Inx'hera
Inx'hera
By Thomas Walsh
As a few of you (may) have noticed I've been gone awile, managed to crank this out on late nights when I couldn't sleep (it's taken a few months actualy). also due to a formatting problem involving tabs the indents had to be replaced, enjoy the story because I'll probabbly come back to it and fix anything people point out.
I blinked rapidly as sunlight flooded into the room and into my eyes, I pulled the covers over my head not wanting to wake up just yet. I very nearly fell back into my blissful sleep however there was the sound of glass breaking and the shock of it woke me up me and got me out of bed immediately.
After looking around I had deduced some little git had thrown a rock through the small window in my bathroom. I grabbed a stool from next to the sink to stand on since everything in my house was human made and a little too big for me.
I was called Tzene and my species the Inx'hera were 'cat-like humanoids' as the humans like to put it and we were about a foot shorter than humans and had fur, tails and all the rest you would expect to see on a cat since our bodies greatly resembled them simply by chance.
I looked at myself in the mirror, My fur was grey with a cream coloured tummy and black lines coming down from my face and across my shoulders, it was a mess as well but I didn't have long until work. Grabbing a brush I began the daily task of grooming I made sure to pick up all the glass in my bathroom and throw it into the glass recycling. I heard a a series of thuds come from the living room just when I thought I was able to leave for work.
In the living room a few dozen books had fallen off a shelf which was hanging on a single nail. "bloody useless crap that I get" I said to myself, I picked up the books and put them away in a corner until I could fix the shelf which I had to pull off the wall.
* * *
I left my apartment and locked up before setting off for the bus-stop, it was a five minute run in the morning to get to the bus-stop and if I was even a few seconds late I risked missing the self-driven buses. It stopped for once which I considered a miracle since the transit system was badly bugged like every other system in the city.
I climbed onto the bus and swiped my paw over a scanner, everyone had a microchip in their hands, or in the case of my species paws, that was used for payments and for tracking medical data. The scanner gave a beep and the words 'PAYMENT DENIED' showed up, this frustrated me to no end.
"Hey you wanna hurry up furball?" The rude driver said before I gave up and hopped off the bus deciding to walk it instead.
* * *
when it got to the work complex, the lab where I worked in the science sector wasn't too far off, after the short walk I was in front of the MegaGenX building where I worked. As I passed through the reception I waved at the receptionist, the self nicknamed 'Mayflower' who notified me if I was late again I would get my pay docked for the rest of the week.
"what bullshit is that?!" I yelled at her in frustration however she just closed the window to the booth she worked from so she couldn't hear me. I waved a paw at her before I headed for my quarters.
It was no wonder I spent most of my time in my quarters, there was a desk that was covered with recent experiment reports and theories I had to look over, a small bed was on the opposite side of the room with a bathroom to its left, next to the desk in another corner was a microwave and small cupboard for keeping a few plates and some instant food stuff, all for staying in the building during crunch times for the monthly open night and for anyone who wanted to work over-time which I did often on account of my constantly docked pay.
I sat down and read the first thing on my desk, it was the second report for a new energy system which could be integrated into a space shuttle or a power plant. I put it in a small pile of things I would sort out later when I had a chance to think about their respective theories in detail.
"Hello my ever late little furry friend" I heard my workmate and friend Damien Wilkinson say over my shoulder, "you hardly doing yourself a favour pinky" I shot back as I scanned a development sheet on some sort of pathogen ant-virus. "same as always" he said sitting on the bed.
"15 bloody hours straight, I must be going for a record" he mumbled referring to how long he had just been working. "money troubles?" I asked him while signing some approval papers. "nah it's for Katie's birthday, wanted to get her something special this year" he said while tapping his foot on the back of my chair.My pager went off and looking at it I found I had been called to gadget testing, this was unusual since I was specifically a theorist. I quickly got a lab coat and headed for the stairs. The elevator like most other things didn't work when I wanted it too so I never even tried to use it any more.
When I got into the testing labs I was greeted by a female white furred Inx'hera with a name tag that read 'Nxis' and an old bespectacled human man called Walter who was well known for designing odd weapons in his spare time.
"sorry if you were busy and thanks for coming, The company has taken note of how often you've been late or gone hungry during the work day due to nano-card problems and they think they've found a solution" she said, making my ears prick up.
The recent problems in nano-card technology were to due with our fur, it naturally had a chemical called nitronxide, It made our fur less likely to catch on fire but the smell was unpleasant for most earth animals making it double as an unwanted but effective deterrent.
"Well that's good news I guess, how's it work though? I" asked taking a seat and expecting some long and detailed explanation. "Well first you need your old chip out so you need to take one of these pills, they're nano-bots that will find and break down your chip. Then while they do their work we upload your details to an external chip. Which we then put on an arm band and give to you, simple enough?"
I nodded my head and took a small grey pill Nxis handed me. "hey Walter could you get some water please?" she asked and the human left. "so these things taste bad or what? I asked, however before I could get a answer Nxis had grabbed my waist and was pushing her snout and nose into my neck fur in a very random cuddle.
"H-hey are you okay?" I asked dumbfounded and not sure if I should just throw her off. There was a moment of purring from Nxis and then I gave in. My species was incredibly social and it was hard for me to be so solitary all the time, even though it was nearly required.
I nuzzled Nxis's head with the same unconditional yet much needed affection she was showing me. My worries seemed to melt away in the embrace,
Before even a minute could pass Nxis let go and left me a little dumbfounded for a few moments until I realised that the human was nearby again. I was unsure why she was bothered by this but it was probably due to company regulations.
I took the pill and downed it with some water and as I expected it tasted foul. I made a face in disgust which prompted a small giggle from Nxis. I got my new chip which was mounted on an arm band and powered by a micro battery, since they were normally powered by kinetic energy made from friction by our bodies an alternative had to be found.
I left for my own work and was presented with a mess of an office, someone had cracked my password and rearranged everything on my desk again, it happened randomly every month and I was sure someone was trying to make me go mental. I collected my things and started to sort through and organized them.
* * *
After I had managed a few hours work there was the sound of my door opening and the sight of a smiling Nxis holding a bag that advertised a chippy. "uh you need some help with something? I asked despite the fact I could probably guess the answer.
"no, but one of my friends didn't want this fish and I didn't want to eat two of them and I figured you would be hungry" Nxis explained while taking a seat on my bed. I couldn't help but smile a little, people were normally nasty to me for being what I was but since Nxis was like me she was being a friend.
"Well... I guess some dinner couldn't hurt" I said pulling out a folding chair that was crammed down the side of my desk. We sat there for a while enjoying the food until Nxis broke the silence. "so what do you do exactly, you up here?"
"Well mostly I sit around trying to figure out how to make other people's inventions work" I said unenthusiastically, grabbing the plates to wash them I felt something odd, it was like some sort of 'happiness' overcame me. I realised that the food must have been drugged with something but it didn't matter to me one bit now since I was in heaven.
***
When I was able to think straight again I was home and half hanging off my bed with just my boxers on, my legs were weighted down by something on the mattress and my torso was hanging off with my head resting on the ground.
Had I been human I would easily be in pain by now from lying like that for so long, hearing a drawn out groan next to me my ears perked up and opened my eyes, Nxis was led across my legs in just her underwear.
"what happened last night?" I asked Nxis feeling a sudden bout of shock, however when I got no reply I assumed she was still thoroughly out of it. I walked into the bathroom and began to run a bath, while it filled I grabbed a hair dryer and a brush. The moment I stepped into the steamy bath I immediately went at ease.
It was lovely being so warm and I could probably relax in any situation during a bath. I nearly fell asleep however the sound of someone getting in the bath behind me brought me straight back to my senses.
"W-what are you doing Nxis?!" I asked getting shocked again. She only grumbled for a few seconds with her eyes half closed so I hissed her name, this proved to be a bad idea though.
"Just what the hell do you think you are! Human?!" she hissed back, showing her fangs to me. I knew it was best to just shut up. We had too many similarities with some of earth's big cats but it was better then being similar to humans at least.
Nxis began rubbing shampoo into my fur, her touch was so soft that I wondered if she kept pets. This didn't stop a shiver running down my back however. I noticed Nxis was humming something and after a few seconds it clicked.
She was humming a lullaby in our native tong and not one forgo something so special I closed my eyes and joined her humming, it was probably the first sort of song I ever learned. The reason it was special was that you only hummed a lullaby to someone special like your kittens or a sibling.
Nxis moved around me and sat on my lap prompting me to help her with her back. I massaged the shampoo into her fur, she seemed to loosen up a lot while I worked and she was soon purring. Now I wasn't on edge we were both helping each other wash without so much as a thought.
After we finished washing we rinsed ourselves and began drying, I dried her fur and followed it with a brush, for a while Nxis led there purring like she were in heaven itself. This didn't last however, when I was finishing off her back I felt something warm and wet go over mine, Nxis had begun to try and tong dry my fur. "don't make yourself sick okay" I said trying to discourage her but she ether didn't hear or didn't care.
Eventually we ended up cuddling on my sofa with a cup of warm water each, as much as I hated it we had to get down to business though and figure out what happened the night prior.
"Nxis do you remember last night" I asked somewhat timidly, half of me didn't want to know. "oh that's right uh... what was your name?" Nxis asked looking a little embarrassed. "it's Tzene," I answersd
"Right Tzene, got it. someone, probably that friend of yours,Damien I think his name was, put nip on the fish we had for a laugh, bet every human in the building had a good laugh until you bit someone's arm and got knocked out. Serves them right too for getting us both thrown on sick leave for the next 3 days."
My blood would have been boiling if I knew where Damien was, my race was affected by catnip quite a bit more than
the average tabby cat and it was banned on our home planet according to data logs I had read a few months ago.
"well how on earth did I end up with you sleeping on my legs?" I enquired as it was quite puzzling I could manage such a feat while on the nip. "well to tell the truth I fell asleep cuddling you so I don't know". I was about to say 'okay' but I cut myself off halfway realising that she had used my house like a B&B.
"And why were you cuddling me asleep last night? Don't you have a home or kittens or pets? To look after, you were humming a lullaby just a minute ago." I nearly yelled as I shot the question at her.
"well it was my flatmate you bit and your co-worker knocked you out before we carried you back, anyway my flatmate wasn't pleased and yelled that she didn't want to see any aliens for a week. So I didn't really have anywhere to go"
I nearly apologised for yelling at her but in all fairness she should have told me that in the first place instead of joining me for a bath. Nxis brought me out of my thinking "well anyway, we have 3 days off work, we probably won't get much this month but I think the break and company would be good, especially for since your under house arrest now"
My threshold for surprises was just about being reached now, "and how are they keeping tabs on me?" I questioned hoping the answer would be simple "oh that's easy they put a radio collar on you that is the only thing to open your door, by the way you can't leave ether even if you put it on, I left it on your night stand if you want to wear it though, I think it's cute."
As much as I wanted to bite her for saying that her honest, simple smile made me feel warm, people like her were rare. Taking a look at the collar it was like a dog's except it had a small, curved box on the back, it was white and fuzzy too. I put it in a drawer for safe keeping and returned to the sofa, there really wasn't much to do.
***
At long last I was on the last couple hours of my house arrest and my sick leave, it seemed strange to keep me cooped up in my own home for biting someone but having Nxis there helped a lot, I could easily have gotten through it by myself but Nxis made it easier to unwind and she turned it into a proper break from work rather than just me just sleeping through the days Like on most weekends.
As I lay there with her warm body next to me I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if she had gotten someone else to help her in testing. Throwing the idea out the window I decided it was best not to think about it and cuddled Nxis instead, Work was going to become a drag again and I wanted to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere while it lasted.
"Hey Tzene" Nxis said as I nuzzled her neck. "Yea what is?" I asked letting out a purr. "don't be shocked but, I love you." my heart jumped a beat, it was really sudden to say something like that but then again she seemed to be a surprising and sudden feline. "I love you too" I said before giving her a little lick on the head. I was going to look foward to weekends of bliss from now on.