Chapter 4

"Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?" --Epicurus

A pen bounced several times against the wooden desk while the noise echoed throughout the room. A jackal anthropoid leaned back to stretch while placing the pen in her mouth like a cigarette and reached her hands to the ceiling. She let out a winded sigh through her teeth, accompanied by a soft whistle before nipping playfully at the pen deep in thought. Her thoughts were stuck on one individual, and that was to be her case. Well, case would be a bad way of putting things. He's the man I need to 'fix'. She laughed lightly to herself and took the pen out of her muzzle. She placed the pen on the desk and pushed herself back from it. She closed her eyes to get her bearings and concentrate on the next task. Suddenly, an alert went off. A screen popped up on the desk and she watched as the puzzling man resorted to violence. This time, it wasn't out of anger. She watched the scene several times from the moment the panther-taur got onto the bus until well after Tony left. She watched the group and listened to their conversations until they arrived at a local restaurant. "Why did you help her?" The jackal pondered out loud to herself. She stopped the recording after watching the entire scene for the tenth time to absorb everything she had just learned. A phone rang on her desk once to signal her that everything was ready. She stood up and stretched one last time in her virtual world to take in the scene of her room. Everything around her screamed of early human science fiction from the posters to the furniture. Everything appeared old and out of date to everyone else, but she loved it. This was her past, and helped mold her into who she was. Her favorite thing to admire was the poster of a man in a space suit standing tall while a woman clung tightly to the man. A robot was pictured in the background. She was going to miss her private space, but she had a passion to pursue. She waved her arms to blur the room and stood up from the wooden desk. She pressed a button beneath the desk and listened for a tape recorder to start playing. The tape started from the beginning which contained her soft voice:

"Name: Tony... Huh, no last name given. I guess I'll have to ask him once he trusts me enough, then I can update it. Gender: Male. Age: Somewhere between thirty to forty years old. Height..." The voice mumbles to itself until it starts to speak up louder. "Works hard enough and is able to keep up with most citizens in a strength test... Personality: Complicated. History: Member of the first generation that was successfully awoken from cryo-stasis. Suffers from fear of enclosed spaces because of this. Fears: Spiders, snakes, and...enclosed spaces." The recording skips slightly as the voice continues and carries a hint of puzzlement. "And a thing called a 'face hugger'. What the hell is a face hugger? ... Anyways, he's pretty much an alien in a world that was once his own. He appears to retain a lot of the past with him, often called emotional luggage or baggage, but that's to be expected for most humans. He seems to have a code of ethics he lives by but doesn't forces others to live by them. Tony mostly leaves others alone and stays out of trouble. A loner, but still has a few friends. Well-liked by everyone because of his easy going attitude, but still takes charge when no one steps up. He seems to have had four lovers after he woke up but prefers the anthropomorphic women. He's come into contact with lots of human females, but only shows interest in anthropomorphic women. I guess that's why I am chosen... due to my body choice. Huh, it seems he loves history, fantasy, and science fiction. He also loves other cultures, which explains why he's so easy going... His choice of movies suggests he was a huge supporter of the Grand Change if he was awake for the trial.... He supported the LGBT while he was awake and donated all his money to the organizations that helped out troubled teens. He himself is not part of the LGBT... Seems to enjoy a certain comedian that parodies songs. The comedian even wrote a song about Tony so that he could hear the comedian's music one last time in case the stasis failed... I think the papers, footage, interviews..." The noise of papers, video tapes, and other plastic items being tossed around on the desk abruptly stops as a loud rusty squeak is heard. "Well, everything I was given doesn't cover him entirely. This guy is going to be a tough one to fix...." The pen echoed in the recording as it bounced against the wooden desk. "I don't know if I'll be able to fix him while keeping things professional and not personal. I may have to dive in completely or the treatment will damage him beyond repair. Goddess help me." She pressed the stop button on her desk then noticed another light starting to blink. This one was a face-to-face call from the engineer. She pressed the light hard with her thumb and smiled into the pop up screen. "How can I help you, engineer?"

Tony stared at the cobwebs that covered parts of the building while he confirmed the address for the eighteenth time. This was something that wasn't mentioned or even talked about when he saw the email from the therapist. The building looked abandoned as the webs were thicker than his arms and covered most of the building. The webbing on the ground would randomly but strategically sink a little to warn others that a trap door spider lived there. The cold shiver that traveled from his feet to his head was a long, cold, and one that felt like death was staring at him with hungry eyes. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and pressed a button to switch on the flashlight. The light was bright but shone directly in front of him as he moved the light around. He did notice a light inside the building but and kept his gaze transfixed as he saw a large figure pass with numerous long, fat legs. His brain screamed "run away" but his feet never moved. He slowly let himself breathe as he looked at where the flashlight was shining. The address was the exact one that he was told to find. He gulped loudly as he carefully took several steps to make sure he wasn't going to bother someone; someone who could easily eat him.

The door creaked loudly and appeared to shake the entire room as the nearly invisible cobwebs vibrated. Tony looked around and thanked a god as the cobwebs were only on the walls. He would have gladly left if everything else was covered too. He hated the feel of the webbing against his skin and it always made him shiver. He found the light switch with his phone and hesitantly flipped it on. The lights slowly powered on to reveal a reception area. The cobwebs thinned out until there was an open path to the reception desk which was also empty. He took his time to carefully walk the well-beaten path and pressed a large red button that said "Press for service". His whole spine shivered when a clicking and grinding noise came over the red button as it lit up.

"Yes, this one wishes to know who is there?" The clicking and grinding noise stopped As Tony's internal translator spoke into his head. Tony leaned in close to the red button and croaked out, "Ummm, hi... I'm Tony and I'm here to pick up my helper." Tony leaned back in horror as the clicking and grinding sounds started up again.

"Understood. This one is glad you came now because she is finished being ready. This one will meet you in the hallway." Tony watched the red light flicker off and he looked around hesitantly. His gulp echoed in the empty room as he saw a door begin to light up. He walked cautiously towards the door as he would put a foot down then quickly withdraw before finally placing the foot in the same place. His pace was very slow, and he half expected something to jump out at his feet with every step. Tony finally reached the door and slowly opened it with a creak to glimpse a nearly empty hallway. Tony spotted an anthropomorphic mantis carefully spinning cobwebs onto a large spindle. Tony waved and said "Hello". The mantis looked up from its work and looked at Tony for a while before raising a front leg to wave and chatter back to him.

"Greetings human. This one will finish cleaning this hallway soon. Please be patient." The mantis finished clicking and went back to work.

"Wait, I thought you were the engineer." The mantis stopped then shook its head before pointing to his left. Tony looked to his left to see a large mirror and lights flickering on the other side. Tony's body froze in fear as four large eyes surrounded by several smaller eyes stared back at him. He felt his body scramble backwards as two large mandibles came downward into an arc attached to large fangs. He heard a girlish blood curdling scream in the throes of death before his vision blurred into darkness.

"This one thinks that your charge is having a severe seizure. This one nor the other one cannot check due to unable to get close to him as he screams and punches anyone that gets close to him. We fear for our lives and wish for you to handle him." She rubbed the bridge of her eyes a couple of times and sighed loudly.

"Okay, I'll be down there shortly. Give him plenty of space... In fact, both of you leave the area." She pushed her hands outward as the desk disappeared into storage but the image stayed close to her face as she continued. "I could have sworn I told the receptionist to greet him and guide him to me. I told him that he has a fear of spiders." The spider-like face appeared to nod before it started to click in response.

"This one understands. Can the other one finish its duty so it does not have to go back into the room again?"

She nodded in confirmation before she quickly added, "As long as the mantis is gone when I get there. I don't want to trigger him being afraid of mantis too." She pressed the screen to turn it off as she grabbed the files that were floating in midair. She used her body to straighten the stack of papers before taking one last look around. Everything was put away and in storage, but she was going to miss her space. She finally got it arranged just the way she wanted it.

Tony felt something gently grab his hands as his vision started to come back to him. His eyesight slowly cleared as his body began listening to his commands. He didn't even know he was flailing until he felt his legs kicking wildly. His breathing shook as he slowly started to stand up and look around. The room and hallways beyond the mirror were empty except for the person next to him. The grip on his wrists was gentle and soft as a voice spoke up in a sultry older tone, "Are you okay?" Tony backed away and took a good look at the voice as the grip was released.

Her face looked diamond in shape and her black fur made her rectangular muzzle blend into her face. Her narrow cheeks mimicked those of a wild dog but appeared jovial when she smiled. Her rectangular nose accented the tip of her muzzle that was slightly squared. Her mono-lid eyes with long eyelashes painted a picture of a golden night sky over her brown iris as gold was permanently painted to the superior eyelid. The lines around her eyes were also gold and looked like the eyes of Ra. Her eyes gave a hint of inhumanity as her iris would occasionally rotate. Her eyebrows were thin and pointed upwards which gave her face a serious expression or one of anger. Her thin glossy black hair allowed her bangs, which lightly hid her eyes, to add a lustrous texture to her eyes. Her hair waved and weaved down her back until it caressed her hourglass shaped waistline. Her ears came out of her hair straight up to a point. Her height complimented her beauty as she stood over seven feet tall. Her body was that of a well-toned muscular individual that was accented with somewhat muscular arms and legs. Her toned stomach and chest was hidden by three sets of breasts that descended in rows down her body. Her upper breasts were large, shaped like tear drops, and shrank down in size in each row as they went down to her waist. The soft padding of her feet against the metal and concrete floors sounded rhythmic but would occasionally be interrupted by the clacking of a metal ring she wore on one of her toes. Her posture stood straight and parallel with the ground to show off her additional height. Her tail was thin and half the length of her arm. Her digitigrade legs bended slightly and showed a strong muscular build underneath. She kept her slender hands by her waist when she stood still and kept them close to her when she walked. Her walking posture spoke of a well-trained individual as she didn't lean too far forwards or backwards when she walked. Her walking pace followed those around her and she paced herself to everyone else. Her black fur appeared to be lustrous and shone brightly against the rest of her.

Tony blushed as he realized that the jackal in front of him was naked, and he quickly looked away. Tony gathered his thoughts as he heard a soft giggle and looked around for the others. Tony coughed lightly as he felt his voice was hoarse and asked, "What happened to the other two?"

The sultry older voice calmly spoke to him while he tried to avoid looking at her. "I asked them to leave. They weren't helping the situation while you were consumed by fear." She lightly chuckled once again. "First time I've seen someone panic like you did." Tony tensed up, and the voice picked up on this as she quickly responded, "My name is Kleio Suspiria, but you can call me Kleio."

Tony felt a large hand softly land against his back as she spoke to him. "My name is Tony..." Tony stopped himself before he continued, "Just Tony." The large hand rubbed his back in small gentle circles before it lifted.

Kleio leaned close to Tony's ear as she spoke. "Let me put something on that will make things easier between us." She licked the side of his face before quickly padding away from the hallway. Tony started to shake again and scanned the other room frantically. Tony felt his body begin to relax as he watched Kleio reenter wearing a white silk and sheer sheath dress down to her ankles that flowed around her smoothly as a slit exposed her legs with every step. Large beads on her hips and one large bead on each side of her head held parts of her hair in place. A simple five striped silk belt held her dress close to her waistline. Tony caught himself smiling before she arrived with a grin on her face. "Shall we go?"

Tony looked around for her bags, and the lack of bags puzzled him. "What about your other items?", he asked in a baffled tone.

"Oh, those. Everything is virtual for us AI and we don't really have any physical belongings. Clothes are custom made for our bodies and everything else is just baggage that we don't need." She brought her left arm around her midsection and tapped her chin in deep thought. She spoke up after several moments, "Kind of like the gypsies of olden times". She smiled and offered her right hand to Tony. "Why don't we get out of here and talk some more?" Tony took her hand in a daze as his stare switched between her movements, her breasts slightly showing under the clothing, and her muzzle.

Kleio gently tugged Tony behind her as she lead him into the reception area that was now being cleaned by the mantis. Tony paused long enough to look at the mantis and profusely apologize. He took several bows towards it and he heard a click of, "it's okay" in response accompanied by a light bow back towards him. Tony smiled and thanked the mantis as he was being lead outside. He couldn't get the image out of his head until he reached the bus stop . Tony didn't even know he was at the bus stop because he was entranced by Kleio.

Kleio had her back to him when she spoke. "Okay, go ahead and ask. I know you've been staring at me the entire time." Tony shook himself awake as he realized his gaze was upon her and looked away.

"Just how much did they tell you about me?"

There was silence for a few moments before Kleio told him, "Everything they could." Tony looked at her in shock then quickly looked away with a stone like expression.

"Even what I dream about?" Tony asked skeptically.

She shook her head in response, "No. They can't record dreams or even look in them. It's highly illegal and is even punishable by death. This society is very well aware of what needs to be kept private." She paused again before she spoke sternly, "Now, if you verbally tell us, that would actually be a different matter." She let go of Tony's hand as he was starting to sweat onto hers. She felt him wrap his hand around her arm lightly. "But you haven't told anyone about your dreams before you went to sleep or after you've awoken. We would love to know what you dreamed of while you were frozen."

"Nothing. I dreamed of nothing." His tone carried the heavy hint of a lie that she caught. She simply nodded and accepted it as the truth for now.

"That's good to know. I'll let them know, okay?", Kleio asked. Tony nodded in confirmation and waited in silence. Several minutes passed before she spoke again. "What about the rest of the dreams?" She felt like she was pressing him a little too hard, but she needed to test the barriers. Tony sighed slightly. "Well, y'know, going to school naked and being laughed at, falling from a crashing airplane until you wake up just before you hit the ground, stepping on the brakes and watching your vehicle keep going until you crash really hard into the other person, walking out into the street and watching a child get hit by traffic..." Tony paused for a minute before he continued, "The regular stuff everyone dreams about." Kleio recorded the entire conversation in her head while he spoke so she could watch it later.

She smiled at him and nodded after taking as split second to store the conversation. "Okay. I don't know what that's like since I don't really dream, but I'm guessing it's like when I am in my virtual world. I can control it, but outside factors can affect what happens to the world I see around me. The weather could be hot outside, and it's sweltering inside the virtual world." She stayed silent with him until the bus arrived and felt the constant pressure release from her arm. Tony almost stepped on ahead of her but caught himself and waved his right arm towards the door.

"After you", he spoke softly out of embarrassment. She nodded towards him and got onto the bus, feeling her ears touch the ceiling. She was able to easily reach the bar that hung close to her head as she watched Tony take a seat. Tony looked around to see several bat anthropoids staring at him before they went back to talking. She didn't pay attention to their conversation unless she heard something mentioning Tony directly or indirectly. Several passengers came and went until Tony stood up at a stop and waved towards her. "Let's go. I'm hungry." Tony got off quickly with Kleio very close behind him. She heard her stomach growl as she smelled something foreign to her. "This is my go-to place when I've had a stressful day."

She looked at the sign overhead and smiled in understanding. This was his place for comfort and calming. She took this as a sign to be on her best behavior and not to test any barriers until she was inside his home. She pulled the straps on her dress higher and walked into the restaurant with a smile.