FSE

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I woke up to bright sunshine on white window curtains and lingered lazily, half-aware, until I noticed I was staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, down an all-too-familiar white-furred muzzle with a black nose at its tip.

I reached down beneath the covers and cupped a middle teat. It felt fluid, warm, furry and heavy. Yep, I was still a dog-woman. It hadn't been a dream.

I lay there for a few minutes, thinking about everything I'd gone through since waking up on the planet Vrouf as a Vroufling bitch. I wondered what the real me was doing back on Earth with his ten million dollars, and it made me angry.

Also, the entire bedroom smelled like sex. Hell, I smelled like sex.

Shaking my head, I got up out of bed, the heavy weight of my eight new teats swaying, reminding once again of what I had become.

The sheets would have to wait but I picked up the copper handled toilet brush from the side of the bed (it positively reeked of sex) and I wandered into the bathroom. I cleaned the handle of the brush and then put it back under the sink and stepped into the shower.

I stood under the warm water for long minutes, trying to relax. I tried to forget about what had just happened to me, but cleaning my teats and pussy brought it all back. And I was still angry.

This time I used my arms to squeeze my teats together before shaking off. That was at least a little more comfortable. Then I got out of the shower and toweled myself dry: now I just smelled like damp female dog. And shampoo.

My stomach grumbled. I sighed and went to the kitchen.

The refrigerator was stocked with bread and a red citrus-like fruit and some eggs - soft shelled, like lizard or turtle eggs - and some meat that looked like chicken but probably was not. I fried up some of the eggs in a lard-like fat that came wrapped in waxpaper like butter but was not butter at all, toasted some bread and spread more of the lard on that, and had some of the fruit to go with it. It was all quite delicious, actually. Surprisingly so.

While I did these things a new trailer was delivered to an empty plot not far down from mine, brought in by a massive U-shaped hovertruck with four thunder-rumbling turbines lifting it. New neighbor, I thought, peeking between the curtains to see if I could catch a glimpse of him or her or them. Didn't see anyone but the delivery men, though, and soon my mind turned to other things.

What was I going to do with myself, anyway? The real me was unharmed and wealthy, back on Earth. If I died this minute nothing but a day's worth of wacky memories would be lost. I was a brand new person, created from scratch by alien technology, and I had best get used to that. My life, if I desired it, lay ahead of me and not behind. And I realized as I ate my strange breakfast that I desired this new life very much indeed. Resentment was not productive. I would not even exist were it not for Lewis Star's machinations!

Sighing, I stood and began to clean up my breakfast mess, and I was not yet done when the doorbell rang, startling me. I thought, I'm not ready for visitors! I'm not even dressed! I left the half-washed dishes in the sink and called out, "Wait a bit!" I rushed to my bedroom and struggled into sandals and a bright green kirtle-style dress with yellow borders, brush-patted my fur to a vague sort of decency and stepped up to face my safely closed front door. I braced myself and opened it.

Outside stood Lewis Star, smelling of sulfur, and a Vroufling I didn't recognize, smelling of healthy male dog. He was a gray-white-black malamute, almost wolf-like but for the white face mask, and his eyes were ice-blue, seeming to peer straight through me. He seemed very muscular, more than me by far. And he was wearing only blue shorts and sandals, and carrying what looked like a short-sword and a belt-pouch on his belt.

"Good morning Larry!" said Lewis, reaching forward to shake my hand-paw in the human style. "Let me introduce you to your new band member. His name is Natan."

Natan wagged his tail, so I wagged mine. "I'm going to be your new lead vocalist and second guitar," he said in a deep voice. "Lewis told me about the mixup already."

I nodded silently, too flustered to do more than that. "Shall we be off then?" asked Lewis, and we got into his car. He drove us to the recording studio and we walked in, and up to our floor. The whole gang was there, and Natan clearly knew them all. At first sight of them he shouted silly insults and face-licked each one of them in happy greeting. A pang of jealousy stabbed through me and I shook it off, irritably. I had known these people for one day. Sure the jamming had been good but why should I expect them to treat me like an old friend?

"Larry? Are you alright?" That was Yort, the crazy-pelt saxophonist. He sidled over and licked me on the face, just a quick touch, and I shyly touch-licked him back. "It's nothing," I whispered, "Just a little culture shock."

"Yeah right," he whispered back. "I'd be shocked too if I'd been through what you've been through. Let's jam. It'll take your mind off it." He moved away and called out,"Natan! You start! Show this poor lost Earthling what you're made of."

Natan took up his Stratocaster and bowed, then swaggered up to the mic and murmured, "Bad."

"What's that, Fuffers?" taunted the German shepherd drummer.

"I said I'm BAD! B. A. D. Bad." He struck a chord and yodeled, "Ba-aa-AA-ad. I'ma bad dawg."

And then he struck up Bo Didley's "I'm Bad".

We jammed and recorded for two hours, getting the song straight, and Lewis sat through it all. When we got it just right he said, "I like it. We're going to make a single out of that."

Alright! We grinned and nodded to each other and tails wagged, and I suggested we should take on "Baby It's Cold Outside," since that's a male and female duet.

I got a solid agreement on that and we practiced for the rest of the day, but this one was slower work and a lot harder. My new voice was good, really good, but I still needed to learn how to use it properly. Lewis left us and when he came back just before quitting time, he was carrying a satchel. He called us all around his desk, and opened it: it was full of gold coins.

He gave each of us five coins and said he was going to get our single out to the radio stations in less than a week. Then he called the day over and offered Natan and me a ride home.

On the way to the trailer park, Lewis asked if I would give Natan guitar lessons. "Natan has an electric guitar set up in his trailer," he said.

"Okay," I replied, "but I'll need one too."

"I'll get you one tomorrow," said Lewis, "For now, do what you can with the one Natan has."

I nodded. We pulled up to a trailer that was just down the street and across from mine - the new one they had just put in.

"We're home", said Natan, and we got out of the hovercar.

I waved to Lewis, who said, "I'll have a taxi pick you up tomorrow," and Natan unlocked his door and we walked in.

His living-room was a serious man-cave: loose laundry, a weight set and workout bench, and an electric guitar of a kind I didn't recognize, hooked up to a tube amp and speakers.

"Welcome to my lair," he rumbled, faking a low-budget horror movie voice.

I laughed and pretended to cringe in terror, then flipped him the tail and picked up his guitar, switched everything on, and began to play. I tested him on the basics while we traded back and forth, then messed around with Jimi Hendrix feedback-warble stuff while Natan looked on nodding, closely watching my every move. After an hour my stomach began to growl and I suggested we break for dinner.

"All I've got in the fridge is dino-burger," said Natan.

"Sounds good to me," I replied, wondering what a dino-burger was.

Natan went to his refrigerator and took out something that looked like hamburger, put on gloves, and moulded two patties for the fryer. As the meat cooked it smelled like chicken. He served us the two burgers on plates with a fork, and nothing on the side at all. I just had to ask him if he had any bread and sauce.

"Sure," he said, and came back with bread and some kind of savory black sauce. He watched me as I made a sandwich, then imitated me.

Soon, we where both eating dino-burger sandwiches, and it tasted like a spicy chicken sandwich, thanks to the black sauce.

"That was a pretty good idea, putting the burger between the bread like that," Natan said. "You thirsty?"

I was. "Yes," I told him.

He went to the counter, got out two copper cups, and opened a glass bottle of clear liquid. Suddenly, the whole room smelled like alcohol. He poured the cups and passed me one.

We drank down some of the strongest liquor I had ever tasted. And then, slightly buzzed, we went back to the guitar.

Finally, long after dark, I said my good-byes to Nathan and headed home. Outside the scent of fresh air and growing things greeted my sensitive nose, and the night stars where brilliant - far more brilliant than I remembered - and a single large full moon cast a silvery glow over everything. Looking around me, everything stood out in sharp contrast, only the colors where muted. That's when I realized I was seeing the world in Vroufling night vision.

I shook my head. God, there was no getting used to this.

I went in to my trailer, finished the dishes, and decided I would like to watch television. Maybe I could learn something.

The TV had no remote control, so I turned it on and used the old fashioned channel dial. There where only two TV stations, one playing a comedy with canned laughter and howls, and the other with a sports game that seemed like soccer. I lay down on the couch and watched it for awhile, then finally I drifted off to sleep.

I awoke the next morning to the phone ringing. I answered, and a male voice told me that my taxi would be there in half an hour. So I took a quick shower, and got into my last dress, a green one. It looked like I'd be needing to do laundry real soon.

The taxi arrived, and Natan was in it. Together we drove to the recording studio, headed up to the second floor, and met the band with much tail wagging, and this time muzzle licking. Everybody in the band licked my muzzle, and I licked theirs back.

So we played, breaking only for snacks, until it was quitting time. We said our good-byes and Natan suggested we carpool back home. So we called a taxi and waited while the others took a hoverbus.

Suddenly, Natan turned to me and asked, "So Larry, you want to go out on the town tonight? I know some great spots, and I got these five gold in my pouch..."

I looked at him astonished, at a loss for words. Was he asking me out? As in, like, a date?

"I... you don't want to practice guitar?"

He grinned. "It'll wait a night," came his gravelly reply. "Let's find a good restaurant and then maybe take in a movie or go dancing."

Still shocked, I didn't answer right away. He really did want to take me out? Even though he knew I used to be a guy? Or was I getting it all wrong and he just wanted to socialize a bit with one of the band?

I thought about it for a minute. I had to admit, I really was curious as to what the Vroufling night scene was like, and I would love to see a Vroufling movie...

I nodded my head. "Okay, let's do it," I told him.