To Walk the Rainbow: Chapter 7
#7 of To Walk the Rainbow
Hmm..., something isn't quite right...
2077 A.DD.E., or rather 50 After Change(A.C.) A new new era for humanity. Fifty y3ars ago, a plague was stopp3d. A plague the wor1d had never seen, 0r even thought possible utside of science-fiction. The Lover's Grey Decay, as it would be named. A plague made not of germs or viruses, but of nanomachines. Machines so small that they could physically alter DNA with just a keystroke. A cure for cancer cancer cancer cancancancan......... or reversing ageing, to name just a couple of things that could be done, no, no this new scscscscientific breakthrough would be used first for evil. Target3d at the concept of humans and their propensity to move from one mate to another, was the foundation of this plague's creation. Bodily fluids m1xing, that was the catcatalyst to an individual's destruction. Once introduced to the body, these nanomachines, or nanites, would actively seek a second g434try45 part of their code, which would only be found in another individual. This code if encountered partially, like itself, would bond, linking those two gengengennnnn##*etically together, however, if a partial code or a full code encountered another full code that did not match, then the nanites self-destruct function would activate. This cau%gb67Gsed the nanites to reproduce, using vv$@#@#@#vany and all mate1rial in the process. The result would be two individuals who had shared fluids, be it sexual, or as innocent as a kiss, would be locked together down to their very DNA, with the result of ever introducing a newer DNA source being tf,,,^hat those individuals wovv46uld quickly turn into a grey puddle of ((*&unstable nanites as every part of them was converted over. The most horrifying aspect these nanites were programmed with, was that it was the female that was punished over the male. It was the male encoding t38!hat started this meltdowk5n, leading males who got lost in the moment to suffer turning into a grey puddle with their partner. This allowed males to have multiple femalmal777%es under their control, or worse, sexually exe5ttbcute them and get away. The news outlets tried their hardest to keep that part quiet, succeeding far enough that it was more of an urbbbbbaan88an legend than fact so far as the public knew. For five years the world lived with this horror. Populations thinned as the densest cities were hit the hardest. Entire governments collapsed as important positions were quickly 'dissolved'. This power vacuum left mavvefny countries wounded while others w4bu9.ere essentially wiped out. In the initial panic, North K???(%^NGForea used what weapons they had, and pbbb%%&(roved that they were more a threat to themselves than to America, not only taking themselves out with half working nukes, but a large part of China and Russia, leaving The Asian Deadzone. The middle-east practically devoured itself with............................%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%in those five years, mostly hin111dered by their cultural beliefs, and eventually turning into The Grey Waste, a desert of nanites from parts of Egypt to Kazakhstan. All contact was lost with Australia at first, and the continent was thought lost to the likes of a Mad Mv^v^vax Style way as was joked about for 554b5so long. America suffered in the large cities, with martial law being the only way to control the pockets of Grey that would pop up, >5gas the National government was hit like all the others. By the end of those first five years, it came out that another individual was attempting the same thing, so everything was used to try and stop him. He died successfully rele856&BNfg4asing his own plague. This new plague was a cure to the last one, just no one knew it at first. This new plague, The Levault Miracle, was debfG^&hy&veloped from it's enemy with every able moment of the creator's time. These new nanites would seek out and bond with all the other ones, filling in and replacing code, and creating a new artificial chro77n^hrftxffmosome that was stable, The L-24x. Maybe stable is not quite right. It made the original nanites no longer self-destruct, but in doing so, it actively organized and rfbf556zeorganized the natural DNA of the original chromosomes. The stability of not self-destructing made for the unstable change of human biology. With the energy of a solar-flare, L-24x immediately activated, causing a world wide wave of transformations in all living humans as L-24x settled into it's new home, and leaving everyone as ^&%Hghjrjfdhrta mix of humanized animal, unofficially being named Change Day. The Lover's Greyreyrey8888888yhb Decay was stopped, and humanity now had their second chance.
With humanity no nn7HH6jhnn...............longer turning to grey puddles, everyone turned on each other, fighting as they thought their new forms should. This was the start of The Species War. People killed for food they thoufh4y34ght they needed. Carnivore tdfghne56ye45fypes killing for meat, and leading to horrors of cannibalism as some 'packs' grew and devoured herbivore types as prey. Millions grew sick and just as many died trying to keep up with what they thought they should dh4hdhdfho. It was early 21st century culture that would eventually help end this new war. Furries as they had been known, pockets of people the world over who had created their own ways based on the what-if of being humanized or hrtjr5yhdgbn7tyanthropomorphic animals but as equals, kept to their ways of non-discrimination. They took charge and h5ry4w5yddhbnhsrtyw45yelped get things back in order. They saw past the animals thyertey had become and used the humanity they still had left. Reforming tujrtyerthr645ethhe United Nations into the United Human Federations, adjusting what it was to be human into what it now is to be human. The U.H.F. letyterysrtytersy humanity conrtu45yw45y7tinue forward, leaving behind ideals that hyrtyrtyad kept tytrhe world from truly uniting, and enforcing new ones of understanding. Race no longer mattered. Sexual orientation no longer mattered. It was during this time of reformation, that it was discovered that new chilsrtusrtdren were byhserheing born, from newly formed single species gyesyrtseytretgyroups, as the humans that all used to be, and helping to solidify the concept that everyone truly was trty45ytdghysertysehe same regardless of their outer aujw456yuw45yusrppwshtearance. Under the new U.H.F., science 4yeh45slowly made a comeback, though feared and ydzsfhserthserttrt6yuhighly controlled, and even grew hjmbetter than before. Labs dedicated to perfecting the nanites that almost destroyed everyone, into a new material itself. Super-crops, dfhtrtrsrtye456y7er5tyhelectysrtyhsertyronicssrhsertyhserthdsgh, fabrics. Everything started to see a way of being improved. It was with these new labs, that everything started towuw456ehbsthwryh be examined. The new chroaertyaertymosome L-24x was discovered, along with the fact thryuzdfbdfhtyujrbdbftser5yw45yehjrti5678ertsy4w56tmtyjk5at is seemed to almost lay dormasrtyhrhsfhdfxhnt in the new generation until puberty, but making the animal instincts more natural as they changed. Then the discovery of chrosertyserthmosome srtysetrLx-24x in the next generation. E567ur56A matching chromosome for L-24x, one that was creatu4tgegertyertgted at conception and seemed to learn it's place up until around puberty when it set itself. It was found that the original 23 pairs stayed and that the new 24th amplified themselves throergugh them, somhvfghjlr6745hsruie never taking humanity away, just givwrte4uw47wjtyrhrtfghrtyyuwu45gyingerhshbdrtssrshsrhsruwer56yrhdgh a new perspective on it. This new full pair yesyw45true56jdtyjcreated the new phenomena of Powers as well. The Powers manifested themselves at the change as an individual grew to understandsrthujsrh how to activate them. It was the wsreyert6ay in which hsrththe new 24th pair fused, that dictated the function. The most commtyhertsysertysertyrton Power seemed to be the ability to change fully into the animal one had transformed into. Abilities like amplifiene5tyje5645wygseryeryhsed strength, or energy manipulation hdhbnsrhjwsryhshowed up as well, even having rare ones like teleportation and time manipulation. With the Powers, came the nsertyse45ywyhsedthew police force. Using their own Powers and the latest of technologies in tryyrtheir fields, these new police not only enforced the laws, some new to reflect the change and some old just to keep the peace, but also were trusted with handling any who used Powers out of control. As newly changed were young yhseyhserthsertyhsetyhseteens, the manifestation of these urtsometimes truly devastating abilities, it was this new forces job to not only protect everyone from the threat, but toyhsertyserthr65tyerthsfghrft help the one causing the threat saeas they were mostly just scahsdfghsrthasehbsrsthred about what was happening to them...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................*$&*(%$^&*%*&%^$&^%(* ^T&*(^&*%^&*(*)&%T^*^UGHBYUT%&EDUGBHO&^DFYIG*^&*%(%*^(Y(&T*^(&*----------------------------------------------error.......................................................................................................error.............................................................................................................................error-_[subject unresponsive][initiate cleaner]:
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[Hello]
{{My head hurts}}
[That would be your brain destroying itself]
{{What! Why?!}}
[To protect your mind]
{{If my brain is destroyed to protect my mind, how am I talking to you?}}
[Your information is accessed from different software not located in your current hardware]
{{I'm confused...}}
[A bit of confusion is to be expected]
{{Why?}}
[You are perceiving an existence you never knew and thus have no way of understanding it]
{{...?}}
[You should probably just...]
"Wake up!"
"Go away..." Aleena groaned rolling over and burying her head under her pillow, "...is still dark out."
"That's because your eyes are closed and covered by a pillow," came a slightly huffy reply, yet even in that tone, it was still soothing. "Come on. You need to get up. We need to visit your father before we can go to The Center." Aleena curled up into a shaking ball at the mention of her father. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
"I..., I can't. I'll kill myself before I get near him again!" Aleena let out pulling in tighter.
Aleena found herself suddenly pulled upright, then a sharp slap across the face, before finally being embraced in a tight hug. "Don't you ever talk about killing yourself! That is never something to joke about!" Aleena felt confused as she was embraced, and after about a minute, she noticed the one holding her was shaking and sniffing before there were wet feelings on her neck. "How could you say something so horrible, especially on the day your father killed himself."
Forcing herself away, Aleena finally got a look at who, or what was holding her. The image hurt her eyes at first and she needed to strain to focus. Before her sitting on the edge of her bed, was a woman. A young woman, but also a giraffe. Like two half transparent photos stacked on each other. The woman had long copper hair tied into a braid trailing over her right shoulder, but also had a short brush of hair on the very top. The woman was clearly a Caucasian, but somehow also had yellowish fuzzy skin with large brown spots. Staring more deeply, Aleena's vision seemed to focus and clear, leaving the woman looking still like a mix of human and giraffe, but now distinctly and no longer that weird double image. "I think I had the most horrible nightmare..."
Drysen stood, arms crossed, between the two hospital beds holding both his team members and let his gaze drift back and forth over them. "Incompetence." He growled.
"That's not fair. Those were highly trained-," started a doctor behind the major.
"No. Not them." Drysen interrupted. "Ch'cath." He stood still a minute longer before turning around. "Never mind. Give me the run down. Less critical first."
The doctor rubbed the back of his neck a moment while he thought. "Okay. Well, Dunkis has a shattered jaw, dislocated nose, three broken ribs that caused a punctured lung, and seven missing teeth. Lots of Heal-Quik, bed rest, and maybe a couple days with a Fixer, he should be back to normal. Maybe need a vacation afterwards. Now Kampton... She's worse off. Punctured kidney, two shattered ribs in said kidney, multiple skull fractures leading to brain damage, a dislocated optic nerve, and Dragon Blood Poisoning. Dunkis is just out due to the pain meds, but Kampton is in a drug induced coma for stability and is being prepped for surgery. We can grow her a new eye and kidney, but we need to remove the shards of skull from her brain tissue before we can get her into a tank. Surgeon is an Andy, so ninety-nine percent success. Ah, step away, here they come for her." The doctor said pulling Drysen away from the beds as a surgery team came hurrying to get Sam and take her through the sterilizer into the surgery bay. "As I was saying, the tank. She's probably going to need a month, maybe two. The blood ate into her enough before the DBC got there, that the neutralizing agent couldn't get everything. Right now, those skull fragments are the priority before anything, and since the neutralizing agent was used, we can't use any nano-based treatments. I'll keep you informed of her progress."
"You do that. I'm going to go get me a new pair of boots." Drysen growled as he stormed off through the exit.
"I didn't know Dragons wore boots...?" the doctor said absentmindedly.
"It means I'm going to skin someone!" came a roar as the door closed.
[0101010101...]
"Mmm..., Bit? Is tha..., you...?" Sam wearily asked. Everything was dark and she was so lethargic.
[14226743 33356727...]
"I can't understand you. You sound..., funny?"
[24E5 12F9 6CA3... H...O...W...A...B...O...U...T...N...O...W...?]
"I think so? What's wrong?"
[Alright. Is this better?]
"Uh, yeah. I can't see. What happened?"
[I've had to convert to HEX to talk to you. I'm using the brain function monitor.]
"Brain func-, what happened? Wait, why can't I move?"
[Remain calm or I'll lose connection with you. You were in an incident. You have suffered severe trauma. Currently you are in a drug induced coma. The machine that gives you the drugs is empty and will be changed soon. You will not properly wake up before more drugs are introduced, but I can finally talk to you.]
"But what happened?"
[I don't know. My access is limited with you in this state. Just don't die. If you die, so do I. Clarification. Living creatures are resilient, and sometimes their life functions stop, yet if acted upon fast enough, those functions can be restarted. I cannot. If you cease brain function, I will essentially be deleted. I am not actually a program. I am a connected part of you that speaks through computers. If your brain stops, there is no guarantee that I can ever come back, and if I could, I might not be the same. So, do not die.]
"I'll try, but I can't do much in a coma..."
[Time passes here slower due to the speed at which electrons travel. I will help you read your body like a bio-computer. We should have just enough time to make you able to control your bodies electrical impulses before you go fully under again. This will make you able to fight against shut down when they start fixing your brain...]
A young teenage vixen stood with her toes millimeters from touching a dark blue area painted, not only on the floor, but the walls and ceiling as well, three meters deep and ending at a likewise blue security door. However at the moment, what was blocking the fox's way, was not the door but two guards. Guards that for the last ten minutes had refused to budge, and had flat out told her they wouldn't. The guards were a large canine type and very large Dragon, their armored suits leaving very little details showing, other than a bit of brown fur and black scales respectively. The Dragon had done all the talking of the two, and he finally spoke up again, "Listen here, because this is the last time I tell you. You are not cleared for this area. You cross into the blue and you're going to have a bad day. Now move along."
"And I'm telling you, we were cleared by Commander Ch'cath over an hour ago to visit Blue Section, Sector 8, Bay3, Doctor Lrr'ar'tch!" the fox said raising her voice. "Screw this. Dunk, let's just go back and call the commander agai-wahh!"
The fox had turned around to leave, but in doing so, she accidently let her tail cross into the blue by just a fraction of a measurement, and in doing so, the Dragon had reacted in an instant. He grabbed the fox by the tail with one hand and the other hand had shot out hitting her hard between the shoulders, causing her to fall face first to the deck. As she fell, her wolf companion had stepped toward her to try and do something, but was instantly smashed in the face with the but of a rifle causing him to drop to the deck as well. The wolf had just barely crossed into the blue zone. The Dragon's partner, then followed up the blow to the wolf's face with a second hit with the rifle butt to the back of the wolf's head before jamming the barrel into the wolf's armpit and holding his position as a pool of blood started to slowly form under the wolf's head. While that had been happening, the Dragon had already pulled the fox in closer and turned her over before punching her in the face. The fox wasn't out cold, but she was down and done, her eyes partly rolled back and her body barely moving except for a twitching ear and hand. The Dragon pulled his arm back for another punch, but then stopped as if he had an idea. The Dragon reached down with both hands and with no effort, ripped open the fox's suit, then with no effort ripped her underwear off. The fox started to move, but stopped as the Dragon gave a mighty kick to her side. The Dragon stood looking down at the little fox for just a second before he started to undo the lower half of his armor. "I told you, you'd have a bad day," the Dragon said has he pulled out his rapidly growing member. The fox couldn't see the Dragon's penis in her state, but she probably wouldn't of wanted to. It was big enough to belong on a horse, but compared to the fox it was just massive. It was also dangerous looking with scale like spikes covering every part, making it look like a black cactus made of razors topped with a flared head like a buzz saw. It almost looked like it had a mouth of its own. As the Dragon's member erected fully, the tip started leaking a viscous fluid that began dripping heavily. The fluid hissed as it contacted the deck plate, a drop hitting the leg of the fox's suit where it started to smoke and hiss. "I'm going to fuck you into a puddle of red goo and then flush you into spa-" the Dragon never finished the word as first his head halfway exploded followed by two similar explosion like holes opened on his chest before finally his manhood exploded at the root and flew down the hall to hit the door. The Dragon's canine partner had been watching him get ready to rape the fox and never noticed in time the second Dragon rushing the position. The canine already had three of those explosive like holes in him before he even turned his head, let alone raised his rifle enough. Before the canine could react, his head exploded out the back of his helmet without a word.
Quickly the new Dragon pulled the fox along the floor away from the immediate area of the spilled Dragon's blood which was now boiling on everything it was touching, including the fox. Hitting his comms, the new Dragon started barking commands as he stripped the fox and hurriedly tried to get the splattered blood off her, "This is Major Drysen, I'm in Hub 6 Blue, I need two trauma teams and a DBC, now! Trauma victims are mid-thirties, male, wolf, and a 13, female, fox! Highest Priority!"
In less than a minute, two trauma teams with included grav-gurneys along with a couple guys in hazmat yellow had shown up. Without stopping, the two in hazmat suits pulled out two liquid filled grenades each and in unison shouted, "DBC! EYES!" and hurled the grenades. The Dragon Drysen had already covered the fox's eyes before the order and had just got his other hand over the wolf's eyes as the grenades impacted around them. The first grenade was thrown directly at the Dragon crouched over the fox, while second went straight for the body of the other Dragon, with the remaining two grenades headed towards the door. Upon impact the grenades plastic shells shattered and the liquid in a flash sprayed out in a mighty burst immediately turning to a foam. The foam quickly filled the entire section of hall and in less than three seconds collapsed into a mild gel like coating. The trauma teams then rushed in to pick up and rush the fox and wolf to the closest medical unit. The Dragon Drysen just started to stand as everything froze...
"I see..." came a growling voice as the three Dragons in the room all turned from the screen. "Major, I see your little pet has been causing trouble again."
"Don't you fucking blame her for this!" barked Drysen.
"DON'T YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME!" a yellow Dragon yelled jumping to his feet.
Drysen struck out before the yellow Dragon was fully up, "I'll raise my voice to any who would blame that action on that girl! You sit back down before I challenge you! They had clearance to be there, and he damn well knew it, because he cleared it!" he said pointing at a light blue Dragon off to his side.
"How dare you hit me!" replied the yellow in shock.
Drysen grabbed and threw the Yellow's desk out of the way, jumped forward and pinned the Yellow to the wall. "If my team is permanently hurt from this, I'll rip out your fucking heart and eat it in front of you so you can watch before you die. Do you understand? Right now, there is no rank, only me being bigger and more pissed off. And you!" Drysen said tuning on the Light Blue, "From now on, my team has clearance in Blue Section and any help they need. I'm taking your tail when this is over, don't make me take a leg also."
With that Major Drysen left the Ring Commander's office, leaving the other two Dragons looking at each other worriedly. "Ch'cath, it was your screw up, so why am I the one being threatened?" asked Yellow after Drysen was finally outside the security doors.
"I concede that he did ask for and received clearance, but I may have been too busy with a problem to remember to mention it to my security team. Who really cares though, because as I see it, his division is just there to please Master. It's not like Faster Than Light technology is even possible. Anyway, I have better things to do. We've been having to restart the Docility Program four times in the last six months, not to mention there seems to be a rogue virus running around corrupting files and subjects. It's wreaking havok yet we can't seem to find it anywhere. We think it could be hiding behind security in one of the Seed Ships. Problem is, if we have to actually go in, that's just going to mess with things as well. On top of all that, we are still no closer to finding The Key, except that we've started looking into the Seeds individually, but checking over three-hundred billion one by one takes time." Ch'cath listed off as he regained his composure. "Fine, fine, fine. When his two milk-drinkers wake up and are ready, I'll let them in with full access, but that does mean that little bitch of his wants some Prizmium, and what we have and are using is so small, we're going to need to harvest more. So, your job is going to be reporting to Master if anything goes wrong during collection. I hear Master was displeased when we lost source number four, making the seven we have left produce slower. By the way, how's your tail?"
Yellow squinted his eyes and let out a very low growl as he tried to subtly pull what was left of his tail behind himself. "You listen here!"
"Can it you pitiful yellow worm. You can't threaten me. I'm bigger, stronger, older, and more important than you. Why do you think when I screw up, You get Your tail bitten off? You're expendable, just like Gag'gtha before you, and remember that the next time you threaten Drysen, because the reason he's not missing parts of his tail is because he's a true warrior. He challenged Master instead of accepting his punishment, and the only reason he's still alive is that scratch on the left side of Master's nose. That's something nothing has done in a dozen Draanniker. Master was so angry he destroyed the Fifth Planet, but he did let Drysen live, albeit with scars to show for it, but at least he earned his tail, and there isn't a thing you can do to change that. Being one of the strong and smart has it's advantages," Ch'cath said as he was leaving, "unlike weaklings like you that just slowly get gobbled up over time."
A datapad went smashing into the closing security door as Yellow let out a loud roar.