the cot next to me, it would be rude of me to expect her to stand the whole time she is here. While she sits down and makes herself comfortable I do the same, slipping my tail into the space between the wall and the bunk. It allows me to lean against the wall.

Our session ended up lasting all afternoon to five in the evening. We got into some kind of routine and the time just flew by. On the plus side I did learn almost twelve new words, vastly expanding my vocabulary.

Nowhere near enough for me to carry on any sort of meaningful conversation still, but it is enough to understand better what others are saying. I now understand what the Bio-Morphs were yelling back in the other building. They were yelling at me to stop and for one of them to go grab their Alpha male or Alpha female to determine what to do with me. Lucky for me I was faster on my feet and with a head start. I most likely would not have wanted to be caught anyway, no telling what they would have done.

Alpha stands, and then stretches out the kinks in her joints. Some popping as she does so. Good she is leaving, that means I can get back to work on my escape plan. I expect her to head for the front door, and she does take a step or two in that direction. Then she quickly about faces and heads for the back of the residential container at a fast walk. Scrambling quickly to my feet I move to intercept her before she gets past the privacy wall. I can't let her get back there! Alpha will be able to see what I got from next door if I fail to stop her, she won't let me go through with my plans to escape!

Standing in her way I use my body to block her progress, when Alpha darts left I take a step to the side to stop her. She tries to go to the right I repeat the process. We dance like this for about a minute before Alpha gives up. She looks at me with her ears flat against her head and her tail whipping about in anger. Do that all you want, I am not letting you back there. Not on my life. Seemingly she realizes this and quickly jots something down on the pad before holding it out to show me.

'Jack, what are you hiding in there? Please show me, I don't want to force you to show me.' My response to what she wrote is simple and direct. I shake my head vigorously as I try to keep my ears and tail from giving off an aggressive stance to match hers.

Alpha deeply frowns as her ears and tail show further signs of agitation and anger. It seems to trigger a tingling sensation in my head and a buzzing in my ears. This blossoms into a full on thoughts and feelings that I 'have' to do what my Alpha female says or there will be consequences. I push them aside. What ever it is, it's a part of this body they forced me into and not me. Alpha seems to have been waiting for a response to her change in body language only for her to eventually resort to writing something down on the pad of paper. Part of her agitation seems to be replaced with sadness as she writes what ever it is. If you are not going to help me anymore with my speech lessons that is fine, all I need to do is send a simple message out and I am good as free.

'You're hiding something from me and I don't like the fact you are doing so. I regret that I have to use this on you. This is a direct order from your Alpha female, show me what you are hiding in the back of the container now!' The second I read the last sentence the tingling sensation explodes demolishing my conscious thoughts like a tsunami. It invades my mind forming words and concepts of immediate compliance and submission to Alpha. To it nothing else matters as I can almost hear something else, or someone else in my mind screaming at me to comply.

I fight it as hard as I can, in doing so I completely loose control over the motion of my ears and tail. The former lay flat against my head in an aggressive posture while the latter completely bristles and goes rigidly straight. The whole thing is a loosing battle though, I was blindsided and let the feeling take control without even realizing it.

I find myself on all fours without even realizing I consciously did so. Next thing I know my tail moves between my rear legs as I walk behind the privacy wall and drag out into view what I retrieved from next door with my teeth. Why am I complying like a simple animal! I'm a fucking human god dammit! I couldn't care less she's my Alpha female. I shouldn't be doing this!

It doesn't stop once I reveal the items, the sensations and concepts only change in form and not ferocity. Shifting to a different urge.

Next thing I know I am laying down on my side and craning my head to expose my jugular to her. I try to get back up but the tingling in my mind explodes and I think I can almost hear someone yelling at me to stay down! Come on, get the fuck up!

For her part Alpha is quick and precise, she kneels down and puts her jaws around my exposed neck and gently squeezes. The teeth don't puncture any skin but they are pressed in with constant pressure. I can feel the tip of every tooth. Only then does the tingling in my mind finally abate and I feel that I am back in direct control of my body again. Alpha then lets go and gives a loving lick against the side of my muzzle before standing and looking curiously at what I revealed.

Shame quickly fills me as I rush to the cot to lay down and curl up nose to tail tip. I can't tell if it is shame for acting like a simple animal, or from disobeying Alpha. For that moment it doesn't matter as I try to not watch her.

What I do notice is that Alpha for her part looks confused and ashamed. I guess what I was hiding was not what she was expecting to find so she gives me a sympathetic look that I don't see. I don't even notice that she was writing stuff down until she slides the pad of paper under my muzzle so I can see it.

'I never wanted to exert that kind of control on you Jack. An Alpha has an ability to exercise obedience from their pack mates. I know this concept is foreign to converted humans so it is hard for them to understand. Marui and I were hoping to 'gradually' introduce you to it so you would be prepared for it. You forced my hand though by refusing to show me this stuff. Still, why did you try to hide it from me? That rectangular thing with the lettered buttons is useless without those weird boxes I see them attached too. Why do you have that metal cord? Why do you need that?'

She sets the pencil in front of me, waiting for me to pick it up and write a reply. I'd prefer not to have to write one, but I get the feeling Alpha won't accept that. Uncurling myself I flip the pad to the next page to write my reply on. Its sloppily written but it gets my point across. Then I push it away from me not caring to watch Alpha read it. I just curl back up facing away from her again.

'I am going to use the stuff to try to contact with my family.' It is the most I can write that is as close to the truth as possible while at the same time omitting enough to not give everything away. Writing something so close to the truth seems to prevent the feeling in my mind from returning.

Next time I feel it I am going to fight it as much as possible, if I let it win again I will be a Bio-Morph in mind as well as in body. Alpha breaks this train of thought again by forcing me to read her reply. She places the pad of paper yet again in front of my muzzle next to my curled up form.

'With what else in here? Are you hiding more because I know you need more than this to use one of those box things?' Gently pushing the pad and pencil away I move to point at the hvac control terminal as my answer.

Alpha turns to look at it curiously, I can tell when she notices what I did to it by the way her tail stops moving side to side and goes straight. She even lifts the top portion off to look inside before closing it up again as best she can. An amused expression crosses her face while her ears stand straight up and her tail slowly swishes. Picking up the pad and pencil she writes something on it before placing it in front of me.

'I am actually impressed at what you can do Jack, even though it does displease me that you escaped our pen without permission. The fact that you found a way out within a week when it took Mauri nearly a year surprises me. Yes, I did watch you leave earlier today, I had thought you were trying to run away until I was told about the noises coming from up here. If that is all you are going to use these items for, I guess it will be alright for you to keep them.' When I feel the cot move I look over at her sitting down next to me, Alpha motions for me to continue reading what she wrote down. 'You must realize that if anyone else, especially our owners find out there will be trouble. Not only will you be punished for attempting to escape, but I will as well for not keeping you in line with the rest of the pack. If that ever happens and we both get into trouble for it, I will make you the lowest rank in the pack. You will have no privileges and will be kept in this container by us on our time off. Do you accept this arrangement?' Somehow Alpha knew I got out of the pen. Not to mention she possibly was amused at me landing in the snow pile. Where could she have been watching from to see me leave? She must have been near what ever Red uses to leave the pen. Then there is the fact they know how to, but don't tell others for some reason. Why?

Looking over to Alpha I see that she is expecting me to give her an answer. While I do understand our owners would not like what I have done, especially Christopher. I don't have any other choice on the matter if I am going to get out of here. So along with the fear of getting caught and what that entails, I will have to accept Alpha's deal even though I don't like it all that much either. Besides, if I say no she can turn me in and look like she is doing her job at this point. Letting out a sigh, a sigh that sounds too much like a whine to me, I move to nod yes to Alpha.

Alpha gives me a big vulpine smile before patting my head as she picks up the pad and pencil.

With the writing utensils in her hand Alpha stands and leaves my residential container at a casual pace. She doesn't even look back at me or at anything in here. The heater kicks in the second she opens the door letting out all the warm air. God, why does it have to be fucking cold out.

I lay there for about twenty minutes before I manage to gather enough mental energy to do anything else but stare at the wall. What the hell happened to me back there? I was acting like a damn animal rather than a human!

Stuff like this shouldn't be happening, but the only way to get it to stop is to get the hell out of here as fast as possible. Pushing the memories of what just happened to the corner of my mind I focus on the task at hand. That is modifying that terminal to get some sort of message out. That way someone can rescue me from this nightmare because I won't be able to on my own.

Getting up off the cot I move to pick up the keyboard to get a better look at it. The device looks undamaged and the USB connector is intact too. Can't tell from just looking at it what version it uses as its just the normal aluminum shielding surrounding a black plastic and inlaid electrical pins on the inside. I just hope the cord is good, otherwise I will have to spend time fixing that first. Not to mention that would require me to strip the entire cord and I don't want to do that.

Holding it under my arm I walk over to the terminal and gently take the top off with my free hand. Only now do I realize that the input-output panel of the motherboard has been set next to the side of the case. Said case lacks holes to grant access to it. To get the keyboard to plug into it I would have to modify it in such an obvious way I would be caught by the next person who enters my residential container.

Frantically I search the board for the semi standard internal headers for USB. Not all motherboard from back then had them, but most did. Upon spotting a couple of USB version 2 headers I let out a sigh, not only for finding them but for the fact that it is such an old standard. I can only hope the keyboard is old enough to use the same or be backwards compatible to the old standard.

Putting the keyboard down I make a quick trip to the maintenance section of my residential container to grab the tools in the cellular communications cabinet. Mainly the wire strippers, the multi-meter, and the soldering iron. I am going to need all three as well as short bits of wire from the bundles I grabbed.

I learned a useful trick several years ago considering USB headers. The computer I needed to repair had to have a device connected to a USB port for some obsolete software. Unfortunately none of the external ports were functional, the fuses on all of them were blown due to age.

To fix it I had to wire the device onto one of the internal headers using a spare bit of USB cord. I am going to have to do the same trick here with the keyboard. Only this time the wires can't be soldered onto the board. Doing so would prevent me from making things look unmodified to anyone who enters this residential container.

The result of that is I am going to have to painstakingly attach it every time I need it. That annoyance will be a small price to pay if it earns me my freedom.

So I sit down on the shelving unit and start stripping and attaching wires to the motherboard. Preparing the keyboard to be attached to the internal header comes next, but it takes the longest as some pins on the header will go to the same wire. I also find out the hard way that these finger tip - claw tip like fingernails are terrible at fine detail work.

I have to go slow to make sure I get this right but eventually I do finish prepping the keyboard. Its just a matter now of connecting the wires in such a manner as to not short out the system. First is the positive five volt pins, then the zero volt ground followed by the data transfer pins. I move the display to face me so I can see if anything changes on it.

My eyes glance between the leds on the keyboard and the display of the terminal. The display didn't freeze up upon connecting the keyboard and after a few seconds the led lights on the keyboard go from solid on to all off. That is a good sign, if it crashed the system they would be blinking.

Another small victory for me! Along with a mood and moral boost despite what happened to me earlier. Now its just a matter of seeing what operating system this is running and finding out how to get it to use the modem.

Pressing Alt and tab doesn't bring up any other windows that are possibly open. I don't dare use any of the other key combinations like the Alt and Function four or; Control, Alt, and Delete. Mainly because I don't want to close the HVAC control screen. I don't know if I can bring it back up to the point that no one would notice this thing being modified. Hell I don't even know if rebooting the system will bring it back up, it could have been launched by a one time script that I have no clue on how to run again.

The first keyboard combination, which shows any kind of response from the display is the Alt and Space bar keys being pressed at the same time. The system menu appears for the control panel window that is taking up the entire screen. Tapping the 'minimize' option brings up a basic task bar and blank black background.

If the age of the machine was not enough of a hint this computer couldn't be running any kind of modern operating system, the user interface I see now proves it. Not to mention that the programs I see on the task bar menu like 'Terminal Emulator' provide proof as well. To crudely quote an ancient movie, it's UNIX!

Unix based operating systems and their clones like Linux, Minix, and BSD went extinct right after T.A.N.C. for general computer use, yet logically it would be the only thing that could run on such ancient hardware.

I poke around the file system using the terminal emulator and find out a sad fact about this body. My claw tipped fingers and this keyboard don't mix. The claws keep slipping off the keys I try to press causing me to press ones that I don't want to.

So it takes awhile to get anything done because I have to type like I am using chop sticks. In my poking around I do gather some information about how this thing works. The system has been set up to dial only a specific number, I try to change it and call up the modem program afterwards. Only for the program hang and then fail for a no carrier error. I try the program again with another number I know will work with the same result. Something is wrong here and I can't see anything obvious to cause this. I quickly look outside of my residential container to make sure no one is anywhere near mine. Okay I should have time to do some troubleshooting here.

Checking all the wires on this side and finding no faults I head on over to the communications cabinet. It is then I realize I am a fucking idiot over the situation.

The computer up front is like home automation system, why does it even NEED the ability to dial to the outside? All it has to have is a way for someone to connect from the outside, in this case dial in, and boom you can control stuff in here directly.

Tracing the wiring shows that the line the up front system is connected to is set up exactly this way. Or at least this is how the diagram on the cabinet door is laid out.

There is another phone line shown on the reference wire chart besides the one to the front terminal. According to the chart it can dial out along with receiving calls, but it is connected to the more simple panel back here rather than the one up front. It seems to be the only thing here that uses the cellular data link listed on the chart as well.

Hmm, why would this device need two connections of vastly varying speeds? Especially since the cellular link is more reliable. Unless the faster one is the main data link and the other is a just in case backup. No one would use such an archaic technology for the main control interface so the backup it must be. It seems in theory according to the diagram I could patch the front terminal into the line back here. Except that alone won't activate the line for my use.

Could it actually be that simple? Disable the cellular link and in turn force the panel back here to activate the dial out line. At the same time patching the front panel computer into the line allowing it to use that line's connection. How should I disable it though?

The obvious way is to smash the cellular equipment, but that is a sure fire way of saying to everyone 'hey look at me! I'm a smart one! Look what I know!'.

No. Whatever I do it has to be more subtle, so if anyone examines this it will look like a hardware fault rather than sabotage. Shorting out some circuity? That might work.

I grab the cheap ass multi-meter and start probing about the cellular circuitry and logic board components, mentally mapping out the trace lines in my head. Well as best I can, this multi-meter is one of the worst I have ever used. Eventually I find a location that I can modify to short out the logic board that contains the first through fifth generation cellular transmitter.

Damage a couple of the ground wire pins on the connector and its own voltage on it does the job for me. So with one the flat head screwdrivers back here I do just that. The short out is instantaneous causing a loud beep from the panel back here. My ears twitch back at the sound. That couldn't have been louder than a normal post beep though. Well that is going to be annoying with the better hearing I have if I have to keep it.

Looking over to the data panel I see that the display now has a big and bright red warning window saying. 'Cellular data connection has been lost. Activating backup data line' this is followed by another error 'Error; Backup data line number not set up. Please enter phone number.'. I am about to face palm at this when I realize that I do not know how to with this muzzle of mine. Doing it normally would result in me smacking my nose tip with the palm of my hand.

They have it set up to use the dial-up line as a backup data line and they don't even configure it with a number to dial! Well, I guess their incompetence is my gain. So the next hour is spent patching one end of the telephone wiring I found into the system, then running it to the terminal up front. To keep it from being found I have to run it behind some pipes next to the HVAC unit and then through the duct work. If I could still whistle with these lips I would do so as I work on this.

The last thing I do in the maintenance area is input one of the numbers I know for a push install BBS server. Once in the living area section of the residential container I unplug the inbound only line from the modem and plug in the one I patched into the backup data line.

In a positively giddy mood complete with wagging tail I move the display so I can see it and plop down on the floor. Then I grab the keyboard and restart the dialing program. It is not needed to do any of the dialing, but it is needed to start the telnet session on the line to allow the push install.

It still fills the room with the sound of an analog modem dialing and connecting. Followed by the noise of link negotiation. It's an odd sound, and a lot more annoying with these sensitive ears. I have no doubt most of the other Bio-Morphs heard it too. I will bet they have no clue what it means and because of that they won't tattle to Red or Alpha. That is assuming both of them didn't hear it as well.

Once the program does its thing all I have to do is wait for the server to push the client onto this machine via the ancient telnet push command. Push and pull commands were one of the first tools to upload and download files between networked computers.

You know what? It's fucking boring to watch considering how SLOW it is. I know this is all they had back then besides putting the data on, what was it called? Oh a floppy disc and physically walking over to the other computer. How did they live with it?

Still, I can use the time it gives me to write what I want to post in a plain text file using one of the many built in Unix file editors. So I open another virtual terminal, type 'vim' and get to writing.