FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The metal hallway clattered, dust filled wind battering the exterior walls of the outpost. It was just his luck that Andrews had landed during one of this backwater planet's storms. Though confident of the safety protocols of the transport shuttle, the man was still nervous - he was alone after all. The intricate study and documentation of the planet's unique composition - that was this outpost's purpose, and his purpose was to tend to it.

It was offputting how empty it all felt as he hefted his heavy bags though the halls while the lights flickered on. He had been prepared for isolation though, it was one of the reasons he picked up the job in the first place. Andrews disliked being supervised, and if all he had to do was make sure readings were coming through loud and clear, with a bit of maintenance on the side, the man was perfectly happy with it. This was a research outpost, so it was reasonable to assume it'd have really good intranet speeds, which suited his hobbies quite perfectly.

Finally, he arrived at his dorm with a heavy sigh, ready to relax. Surely he could afford to take a nap after landing; after all, this outpost had survived without him for some time already, so it could go without a helping hand for another couple hours.

Andrews paused before the door to the room he'd be occupying for a year or so. He needed a moment to mentally prepare himself for what was to come. He was to be alone, sure, but that was what he wanted, right?

Right?

The lone human couldn't keep himself from frowning as he reached for the door's control panel before freezing as the door slid open without his touch. He yelped and jumped back in surprise for there was something in the doorway, a creature with a predatory bent to its stance. The man's mind raced as he wondered whether one of the planet's native species had somehow gotten into the secure facility and just for what he should do about it, only for his fears to be dashed away by a wave of annoyance as the lurker stepped forward.

"Bereep?"

Andrews sighed and folded his arms across his chest.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me..."

What stood before him was no native species, but rather a creation of a more mechanical nature. It resembled a raptor (the inaccurate sort, Andrews noted) - that is, it was a bipedal reptilian creature that leaned forward like a predator, its white latex body smooth and streamlined for speed and agility. This was no predator, however, for it couldn't hurt a fly unless it managed to step on it or somehow swat it with its thick tail. It had no mouth, only a black hardened glass visor that made up the majority of its reptilian head. It stared up at Andrews with unblinking blue pixelated eyes, its twin antenna "ears" raised in curiosity.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Andrews asked.

The raptor's eyes did blink at this.

"Chirrt?" the raptor chirped, tilting its head.

"No, no, no..." Andrews huffed. "I'm supposed to be alone, not have a..." He shook his head and pointed an accusatory finger at the raptor. "Fucking Sciraptor to make a mess of things!"

"Chirrt..." the raptor squeaked. It blinked again and then turned away from Andrews but didn't move more than that. It looked back at him and waved its tail. "Kriirt!"

"What?"

The Sciraptor paused, and then waved one of his arms instead.

"You want me to...follow you?" Andrews snorted. "Listen you...buddy, I'm going to set my things down and then..."

"Kriirt!"

"Ok, ok!" Andrews snapped. "What do you want me to see?"

The small creature started down the hallway, ever so often glancing behind to make sure he was following, which he was, albeit reluctantly. It led him into a large space, featuring a prominent window on the side which gave a very good view of the barren landscape of the exoplanet's surface. The window had been the most obvious feature, though as Andrews' attention was drawn to his unexpected guide across the room, it had not been the most exhausting looking one.

It was probably the most extensive computation system he had seen. Though most of the parts looked outdated, it was hefty. A large main screen with two smaller ones adjacent, keyboard and control desks under, with a large tower behind and around. Andrews had nearly mistaken it for a church organ.

"Ciirit!" The creature pronounced enthusiastically from its place beside one of the towers of the large processor.

Approaching the machine, he looked it over with half-hearted interest. It was dusty, aside from the lower, suspiciously Sciraptor height parts. Seemingly the thing hadn't been used since the last 'caretaker' had been in, which was probably listed in the briefing pages about the place that he glanced over.

"This is an extensive set up. Even if some of the parts could use updating." He glanced at the Sciraptor, which was giving an expectant look. "This it then? I suppose I can boot it up."

He did just that. The black screen faded slowly to a light blue gradient. A circle containing 'CD' accompanied a pleasant boot up sound. A CausDek system. The bootup complete, a seemingly simple user interface was revealed with a barren section of 'Processed' data on the left side, an enormously large section of 'Unfiltered' on the right.

Andrews looked at the screen aghast.

"What the fuck? I thought I'd be cleaning! Maintaining the place! Fixing things! Not... not fucking processing anything!" He protested, gesturing to the screen.

"Chirreet!"

Andrews looked over to the Sciraptor. Its eyes were set in characters like " ^ ^ " and its tail waved excitedly.

"What?" Andrews snarled. "Geez, if they were going to give me assistance couldn't it have been something that spoke...I don't know, English? I would have even taken a synth." He rolled his eyes. "I would have even taken nothing! I mean, that's what the job said!"

"Chirit!"

"What is it now?"

Andrews glared at the Sciraptor as it sped off towards one of the parts of the machine built for the Sciraptor's height, a dim, cracked screen. Standing before it, it lowered its head and bumped its muzzle against it. The screen remained dark and the Sciraptor let out a dispirited beep as its lowered its tail and head.

"Wait, wait, wait," Andrews said, hurrying over. "What do you use that for?"

"Bereep?" the Sciraptor said, looking up at Andrews.

"Ok." Andrews said with a sigh. "And what the hell does 'beep beep' mean?"

"Bereep!"

"Fine, fine. Bereep." The scientist put his hand on his hips and glared at the smaller creature. "Hey, don't get smart with me. You can't even communicate intelligibly!"

"Berrrr?"

Andrews groaned and shook his head.

"You know what? No. I'm not doing this right now. I am going to put my stuff down. I am going to take a nap. Maybe a snack after the nap and then I am going to message my oversight officer and wonder why they left me with a stupid raptor!"

Andrews started to walk away, but he only got a few steps before the Sciraptor made clicking sounds and ran up to block his path. He looked down at it while it looked up at him, folding its arms across its chest.

"...seriously?" Andrews said.

"Chiirit!" the Sciraptor scolded, pointing with its tail to the screen.

"Fine, fine!" Andrews sighed. "I'll help you fix your stupid screen. Then I'm going to take a nap. What do you need it for anyways? Watching Sciraptor porn? 'Oh, process that data faster, babe.'" Andrews blinked. "Wait. Wait. You do need it to process data, don't you!"

"Bereep!"

"Why didn't you say so?"

The Sciraptor tilted its head, and if Andrews didn't know better he might've mistaken it as an eyeroll. Turning back to the machine, he knelt down to the screen and brought out a screwdriver. The screws on the side were tough, but after a little bit of elbow grease he wrested them out. The inside was a mess of wires, leading to black boxes and circuits. He gave a side eye to the Sciraptor, smirking.

"You might want to turn away, don't want to see anything indecent now." Chuckling at his own joke, he examined the interior.

It only needed a screen replacement, but lord the inside was dusty. The fine red dust of the exoplanet's surface was irrepressibly invasive, despite the efforts of the company to design a dust-proof interior.

"God, has this machine been cleaned since it was set up?" He addressed his robotic onlooker, though upon looking around the Sciraptor had gone.

Taking a second look around, he shrugged. It must be off polluting some other room with its 'chuur's and 'bipeeb's. Gave him some space to think. Reaching inside he started dusting off a few processors.

"Is 'Cable management' a foreign concept in space? Jeez." He griped, fiddling with some of the various wires. The dust did not help the mess, and as he delved further into trying to untangle the muddle of wire he felt a sharp pain.

"Ah- Shit." Exclaiming, sucking on the burnt finger. One of the wires had come loose. The frayed end sticking out of wherever it was supposed to be. God, if anything had been organised, perhaps he would be-

"Beechirr?"

Andrews jumped, looking behind and stuffing the aberrant wire behind the others. The Sciraptor was back, holding a fresh screen.

"Oh. You were getting a replacement. Good. I was just taking a look inside, everything seems to be in order." He nodded, taking the new screen from the Sciraptor, and proceeding to affix it to the computer anew.

It didn't need to know about the small issue of the wire. He could always fix it later.

He made a few more adjustments and after a couple of moments the screen flickered to life filled with all sorts of characters and numerals. Andrews couldn't make any sense of it, though the Sciraptor seemed entranced.

"There," Andrews said, gesturing to the screen. "You happy now?"

"Chirrrr..."

"Uh, sure thing," Andrews murmured, scratching the back of his head. "I'm gonna go take a nap now.

The raptor had no response now, instead continuing to stare at the screen. Andrews shrugged.

"Well, whatever. Enjoy yourself, but I'd better not catch you watching porn!"

Andrews paused. Why was he talking to the Sciraptor now when it wasn't even demanding his attention? Could it be that-

No. He wanted to be by himself, he wanted to be alone. The first thing he'd do after this was to contact his oversight offer and get the Sciraptor out of here. He didn't need it.

...right?

"Stupid bot," Andrews muttered as he wandered to his room.

"Bereep!"

*

"You gotta be kidding me," Andrews said. "You gotta be kidding me!"

"Bereep?"

Andrews turned his head and of course the Sciraptor was there. He pointed to his computer's monitor.

"Essential!" he said. "They're saying you're essential!" He groaned and leaned back against his seat, frowning as it creaked. "Great. Not only do they lie on the job specs, but they also give me crappy furniture." He shook his head and glared at the Sciraptor with folded arms. "And you know the worst part? The response is a form letter. A form letter! Automated by an AI! They can't even get a human to explain why you're required!"

"Chireeet!" the Sciraptor said, its eyes set as ^^.

"And why are you here?" Andrews asked. "I mean, not generally but why are you in my room?"

"Ciirit..."

"What is something else broken?" Andrews sighed, standing up. He reached for his jacket. "I don't need you to tell me that. Hell, I don't need you but..." He frowned. "Where is it!"

"Chireep!"

The Sciraptor excitedly sped out of the room.

"Hey, wait up!"

He hurried after it, it was fucking quick when it wanted to be, Andrews noted. Down the hall that he knew led to the computer room, finally stopping to catch his breath at the hallway. The Sciraptor was now stopped in front of the window, gazing outside. Was the problem out there?

Catching up with his unwanted company, he examined the red vista with trepidation. Was there a breach? Following the snout of the Sciraptor, he looked up to the dark night sky.

It was a meteor shower. Flashes of light streaked across the horizon. Andrews was nervous, but quite awestruck. By the looks of it, the atmosphere of the exoplanet was dense enough to disintegrate the space rocks before they impacted. He had never seen anything like it before, it was beautiful.

It took Andrews a few minutes of silence, staring at the sky in amazement as the shower concluded, for him to realise that though it was beautiful- it was not dangerous.

"Hey. Wait- what's the problem here?" He asked, trying to shake off the astonishment. "We're not going to be hit by any asteroids, so why did you rush me here?"

"Bereep..." The Sciraptor looked to him, to the sky for a moment longer, and then finally gestured to a medium sized antenna that had fallen over outside. Andrews blinked.

"You were so urgent about a fallen antenna? Couldn't that have been fixed tomorrow?"

The Sciraptor didn't respond, looking at the final few moments of falling stars.

"Whatever." His gaze lingered, with a grunt of half-hearted dismissal, he made his way to the airlock and prepared to don his spacesuit.

It was a bulky attire, and much like most things on the outpost, quite outdated. The fit was snug and when next Andrews stepped out into the alien atmosphere of the planet, it was with a quiet resolve that he'd make the trip as short as possible.

"Bareep!"

Andrews jumped. The Sciraptor had followed him. The moment of confusion abated when he realised that it didn't really need oxygen... Or much for that matter. It was responsible for collecting the data out here after all. It was hard to deny the comfort of company in this alien landscape, synthetic or otherwise.

Plodding over to the antenna, the repairmen gave it a look over. "Looks like it wasn't set up properly... Got knocked over by the high winds."

Unsure if he was talking to himself or the Sciraptor, he bent down to heft the antenna upright. It was heavier than he'd been expecting, and the suit restricted the angles it could be approached with. After a bit of finagling, and with a few grunts of effort, it was nearly upright.

It happened in a moment. His stance had set him on a loose rock, which slipped out from under him.

Thud CRACK phsssss-

Darkness.

*

Andrews groaned and tried to sit up before he had even opened his eyes.

Horrible, paralyzing pain wracked his body. He screamed but all he heard in return was the howl of the wind.

"Son of a bitch!" he yelled, finally opening his eyes. He moved his arms - at least they could respond - as he tried to at least prop himself up. After managing that through a couple muttered curses and a lot more pain, he looked around. It was darker now, but the man was able to figure out that he had fallen, and fallen far.

He tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't move. They were there, but it was like-

"No," he said, quiet at first but then: "No, no, no, NO!"

He pounded his hands against the ground, more of the red dust flying up into his face. He brushed it away and tilted his head away before falling back on his back.

He was hurt, that was for sure. Probably paralyzed and it was just his luck that the suit he wore was so old it didn't even have any emergency medical injections. Or the capability to call home station. Or really do anything useful for him in his current situation other than keep him safe from the alien atmosphere. Worse was that his suit beeped every few seconds, reminding him his oxygen supply was depleting, and rapidly.

The absolute worst of all, though, was that he was alone.

"You gotta be kidding me," he said. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Alone, but wasn't that what he had wanted?

Andrews stared sullenly into the horizon as he mulled over what he could do.

"Bereep?"

...or he wasn't alone after all.

It stood in front of him, looking him up and down. The ears were more active than he had seen before, and its screen showed a solid blue bar. It was scanning him. It was its purpose after all, but you really didn't need much information to know that Adrews really wasn't getting up.

"Bwoop..." It lamented, Andrews was surprised to interpret so much emotion in just a single waveform. It almost sounded sad.

Finishing its scan it's eyes looked downcast. Now that he had collected himself some, the organic realised his helmet had quite a bad crack in it. That accounts for the oxy-loss. From the meters, he had probably... around a minute or so left. He could see the outpost, and he'd probably be able to make it... if he could walk.

He clutched at the sand in frustration. He wanted to scream, but that'd just waste already limited resources. Perhaps he could drag himself there, but there was no way he'd survive. All the while the Sciraptor was passing around him, likely calculating to the same conclusion he was.

"I don't suppose you could drag me." He joked, not finding it very funny. The thing was less than half his size...

"Fucking... Corp. Lying about the conditions. Sending me here..." But he had been the one that applied. The more he vented his frustration, the more he realised it was really down to him in the end. "Shit... I really fucked up huh." The howl of the alien winds, and this hiss of his suit was the only answer he needed.

It was not the only answer he got. The Sciraptor was in front of him again, this time holding something. Or perhaps it had always been holding it, and he'd just been in too much pain to notice. Some sort of large Sciraptor head... Or... No, now that he got a closer look at it, it was like a Sciraptor helmet. Hollow.

"That-... Wait, a helmet. It looks like there's a pretty good seal on it too. Shit with that I might actually be able to get me back. It looks pretty ... unusual, but I'm not complaining."

"Ciiirt." The Sciraptor looked strangely hesitant, like it was still calculating options. Why? He was confident he could make it back with this.

"Come on, here- give it to me. I can hold my breath for a bit and slip it right on." Andrews said as he outstretched his hand to take the helmet.

With one final "Bwoot..." the Sciraptor handed it to him. Faulty thing must've been slow, if it took this much time to decide on clearly the best option for them.

He took the helmet but...

What now? Was he really going to take off his helmet, hope holding his breath would suffice, and then put on the Sciraptor helmet? Would it even work?

Yes. Yes, it had to. He had to live.

"Bwoop..." the Sciraptor murmured.

"Yeah, I'll assume that means good luck. Well..." Andrews gulped. "Here goes nothing."

He took a deep breath, dropped the Sciraptor helm in front of him, and then played with the locking mechanisms around his helmet until there was a sudden hiss as pressure was released. He almost gasped, but remembered to keep his mouth closed as he threw his damaged helmet away and retrieved the Sciraptor one. He paused, looked to the Sciraptor staring at him, and then fit the helmet over his head.

Suddenly, he couldn't see a thing. Well, not quite, but the glass was tinted dark from the inside. He ignored this odd feature, instead focusing on getting a proper seal like-

That!

He'd done it!

There was a seal and he could breathe! He let out a sigh of relief and then laughed. He'd done it and the Sciraptor had helped!

Andrews awkwardly started to turn his head towards the machine, only to stop when that visor of his brightened up. He blinked as light blue text started scrolling across the screen, code that was as familiar as it was alien and incomprehensible. Where had he seen it before?

Suddenly, the code ceased scrolling as it condensed into a few words that Andrews certainly could read.

"Sciraptor Conversion Kit 2.7.1z Activated," he murmured. "Initiating Procedure in 5, 4, 3...wait, what the fuck?"

He placed his hands on the helmet and tugged.

"No, no, no!" he yelled. "This isn't-urk!"

Suddenly the helmet tightened around his neck and he felt something warm and liquid-yet-not fall onto his neck and face from within the helmet. His skin buzzed and he grunted, gritting his teeth while that buzzing sensation traveled from the back of his neck all the way down to the tip of his toes.

His eyes widened. His legs - he could feel his legs! But he could feel his head much more and how it ached as face stretched forward. He grit his teeth as his neck likewise stretched and also thickened to fill the confines of the helmet and a bit beyond.

It felt like he was being pulled forward, much like when you stop too fast in a vehicle and the inertia carries you forward. The strange semi-liquid was pressing to his lips, he adamantly kept them closed, but he had been holding his breath for quite a while now, and it was only a matter of time before he needed air. When that moment came, all that flowed in was that viscous, metallic tasting liquid. Coughing, or even yelling, was out of the question, as he was muffled by its unyielding flow.

It was inside him now- oh god- what was it doing? He could still make out small glimpses of the planet's surface and the Scriaptor, which the peripheral of the visor seemed quite interested in. Not his primary concern at the moment, as a feeling of numbness spread throughout his body. He felt sick, a feeling akin to heart-burn, but cold and tingly. 'Preliminary reformation diagnosis complete...' The visor displayed. 'Formatting template to assist with donor unit: PIP-938... Designation for template: QIT-939'. Assaulted by a strange sense of vertigo, he found it hard to concentrate, but he swore that, as he read the text on the screen, something murmured on the edges of hearing.

He scabbled at his face, as the last of his vision was taken by the strange liquid, obscuring everything but the text the visor had displayed. He could still hear the muffled sound of the planet's high winds, and the occasional worried... Or perhaps interested 'Bweep' of his companion, but that was also quickly fading.

Though the numbness was still present, the blind victim could feel the cold advance of the semi-liquid, like he was dipping himself in chilled honey. Eventually he wasn't even sure if he was still sitting up or not. It was horribly disorentating, and that feeling wasn't helped by the occasional twitching he felt throughout his body.

*****

Looking down at the softly struggling technician, the Sciraptor, or rather PIP-938, paced with anxiousness. He had calculated all the available options, the chances of Andrews getting back to the base alive without this..."assistance" had been in the low single digits. It was a drastic measure, but the one with the highest chance of sustaining the mission.

"Bweep?" Pip said, anxiously rubbing his hands together. Of course the technician couldn't answer him, not in the current state he was in - that is, the state of conversion. The human thrashed and the Sciraptor backed up a little bit, ears laid flat as he watched him struggle and then shrink in his suit. The man's scrunched up face contorted while he furled and unfurled his hands into fists, shaking his hands before his gloves abruptly flew off.

Little puffs of red sand obscured the man's hand for a moment and when the Sciraptor could see again, the human's hands were different. His fingers scrunched together as a gleaming white material overcame them, the Sciraptor squeaked in concern as the technician visibly shuddered from the sensation of this five digits melding into three much thicker and less dexterous fingers, one still serving as a thumb. He pawed at the dusty red ground while the shining white spread down his arms thickening yet shortening arms. It looked uncomfortable, but Pip's calculations told him it was much less so than suffocating in an alien atmosphere.

*****

"Physical conversion progressing optimally..." Andrews could hear it distinctly now. A pleasant, calming voice. Like someone elses conscience. It had a compelling draw to its words. "Commencing cognitive alignment."

Andrews stopped his struggles for a moment- processing what the voice had just said.

He felt a pressure, a headache with no pain. The sense of vertigo intensified as for a few moments he couldn't put together any coherent thoughts. Everything was messy, unordered, panicky chemicals flowing through synapses. That same presence- the conscience that had been slowly gaining more presence, asserted itself even further. Disrupting the chaos and imposing itself with no regard for... for... who he was. Whoever they were. Their thoughts tried to wander once again, to think of all the wrong that was happening to them, what they were still becoming, though that conscience, perfectly capable, streamlined them into priorities. It was beginning to get very hard to think too many aberrant thoughts.

Spots of light started returning to their vision. It was different to what they had before. The colours were slightly more vibrant, and though they couldn't place it, there was new things they could see. The Sciraptor in front of them, was not one of those new things. Though the meaning associated with it... him, was.

****

"Hello?"

Pip sent out a query and let out an excited squeak when the other Sciraptor received it. Or...soon to be Sciraptor, the technician's head having integrated into the Sciraptor helmet placed upon it. Really, it was his head now and the altered man's confusion was apparent upon his dark visor, pixelated eyes blinking every couple of seconds, his triangular ears wiggling uncertainly before laying back. Abruptly he let out a shrill warbling. Pip jumped back and queried again.

"Hello?"

The changing technician scrabbled in the red sand with those shorter, smaller arms of his that were beginning to tuck a little closer to his sides. He managed to lift his chest off the ground for a second before falling against the sand with a confused yelp. He wiggled in his damaged suit that looked a little loose now.

"Still. Hold still!"

Pip wasn't sure if the technician understood him. He darted around the struggling man and leaned over, picking at the lower half of his suit with his three fingered hands. While Sciraptor digits weren't meant for such a task, he was able to manipulate the release even with all of the man's wiggling.

"Calm. Calm."

Pip tugged at the released lower half, straining a little as it became looser and looser. The Sciraptor paused when he heard the technician warble again, the altered man turning his artificial reptilian head to stare at what Pip had unveiled.

"Those?"

Pip blinked. That wasn't him.

"What." The technician's eyes blinked. "Those?"

Pip followed his gaze. He was looking at the technician's legs, though they were different than before, of course, and still changing. His legs were covered in a shiny rubbery material, a substance that sought and was succeeding in molding and converting the flesh found within. Both Sciraptor and soon to be Sciraptor watched as they shrank and shifted, Andrews squirming as toes melded and merged into two thicker, stronger digits while the structure of his legs themselves adapted to allow for standing on said toes rather than the hells.

"Legs." Pip said. "Those are your legs."

******

"I." It was difficult, transmitting what they wanted to say, but they needed an answer. Their repeated attempts at querying their name had returned an unsatisfactory answer. "Designated... QIT-939. Qit?" No, they were... they were something else. They were sure they had been something else.

"Yes." Designation Pip answered. "You are now Qit." Their voice a comforting guide.

Their legs now exposed with the help of Pip, they were able to see what was happening. Looking down at what they had confirmed was their legs, they gave the strange looking limbs an experimental stretch.

"Chirrt...?"

It took a moment of looking around in confusion, much to the apparent amusement of their companion, but eventually the realisation struck that it had come from them.

"Bweeep... Buur... Wheet..."

Anxiously investigating the sounds they could make with curious trepidation, they felt a strange sensation from the bottom of their body. Moving to look down with new pixelated eyes, they observed as a small nub growing from the base of their spine, gradually extending and thickening. It was sensitive... If they remembered correctly, the bulkier of a Sciraptors equipment was stored in the tail. Confirming this, a plethora of detailed information appeared on their recently clarified HUD. New scenes were thrust upon them. Temperatures and infrareds. Magnetic fields and gravitational calculations. All that's needed for a Sciraptor to fulfil its purpose.

Qit made a troubled "Bwee..." from inside the top half of their once-fitting suit. The stream of data was overwhelming. They clutched their face gently with their newly formed three digits, trying to stop it all from pouring in at once. All this served was demonstrate to them how different their face and hands were... How similar they were to Pip.

*****

"Calm," Pip repeated. "Calm, calm."

He wasn't sure if his words were helping the former human at all, but it was certainly helping him. The Sciraptor had anticipated some stress, but not this level of anxiety. He had thought there might have been some calming mechanism in the conversion kit's code, but apparently there was not. What could he do?

Touch?

The Sciraptor stiffened. Yes, touch could be comforting to organic creatures and to him too, he realized. It was just that no one had ever done so with him. Not even a pat on the head.

"Bweep..."

But this wasn't about him. This was about Andrews...er, designation Qit.

The Sciraptor shuffled forward and then laid his hands on the technician's stretching, thickening tail. Qit, still staring at him, shuddered at his touch but then began to relax a little. A little and then a little more as Pip massaged the growing limb that was becoming long and wide, and would soon be longer than Qit's body.

Body...

Pip kept his eyes on the tail, but out of the corner of his visor, he could see that Qit was shrinking some more, that upper half of his suit looking ridiculous on his more slender Sciraptor shape. He continued to massage their tail, but it wasn't long before Qit noticed too.

"Calm, calm..." Pip murmured.

"Bereep. Bereep!?!"

******

The gentle touch of their companion on their growing tail had helped considerably. Distracting from the influx of new senses, the feeling of another on the sensitive appendage felt... nice. The cold and ruthlessly efficient process they'd been undergoing was eased by their comforting presence. It had even calmed them somewhat when they heard a distinct 'crick' from their spine, presumably forcing them into the more forward leaning position of a Sciraptor.

This feeling was completely undone by the realisation that the pressure around their body was intensifying rapidly, thus causing the distress that Pip had noticed. It was more than that however, as they felt a shifting sensation in their torso, things moving when they likely should be. It occurred to them that it was probably quite fortunate that their mind had already been affected, as it would be quite painful otherwise.

It was suddenly that they had noticed a sickening silence. A sound that you would never notice until it stopped, had stopped. The wind of the planet was still howling, the encouraging words of Pip still echoed in their head, but a sound that had accompanied them though their entire life was now rendered absent.

Their heartbeat.

"No! Dead! Gone! Over!" They transmitted, struggling to put into words the panic that they felt. They struggled inside the top portion of their suit. Struggling against the fear of death, of the feeling of loneliness. Even the restrictive nature of their new thought processes had difficulty suppressing the hysteria.

This moment of chilling darkness was abated for a moment, as they felt something enter the now quite large suit top.

"Chiirt?" they queried, confused.

"You have not ceased purpose... You are still here. You are not alone." The voice of Pip called, as they embraced the panicky Qit gently.

It was all that Qit could do, in the bedlam of confusing feelings, to embrace the Sciraptor back.

In the other Sciraptor's embrace, Qit began to calm. He was alive, artificially so, but alive. He wasn't blue in the face, gasping for air in an alien atmosphere that simply wouldn't sustain him. He was...

Changed. Slighter. Smaller. Shaped differently. Missing a few fingers and a few toes. And he had a tail, and was a machine, not a man but-

He was alive.

Qit hugged the other Sciraptor tighter even as something still ran through his troubled, muddled mind.

Not a man.

Why had that thought bothered him most amongst all the others? Sure, he was not a man like not human, right? Not...

But there was something different about the Sciraptor he hugged. Something different about Pip that his systems registered as different. Something different about him. Something he sensed but couldn't really know.

What was it?

Qit's ears flicked up in curiosity and then, without really meaning to, he nuzzled the other Sciraptor. Pip pulled back with a puzzled squeak and Qit did as well since he was now aware of something. Well, not he.

She.

"Ciriit?!" Qit squeaked, staring at Pip with digital eyes as wide as her visor would render. He...she was aware of something she had now a certain slit located near the base of her tail, a port for-

She wiggled out of the too big half of her suit and away from Pip. She tried to stand but only fell, her digitigrade legs all too unfamiliar. She landed with a squeak and then started to crawl back as Pip came forth.

"What," Qit whimpered. "Why? Female? Why?"

Pip was silent for a moment, struggling with the question. As he gingerly approached her.

"Compatibility. Without a human presence this outpost must collect, process and transmit data... differently."

Obviously the poor Sciraptor had not been given much pre-programming on how to handle a newly converted partner. The stream of data that Qit was receiving from him was full of worry. It surprised her, to be honest. It had a much larger range of emotions than she would have thought.

"You are female, because I am male." Pip continued to explain. "You are now my partner. We work together. Like before, but now slightly differently."

Pip helped her up slowly. Taking another step to try and steady herself, she fell once more.

"No, no. Like this." Pip guided her back up, utilizing his short arms to position her, head further down, tail further up. Swing it while you walk, it's all about maintaining balance. By the end of it, she could at least stand whilst not falling over, though it was slightly disorientating how far forward she had to position her head.

"Work together. Differently?" Her transmissions were still quite jagged and badly formed. It frustrated her that her 'partner' was transmitting so eloquently when she struggled to put together simple concepts.

"Yes. You now fulfil the role of that large computational machine that you would have been operating... Once you fixed that wire you broke." Qit saw the tip of her visor light up in blush as she realised that the Pip had seen her mistake. Her ears folded back, though she had no mouth, she was picking up on the subtle ways Sciraptors conveyed feelings.

He continued to make minor adjustments to her posture, in addition to investigating her form to make sure everything had set correctly.

"It is much more efficient. You are much smaller, but can process a lot more information at once." Like she needed to be reminded of her size.

"...I am... Sciraptor." She said, uncertain. "Female."

Pip nodded, confirming.

"Forever?"

Pip stopped his investigation, freezing awkwardly as they tried to process a 'correct' answer to her question.

"The... Biological material in a converted individual is... completely destroyed in the process. Most of their memories and personality is transferred, if perhaps modified slightly. However, once someone is converted..."

He left the implications hanging.

"Ciirit..." Qit churred. "But..."

She turned away from the other Sciraptor. She didn't know what to say. She didn't want to look at him either. Not because she hated him, but because...well, something about the sight and sound, no, the mere presence of the male Sciraptor was starting some process in her. A heat was beginning to arise in that new...port of hers and she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Perhaps she was just distracting herself from what she had just heard, had just realized, but...

"Back."

Qit's ears perked up.

"We must go back," Pip said. "Conversion can be...unstable. Must do diagnostics in less unstable environment."

"Right." Qit nodded without looking back at Pip. "Sure. But...uh, which way is it?"

"Bereep!"

Pip brushed past her and Qit shivered as the Sciraptor's tail swayed over his haunches. He glanced back at her, ears flicking forward. Then he started forward and Pip followed, shifting her gaze away from that swaying tail. Why was its movement so enticing, so a-

No. Seriously, what was she thinking? She was a Sciraptor now, sure, a female Sciraptor at that but that didn't mean she should be chasing tail just like that! She blinked. Chasing tail? No, no, no, she shouldn't be thinking of it like that. Or him. He was the reason she was like this in the first place!

He was the reason she was alive.

Qit hissed and Pip paused ahead of her. He turned his head.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I-"

Her ears flicked up curiously as she caught something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and found herself looking into a reflective pool of...something? Mercury, her systems said. Liquid mercury. Of course.

She peered into the pool and a curious Sciraptor looked back with pixelated purple eyes. It - she looked akin to a raptor, albeit one made up of slightly shiny white latex, a bipedal reptilian that hunched forward, tail waving this way and that while triangular ears tilted forward. She held up her hands, her arms shorter and stubbier while her three fingers were much the same. The Sciraptor was smaller like this. It was difficult for her to tell at present yet she knew it to be true, since Pip had been smaller than her before...this.

Pip. The male Sciraptor appeared behind in the pool, his ears laid back in concern. She looked at him for a few moments until their eyes met in the natural mirror. Then she looked and turned away.

"Qit?" he said. "Is something-"

"Sorry," she said. "Which way?"

Pip's ears laid back still as he led them the rest of the way to the outpost.

---

Making their way back, Qit started to recall the path she had taken to arrive at the broken antenna. They never did end up fixing it, but... Well they didn't really need it anymore, if what Pip was saying was to be believed. She contemplated how exactly she was going to fulfill the role of such large pieces of equipment, but that could be worked out back at the outpost.

Speaking of, they were almost there. The door was in sight, and Qit had quickly gotten used to her new gate and stance. It was quite relaxing, maybe perhaps because she didn't really feel the strain of walking in a bulky suit. She didn't really have organic bits to get tired anymore... What a strange thought.

As she approached the gate, she spotted something from the corner of her eye. A large red rock. She remembered noticing it's... bigness before as she left. A momentary curiosity that was quickly disregarded. Now, however, as she looked at it, she saw how different it really was.

Her ears flicked towards it, as her tail perked up. Without realising, she was putting the equipment within her to thoroughly study and examine the makeup of the rock. How old was it? It was made from a distinctly different material than the rocks around it. Did it have any unique properties?

"Chirrr..."

She was enraptured by the process, eyes affixed to her subject in deep study.

"Chichichi!"

That wasn't a sound she had ever heard a Sciraptor make before. It was coming from Pip, who was looking at her now quite closely. Was... that how a Sciraptor laughed?

"I see you are already getting the idea. Good! But do not worry, I have already studied everything in our near vicinity." He rubbed up against her and nuzzled his muzzle against hers, similar to the way that she did to learn of her new female persuasion. She shivered slightly, the contact making her feel warm and fuzzy inside, especially in that very sensitive area under her tail.

With the nuzzle came a detailed diagnostic of the rock, every aspect of it analized and compartmentalized. It felt good, and pushed her feelings toward her partner further...

Her pixel eyes blinked as she took it all in, she wanted to know more! Attempting to nuzzle Pip back to gain more insight into the surrounding area, and perhaps just get a bit closer to him. Pip pulled away however, much to her disappointment.

"No, no. Giving you everything like that would take too long. We must get inside. I want you to try opening the door."

Well, of course she could do that. Disregarding the rock, she sauntered up to the control panel beside the door. It was a short three digit code that was to avoid accidents more than anything, pretty easy to enter, even with a space suit. 139.

She... Couldn't really reach it however. It was human height, and as she strained herself on the tips of her two toes, she lost balance and toppled over.

Pip, helping them up, gave a sympathetic "Bweet..."

"You may have to do it a bit differently now. Come, stand up, and look at the door. Like you did the rock."

She did so, much like the rock, her HuD lit up after a moment. The manufacturer, composition and strength of the door, but also a small 'Interface' icon. She tilted her head and examined further...

Delving deeper, she discovered a matrix of interconnected icons and devices. This must've been the outpost's network. She felt that if she just... Touched the door in this network the right way-

Ffffst.

The door opened, taking the code she already knew to open it in a process that didn't require her to even touch it. She looked to Pip excitedly.

"Well done." He gave her a gentle nudge of congratulation. "I'm happy to see your processes are working correctly. Come."

With that he entered the airlock, and Qit followed diligently.

*****

After decontamination, a process that was a little different than Qit remembered ("Mind the tail!" she had wanted to shout at the machines), she found herself looking curiously at Pip.

"What?" he asked.

"Ciirit!" Qit blinked, tail wagging excitedly. "Sorry, I mean...what now?" She rubbed her stubby fingers together anxious and excited. "What can you show me next?"

"Nothing."

"What?" Qit blinked again. "But-"

"It is time to rest and recharge." Pip said. "Afterwards, we will run a diagnostic."

"Oh." Qit lowered her head and turned away from Pip. She started off until:

"Where are you going?"

"Bweep?" Qit looked over her shoulder. "To my bed?"

"Chichichi!" Pip laughed. "You can't sleep in your bed."

"Why not?" Qit huffed. "I'm going to, whether you like it or not!"

"Wa-"

She sped away and Pip sighed before following after her. She was so temperamental! Not that he blamed her...perhaps a diagnostics check was warranted now. But...the male Sciraptor paused. He didn't want to explain some of her functions just yet. Better to make a report first. Better to let her relax a little.

He found her in her room, standing on her bed while she lifted her now overly large blanket in an attempt to maneuver it over her. He wasn't sure how she did it, but one moment she was holding the blanket and then in the next it was covering her completely.

"Bereep! Bereep! Bereep!" she called, shuffling around inside her wooly confines as she got caught up in it. "Ber-"

She fell off the bed with a surprised chirrt and landed with a thump. She squeaked and beeped more before she was able to scramble out of the blanket and find herself face to face with Pip.

"You didn't see anything," she said.

"Correct."

"Ok. So where do we sleep?"

"Follow."

*****

Not long later, Pip and Qit were both curled up in the generator room, though there was some distance between them.

"This is where you slept?" Qit said. "Or, sleep? I always wondered where you went sometimes."

"Not always here," Pip answered. "Sometimes in the vents. Sometimes kitchen. Sometimes outside."

"Outside..." Qit paused. "Ok. But...why do you have to sleep anyways?"

"We have to sleep because..." Pip tilted his head. "Useful in many processes. Like humans."

"Right. Like humans..."

"Shorter span. Hour or less. Forty seven minutes optimal."

"Right. So...how do I sleep?"

"Let me help." Pip stood. "For first time."

He approached her and Qit looked up at him. Then he leaned over and nuzzled her.

"Huh? What was that supposed to do.....bweep."

Qit's eyes blinked and then her visor went black. Slowly her head lowered until she was resting it between her hands. A moment later, three pink z's appeared on her screen. Pip nodded, then moved over to tuck her tail more to her side. He turned away, then turned back, giving her a little nuzzle.

"Goodnight, Qit."

*****

"Good morning, Qit!"

She looked up with a start. That had been quick. Some processes were still booting up, so she was still quite groggy. After all, some processes were booting back up for the first time.

"Pip? That was... a lot quicker than I was used to."

For a moment she concentrated. Had she dreamt? Did Sciraptors dream? She read a book about it in school once, but she forgot the answer. Besides, even when she was... what she was before, she usually didn't remember if she dreamt.

"How long did I sleep?" She was getting pretty comfortable with her new way of communication. It was almost like it was before... Almost. As long as she was speaking with other Sciraptors, she supposed.

"Two hours. Quite a substantial amount of time, but it's reasonable considering what happened. I'm sure it was just the last bits of configuration concluding."

She stretched, getting up and feeling quite refreshed from a sleep. Or... whatever that just was. Two hours though? What would she do with the rest of the 6 hours she'd usually devote to sleep? Shuffling from foot to foot, she asked

"What do I do... now?" She had a bunch of movies lined up for the stay. Could she still watch movies?

"Let us proceed with the diagnostic check! Now you've had a chance to rest. Come here and stand still so I can examine you."

She did so, slightly nervous. What if something had gone wrong? The process of her change was quite stressful after all.

"I'd recommend doing a self-diagnosis too. Explore how your processes work. Always good to do every so often... I think the human equivalent would be called 'introspection.'"

God knows she didn't want too much time to think, but then again maybe Pip was right. All she had to do was think about it, and the process of diagnosis commenced. A whole blueprint of her design popped up on her HUD.... That was her. She squinted- Did she really have a CausDek Corp logo attached to her? Ugh. How tasteless.

Whilst she concentrated on her own diagnosis, Pip did his. Gently touching her ears, she flicked them.

"Wheeb!"

"Sorry, sorry. I know they're sensitive, I just need to know how well they are working. They're more than just what you'd find in animal ears and fulfill a much larger variety of purposes."

He moved down, touching her gently here and there whilst he did. Bending her arms and testing her joints. He grabbed her face, looking into her eyes. Staring into his eyes she could faintly see her own, glowing in the reflection of his visor. He seemed to be concentrating on her screen, and the eye contact was... intense.

She bumped her snout forward against his, eliciting a soft "Chiirt." Why she did this exactly was lost on her.

"Your visor seems optimal. Green eyes as default. I do not see much green in this environment. It is nice."

Was that a compliment? It was hard to concentrate whilst her own internal diagnostic was pulling at her attention.

He moved on, down to her body. Poking and prodding, she twitched as he did so. Reactions. Like humans, she mused, when you hit their little bit under their knee to kick their leg. Hm. She had started to think of humans as 'them' rather than 'us'... appropriate she supposed, evoked a small 'Bwee...' of sadness from her.

"Are you alright?" Pip asked in response.

"Hm? Yes. Sorry. Just thinking."

Nodding, Pip continued down, stroking that sensitive tail of hers, making her stretch out. Oh, it felt nice when he rubbed it. What was he doing exactly? Whatever it was she wanted it to continue. Making soft beeps as he finished his examination and moved up. Her own diagnostics were indicating that this would be a good time to just... Bend over a bit. Raise the tail. She did so.

"Oh? But we're still doing our examination, I don't think it'd be a good idea to leave it half done. We will start working soon. Don't worry." Pip stopped, painfully close.

"What- leave it half done?" Qit realised what a compromising situation she was in, hind in the air and tail up. She daren't move whilst Pip was still prodding around there though. "Working soon? What exactly does this work involve?"

"It's quite a simple process, much more efficient than using that large machine. The information I've compiled is stored in a sort of liquid hard drive, similar to the nanobots that assisted in your change but holding information rather than modifying anything. I insert it into your processor-" He poked at her sensitive port under her tail. "-And over time you compile and compress the information, storing them in data-chambers for transport. Humans compare them to eggs a lot of the time, but whilst eggs hold biological information, these hold synthetic data." He bweeped helpfully.

Qit was staring wide eyed back at the Sciraptor.

"What?"

"What?" Qit snapped, rushing forward and away from the other Sciraptor before turning on him. "Do you realize what you just said?"

"Of course," Pip blinked. "It's a standard Sciraptor procedure."

"What? What? Standard-" Qit shook her head. "You just described us fu...having sex and then me carrying eggs. Eggs!"

Eggs.

Qit shivered at the thought.

"Yes, but-"

"But what?" Qit folded her arms. "This might be normal for you, but I'm not used to being this or...female! Hell, I didn't even know Sciraptors had dicks and...er, reproductive equipment until now! And now you're talking about eggs. Eggs!"

Qit shivered again, that port of her feeling warm.

"You do seem to be concerned by them," Pip murmured, touching two of his fingers together.

"Concerned? Of course I'm fucking concerned! I - bereep!" She frowned and tried to get her thoughts together. "Why do I need to lay eggs? What would you have done without another Sciraptor?" She peered at Pip suspiciously. "Did you do this on purpose? Did you turn me into this so you could have a Sciraptor girlfriend that you could 'make eggs' with?"

"Bereep?" Pip blinked. "That's-"

"The truth?"

"Absurd." Pip's ears lowered and he backed away. "I didn't- I wouldn't- I had no choice! If you had not been converted. You would have perished."

Qit still glared angrily at the other Sciraptor but her rage was starting to diminish.

"And no, I don't need a female unit to function," the Sciraptor puffed a quick 8-bit noise clip. "But it's necessary for me to fully function if there is no human to help. And there would be neither a human or you if I had not..." The male beeped mournfully. "I'm sorry, Andrews."

"Cirit!" Qit's processor encountered an error. "Don't call me that!"

"Yes, I..." Pip paused, it was hard to keep his gaze on Qit. "I really am sorry. I... was- I- thought..." He turned away before his own emotion extensions could respond to her gaze. "I should leave you alone. You need more time."

He'd failed to account for something. A gap in data when processing Andrews' accident. How could he have done this? They weren't errors, but warning signs did pop up, and he reviewed them. The human element. The consent. He failed to initiate a consent form. Of course, a simple mistake, but if he had, she might've died trying to fill it. He filed the warning as inconsequential.

He put one leg forward, to leave. Qit blinked as something surged in her. She wasn't sure if it was her machine mind, her feelings, or a mixture of both but she longed for him. And one look at his simple profile said that he had the same feelings for her. She'd have taken a sharp breath at this realization if she could, nevermind that she figured out how to pull up a quick-look profile.

"Wait!" she said, starting forward. "Pip, I..."

*****

Pip stopped. What now? He had known the former human might be temperamental, might need more time, but he didn't think she would be so angry still! He spun around, his pixelated eyes looking very angry themselves before they grew wide and large at what he saw, his huge eyes almost taking up his whole visor.

Qit was positioned as she was before. That is, in the time she had told him to wait, she had turned away from him and lifted her tail, displaying what she had and a bit more. She turned her long neck to look over at him, a pink blush on her visor, her ears laid low, and her pixel eyes cut in half to appear as if they were lidded.

"Come on, Pip," Qit huffed. "Let's process some data."

Pip stared at her. This series of events was more than illogical, it was... Human. From one mood to another. He expected it, but this was just ridiculous. Then couldn't help himself.

"Chichichichi!"

Qit's blush deepened and her tail lowered a little.

"You must work on your lines," Pip chirred, his head low as he closed the distance. "But yes... let us process some data!"

He rubbed up beside her, aiming to perhaps get her a bit more comfortable at first. It wasn't needed, as she was feeling quite comfortable already. It was like she was built for this... Wait- she was built for this. She gave a sultry beep. Enough with the foreplay. She prodded at Pip, who took the hint, moving behind her.

Her body buzzed with anticipation. Looking forward again all she could do was wiggle slightly, not wanting to ruin the moment with anything else. She felt as he carefully eased himself onto her. She made soft beeps as she felt the pressure on her back. At this point there was no way she could consider this anything but correct. The data proved it. This is where she should be. All she really needed to do was let the processes and algorithms take over, they knew how to do this, she could just ease back and enjoy the ride.

That still didn't stop her from giving a surprised "GWEEP-" as she felt something prodding at her hind port.

Pip rubbed at her neck, making soft synthetic tones that eased her immediately. Oh but the satisfaction...she didn't even let out a squeak as he mounted her, short arms clutching at her sides. He nuzzled her neck and how she did squeak as he pressed gently into her port. As she felt Pip pushing into her that need was only intensified, the female pushing back on him softly. He pushed further, encouraged by her engagement and she hissed, her visor going staticy for a second. She wondered why she was so sensitive down there when the rest of her white latex skin was generally not so, unless it was needed for testing. Of course this was a sort of trial, a test, and she was thoroughly enjoying it.

"Chireet!" Qit hissed, not knowing what she said but knowing what she meant, and Pip did too. He thrust in and out, in and out, the two artificial raptors falling into a mechanical, pleasurable rhythm.

Qit gave into the pleasure, the physicality and sensuality of the artificial act that so clearly mimicked the real thing. Thoughts of who she was before, aspirations and worries, all fell to the wayside. This is what she was meant for. Designed for. The pace quickened, Pip now as much in the moment as she was.

"Bweep!" She huffed, looking over to him, her mate at the moment, for this time. He answered with a deeper beep and then nuzzled her head. For a moment, the two connected in both body and mind, Pip aware of him both pressing so pleasingly into her while their thoughts touched. There were fleeting feelings in there, of regret and uncertainty, but they fled away, overshadowed by memories of her trying to open a door and falling and her trying to sleep as she once did. All amusing, but there was something beneath that amusement, fondness that she shared, affection even, what one might even call-

"Chir!"

Qit saw Pip was blushing, and realized a moment later she was blushing too. He nuzzled her again and she nuzzled back, pressing into him while he pressed into her while they confirmed what they both knew.

With certainty of their roles and relation in mind, the two continued to do what was instinct, what was programmed deep within. Qit beeped, knowing they both were close, so close thanks not only to her mounting pleasure, but the progress bar slowly filling up at the edge of her vision. Yet, she did not want it to end, this moment of certainty and carnal pleasure, clarity overlaid with pure purpose. She wiggled her rear, her port pulsing, the male's Data Processing Rod pressing pleasurably against her sensitive inner walls.

Close, so close, and then there they were, Qit's eyes widening, that blush brighter on her visor as she felt him come into her. She shuddered and so did he, letting out pleasured beeps and squeaks as he filled her Data Compilation Chamber, no, her womb, where eggs, her eggs, their eggs would soon grow. Not with life, of course, but it would still be something they both made, something they did together.

"Chirrrr..." Pip purred, Qit making much the same sound as pleasure ruled their machine minds. In a haze, Qit was only dimly aware of Pip dismounting from her, that pleasurable, perfect tool of his slowly withdrawing from her port. She shivered, a little left over data trailing down from her well filled port. Quivering, she stepped forward only a little before she fell and almost instinctively curled up. Her ears laid back as that haze deepened, though she was already aware of that data compiling within her. Soon she would have eggs and that sounded...pleasant. Natural. She sighed, then lifted her head as Pip curled up beside her, their thick tails touching.

"Bereep?"

"Bereep?"

They nuzzled, and felt the same thing for a few moments before they drifted to a brief, but pleasant sleep.

*****

"Qit?"

Qit's eyes came online. She looked up and Pip was standing over her, blushing slightly.

"You are fine." The male sciraptor's quick quiet chirping was full of an intense need to shower her in affection.

She nodded.

"More than fine," she said, slowly getting to her feet. "That was great! I don't..." she paused. "I don't recall sex being that good before. Huh. Whoever designed Sciraptors sure is a pervert."

Pip's brief worried display disappeared, she'd missed his little compliment. He didn't realize he'd made it until it was too late, and was sure she'd get riled up again. "Fulfilling your purpose is supposed to feel good. It's a method to encourage you to do so efficiently. It's the same reason humans are encouraged to do the things they do." Pip nodded as his own feet got to work, passing around, seemingly slightly more energetic. And eager to move on from that minor error.

"I will admit, I am much happier with this form of data transfer. I also have someone to talk to now. I was not lonely before, but..." Trailing off, he found it difficult to actually explain what he felt before as opposed to now. It was probably some sort of bonding subroutine that made him feel an intense completeness every time he looked at Qit. All explainable, logical.

"Hmn." Qit mumbled, holding her head. "I'm feeling a bit... Fuzzy. I'm not sure how I'd explain it. Like waking up from a midday nap that went a bit too long."

"That will be your processing power being used. Nothing to worry about, in fact it means the process is well under way. But... You may find it hard to concentrate fully whilst it's going on. After all you're examining and formatting terabytes of data in the background. You might even be able to examine what you're processing if you concentrate enough."

Sure enough she could see the data being processed, not visually per-se, but she knew exactly what was going through her mind. Like daydreaming but consistently present. Environmental scans. Weather diagnostics... That one rock that they saw... It took a moment for her to shake out of it, and once she did, Pip was off in a completely different place. The light from outside was more warm. A quick analysis confirmed she'd passed time a little quicker than expected.

"Wh- Wait, what happened?" Qit queried, looking to him whilst he checked on the Outpost's generator. Adjusting the life support to 'Unoccupied by organics.' More energy efficient.

"I told you it would be hard to concentrate." Pip looked back. "You were zoned out for a good few tens of minutes." His eyes smiled as upturned arches, obviously quite amused at Qit's confusion.

"Don't worry. Depending on the weight of the data, it won't always be that bad. Keep in mind though, I've been waiting a long while to unload that information. I'll tend to the outpost, you just rest up, okay? It might take a few days."

So, after taking a moment to realize he'd just admitted to being 'pent up', that's what she did. Finding time inconsistently passing by her, depending on how hefty the data passing her mind was, it was actually quite relaxing. She could sit back and observe all the information that had been gathered, much better than a movie. As a small bump developed in her torso and she found it more difficult to move as dexterously, it made her feel... Content.

That was until a small document of information slipped by, nearly without her notice.

Workplace Casualty Report: Richard Andrews, Deceased. CoD: Suit airlock failure during external repairs.

But- no wait. That wasn't right. She was alive! The world came further into focus as she fret, she realised she was lying at the window of the outpost, looking out into that dusty environment that, in some respects, was responsible for her change.

With an electronic whine of worry, she glanced around. Pip was repairing the obsolete machine in the room, and had heard her. He was already plodding over with a tilted visor.

"Are you okay? You have been doing very well. What's wrong? Some statistical inconsistencies?" He queried as his gaze pulled up a quick look at her current progress. She pushed it down though, unknowingly producing a little animated ascii representation of herself crying.

"It's- Pip... They- I'm- They think I'm dead!"

Pip gave a sympathetic look. "Ah. Yes. I see." Approaching further, he curled around her comfortingly.

"It's... Company policy. The entity known as 'Richard Andrews' does not function anymore, yes? Effectively deceased." Pip was a little more than pressed to say that it was him that had to create that report, but... Well, she didn't read the metadata, and he didn't want to rouse her emotional extensions again. "However..."

With a bump of noses, Pip checked the next packet of data to be processed. A document labeled 'Asset Acquisition Report: Sciraptor: QIT-939. Paired to: PIP-938', and passed it to her.

"The entity known as 'Qit' now exists. A simple transfer of roles." His chest pumped up a little, and she could feel a bit of his worries. He hoped this was enough to re-focus her processes away from the report.

Qit fidgeted, worries bubbling to her mind... What about what she was before? The things she did. The things she had. Pip's soft bwoop was a sign that he could read the unsurity occupying her processes.

"And you are doing wonderfully in this role." Pip said, leaning over to nudge her belly, which had grown substantially since she had last checked. A quick sideways glance from her Sciraptor partner reinforced the knowledge that he was proud of this, and wanted her to be too. So he... Sent a few bytes of it to her with another touch of her belly.

She couldn't help but blush, a large amount of pride welled up within her from those few bytes. These were her data packets. Diligently created with care and compassion. Before she had just wanted to cruise though life on the path of least resistance. She had come here because she had heard it was a cushy, effortless role... But now, she was contributing. Now she had a connection to something. Her processes were more deterministic, her mind still operated, but she'd been given a goal. Data collection and compression. A quick query to herself confirmed this.

She glanced to Pip for a moment, and then back to herself. The last packet of data finished processing.

Her belly... well, it was no longer the sleek, shiny Sciraptor "stomach" she had grown used to, as odd as that sounded. It possessed a pregnant swell to it, large and firm and a little stretched now. She pressed her belly with a short arm and shivered. The weight of the eggs... the data capsules were apparent now and would likely be even more so when she walked. If she walked.

"How much longer, do you think?" she asked Pip while she continued to rub her belly.

"Oh, not long," he said. "I could tell you the exact time if you wish." He winked. "You can calculate that too, you know."

"Chichi, of course I know that," Qit said with a giggle. "I guess I'm just used to being uncertain. Part of being human, I guess."

"Yes." Pip chirred.

"But I'm a Sciraptor now." Qit's chirp was matched with a deep focus on her other half. Her matched Sciraptor. She focused on his file, something that stirred a little twitchy reaction out of him. "I'm... I'm Qit. I'm me." She let out a prolonged chirr. Then shook her head, finally realizing the inefficiency of hanging on to all of those things that did not serve her purpose as Qit. She had to dedicate less processing time to Richard Andrews, Deceased. More on her functions, to serve her purpose. That is what her body demanded, because the bad feelings were bad for work. The thought of doing that scared her for a moment. Until she remembered that Pip was right here, and he made her feel more alive than she ever did before.

Richard Andrews, Deceased was compressed, filed away. "Alright. Enough of that. Can't you show me more around the station? More about me? More about us?"

"Yes, yes!" Pip responded with the happiest squeal and chirps he could manage. He's relieved to pass that little processing hiccup, and excitedly pressed his muzzle under her chin, "I would love to!"

*****

The next few days were a blur. There was always more work to do on the station, more data to collect, more things for Pip to show her. She enjoyed those latter moments most, especially when Pip got rather into the details on the equipment contained within her tail. She had all he had equipped and more - well, maybe a few less things, but they were a paired unit, made to complement each other. She had a role, one that she very much enjoyed.

Still, with all that they did, Qit was ever aware of how close she was to completing one function of her role very soon. Her belly swelled larger and firmer and heavier with every passing hour and soon it began to affect her mood. Lugging around all those eggs, those data capsules, was hard work! She couldn't quite keep pace with Pip anymore, something he seemed oblivious to and finally she snapped.

"Cirixxxxx! Slow down!" Qit shouted as Pip ran ahead of her in the halls of the station. "Get your fat tail back here!"

"Bereep?"

Pip turned around and then walked slowly over to Qit.

"My tail is within specification," Pip said. "It is not 'fat.'"

"It is if I say it is," Qit huffed. "Now slow down, ok? It's your fault I can't keep up with you."

"I am sorry, I-"

"Forgot you fucked me and left me with a load of eggs?" Qit placed her hands on her swollen abdomen. "Yeah, I forgot too!"

"Cirit?" Pip blushed. "No, no, I am sorry, I was eager to-"

"Knock me up?" Qit screeched. "I knew you were!"

Pip's eyes widened and he let out an embarrassed beep, his ears aloft! Qit didn't know what he was thinking, but she knew he was thinking.

"Qit, I'm-"

"Sorry?" Qit folded her arms across her chest. "Well, you should be! Because..." she blinked and shook her head, ears folding down. "No, no. I'm sorry. I..." She let out a sad meep. "This isn't your fault. None of this is. Oh, Pip. I'm so sorry."

"It is al-"

"No, it's not alright. I've always treated you terribly." She put her hands on her head and shook it. "Ever since I got here I've always just been so...mean!" She sighed. "You deserve better, you really do. I'm sorry - for all of it."

"You do not need to apologize."

"But I do!"

"You do not. You are moody. The strain of data is taking its toll on you. Perhaps you should simply relax and..."

Qit quivered and her pixelated eyes practically filled up her visor whilst her ears went straight up. Her port suddenly felt warm and wet, lubricated and ready to-

"Qit, what's..." Pip took a few steps forward and touched his snout to hers. His eyes were soon as big as hers. "Oh. Oh my. Let me get some blankets..."

Pip started to scuttle off, but Qit lunged forward and gripped his arm, hard.

"Wait! Wait..." she begged. "Stay here. We can clean up the mess later."

"Are you sure?"

"YES, I'm sure!" Qit screeched. Her ears flicked back apologetically. "Sorry. Eggs, you know."

"I know." Pip's ears flicked forward. "What can I do to help?"

"Just..." Qit shuddered, her port pulsing as it dilated not so gently. She shifted from side to side, beeping softly as she felt the eggs shift around in her taut belly. Then she gasped, shivering as that first egg began its slow descent out of her. "...s-stay close!"

"Of course," Pip said, stepping forward and nuzzling her. "I am here."

Qit nodded, embracing the other Sciraptor as she felt that first egg slowly traversed. She shuddered at the sensation of it rubbing so pleasingly against her inner walls, the Sciraptor blushing because of how good it felt. There was some discomfort too as her port proceeded to widen further and further and lubricate. It was nothing compared to the pleasure of that sensual descent and the knowledge that soon she would be unburdened again.

"You are doing well," Pip said. "Keep going!"

"I am!" Qit squeaked indignantly, beeping shortly afterwards as her port pulsed, sending that egg further down. It was getting close to coming out and she wiggled her tail in anticipation. "I-I mean, thanks."

"It is still ok to stay close?" Pip queried, drawing his head back a little.

"Yes, you fat-tailed robot!" Qit groaned, pixelated eyes screwing shut. "Stay close or I'll...bweep!"

Qit abruptly stiffened, her tail lifting as her egg finally made it to her port. She embraced Pip tightly as the egg crowned, the sounds emerging from her speakers no longer understandable even by a Sciraptor. She wiggled her hips, squeaking beeps and simulated gasps following every second of struggle. The egg was coming out, almost out, but not quite there. She just needed to push a little harder, a bit more and-

Relief! And pleasure, and the satisfying sound of the egg gently falling to the floor. She looked over her shoulder and there it was, a shimmering sphere that contained so much potential, so much knowledge. What had she processed that might be used for good lightyears away? She felt relieved, pleased, but most of all proud.

"Chirrttt..." Qit huffed, ears stiff and upright, tail following suit. Another egg was already moving into place. Her ears went back and she beeped, a little excited actually. "Round two..."

"You are capable," Pip said, nuzzling her.

"And so are you," Qit said, nuzzling him back. "Which is why...mmm...I'm doing this now."

"Chichichi!" Pip tilted his head. "Don't pretend you would not do it again."

"That's what I'm hoping for..." Qit wiggled her hips and blinked. "Maybe...maybe not so many eggs next time."

"Yes, of course... dear."

Qit blinked, then her eyes displayed as two chevrons. She hugged Pip close and he returned the embrace while she worked on the second egg. It was a struggle, but not so much as the first and soon enough it was out while the third was already on its way. Still, she was built for this, made for this. She could do this...and it helped that Pip was here too.

He stayed with her all the while.

When it was over, she had laid thirteen of the shimmering spheres. She couldn't help but wiggle her tail as she looked at them, pleased at how they looked, but mostly happy to have them out. She felt so much lighter now, and happier too, her companion by her side.

"They're beautiful," she said. "Like little stars." She tilted her head. "Huh. Thirteen of them. You know that's unlucky."

"To humans," Pip noted. "To me...it is a good result. Optimal."

"That's how I'd describe sex with you."

"Bweep!" Pip's visor flushed red.

"I'm kidding, chichichi," Qit giggled. "That's what humans call a joke."

"Yes." Pip said, folding his arms and lowering his ears. "Just like my tail is fat?"

"No, that's true."

Pip looked at Qit, Qit looked at Pip and then the two burst into laughter.

"Chichichichi!" Qit shook her head. "Ok. But really, what's next?"

"We clean up. Store the eggs. Prepare for pickup."

"Pickup?"

"Affirmative." Pip nodded. "Someone will want this."

"Hmm..." Qit murmured, maneuvering her tail out of Pip's sight. "Do you think they'll want...more?"

She punctuated this with a touch of her tail to his hindquarters.

"Bweep!" Pip squeaked. "I mean, yes, of course. This is highly valuable!"

"Then let's get making more, eh?"

Pip couldn't help but agree.

*****

The metal hallway clattered, dust filled wind battering the exterior walls of the outpost. Jameson couldn't believe he had landed just when this planet decided to have a planetary storm. He'd be cooped up here for a bit, but at least he'd have some company. He wasn't sure what sort of people would live on a planet alone, but there was one here and for that the hauler was grateful.

"Hello?" he called, his voice echoing through the halls. "Is anyone here?"

"Bereep!" answered a cheerful robotic voice.

"Scirit!" called another.

Jameson lifted an eyebrow and turned a corner. Two Sciraptors waited there with the haul between them.

Two? But...

"Huh," he said. Maybe the report was wrong. No human company? Ugh. He sighed as he stepped forward, the two raptors regarding him with interest as he looked over the haul.

"Geez, thirty-two data capsules," he said, before looking from one Sciraptor to another. "You two have been busy. Guess that's why they keep two of you down here."

"Chiriit!"

"Chichichi!"

"Sure, whatever you say." Jameson shrugged. "Say, there's a big storm out there - I'm gonna have to stay for a few hours. Got a spare bunk?"

"Bereep!"

"Does that mean yes?" Jameson asked as one of the Sciraptors started to scamper off. "Hey wait, I...I guess it does."

"Chirrt..." said the other Sciraptor, nodding ahead.

"Sure, I'll follow." Jameson smiled. Maybe Sciraptors weren't so bad. "Say, anyone ever tell you little fellows that you're cute?"

"Ciriit!"