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Starfall: Chapter 10: Farmhand: Part One

Yawning, Usako turns over on the couch. 'I'll have to give it to Angela, using the situation to get her way on where I'd be sleeping, otherwise I would've been sleeping in the master bedroom.' Letting out a sigh, Usako flops over again, curling up while her ear twitches.

'As insulated and furnished as this place is, I can still hear most of the noise coming from outside, and if I had to guess from where, it's from the Bio-Morphs. Don't they have to get up early too? I mean it's not late at night, but they'd need a full night's sleep don't they?' Shaking her head once, she closes her eyes.

They fly open as a particularly loud bark echos into the red barn. ' Groan, Okay, 'what' are they doing out there to make such noise?' Grumbling, she crawls over to the edge of the couch, pulling herself up on the armrest, before stretching herself out. Reaching up a moment later to pull the chain on the lamp illuminating the 'man cave' in soft yellow tinted light.

Hopping off the couch, Usako winces. 'I don't care what Steven says, it still looks like his parents pulled this place from a television set. Tacky couch included.' Shaking herself a bit to satisfy a primal vulpine instinct. Usako grabs Angela's old clothes and pulls them on, quickly walking over to the side door of the barn that's a direct exit. Rather than taking the long way through an armature seamstress's workshop.

Another loud set of barks and yips ring out as her hands touch the doorknob above her, causing Usako to tilt her ears in its direction as she opens the side entrance door.

The lights used to illuminate the common area of the Bio-Morph pen frames the beige metal barn in front of her with a halo of light. 'Well, there goes my night vision.' Stepping outside, she shuts the door and follows the well-worn dirt path around the back of the beige barn.

'What?' Stopping in her tracks, Usako stares out at the trapezoid cage. 'They're playing soccer? Why?'

Keeping herself within the shadow of the barn, Usako watches them play. 'They moved the picnic tables to the sides to make room, and so they can be used as bleachers.' Blinking and tilting her head a bit upon seeing Bio-Morphs more her size in the group playing.

'Steven did say they had 'breading rights' for their pack...'

A shiver works its way through her tail at the wrongness of it, causing the shift in the direction of the wind to go unnoticed, blowing her scent towards the Bio-Morphs rather than away.

'So those Bio-Morphs who are the size of adults where I'm from, are their kids.' One of the adults, whom Usako recognizes as Charlie, lets one of the kids score a goal he could've just as easily blocked as he plays the goalie of the sole set of makeshift goal posts.

The entire Bio-Morph crowd sitting on the picnic tables erupt in barking cheers, the kid seems to absorb all the positive attention, as Charlie stops to pant a couple of times.

Charlie sniffs the air a bit. 'Why do I smell that weird Bio-Morph from the other day?' Subtly, as to not worry the rest of his pack, he looks around at the edges of the light outside their large cage. All the while, he heads on over to the kid he just let score a goal.

Smiling a little at the heart-warming scene, Usako leans onto the side of the barn. 'Might as well watch them till they're done. The noise their making will keep me awake regardless. Not to mention, for kids they're pretty good.'

As Charlie picks up the kid up, lifting him over his head. Charlie's eyes catches Usako's as he can just barely make out her silhouette. 'There she is.'

Usako tilts her ears back half way. 'And he spotted me, great.' Sniffing the air, Usako lets out a sigh. 'More like smelled me rather than spot me. The damn wind changed direction and I didn't even notice it.'

Charlie looks away and to the rest of his pack as he puts the yipping boy down. [Sorry, game's over.] Waving them towards their containers.

With huffs and grunts the picnic tables lose their inhabitants as they head for the residential containers. Minus one though, as they walk up behind Charlie.

His hand's stopped by a slightly smaller dusty-red one gripping his wrist gently.

Raising her ears, Usako cocks her head to one side. 'Charlie said something there, that much I'm sure of. What he said I have no clue, it's just, the noises he made weren't just barking and growling. They have a pattern to them and it's reminding me of something I just can't put a paw on.'

The owner of the dusty-red hand gently pulls Charlie's arm down and turns him around to face them. [Brother, why cut the game short? Tomorrow isn't harvest time. We can deal with fewer hours of sleep.] Letting go of his hand, they move around Charlie and into Usako's sight.

'Who's that?' Standing back up, Usako has to stop herself from walking forward upon sight of the wolfess covered in dusty-red fur, wearing only a basic cloth bra and pants.

'Is that the alpha female of the pack or someone else Charlie knows?'

Charlie though, points towards Usako while looking at the wolfess. [Pippi, it's the weird Bio-Morph I told you about last night. Named Usako.] Looking over at Usako, then beckons her over with a hand motion.

Pippin just tilts her head while looking over at the beige barn's shadow her brother pointed at. 'I don't see anyone, then again my night vision isn't as good as my brother's.'

Mentally sighing, Usako straightens her clothing while looking at the two of them. "Alright. I'm coming out." Pippi flinches upon hearing Usako speak, grabbing Charlie's arm [We can't be caught playing soccer they'll...] Only to stop speaking upon seeing Usako.

Lowering her arm. Pippi's jaw hangs open at the sight.

"Hello there Charlie." Usako smiles at him, then turns to the dusty-red wolfess. "Hello, whomever you are." Smiling at Pippin.

Charlie wave's back. Lowering his arm, he turns to Pippin and nudges her shoulder lightly. [Just wave hello to her. I don't know what Usako is, but she isn't a danger to us sis.]

Pippin stares at Charlie. [Bro, what is she though? She the size of a nine to ten year old, wearing Angela's clothes when she was that age. Yet, no nine year old Bio-Morph has that kind of figure. Not to mention she smells mature too.]

Usako lowers an ear for a moment as her tail flicks as realization hits her. "You know. I've heard speak ancient Lupine before, while I don't understand a lick of it, other than my name. A few of the sounds you're making seem similar to what my name is in Ancient Lupine. You guys can actually talk, can't you?"

[Just wave hello to her Pippin, please! If you want to find out more about her you can ask Usako if they pick you up for house duty.] Looking back at Usako Charlie tilts his head slightly.

'Ancient Lupine?' He nods once to Usako.

Rolling her eyes and flicking her tail at her brother, Pippin raises a hand and slowly waves back at Usako. [Sigh. We 'really' shouldn't be out here brother. What if Steven or Angela are nearby?]

Toothlessly smiling to the dusty-red female, Usako notices Charlie tilting his head, tilting her ears in response to his body language. "Okay... Um, as interesting as it is to watch all of you playing soccer. I was actually, um, trying to sleep over there in the red barn..." Raising her ears back up, Usako points in the direction of the red wood barn.

"I'm sorry if it sounds rude, I don't want to be 'that' kind of mammal. It's just that Steven is going to have me start working for my keep tomorrow and I don't know how rough it's going to be. So I want to be well rested just in case it is and, well, the noises of your game keeps waking me up."

Charlie and Pippin look at each other.

[I guess we were a little loud.] Pippin sighs. [I was supposed to remind everyone to be a bit more quiet. So we wouldn't attract attention. I just got caught up in the excitement.] Pippin looks away from her brother to Usako, then to the shared residential container, she, Charlie and her parents use.

Charlie nods to Pippin. [Yea I got caught up in the excitement too, the pup will be a good player when he's older, if he stays in this pack and isn't sold off. Anyway, go ahead and head back to our container and see if mom and dad are already asleep. I'll take care of Usako and make sure she won't tell them about this.]

Glancing momentarily at Usako, Pippin nods to Charlie and walks over to their residential container.

Sighing, Charlie lowers his ears for a moment before raising them up and focusing them forward as he turns to look at Usako.

Standing there with her ears forward but not fully up. 'Now I'm regretting not taking ancient lupine classes in high-school. Maybe I could gleam a little as to what they've been saying.'

Usako's eyes lock onto Charlie's hand as he waves it, with her attention on it, Charlie points down to the dirt on his side of the chain-link enclosure.

Kneeling, Charlie uses a finger to write in it. {We will go to bed now.} Looking up to Usako, she nods, so he wipes it away and writes some more. {Sorry for the noise.} Repeating the previous process, he does it once more. {Please do not tell them this.}

Sighing loudly, Usako nods once. "I won't tell Steven what I saw here tonight." Pausing for a moment to let out a yawn.

"You do know you're going to have to tell him eventually? In some fashion at least. Honestly, I'm clueless as to how they think you're not intelligent. Not to mention why it's such a big deal to hide the fact from them. Well, other than you being their slave. Which to be frank, seems down right repugnant."

Charlie lowers his ears and his tail, before taking a step back to have more room to write. {The topic's complicated, go to bed, we'll talk later.}

Mimicking Charlie's posture unconsciously, Usako sighs at the message, but nods in understanding.

"You're right Charlie. It's late, and we both need our rest for tomorrow." Forcing a smile in her tired state, Usako turns and walks back for the red barn, letting out a yawn and stretching her arms above her head as she walks away.

Watching Usako walk away, Charlie waits till she's out of sight before sighing and wiping the message in the dirt away with is foot-paw.

Shaking his head he lets his ear's and tail relax as he makes the small trek back to the residential container that has served as his family's home. Familiar habit guides his hand as he lightly knocks on the thickly painted door to announce himself.

Opening it a moment later, Charlie quickly steps inside. Letting the door shut it's self quietly on well maintained hinges and reminding him of what his father told him years ago.

~We're lucky. We may be slaves, but they're far less caring owners than the Mercers. They keep this place well maintained. Because of that, we don't suffer as much as others.~

In response to the inrush of the warm, almost too hot air of a Texas summer night, the hvac spits out just slightly cooler air than the outside.

Charlie glances at the air vent. 'Dad did try to explain how that works to me, mom and sis, still, how do you 'remove' heat? You can't touch it. It's just, there.'

Pushing the thought aside, he moves what once was a table cloth, but now's used as a privacy wall when they leave the door open out of his way. His toes spread out and relax upon contact with the worn but soft carpeting scrap's on the floor.

The set of four bunk beds that makes up living area of the residential container lay in front of him, framed by another threadbare sheet. Which on the other side contains a shower, a toilet, sink and a small table.

[Took you long enough.] Pippin calls out from the upper right bunk.

[Usako has no clue as to why we're slaves, even though she too wears the collar.] Of the four bunks in here, only three of them are used for sleeping.

Pippin pops her head over the edge of her bunk as Charlie moves to sit on the bunk bellow her.

Charlie glances over to the bunk opposite him. Under a near paper thin blanket, a head filled with more aged silver and white fur than the original gray coloration rests comfortably next to a brown furred one with just as much aged silver.

Smiling at the sleeping forms of his father and mother respectively. 'I wonder how they would've handled Usako? I wasn't kidding when I said I had a lot to live up to, to be just as good an alpha as you dad.' Silently sighing, Charlie flicks an ear.

'I'll ask him in the morning, maybe get mom's input as well. Just because both of you are retired, doesn't mean I can't ask for advice.'

[This Usako creature, what is she?] Pippi moves, and dangles her head and upper body, sans clothing, down into Charlie's space under her bunk-bed. 'Lets see how he reacts to this, his usual way or?'

[Sis! Put something on! I don't want to see those.] Covering his eyes as to not see them, Charlie turns his head away and flattens his ears.

[They're breasts bro, and I've seen you ogle the ones on 'you know who' three containers down.] Putting a teasing tone in her voice and giving him a lop-sided grin.

Not that Charlie can see the latter.

[That doesn't mean I want to see them, like that, on my sister!] Charlie quietly hisses back.

'Something about this situation's really bothering him, normally he'd say these are too small to be breasts.' Dropping the grin, then pulling herself back up. Pippin puts on the minimalistic tube of fabric over her breasts. 'I'd like to see Angela try to wear this for a day while I have an actual bra.'

Pippin lowers herself back down.

[I'm decent now... You're worried about something, aren't you Char-Char] Charlie uncovers his eyes and makes eye contact with his sister's upon being called by her cub-hood nickname of his.

Letting out a sigh Charlie glances at their parents, who he can tell are no longer asleep, just trying to put up appearances so not to look like their intruding on their children's 'discussion'.

'Great, mom's going to try to hook me up with Elisa now. Thanks pip. I was trying to see if she was interested in 'me' and not the Alpha of the pack...'

Tearing his eyes away from his parents, Charlie looks in the direction of the red barn, or an approximation due to no windows in a residential container. [This Usako, she treated me like a person. The last one who treated us like people and not slaves was Mark. Both of us know what happened to him after he removed your collar pip.] Reaching up, Charlie runs his fingers over his Bio-Morph collar.

[Usako has a collar on her, and they will be having her 'work' for her 'keep' tomorrow. Add to that, you know how Angela's started treating us now that she and Steven are our owners.]

Pippin's frown looks like a smile as she hangs upside down. [This Usako isn't a bio-morph like us. She can talk human for instance, yet, I get the feeling you think they'll treat her like one of us if she tries to tell them we're actually intelligent? I mean it's not like they can do the same thing they did to dad, right?]

Lowering his ears, Charlie sighs.

[No, they can't. They can treat her as badly as some treat Bio-Morphs though, and that worries me on how at least Angela will start treating us. I get the feeling Usako will ruin what little we have when she acts badly to Angela or Steven treating her as a Bio-Morph. From what I can tell, Angela already hates Usako for some reason.]

Pippin joins her brother at looking in the general direction of the red barn. [So what's your plan to stop Usako from ruining things for us Charlie?]

Laying down and covering himself with a thin and worn blanket, Charlie looks up at Pippin. [First, both of us need to get some sleep, it's late. Second, tomorrow you'll act like you 'really' want to go with Angela or Steven when they come to pick who's going to be their house slave for the day, and every day from now on until we can trust Usako. Third, you keep yourself close to her when you are there. Do what you can to keep her from messing things up, even if you have to misbehave.]

Pippin's frown deepens. [Is this an order as my 'Brother' or as 'The pack's Alpha Male'? You know I hate doing that kind of shit even if you 'do' order me to go do things they're too lazy to do in their house.] Pippin folds her ears back upon hearing a loud 'snore' from her mother.

Turning her head, she looks over to her parents. 'Oh Fuck me, they're just pretending to be asleep! We weren't that loud...'

Charlie smirks as Pippin lets out a child like whine. 'Heh, yup they're awake. Enjoy your soap filled mouth tomorrow morning pippy. You know how mom hates cursing.' Holding his ears forward, he stares down Pippin when she turns her head back to look at him.

[Both Pippy. It's an order as your brother and as the pack's Alpha Male. Since it would not just be us adults that will suffer from Angela's treatment, but the kids as well.]

Yawning, Charlie turns over and closes his eyes.

-

The next morning.

-

The knock on the front door of the barn draws Usako's attention in the midst of slowly waking up. 'Well if it wasn't for the light streaming in, their knocking would've woken me up.' Stretching with a yawn, Usako crawls off the couch and picks up a clean set of Angela's old clothes, putting them on over her only pair of underwear.

'Gonna have to ask them to get me more before these start to smell.'

Another, louder, knock stops her mid pull up of a pair of 'kid's' jeans. "Give me a minute, I'm not dressed yet!" Grunting and laying her ears back, Usako threads her tail though the improvised tail-hole she cut with her claws last night when these were handed to her.

Throwing on a shirt a moment later, only to wince at how tight it is bust wise even for her frame. She walks over through the 'man cave' portion of the barn to the other half of the giant finished room. A sewing/painting studio.

Ignoring the various paraphernalia for both hobby's, Usako walks right up to the normal door built into what was a wide barn door, but now is just a wall. Hopping up to grab a hold of the handle, only letting go when her feet touch the ground and the mechanism opens.

"Good morning Usako." Steven steps back, allowing the door to swing out.

Yawning a bit, Usako steps out, reaching behind herself to push the door closed. Tail flicking idly and her ears lay forward but not fully up as she looks up at Steven. "Morning. I see you would've woken me up at the crack of dawn, if the light through the windows didn't do that for you."

Glancing at the red barn, Steven lets out a breath. 'Yea, going to have to put the old curtains back up. Mom and dad were in the middle of changing them out when their health took the turn for the worse and never got to finish it.'

He turns his attention back to Usako.

"Well, if you're going to be helping us around here to earn your keep, then you'll have to keep the hours we do. Which means getting up at the crack of dawn and working till the work's done, which could be as late as sunset." Smirking at Usako.

'City folk balk at those hours, I bet she will too.'

Only to see her nod her head. "Alight, I'll keep that in mind Steven." Pausing as she lets him lead her over to that 'vehicle' of his.

"Speaking of earning my keep, while I'm thankful you have clothes that can fit me, even if they're Angela's old clothes. All I have is this one pair of underwear so..." Climbing up, Usako puts on the harness that serves as the seatbelt. Pulling it as tight as it will go.

'I hope he doesn't pull another stunt like yesterday. I'm not taking chances though.' Usako double checks the tightness of the harness.

Grabbing the overhead bar, Steven pulls himself into the driver's seat, flips the switch to start the vehicle, and pops the parking brake, but doesn't put on the harness. "I'll see what I can do. Though they don't have bras for someone your size as a nine-year-old human girl wouldn't need them. So I'm going to have to order some Bio-Morph ones, they mature a bit faster than humans after all."

Hitting the gas, the former truck peels away from the old style barn, billowing a cloud of dust behind it. Usako just grits her teeth and clings to the restraints. 'How has he not crashed this thing yet!'

"As for the um, well, panties. I can just pick up any cheap pack at the store for kids and put some tail holes in them. Should be better than you using your claws." Steven slows the vehicle down as they go from the dirt road to pavement.

Forcing her jaw to relax, Usako looks over to Steven. "You can sew? That surprises me."

Pulling up onto the driveway for the house, he looks over at her. "Yea, mom taught all of us the basics. She even taught dad too. Comes in handy when you're out working the farm and something rips, gets cut or torn. Rather than having to waste time heading back to the house and changing clothes, we each carried a patch kit to fix anything like that up."

Pulling the parking brake, he shuts off the engine.

Usako quickly pops the seatbelt and climbs out. 'If the vehicle's control surfaces took my size into account, I would insist on driving before he kills us both.'

The gravel's barely even warm in the light of dawn, and Usako lets out a small breath now she's safe and out of the vehicle. "That makes more sense than I would've expected. Never thought a male farmer would know how to sew." Looking over to Steven as he climbs out of the vehicle.

"So, what are you going to have me do today?"

Walking towards the porch for a moment before looking back to see if Usako is following him, he points back in the direction they came from. "Well once we have breakfast. I'll take you over to our storage barn. Then I'll grab one of the Bio-Morphs before Angela takes the pack to handle cattle today. You and whomever I grab will be working the millstone. Also, not surprised at that, it's common for city folk to think farmers are dumb."

Passing him, Usako waits on the porch steps. "So then what is a farmer? What's a millstone?"

Pausing a moment before passing her like they've leapfrogging each other, Steven stops in front of the door. "Non-corporate owned farmers are modern generalists. Plant and animal husbandry, mechanic, tailor, carpenter, first aid to an extent, etc. All are needed in some fashion to run a farm like this. As for what a millstone is, it's the ancient way that grain got ground into flour, before we used machines that is."

Opening the door, he motions for Usako to enter first. The various sounds and smells of cooking already assaulting her nose.

Sniffing the air, Usako enters, and walks to the living room. Sitting down in the ejected seat of the test ship. It's placed a bit awkwardly next to the human sized chair and in front of the coffee table.

"Why do you have this millstone when machines could do it faster?"

"Because some stupid hipster saps in town and down in Austin go gaga over 'artisan style' flour! We can sell between a hundred and two hundred pounds a day at the same value as 'tons' of the normally ground method." Angela walks into the living room carrying plates of food. Two on a tray on one hand, and the third being held by the other hand.

Usako's ears flip between fully forward and flat back as she sniffs the air. 'I smell meat and it's not fish or poultry, I know what it is and I should be disgusted. Yet, only humans and Bio-Morphs are sentient here. That would make it alright, if it wasn't for me feeling disgusted because I smell porcine and my stomach wants it.'

Angela places down a plate of ham-sausage, bacon, and eggs with hash-browns on the coffee table in front of her own seat on the couch. Similar plates are places in front of both chairs similarly a moment later.

'Heh, you now have a choice Usako, eat it or go hungry.' Angela gives a fake smile to Usako.

Looking between Usako and his sister, Steven sighs and sits down. "It's actually been a good thing for our farm. We can take some of our lower quality, rougher grain, and sell it for a higher price than the higher quality stuff."

Noticing Usako's ear movement's. 'God Dammit sis, stop teasing her like this.' Steven takes Usako's plate and sets it next to his.

With a couple quick motions, he exchanges The sausage and bacon on Usako's plate with the eggs on his. "I hope eggs are alright Usako, if not I'll go get you cereal."

Shaking her head, Usako forces her ears to stay up and forward. "No, eggs are fine. We have them back home. Chickens aren't sentient." Picking up the fork that came with the plate, Usako digs into the meal.

'Why did I act like that? Chickens back home are like the porcine here, non-sentient, and I guess used as food as these Humans appear to eat meat as well.'

Angela sighs. 'God dammit bro, just let me get her back for my fucking arm.' Digging into her meal after Steven does.

"So what does this ancient way of grinding flour pertain?" Usako stops eating long enough to point her fork at Steven.

Taking a bite out of a piece of bacon, he swallows. "It means instead of it being ground to dust in a mechanical grinder, it gets ground by hand between two large granite slabs." Only stuffing a piece of sausage into his mouth once he finishes speaking.

'Steven wasn't kidding when he said it was an ancient method, not to mention it sounds labor intensive.' Usako grabs one of the salt shakers brought with the meal and uses it.

'I guess though if you have 'free' labor, you don't mind having them do such back breaking tasks.' The tip of Usako's tail twitches in an aggravated motion due too focusing on keeping her ears up.

"Sounds like something I wouldn't be able to physically do Steven."

Angela glares daggers at Usako from across the coffee table. 'Who does this 'thing' think she is? Pushing that millstone's an easy task. All she has to do is push it for a few hours, so she can sleep here and eat our food, and she refuses!'

Looking between Usako and his sister, Steven just shakes his head. "No. I wouldn't expect you to be able to move it Usako. I'll have the Bio-Morph we pick up today do that, You'll be bagging the ground flour."

Angela turns her attention to Steven. "How about she just stack the completed boxes on the pallet? You can do the bagging like usual."

Steven pushes his plate away from himself, laying the fork onto it gently. "Usako had trouble with the wight of the black boxes from her crash site, if I had to guess they're about forty-five pounds. A box filled with bags of flour weighs about the same. We also stack them onto a pallet higher than she is tall. Lastly, her injury hasn't completely healed, so heavy lifting is out of the question per Frank's orders."

Standing, Steven walks on over to the front door.

"Sounds alright to me Steven." Finishing half the eggs and about a quarter of the hash browns, Usako reaches up and places the plate onto the coffee table along with her fork.

Standing and stretching a bit, she looks over at Steven and Angela.

"I take it we're going to go start working on the millstone?"

Retrieving a set of keys from the wall hook near the door. "Yea, before it gets too hot out that we risk heat stroke on the Bio-Morph we'll be using. The metal barn isn't air-conditioned." Usako walks up to Steven as he opens the door for her.

"Don't forget to keep your phone on! I'm not fielding any more calls that you should be getting Bro!" Usako pins her ears back at the volume and tone of Angela's unnecessary yelling.

Pulling out the phone from his pocket, Steven waves about so Angela can see it. "I have it fully charged and set to accept calls. Do you need any specific Bio-Morph for the slaughter house today Sis, or can I just grab anyone?"

Pausing from picking up the plates. 'Should've made less food for that bitch, she only ate half of it.' Angela looks over to Steven.

"Nah, just make sure Balto and Anna are doing alright. They're getting a bit old. Also, try to keep Elsa away from Charlie, he seems interested in her, and we already have enough cubs right now, just in case she went into heat early. We'll need every able hand we have and having her out due to pregnancy won't help, not to mention another mouth or three who can't work."

'Wha? Who's Balto, Anna and Elsa?' Usako tilts her head a bit as Steven chuckles.

"So just the usual routine then. Okay, see you in a bit as you come to pick the ones you need today."

Letting Usako go through first, Steven closes the door behind himself, then looks down at Usako. "Don't worry, it's not going to be a hard task, just tedious." Smiling at her while Walking slower to keep pace with Usako's smaller stride.

Going over to the passenger side of the vehicle, Usako climbs in and puts on the seat belt, securing it, tightly. "Well I guess it doesn't sound too bad." She idly watches Steven climb in, strap in, before flipping the starter switch on and popping the parking brake.

"So, who are those other Bio-Morphs you two talked about? I know who Charlie is, but Balto, Anna, and Elsa?"

Putting on a pair of sun shades, Steven gently backs the vehicle up onto the road, Usako though still holds tightly to the seatbelt. "Balto's Charlie's father and the original Alpha Male of the pack from when we purchased them. Before Charlie took the title. At the time he looked like the legendary sleigh dog Balto, So a young Mark named him that, and my parent's agreed."

Steven slows down as they approach the end of the paved road. "Anna is Charlie's mother and former Alpha female, since both are a mated pair, when one steps down the other has to as well. So we don't have an Alpha Female right now. Angela named her because when she was a tyke, somehow she looked like Anna from that one Disney movie to her. I cannot for the life of me understand how though."

Pulling onto the dirt road with the barns and cage in sight, Steven spares a glance at Usako. "As for Elsa, well, when you see her, you'll know why she's named that." Pausing for a moment, he sighs.

"Once we show you the human version of that animated movie, I'm sure you have one, just with some kind of non-human mammal's playing the part instead of some human tween trying to act like an adult."

Glancing at the metal barn, then back to Steven for a moment as they come to a stop in front of it. Usako shrugs. "I think I know the movie you're talking about. Came out earlier in my career, some mammals on the base wanted me to sing that stupid ear-worm of a song that winter due to my fluffy white winter coat. It came in thick that year."

Chuckling a bit, Steven pulls the parking brake and shuts off the engine. "That's right you're an arctic fox, I keep forgetting because your coat is brown and tan. You're going to go all white and fluffy this winter." He slips out of the seat after unbuckling himself.

Usako hops out onto the dirt a moment later.

"You better have cold winters!" Pointing at Steven for a moment before she curiously walks up to the beige metal barn. Steven fallows right behind her.

Pulling out the keys, Steven walks up to the lock and inserts the correct one. "Why's that Usako?"

Looking Steven in the eyes. "Because once my winter coat is fully in, if the temperature is above freezing it will feel warm to me, if it goes above five C, I normally pant with exertion."

Steven stops mid turn on the key. 'Um... That's not good.'

"We might have a problem then. While we do get a few days of a hard freeze here and there. Day time temps still reach the fifties, or ten degrees in Celsius. The last time we had any snowfall was a couple of years ago, and the last one, which stuck to the ground was over a decade ago."

Turning the key all the way, the lock comes out with the key, Steven pockets it. Grabbing the handle he slides one side of the barn door open while Usako lowers her ears and tail.

"So, if you're that temperature sensitive Usako, how did you stay cool back home? I mean from what you told me about how the world map looked, your earth is colder, still..." Turning to look at her while holding his hand on the side of the barn door.

Looking into the beige barn, Usako sees several large green tractors and other farm machines, with a much larger door behind them. In the corner, she spots what's most likely the mill they'll be using.

"Arctic species like I am can take a temporary post on the cold side of a climate wall, in a large city that has one, like zootopia, or have weekly fur cutting sessions. Though for me the former wasn't an option as the base the craft was on was built before climate wall tech. So if the project went on till winter, I would've had to have my fur sheered down to the base coat. Maybe even more to fit into the space-suit."

Walking past Steven, Usako approaches the mill. 'When they said giant slabs of rock, they weren't kidding.' Steven walks up behind Usako, and picks up several metal rods off the top of the upper stone.

"I hazard a guess that it would be humiliating." He slots each one into holes carved into it.

"Yea it would be Steven." Usako pauses and flicks an ear.

"So how does this work." Motioning with her hand at the two stones. The top one's pebbly surface sitting roughly at her eye level.

Steven slots the last rod into the top stone, sectioning it off into quadrants. "Well, this granite circular grinder here." He pats the top and flour dust puffs up.

"Is suspended about one-thirty-two's of an inch above the other granite grinder set into the floor here." He pats the side of the bottom one, further filling the air with flour. "On bearings that would allow either four people to quickly grind, or one person to slowly grind wheat into flour."

Grabbing a half rusted stool, he places it next to Usako, motioning for her to climb it. As she does so, Usako places her hands onto the stone, then rubs a finger along a groove her paw-pad finds. 'Huh, the texture is like one of those old records, and there are holes spread throughout the stone?'

Looking up at Steven as he smiles at her.

"I see you noticed the special feature. The stones are micro-grooved on both sides so when one side wears out, we take a crane and flip it. The holes are to allow someone, who will be you today, to dump wheat by hand into the mill. The grooves will pulverize the wheat into flour and channel it into curved buckets along the sides of the mill."

Steven points to said buckets leaning against the wall of the barn, next to some tables, stacks of cloth sacks, boxes, pallets, and rolls of stickers.

Walking over to the buckets, Steven grabs some, then places them up against the bottom stone. "Once these are filled, you'll take them over to the table, bag, and label them."

"Seems simple enough, I think." Stepping off the stool, Usako watches as Steven opens another door in the barn, then drags a large shop fan to blow out of the barn.

Usako tilts an ear. "What are you doing Steven?"

Plugging it in and turning it on, Steven walks over to the table and sets the station up. "Ground flour is explosive. Grinding this way will fill the air with a lot of flour so there has to be some airflow to prevent it from building up too much. Besides, it will also help keep this place cool as well."

Waving Usako over, Steven shows her how to bag and label. 'Sigh, I spent how many years in school, graduated from the military academy as a pilot. Now I'm going to be bagging flour. Well, at least I don't have to ask 'do you want cicada fries with that?''

"Alright. I'm going to go get a Bio-Morph to help in grinding the wheat. If you want some water, there's a sink and transparent aluminum glasses over there." Steven points to a corner of the barn where a rough counter's set up that has a sink in it.

"It will only take me a short while though, so why don't you start filling those holes with wheat in the meantime." He then points in another direction.

Usako follows the direction he's pointing, a pile of nylon bags stacked on the floor filled with wheat.

"Alright." Grabbing a container off the table, Usako walks over to the bags.