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Counter Earth Chronicles - Dual Realities

Chapter 8: The Other Side Of The Sky

March 13th YOE 35

1:09 PM World One (Counter Earth)

A little human is accompanying his overseer on her patrol one afternoon after his conditioning therapy session with Sir Ram was postponed....

The afternoon sun was shinning brightly, the temperature was about 45 degrees as winter was yielding to spring. It was a great afternoon to be out and about and away from the confines of Castle Wundagore and a certain evil ram.

"It is so great to be back in the saddle again!" I shouted from the passenger seat of the white coupe. Of course I was quickly corrected.

*Quite the contrary Mr. Winter; you have not been reinstated to your previous position assisting the knight core.*

"Thank you automated assistant." I harumpthed.

*Anytime Mr. Winter.*

"You know what, I think I like Overwatch much more than you." I growled under my breath.

*The original automated assistants along with their prototypes are unavailable at the moment.*

(Which is why we are stuck with you.)

"The automated assistant speaks the truth Alex. You are only with me because your latest session with Sir Ram has been rescheduled." My warrior bear announced.

I noticed she was wearing that uniform of hers that I liked, you know the bluish black one with the gold highlights. I liked how it made her look especially imposing and powerful.

"Yes mistress." I replied as I tapped my fingernails on the window ceil near the passenger seat.

*Sir Ram and Mara are very busy retrofitting the original prototypes.*

"Was that privileged information meant for my ears?" I said perking up.

Realizing its slip up the automated assistant clammed up.

(Perhaps the white prototype series is in need of a retrofit too.)

I remained quiet while the female knight of Wundagore brought the white coupe we were in to a full stop at a corner near a nice upscale neighborhood.

"This should do. Automated assistant, activate the surveillance probe. Set radius for a mile."

*Acknowledged Lady Ursa.*

"Begin passive scans for any and all negative activity against the empire." The bear warrior ordered.

"Negative activity? Passive scans? That is new." I said as the probe appeared on its launch pad behind us.

"Yes, new protocols Lord Tiger has developed to seek out and quash any and all challenges to the empire."

*No negative activity detected Lady Ursa.*

"Good." The female brown bear said as she continued analyzing the display in the upper monitor of the center stack.

"Mistress, I don't understand. I thought ALL opposition to the empire had been extirpated while I was incarcerated?"

"It was. Now we are taking proactive measures to make sure that our master, your master's new golden age is not threatened EVER again." Lady Ursa said tossing me a casual glance with her gold colored eyes.

"That is a very proactive approach." I said staring at the nice block of ranch style homes to our right. Brown roofs, white walls, manicured lawns, brick drive ways, it was obvious that no humans lived in this neighborhood or possibly could ever hope to afford to.

*Alert! Lady Ursa I detect in coming!*

"On screen!" My fierce ursine warrior ordered the automated assistant.

"I can't make it out." I said trying to interpret the dotted image from the probe's scanner I was seeing on the upper left monitor.

"It looks like a hover vehicle in destress Alex!"

\ **It should be coming into view in 3.... 2.... 1.... now!**

My mistress and I looked upward through the domed windshield to see a yellow hover vehicle cart-wheeling through the air like it was a flicked card from a deck of fifty two playing cards.

"Now that is something you don't see every day or ever." I said with my jaw opened.

"It looks like the vehicle has suffered from a catastrophic systems failure!" My fierce ursine warrior said recalling the probe and powering on the white prototype.

**If it continues on its current trajectory it will reach the city center in a matter of moments.* *

"There are some tall buildings down there mistress! Automated assistant plot an intercept course and prepare the tractor hooks!" I shouted as the she bear started the pursuit.

*I can't comply Mr. Winter.*

"Automated assistant his orders are mine!" Lady Ursa barked engaging hover mode.

*Acknowledged side-pods engaged.*

The white coupe made a steep 60 degree assent into the sky. I was thrown back against the seat as we took off. Thank goodness for the passive restraints.

My she beast tried hard to match the same altitude of the cart wheeling yellow hover vehicle which looked like it was some sort of old style sedan.

"Automated assistant time to intercept?" The warrior bear asked as she was finally able to match the same altitude of the hover vehicle.

*Recalculating. Not soon enough I am afraid. It is headed for the Archives Building.*

"The building with the large spire?!" I shouted.

*Yes.*

"The driver will be killed and the debris fallout will rain on the populace far below!" My fierce ursine warrior said pushing the white prototype hard to catch up to the tumbling sedan.

"Faster, mistress faster!!!"

"I am trying Alex! I am trying!"

*1500 feet... 1000 feet.... 500 feet...* The on board computer announced.

"Good enough! Lock on tractor hooks and fire!" Lady Ursa announced.

*Target locked. Engaging tractor hooks.*

*THOK!!!*

I watched as the pointed hooks fired from either side of our hover vehicle headed toward the yellow sedan.

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" I shouted.

*BOUNCE* *BOUNCE*

And the hooks were knocked away by its tumbling chassis.

"OH NO!! What do we do?!" I shouted trying figure out how to stop the impending crash.

"Retract the hooks!" My perfect person said making a selection on the weapons screen. She then maneuvered the prototype within two hundred feet of the yellow sedan. "This is going to hurt!! Brace yourself..."

(Uh oh!)

With that the female brown bear pressed the left toggle switch on the weapon's console.

*Deflector engaged.*

"Extend to encompass that vehicle!"

*Acknowledged Lady Ursa.*

*KRAAAAASH*

The white coupe then braked really hard.

The yellow sedan's cart wheeling stopped as it hit the edge of the protective shield jarring us as well. The impact with the large spire of the Archives Building in World One had been averted. But the damage to the sedan was extensive; it looked more like an accordion then a hover vehicle. It was amazing that the arial traffic around us had not been affected.

"Automated assistant tighten defectors and bring us down." The female knight ordered.

"That vehicle is pretty beat up. I hope it's driver survived." I said staring at the crushed vehicle immediately in font of us."

A few moments later we were on the ground and the yellow sedan was laying on its passenger side. I immediately opened the dome of the white coupe and ran out to investigate.

*Careful Mr. Winter! You don't know what is in there.*

(Indeed.)

I stared into the vehicle from the windshield- there was a thin woman dressed in a navy blue overalls and a green jacket. She had salt and pepper hair and was slumped over the steering wheel.

(This looks bad.)

"Mistress the doors are crushed. I can't open them." I tried pulling on the handle.

"What about the driver?" The bear woman asked fiddling with the weapons menu.

"Miss? Hello miss?" I asked tapping on the windshield. "I think she is dead."

"Alex step back." Lady Ursa warned.

*Laser engaged.*

I watched as a thin red beam fired from the left side-pod of the white prototype and with surgical precision hit the outer most layer of the sedan like it was slicing a loaf of bread. What had been cut slid off from the rest of the chassis to the ground.

I stepped on the debris and then approached the upturned driver side door. The woman who appeared to be middle aged didn't have a mark on her body. But she was also very still. I poked at her.... as Lady Ursa walked up beside me. There was no reaction.

"Step aside." My she beast warned. She then reached inside and picked up the woman by the scruff of her uniform which was a one piece.

"She is not moving." I gasped thinking we were witnessing a tragedy.

The warrior bear placed a paw finger underneath the woman's nose then onto her neck.

"Alex, she is not dead. She is asleep!"

"You mean she fell asleep while piloting?!"

*SNORE*

*Affirmative.*

"Of all the irresponsible things to do!" My fierce ursine warrior gently shook the woman who then just snored louder as if she was sleeping in her own bed. Lady Ursa then shook her a little harder. "WAKE UP!!!"

At that moment, I decided to get a med kit from the prototype. Returning, I gave her a quick once over.

"Hmm.... According to this she is suffering from extreme exhaustion. That would explain the sleeping while piloting."

*The attitude control should have prevented the vehicle from tumbling through the air and the proximity monitor should have prevented it from approaching the spire.*

"If it was working. It wasn't." The female brown bear said glancing into the vehicle. "It looks like those systems haven't been operational for some time."

*It is a wonder that the hover vehicle was operational at all.*

"Well she was fortunate to survive this. There is not a scratch on her." I replied packing up the med scanner.

"Perhaps, but she is also in a lot of trouble." The bear grumbled.

"Who is she?" I asked.

Lady Ursa scanned the woman's tracking chip with her communicator. "Harmony Holiday. She lives in the Stuyvesant neighborhood in the basement of the city."

*Well she is a long way from home and out past curfew.*

"And I would like to know why? Automated assistant put me through to her overseer." My mistress said placing the sleeping woman on the ground.

Lady Ursa and I returned to the white coupe just in time to see an orange bay cat appear in the upper left monitor.

(Her overseer is Lian?!)

"Lady Ursa. This isn't going to be a social call is it?" Lea's boyfriend asked.

He was wearing a red shirt with striking white pin striping down its center and on its sleeves.

"A woman you were responsible for was nearly involved in a fatal collision just now." The female knight began.

"Who? Harmony Holiday?" The cat asked as his short ears went flat and his mouth opened wide.

"Harmony Holiday. She fell asleep while driving and nearly hit the archives building." The female knight said emotionless.

*It was as if she was piloting her vehicle on holiday.*

"She was supposed to check in with me when she arrived at her destination. Is she ok?" Lian asked.

"She was in an area she was not supposed to be in and at a time she wasn't allowed to be. She is for now. But she is in a lot of trouble."

"Lady Ursa, I will speak for her." The bay cat responded his ears still flattened.

"She had your permission then?" My mistress said staring down the feline.

Watching the interaction between the two made me realize the intensity of the discussion Lian and Lea must have had when he announced to her that he wanted to become an overseer. No telling if Lea was still mad at him about it.

"Yes. I personally vetted her myself. She is a good person who has just received a bad lot in life."

"Go on." My she beast ordered.

"The years have not been kind to her Lady Ursa. You see she is a single mother of three who lost her job during the human unrest before the crackdown. Afterwards she was having a very hard time making ends meet; with human activity severely curtailed, there were no jobs in human designated areas of the five cities and most beastials have become adversed to hiring humans."

"But that changed when you became her overseer?" The gold eyed bear said perceptively.

"Yes madam knight." Lian replied.

"How exactly?" I asked looking at those short ears of his that were still flat.

"I used my contacts; I found her a janitorial job at Counter Earth Cosmetics in World Three."

"Let me guess she has been working long hours there and the commute was a bear." I snickered as my mistress cut her eyes at me.

"Alex this is serious." She grumbled.

"This was her only means to support herself and her family Lady Ursa." The yellow eyed bay cat said. His voice was somewhat desperate.

"Lian, I know you were only trying to help someone out of a bad situation. But that is not the function of an overseer." The warrior chastised Lea's beau.

"I know an overseer is supposed to keep their humans on a tight leash- and know their movements, whereabouts and even their activities at all times." Lian said.

"You are getting the picture." Lady Ursa said staring directly at me. Her eyes piercing me like the laser that cut open the yellow coupe. "Ms. Holiday's actions nearly cost her, her life Lian and others theirs." My she beast said sternly to the bay cat.

"I know as a knight your are supposed to uphold the master's laws." The orange cat said glumly. "So what is to become of the Ms. Holiday?"

I know my warrior bear had every right to take the female human in to be judged and punished. But she also had some degree of latitude. Lian's subtle pleading might be moving her as well.

"Lian. If I forgive Ms. Holiday's transgressions, can you assure me that it won't happen again in a day, a week, a month?"

"Um... I... err..."

(Then again maybe not.)

"Mistress, are you really going to haul this woman in just for trying to support her family?" I asked my warrior bear.

"Alex...."

"I mean who is going to take care of her children while she is gone?" I said throwing out the obvious.

Lady Ursa stared at the steering wheel for a moment while Lian and I stared at her.

"Lian meet me at the Stuyvesant neighborhood in twenty minutes." The fierce ursine warrior said ending the communication.

The Stuyvesant neighborhood was one of the better looking neighborhoods in the basement of World One if you could say that. There were some green space broken up by the grey and orange apartment buildings and multi dwelling complexes.

As we approached we found Lian standing in front of a very small park which consisted of a small row of trees, some grass and park benches. He was surrounded by some of the local residents in faded jackets, coats, patched pants and other disheveled clothing. I counted about seventeen including a bald headed gentleman with a black trimmed beard. He was wearing a green shirt and blue pants. I guess a beastial coming to their neighborhood was a big deal here.

The crowd watched as the white coupe lowered the barely recognizable yellow sedan to the ground and set down behind it.

As the dome of the prototype opened up a very embarrassed Harmony Holiday stepped out of the vehicle followed by myself and my bear knight.

"Automated assistant engage the probe passive scans." Lady Ursa ordered.

*Acknowledged.*

"Overseer!" The woman said approaching Lian. She then dropped to one knee lowering her head in shame as if he were some sort of god. "What can I say?"

"That you took advantage of this kind beastial's charity and abused his trust Harmony." The bald headed man said stepping forward from the crowd. "By your actions today you made us look very bad in the eyes of the preferred citizenry."

"Lady Ursa, Alex Winter this is Riz, he is the head of the neighborhood watch here in Stuyvesant." The orange cat said.

"I like to think of myself more of a community leader." The man said bowing respectfully. "I try to keep the others here in line as not to make a nuisance or a problem for the knight core."

"Trouble reports for this section of the basement are very low. But there is one tonight. Ms. Holiday step forward." The fierce ursine warrior ordered.

"I... know my actions today were very irresponsible and you would be well within your right to have me judged." The salt and pepper haired woman began.

"And punished." The female knight said crossing her arms. "Given the circumstances the loss of your vehicle is suitable punishment... for now."

"But how will I make it to work?" The woman stammered.

"HARMONY!!!" Riz said correcting her.

"Yes, madam knight you have been most charitable this evening." Ms. Holiday responded bowing.

"I am also placing you on probation." Lian added.

"Your schedule will be adjusted to only activities that have your Overseer's approval. Any further transgressions and it will be very bad for you and your family." My mistress said gently, but sternly.

"Yes Riz added. Now go home and think about your actions."

Harmony nodded. She ran and hugged Lady Ursa, then Lian before entering a nearby doorway at a orange building. After she had left, the crowd encircled the yellow sedan and started working on it.

"Beastials thank you find your kindness and leniency." The bald headed man replied. "I will make sure that there are no further incidents."

The bear and bay cat nodded.

"Riz what is going on over there?" I asked the community leader.

"We are making sure that Harmony's hover vehicle will be operational when her probation period ends."

"That is very nice of you." I said scanning the crowd. There was a red headed woman assisting a blond grizzled man working on the vehicle's frame. She gave me a wink.

"Of course you see we take care of our own."

I missed Riz last comments trying to place the two faces in the crowd I had seen. They seemed familiar.... Iya Summers and Augustice Striker!!!

The two soldiers from the Alliance Primrose, Cody and I had met in Dr. First's hospital during our accidental trip to the waring states period of Counter Earth's past 118 years ago. Those two returned with us and decided to explore the empire for themselves; I hadn't seen either in about four years.

As Lian, my mistress and I departed I watched as the crowd rebuilding Harmony Holiday's hover vehicle. I guess with their activities curtailed and severely restricted it would make sense that second class citizens would start coming together to raise, support and prop up each other in these trying times for humanity. I also wondered what Iya Summers and Augustice Striker thought about the current events they now found themselves in.

To Be Continued....

[MEANWHILE]

March 13th YOE 35

1:09 PM Unknown (Chaundoon?)

"Alex wake up." I heard a voice retching in the darkness. "Alex..."

*BLARF*

(That sounded like my perfect person vomiting and smelled like it too.)

As I came around the smell of stomach acid was in the air. I tried to make out the rest but I was having trouble seeing, hearing and breathing.

There was this stuff- mucous all over my body. It was in my ears, eyes, nose, mouth, even my anus and penis. My body ached and I was cold.

I dropped to my knees and started retching as my body tried expelling this stuff from my nose, mouth, ears, eyes and the remaining orafices below my waist.

"What is this stuff?" I said as I continued retching.

"Pervasive goo." Lady Ursa responded. "What is the last thing you remember?"

My memory was so hazy.

"We were trying to set up a communications relay... it wasn't working... you discovered a castle in the clouds... we landed on one of the buildings to test the relay and... and..."

"We were approached by these multicolored gum drop shaped beings -large ones. They had one eye, a small antennae and goopy, gloppy limbs. They surrounded us." My warrior bear said.

"And you warned me to make no sudden movements and then..."

My memory of the events returned in a series of flashes....

Lady Ursa and I tried greeting the beings....

A green one nearest to us extended its limbs to invade our ears, nose, mouth and eyes....

We couldn't breathe...

We had been attacked, the relay as well as us were taken...

We were plastered like art to a wall....

Our clothing removed...

Tentacled goopy gloppy limbs invaded our very being from all sides- they entered my mistress' anus, her vagina, her ears, eyes, nose and mouth. Digging, probing, exploring....

They did the same to me probably marveling that our genitalia was different...

We were examined until we passed out then examined again....

When I realized this goo on the outside and inside of my body were the remnants what the beings had done to me, I vomited too.

When it was over, I performed a self assessment- my anus and penis ached, my nose, ears, eyes and mouth had goo in them as well my belly button it was quite disgusting.

Now we found ourselves in this cold, dark blackness.

"Mistress are we dead?"

"No pet." My she beast said reaching toward the sound of my voice. She feebly pulled me toward her person.

She had goo all over her too.

"I am naked." I said noticing that I was feeling drafty in places I shouldn't have been."

"I am too Alex."

"Those things violated us." I concluded.

My she beast did a quick check of her body and then mine. Her touch, those paws feeling my shoulders, arms, and legs felt very nice but the amount of goo she discovered on our bodies was unnerving.

"Yes." Was the female knight's horrifying conclusion.

"That was a hostile act. Which is odd, of all the creatures we have encountered on this world none of them have been hostile- well, excluding the cave needles. Why did they attack us? Were they upset we landed on one of their buildings?"

"Perhaps they have never seen a human or beasital before or maybe their species doesn't have males or females. I don't know pet, but I don't feel well."

(So much for making a break for it.)

"Could the symptoms of your condition be coming back? How long have we been in here?" I asked as we huddled together for warmth.

"At least three days because I feel like I am coming down with something." The she bear replied.

"So what do we do?"

"So asks the hostile environment specialist." The female beastial said with sarcasm in her voice.

"Yes, quite right." I said mustering my remaining strength. "We need to figure out what is this place and how to escape it."

"Correct, we will settle with these creatures at another time."

With that I started crawling away from her feeling the wall she had been leaning on. It was smooth to the touch. But I couldn't make out the material- it kind of reminded me of a upside down bowl.

"Alex talk to me." My she beast said in the darkness.

"I think we are underneath some type of dome."

"It appears to be about 500 feet in diameter. The floor is striated." My perfect person observed.

(That's right bears can see in the dark.)

"Mistress do you see any type of door or portal?"

"Negative."

"Hmm...."

"You know it is really amazing how we keep finding ourselves in situations like this." My warrior bear said reclining against the wall. "What is it this time? A prison like the Maximum or spaceship like during our KLIS abduction?"

I heard her gasp at the second revelation.

"Alex what if it is the KLIS, what if they have found me again?"

"Well, with you just birthing your first cub I could see that they could have a profound interest in re-examining you."

"Not helping pet! In my weakened state I can't defend myself."

"Mistress even if you were at a 100% you couldn't defend yourself, nor I. Remember we were incapacitated and couldn't do anything until they decided they were finished and no longer had a use for us."

That made me wonder if we are in a similar predicament again. There was no apparent way of contacting World Seven. The best we could hope for was that Feleen seeing our situation had gone for help. But if she had, she should have returned by now.

(But if we were still in the cloud city she is going to have a hard time trying to find us.)

"I see no means of escape mistress."

"What is your assessment?"

"We are going to be in this dark and cold place indefinitely." I said feeling myself getting weaker.

My fierce ursine warrior was silent for a moment. "Alex to me."

I crawled back across the floor toward her voice. When I reached her she was lying on her back looking up at the ceiling. I knelt by her side. As I dropped to one knee her left paw reached for my scrotum which she started kneading. Her thumb then moved to my penis.

"Mistress?!"

"Your semen has curative properties does it not?"

"Not curative." I replied as I felt myself growing aroused.

"That's right, it alleviates symptoms for a time."

"Which has allowed you and Shakara to live as normal lives as possible." I said a my impregnator started growing.

"Close enough, now come here."

Obediently I obeyed hoping that who ever had taken us was not watching us get frisky. I crawled on top of my perfect person, lowered my head and kissed her deeply and passionately.

Her paws found my shoulders and started caressing them before moving down to my lower back and then my posterior. When she saw that I was ready, the knight of Wundagore pulled me to her make sure that her little human entered her just right.

I felt her inner hand admist the goo grasp my manhood while she wrapped her legs around me. "What does Shakara say?"

"One warm happy." I moaned as her paws rested on my back and bottom.

"Yes one of those pet. Make me better."

And so in the darkness of some cold dark, something with this weird goo still on and within our bodies, I made love to my warrior bear with what remaining strength I had. In and out, out and in rub, rub, rub. Despite our circumstances, I was able to find the sex tickle which started in my nether regions then preceded through my testicles making its way up my shaft to the head of my penis. I rested my head on my perfect person's breasts.

Lady Ursa immediately knew the signs. My testicles drew toward my body, my toes curled. She knew she was about to become very, very, very wet.

"Now where is my essence of winter?" She teased.

"Right here my love... WAGH!!!" I shouted as I painted her cub tunnel with numerous ropes of my jizz.

Lady Ursa held me close as my orgasm subsided. As she started feeling better, she moved me to the side and stood up.

"THAT'S RIGHT!!!" She rumbled.

When I could form a coherent thought again I looked up at where I thought she was standing.

"Mistress?"

"That did it pet. Now let's find a way out of here."

(So glad that I could help.)

My warrior bear picked up where I left off, searching the perimeter of where we were for an exit. She checked where we had been laying, the walls and even the ceiling. Clawing, scraping and scratching. I noticed she was also dripping droplets of my own goo here and there. I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as I realized I had once again laid the beast.

That was around the time the striations in on the floor started glowing turning a reddish purple and down she came as did I weaker then we were before.

"Oh come on!!" I shouted. "Mistress!" I yelled crawling over to her.

"It is gone. I now know how weak and a frail a newborn feels."

"Yes, but this also confirms something else- we are being observed."

"Correct. We made a move and then they countered." The female bear said rolling over to the side of the what ever we were in again.

"So let's counter their counter." I said as the glowing faded and the floor returned back to normal. "But what to do next...."

"Alex look at the walls!"

All around us they had suddenly started to glow white before the dome became alive with images.

"It's us!"

It was like someone was playing a best of reel of my mistress and I on a pseudo version of the hub. There were scenes from our life here on Chaundoon- me working in the infirmary, piloting the prototypes, Lady Ursa on patrol, her birthing her daughter, her and myself on the rooftop of our townhome observing the city.

That was when it got down right creepy. The images switched to our lives on Counter Earth during the previous year- the year of hell.

I watched as my fierce ursine warrior was turned into an Other the day of the fall, her finding me after she was rejected, our botched raid on Sir Ram's lab in World Five, my abduction and transformation into an Other, my time as a minion of ONE, my rebellion and ultimate rejection and escape.

Talk about feeling violated. The images of our lives from both Counter Earth and Chaundoon continued to display on every piece of the dome for the next several hours. Lady Ursa and I eventually grew tired of watching and I was growing increasingly disturbed.

There was one consolation though the images provided just enough light for me to see what my mistress could see in the dark. We were underneath a spherical dome with no entrance or exit points save for the....

(That had to be it!)

I marshaled what remaining strength I could and crawled to the center of our 'holding pen' on the striated floor. I chose a spot and started digging.

"Alex?" My she beast called out to me.

"Mistress I could use those sharp claws of yours."

She joined me and dug. The material we were standing was something unfamiliar to us, it was thin, soft, but yet flexible. My she bear clawed through it. Underneath there was another layer and then another layer, another layer then.

*KLINK*

"I think I broke through." She said to me.

I moved to her side as she expanded the hole.

"Oh my."

"Pet?"

"We aren't in a dome mistress but a upper half of a sphere. The striated flooring was separating us from the bottom of the sphere." I said looking back into the hole. Directly underneath us was a black utility vehicle. "Looks like Feleen never went for help."

"Let's go!" The beastial knight said dropping through the floor. I followed.

"Feleen! Are you there?" I said crawling into the passenger seat of the cab.

There was no response. Nothing inside was illuminated.

"Now we know why she didn't come to rescue us. She has been powered down."

"You mean she has been turned off?!"

"Apparently so." Lady Ursa said opening the driver's side door and crawling in. She then pressed several buttons around the monitor in the center of the dashboard bringing Attack Beast and its automated assistant back to life.

*Alex, Lady Ursa?* The former sentinel asked. *Where are we?*

"I think we are still within that city we found." My mistress said concluded.

*We were taken prisoner?*_ _

"It would appear." I replied. "Status?"

*I feel weak.*

"What is Attack Beast's status?" I said clarifying as the empty space outside our sphere became illuminated.

*Forty percent there has been a significant power drain.*

"Alex!"

"My theory was true, we were being observed all this time."

Outside the sphere were many, many of the one eyed gum drop creatures- too many to count. They were motionless, just staring at the human and beastial siting in the black hover vehicle as if we were some form of entertainment within a concert venue.

"Why have you done this?!!!" I shouted at the observers.

For all my effort, I received no response only more stares. Very creepy.

"Feleen assume control of Attack Beast."

*Acknowledged.*

"Get us out of here." My she beast said slumping over the steering wheel. Coughing up more goo.

The black utility vehicle powered on. The camper portion on its bed raised slightly and became a rotating turret.

*Laser system engaged.*

Feleen cut through sphere. I watched as the upper portion we were in slid to the side revealing a escape route.

*Engaging hover mode.*

It looked like our prison sphere was within a larger room in one of the structures of the sky city. Attack Beast burst through the ceiling, several walls and out of the building.

*Plotting a course back to World Seven. I think we have enough power to arrive in one piece... barely.*

"Alex how long were we those things captive?"

I pressed a few buttons on the viewscreen in the center stack. "Five and a half days mistress."

*Do we know why we were taken? What were their intensions?*

"Unknown Feleen. We can only begin to speculate." My she bear responded as she slumped backward in her seat.

"But did you look at them while they were observing us?"

*That crowd exhibited emotionless, blank stares; it was rather eerie.*

"They were intensely focussed like in a trance." I said laying my head on the dashboard.

"We will have to warn the rest of the core of this threat when we get back. It looks like our lives on Chaundoon have gotten even more complicated." My she beast replied.

*More importantly. You both need to be checked out to make sure those creatures didn't physically damage your bodies or use you for something sinister like incubating offspring.*

"Now that is a disturbing thought." The brown bear moaned.

"How did you arrive at that conclusion Feleen?" I asked.

*Simple. You and Lady Ursa are both leaking.*

To Be Continued.... _ _