Blended
Solstice, at warp, was still tailing the human ship. Had been doing so for nearly seven hours now. Tailing (and trailing). But the human ship was, indeed, faster, and had a head start ...
... but as the prey on Solstice knew (from instinct and experience): you couldn't scurry forever. Sooner or later, you would tire. Sooner or later, something would give.
So, until one side or the other did just that (and gave), the chase was ongoing ...
Aria stepped through the swishing doors of the sickbay.
Welly looked up. "Hey," he said quietly. Sitting in a chair behind his desk. In his open office.
The snow rabbit nodded politely. Padding a few feet forward. The door swishing shut behind her and her flicking, holy-white bobtail. The interior of sickbay bright and crisp. And clean. With little beeps and hums and whirs. With all the med beds empty.
Except one.
"How is he?" Aria asked, turning her head. Meeting the skunk's eyes.
The skunk inhaled. His black fur and his white stripe ... making him look tired. Night and day. "Um ... he's fine. I think."
The snow rabbit raised her brow, ears waggling.
"I know next to nothing," Welly admitted, holding up his paws, "about human physiology. So ... not much I can do. His metamorphosis is almost complete, anyway, so ... "
The rabbit nodded quietly. Looking back to the human. Or vole. Whatever he was now. Was it possible to have the soul of one thing ... and the body of another?
"So, uh ... anything you wanted?" Welly asked quietly. Aria, truth be told, intimidated him just a bit. Not to mention she was an ice queen. Something very appealing about that ... and Welly, as every-fur on the ship knew, liked to flirt. But he had a mate now. He had Bell-Bell. So, he swallowed and waited for the rabbit's answer. Sitting still. "Mm?"
"I need to wake him."
"What?" A blink.
"I am the ship's tactical officer." She looked to the skunk. "The human threat ... the human presence," she said, "in our space ... is a matter of security. He must KNOW something. Several things. I need to wake him. If he knows the warp field codes or the shield harmonics of the human vessel ... perhaps we can access their computer from afar. Knock them back to impulse."
"What are we gonna do if we catch them?"
"When," the rabbit whispered correctively. "When," she said, "we catch them ... " She trailed. She didn't quite know yet. She hadn't thought that far ahead. None of them had, really. "I need you to wake him."
The skunk stood, concerned, padding out into the open area of the room. Stopping. Shaking his head slightly. "He'll be in some pain ... "
"It is none of my concern. Wake him," the rabbit said, tone neutral. Tone ... icy.
"Well, excuse me, but I," the skunk stressed, "am a doctor. His pain might not be your concern, but it's MINE, so ... "
"Matters of security take precedence. Unless you wish to have countless more patients," the rabbit stressed, "then I suggest you wake him. If we don't stop the humans, we may all be ... " A nod at the human/fur ... " ... we may all be in his condition. Now, please. Don't make me give an order."
Welly squinted a bit. "Alright," he whispered. "Let me, uh ... get something to wake him with."
Aria nodded, waiting.
While the skunk fetched for a hypo ... and something to inject the human with, he said, "I've noticed you and Advent ... have trouble getting along."
The rabbit said nothing.
The skunk turned back to Aria, hypo in paw, saying, "One of these days, one of you two ... some-fur's gonna lose control. Instinct will take over, and ... "
"If you are worried about my safety, Doctor, I can assure you ... I have been fighting predators my entire life. I can handle it."
"It's not you," the skunk whispered, smiling slightly, "that I'm worried about."
The rabbit blinked.
Welly, still smiling, padded for the human. "Advent's one of those 'bigger they come, harder they fall' types. She underestimates you."
"She is formidable. But I do agree ... she has an ego. It bothers me greatly," the rabbit confessed, now standing behind the doctor. Next to the unconscious human (still inert on the med bed). "It bothers me ... how she's 'seduced' Lieutenant Herkimer."
"Ah. Yeah. I noticed ... he's in over his ears. I told him as much."
"Indeed."
The skunk pressed the hypo to the side of the human's now-furry neck. And injected him. "He'll wake in a minute," Welly whispered. Continuing, regarding Herkimer, "But I think she simply ... knows how to work his squeaker." He met the rabbit's eyes.
She blinked and tilted her head. "I believe she does."
"Mm ... " Welly nodded. Scanning the human from a nearby monitor now. "Well ... he's a mouse. The purest form of prey. She's a jaguar. The purest form of predator. It's like ... excuse the term, but like 'fire and ice' ... "
"Fire evaporates ice."
"And ice," the skunk countered, "puts fire out." A small shrug. "They're two mutually opposing forces ... drawn together, beneath it all, by, uh ... " A flush. The skunk smiled a bit, trailing.
"By what?" A blink.
"By his squeaker ... and her ... well, pussy. Yiff," the skunk stated simply. "They arouse each other. The yiff must be good. Else she wouldn't bother with him. Else he would be more concerned." A small breath. And a sigh. "I don't like it, either. I wish Herk had ... you know, mated someone else. Opal or someone. You know? Someone who would build his confidence and give him pure love. But ... unfortunately, you know what happens when a fur gets between a predator and her prey."
"Blood is drawn."
"Exactly." The skunk's tail flickered a bit. "Nothing we can do." Silky, black and white. Wavering. "The only one that can end that mate-ship is Herkimer. And he's too pumped up on fear and instinct to even ATTEMPT to break out of it. Plus, he's gettin' primally yiffed twice a day."
"It is our weakness," Aria whispered.
"Mm?"
"Yiff. It is not just ... his or hers ... all of us. It is the weakness of every one of us."
"Yiff? Intimacy? Love?"
"It is why snow rabbits do not mate."
"Never?" Welly whispered.
"We take partners."
"Like, casually?"
"No, it's ... a bit more complicated than that. A lot more," she whispered, "complicated."
Welly watched her, waiting for more.
"I was partners with another snow rabbit. Oliver. He had several femme partners. He ... cared more for the others ... than he did for me."
Welly bit his lip.
"Her name was Annika."
"Annika, huh ... what is it with femmes and 'A' names?" the skunk teased.
A blank look.
"Sorry," Welly apologized weakly. "Um ... go on ... "
"There is nothing more to say." A shrug. "I was hardly ever in his mind. So, I lost him as a partner. And ... the war came, and ... after we won, nothing felt right. I had believed that, with the Cold War between us and the Arctic foxes ... I had believed, once it was over, the tension would dissolve. It didn't. There was no rest. So, I had to leave. Annika was my superior. Also in tactical. I couldn't report to her. OR him. Not after how they'd excluded me like that. So, I petitioned the furry fleet ... to join THEIR tactical force. I was accepted. And Captain Advance chose me as his first officer." A pause. "Anyway, it's ... this is hardly a proper topic of discussion." Another pause. "Suffice it to say, my need to ... breed," she whispered, "was not satisfied. But it's a private matter." She shut her muzzle.
"I'm a doctor, Sub-commander. I've seen it all before ... " A sly smile.
"I'm sure," Aria said dryly, "you have." A pause. "I must congratulate you, then, also, on ... your mating to our engineer."
"Bell-Bell."
"Yes."
"Yeah, she's wonderful."
"I am sure she is," the snow rabbit said.
"Yiff, Sub-commander, isn't a WEAKNESS. It's a great source of pleasure and meaning. It's ... the problem, I guess, is that, too often, we let it evolve into mere lust."
"Why?"
"It's easier. Love takes a lot of commitment, devotion. Work. You have to give part of yourself ... make sacrifices."
"But is it not worth it?"
"Oh, yes," the skunk whispered quietly, eyes glazed over. And he blinked, shaking his head a bit, smiling weakly. "Yes, it's ... worth it. But most furs don't find love the first time out. Sometimes, it takes a lot of broken mate-ships, a lot of tail, and a lot of ... really bad mistakes," the skunk whispered, "until we're mature enough to even KNOW what we're wanting. Until we find some-fur to forever fill those wants." A twitch. "Just have to learn from the pain. Try ... try to avoid making the same mistakes."
"You make it sound like a science in itself."
"It kind of is," was his response. "But not really. It's just ... a fact of life. Not a science. But a dream, almost."
"You are beginning to lose me," the snow rabbit confessed, frowning a bit, staring at the human, who was starting to stir.
"Yeah ... well ... I'll leave you to our, uh, guest." He nodded. "I'll be in my office. I have a monitor tuned to this med bed, so I can watch it all. But if you need me out here, call me anyway. I'm just a few feet away."
"Understood."
The skunk lingered a bit. And moved off. For his office.
And the snow rabbit stared down at the stirring human. Or former human. Or whatever. This situation was too messed-up for her order-demanding mind to be comfortable with.
Golden yellow and spotted black. Worming, wriggling ... against grey. Her fur slithering, sliding through his. Fur meshing. Fur against fur. Paws sliding, fingers meshing. Bodies pushing and pulling for purchase.
Even while upright.
Strong, feline paws moving to his chest. Moving to push him, pin him (by his back) to the wall of the shower. Where the stream of water pelted his muzzle. Where it sunk his whiskers. Where water-drops dripped from the sagging tips. Where his fur was matted.
Where her hips rubbed to his.
"I ... I always heard," Herkimer managed, timidly, "that cats were ... "
" ... what? Were what?" she purred, nipping her sharp teeth on the edge of one of his earlobes. His big, pink, sensitive ears. "What?" Nip.
"Ah ... ah," he went, shuddering, rising to the tips of his foot-paws. Rising to his toes.
Her paws went to his shoulders. She pushed him back down to his paw-pads. "What?" she asked again.
"I ... I always heard cats didn't like water."
"And where'd you hear that?" she asked, body moving, body swaying (as if to some invisible music). Her paws, now, ran up and down his matted sides. Her own fur getting splashed and soaked, now, too. Her lazy, spotted tail swerved around like a charmed snake.
Wet, wet, wet. Wet furs ...
"I don't know," he squeaked, as she shoved him to the closed shower door.
"Open it."
Huffing, he did so. As she turned the water off.
"You're right. We don't much care for water, but ... I needed to get that ... " She shuddered. "Stench," she whispered, "of humanity off our fur ... "
The mouse daintily stepped out of the shower. Onto the mat on the floor. Reaching for a towel, and also activating the ceiling dryer ... which blew air down to them. Helping to dry their fur.
The jaguar swayed, and only half-dry, sauntered out into the bedroom. These were her quarters. The mouse had moved in. They were mates now, after all.
The whole place was marked with the scent of feline.
"Oh," Advent sighed. "Herky ... "
"My collar's wet ... " The mouse frowned.
"It's waterproof ... stop touching it. Now, I ... I need ... Herky!"
The mouse let go of his collar. Whiskers twitching, eyes going wide.
The jaguar was losing patience. "All fours," she growled. "NOW."
"What do you ... "
Bat! A hard bat of her paw across Herkimer's muzzle. Hard. The mouse, dazed, whimper-squeaked in pain.
The feline's breath heaved. She swallowed.
The grey-furred mouse sank to his knees ... and then fell forward to all fours. Paws and knees.
"Now," the jaguar breathed, "there's a good boy ... " She patted his head. And sat on the edge of the bed. "You're prey, Herky. MY prey ... "
"I'm your ... m-mate," he stammered weakly.
"You're also prey. Now ... " She reached down, her fingers tracing his pink, large lobes. "Now," she whispered, swirling the furred fingers of her paws inside his ears. She began to finger his ear-holes.
The mouse gaped, leaning his head back.
"They say a mouse's ears ... give off pleasure almost as strong as his penis does." Fingering his ear-holes more. "They're that erogenous."
"Ah ... ah!"
"Is that true, Herky?" She purred.
The mouse swallowed, eyes watered shut ... and ears gorging with blood. Turning rosy-pink. Capillaries becoming visible.
"Herky?" Advent grinned.
A weak, weak nod ...
"Too sensitive?"
Involuntary tears streamed down his cheeks ... the pleasure was so severe. Her paws tugging, scrunching, rubbing ... poking at his ears. Both ears at the same time. He whimper-squeaked like a baby. His penis rock-hard (without having been touched at all ... simply reacting to the ear-sex).
"I bet," the jaguar whispered, knowing she had complete control of him, "if I blew a nice, warm breath into one of those lovely ears ... you'd cum." A pause. "Mm? Mm ... they say an ear-gasm is so strong, so close to the brain ... that the force of it ... knocks out all your senses. You go blind. Deaf. For a good, what, thirty seconds? All you know ... is pleasure." She leaned forward.
"Mm, hmm ... mm!" whimpered the mouse. Muzzle open, but no rational sounds coming out. As her paws and fingers simply owned his ears. As her muzzle crept closer to his left ear. "Mm ... hmm ... "
"You're trying to beg, aren't you," she realized. "Trying to say 'please, please' ... you want it bad ... "
"Mm ... mm ... " A gurgling nod.
"Well, then ... " A sly grin. "Beg a bit harder." The feline, still holding to his ears, with him still on all fours on the carpet, and her still sitting on the edge of the bed ... she spread her legs. And scooted closer to the bed's edge.
The mouse understood. Would've done anything ...
"Ah!" went Advent. Sighing. "Oh ... oh, mm ... " She licked her lips and her teeth, clutching at his ears. While he went down on her. Giving her succulent oral. Oh, she didn't know why, but ... mice gave the best oral. Ate pussy better than any-fur. They were just so diligent about it. So earnest. They just ... LOVED it so much. The taste of it. The feel. Just DOING it. They were so perfectly submissive and empathic.
Herkimer was drunk on femme. On her. On ... mm ... mmm ... his tongue wormed and worked its way about. Matting and licking at the denser tufts of fur that surrounded her vulva, and ... then the little perimeter of fuzz right before the pink flesh. And the fleshy, delicate lips themselves. Labial love! Oh ... his wet, shy tongue danced on her pussy-lips. So, so softly ... and wriggled between the folds. He moaned with happiness. Lick, lick ... slurp. Up the line of her. Down. Up ... tilting his head to kiss and suck and nibble with his lips. Bumping her clitoris with his nose, and then ... applying his tongue to her nub. Pushing, worming, moaning little sounds as he did so ...
... the pure taste of femme. Purely on his tongue.
The jaguar shuddered, purring. Purring hard. Her legs instinctively spread as wide as they could go.
And the mouse, paws on her thighs, pushed his muzzle hard. Digging. Nose sniffing and twitching. Flaring! Breath hot and huffing. Tail wavering like it was a drunk snake. And flimsy, flexible ears still gathered in the feline's paws. Her thumbs rubbing on the insides while her fingers held on.
Their fur, by now, had dried of water ... but was still damp. From sweat, now. Now, covered with the sweat of yiff. And each other. And ...
... the jaguar, as the mouse poked his tongue at her vagina. As he licked and lapped with a hungry fury ... her grip on his ears loosened. Her nipples hard, she moaned and sagged forward a bit. Oh ... oh, good ... good ... so good ...
The mouse, as flushed and worked up as he was, took her moment of laxness to ... hitch upward. Up, pushing her on her back in bed. Hips fumbling, trying to hump at her.
She hissed in surprise, but ... wasn't about to turn down intercourse. And relaxed, huffing, purring, on her back ... but her legs and foot-paws in the air.
For the mouse, standing weakly, knees wobbling, had his paws under her legs. Her pussy right at the edge of the bed. And he leaned into her, sinking in ...
"Ahh," was Advent's exhale. She mewed ...
Herkimer's burning ears swivelled, catching the kitten-like sounds. She always mewed when first filled. And he thought it was such a sweet, tender sound ... and he humped, humped. From his standing position.
She, on her back, kept her eyes closed. She could feel his hot, distinctly mousey rod of male flesh ... digging deep, pulling back. Creating a wet, squishy friction with her burning walls. She could hear his sac slapping softly. The fur of his sac on the flesh of her pussy. And his hips grinding her in such a way that her clit received some welcome stimulation ...
The mouse, sweat dripping from his nose, tail limp, and whiskers sagging from the heat ... bred her as well as he could. Wanting to please her. Just wanting her to be satisfied. Wanting his predator to tell him he was a 'good mouse' ... predator ... his predator ... she's your MATE! She doesn't OWN you. You're not inferior! Herkimer! She's got you wrapped around her paw! Can't you see ... this isn't healthy ...
"Ohh, ohh ... uhn!" hissed Advent, drawing so close to her own release ...
... almost as close as the mouse was to his. He couldn't resist. Her pussy was a treasure trove of pleasure. It felt so good ... to be in. To lick. To ... to ... I'm fucking a jaguar, he thought, pulsing with adrenaline. A farm mouse breeding a fierce jungle cat! Mated to one!
The cat, eyes half-open, slitted, golden, watched the mouse's muzzle. She nodded through her huffing haze, whispering, "Th-that's it ... s-submit. Don't ... don't fight it," she hissed.
Her words echoed in his very sensitive, blood-filled ears. It was all instinct. It was all natural. All of this. She let him breed her at least twice a day. He got to sleep curled up next to her in bed. She would hold him tight at night, protecting him from any nightmares. She'd indicated she would kill for him (not so much because she loved him ... but because he was HER prey, and nothing came between a predator and her prey ... but wasn't that kind of fierce loyalty, even instinctual, SOME kind of love) ... this was some kind of love. It had to be. The mouse felt it. Even if it was a bit ... odd. Maybe twisted. He could justify this mate-ship (as hasty and flimsy as it was).
But it was some kind of love.
Just give it time ... let it grow. Don't worry.
"Submit," she said again.
Herkimer, throat dry, licking his lips, nodded ... squeaks shifting to high pitches. Humps and bucks growing odd and erratic.
She felt his rhythm falter. She'd always found it amusing ... how males didn't have the mental discipline fuck right through their orgasms. How their humping got so wild and loose as they neared release ... how they just broke down and had to stop to moan and groan. How the pleasure paralyzed them ... someone should do a study. Pleasure responses in male and femme furs.
Herkimer followed the same pattern. Motions getting wildly uneven ... breath-rate rising ...
And, at the last second, the jaguar pulled him down. Into a missionary position ... with their legs half-trailing off the bed ... the jaguar quickly putting her muzzle to his ear. "Love you, Herky ... enjoy, doll ... " And a deep, hot, moist breath ... blown RIGHT into his ear-hole.
The mouse had been mere seconds from cumming. And the blown breath elicited an effeminate squeal from his muzzle. Squeak, squeak ... sight, hearing ... gone. Blackness. And pleasure. His body twitching. Mouses were always twitchy, and ... he twitched. In convulsions. His penis flailing in her vagina, stringing streams of semen along her insides.
The jaguar, arms wrapped tightly around her prey, gasped. Gaped. Struggled to breathe. Her pussy fluttering, flittering ... in heated spasms. Which went like wildfire through her lower half. And then to every extremity of her body. "Ohh ... ohnn ... uh, y-yeah ... " She moaned. "Oh ... " Dripping fluid. Milking the mouse for all he was worth.
Herkimer blindly quivering, holding to her. Clutching to her. Cock still twitching.
"That's ... ohh ... oh, that's it," she whispered, swallowing, strong paws on his back. As he regained use of his ears and eyes. As he blinked. "Ohh, good ... good mouse," she whispered, clutching his back-fur. "Heh ... mm ... mmm ... "
The mouse sniffled and buried his nose in her neck-fur, keeping his eyes closed. Huffing. "Th-thank you ... "
She rubbed his back, wriggling with him ... so that their bodies were entirely on the bed. "Like I ... I was gonna let," she breathed, "my mouse go without his ear-gasm?" She slid her paws down to his rump. And gripped and played with his pert rump-cheeks. The mouse had a cute ass. She told him as much.
He flushed.
"You did good, Herky ... you ... you're working my body better than before."
"I guess it's ... it's all the practice," the mouse said quietly, eyes opening lightly. Finally regaining his breath. His whiskers twitched. Not making eye contact, he whispered, "I love you ... Advent ... "
"Aw." A tight hug. "Mm. Love you, too, doll. You just gotta know ... what our roles are. I'm a predator. You're prey. This isn't a cutesy, romantic ... prey/prey mate-ship. We're not the same."
"I know," he stammered, "but ... "
"But you're MINE," she told him. Confidently. "You're here to pleasure me. And I'm here," she said, "to reward you ... when you've done good. And punish you," she whispered, trailing ... " ... when you've done bad. That's why I had to hit you earlier. And I'll hit you again, Herky, if you don't do what you're asked."
The mouse twitched. "I just ... I ... "
"You got your mouse-hood five inches between my legs ... feels nice, doesn't it? And you're feeling it cause I'm letting you. I," she stressed, "make the rules here. Don't argue with me."
The mouse twitched.
"Just play the part that nature intended you to. Know your place, and you'll be fine ... I'm not gonna let anyone touch you. You're mine," she repeated.
A moment of quiet.
"Got it?" she purred.
The mouse nodded obediently.
And the jaguar grinned. "Good," she whispered, showing her teeth. The mouse was truly being broken in. Truly being trained.
The mouse, confused, smelled her fur. And tried to push all his doubts away. This can work. This relationship can work. I'm not just a toy to her. I can make her really love me ... I'm not so addicted to yiff that I can't leave her if she REALLY starts abusing me. Just ... breathe, breathe of her fur. And sighing, he smiled. She was scritching her claws up and down his back.
And she purred while doing so.
"What is your name?" Aria asked, hovering over the human/fur. Who was now awake.
He blinked. Blinked. Several times. As if groggy ... and then winced. And whimper-squeaked.
"I need to know your name," Aria whispered gently. She reached down and put a soft, white paw ... on his bare chest. The lower half of the now-vole's body covered by a sheet. "Name? Do you understand?"
"He probably speaks a different language ... I mean, I'm sure he does," Welly said. From inside his office. He fetched a device, emerging. "Translator. Portable. Just set it down somewhere near him, and ... it should hear what he says and ... convert it, I guess, for your ears. And his."
"I've never seen one of these." The rabbit squinted at the device.
"It's experimental. We haven't had much use for it ... being we rarely encounter non-furs."
The rabbit frowned. "I should be kept aware of ALL technological advancements."
"Well ... "
"But thank you," she said, nodding at Welly.
Welly nodded back, shyly, and took a step or two away. Lingering.
"Are you going to watch?" Aria asked, raising a brow. Waggling her ears.
"Might as well."
"Let me do the talking," the snow rabbit instructed.
"Afraid I'm going to scare him?" A bit of a smile.
"It is my experience that ... when scared, any creature responds better to a femme. We are simply more nurturing."
"Well, there are exceptions to every ... "
" ... Ross," whispered the human/fur.
Welly and Aria, blinking, cutting their conversation short, looked down. The translator on, the creature was speaking.
"My name ... is Ross," it managed. "My ... " A wince. His eyes shut. And his mousey nose twitched and sniffed. "My bones hurt," he whimpered, eyes watering. His paws weakly clutching at the sheet that covered his lower half.
"I'm afraid they're ... being resized," Welly said, as gently as he could. "You're being turned into a meadow mouse. The transformation's almost complete."
A sniffle. A nod. "My bones hurt," Ross repeated, almost crying.
Aria meshed her fingers with Ross's. Squeezing his paw. "The pain will not last. The doctor here ... is doing everything he can for you."
Crying quietly, nose twitching, Ross just nodded. Hardly able to move. Oh, it hurt ...
"Your name is Ross?" the snow rabbit asked.
A sniffle. And a nod. Eyes closed. "Who ... who are you?" His eyes opened.
"I am Aria. I am the first officer ... and the tactical officer," she added, "of this ship. I am a snow rabbit. You are on the furry star-ship Solstice. We rescued you."
Welly looked to the rabbit. Knowing they hadn't exactly 'rescued' the human. More like: they had captured him to study him. And to grill information from him. But, seeing how scared and delicate this creature was, and the vulnerable state he was in ... Aria seemed to be adjusting her tactics. Seemed to be sympathizing with him.
"We found your ship. A human ship. It was giving off a signal ... "
A weak nod. The vole cleared his throat. Vole. Human. What he once was and what he was now ... he didn't know. He just ached.
"Did you send it?"
"I ... I rigged it, yes ... they eventually found out, but they couldn't stop you coming. They tried to set a trap. They underestimated you. They thought you were stupid ... "
"Charming," Welly whispered.
Aria raised her brow at the skunk, who went quiet. And the snow rabbit turned her gaze back to Ross. "What did they do to you? What are they doing?"
"I ... I don't ... "
"It is imperative you tell us."
"I didn't want them to do it ... " Ross shook. Tried to move his paws, but ... it hurt to do so. He remained still. Breathing quietly.
The snow rabbit gently stroked his chest. Gently, softly.
Ross's heart slowed. "What are ... what ... "
"You are now a rodent. As prey, you're experiencing fierce levels of ... instinctual anxiety. Just breathe. Feel my paw on your chest, on your fur ... ignore the fear."
A swallow. A sniffle.
"Do you understand?"
A weak nod. And Ross did so ... doing his best.
"Now ... what happened?"
A whisker-twitch. "They need human subjects. But not just ... any subjects. They needed certain ... blood types. Certain minds. I don't know why they thought I was a good match, but they did. They captured me, brought me out here ... and ... and they hunted down a few furs. One of them was a ... a ... "
"Vole. A meadow mouse," the rabbit supplied.
A weak nod. "They drew his blood. His tissues. They killed him ... he cried ... and ... they strapped me to a table, and they injected me with things." A shake. "I don't know how it works. I don't know ... what ... "
"Breathe," Aria reminded.
A sniffle. A nod. "They want to ... merge us. Furs and humans. They ... they," the vole stammered, "wish to keep the human mind and soul ... and merge it with the furry body."
"What's so different about the human mind?" Welly asked, piping in. "Why go through all that trouble?"
"I don't know ... "
"Creating hybrids would ... be counterproductive," Aria reasoned, thinking aloud. "If the hybrids were to reproduce, their offspring would be fully furry. The human 'mind' and 'soul' ... wouldn't necessarily be passed down."
"Not if the genetics," Welly reasoned, "were such that ... human parts were SPECIFICALLY programmed to be transmitted to offspring. Like, certain organs. Maybe the human heart is stronger. From what we know, the humans could have a much longer life-span than furs ... it's all about the details," the skunk reasoned. A pause. "It makes a bit of sense. Furs have the strongest yiff drives of any race ... we have acute senses. Those are very desirable traits. But maybe humans live longer. Maybe their minds are more adaptive. I couldn't tell ... but, still, I think it's a LOT of effort to put into something that's so impractical. How could you change every human into a fur? And how could you introduce human elements into already-established furs?"
Aria blinked. "I do not know. A viral weapon? Infect water supplies, air ... once it gets into the lungs, the bloodstream, it could mutate us at the cellular level. Make us MORE human ... while keeping the furry elements the virus is programmed to keep. Tails. Paws. Fur."
Ross, breathing erratically, sniffling, said, " ... they didn't think my change was going very well. I was an experiment. I ... I think they were disappointed in the results."
"I wouldn't be surprised." Welly ran his scanner over Ross. "You're almost ENTIRELY fur. I bet," he whispered, nodding. "I bet they're attempting to create a half-and-half hybrid. Half fur. Half human. You veered WAY too much into the furry side of the equation ... they want to harvest the best parts of the furry body WITHOUT losing their humanity. An actual, half-and-half hybrid. Your change was too radical. They must've wanted something more ... restrained."
"So, I'm ... I'm a failure," the mouse reasoned. "They'll kill me." He started crying again.
"I am not going to let them harm you," Aria promised. "You are safe on this ship." A pause. "But we need your help to track down the ship you were on. They're faster. They have a head start. We can't catch them unless they jump out of warp. Can you tell me their warp frequencies? Their command codes? We need to stop them from implementing any sort of mass plan. Perhaps we can ... "
"My ... my head hurts," Ross squeaked. "I ... my ... there's something under my back."
Welly, stepping forward, supplied, "That would be your tail." He reeled the meadow mouse's thin, silky-pink tail out from under his back. Letting it trail to the carpet of the floor. "That better?"
Ross nodded quietly. Blinking. Staring at the ceiling. And then trying to look at Aria. Trying to move his neck. His whiskers twitched uncontrollably. Nose sniffing fiercely. "I ... you smell like ... different."
"Your sense of smell is no doubt several times better than it was as a human."
Ross swallowed. Nodded. Sniffled. "Everything," he emphasized, "feels different. I don't ... know ... what I look like."
"Just rest," Welly said. "In a few hours, you'll be fully ... well, furry fur. And then you can walk around. But I think you should get to sleep."
"I can't sleep," Ross said. "I ... my heart won't stop. I ... need to move. All this energy."
"That, also, is typical of rodents. They are very ... twitchy creatures," Aria supplied.
"Will I be able to turn back?" he asked. Looking to Welly.
The skunk hesitated.
Ross sniffled sadly. "I want ... I want hands and feet again. I want hair. My ears ... I wanna be a human again ... I wanna go home."
"Why would you wish to?" Aria said, before she could stop herself. "After what your people did to you? After what they're trying to do to the rest of us?"
A sniffle. "Cause I'm ... that's what God made me as. That's what I've ... it's my species. It's ... we're not all bad," he said sadly. He couldn't deny having wondered what it would feel like to BE an animal, but to spend the rest of your life as one? To never see your family again. To never see your home again? To never go to the places and do the things you'd wanted ... to just be spirited away and transformed into a vole? A fur? Without anyone asking your permission. "I wanna go home," he cried. "I wanna be human again ... "
"Sedate him," Aria mouthed to Welly.
The skunk nodded, eyed a bit pained. Reaching for a sedative.
Ross started to squirm. The more he squirmed, the more his bones and muscles burned, and the more he cried.
Aria kept her paw on his chest, softly caressing through his fur. Putting her paw above his heart.
Ross started squeaking, yelping in pain, and ...
... a hiss. As the skunk put the hypo in his neck. And he went still. Head rolling to the side.
Aria sighed. "His mind is in a state of disarray."
"Yeah ... I'll, uh, call you when he wakes."
"He needs to be interrogated," Aria reasoned.
"Sub-commander ... "
The rabbit looked to the skunk.
"He's in a very, VERY delicate frame of being right now ... just don't push him. Okay? And he's ... he's got a point. He loved being human. He loved his home. He didn't ASK to spend the rest of his life as a fur, and ... "
"So, you can't turn him back?"
A slow shake of the head. "I don't have that kind of technology. The only creatures who can turn him back ... are the humans who did this to him in the first place. And, somehow, I doubt they have the ability to reverse what they started. After all, 'Ross' here ... was an experiment."
Aria nodded blankly.
"I'm sure not all humans are bad. He's just as scared as any of us would be in his position ... his world's been turned upside down. Just, please, don't ... "
"I will treat him gently." The rabbit looked down at him. Trailing her fingers across the dirt-brown fur of his chest. "My heart is not entirely ice." She changed her gaze, looking to the skunk. "You will call me?"
A tiny nod. "It'll be a few hours."
"Alright." She nodded back at him. Clearing her throat. "In the meantime, we're gaining no ground on the human ship. We could be tailing them for days. Weeks ... until one of us needs to decelerate." A pause. "That just depends on which ship has the most resources ... to fuel an extended flight."
"Hopefully, it's us."
"Hopefully," was all she said. "I would hate for us to be ... " She nodded at the bio-bed. " ... as pained as him." And the rabbit moved away. "I'll be in my quarters." She needed a shower, a meal, and a nap.