A day off...yeah,right.

Story by TheNovelist on SoFurry

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#154 of Exploration


It was a week after my trip to Drakoss' planet that I was up for an annual check up with Arachno. Everybody went through this, because while we may appear fine on the surface, who knew what bugs someone could catch on the planet trips. I was reminded by a quote from Men in Black."When was the last time you had a CAT scan?" "Six months ago, company policy" We were much the same, except this wasn't just a scan, this was a full check up.

This was done on the operating table, and I stripped naked and lay down on it in the style of the Vitruvian Man, arms up and out. The first thing was that a device scanned a blue light from head to foot, and then from fingertip to finger tip, and to make it easy on the poor doctor, I was in my normal human form. Arachno was patient and calm as always, but I knew that the doctor was always a little repressed, and vowed to let him fuck me. He deserved it, and he found me attractive.

As the scan showed I had no serious diseases or broken bones, now came the individual examinations. A device was placed against my ear, and then the doctor began speaking for about a minute about how I had been going, and the device confirmed that my hearing was still fine, although I wondered idly how it was still perfect after all the explosions and noises I had been exposed to.

Then came the eye examination, another little tool being shined into my eyes to check there was nothing wrong with them. My eyesight was pronounced 20/20/20/20/20/20/20/20, the good doctor having a bit of a joke on his behalf. A dentist's examination of my teeth and mouth showed that they were in good health as well.

Then came a bit that I always hate. Arachno gently injected a needle into my shoulder, and took out about 30mLs of my blood. As he set that to scanning, he checked my arms with another scanner, looking for anything the general scanner may have missed, and while on my arms, he took my blood pressure and tested my reflexes by dropping a ruler next to my hand and having me catch it. My left hand was quicker, as usual.

As he worked on my chest, his scanner showed a blip, and I was given an anaesthetic as the doctor made a small incision and removed a small piece of shrapnel from my lowest rib. Further analysis showed it was a bit of structural framework that had pierced the skin and sunk into the bone, and how had I not noticed it. The inch long sliver made me wonder what had hit me, and then I guessed it was part of the explosion of the solinium warhead that took out the Skreek base a few weeks back.

As he began healing the incision he had made, something unexpected happened. Alecto came into the room in a hurry. The fox looked at the doctor in a panic, and then realised he had interrupted during the middle of an examination. He flushed, and made to back out, quietly, but Arachno was already looking towards the fox. "Can I help you, Alecto?" the doctor said in interest. "I really need some Tx-57." the fox replied, these medics knew the specific terms of everything, leaving the layman in the lurch.

"I thought your periods were irregular enough, why do you want to kick start one now?" Arachno looked confused, and the fox blushed again. "I rather wouldn't tell you. It's just very important." As the spider walked over to a cupboard, and Alecto caught full sight of me on the table, I realised what Arachno had just said. There was only one reason that Alecto would actually want his two weeks to kick in, and that would be...oh my god.

"Are you trying to have children, Alecto?" I sat up a bit, and saw the fox flush again. "Alduin,I'd rather not talk about this." "Hey, I'm not complaining, just why the sudden urge right now?" Alecto crossed over to me, and whispered."If you tell anyone, I will kill you." This was serious, and I looked up at the fox."So what is it?"

"Delnom, being cobalt based, only has certain times when his seed is viable to impregnate someone. Nothing we have can change that. He just knows his seed is viable now, and I need to be in my two weeks." "How often is his seed viable?" "About 3 years." I winced. Without Arachno's help, the chances of those two having children ever were really remote.

The spider doctor returned to the table with a small canister and a injector, handing them both to the fox. I looked up and lay back down. "Best of luck then, Alecto." "I'm swearing this, if you tell anyone..." I raised one hand open palm bent back next to my chest. "Scout's Honour, I will not tell anyone." "Thank you, Alduin."

As the fox rushed out, I looked up at Arachno. "How long is a fox's pregnancy?" "About four months. It should be noticeable in about three or so weeks." "What do you think?" "Knowing their respective attributes? I think we're going to have a couple of wolf cubs a few weeks before next New Year." "Why not fox?"

Arachno smiled."You don't know enough medical stuff, do you?" "No, not really, medicine requires biology, and I was hopeless at it." "O.K., the boy's sperm goes into the egg..." "Can it, Arachno, just what's so special about a fox's physiology?" I cut the doctor's jibe in half, but even I found it fairly amusing. "Their DNA is fairly corruptible. An egg impregnated by another species will possibly mutate as though it was a female of the same race. Not always the case with some races, if you had sex with Alecto, it would be a mixed group of cubs and human children."

"But you are certain of them being of Delnom's race?" "Delnom is a cobalt based life form, and his DNA is quite different. His species are more powerful, and any eggs impregnated by him will invariably change to his species. It's sort of like a gene. You know your genetics?" "Yes, Mendel's square, dominant and recessive genes. I have most of the recessive ones, we did a test."

"Well, there is a gene in all of us which basically says what species we give birth to. But a fox's egg, like Alecto, that gene is a lot weaker, it basically says "I don't mind." Delnom's sperm, on the other hand, will assert itself, and all those fox eggs will say O.K., and after four months, little wolf cubs." "Remind me not to fuck Gareth during his two weeks." I replied.

Arachno chuckled."Diversion over, shall we get back to it?" I nodded, and relaxed again. Arachno continued downwards, probing my ass which got me to giggle a bit, and then finished with my feet. He went over to check the results on my blood scan, and then ran a brain scan to check for any abnormalities within my skull. Everything was fine, I was the picture of health, the only blip had been the piece of shrapnel.

Arachno put his tools away, and while I was supposed to be getting dressed, I continued to lie on the table. He turned back to me. "Alduin, is there something else?" "Yes, when's the last time you had sexual enjoyment?" The doctor paused, his many arms rubbing their fingers in a way that suggested he was embarrassed. "Do you have anything else to do right now?" "umm, no."

I spread my legs wide, and the spider came back over, standing between my legs. With a quick movement he spun web around my wrists, tying me to the operating table, but I expected no less, and looked up at him with a smile. "It's not as if I'm going to run away." I teased, and the spider flushed. "I... just..." "Want me secure, I know. Now come on, you deserve some relaxation."

The spider pushed his cock against my ass, and my loose ass flexed aside easily as he entered. Arachno was no dragon, it was getting shamefully easy for a smaller creature to enter me. The spider mounted the table a bit, and he began to fuck me reasonably hard. I moaned at the familiar sensation of my ass being run through, my cock growing hard and erect. Arachno didn't seem to notice, but I had no desire to inform him.

After the good doctor had completed having his wicked way with me, and I had gotten dressed and cleaned up, I decided to visit Abigail's planet and see how she was getting on. Her office was empty, which meant she must be in the garage or on a dinner break, and as I arrived on the planet surface, realised it was the former. Abigail was currently under the Dodge Ram she was modifying for Delnom, and I noticed with some amusement that she had already given it the massive Vulcan miniguns that had been on the Deathrace movie version.

"Whoever that is, can they pass me the ion bonder on my desk?" She called from underneath, and I quickly stepped over to the desk, picked up the implement and then handed it down to the lioness, her fur brushing my hand. "That's a human or an elf, what can I do for you?" "Well, you can continue working on that, for a start, I do not require assistance." There was a whirring noise from underneath the vehicle, and after a few seconds Abby slid out and stood up.

"Hey Alduin, actually that was the last panel. How goes?" "Just had my full examination?" "Let me guess, you failed in all categories?" the lioness smirked at my momentary look of annoyance. "No, perfectly fine, with the exception of some shrapnel. You know, the usual." "You're the only person in this organization who believes shrapnel is a normal thing to be found in a body." the lioness jibed back.

"When you're as reckless and as wicked as me.." I responded, straightening my khaki shirt with a glint of amusement,"Then I tend to expect the unusual odds to be levelled." "They're not level, they get put firmly in the likely section of the curve." "Is it my fault I like to advance the underdog's chances?" "Yes." "Well, I'm the underdog today, and what are my chances against you?" I smiled disarmingly.

Abigail backed hurriedly. "No, I am not going to let you. I'm supposed to be working. You should be doing the same." "Arachno spent an hour making sure I was fit for duty, I'm not cleared to explore a planet this week." "That never stopped you before, Alduin. You've been told to have weeks off only to respond to an emergency. You left New Year to go on planet fall."

"Only because Kodey's family were in mortal danger from attack by the raptors. That counts as mitigating circumstances." "You also forgot to turn your glasses off." "Uhhh, did I?" I looked momentarily non-plussed. "The glowers wanted you to record the Hunt, and you left them on when dealing with the raptors." Abigail admitted, her tail swishing back and forth.

"Well, nothing incriminating I hope." I commented. "Nope, but you added a level of fear into all the newcomers that have seen it." "On the subject," I interrupted," How are Kodey's family settling in?" "They didn't want to be too close to the facility here, I think they fear us in a way." "Well, we did take Kodey away, and save their lives, relocate them, etc. I think the word you're looking for there is awe."

"If you say so. Why did you come here, anyway?" "Random impulse, a strong desire to wing it, see what you were up to, I don't know." "Well, I just finished reassembling the Ram, and I was going to ask Silverine if his anti-world rifle was ready for fixing." "Ohh?" I said interested," What's gone wrong with the Anti-everything weapon?" "Stop being silly. He went to explore a planet, and had to defend himself. After the second shot, there was a shower of sparks from the end of the gun, and the bullet came out in a million pieces. Ever fired a shotgun before?"

"No, but I get the picture." I said quickly, trying to mentally erase the destruction Silverine's weapon could have done as a shotgun, but Abigail didn't help. "Well, apparently there are a couple of trees that aren't looking healthy, and two of the attackers are being treated for shrapnel wounds, rather like yourself in the infirmary." "Ahhh....something wrong with the round, or the weapon itself?" "That's what I intend to check. Silverine likes the weapon as it is supposed to be, a high powered precision..."

"Abigail." I interrupted again," We have a sniper rifle on Earth called a Barrett. THAT is a high powered sniper rifle. Silverine's anti-world rifle is not high powered. That's like calling one of our hyper aircraft a "plane".It doesn't do it justice." "Pedanticness noted." The lioness responded. "What rounds does it use?" "Normal bullets are Armour Piercing, FMJ, High velocity rounds."Abigail pulled up her computer and showed a diagram of the bullets compared to a standard 303 round and a 50 cal. They both looked small compared to the .75 cal."They had to be specially designed around a toughened and larger version of a 50. cal, because of the phenomenal forces they are subjected to."

"So, excluding the unlikely possibility that the sniper rifle itself is malfunctioning, the bullets are still having trouble keeping together given the power of the weapon?" "That's the only other logical explanation." the lioness responded."I mean, those bullets are designed for penetrating levels upon of levels of concrete without breaking up, but unless he was firing a prototype bullet without telling me, then it shouldn't have happened."

"Well, what prototypes does he have available to that weapon?" "The depleted uranium rounds haven't undergone full testing, but it's possible one might have gotten mixed in. They do have a black casing though, and weigh slightly more than...why are you staring at me?" I shook myself. "You have depleted Uranium rounds?" "Yes, but they shouldn't have left the shop, and Silverine should have been able to tell from the weight alone that they were different."

"My dear Abby, we're talking about a wolf hybrid who, when enraged, can toss cars. A half dozen grams either way would not have registered. Shall I go ask if he remembers?" "Could you? I'm not in the habit of asking him anything except when and how much." Abigail commented, the obvious nervousness of the Head Scout visible in her look. "In a heartbeat. You do what you do, I'll ask if he's been firing radioactive rounds. That would also explain the unhealthy trees, and those two in for gun shot wounds should be checked out if that's the case."

"If you confirm it, I will send someone down to the planet with some anti-radiation supplies." "Why did Silverine open fire anyway if we're on speaking terms?" "Alduin," Abigail looked patiently at me," Pretend you're a native for a second, and that hulking monster appears in front of you. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding." "Noted." I teleported back to Central, and jogged to Silverine's office. He was busy making out with Kodey, which I have to admit looked absolutely adorable.

"Alduin, this isn't the best time, could you come back?" Kodey asked politely. I nodded at the reindeer. "I promise to be brief, Abigail needs a riddle solved. Silverine, what's the state of your anti-world rifle?" "I haven't touched it since it became a scattergun. I figured Abigail would want to have a look at it." "Well, could you bring it out and reload it, I need a look at the shell that's been in the breech." Silverine set the reindeer down on the desk and pulled his rifle from behind a small pillar.

He pointed it at the ground and reloaded, the empty cartridge being ejected onto the floor. I scooped it up with a critical eye after changing to my bionic form. "It's black, I thought so." Silverine looked slightly confused as I scanned it and sent it to Abigail's laptop. "What's the significance of the black bullet?" Abigail sent me a text back confirming it was one of the prototype DU rounds.

"When you were picking up the ammo for your weapon, Abigail reckons you picked up one of the prototype rounds she was working on for your weapon. A depleted uranium round that hadn't undergone full testing. The power of your weapon broke it into a thousand pieces." "How did a prototype radioactive round get into my magazine?" Silverine asked. "That's something for you and Abigail to find out. Meanwhile, Abigail suggests checking the room for unnatural levels of radiation."

"That would be Arachno's task, he's the spider with the tools. Or Drason." Silverine commented. Kodey looked slightly uncertain about everything. I casually took steps to leave the room as the Lupogriff started talking on his headset, presumably to one of the two he had just mentioned. Having completed this task, I scanned myself to see if I had gotten any radiation myself. Having made sure I was rad-free, I went to see how Alecto was getting on, having bet that they would have done the deed by now.

Delnom was standing outside the door to his room, looking slightly flushed, and I smiled. "Enjoying yourself, friend?" "Ummm," the wolf began, unaware that I knew. "Don't worry. I was being scanned when Alecto asked our doctor. I know. I wish you the best of luck." Delnom gave a weak grin. "Thanks, I'm a little nervous, and so is he."

"I presume he's giving himself a pregnancy test right now?" "Yes. I couldn't stand watching, so I stepped outside. I'm just hoping it's positive." "As am I, my lupine friend." I stroked his shoulder comfortingly. As we waited, I informed Delnom of my own little dealings of the day, something that slightly amused him in places. He even chuckled a little when he found out that I had had shrapnel in my chest from the Skreek explosion.

"You are incorrigible, Alduin." He commented with a slight grin. "I'll take that as a compliment. I get bored easily, and I find myself needing to be taxed. Even running errands is better than sitting around doing nothing, unless it's a piano practice, which doesn't count as nothing." I responded. Delnom returned serve after my day by giving me a little bit of a cobalt wolf physiology lesson. Iron bloods have it easy compared to some of the drawbacks of being a cobalt.

We were just getting into the thick of it when the door opened, and Alecto practically tackled Delnom against the wall in a passionate foxy hug, crying slightly and holding Delnom slightly off the ground. "It's positive!" he leaned back long enough to kiss Delnom on the lips before resuming the hug. Delnom was a little speechless, though whether that was due to Alecto's over enthusiastic hugging or the fact he just became a potential father to a litter it was hard to tell. Alecto hadn't quite noticed me as yet, and as the fox FINALLY broke off the hug, he turned and saw me.

"Oh, umm, hi Alduin." "Don't worry. Congratulations." I replied with a slight grin. Alecto flushed and hugged me, although not as hard as he had to his boyfriend. I hugged back, giving him a kiss on the side of his furry cheek," Hey, don't smudge the skin with your tears, Alecto. Just had this cleared for active duty." Alecto giggled and broke off the hug, licking my nose teasingly.

"You silly human." "Frequently." I retorted on the spot. Alecto pulled Delnom into the room with a neat grapple, and I presumed that this was alone time for the pair, so I jogged down the corridor further. I found myself lightly cantering down the division from the Glower's quarters. Silverine's door was at the end of this particular corridor, with two heavily fortified doors built into one side, which led to the glower's area. No one had ever gone through these doors, and I idly wondered what was behind them again. Clearly the glowers never used this door, in the sense that it OPENED, the glowers had a habit of hovering straight through doors and walls if they felt it necessary, and thus it was weird these two doors were there.

This was not the first time I had harboured thoughts about walking through, and like last time I continued down the corridor. I always imagined some kind of glower paradise behind those doors. It was their quarters, and their ability to build and design anything meant that they could tailor make the place to their smallest whim. It would be wonderful, magnificent, something that would be amazing to gaze upon from a pair of more mortal eyes.

Fantasising away, I practically bumped into Abigail, who was walking the other way. She paused as she saw me, and I realised she wished to speak to me. "Alduin, could I please talk to you?" "I don't appear to me moving past you, go ahead." I responded with a grin, and then paused as it was not returned. "Ummm, I've got some stuff I'm going to be showing Central sometime after Central New Year, so still a few months away, I was wondering if I could borrow you when demonstrating some of the equipment."

"Am I allowed to know what said equipment is before hand, or would you prefer me going into it blind?" "Oh, you'll get to see some of them. A few of them are going to be a surprise, but the ones that I want to show off with your help I will show you the few days beforehand." "They are quite special, aren't they, and you want to make it a surprise?" I queried, quite surprised by the highly secretive manner Abigail was employing to go about this. "Yes. This is not your standard teleporter patch or necklace translator. The few items I have already been testing are much more interesting."

"Well, you have my pair of hands closer to the time, Abigail. I would be all too happy to help." "Thanks,Alduin, don't tell a soul about it." "How's Silverine dealing with his anti-world rifle?" "All's sorted, Arachno merely gave both him and Kodey a radiation tablet and scanned the room with a scanner. Drason went to the planet and delivered some radiation supplies to the wounded, they were displaying very minor cases of radiation exposure."

"Well, at least everything is alright there." I responded, and Abigail nodded, continuing on down the passageway. I stood there, briefly shaking my head. Did I just have a "confide in me" face today? I continued walking down towards my quarters quietly, and decided to sort out some of the minor paperwork I had accumulated. While a lot of mission reports are done verbally and using the recording functions, I found it quite relaxing to write up a report on Ye Olde Penne and Paper, in English and Centralite. The Centralite language was very runic looking when written down, and I was learning it in it's natural form.

Draco pulled up a seat on the bed opposite about ten minutes into the writing. "Hey, Alduin." "Heya Draco...Dubra vicha Kili dro desideratu..." I muttered out loud, describing a particular unpleasant planet I had been to in Centralite, reading it as I wrote the jagged symbols. Draco chuckled. "It's a bitch to learn, isn't it?" "No kidding." I replied. "So what's the biz, draggy?" "Oh, just got a little bit of news from my fellows at home?"

"Another Ramanahad, or does someone want you only?" "No to the first, and only slightly relevant to the second. Devlin's resuming active duty on Central." THIS got my attention, but only after a rather comical double take. "That's nic..wait, what? For serious?" "Not as involved as he was last time, but I guess he secretly enjoys the occasional exploration too much for a position on the Council of Eight to hold his attention completely." "You know, I'm yet to see one of these Council meetings, of which you and Dev are supposedly members." "Any dragon exploring with Central is automatically an honorary Council member. Tahir is also a member, but that's because he was the first Centralite to make contact with our planet. Being involved in a Council meeting is a fairly serious affair for us. I hardly doubt, however, anyone would object if you were involved in one."

"Yeah, I'm so much of a pain in the posterior, you might as well call me half-dragon." I responded, trying to stop myself from grinning. Draco laughed. "That is certainly cheeky from a little human I could consider bench pressing." he retaliated. "A position only countered by the fact I could return the favour." "Would you like me to test the validity of your claim?" "Would you like me to accept your challenge?" "I take it you're bored." the dragon merely looked amused.

"Nothing like daily reports to remind me of the daily grind. Actually, I kind of like it, it's more natural than typing it up on an wrist computer and getting a heads up display of what you're writing." I commented. "Yeah, don't forget your race had already invented the internal combustion engine and rockets before you came into contact with Central. Us dragons, on our planet, at any rate, would barely be described as medieval in your terms, so I can understand thoroughly." "This is why Silverine still insists on using his claws nine times out of ten." I chuckled. "That's not anti-technology,"Draco protested in a mock sort of way," That's just Silverine's blood thirsty desire to finish his opponent up close and personal."

"So what you were saying is next Council meeting, I'm allowed to come and quietly take part?" I asked. "Yeah, sure. A couple of Centralites have taken part in Council meetings, and as you are one of the Centralite "elite", I imagine there wouldn't be a voice against your presence. I'd suggest keeping your Raptor and your hybridised form you call Starscream though, several of the dragons will undoubtedly be curious as to how you earnt said position, as there are many clans of dragons, and not all of them have heard the rumours of yourself."

"You are being a little generous there, calling me one of the elite, Draco." "Alduin. Anyone that the glowers hold that highly in regard, that was bold enough to say yes to a merging, that can fight like you do and think like you can, is an elite in my books. If you want general consensus, your abilities and natural charm make you a candidate for Chief Scout, with only two things standing in your way. One is a big hairy monster called Silverine, and the second is you'd never enjoy yourself in a position of leadership."

"Uhh, am I that readable?" I seemed non-plussed. "It's not a bad thing. But on several occasions you've shown a general lack of enthusiasm when being told you're leading a team, and you always have a habit of running off and doing your own thing, albeit with an astonishly high level of ruthless efficiency. There are people who are born leaders, like Silverine, and people who are born to follow, like Kodey. Then there's you, the lone wolf with enough sense to act for the team."

"I'd call myself a rogue..." I said weakly, never suspecting before now I was so easily understood. Draco paused, realising he was unnerving me. "Hey, Alduin, don't take it badly. You wanted to know why I called you an elite. Just let me give you an example. When we got forcibly changed by the transformers, what did we all do? Simba was quietly talking to them, I was just standing around, and you spent about 28 seconds thinking about your position, and then took off through the roof in your Raptor form. You adapt amazingly to situations." "True." I admitted, looking at the paper blankly, looking at the words I had written without reading them.

"I don't want to depress you, Alduin, but if you weren't aware of it, Central DOES have a certain chain of command, and you are one of the most influential people here." "Well, what I do about that?" "Just be yourself. You always do." the dragon got off his bed, and hugged me firmly." I wouldn't want you any other way." The dragon walked out, leaving me to think on the reptile's words.

"He's right you know." A glower faded into the visible spectrum. "I'm getting the picture." I replied. "I just wasn't aware I was that important." "If it helps, on a cosmic scale, none of us are that important. The full impact any of us will have on the universe is a blip so small you'd need a microscope to see it." "Heh, thanks for the reality check." I chuckled for the first time. "Any time. Just remember, you are Centralite's most influential rogue." I laughed, hard, and the glower pulsed a few chuckles himself.

"A rogue who hates the idea of being in charge, mind you." I reminded. "That's why they are called rogues, I imagine. Now would you prefer to change the subject?" "Depends, what are we changing it to?" "Well, Alecto's having a baby, Abigail wants to test out her new toys, you wish to talk about them?" "Glower, if there's one thing I've learnt about current events on Central, it's that the glowers already know, and aren't that surprised. Are you going to tell me what Abigail has built?" "No. That is one secret I think we shall keep until the day. What she has done is...quite an achievement, but she will reveal it when it comes."

"What do the glowers think about children?" "Well, they are an essential part of reproduction, and they show the true nature of a parent. I am quite happy for Alecto." "Do glowers even have children?" "Not in the way you creatures do, no." "So what's behind those doors?" The glower chuckled. "Those doors are a test. Proof that despite however curious Centralite Scouts may be, there are some things that they won't get involved in." "So would I be able to survive if I opened them and walked through?"

The glower chuckled some more."Do you want to find out?" I paused. "You're not going to give me a straight answer, are you?" "Perhaps." the glower laughed, and I rolled my eyes.