The Visitors - Chapter 5
#5 of The Visitors
The Visitors
The Visitors - Chapter 5 - Single, and hating it.
This story is © 2002 - 2004 by Christian Schimkowitsch.
Stanley, Nicolle and Melanie are © by Christian Schimkowitsch.
This story may not be sold or used for commercial profit in any form or fashion. This story may not be modified in any way. This story may not be posted on a mirror site or any other Internet site without the written permission of the author. This story may not be distributed on print, magnetic, electrical, optical or any other mediums.
A soft chime woke me from an uneasy sleep. The night had not gone well, I had been awake more than I had been asleep, tossing and turning, drifting in and out of sleep. Again and again I had gotten up and checked the phone, hoping that Melanie and Nicolle were willing to talk to me again. Again and again I had been disappointed. I could not really fault them for being angry with me after the way I had hurt them, but it seemed to me that they were overreacting a little. I turned around and buried my head under the pillow, not wanting to get up. But the chiming sound was repeated every few seconds, a little louder every time. After a few minutes I got up and stumbled over to the computer.
"Good morning, Stan!" Bonnie looked almost unbearably cheerful "Rise and shine. It's time for some more exams."
"Oh, no!"
"Yes!" She grinned cruelly, clearly enjoying my state of unhappiness. "You'll have to."
"What's the point? Melanie and Nicolle won't talk to me."
"Well, as you know, we can't send you back. So unless you pass the examinations, you'll have to stay in quarantine. But we won't let that happen." She grinned, showing a lot of her needle-sharp teeth "I'll be there to pick you up in an hour. I'd suggest you shower and have breakfast. You will come with me."
"And if don't?"
"It's your choice, I can come alone, or I can bring a few of the nice males from security."
"All right, you win." I pressed the button to disconnect the call, but not quickly enough to cut off her cheerful "See you!"
#####
A chime announced a visitor. A minute later the door opened and Bonnie came in, wearing her Hazmat suit. "Hello, Stan. Ready?"
"As ready as I'm going to get." I grumbled, got up and entered the airlock. She closed the door and started the decontamination cycle that would allow us to go outside.
I was poked and prodded the rest of the morning. They put me through several more scans and recalibrated my collar. After a short lunch I had to do several aptitude and psychological tests. I didn't do well on them at all, I could not think about anything but Melanie and Nicolle.
Bonnie called " Stan!" I looked up from the screen and turned around "What's the matter with you? You can't take that long to answer these questions!"
"Sorry."
"What's the matter with you?"
"I... It's Nicolle and Melanie. I just can't think about anything else."
"Stan, please, you have to pass these tests if you want to get out of here."
"I know, Bonnie. It's just that... right now I don't really care."
"Please, try a little harder. I'm sure they'll forgive you. Eventually. Focus on the test."
"I'll try." I said dubiously.
Half an hour later Bonnie stopped me and told me that I would have to repeat the tests. But there was no point in going on. It was late afternoon when she took me back to my room. When the door to my room opened, I said "Bye." and walked in without looking at her.
"Stan." I stopped and turned around. She closed the distance and hugged me. "Please don't give up. We all care for you. Please." She looked up at my face, her kitty eyes pleading "Promise?"
"Ok. I'll try." I just could not resist a look that cute.
She pressed the face shield of her helm against my cheek and pressed her lips against it, kissing me. "Good bye, see you tomorrow. I know they'll forgive you, trust me. Please."
The hug and kiss had helped me more than I thought possible and cheered me up immensely, at least for the moment. I kissed the face shield "Bye, Bonnie. Thank you." She held me for a moment longer, then she left the room.
I lounged around for a while, watching the news and surfing the web. Nothing held my interest for long, my thoughts always returned to the two femmes who had so suddenly become the center of my life and even more suddenly left a huge hole behind.
Trying to cook my own dinner was a mistake. Again and again my thoughts returned to the Nicolle and Melanie, I was so distracted, I cut my finger, very nearly severing it. Bonnie's face appeared on the screen a few seconds after I had cut myself, apparently they watched me very closely or the medical sensors had picked up my distress. She quickly directed me to the medicine kit. Actually, medicine kit was a serious understatement, the only thing I had to do was to open it and put my hand on the plate. Several robotic arms extruded from it and proceeded to clean and disinfect the wound. Then they applied a pinkish goo to the wound before they began to sew the two sides together. Bonnie informed me that the goo was kind of synthetic flesh that would make sure everything healed properly. Over the next few hours normal cells from my body would replace it. Finally the cut was covered by synthetic skin.
I felt hardly any discomfort and the wound could only be seen because the synthetic skin did not quite match the color of my own.
"You ok, Stan?"
"Yes. Thank you, Bonnie." I flexed my fingers a few times "This is great, I can feel hardly any pain."
"Normally, you wouldn't feel any, but I didn't dare to give you too much of the painkiller. I'm probably overcautious, but I don't want to cause any additional problems."
"That's fine. Maybe it's better like this, otherwise I would not have any incentive to be careful in the future."
She laughed "Maybe you are right."
"Thanks. Ummm... something else... Do you think it's ok to send more flowers or something?"
"Did they reject them?"
"I don't know."
"Then they probably didn't. The flower shop would have informed you if they had. So, yes, it's all right to send more."
"Ok. Thank you. Do you think they'll appreciate them?"
"I'm pretty sure. If they really did not want to see you again, they would not have accepted the flowers at all. I'm not saying that they have forgiven you or will forgive you soon, but at least they are still thinking about it."
"Thank you, again. Good night, Bonnie."
"Good night, Stan." She closed the connection.
I dumped the remains of my aborted attempt at dinner in the trash and dialed up a ready-made dinner. While I waited for it I ordered more flowers for Nicolle and Melanie. I still felt horrible, but at least Bonnie had managed to give me some hope that they would eventually forgive me.
I finished my meal, showered and went to bed. I tossed and turned for a while but I slept better than I had the day before.
#####
The next day started better than the previous one. If the choice had been mine, I would have stayed in bed, but Bonnie made it clear that she would not take "No" as an answer. So I got up, got dressed and ate breakfast. Bonnie took me to another medical examination. This time it lasted only half an hour. Ken, the doctor told me that things were coming along nicely, that they had identified several types of microbes that seemed important for my health but were possibly dangerous for them. They were currently looking for ways to replace them with indigenous types that would fulfill a similar role in their body. They were also well on their way to identify diseases I would have to be vaccinated against. He told me that he did not see any problems, but it would take at least another week for everything to be finished.
I redid the tests I had flubbed on the day before and finished them. This time Bonnie and the shrinks were satisfied with my performance. I returned to my rooms for lunch.
Afterwards Bonnie took me to a kind of conference room where I spent the next few hours answering questions. The six furs, all specialists in various fields of knowledge, asked me all kind of questions, about my upbringing, education, beliefs, about my world and the politics there. It wasn't quite an interrogation, but close. They had told me that I did not have to answer any question if I found it to be too personal or distasteful but that they had to get a complete picture of me and the world I had come from. They all were easy to talk to and the four femmes among them were rather easy on the eyes, too. They were good, I never felt the need to try to hide anything from them. From the way they looked at me, I was quite sure that all of them had seen the videos with me, Melanie and Nicolle. They never said anything outright, but I was sure of it. I also got the impression that no one of them looked down on me because of them, rather that they would have liked to participate.
It was not exactly unpleasant, but I was glad when one of the femmes, the head shrink in charge of me decided to end the discussion for the day. I was not exactly tired, but I felt drained after talking for more than five hours. Bonnie led me back to my room. This time she did not follow me into the room, but we said our good-byes in the airlock.
A big surprise was waiting for me, the computer had a message for me:
Hello Stan!
We are both very angry with you. The way you threatened us hurt us deeply. But we can't deny the fact that you are the father of the kits we are now carrying. We will talk once you come out of the quarantine.
Nicolle & Melanie
p.s.
Thank you for the flowers.
Attached is a picture of us to keep you company until we meet again.
I stared at the screen and wondered "Is that 'and we are glad you are' or 'unfortunately it's too late to change this'?" With trembling fingers I clicked on the attached file. It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at. It was them, I was pretty sure about it, the only thing was... the picture showed only the floor and their feet, it cut off mid-shin. I don't know how long I sat motionless, torn between hope and total humiliation. I did not have any doubt what they were implying.
I got up and staggered into the kitchen where I drank several glasses of water. What I wanted was vodka, but the menu did not include any alcohol or other drugs. Since I was hungry I dialed up a sandwich, which my body ate on automatic as my mind swirled around in circles.
After a while I called Bonnie, I suddenly felt the need to talk to someone.
"Hi, Stan. What's up?"
"Hello. I ummm... need to talk... is that ok?"
"Sure."
"Nicolle and Melanie sent a message."
" Great!" She looked at me and the smile on her muzzle faded "Not so good or bad?"
"Not sure. They wrote that they are angry and hurt but that I am still the father of their kits. And that we'll talk when I get out of here."
"Well, that's at least something."
"They also sent a picture. Of their feet. I guess they want me to grovel and kiss their feet or something."
"Hmmm... that would be my guess as well."
"Yeah, right. So I'll have to give up the rest of my dignity and beg them to take me back? Yes, I want them more than anything. I love them, but this?"
"I can't tell you what to do, Stan, but you should think really carefully what is more important for you, the two femmes you love or your honor and dignity? What will make you feel good the rest of your life? To lie alone in your bed with your pride intact? Or would you rather have someone to cuddle with?" She considered for a few seconds "Well, maybe I should not put it like that, you could probably have twenty naked femmes in your bed as soon as you get out of the quarantine, but is this what you want?"
"I... I don't know. No. I want Melanie and Nicolle."
"Think about it. You have a few days before you make a final decision." She grinned suddenly "Just remember your time with them and... 'But we are going to do it my way. Ok? You are going to enjoy this a lot. Get up!'. That's all I'll say for now."
"Ummm... yeah." My face started burning as I recognized the quote.
"Good night, Stan. Sleep well."
"Good night." The screen went black.
I sat still for a long while, my thoughts swirling. And slowly, very slowly, I could begin to make sense of it. The comment Bonnie had used [For those who don't remember, it is from the very first yiff scene] brought home a very important point: From the very first, once I had released Nicolle from her obligation to have sex with me, the initiative had been entirely theirs. In a way I had been nothing but their sex toy from the beginning, their sweaty, hairless stud. And I had not minded one bit, rather, I had enjoyed every second of it.
I turned my thoughts to the femmes I had met here. Almost all of them were desirable and at least half of them had looked at me as if they would not mind a quick romp on the sheets or three. I was pretty sure a few of the males might have been amendable as well, had I been interested. I thought about some of the femmes, their faces, eyes, body, the way they moved. All good and nice, some of them were really photo model material, but none of them was what I wanted.
What I wanted were Melanie and Nicolle. Just thinking of their names turned me on way more than trying to undress one of the other femmes in my mind did. Not even their swollen bellies could change that, quite the opposite. I wanted them more than anything, I knew that I had to do everything in my power to get them back. If it meant humiliating myself in front of the whole planet, then that's what I would do. They might forgive me without all that, but I knew I would never be able to forgive myself if I held back and lost them because of it.
And, think of it, I was already wearing their collar. Well, not exactly theirs, but because of them.
My mind made up, I ordered two more big bouquets for them. Feeling elated and drained at the same time, I headed for the bed and fell asleep within a few minutes.
#####
The next morning I woke before the alarm rang. I got up and headed for the shower. After two horrible days I finally felt good again. I missed talking to Nicolle and Melanie, but I did not have any doubt that they would not forgive me and let me... marry them. I was sure they just played hard to get. I resolved to ask Bonnie about the local courtship customs. I was almost finished with my breakfast when Bonnie called. She was a little surprised to see me awake and ready for the day.
She took me to another examination. It was much shorter than on the previous days, the doctor told me that they had almost all the data they needed, they just had to do a few more tests to fine-tune the treatments they had in mind for me. I would get the first of my vaccinations after lunch. Several psychological tests took up most of the morning.
During lunch I finally found time to talk to Bonnie "Bonnie, you told me that you are married?"
"Yes."
"Could you tell me a little about it. I mean, if, no, make that when, Nicolle and Melanie forgive me, I want to ask them to marry me. Should I buy an engagement ring or something? I don't know what customs you have here..."
"We use bracelets for this." She held up her right paw to the camera. A golden bracelet that set off her fur nicely encircled her right wrist. "My husband has one as well. They don't have to match, each one is usually styled to fit the wearer's fur pattern, but it always has a small plate where the name of your mate, or names if you have several, are engraved." She turned hers to show me. "You wear it on the left wrist if you are only engaged or in a less permanent arrangement. Some species usually don't form life-long partnerships but only stay together for a limited time. And some furs simply can't fully commit themselves to a lifelong partner, even if they actually stay together. If and when you marry permanently, you put the bracelet on the right wrist."
"Ok."
"As for a courtship ritual... You can make it as elaborate as you want, but basically what it comes down to is that you ask the femme in question to mate or marry her and offer her a suitable bracelet. If she accepts, you put the bracelet on her left wrist. She will then obtain a bracelet for you, if she has not done this already, and you have them engraved with each other's names. Sometimes the female might take the initiative. One custom we have is that you can only ask once. If she turns you down, then you don't ask her again. If she changes her mind, then she can ask you ."
"Ok."
"Some furs use a collar instead of a bracelet, but that has a special meaning. A collar is normally only worn by a slave. In a marriage, both partners might agree to wear each other's collar, basically becoming each other's slave."
"Do you think I should get collars for them instead?"
"No. You don't propose with a collar. Few furs ever decide to use a collar. It is always welded on and it won't ever be taken off. There are also special laws for this kind of relationship, as far as the law is concerned, you effectively become one person with two bodies. This is not a decision that one takes lightly."
"I see. Ummm... you said slavery? What about this? And..." I indicated the collar around my own neck.
"We have had slavery since ancient times. It is sometimes used as a punishment for a serious crime. In this case the convict can choose between slavery and prison. In the last few hundred years it has become a special kind of marriage. As such it is always entered voluntarily. I guess some furs simply prefer to be a slave of their mate rather than an equal partner. I can't really understand it, but... If this is what it takes to make them happy, then it's not my place to object. As far as you collar goes, there are two reasons: First, until you are cleared medically and your visa is fully approved, you are legally a slave owned by the state."
"Oh."
"And, well, it is a very convenient location to put the medical sensors we would have to use on you anyway. If we didn't use the collar, you'd have to wear something else."
"Ok. I don't really like it, but..."
"I know. We don't usually bring up the 'slavery' topic unless one of our guests asks for it..."
"All right. Hmmm... now where can I get a pair of bracelets?"
"That depends. I can direct you to several shops. How much are you willing to spend?"
"Well... According to the bank, I have something like 100 million on my account. And I don't really know anything better to spend it on..."
"I see... You aren't going to cut any corners?" She smiled "Well, then I know just the shop for you. Let me look it up, I'll send you the link."
"Thank you."
"Nothing to thank, Stan. Just make Nicolle and Melanie happy."
"I will."
A few minutes later Bonnie sent me the link to what was (according to her) considered to be the best (and most expensive) jeweler who specialized in mating bracelets and collars. Their selection was fantastic, to say the least, the models showing off the collars and bracelets were gorgeous enough to turn any red-blooded male into a drooling mess and threatened to make him forget about any femme on whom his heart was not firmly set. The skimpy wedding gowns (if they could be called such) looked as if they came from the lingerie section rather than the bridal wear section. The prices were spectacular to say the least. Apart from the national deficit, I had never seen so many zeroes in one place. (Ok, just kidding, but they were really expensive.)
Bonnie had to threaten me with the security males to get me to accompany her to the afternoon session. She led me to the medical section where I was given an injection, the first of several vaccinations I would receive over the course of the next few days. Then she led me to the same conference room where I had spent the previous afternoon. I longed to return to my room, but on the whole the discussion was much more pleasant than the one the day before. It was much more a discussion than an interrogation. Rather than have me explain how something worked on my world, they would tell me how things worked here and then we would discuss the differences. Still, more than five hours of this left me drained.
When we returned to my rooms, Bonnie showed me the real gem of that store's selection. A VR simulation where I could design a bracelet specifically for my intended (or two of them in my case). After I entered my credit information (to confirm that I was worthy of their service) we uploaded several pictures of Melanie and Nicolle to create virtual doubles so I could visualize how any bracelet would look against their fur. They even gave me a number where I could call to discuss details with one (or several, I was not quite sure) of their designers. I hardly noticed when Bonnie left.
Some time later (I could hardly believe it had been almost four hours), she called to remind me to eat something and to go to bed at a reasonable hour. She told me that she had set my computer to shut down an hour before midnight, in case I forgot the time. Sure enough, I did, and I was pretty pissed about it when I climbed into bed.
I had pretty soon settled on the basic design of the bracelets for the two femmes. Melanie's was mostly red, red gold with a white gold spiral, studded with rubies and a few diamonds. It evoked the look of her fur and looked spectacular against the black fur of her forearm.
Nicolle's bracelet was unusually wide, but I simply could not resist the temptation of giving it thirteen stripes. The silvery metal was browned to almost the same color as the fur on her back, just a little darker to better set it off against the lighter fur of her arm. There was just enough sparkle to make the metal look like well-groomed fur. Golden stripes and small topazes as dots simulated the fur pattern on her back. Overall it was not quite as striking as Melanie's but in its more subtle beauty it looked just as good.
"If the bracelets look half as good in real life as they do in the simulation..." For hours I fiddled with the designs and talked to the Laura, one of the shop's designers. I was not quite satisfied with the design when the computer informed me that I had only five minutes left before it would shut down. I told her that I wanted to finish the design on the next day and we said good night. Laura did not say anything, but I got the impression that she was glad to be able to head home, that I had kept her in the office long after the normal closing time. I could not help but grin a little "The things you have to put up for a customer." But then, I wouldn't be surprised if I turned out to be their top customer for the year, I was going to pay almost a million for each of the two bracelets. I didn't care, though, the money did not feel real, it felt like play-money, to me it was just a number.
#####
The next morning Bonnie surprised me in a big way when she came in wearing normal clothes, not the Hazmat suit. A nurse's outfit that set her figure off rather nicely, somehow it even managed to look good over her noticeably bulging belly. For a moment I was speechless. She pouted a bit "What's the matter, Stan? Won't you even greet your favorite nurse?"
"Ummm... hello. Good morning, Bonnie." After a moment I added "You are pretty."
"Why, thank you. Good morning."
"I guess it's a good sign that you aren't wearing the suit any more. Does that mean that I'll be out of here soon?"
"Kind of. If there are no further complications, then you'll be released in six days."
"Why that long? If you don't consider me... infectious any more?"
"Not quite. Well, mostly it is a formality, but there are certain rules about this kind of thing. The other thing is that we, that is the furs who will be in contact with you during the next few days, are kind of Guinea pigs. None of us can leave the quarantine area until you are cleared. To see if the contact with you causes any problems for us. It's probably overcautious on our part, since neither Nicolle nor Melanie had any problems, but... well, we had several very big problems in the past. In one case several million furs died."
"Oh. Ok, I can see why you'd want to be careful."
"All right, time for the next appointment with the doctor."
"Just a moment, Bonnie. I want to show you something. Why I stayed up so late yesterday." I turned to the computer and brought up the VR simulation of Nicolle and Melanie's wedding bracelets. "What do you think?"
Bonnie stared at the screen for almost a minute, absent-mindedly fiddling with the controls, turning the virtual doubles this way and that. Her eyes were a little damp "Ohhh... beautiful." She shook herself and turned to me "If they don't want them, I do." She brought up her right paw and looked at the obviously much less expensive if still pretty bracelet that graced her wrist. "Well, almost."
I smiled at her "Thank you. I really hope they will like them just as much." I grinned at her "You probably don't want to know how much they'll cost me."
"Probably not. Let's go."
The outer door of the airlock was open and stayed that way. Suddenly my rooms felt a lot less like a prison and a lot more like a normal apartment. If Melanie and Nicolle were here as well, it would have almost felt like home.
A short medical examination followed, then a few more tests and lessons (history, politics, law). During the lunch break I fiddled a bit more with the design of the bracelets, but after a while I decided that I would not would not be able to improve them significantly and ordered them. They were to be delivered on the last day of my stay here. Poorer by two million credits but a lot happier, I waited for Bonnie to take me to my afternoon activities.
Donald Ursus, my integration counselor called to tell me that he had looked over the results of my psychological evaluation and that everything was fine as far as he was concerned.
After the afternoon talks Bonnie took me back to the medical area. They had finally completed mapping my nervous system and had prepared the implant. They put me on an operating table that looked like the big brother of the medical kit in my room, I felt a sting in my neck and everything went black.
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When I woke again, I was in an unfamiliar bed. I was still trying to figure out what had happened when Bonnie entered. A minute later the doctor followed. They gave me something to drink and filled me in on the operation. At first my memory was a little hazy, but soon I began to remember what had happened after the afternoon talks. The doctor ran some kind of diagnostic test on the implant and told me that its integration with my nervous system was progressing well. It would take another day or two before I would be able to start learning how to access its functions, though. I felt fine, except that all sounds and sights seemed to be slightly muffled, as if a glass plate separated me from the rest of the world. They told me that this was a side effect of the operation and that this feeling would fade soon. By lunchtime I felt fine again.
This day and the next few days were mostly taken up with lessons about the world I would soon be released into. Some of it was interesting, some of it not so. Some of it that seemed pretty obscure and weird at first glance turned out to be pretty important. Or, rather, it could become very unpleasant if I did not remember it.
With all the different species and their often different ways of living, there were dozens of customs to be obeyed, some of which were taken deadly serious by members of a particular species or culture. And over the course of centuries a lot of them had found their way into the law books as well. You don't want to find out that the stupid joke you just told not only mortally offended the fur across the table, but that these 150 kilograms of muscle, sinew and claws were now legally entitled to turn you into a bloody smear on the floor. That could be enough to seriously ruin anybody's day.
They showed me how to use the implant, amazing stuff that. It was basically a small computer connected directly to my central nervous system. Just by concentrating on it, I could bring up a display to control all kinds of useful functions like an alarm clock, address book, GPS locator and so on. Apart from several automatic medical function like a vastly improved immune system and a monitoring function for my vital statistics that would automatically call for help if it detected a serious problem, I could instruct it to simulate many effects that would have taken drugs of some kind back on our world, like a painkiller or antidepressant. Many of those effects were locked or limited in strength, so that only a doctor could call up the more extreme and possibly harmful functions.
Every day I sent flowers or small presents to Nicolle and Melanie, but they never answered. I had not really expected them to, but it still hurt a lot that they did not.
#####
I was up before the alarm clock rang. I was almost trembling with excitement, unless there were any last-minute problems, I would be released after lunch. I showered and packed my things. Everything I owned fit into one sports bag. One little box that had been delivered the day before was worth at least several dozen times what the rest of my things were, unless a collector would be ready to pay many times their normal value, of course. I just could not resist the temptation to open the box and admire the two glittering bracelets within. I tried to imagine giving them to Melanie and Nicolle, but my mind kind of went blank whenever I tried to think about it. I ate breakfast and waited for Bonnie.
One final examination, a few more lessons and a test about the laws of the state that I almost flubbed. Time seemed to fly and stand still at the same time. To this day I can't remember what I ate for lunch. I know that I talked to Bonnie and a few other furs, but I can't remember what we talked about. Bonnie led me to my room to fetch my things, then to the air lock that would take us out of the quarantine area. We rode up several stories in an elevator, apparently I had been far under ground the whole time. A walk down a short corridor brought us to a small office.
It took another twenty minutes or so for me to sign all the release forms and whatnot to satisfy the local bureaucrats' demands for red tape.
When I was done, Bonnie led me out into a huge foyer. I promptly stopped, blinded by the light. After days of artificial light their sun was bright enough to blind me.
When I could finally open my eyes to have a look at my surroundings, a fur in a dark business suit stood in front of us. "Good day. I'm Donald Ursus, pleased to meet you." He did look like a bear, dark brown fur and was certainly built like one. He was half a head shorter than me but almost twice as wide. His smile showed a lot of teeth, but on the whole the impression he gave off was not frightening but pleasant, just short of cute.
"Stanley Schultz, pleased to meet you." I looked at him, then around, hoping to see Melanie and Nicolle.
He must have noticed it, because he grinned and said "Miss Vulpes and Miss Sciuri are waiting for you, I will take you to them."
I almost jumped in joy at hearing that " Let's go!"
"Stan?" I turned to Bonnie. "Good bye." We hugged and kissed each other's cheeks.
"Good bye, Bonnie. And thank you for everything. You are an angel."
"Thank you."
"Will I see you again?"
She grinned, her eyes sparkling with humor "I'm pretty sure. If not... I'll send you an invitation to the Naming of my kits."
"I'll be there. See you." One last kiss, then I turned to the Donald.
He led me to a side door of the foyer "The parking garage is that way."
We walked down a wide corridor, past several doors. At a security checkpoint a guard scanned our ID cards and waved us through. We followed the wide corridor for more than two hundred meters and two turns until it left the (apparently very big) building and turned into an overpass. The overpass was at least 20 meters above the road. It had to be. I stood transfixed for a minute as I watched the cars speed along the wide road below us. None of them had any wheels that I could see and quite a few of them, those that moved faster, were floating above the others. Donald told me that most of the cars could only fly a few meters above the ground, but that the more expensive ones could fly at least as well as a small private jet on Earth.
As fascinating as it was to watch the futuristic-looking cars, the desire to see Nicolle and Melanie was stronger. We walked on.
We were about ten meters away from the bank of elevators at the end of the corridor when one of them opened. Two furs, a wolf and a tiger stepped out. Their cliché Mafia-goonish look would have been almost comical... if we were not clearly the focus of their attention. They were both huge, about a head taller than I, their shoulders wide and rippling with muscles. They wore severe black suits with a suspiciously large bulge under the left armpit. And they wore black shades, of course.
Before either of us could react, they had closed the distance between us. The wolf put a gloved paw on the neck of the bear next to me. There was a short, angry-sounding electrical buzz and the bear collapsed bonelessly.
Before I could move, one of the tiger's paws had grabbed my neck. His partially expressed claws dug into my skin, barely not breaking it. He snarled "One wrong move and I'll snap your neck like a twig." I didn't doubt for a second that he had the strength to do it.
End of Part 5