The Ravenous
#4 of Commissions
A commissioned, plot-heavy and fairly serious sci-fi story about a colony ship, focusing on a gnoll and fennec couple, and a cheetah who wakes up, not remembering where he is, why he's there, or even who he is. Features a bit of action and a bit of romance. I originally meant to post it here for Valentine's Day, but then SoFurry was down and I couldn't, so have it now instead.
The dim red lights of the Ravenous flickered, and were replaced by the usual white daylight-simulating ones. It was 7 AM, and simultaneously, all wake up calls went through, stirring the colony ship's inhabitants from their dreams, signalling the beginning of another approximated earth day. Far from the pale blue dot, the massive ship had to rely entirely on its computers for anyone to remember what time it was back home, a place they'd never see again. The name of the ship was somewhat ironic, having been largely funded by a group of oligarchs with a particular sense of humour, symbolizing their desire to not only allow the various tribes of old earth to spread to places unknown, but also their intent to make the maximum possible amount of money doing so.
The ship was a rush job, a repurposed battlecruiser from the last war, but it held together, for the most part. On the other hand, it had all the luxuries anyone stuck in space for extremely long periods could desire, including things that'd been called insane by the news, such as an extensive shopping mall and the goods to supply it, enormous swimming pools, and a state-of-the-art onboard AI designed to assist both passengers and crew. On the other hand, the FTL drive had suffered a malfunction towards the end of the journey, and now the remaining distance was approximately a year at cruising speed, rather than seconds. A result of the shoddy engineering, they figured.
Planet 948L - or as the passengers called it, Nifel, for its cold conditions, was already in view, but distances were always longer than they appeared in space, and it'd take at least a year to reach it, still. It was the first planet discovered that wouldn't need any terraforming, yet carried no signs of intelligent life, and as such it was the natural target for the first colony ship. It had less water than old earth, that much they knew, and it was oddly isolated in space, close only to its own weak star. Most of the water on it was frozen, and the temperatures generally lower than Earth, but there was a lush band of green near its equator. It'd be the ideal vacation spot for both snow lovers and those merely desiring something truly exceptional, or so they'd been told. That, and scientists speculated that it was very rich in resources.
Despite their ultimately greedy purpose, the Ravenous had a good crew. A diverse one. Each funding oligarch had insisted on their own and their favorites being heavily represented, and so unlike a typical colony ship, she carried at least two of most species, as well as what were referred to as "non-reproductively orientated colonists", which meant gay or lesbian, intended to serve in a variety of necessary functions and aid the others rather than fulfilling thecolonization part of the journey. Surprisingly, they were treated just as well as the rest, in general, although there was the obvious stigma that not everyone had been able to quite overcome.
Two of these individuals were a fennec and a gnoll, who woke up to the typical unpleasant noise of the morning, having laid cuddled in bed. While the fennec, small and energetic, sprung out of bed like a spring that'd been building up tension, the larger gnoll groaned, covering his eyes in displeasure. "Ugh, not morning again. It's not even a real morning," he lamented. "They should just let us sleep more."
He was an ex-soldier. While used to being whipped out of bed early, he'd found that he loved sleeping in now that he'd finally stopped fighting. He'd only been in the war for a short enough time that he'd survived it, unlike most, but it'd left its mark. He was taciturn, often grumpy, and prone to outbursts of anger. But the fennec loved him anyway.
"We've been on this ship for two years and you still say the same thing every morning!" the fennec countered in a bright chirp. He was the typical fennec, with a cream-colored coat, and although he was small and slender he was just as clearly male as the gnoll was, all the way from his broad - for his stature - shoulders, to his tight fuzzy butt. "It's time for a swim, Takk!" he continued, bouncing around the room as he gathered his clothes, carelessly tossed on the floor last night. He was a child of peace, one of the first born after the end of the war, and so he was considerably more upbeat than his mate, often flamboyant, eager to taste and experience everything life had to offer.
The gnoll grumbled, his joints cracking as he forced himself a sitting position, fighting the urge to wrap himself into a hyena burrito and sleep all day. Oh, sure, he loved the little fennec, for 23 hours a day. The first hour though, in the morning, he just couldn't stand him. "Please, at least let me have coffee first," he groaned, every fiber of his being feeling drained and yearning for the warm cotton embrace of his blanket. It was easy for the fennec to be energetic; he wasn't the one who'd been thrusting away for an hour trying to satisfy his lover. The two were an odd couple, to be sure, but opposites often attracted each other.
"The Ravenous recommends coffee intake for those suffering from difficulty adhering to their schedule," the always-on loudspeaker in the ceiling stated. It was connected to the ship's AI and would frequently offer contextual advertisements. It was insufferable, but installing that component had paid for a lot of the ship's construction cost. "Today's special is on organically grown, artisan beans from the mountainous plantations at the very foot of the Himalayas, sure to infuse their drinker with both vigor and inner peace," the robotic voice continued in a monotone.
"They don't even grow coffee in the fuckin' Himalayas!" Takk growled. "It's way too damn cold."
"Totally do!" the fennec cried. "It's not like it's Antarctica!"
Neither really knew if they did or not, but those beans would probably be too expensive anyway. Takk got up and poured some instant coffee into a mug, and then boiling water on top of it. It was enriched with extra caffeine, although terribly lacking in taste. After letting it sit for a moment, he took a sip, grimacing. He'd grown to like good coffee back on earth where it was acceptably priced. Sometimes, he regretted joining the Ravenous, but on the other hand, he had met the fennec, Twine, on it. So ultimately, it was a positive thing.
Twine was nearly running circles around him by the time he finished "enjoying" his drink. He was already in his skintight swimwear, and with the caffeine slowly seeping into his bloodstream, the gnoll fought an urge to aggressively bend his mate over and take him right then and there. They did need to meet their daily exercise quota. While the fennec looked fantastic in the required clothes, Takk was a little more self-conscious about it. His bulky, muscular frame looked absolutely ridiculous, a glaringly obvious bulge forming every time he forced himself into them. Reluctantly, he forced himself into the form-fitting fabrics and followed the fennec to the nearby recreational area.
The cold corridors to it, at least, sapped every ounce of excitement from his body, which made the swimwear feel less overly tight, though they still hugged every inch of his groin.
A beacon pierces the void. I see it, calling. I approach, its light surges through me, and it fizzles with a spark. But I am there. I feel who called me.
--
Twine dove into the pool, the room temperature water accepting him readily. For a fennec, he was a good swimmer. He'd even been on the swim team in high school, and although he never quite beat the otters, he put up a fair fight. He liked being underwater, his large ears pinned against his skull and for once, not hearing anything but quiet rumbles, the water shutting out the noisy outside world.
Plus there was a certain other benefit to it. The gnoll entered the water as well, grumbling as it soaked into his fur, feeling much colder than it actually was. Twine swam closer, admiring his bulge, the wetness making it cling to him even more closely than before, giving him a practically bare view of his sheath and testicles, just covered in black fabric. Oh, he could stare at it any time, if he wanted to, but there was a kind of naughty thrill doing it in public like this.
He surfaced for air next to his lover. "Feeling alive yet, stud?" he smiled. "Let's do some laps!"
"Barely," he uttered. "Though looking at you like that is doing a good job at getting the blood flowing again."
He grabbed the fennec, deceptively dextrous for his size, and pulled him tightly against his body, the bulge Twine had been admiring wetly pushing against his belly.
"If you keep teasing me, I might just have to do something about it," he whispered in a playful yet dominant voice, and he gave a demonstrative rock of his hips against his mate before letting him go. All the while, Twine was grinning happily.
And so the two swam. Takk was slow and bulky, but he wasn't _bad_at swimming. He made it from end to end without feeling too tired, even though the nearly hyperactive fennec had already done the whole length several times by then, offering him many tantalizing views of his fit butt and similarly stealing all kinds of glimpses of his mate from behind, from below, and even from the side as he passed him. The fennec knew exactly which buttons to push, and he was doing it very deliberately, wanting the bigger male to be wild with desire for him, perhaps in the locker room, if it was empty. Not many people wanted to swim this early, which was a big part of the reason the fennec liked doing it right after waking up, even though he effectively had to drag his mate along.
That, and the pool area had a projected starfield ceiling, emulating what they'd see if they could look outside. Even just floating on his back, he could dream of the countless stars he could see, nearly infinitely far away and almost certainly infinite in number, each of them their own isolated worlds. Some with planets, others not so. Some with life, some barren. But each, at least, a place that he'd never see, utterly disconnected from his own sphere of existence but for the twinkling specks of light in the vast darkness of space. It was soothing, meditative, and for a moment, he forgot entirely about his partner, daydreaming himself away as he floated, waiting for Takk to finish his five mandatory laps.
A warmth. Hunger. A need to exist, and I take it. Possessiveness. I embrace and devour. Come into being. Emergence from the sunless seas. I exist.
Elsewhere on the Ravenous, in the depths of the colonist quarters, a cheetah stirred, having managed to oversleep despite the loud advertisements now playing. He only caught the tail end of one "-for optimal energy levels every day, choose Amp-Up, the energy supplement for the discerning individual."
His head felt empty, a gnawing feeling of something being wrong. He stood up, following his muscle memory, and made his way to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror, and recoiled, not recognizing the androgynous feline in it at all. He had impractically long hair, carefully groomed, extending far past what the mirror could show. Other than that and his fishnet top - whyever anyone would wear such an impractical piece of clothing - he looked like any other cheetah. But who... the figure in the mirror shook his head. This had to be a dream. A false awakening. He had a past, he was fairly sure of that, but it was blocked off from him, even his name lost in the nebulous mist of the dream.
Was it really a dream, though? The cold corrugated metal floor of his tiny cabin felt very real against his paws. If it wasn't a dream it'd be something much worse, and he felt anxiety building in the pit of his stomach. He raised his hand in front of him as if to examine it, and the person in the mirror did the same, so it had to be himself he was seeing, even if he felt like someone else. He noticed a button in the bathroom, labelled "Request medical assistance". He was vaguely aware of what that meant. All of the knowledge he had about anything felt like an echo, as if he was listening to an old, time-worn cassette that barely held onto the music it'd be played.
He hit the button.
Just as Twine's luck would have it, the two men weren't alone in the locker room. His ears drooped. He'd just have to figure out something else later, but for now, it was time for work. He didn't much like doing it while so pent up, but he kissed the gnoll goodbye and did what he had to to bring home the bread, as it were. It was a pleasant enough workplace, one of the stores at the mall, specializing in gothic and similarly broody, if often rather alluring, clothing. He loved dressing up fancily, often flamboyantly, mainly to tease Takk, but also simply for the sake of his own sense of fashion. This was space, after all; there was no need to dress as if it was another tedious day in the office.
Today, he was dressed in tight leather. Long pants, and a small shrug that left his chest and belly bare, along with a black collar around his neck, with a little padlock on it. It wasn't a look he was_committed_ to; sometimes, he preferred frilly pink, other days simply a suit. It all depended on what mood the little canid was in. The first customer of the day was just coming in when everything suddenly went to hell.
"BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION DETECTED," every speaker of the Ravenous blared out. "HUNTER-SEEKERS DISPATCHED. REMAIN CALM AND DO NOT RESIST SCANS," the on-board AI continued.
Security doors came down with metallic chunks. The customer dove under it at the last second and Twine felt his heart skip a beat, thinking he was about to get crushed under it, but he barely made it, leaving the fennec alone in the shop. Then, the lights went out, replaced by the red night-time gloom, only now it was outright menacing. Despite that, there was no panic; the ship had regular drills, and the customer might've just been worried about getting stuck in a store. Overly dramatic way of risking bisection to avoid boredom, though, Twine thought to himself. He tapped his claws on the counter. He didn't particularly like the idea of being stuck in the shop all day, but he seemed to remember that there was an emergency exit. Only openable from the inside, of course. The security doors were the safety of the residents, they always said, intended to keep bad things out, not keep them in.
One of the hunter-seeker bots entered through a ventilation duct. It was more or less a drone, but armed, staying aloft with four small propellers. They looked harmless enough, and for the most part, they were. But if there was any actual danger, each one was capable of subduing the threat by pneumatically launching a small dart filled with a fast-acting tranquillizer. There were, supposedly, other models that had lethal weaponry, but they weren't used for drills, and as such, Twine had never seen one.
The black drone scanned the room, little laser dots running over ever surface, and then focused on the fennec. "Remain still," a distorted, tinny voice spoke. "You will be scanned for biological contamination."
Obligingly, he remained still, having nothing to worry about. The lasers swept over him, along with something else that felt hot on his skin. It only took a few seconds. "Area clear. Thank you for choosing the Ambicorp Pacification Unit," it buzzed, and then disappeared back into the ventilation ducts. They had been custom built to allow access for the small robots but little else.
Twine wondered what exactly they even meant with biological contamination. His thoughts instantly turned towards aliens, but infiltrating a ship like this wasn't easy, even with all of its flaws. The next thought was a disease, but those didn't just spontaneously happen; everyone had been quarantined for a month and thoroughly examined before being allowed on the Ravenous, so unless something new had evolved during these years in space, it couldn't be that.
"So it's aliens," the fennec muttered to himself with a little grin. He was fairly sure that the entire exercise was a drill, and so he sat down on one of the soft leather chairs and waited, first for the all clear and then with increasing frustration, for someone to at least come get him.
Eventually, someone did come. A cheetah, dressed in the normal civilian clothes of the Ravenous. He looked confused, walking past the store and then retracing his steps.
"Hey!" Twine called out. "You're supposed to be in a safe zone, we're under lockdown!" he shouted, and the cheetah turned towards him with an alarmed expression.
"What?" he asked, bluntly. Maybe he'd taken a blow to the head, Twine reasoned, because he certainly seemed confused. Either that, or he couldn't hear him, with the security gate in the way. Where was the emergency exit? If he kept wandering around, there was a real possibility that the bots would shoot him, and the warm-hearted fennec didn't want to see that happen.
"Stay there for just a few minutes!" he yelled, getting off his chair and approaching the security door. Mostly, it was solid metal, with a series of narrow gaps in armoured glass, which he had no chance or desire to break. The cheetah stared at him. "I'm trying to figure out a way to get you in here, hold on," the fennec told him, although there was no sign of it actually registering. There had to be a button somewhere.
"I can't remember anything," the cheetah told the auto-doc. "I just woke up and... it's like something erased all my memories."
The little robot almost seemed to listen patiently. It was programmed to emulate behaviour that organic beings found professional and caring. Ultimately, it was little more than a box on wheels, but it had a display that showed two stylized, digital eyes, and was painted white.
"Retrograde amnesia can be the result of many factors. Do you feel otherwise comfortable?" the synthetic voice answered after a delay.
"I... suppose so?" the spotty feline replied, shuffling his feet. He had very little idea of what the thing in front of him even was, but it seemed to want to help.
"Have you been feeling stressed lately? High stress levels have been identified to have a significant correlation with incidents of retrograde amnesia," the auto-doc asked.
This would be a long conversation, he could tell. But it's not like he had any better leads on what to do. If he had a job, he didn't know where it was, and this didn't seem like the place to be wandering around, metallic and hostile as it was.
Takk immediately began to make his way to the mall, and his boyfriend, when the alarm went off. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do, but the gnoll was more loyal than smart. That, and as long as the only thing he encountered were those little buzzing bots, he'd be alright. There didn't seem to be any actual danger, but nonetheless he wanted to make sure Twine was alright. The alert seemed like the real deal, and neither the crew nor the AI had given out any further information, as they usually did for drills. All he'd wanted out of the day was to work, fuck, and then sleep again, but now he had adrenaline surging through his body, and he was flying through the corridors of the ship, only stopping to submit to scans by the drones. It was probably a gross overreaction, and he knew that, but he had to be sure that his lover wasn't at any risk.
Twine finally figured out how the emergency exit worked, by pressing every button on or near the security door. Most of them did nothing, probably needing an all-clear signal first, but a little switch popped open a hatch barely big enough to squeeze through for the average colonist. He motioned for the cheetah to come to him, and he did, though with a hesitant sluggishness. The androgynous male - at least he thought the feline was male - crawled through the opening and into the store, and then it snapped shut again, presumably to prevent being accidentally left open. The cheetah let out a startled chirp, his tail momentarily fluffing up in alarm.
They stood still, looking at each other for a moment, neither quite sure of how to break the awkward silence. Then, the cheetah was distracted by the various displays in the store. They didn't just have clothes, but toys as well, some rather adult. He picked up a collar, first, examining it closely, glancing back at Twine, seemingly comparing them. Despite his graceful shape, he moved rather stiffly, and the fennec found it strangely adorable, although he found himself wondering he was on the spectrum. It would make sense, given how the ship's passengers had been chosen.
"Do you like those?" he asked, trying to get through.
The cheetah looked back at him. "I like... yours." he replied, dropping the one he was holding back on the table. He walked up to Twine and without hesitating, he hooked a finger into the ring on his collar, giving it a gentle tug. The fennec could smell him, and it made his head swim. Mostly it was the scent of shampoo and fur conditioner, but there was an indescribable musky tang to it that felt like it tickled at his nose, as well as some deeper parts of his psyche. More primitive, needy parts. He didn't even know the cheetah's name, but didn't resist as he pulled him closer, almost experimentally, the feline tracing his paws over the fennec's silky fur.
And then he stopped. "Sorry," he stuttered. "I didn't mean to..."
Twine shook his head. It felt empty. "No, it's alright, I just- I guess I find you pretty attractive," he replied.
"You'd want to mate?" he cheetah asked, quizzically. That act, he did remember. It was primal instincts, after all, ingrained deep into most males.
Twine blushed. "I mean, yes, but..."
His relationship with Takk was open, and spending some time with the strange feline seemed like as good a way as any to spend some time and wait for this alarm to blow over. The cheetah was also attractive, with his slight sensual curves and long, luxurious hair. But Twine barely knew him. Oh, he'd seen him wander about the ship, but it'd only been a glance or two, and with how addled he seemed at the moment, he felt like he'd be taking advantage, so he hesitated. He also had a plug under his tail. He liked wearing one in public secretly for the naughty thrill of it, but it'd be awkward to explain in a chance encounter like this.
The nameless cheetah had no such reservations. He stepped so close to Twine that he could feel the warmth of his body, gently lifting his muzzle up with a finger under his chin, and kissed him. Not just a peck, either, but letting his raspy tongue slide over the little vulpine's lips, and as the smaller male gasped in surprise and his jaw fell open, tangling with his tongue. It felt electric, the sudden passion quite irresistible, and Twine could feel his sheath swelling against his suddenly very tight pants. His ears folded back and his breathing grew heavier as he eagerly began to reciprocate, soon eagerly smooching the cheetah back.
Two slender, spotty paws ran over the front of his tight shirt and then slipped under it, tugging it up until it was covering even less of his front than it naturally did. Next, it was his pants that'd go. The feline fumbled with the button, but eventually managed to figure out how it worked, baring Twine's plump sheath from which his cock was already halfway out. The strange cat's own pants were part of the standard uniform and came off easily, leaving nothing between their cocks, sheaths pressed together with great intimacy and increasingly heated lust. Oddly enough the cat was wearing a fishnet shirt under his uniform, which the fennec left on, enjoying the kind of clothes that barely covered anything. Not that he could've gotten it off quickly anyway; he already found his hips bucking into those of his strange lover, instincts guiding his movements. That, and he found the way his short fur stuck out through each little gap quite adorable.
Takk reached the mall, only to find it blocked off by one of the security gates. He growled at it, but the thick metal didn't budge. It didn't help that he'd been stopped for scans by three drones, each taking their sweet time doing it. At least what he could see of the inside looked calm. Most passengers were simply sitting down impatiently, but without any real danger. That calmed the gnoll down a little bit, but he still wanted to see his mate just to make sure. It wasn't as if he could work while the ship was on lockdown, anyway.
"AI, open the mall security door!" he yelled.
"The Ravenous is under lockdown. Awaiting all-clear signal before any security doors can be opened," the AI responded impassionately.
"So sound the fucking all-clear!" Takk growled.
"Command denied. Until the biological contamination has been removed, ending the lockdown is impossible regardless of rank," came the reply.
So even the officers and crew couldn't do it? Surely the captain was meant to run the ship, not some poorly-coded digital simulacrum. Takk was fuming at that point. There was no way he could break through the security door, and he was far too big for the vents the drones used. While the smaller doors had emergency hatches, this was a big one intended to be completely unpassable as long as the lockdown was in effect, and there'd be no way to open the hatches from the outside either. Then again, he'd spent enough years on the ship to know there was a way around almost everything, like that one time someone had hacked into the mainframe and made the AI sing Elvis songs for almost two hours. It was very much a rush job, and the gnoll was good at finding weaknesses.
While his mate was effectively scratching at the gate to the mall, Twine had entirely different things in mind, namely the soft, now undressed cheetah before him, whom he was sloppily, almost feverishly kissing. Greedily, the fennec cupped, squeezed, and groped his perfectly shaped rear, so hard that his knot was threatening to swell before they'd even begun the act. Normally, he was the receptive partner, but something about this mysterious feline just make him want to ravage his body, to drive his vulpine malehood into him over and over until his knot tied them together. It wasn't an altogether unfamiliar feeling, but it was rare, the hungry masculine lust having him growling, snarling as he nibbled at the cat's neck and ears. He_needed_ to breed him, needed to have more of silky soft body, more of his wonderful, intoxicating scent. The cheetah's paws were all over him, similarly, finding the rubber plug sticking out of his tailhole, and giving it a gentle, curious tug. It was too inflated to budge, but the sensation made him shiver and snarl with lust.
He roughly shoved the feline over the shop's counter, sending accessories clattering across the floor. Twine groaned, knowing he'd have to tidy that mess up at some point, but he was entirely too turned on to care in the heat of the moment, particularly with the cheetah's tail raised and his shapely rump bared for him. He forced himself against him with uncharacteristic forcefulness, groaning as the ground his cock between his cheeks, grabbing his tail roughly. The cat was already lubed up, which Twine didn't think twice about as he drew his hips back and then thrust, sinking into that warm, slippery heaven. It caressed every inch of his bare cockflesh, and he couldn't help himself. He leaned over to bite the cheetah's neck and began to thrust like a feral, totally lost to his instincts.
The cheetah in turn was warming up, acting more natural, letting out a high-pitched yowl as the fennec's engorged vulpine cock spread him wide open. It was a strange sensation, but a very good one. He couldn't remember having tried anything like it before, but it all felt so very natural, and he felt as if he must have some experience with it.
The auto-doc finally finished its repertoire of questions, drawing a preliminary conclusion.
"Diagnosis inconclusive. Cause of retrograde amnesia may be physical in nature. Will you allow me to scan you?" it asked, little lights flickering on and off on its shell.
"What... is a scan?" the cheetah asked.
"A scan is the primary form of medical diagnosis utilized on the Ravenous. I will scan your outer and inner organs for any structural damage. Do you consent?" the bot replied.
"I... guess?" he replied. After all, if there was something wrong, he should probably get treatment. A small light blinked on the robot's 'back' and it made a humming noise.
"Proceeding with scan, Please remain immobile," is stated, and the cheetah's fur began to feel warm, a faint vibration resonating through him, the sensation beginning at his toes and slowly moving up his body. It wasn't uncomfortable, but rather strange. He tried to hold himself as still as possible, even holding his breath for as long as he could.
Suddenly, the room went dark, and then was illuminated again by red lights. The auto-doc stated something, but he didn't hear it, instantly slipping into panic at the sudden deafening announcement by the ship's AI. He shoved the little robot out of the way, a kick sending it onto its back, and dashed out of his quarters, choosing a direction to run at random. He didn't know why he was running, but it felt like the appropriate thing to do, some sort of instincts guiding him. Ones of fear and survival. He had no idea where he was going, but somewhere was better than here. Something had obviously gone wrong.
Twine was rutting into his feline lover with pure, feral lust. He was biting him every chance he got but the cheetah seemed used to the rough play, and only squirmed against him, yowling like a cat in heat. Both felt every inch of the other, mutually driving themselves even deeper into all-consuming lust, the fennec's claws digging into the cheetah's body, and the cheetah's into the counter. Another thing that'd need fixing, but right now, he only cared about tying with his mate. His knot was almost fully swollen already, wetly slapping against the cat's pucker, each time spreading him a little wider. The small fox was drooling at the prospect of forcing it inside, his loins aching to spill his seed. He couldn't remember being this aroused since... ever, or at least not since his very first time letting Takk ravage him, only now he was taking the dominant role, outright claiming this cat he didn't even know.
His partner was soaking wet with his plentiful vulpine precum, the watery stuff running down his thighs and matting his fur, and the entire store reeked of raw, unbridled male lust. Yet, despite all this, Twine found himself holding back, somehow. Oh, his balls were tighter than they'd ever been, painfully full with his seed, but he couldn't bring himself to end it just yet. Not with how good his silky walls fell around his length, teasing him, keeping him right on the edge. Each time he throbbed, spraying more of his juices into the feline, he also felt himself clench down on the plug under his tail, and in his nearly delirious state it felt like he was both fucking and being fucked at the same time.
Takk had gone through every neighbouring corridor. There were no obvious entrances into the mall, but he had spotted a smoke detector. He'd never seen those trigger, but it was a gamble what it'd do. Either it'd open the security doors in the area to allow passengers to escape, or it'd keep them locked to prevent fires from spreading. He tried to imagine the situation from the perspective of the Ravenous' financiers. On one hand, they undoubtedly cared more about property than lives. On the other, passengers dying had a very real chance of ruining the entire project. The ship was worthless without the passengers and crew, he gnoll reasoned. They didn't have any real sources of fire on the ship either, so while it might be possible to override a lockdown with them, nobody had an easy means to do so. Except Takk, who'd smuggled his lucky lighter on board. He hadn't actually used it a single time, but it was always in his pocket, like others might have a lucky coin. If it had any fuel left in it remained to be seen.
Perhaps he shouldn't have taken the risk, but as with most gnolls, he tended to act first and think about consequences later. He dug his lighter open, flipped it, and held it under the smoke detector as he flicked it. It made a little chunk sound, and produced a spark, but no flame. Impatiently, Takk shook it and flicked it again, with the same result. He kept trying, and was already planning how he'd set fire to paper with only a spark when it finally caught on the wick, producing a small flame from the few drops of fuel remaining. It couldn't have done much, but it was enough for the detector to sense.
"Fire has been detected. Please evacuate hallway 89. All air will be vented out in 60 seconds. All passengers evacuate hallway 89. Depressurization imminent," the AI announced.
The gnoll growled. He should've seen that coming. To his relief, the security gate to the mall slowly slid up, although it'd certainly come down again in just a few seconds, and then stay down for god knows how long depressurization took. Not liking the idea very much, he quickly entered the mall on the other side. He didn't wait to see what happened, but behind him, the door soon shut again with a very loud bang. He hadn't seen anyone else in there, so at least his little sabotage would only cost the Ravenous time and money.
Knowing where his mate worked from often visiting him briefly during work hours, he made his way to the store and found his way blocked by yet another gate, this one not being open. There was a narrow gap for looking through, though, and what he saw was that his fennec was in anything but danger, frantically thrusting into an androgynous, rather long-haired cheetah. Takk, just like his mate, wasn't much of the exclusive type, although he'd never bothered finding anyone else to mate with. He grinned. At least he'd get a bit of a show for his trouble, and he felt relief that there was nothing worse going on. That, and it was a rare treat to see the fennec on top, especially pounding away with such ferocity. Takk wondered if he still had his usual plug inside him as well. He'd always found it a little too much to go to work with it inside, but standards had changed after the war. Things that'd be shunned before it were embraced more openly now, and he'd accepted the fact that he had to at least adapt to this brave new world.
Luckily, that included getting to watch others mate. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure. It seemed that the fennec was actively holding back his climax, with his balls very tightly pulled up but clearly not having spilled their contents yet. Like he was instinctively building himself up, wanting to fill the cheetah to the very brim. Takk felt the familiar stirrings of desire in his own loins as well, his cock swelling under his tight uniform as he watched the two males lost in their frenzied mating. He felt like he'd seen the cheetah before, recognizing the almost ankle-long hair, but he couldn't quite place him. Just another passenger he'd never talked to, not being the most social of beasts.
Blissfully unaware that he was being watched - not that he'd have minded or cared even if he knew - Twine kept pumping his length into the cheetah, yipping and snarling as he used the other male like a breeding toy. Eventually, he just couldn't hold it anymore, and_slammed_ himself into the cheetah, knot and all, and it swelled a little more, tying the two together. Takk could see his taint throb rapidly, accompanied by a muted musical chirp, and he grinned knowingly.
For Twine, it felt like the end of the world, only a very pleasurable one. He bit hard into the nameless cheetah's neck and growled, drooling into the already wet fur, as those convulsions of pleasure wracked his body, barely able to hold himself upright as he pumped his seed into the feline's body in thick, sticky, ropey spurts. It was absolute euphoria; nothing existed but the tight warmth milking at his shaft for all it had to offer, with a ravenous hunger. And he was all too eager to feed it.
The cheetah shuddered, making no sounds beyond a quiet purr as he came with his lover, his barbs flaring as he coated the counter with his feline cream. It was a new sensation, but one he enjoyed, the way his muscles tensed rhythmically, the almost painful blissful contractions he felt at the base of his shaft, the act of simply letting his seed spill. He was surprised that he couldn't remember doing it before, with how memorable it was. The way the fennec growled and clutched at him as he felt warmth flood his body was intensely erotic, as well. He'd have to try it again, he reasoned. Preferably many, many times.
Utterly spent, Twine slumped down, first on on top of his lover, and then onto the floor, pulling the feline down with him into a cuddle that would last quite a while. Even in the afterglow, he'd occasionally twitch, a few more drops of cum squeezed out of him into the already thoroughly filled body of his lover.
Takk watched, almost enraptured. He wanted to join in, but there was no way he could get the gate open, and so he simply ignored his lust. It took all of his mental discipline to refrain from touching himself, but it'd be worth it when he had some alone time with his mate. Or his mate's lover, for that matter.
He thought it'd take about fifteen minutes for the fennec's knot to deflate, but after only perhaps ten of him standing there, longingly imagining what he'd do if the door was open, there was a rattling sound in the vents. His ears perked up; he knew exactly what that meant.
One of the hunter-seekers entered the store as Takk could only watch from outside, through the narrow slit in the gate. It repeated its usual line, demanding that the fennec and cheetah remain still for a scan. With the two being tied together, they didn't have much of a choice in the matter, but the AI wasn't programmed to recognize such details. It proceeded to scan the two panting males, and the terror of all three, it didn't immediately fly off. Rather, it made a sinister beeping sound.
"Contamination detected. Do not resist pacification," it stated as it hovered around the two. Takk couldn't tell who it was trying to target, or why.
"They're not fucking aliens!" he shouted. He kicked at the door. The drone whirred, and moments before it could fire, Twine's knot had finally shrank enough that he could yank himself free. He leapt towards the drone, looking both scared and angry, and there was a quiet _thud_as it fired its dart into his arm. The fennec growled, managing to lock his arms around the drone, and as his muscles quickly went limp from the tranquillizer seeping into his veins, he fell, dragging the hostile bot with him. The fennec went down with a harmless thump on the carpeted floor, but the seeker, not actually designed to face any real resistance, impacted into it with a crunch, the cheap metal of its body bending and a propeller shattering.
"Do not resist. Pacification. Do not-" it kept repeating, twitching like a mortally wounded insect as it tried to get off the ground and back into the ventilation ducts.
The cheetah was up on his feet in a split second, frenziedly looking around himself. He saw the gnoll banging on the security gate, and remembering how the emergency hatch worked, he opened it. Takk grunted as he forced himself through, the gap far too small to do it comfortable, with some bruising, he managed to get through. He immediately rushed to his mate, grabbing the drone and crushing it against a wall with a furious growl.
"This fucking ship," he yelled. "Fucking worthless, fuck..."
He knelt down next to Twine. He had just about succumbed to the potent drugs in his system. "What was that all about?" he gnoll snarled.
"Not... a threat," the small vulpine forced out. "Protect..."
And then he was out like a light, his eyes falling shut. Takk yanked out the needle in his arm, cursing himself for not having done that earlier. He'd be out for a good while, and if security had glitched up enough to shoot him, they had to get to an escape pod. While he was strong and hearty, he couldn't do much to protect anyone against bullets. He'd always known the AI would go insane eventually. It always happened, he'd learned that much from movies. He looked at the cheetah.
"And who the fuck are you?" he asked, still enraged.
"I'm... I can't remember. I just woke up and..." the feline stammered, looking not only confused but quite disheveled from the rough pounding he'd received.
While angry, he had heard his mate tell him to protect the cheetah, and he was nothing if not a loyal hyena. "Come," he growled. "We'll figure it out later."
Takk braced himself against the gate, gripping the handles on the emergency hatch as hard as he could, and with his muscles bulging with fury, he tore at it until the rails inside it bent and then snapped, leaving it permanently open so he didn't risk getting sliced in two or being locked outside. At least he was still strong enough for that, and using up the adrenaline surging through his body made him feel a bit better about the whole situation.
"What's your name anyway?" Takk asked the cheetah as he carried the fennec to the hatch. "Considering you just fucked my mate, we should be on a first name basis. I'm Takk."
The cheetah felt the stirring of memories just below the surface. His name was just on the tip of his tongue. Shane was the first thing to come to mind. As good a name as any, even if it didn't feel entirely right, as if it was a name that...
He clutched his head, gritting his teeth. It hurt to think about. It felt like he was being devoured head-first by something unfathomable as he tried to force himself to remember. Panic threatened to swell in his skull again, but he fought to suppress it so the gnoll wouldn't notice. "Shane, I think," he growled. "I don't know what happened to me."
"We'll figure that out later. Come on, we're leaving," the gnoll answered, pushing the unconscious fennec through the hatch before forcing himself through it once more. Despite the situation, he couldn't help but notice that his mate still had a plug under his tail. Teasing me even while he's out cold, he thought, and the silliness of it lifted his mood a little.
"Shane" tied up his long hair into a quick, messy ponytail and followed him, easily sliding through the gap without even touching the sides. Takk liked being being big and strong, but he had to admit that being that slender came with some benefits. He hoisted Twine up on his shoulder and then remembered he'd probably permanently sealed the gate out of the mall, cursing loudly. He fished his lighter out and flicked it again, but despite trying a dozen times, it didn't light up. He almost threw it on the floor in a fit of anger before collecting his thoughts and slipping it back into his pocket.
"Any ideas?" he asked the cheetah. "On how to get out of here, I mean."
He'd walked into the mall just fine when he arrived. It hadn't seemed like a problem at the time, but now the walls appeared impenetrable. He wracked his brain for any answers, and it only made it hurt more, one side of his face feeling like it was on fire.
"Well, I guess we're stuck here for the time being," the gnoll sighed, frustrate with his new silent companion. "I'll keep looking."
He walked along the walls, looking for any weaknesses, and as soon as he rounded a corner, Shane collapsed onto his knees. The entire situation was wrong. He felt like he should be able to reach through the gate, even force it open, but as he touched the metal surface, it felt as solid as they came. It didn't make any sense, why was it closed to him?
Come into being.
A starless void.
Another consciousness- no, his own, but a different side. The original? Something different.
He shivered. He remembered, slowly, and it was agonizing. He - or the other - had-
"Hey Shane!" Takk's voice called out. "I think I've found something, come here."
And all those thoughts were gone like dust on the solar wind. He gave a frustrated snarl. He'd been so close to figuring it out, the revelation snatched away just as he was about to behold it. At least the headache faded as he stopped trying to dig into his memories.
The gnoll and his unconscious mate were at a what looked like an elevator "This seems to be working despite the lockdown," the gnoll said. "At least I pressed the button and it lit up, but I've got no damn idea where it goes."
"Why would it be on if all the doors are locked?" Shane asked.
"Might lead to the escape pods, I guess? Anything that gets in one is basically isolated anyway, isn't it?" Takk reasoned.
It might also lead to somewhere they very much didn't want to be. Shane considered their options. He felt fairly sure that the drone had been after him, and he didn't want the fennec and gnoll to suffer for his sake. Not that he really knew the latter, but the former, he felt a certain affection for. A warmth inside him that felt comfortable, and not only because he'd recently pumped him full of his essence. An appreciation, an imprinting, like a duckling naturally believing that the first living thing it sees is its mother. Huh. He couldn't remember ever seeing a duck.
"What if I just wait here and... let them pacify me?" he suggested.
"Don't you fucking do the hero thing," Takk growled. "You're obviously not a contamination, and neither is Twine. It's this trash fire of a ship, it's probably going after everyone. Besides, the fox said to protect you, so that's what I'll do. I saw enough people jump on grenades in the war."
"But if it is-"
"You don't know that. It might as well have been targeting him. Or it's targeting everyone," the gnoll snarled "Heroic sacrifices don't solve shit. We stick together."
While the veteran beast was probably right - Shane had to admit that much - he couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was _wrong_with himself. The ship suddenly lurched, and Takk's face lit up.
"Fuck me, I think they're getting the FTL back online. I guess they don't have any distractions when they're all locked in the engine bay," he laughed heartily. "That's how you make soldiers work. At least we'll probably make it to our new home."
There was a deep rumble, and Shane felt it vibrate through his core. He could sense the coils powering on. They called to him, only as a faint whisper, like a fading star, but it gradually grew louder and brighter. Unfathomable amounts of power surging through the ship's engines as it prepared for the final leap. It'd merely be a few seconds to the passengers, but a year or two at cruise speed.
There was a clanking sound as something - drones - hit the walls of the vents above the three as the ship shook and rocked. Takk heard it as well, setting his mate down in the corner, a focused look on his face. He wasn't armed, but he was big enough that he might be able to take one dart without collapsing, Shane figured, but if they used bullets... there wasn't much any amount of brawn could do about that. His thoughts felt brighter and clearer now as he drank from the energy leaking from those experimental FTL drives. An insignificant amount. And as the gnoll prepared to fight, the cheetah remembered.
He'd been drawn to the nearly limitless power of the reality-warping engines of the Ravenous. And he'd basked in their warmth until they'd abruptly shut down. If he was the cause of it, he didn't know, but he'd felt aglow, yet insatiable, ravenous, knowing that all the energy would simply dissipate unless bound to a physical form. In his lust, he'd scoured the ship, passing through all walls and doors as formless energy, perfect yet ephemeral. And he'd found the cheetah. Without thinking, he had swallowed him whole, taken him whole, and... He'd also been Shane, just another colonist seeking any escape from a poor life on earth, living his life like any other day. Then, he was gone. Devoured by something beyond his comprehension. Devoured, but not dead.
And now, he was one, and neither. As the two had ceased to exist as individuals, they'd changed. Boundless energy was constrained into a physical shell and bound, mostly, by its limitations, warping it in turn. He was different now, more than the sum of his parts, and he realized that must've been what the scanners were detecting as a contamination.
The FTL drives powered up fully and the Ravenous began to fold the void outside, bending reality like rubber, preparing for a jump, just as several of the hunter-seeker drones piled out of the ducts. Shane reached through them and felt electricity rushing through them. He let the other side of himself touch those circuits, and there was barely a tingle as he absorbed every miniscule spark. Their lights went out and the propellers seized, each one crashing onto the floor. He reached through ship in its entirely, engulfing it, feeling every corridor as a vein running through it, every spark of life of its passengers. All they'd feel of him was a chill, a tingle, with the coils that powered the ship's warp-engines filling him with raw power.
"Escape shuttles. Elevator down. Drone patrols disabled," Shane echoed, channelling the void energies of that other side of his being into crude words for the gnoll. "All systems enabled. We escape when the vessel exits warp"
Takk had no idea what was going on. He understood that cheetah was_whatever the ship's security was looking for, but he'd been in enough conflicts to recognize that he wasn't actively malignant, just _different. And he had saved the bigger male from getting riddled with either darts or bullets, and that made him an ally, if only temporarily. Of course, he'd have to figure out exactly what motivated him later. It took a lot to earn his trust, but now, he chose to at least not distrust the strange "cheetah".
The elevator dinged. The ship continued twisting spacetime. It never actually moved in FTL mode, not any faster than it would at cruise speed, but reality itself was folded around it, and it'd slip through the shortcuts it created. Like folding a sheet to bring two distant points closer together. It was that peculiar way of movement that'd drawn the thing that'd joined Shane to itself. Curious, more than anything, shaken out of its normal state of mere existence by the massive energies spilled from the poorly constructed drives.
Shane and Takk both got into the elevator, the latter carrying his mate, who was finally beginning to stir. Strong as they might be, the tranquillizers were short-acting. The cheetah knew exactly where they were going, now, seeing the entire ship at once. The closest evacuation area of two was at the very bottom of the ship, and the elevators had automatically been enabled when the lockdown begun, ready for use should the situation worsen. They were not, however, guarded, as with the sudden lockdown, all guards had been isolated into whatever parts of the ship they had been patrolling at the moment. The ship mainly relied on the automated drones, and Shane had drained every single one.
When they arrived at the bottom deck, they had to step around a few more of them, disabled, some weakly twitching. Takk kicked some around, taking out his frustrations on them. It struck him that him and Twine didn't have to escape, they could simply help the cheetah do so, and everything would go back to normal. But his mate had told him to protect the feline, even if he clearly didn't need any help. At least not for the moment.
Where would they go, then? Presumably the shuttles were programmed to find safe locations to land, but with the Ravenous, one never knew for sure. They might land in the ocean or into a frozen icescape rather than the lush tropical belt around Nifel's equator, and then all three would be as good as dead. Staying on the ship had its own downsides; they'd surely been observed in contact with the_contaminant,_ and the fennec had even had sexual contact with it. He was almost certain to face quarantine, if not experimentation, and Takk would not bear the thought. They didn't have many options to choose from.
His feet felt heavy as they made their way into the nearest shuttle, closing the hatch behind them. They'd simply wait until the ship left warp, and Shane assured the gnoll that he'd know _exactly_when that happened. He was drawing energy straight from the drives, like a plant drinking in the sunlight, and as such, he'd know.
"I'm going to lose all of this when the ship powers down," he finally stated, after many moments of silence. "Probably forget, too. Forget both sides of myself. I'll just be a cheetah, the same one you first met. Not the original, nor the starless void."
It sounded as if he was apologizing. Takk didn't reply.
"But I am glad to exist. To exist as someone, rather than merely exist," he continued. He wasn't really addressing any of it to the others, but simply speaking. "Maybe it's better this way. I'll be like a newborn, a blank slate except for my most primal instincts. The original was not a good person. The void only devours, for no reason other than it being thus natured..."
He sighed. He looked at the gnoll with a pleading stare. "Will you teach me? Can I be your mate as your fennec is?"
_That_took him by surprise. He attempted to formulate a reply, ending up stammering loose syllables instead, and the slowly rousing fennec answered for him. "Yef," he mumbled, his tongue still feeling entirely too thick and unwieldy.
The ship shuddered as it came out of warp within a few hours of Nifel, settling into orbit around it, and Shane initiated the launch. As the hangar doors opened, they saw the planet up close for the first time only perhaps an hour away, so close one could almost reach out to touch it. The massive snowy caps and the lush belt of green and blue around the middle were all bared before them, inviting the three towards new adventures and unknown dangers.
After a brief countdown as the shuttle sealed and prepared for launch, calculating trajectories and preparing life support systems, it shot off towards their new home in that wild frontier.