Chapter 6
By Chris Gilman
As the alarm goes off a silver furred arm reaches out to slap it silent with a fumbling hand, knocking the clock off the table in the process. Slowly opening his golden eyes Saber sighs softly before he feels an arm drape over his chest and a warm furred figure cuddle up against his side. “It’s Seventh-day, we don’t have to work today,” says the sleepy lioness in his bed with him.
Saber closes his eyes and smiles as he remembers the previous night, and the fun they had together. The silver panther nuzzles her gently and smiles as his nose smells her sweet natural scent, “We may not have to work, but breakfast is definitely sounding good to me.”
The athletic lioness smiles up to him as she rubs herself against his chest, “What if I want my dessert first?” She teasingly strokes his body and smiles as she feels the expected reaction.
Chuckling softly, he smiles as he licks her nose playfully, “I think a little food to fuel the fires would help to keep things going longer then an empty stomach, don’t you?”
She lifts her chin to kiss him lightly, “I think I can live with that big fella.” She smiles and winks playfully, “Anything to keep you going longer has to be a good thing.”
He eases out of the warm bed and rests his feet on the floor leaning forward as he stretches and slowly wakes more. Temper wraps her strong arms around his neck and gently nibbles on an ear. “Do we really have to go all the way to the mess hall just to eat?”
He turns his muzzle to her and licks her cheek, “Unless you know a better place to eat? I personally know of a great little country kitchen, but I don’t think we can get back to Earth before they stop serving breakfast.”
She giggles as he stands and she kneels there stretching, her soft yet athletic body tempting him to return to the bed with her but then the scene is broken as her stomach gives a soft rumble and she relaxes as she breaks into a fit of giggles. “Alright, I guess some food is in order. But afterwards,” she licks her lips as she looks him up and down, “I want a nice cream filled treat.”
He chuckles softly and leans down to cup her cheek as he kisses her gently. Breaking the kiss he smiles with a twinkle in his eyes, “Yes ma’am.”
***
As Saber and Temper enter the mess hall they see Goliath and Tiara sharing a table side-by-side, their legs touching as they eat and their tails entwined with each other’s. Saber grins and points to the large cougar and tigress, Temper nods returning his smile knowingly.
After getting their trays they walk over to the table, “Mind if we join you?” Temper asks causing the two felines to look up, slightly startled and blushing like two kids caught kissing in a closet.
Tiara waves to the seats across from them, “Plenty of room for everyone,” she says as her stripped tail entwines with the cougar’s tawny one a bit more possessively.
The two felines slip into the seats and nod in thanks. Saber looks up hearing a soft rumbling which at first he can’t place. Twitching his ears he suddenly realizes it’s the big cougar in front of him, “You alright bud?”
Goliath looks up surprised again, “Yeah, after all I’m lucky enough to still be alive after what happened.” He cocks his head to the side, “Why do you ask?”
Saber just gives his big friend a grin, “Oh, just that you seem awfully happy today.” He chuckles softly, “Guess you had a good night huh?”
Goliath and Tiara both turn red under their fur, the pink insides of their ears showing brightly. Tiara clings to Goliath’s arm and buries her face into his shoulder. “None of your business,” says the massive cougar giving his friend a scowl.
Temper leans over to whisper something to the silver feline and he chuckles to himself. He nods and licks her cheek, “I think you’re right. Someone got a good weightlifting workout.” The two felines burst into laughter.
Goliath’s face heats up enough he could have started a fire, “Oh shut up.” He throws a wadded up napkin at his friend who swats it back at him. “Besides, it looks like you two had quite a bit of a workout last night too.”
It’s Saber and Temper’s turn to blush as the insides of their ears turn bright red and their faces heat up.
Goliath and Tiara get up before Saber can come up with a witty comeback. “Doc wants to see me down in medical to make sure I’m still healthy.”
“Which I can testify he is,” the tigress purrs as she looks at him out of the corner of her eye.
Goliath and Tiara leave after depositing their trays in the reclaimer, their tails staying entwined as they walk out holding hands.
Saber smiles at Temper, “At least if nothing else, it seems one good thing has come out of this situation.”
She nods and returns his smile, “They’ve both found someone, as have we.” She licks his cheek and they enjoy their meal as their tails reach for each other and entwine.
***
The two felines walk into the medical wing and see the doctor making his rounds. The man catches sight of the cougar and comes over smiling, “How are you this morning Goliath?” Glancing over at Tiara with a wink he asks, “Is he taking care of himself?”
She nod and looks up at the big cougar, “I’d say he’s doing well.”
He chuckles softly and nods, “Let’s go into an examination room and we’ll just double check on that.” He motions towards an open door nearby and the big cougar walks in and sits on the exam-table as it creaks under his weight.
The doctor pulls out a small control pad and nods to him, “Lie down now big fella, this won’t take more then a minute or two.”
Goliath gives a grunt as he lies back and his feet hang off the end of the table. Sighing softly he tries to lie still, “Need to make these tables longer.” The doctor taps his control pad and a scanner arm swings down from the ceiling to sweep a greenish-blue light over him from head to toe and back again.
Tiara watches from where she leans against the door-jam. “Well Doc, how is he?” she asks as the doctor examines the readings and the scanner swings back up into the ceiling.
He nods as Goliath sits up again, “Well, it would appear he’s in perfect condition considering the trauma he’s been through. I can’t find any indication of the poison still in his system and all the cellular damage has repaired itself.” He whispers to himself but the felines easily hear him, “It’s simply amazing.”
Goliath gives a quiet grunt as he stands up, “Does that mean no more restrictions?”
Tiara shakes her head as she crosses her arms over her ample chest, “You’re still going to need to go through a week of physical therapy. No one has ever had this happen, and we’d rather not take any chances of something going wrong with your recovery.”
He grunts and looks down, “I’m fine. The Doc says I’m recovered.”
“Forget it big fella, I’m sticking to this, and I’m willing to bet that Doctor Stine here will more then agree with me.”
He nods in agreement, “I do. You might be the picture of health right now lad, but you can’t depend on the nanites to do everything for you. Some physical therapy can’t hurt you and it will probably do some good getting your muscles back into shape.” He holds up his data pad, “Beside, Moonless won’t let you go back to work till I clear it. And I’m trusting Medic Tiara here to evaluate your recovery.”
“Medic?” he asks looking at her with a cocked eyebrow.
She chuckles lightly as she whisks a stray strand of hair from her face, “Did you think I was just a civilian trainer or some ground-pounding grunt? I was a fully trained combat-medic before I was selected for this little program. Most of us on this base were specialists in at least one area.”
He looks down at his hand and examines how different it is from how his human one used to look, “How many were civilians?” he asks coldly.
Doctor Stine slips his pad into a pocket of his long coat as he sighs, “More then a few actually. In fact, Moonless was.” Goliath looks up surprised and the doctor nods before continuing, “I knew him back then, we were both working in a government lab. He and a few of the other scientists were in a lab accident, which lead to infection by the nanites. Before anyone could do anything they had already started the transformation and as you know, it’s not reversible. Any attempt to revert the person with the same procedure fails due to the nanites still in host’s system. We just never thought it would do what it has in you.”
“You mean heal me when I should have been dead from poison ripping my body apart?”
The doctor nods, “We’ve tried a few experiments on others who volunteered, and it turns out all morphs have this ability to regenerate. We haven’t done more then simple cuts, and you are the most extensive case we’ve seen so far. We have no idea what the limits of those little machines are.”
Goliath sighs and gets off the table, “Well, what’s planned for me today?” he asks as he looks over at the tigress.
She grins, “We’ll just do a little work in the gym today. After all, it’s my rest day too and I hope to find some time to relax.” She motions for him to follow as she heads towards the gyms and he catches up with her after only a few strides.
***
Saber and Temper lounge in his apartment watching an old movie on the entertainment system. “What is this again?”
He smiles at her, “Godzilla, the original Japanese version, not the crappy Americanized one that came out later.”
She shakes her head, “The special effects are kinda cheesy aren’t they?”
“Yup, that’s what makes it so great. This was done in the days before computers could digitize everything. They had to rely on such simple things as a man in a costume in a miniature city in those days.”
Temper watches as Saber holds her in his arms, her head pillowed on his chest. “Well, as long as we can watch it together, I’m not complaining.”
Saber nods and nuzzles her ear, “Indeed.”
***
Down in the gym Goliath in pushing himself on the weight-bench, working out the kinks he still feels in his muscles after being sick. Though for the most part he feels fine he does have to admit to himself he needs the extra workouts to loosen up again.
From her own bench next to him Tiara watches as he goes through his routine, amazed that he is recovering so well. It has only been a day or two since he was deathly ill. And yet here he is, barely breaking a sweat as he bench-presses half a ton.
With a soft grunt the cougar finishes his sets and rests the bar on its cradle. Sitting up he stares off into space and slowly controls his breathing as he lets his thoughts run wild through his mind.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Tiara says as she finishes her own sets and sits up to watch him with a worried look.
Her words snap him back to the here and now. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”
She comes over to rub his wide shoulders, “About?”
“The future I guess, and how uncertain it is,” he says as he closes his eyes in contentment at her touch. “What is to become of us? Are we truly free, or are we just some experiment?”
“We’re as free as we can be. At least Lupe isn’t a stickler for military protocols,” she bites her lip nervously. “Some may feel we are less then human since we don’t look human anymore, but I personally feel that we are far greater now. After all isn’t that why we were altered, to be better soldiers.”
“And what if some of the un-altered decide that we’re a threat because of those differences?” he asks quietly as he looks over his shoulder at her. “What if they decide they did too well with us and we need to be eliminated for their safety?”
Tiara looks around and sees they are alone in the gym, “Then we do what any free person does, defend ourselves.” She gives him a wicked grin, “Something we’re well equipped for now.”
He looks back at his hands, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” He brings his hands to his face and scrubs it, “I got a bad feeling that things are in action against us.”
Tiara gently pats his shoulder, “I wouldn’t worry about it big fella.” She stretches and grunts softly as her muscles ache from the workout, “I think we’ve done enough for today, I’m going to get a shower then I’ll catch up with ya in the mess hall.” Leaning down she gently kisses his nose pad.
He gives her a smile and nods, “Alright, see ya in a few.”
***
Tiara walks into the women’s locker room and waves to a few of the other ladies in there, “Hey girls.”
Several wave and the others respond with a, “Hi.”
A lithe cheetah fem looks up from the bench she sits on having just changed out of her uniform, “How’s that big fella you been seeing Tiara?”
Tiara opens her locker and pulls off her top, “Good as can be expected Racer. He’s almost totally recovered from the poisoning, but I still gotta keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t overdo it.”
A short human closes her locker after draping her towel around her neck, “I saw how bad he was in the medical bay. I still don’t know how he lost that much blood and lived. I know the doc thinks those nanites that changed ya’ll morphs saved him, but that he lost so much blood and survived is what surprised me. Could the nanites really replace his blood at the rate that he was loosing it?”
Tiara shrugs, “I don’t know Jenny, that’s the doc’s hypothesis. But I’m just thankful that he survived at all.” She bends over, pulling her workout shorts down and off over her feet. Dropping her clothing in the chute for cleaning she takes her towel from the locker and follows a few of the others into the showers.
As she turns the water on a rabbit fem next to her perks up and looks around, “Did anyone else hear that?”
Several others look around but don’t see anything though they all hear a slight scuffing. Racer points towards one of the unused showed stalls, “What’s that.”
All the fems in the shower turn to look and see a maleness coming to full erection in the steam filled room with no apparent body attached. “What the fuck!” Tiara says as she moves towards it.
With a sudden jerk it dashes off and as it passes through the water coming from one of the showerheads they all catch a glimpse of an invisible form.
With an angry growl Tiara gives chase, “Get it girls!!!”
***
Goliath looks up hearing several loud voices echoing down the corridor and sees a herd of naked and wet females chasing a… penis?! He takes a second look and can just barely see a distortion in the shape of a slim and small anthro running at a pretty good clip. He watches in amazement as Racer easily catches up with the cloaked person and holds out a small towel saying, “Forget this?”
The cloaked ani-morph is distracted long enough for the large cougar to step in and trip him easily with his thick tail. As the ani-morph trips and skids down the metal hallway on his bum the cougar lets loose an ear splitting screech that his kind are well known for and leaps towards the stunned subject. With a thud he lands next to him and pins him down easily with one massive foot, claws pricking through the vest of the male.
In surprise the male lets his cloaking fall and shows he is a solid black jackal in a black skinsuit of some sort, obviously male from the anatomy poking from his down zipper. His vest has many pockets and the hilt of a katana sticks over one shoulder. Goliath sees the small black ani-morph’s hand dart for a pouch and he tenses his foot to express his claws further while his lips retract in a snarl and show his large killing fangs. “Don’t even try it bub,” he growls at the figure.
The pinned male stops and lays there as a security team arrives and surrounds the two of them and the females finally catch up. Most of the predator ones with claws out and fangs ready to rip a few pieces from the jackal’s hide. Racer though squats next to him and smiles at the captive, “Nice race, but you really picked the wrong place to forget to pull your pants back up.” With a hungry look on her face she teasingly pets his still exposed member causing the insides of the jackal’s ears to turn a bright shade of red. Standing up she heads back the way she had come and Goliath sees her duck into the women’s locker room, explaining the naked and wet females still clamoring to get a piece of the jackal.
As half the security team tries to calm the angry fems, the rest of them keep their rifles leveled at the intruder, the laser sights of their rifles focused on his chest. A few minutes later Deadeye finally arrives with Lupe close behind.
The ferret scowls at the pinned jackal and then looks up at the large feline doing the pinning, “Thanks Goliath, he’s a slippery one this.” Looking down at the prisoner he growls in frustration, “On your feet soldier!”
The small black canine looks up at the big cougar and raises an eyebrow. With a low growl Goliath lifts his foot and the unknown jackal slowly gets to his feet.
To the surprise of most of those watching he turns to Lupe and gives him a precise martial arts bow. “Commander Lupe, I have the data I was sent to acquire.” He reaches for one of his pockets and several of the guards flip their safeties off and glare warningly at the stranger.
The older wolf chuckles to himself, “At ease gentlemen, this has been a test of the base’s security systems. Meet Phantom, he’s the newest member of our crew. The brass sent him in to try and infiltrate the base, acquire data, and deliver it to me, thought not in quite this showy of fashion.” The wolf steps forward and retrieves the disks from the jackal’s pocket himself. “You might want to zip that up son before a few of the angrier ladies try to use it as a scratching post.”
Blushing under his fur Phantom zips his pants up and then returns to a state of attention.
Lupe flips through the data disks and nods, “Deadeye, secure the prisoner.”
The security chief nods and with a nod to his men the security team quickly has the jackal cuffed and all of his obvious weapons confiscated.
Phantom gives the old wolf a confused look and Lupe waves the disks in the air. “I’ll have to look these through before we can decide if you succeeded or failed in your small test.”
Tiara steps up to Lupe with a sour look on her features, “I think its better you let us have him, sir.” She motions over her shoulder to the rest of the angry fems.
Lupe gives her a reassuring smile, “Why don’t you take the other ladies and go enjoy a hot relaxing shower. This lil fellow will be in confinement for a while.”
He pats the wet tigress’ back and she growls as she glares at Phantom. With a feline chuff she turns and stalks back to the other fems and with waves of her arms herds them back to the showers.
Goliath enjoys the view of Tiara’s rear as she stalks down the hall, her tail flicking in agitation. Looking back to Lupe he grunts softly, “I think he’ll be safer in the brig too Lupe. Tiara’s going to take a while to calm down.”
Deadeye nods as he motions for his men to escort the prisoner to the brig, “He’s probably lucky you caught him before she did or he might have been missing a few parts. She’s not one to easily forget, especially a peeping tom.”
Goliath gives Deadeye and Lupe a thumbs-up, “I’ll take care of her. But I would recommend he stays away from her for a while.”
Lupe chuckles, “We’ll see how long the brig can hold him.”