FSE

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Silence filled a starkly furnished white room sans the light humm of fluorescent lighting embedded in the ceiling behind unbreakable glass panels. The sole occupant, a mismatched dark gray otter with typical ferret markings of a lighter variant and in what appeared to be his late teens, lay naked on a raised mattress in the corner of the room staring at the ceiling. He reached over to a book on a nearby stand and then hopelessly dropped it back down after glancing at the cover.

"I need something new..." he mumbled followed by a slow sigh as his attention returned to the sterile ceiling. "Is anybody listening?..."

The intercom crackled briefly but nothing actually transmitted through the line. In a few moments a hidden door popped open to reveal two scientists and an armed guard, all clad in air-tight, sterile suits. "Ma'am, I insist you take me seriously," the male scientist, a brilliantly orange fox, implored as he led the way into the white, tasteless room.

"Let me take a few readings first, Johnny. You know better than most I don't work in baseless theories." The other scientist looked a lot more like their subject, a gray otter that was in her upper end of years. "Thirty damn years and you kids still think 'gut feeling' is better than fact. Sheesh."

"I'm not saying it that way. The subject has responded positively to full-spectrum lighting tests before." The fox pulled out a syringe kit and prepared to draw some blood. "Just please consider further testing in that line. I'm curious what drives those results."

"You know that's classified, Johnny," the elder otter grumbled as she pulled out a light and held it in front of the subject's eyes. "Hmm, you're right. Pupil response is extreme for these conditions..."

"Um... Sorry, but can I ask for another book to read?" the younger otter proposed as he sat upright.

"We've been through this, Carbon. It takes a while to find new material since it goes through screening. I have to keep you an objective subject." The older otter reached out and took hold of Carbon's wrist while her eyes went to her watch, apparently checking his pulse. "Can't you just re-read some of those on the shelf?"

"I've read them all at least three times each. Some in different languages even." Carbon picked up one of his books titled 'Roadside Picnic' and flipped through the pages. "I didn't even know Russian until after reading this one."

"Your pulse is low, Carbon. Are you feeling okay?" asked the elder scientist.

"Well, I've been really tired all of a sudden... Not sure though." Carbon flipped to a page that described the anomalous setting of the book series and changed the subject to, "Do you know anything about 'the Zone' in this? I'm pretty sure none of this is real in the book but... I can't be sure..."

"Carbon, you know I can't answer that. Nothing about the outside world." The woman slipped her paws up to rub Carbon's lymph nodes in his neck and confirmed, "That book is mostly fiction however. I can't say anything more or I'll be breaking my own policies."

"Oh come on, mom! Why can't I..." Carbon stared forward at the wall ahead and appeared to be regaining his sense of balance. "Woah, lightheaded there..."

"Carbon?" tried the older otter as she went to brace her son.

Johnny finished taking his sample, his phial filled with glowing cyan liquid. "See? He's been getting worse."

"Well his blood's still glowing a bit so I'm not sure you're right."

"Claire, I really think we need to get him outside...!"

Carbon swirled his head around a bit and eventually fell backward into his mattress. "Mom... something's wrong..."

Claire checked her son's pulse as he passed out before her. "Okay, next best thing. You think it's the light? I think it's his blood, and you just drew too much." She snapped her fingers at the guard and ordered, "Get the lights from the hydroponics guys, fast. Use my name and they won't give you any trouble."

"Yes ma'am, Doctor Optik," he barked back as he called another soldier to replace his post.

"Looks like your ideas are about to get tested, Mister Trotter." Claire eased her son to rest so he didn't bang his head on the back wall and then added, "Just don't think this means we're about to let him see sunlight, okay?"

"That's your son you're talking about, Claire..."

Claire immediately snapped back at him and walked for the door. "Don't bring that up, Johnny. Ever. He's Subject Seven-One-Four. You know my policy on that."

"R-right... Seven-One-Four..." Johnny hesitantly confirmed, his expression apparently disapproving of the way his elder treated her son.

"One hour doses, once a day to start. You'll draw blood daily and we'll do basic metrics four times." Claire walked out the room and paused by the new guard to whisper, "Watch them both. Mister Trotter seems... emotional. Non-lethal force if needed."

"Yes ma'am."

"Seabrink's, huh?"

Johnny held the door to the cafe wide open and allowed Carbon to pass through. "Hey, you're not exactly easy to read, little guy. All I know about you is you like to read and drink coffee." He waited as two undercover security furs followed behind and entered the shop himself, making sure his tail didn't get snagged in the pneumatic door. "Just don't make a scene, okay? Your mom's gonna have my head if our first outing is a bad one. Might even lock you back up knowing her."

"I don't understand what the big deal is anyway. I need real sunlight and you proved that years ago." Carbon skimmed the cafe with his eyes, trying not to hold eye contact with anyone as he'd been instructed. Taking a strong draw of breath from a clear tube tucking out the collar of his shirt he then huffed, "The way I see it, I'd be in a coma if it weren't for you, Johnny. She owes you a little leeway."

The fox watched the others blend into the rest of the patrons of the establishment and reminded, "Yeah, well you are a bit different so the rules are for your own good as well. Oh, your scarf's uh..."

"Oh!" Carbon snugged up on his wool scarf and pulled it up to cover his neck, one of the rules of this outing being to hide as many of his unique features as possible. In this case Johnny had tried to cover up a few brightly-glowing stripes of cyan fur that bordered off all of Carbon's counter-shading. "You know, I don't think this'll work so well. I can still see some through the fabric."

"Well black wool is about the heaviest thing I had. I guess we should try layering next time." Johnny reached over and tugged a small fold loose to cover the breathing tube better and added, "Not much we can do about the ones on your face I guess. At least they're a bit lighter. Come on, let's grab some coffee."

"Sure but... uh..." The otter glanced about at various furs enjoying their various beverages and pastries and then looked back up to his guardian. "Well... I don't know what to do."

"Right, forgot you've only ever been in that testing cell your whole life." Johnny led the way to a two-seat table and sat down. "If there's nobody up front to find you a seat it's a good bet you just find one yourself. Should be a waitress coming over in a minute."

"So... we just sit and we get what we ask for?" Carbon dropped into his seat and adjusted himself a few times, never quite finding a good position for his thicker tail upon the plushly-cushioned seat. "Oh, we have to trade for it with 'money' though, right? Almost forgot that part."

Apparently spotting the otter's difficulty Johnny hinted, "Try feeding your tail through the back of the chair, Carbon. And yeah, you're more or less right. Good to see you're listening."

"So what can I order?" Carbon started looking around the room again to survey what everyone else was having when he noticed someone holding up a card with wording on it. Spotting the same card in the center of his table he reached for it and, after another hard suck from his tube, corrected, "Oh, I get it. So there's..."

"Hello, fellas. Can I take your order?" a cheerful young gazelle asked as she hovered over the table.

Johnny spoke up first without even looking at a menu, solidifying Carbon's guess that the fox frequented this establishment. "Hi. I'll have a cafe au lait and some beignets. Heavy on the powdered sugar, please."

"I'll uh..." Carbon jolted his eyes back to the menu and frantically scanned for something that appealed to him. "Come on... No, I know what that is but..." the otter started mumbling to himself. Finally he looked up out of frustration and said, "I'll just have the same I guess, but maybe not as much sugar on my doughnuts."

"Sure thing, guys. I'll have that out in a few," the gazelle mentioned as she wrote down the order on the table's ticket.

After the woman had stepped away to check on another table Johnny leaned forward to ask, "You know what beignets are? That in a book or something?"

"Well... maybe. Evelyn just showed me is all..." Carbon answered as he ducked his head into his shoulders and went for the one-way valve on his tube again.

"So you're still talking to imaginary friends after all these years?" Johnny sat back in a more relaxed state and let out a light laugh. "One of these days I'll have to propose a reason for that, I guess. Some kind of mind game with your memory or--."

"She's not a... a... figment of my imagination! And if you keep calling her things like that she might be my only friend!" exclaimed Carbon as he pounded a paw on the table.

"Woah, calm down. I take it back." Johnny scooted closer and grabbed the otter's paw to hold it down. "I didn't mean to upset you. It's just most of us grow out of those sorts of things. Although I guess you did have a different childhood than most."

"Well... It's alright. I guess you'll never really understand it anyway." Carbon sighed, shaking his paw free once his guardian realized he was calming down. "She's real, and that's all I know. Just because you can't see her doesn't mean she isn't there."

This visibly intrigued the researcher. "Well how about this? I'll give it all a fresh look from now onward. Maybe there's something more to all of this 'Evelyn' stuff that we just need to re-think. Sound like a plan, us taking a fresh perspective?"

"That's..." The otter looked down at the table, spying a rather annoyed, foot-tall girl who more or less appeared to be made out of plantlife staring straight back at him. "She doesn't seem to like you now, but ~I~ think it's a good--," Carbon paused as the waitress set down the two coffees they'd ordered and continued after she left with a smile, "--a good way of handling things. I just want her to have the respect she deserves."

Johnny looked down exactly where the girl stood but obviously was only following Carbon's line of sight, a confused expression on his face. "You know I'd never disrespect you, so whatever she is to you I'll extend that courtesy to her too. I just wish I could see or hear whatever it is you--."

Suddenly a silver Siberian husky bumped into the side of the table on his way to an adjacent one, sending both cups of coffee clattering over the surface. When some of the scalding liquid splashed on Carbon's shirt and lap the husky gasped out, "Crikey, that's a right mess!" He grabbed a napkin and immediately started blotting up the stain on the otter's shirt apologizing, "My bad, lad. Crap, I'll make it right."

"W-woah!" Carbon jolted out, his lack of experience with other furs showing as he tried to slide out his seat and away from the husky's paws.

"Hey, it's alright. No harm, no foul," Johnny assured the wolf-dog.

"Nah, mate. I insist I make it all better," the husky pressed in his rather thick Aussie or perhaps Kiwi accent. He switched from trying to help Carbon to cleaning the dripping edge of the table. "At least let me order a new round for you two blokes."

Carbon gripped the edge of his seat in silence save the light hiss of his now-essential breathing tube as he watched Johnny take over for the surprised shut-in. Taking a good look at the otter's reactions Johnny then submitted, "Sure. A few more coffees would be great, bud."

"Name's Adrian," the husky greeted as he wiped off a paw and presented it to Carbon. "Sorry about the ruckus, mates. Been known to be clumsy sometimes."

Carbon looked at the paw and then back to Johnny, who nodded and raised a paw of his own in example. Taking the hint Carbon met Adrian's paw with his own and gingerly shook it. "C-Carbon."

Rescuing the seized otter Johnny presented his own paw and spoke up. "And I'm Johnny. Sorry, my friend here's not very sociable." A short, firm shake later and he continued, "Carbon here doesn't uh... doesn't get out much. Hey, you didn't burn yourself did you, Carbon?"

"N-no... It's not that hot..." he mumbled back as his attention went to his steamy wet spots.

"Ah, nonsense! It's still boiling!" Adrian moved slower this time but went to check a bit of haze coming from under a wet spot on Carbon's sleeve. The two soon shared a look however when he realized the haze wasn't solely from evaporating water but also from the glowing fur lining Carbon's palms and tinting the steam. "My... mistake..."

"Have a seat." Johnny sighed as he caught onto what just happened. When the husky didn't respond he grumbled his voice and more commandingly demanded, "Have a seat, Adrian," making sure to nudge his snout towards the two guards assigned to security detail.

When Adrian spied one of the men poking a pistol out from beneath his table he immediately complied, though with a more upbeat expression than the others expected. "Fine, you win. But Gary over there's too good a guy to pull the trigger. Not in a place like this, anyway."

"You know Gary?" Carbon inquired as he let off his supply tube for a moment, only to be immediately silenced by his guardian.

"I don't care who you know, pal. You saw a little something you shouldn't have, right?" The fox forced those words out sternly, his normal way of handling things usually hovering more over the 'tender' pool of thought.

Adrian let out almost a chuckle as he sighed, "Right, I'm sure it's all something eyes-only and all that pish-posh. Anything to combat the Commies, yeah?" He flagged down the waitress and pointed to the little mess, signaling her to grab something to help soak it up. "Well you're in luck, because I'm with the rest of you blokes. I'm a photojournalist, and not one working for the hippie press. If Uncle Sam says shut it, I'll shut it."

"That's... good to hear." Johnny perked up, easing off the tough-guy routine. "Are you with a military group or just civilian? I'll need to know your full name and who you report to before you can leave."

"Adrian Halcyon, no mid name I'm afraid, and I'm about to join up with the 75th Calvary if I remember right. Supposed to meet the big guy this afternoon." Adrian reached over to the table next to them and pulled evidently his own satchel bag from the surface. He yanked an elaborate camera onto his lap and then reached further inside, producing a set of rolled-up papers for the fox. "You might be able to make heads an' tails of this, yeah? Still don't quite know where I'm headed."

As Johnny took the papers and began examining them, Carbon leaned over to point at the camera and ask, "What's that thing, Mister Adrian?"

"My camera? Oh, right," He picked up the device and showed the logo clearly clarifying, "She's a Maxim 350. I call her Maxie."

"Camera..." Carbon murmured to himself, looking over towards Evelyn sitting on the edge of the table as she mimicked how it was used. "Oh, right... one of ~those~ things..."

"This kid alright?" Adrian asked the fox.

"Carbon? Yeah, he... talks to himself. You get used to it." Johnny finally handed back the papers and softly smiled to the husky. "You might just want to follow us back to base. The 75th ~Rangers~ are getting ready to ship out some reinforcements and they're just outside our facility. Looks like you're with the 1st Calvalry in Hotel Company since they're the only flyboys we've got."

"So no mess to fret about here?"

"If you're allowed to follow those guys, you've either got good enough clearance or you're a bit too crazy for me to worry. We're good."

"So we can be friends?" Carbon suddenly perked up.

"I didn't say th--"

"Sure, kid. We can be friends," assured Adrian, though with a pleading look aimed at Johnny following his statement. "Might not be for too long, but we can hang out until I have to leave."

Carbon's eyes lit up as he sat back in his chair. "Finally, a new friend! Oh, not that you aren't a good friend too, Johnny..."

"It's okay, Carbon. I know what it's like for you so no offense." The fox reached over and rubbed his thumb over the otter's wrist. "Guess that coffee didn't bother you, huh? I forget you're not like the rest of us sometimes." Reaching into a case at his side and pulling out part of a larger breathing apparatus he pressed, "Sure you're alright though?"

"No, I'm fine I guess. And everything's great since Mister Adrian is ordering more coffee," smiled the otter.

"Just Adrian, mate," requested the husky. "You're making me sound like an old man or something."

Johnny outright failed to contain his laughter at something in that statement, fumbling over himself as he replaced the breathing instrument. He eventually calmed down as he knowingly glared to Carbon and slipped out, "Sorry! Just an inside joke; you wouldn't get it."

Carbon smiled back, almost breaking out into a fit of giggles himself if he didn't need to bear down on his air supply again. Shaking his head he added, "Yeah, our little secret. Sorry but I'm not allowed to explain it."

"What, that you're actually older than him?" Evelyn told the only one she could. "He looks... twenty-four... yeah, two years off looks about right."

"Really? I thought he was younger than that," Carbon spoke quite awkwardly ~to the table~ in the others' eyes.

Quirking an eyebrow Adrian inquired, "Talking to himself?"

"Like I said, you'll get used to it," Johnny continued chuckling.

"What am I missing?" Adrian spoke to his camera as he picked it up by the tripod and moved about, searching the moonlit grass field he was wondering for a suitable spot. "All dressed up and nowhere to flaunt, eh Maxie?"

Maxim 350 simply stared back, because she was an inanimate object.

Adrian looked up at the starry night sky and paced forward. "You're right. Don't need some fancy angle for a meteor shower, so we--?!" Suddenly Adrian's shoe snagged on something soft and left him staggering forward. "The hell was that?"

As the photographer looked down he realized exactly who, not what, he'd tripped over. Carbon laid on his back beneath the tall grass, his glowing skin and patches of fur lighting the area well enough it surprised Adrian not to notice earlier. "Oh, Mister Adrian. Hello again."

As his pupils finished reacting to the change in light Adrian quickly discovered Carbon was dressed in nothing but a medical gown even though it was a cool early spring night. He also sported a medical breathing mask connected to a clunky box at his side, warranting enough attention for Adrian to sit and investigate. "Just Adrian, little buddy. Haven't seen you in a few days. What're up to out here?"

Carbon rolled his head back and looked up at the stars, his arms wrapped around his chest as he did so. "They wanted to poke me with a bunch of needles like they always do. I hate the needles." He let out a quivering sigh as he shook from the cold. "I didn't realize I'd get to see something so beautiful when I broke free though."

"And from the way you're dressed you didn't plan on catching your death either, yeah?" Adrian flipped out the legs of his tripod and rested it on the ground. He then took off his trench coat and draped it over the shivering otter. "You couldn't grab a jacket or something on your way out?"

"A jacket? Is that what one of these is called?" Carbon looked over to a patch of grass and mumbled, "Oh, like the parkas in that mountain climbing book...? Oh, so there's a lot then. Makes sense."

Adrian shook his head at Carbon's solitary conversation. "There's a bundle of kinds out there, yeah. That coat helping any?"

"A little bit, yeah. Thanks." His reverberating however words disproved his point enough on their own.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you fibbing's bad for your health?" Adrian plopped onto his side and scooted closer to the otter, cautiously hugging him from behind while using the coat as a barrier from direct contact. "Don't take this the wrong way. I only didn't mean to see you suffer, lad."

"Hmm? I don't mind." Pulling the coat up from over his back Carbon brought Adrian beneath the makeshift blanket as well. "That's better. Your fur's really warm."

"Oh, so you're not afraid to get near another guy? I thought everyone on this base was homophobic."

Carbon reached back and brought Adrian's arms around his chest. "I don't even know what that means. Doesn't matter though; I like this. Nobody's ever really held me before."

"Hold on, not even a lady friend?" Adrian gave up on his resistance to being close and snuggled a bit tighter, noticing the shivers had more or less settled down by now. "You're a handsome guy. Surely you've had a bird or two around your arm before."

"No..." The glowing otter tucked his warm breathing apparatus beneath the coat and tried to tuck in the edges so it was air-tight. "I've been locked up with my mom all my life. Heh, and even then she never wanted to hold me. No, she just likes poking me with needles."

"That's been your whole life? Wow... Apologies for bringing it up, Carbon. I didn't know."

"Well now you know why I'm out here like this. Anything's better than that." Carbon rolled a bit onto his back, causing Adrian to do the same so he could use his shoulder as a cushion. "Please don't turn me in, not yet. I just want a bit of time to look at these pretty colors in the sky."

"Colors?" Adrian looked up and saw the same white-stippled black canvas as most nights, tiny streaks of white and pale yellow occasionally flaring up due to the meteor shower. "Well I thought ~I~ had good vision but yours must take the cake. Usually takes a telescope to pick out the colored ones. Planets, yeah?"

"Wow, so there's hundreds of planets out there? And they're all so bright..." Carbon loosened himself up and sank his head into the small of Adrian's shoulder. "So what's the wavy parts between them?"

Now Adrian was stumped. He rolled his own head to the side to check if Carbon was sincere or about to break into a laugh, only to stare amazed into his eyes. In the dark the outer rings of his irides hummed a brilliant cyan, proving once again that this kid wasn't quite normal in a beautiful way. "I... can't see any of that, sorry. You've just got better eyes than most furs I'd wager. They look nice in the dark to boot." Shit, why'd he have to add that last bit?

"Oh, that's a shame. It's really pretty." The kid didn't skip a beat. Good. "Mist-- Uh, Adrian? Can we just stay like this a while?" Carbon lifted the coat a tad and revealed a lit gauge on his breathing unit that hovered around four out of ten marked increments. "At least until I'm out of air, please? It took me about two ticks to get out here so could we wait until then to go back?"

"Yeah, Carbon." Adrian pulled the coat back down and snuggled closer to his new friend. "I'll give you all the time you want, little buddy."

"Good." Carbon seemed to forget all about the starry night sky at this point, closing his eyes and nuzzling his mask into Adrian's shoulder. As he snuggled up like he was planning to sleep he softly mumbled, "Thank you, Adrian."

"You're..." Adrian sighed and rounded his paw to rest on the top of Carbon's head. "You're more than welcome, Carbon."