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Counter Earth Chronicles - Fallen Empire

Chapter 35: The More You Look The Less You See (Places Both Known And Unknown Part IV)

While all that was happening....

Day 65 (continued)

"Mistress that feels so nice!" I said enjoying the embrace I was receiving and the chin that was on the back of my head.

But there was something really odd. The arms that were holding me were not strong and muscular nor were they fury. They were flimsy.

(What gives?)

I looked down to discover that I was lying on a couch or bed. Actually on Gaia it would have been called a day bed. It like the arms embracing me were soft.

"Corbin you lost your fur?" The person behind me said running their hands down my chest.

"Dawn! Dawn! Wake up!"

"UGH! Ow! My head! Corbin?! Where are you?"

"Professor, it is me Alex."

"Yeah I guess it is." She said waking up and looking around. I thought I was home with my little boy."

"Nope unless home is a larger wooden room like this." I countered.

"What is the last thing you remember Alex?"

"Lady Ursa, was trying to flee the snowstorm. Since we couldn't out drive it, she took to the sky. The storm caught up with us key systems failed as did the hover vehicle." I said thinking.

"That's right we became a huge snowball and crashed back down to the ground. No we were on the edge of a deep chasm."

"Yeah we nearly fell into it as we landed and Lady Ursa.... Where is Lady Ursa?! Where is this place for that matter?!" Ms. Stern said getting up from the daybed.

"There was something more,.. I remember hearing voices- they were approaching us then... then..."

"Then nothing until now?" The professor said snapping me back to reality.

I nodded.

"So where is here?!" I said standing up from the bed. "Ow!"

"Looks like you were injured." The professor observed.

I looked at my left arm it was covered in linen.

"That is a shoddy bandage." I said as I gently removed it. Underneath was a burn mark in the shape of a three toed claw. "When did I get that?"

"I am not sure. Crap! I have one also." Dawn said rolling up her pants leg. On her right thigh just above the knee and below her groin was a similar mark.

"Is that the only place you are injured?"

"No I have some bumps and bruises but otherwise ok."

"Same." I said looking around. "This is a nicely built room- just look at the craftsmanship."

The ceiling was slanted at a 20 degree angle where the roof met the walls, all seemed to be made of the finest grade of wood, including the beds that were in the room. There was even a window between Dawn and my bed.

I moved toward it to stare into white nothingness. It was like the snowstorm Lady Ursa and I encountered on the other side of the planet after the KLIS returned her.

"Could my mistress be out in all of that?! How long were we out? What day is this?"

Dawn shook her head. She didn't know either.

"I have been in this scenario many times before waking up in a strange location in a strange place. Last time I was tied to a table, the time before was a secret prison and the time before that a chair in a dark room."

"Are you saying we are someone's prisoner Alex?"

"Exactly. First we need to properly to treat our injuries, then find Lady Ursa." I said making my way to the other side of the room. There was a door which I surmised would lead to a hallway and from there out of wherever we were.

(That is if it wasn't locked.)

It wasn't. As I opened the door Dawn and I traded glances with what had to be the ugliest woman we had ever seen! Brown hair, round face, rotund body she looked to be at least fifty pounds over weight- broad round stomach.She was wearing a purple dress with shoulder straps. But that wasn't the weirdest part- it was yet to come.

"Ah so I see that you two are up and around! I brought you fresh, um linen." She said as we just stared and stared and stared.

"Who are you? What is this place and what did you do to my mistress?!!!" I shouted.

The round faced woman really did something bizarre and disturbing, she turned her head a full ninety degrees to the side as she processed what we were saying to her.

(I have never ever seen anyone do that before.)

"My, my so many questions." The rotund woman said entering the room.

She walked passed us and placed the linen on the bed.

"I am Constance. Constance oh, a Walker. You are in my home. I don't understand what you mean by mistress?" She said turning around to face us.

"There was another with us, our friend and companion." The professor said to our would be hostess.

"Oh yes, the bear woman. She dropped you two here some time ago. She said that you three had survived a hover vehicle crash. She then left you in my care while she went to try to repair it."

"How long was that?" I said eyeing our hostess.

"Several hours. I agreed to look after you two but ONLY you two."

"Why is that Constance?" Dawn asked.

"Well to be frank, I don't like animal folk. Nor do I allow them in my home. They are a reminder of the old regime."

(Interesting.)

"Do you know what these wounds are on our bodies?" I asked her.

"Don't know. We found you that way. I tried to treat them as best as I could." Constance said.

"Really?! It is obvious you don't have any medical training."

"Alex!" Dawn said chastising me. "Constance might you have any bandages or gauze?"

"Why sure Ms. Stern right this way." She said.

"You know my name?"

"And his as well. Here you may lean on me." The woman said helping Dawn off of the bed, out of the room and into the hallway.

"Wow, such a lovely home and well built." The professor commented.

The wall in front of the room we were in was lined with family pictures.

"Are those your family?" I asked looking at a human father and two boys.

"No those are of the previous owners. Buddy and I never got around to taking them down."

(Okay... very odd...)

The structure we were in resembled a small lodge- single floor, five bedrooms, and a great room with a kitchen.

"Well look who is up and around?" A tall thin man in a beach shirt, hat and shorts said standing up from a oval table. They were totally inappropriate for this time of year.

This is my husband Buddy."

(Nice shirt.)

"Um hi." I said greeting him. "Thank you for taking us in."

"Aw shucks we humans have to stay together." He said extending his hand.

I shook it. Instead of feeling warm- it felt cold and clammy.

"Buddy where are the bandages and gauze?" Constance asked.

And so...

"So you three live here with your daughter?" The professor asked.

"Yes youngin. We left the empire shortly before that sickness last fall." The man said.

"We came out this way expecting the master's enforcers to drag us back kicking and screaming. But they were too busy with the mass epidemic and then something mysterious happened." Constance said finishing her husband's sentence. "It all just ended."

"So we were pretty much left to ourselves. Every now and again we would see a survivor or two. We would help the humans and turn away the beastials." Buddy said. "My that is a good knot my boy."

"That bandage should keep her wound clean and dry." I responded. "But she is going to have trouble getting around for a while."

"Your turn Alex. Dawn said to me."

The married couple watched as the blond archeologist bandaged my arm.

"So that's how you bandage and arm and leg!" The heavy woman responded.

"Yes. Alex here is the medic of our little trio." Dawn said oversharing.

"So are you from around here?" The man asked.

"Originally from World One. Or what was left of it." Dawn said talking too much again.

"Are you living there now?" Constance asked.

"I don't think anyone is living there now ma'am. The city was destroyed by fire the day of the fall." I said gauging her and her husband's reaction.

"Constance, which of the five cities did you hail from?" Dawn asked as she finished bandaging my arm.

"World Three. We both are." She said. "I understand that it doesn't exist anymore either."

"It was swallowed up by five volcanoes."

"Wow son, that is just too bad. For everyone. I am glad we left when we did."

"Alex had several friends that lived there." Dawn said.

"Did they survive?" Buddy asked.

"I don't think so, I haven't been in contact with them since before the fall." I responded.

"What were there names?" Constance asked.

"Biff, Lopper, Dusty and their commander Sir Wolf."

"Those aren't human names- they were enforcers from the former empire weren't they?" Constance's husband interjected.

"I do feel sorry for the lives that were lost well the human lives anyway." The rotund woman said. "Time for dinner."

"Can I help you?" I asked Constance.

I followed the woman to the pantry. When I opened the door- I saw a container full of rice and another full of beans. Nothing more.

"I hope you don't mind we are running low on some things."

"Probably just waiting for spring in order to start planting." I said walking to the cupboard.

I didn't find too many utensils there either. It was like this couple just didn't eat.

"May I ask you a question?" The professor said to Mr. Walker.

"Yes little missy."

"Why do you hate beastials?"

"Why do I hate beastials?! The self proclaimed ultimate life forms which dominated humankind under a extraterrestrial dictator?"

"One who stopped the humans of this planet from killing themselves." Ms. Stern countered.

"That was because of transference."

"Transference Mr. Walker?"

"That was because the humans stopped hating each other and started hating him!" The man said.

"What about the fact that there were no wars for thirty years and that he brought stability to all of creation?" The professor asked trying to pin down our hosts.

"That was because he created a new race of beings which in turn created a dystopian society. One that brought prosperity to themselves while dominating man kind." Constance said re-entering the room.

I followed.

"You sound like a fan girl or something." Buddy said as his wife brought in dinner.

"I respectfully disagree. Some of my best friends were beastials!" The professor said losing her objectivity.

"Dawn." I whispered.

"In fact my son is a beastial!"

"Professor!!" I shouted.

"Alex here is in love with a..."

"DAWN!! Perhaps it is not wise to challenge the beliefs of those who took us in during a storm?" I said eyeing her.

(No matter how slanted.)

"Sorry. What is for dinner?"

"Why soup dear, bean soup." Constance said setting the table. She and her husband sat at the far end while Dawn and I sat across from each other. We each had a bowl and a spoon.

"Aren't you hungry?" I asked our host and hostess.

"No dear, we trying to stretch our supplies." Constance said.

The couple watched Dawn and myself eat with perverse fascination- like they were studying us or something. Or heaven forbid, like the food was poisoned.

I looked at Corbin's adoptive mother and she at me. This was beyond awkward.

"So how did you become the mother of a beastial missy?" Buddy asked.

The professor started to reply. But I cut her off.

"She adopted a orphaned mongoose. His family was butchered by the rebellion." I said to Mr. Walker.

"So you keep him like a common animal?" Mr. Walker asked.

With that Dawn looked at Mr. Walker, slid out of her chair and walked err, limped out of the great room. "No! He is a sweet boy!"

"Let me go talk to her." I said stepping away from the table.

I found the co-leader of our community back in the bedroom on the daybed.

"Alex, how can they even think like that?!"

"Apparently they weren't the only ones, remember there was a rebellion, you know rebels? Besides in your coursework you dealt with those you deemed were intolerant and disagreeable. Right?"

She nodded.

"We just have to put up with them until the storm is over and Lady Ursa repairs the prototype and then comes back for us, then we don't have to see them ever again."

Dawn nodded again as their was a knock on the bedroom door. Then it opened without our authorization.

"Come on in.... oh never mind."

"Sorry about Buddy dearie he can be quite prickly at times. Well, we both can." Constance said walking in.

"Say how about some after dinner entertainment?" Her mate said walking in behind her.

"I don't know." Dawn said.

"Um, why not? There isn't any place we could go." I said looking at the storm outside. "Especially in this."

"Ok." The professor said eyeing our hosts mysteriously.

We let the couple lead us back into the great room and the kitchen table we had previously ate at.

At the center of the table was a cube! It was an earlier model than the two we had obtained from The Madam's stash.

"I didn't know you had a cube!" I said as the couple had us sit down at the table again.

"It was one of the few things we brought with us when we fled the empire." Mr. Walker said.

"So what games do you like to play?" Mrs. Walker asked us.

"Um, chess, checkers, cards." I said looking at my sister's doppelgänger."

"Interactive games are the most fun." The professor said. "But they require access to the hub."

"What about choose your own adventure?" Buddy asked.

"That is the only one that does seem to work." Constance commented. "We play that a lot with our daughter."

"Yeah, we have been playing that a lot as well." Dawn said.

"Ok choose your own adventure then." Mrs. Walker said.

Mr. Walker touched the top of the of the cube and the interior of the lodge was transformed into a research and test lab- something I would have seen Sir Ram and Mara working in.

"This one again Buddy? We play this all the time!" Constance pouted.

"Now, now let our guests have a crack at it." Mr. Walker said to his mate.

"Um what is the scenario?" Dawn asked.

"Huh?" Constance said.

"She means why a lab?" I said to Mrs. Walker.

"Why not? Ok so you have just awoken inside a scientific research center. You have no memory how you got there only a dark feeling that the employees were experimenting on you." Mr. Walker said.

"Nice scenario. I assume the objective is to escape." I said looking around the lab.

"Judging from your expressions, it isn't going to be easy." Dawn chimed in.

"Umm hmm." Came the couple's response.

"Well let's see." Ms. Stern said.

The Walker's watched as Dawn and I walked about the lab trying the sole door and the sole window to the facility which appeared to be below ground. Both were locked.

Dawn then started to rummage through the cabinets above the counter while I started searching the drawers below the counter. We didn't find anything.

"This is a tough one." I said thinking out loud.

"We struggled with this one as well- at first." Constance said.

"Uh oh, I think I hear something!" Mr. Walker said.

The four of us turned our attention to the lab door.

"It looks like the employees are coming back. How will they react once they discovered that you have escaped your cages?" Constance said pointing to four platforms that contained large circular cylinders at the opposite side of the room.

"You mean we escaped from that?" Dawn said exasperated.

"Mom, dad, I have more wood!" Another voice said as it walked through the lab door.

The game paused as the kitchen rematerialized again.

"Trance! About time you got back." Mr. Walker said to his daughter.

"The storm is rather bad." A blond teenager in a parka with numerous freckles said as she placed her snow covered stash by the fireplace. "I see our guests are up and about."

"Yes, we were gaming with them to pass the time." Constance said. "Did you have any problems?"

"A little one- I lost spot. He ran off while we were looking for kindling." Trance said.

"In this storm?" Dawn said.

"If he ran off during this, that is his own fault." Mr. Walker said. "He shouldn't be so reckless."

"I need to go find him."

"Trance it can wait until after the storm." The rotund woman said.

"I think I have an idea of where he is...."

"Trance! Please help entertain our guests." Mr. Walker said resuming the game.

Once again we were in the lab just as the outer door was opened and the employees- a red avian and a red salamander noticed that we had escaped.

Trance said nothing as she walked through the holo-projection out of the lab, out of the game and some where in the lodge.

"That girl is so impetuous!" Mr. Walker said exiting the game to follow his daughter.

"Um, awkward." Professor Stern said. "Should we keep playing?"

"YES." Mrs. Walker said.

"You two can, I am going to check up on them." Dawn said limping off.

"Alright prisoners back into your pens!" The red avian said to us.

"Any suggestions?!" I said to the rotund woman as the lab employees backed us into the cylinders at the far side of the room.

"We can only use what is readily available." Ms. Walker warned as we were placed back on the platform and entombed into the cylinders.

*participants recaptured game over.*

"Damn, what could we have done differently?" I said as the kitchen rematerialized.

"You could have used the stools in front of the counter to assault the workers. Broken down the door and escaped. Buddy, Trance and I did."

"Yeah now, you tell me. Say Dawn, Buddy and Trance have been gone a while."

"I am sure they are fine Alex." The rotund woman said.

"Never the less, I better go check on them." I said leaving the kitchen.

I walked past the fireplace down the hallway past our room. At the far end I heard some talking in another of the bedrooms of the cabin.

"You got be more careful!"

"I am sorry it kinda happened!"

"Trance!"

"Everything ok?" I asked entering the room. "THE HELL?!!!"

I had interrupted Buddy and his daughter talking. That wasn't bad but the two were no longer wearing their disguises, that is right disguises. At the other side of the room stood a rock creature composed of stone and dirt standing about six feet tall- a rock golem next to him was a dark three dimensional shadow thingie standing over professor Stern who was lying on the floor of the room!

The two creatures looked at me as I looked at them. It was at that point I realized that I could not move! I wanted to help the professor, but my legs would not work!

"You weren't supposed to see that Alex." I heard Constance Walker say from behind me.

!!!

I felt a burning sensation on my right shoulder then....

*WHACK*

"AUGH!"

Sometime later.....

"Alex? Wake up!"

"Dawn! What happened?"

"We discovered the Walkers aren't the Walkers." Corbin's adoptive mother said nudging me awake. We had been hog tied, brought back to our room and left on the floor.

"That is obvious." I said rolling over.

"I tried to act as a intermediary during Trance and Buddy's disagreement only to discover their secret."

"Mr. Winter! Ms. Stern are you awake?" We heard a voice on the other side of the door whisper.

"Sorry, we are a little tied up at the moment." I said sarcastically.

"I am sorry about that." The false human said opening the door and entering into the room. "Constance and Buddy are a bit overprotective about our secrets."

"Apology not accepted." I said as the being sat down next to us.

"Sorry this was not meant to happen. The plan was just to observe you and then send you on your way." Trance said.

"And now?" The professor asked.

"Constance and Buddy are thinking about that. But I have a better offer- spot and I were supposed to get rid of your companion."

"Get rid of? What do you mean get rid of?" I said looking at the 'human' teen.

"Yes. He fell into a chasm and I haven't been able to reach him. I will release you if you help me rescue him."

"Done." Dawn said without hesitation.

"So exactly how do we leave the lodge without detection?" I asked.

The 'teenager' reverted to the shadow being I had seen earlier which I guess must have been her true form. She then enveloped the professor and myself and departed the lodge. We went with her.

(Not like we had a choice.)

We were brought to our crash site near the chasm right during the height of the storm.

"Here." Trance said spitting us out of her body.

"Coats would have been nice!" I said as the creature untied us.

The shadow creature disappeared for a minute then reappeared with our apparel which we promptly put on.

"Where?" Dawn asked.

"He was tossing your companion over the side when he went down as well." Trance said coldly.

"How could you!"

"Alex, not the time." Dawn said to me.

*Mr. Winter. Ms. Stern I am glad to see you are in one piece.* A mound of snow and ice next to us said.

"Overwatch?" Dawn said.

*Present.*

"I am glad to see that you are in one piece. How about the prototype?" I asked.

*It is what you see. The deflectors prevented any significant damage but the prototype is encased in ice and the side-pods are frozen.*

"Lady Ursa and one of our hosts are at the bottom." Ms. Stern said. "We need to retrieve both."

*I don't think I could be of much assistance.*

"Sure you can. Contact Lady Ursa on her communicator." I ordered.

*There is no response I am afraid.*

"We got to get down there. Activate the flame thrower on the prototype." I said to the automated assistant.

"While the side-pods are frozen shut Alex?" The professor said.

"Extremely low yield, just enough to melt the snow."

Trance, Dawn and I watched as the blue coupe 'thawed' out from its encased tomb.

*Side-pods engaged*

"Get in." I ordered the two females. "Ms. Trance your human form please. It is easier on the eyes."

I sat behind the steering wheel and Dawn and Trance in the passenger seat.

*Emergency Authorization Alex Winter.*

*Recognized Dawn Stern Lost City.*

"What is the status of hover-mode Overwatch?"

**Limited functionality Mr Winter.* *

"Assume control of the prototype and take us down."

The chasm was about thirty feet deep with steep walls. Halfway down on a ledge was a snow covered something. Trance immediately jumped out of the prototype to retrieve it.

**Tractor hook engaged.* *

Dawn and I transported to Trance and Spot who turned out to be a miniature eyeball with yellow fur and a long tail, back to the surface.

"Thank you. Per our agreement you are free to go." She said removing Spot from the trunk of the prototype. "That is an impressive contraception."

"It was built by beastials the very creatures you despised." Dawn interjected.

"Trance we appreciate what you have done for us, but it doesn't make up for what you tried to do." I said looking at her as she assumed her true form.

Trance nodded and then disappeared with spot into the storm.

"Overwatch we are going back down."

**Affirmative Mr. Winter.* *

As the blue coupe descended into the chasm again- Dawn activated the surveillance probe and started scanning the bottom.

"So any theories as to what we just went through?" I said to her.

"They are lab creatures Alex, trying to be humans."

"They weren't entirely convincing." I added.

"I believe that group escaped from a research firm before the fall, perhaps they were one of the first ones to do so." The blond archeologist said while studying the monitor.

*It appears that those four have banded together for their survival like the nine of you have at the lost city.*

"That would explain their intense hatred of beastials- their handlers, their prowess on that game and why they were disguising themselves as humans." I said to the professor. "I wonder how they will treat the next individuals they encounter human or beastial?"

"Alex, I found her. Her life signs are minimal."

My mistress was on a ledge 15 feet below the one we found spot on. Her heartbeat had slowed like she had gone into hibernation, but she was alive. It took some doing, but we managed to place the bear- icicle into the blue coupe's trunk to warm up.

"Well this has been one hell of a day. I guess we better wait out the storm- we don't want to even travel back home under these conditions."

"It wasn't that bad Alex."

"What do you mean?" I said staring at her.

"Look another obelisk." Professor Stern said pointing at her monitor.

"At the bottom of the chasm?!"

Alex Winter March 7, YOE 34