FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Displaced

But not alone

"No, I have work tomorrow," the man told his friend, checking the time on his phone as he chatted through the Bluetooth headset on his ear. "You know I'd love to go out with you if I didn't have to be up early."

He reached his car and unlocked it, tossing the phone on the seat beside him as he climbed in. "Yeah, I can go if you're okay with me heading out early." Fingers turned the key in the ignition as he remained blissfully unaware of the crackling of power and visual effects that belonged more in a movie forming behind his car.

"Let me head home and shower, then I'll meet you there," he said, putting the car in reverse and starting to back out without even bothering to check the mirror. Nobody was ever in the parking lot at this time of day anyway. He did glance over his shoulder just out of habit though, just in time to see the billowing cloud of energy that his car was passing through inches from his face.

There was the start of a scream of shock from inside the car, then the car rolled on through the energy. Its driver was missing though and would never know what became of the vehicle.

* * *

He started to groan as he woke, but that was cut off quickly. His head hurt, which caused him to groan. His throat hurt, which caused him to stop. Actually, as he woke up more, he came to the realization that most of him was hurting. Maybe all of him. Not as much as his head, though.

What happened? Was he in a hospital? No. The sounds that he was starting to make out were all wrong. The feel was all wrong too. It was difficult to determine what he felt like through the pain, but it definitely was not soft or comfortable or in any way covering him.

With difficulty, he moved his arms. He was laying on them before. Collapsed on them. Once he'd rolled off them, he was able to feel himself over better. His shoulder. Bare, damp. Ow! That had to be a wound. He couldn't see but it felt like maybe congealed blood seeping from it. Only the fact that it hurt more to cry out caused him to avoid doing so.

The man paused and tried to take better stock of the situation. He remembered... He remembered... He... he didn't remember. Each thing that he tried to come up with remembering was evading his mind's grasp. His name? A blank. What did he do yesterday? No idea. What was that sound? That was the claws of some animal against stone.

How did he know that if he couldn't remember? Things about himself were missing from his mind, but what they built was not. The things he knew from his memories were there. He knew what he could do. Facts still were within his reach. But the recent past and everything before that - everything that was used to build these skills and facts - was missing.

Eyes. His wouldn't open. That was the biggest problem at the moment. He reached gingerly to feel. They were crusted over with blood and he winced as he felt a cut across one of them. The animal that had the claws was getting closer. Hopefully it was friendly, because he'd have no chance against it without being able to see. He was not a fighter, he was a geek. He knew computers and games and hamburgers and sodas, not fighting. Definitely not used to being so ripped up either.

* * *

She paused as she neared the man. This part of the structure had been nearly completely destroyed, but this odd creature still moved and breathed. Not that everything here had to breathe, of course. Based on the gasps and whimpers this thing was making, it did though.

It still had a mind thief clinging to the top of its head. The thing was torn up nearly as much as the human was. That had to be giving it a headache like no other. At least the thief meant it had a mind and memories that made a difference. Many of the creatures didn't warrant the thought stealers, too dumb to care what happened a moment ago let alone yesterday or last week or last year.

She'd not seen anything like this creature though. It was shaped like it would walk on two limbs and manipulate with the other two. It didn't have any good protection for its body. That fact was reinforced by the numerous wounds on it. Well, given the destruction here, she would expect nearly anything to be well wounded. Or dead, like everyone else was. Honestly, she expected to not find anything alive here, but it was between her and where she wanted to go, so she'd come this way anyway.

Anything that was smart enough to need a mind thief would hopefully be an ally. She knew there was a chance it would not be, but she'd not found any others still alive yet. She knew there would likely be some, but her time was drawing far too close. She needed to take care of that problem. Perhaps if she made sure both the creature and the mind thief were in good shape, she could calm the spell and not cause any problems. That was the purpose of the thief, after all.

Moving closer, she knew that this creature heard her. It winced and tried to follow her motions with its face. She drew her claws back and stepped more carefully, sensing its distress at her presence. It was something that considered the sound of her claws a threat. Not unusual, most things did, but still something she'd have to work to overcome if possible with it.

"Hush," she said calmingly. "Hold still, I'll help you."

It reacted to the sound of her voice, drawing back at first, then curling in on itself like a youngling. She didn't know if it understood her, but it seemed more relaxed now at least.

* * *

It was silent. His head hurt. He couldn't say it still hurt, since he was no longer aware of even a few moments ago. Memories of the claws nearby were fading already. Then he heard an odd sound. It was like something talking, though no language he recognized. It sounded soothing. Perhaps it was somebody who would help him?

He felt so helpless. He hurt all over and he didn't remember why. But something was going to help him now. He shrunk down, curling up and trying to ease the pain. Was something there? He couldn't remember. It just hurt so much, especially his head.

Then something was touching him gently. It felt warm. It felt good. From where it touched him, the pain was fading. More touches, less pain. He could appreciate that. He moved with the touches, shifted as they seemed to direct him, letting them take away the pain.

Did his back used to hurt? He couldn't remember. It didn't hurt now though. The touches had him laying on it, so it must not have hurt. Even his head was not hurting much now. Not as much? Did it hurt more before?

The touches reached his face. The cuts on his eyes were no longer there. The blood sealing them closed was gone. He opened them. It was dark. Why did he open his eyes if it was so dark? He couldn't see anything anyway.

So kind. So pleasant. He didn't hurt any more. He felt very good. There was no memory of the hurt. No memory of the claws nearby. No memory of the voice. He just knew he was being touched in ways that made him feel very nice. Wait. That was his body! That was not a place he should be touched! He put his hands up and tried to move the touches away from there.

* * *

She was not having any trouble healing him. She sensed something odd about how the healing was working on him, but couldn't put a claw on it. His cuts and bruises were fixed and his body made whole. Thankfully he was male. That made taking care of the problem easier at least. An uncommon body type and small for her, but she had to make due. The geas was unforgiving.

His eyes were open but they searched. Perhaps he could not see in this light? That seemed to be the case. It would complicate things after she dealt with her problem and was trying to get him out of the rubble-strewn area, but right now it might help her.

As she drew him closer to being ready, he began to squirm and push her away with his forelimbs. She shook her head. She could tell he was geased as well but it was not near a dangerous point. Though with the thief on his head, he would not know such.

More pushing at her and trying to squirm away. This would not do. The mind thief would be a boon after all. She had to do what she had to do, for her own life. It would not help either of them for him to hold it against her.

She tried comforting words, but they didn't help. She tried soft warning growls at his movements, but also, no good response. So finally she simply took a good, firm hold on his limbs and held him down with her body. Her geas would not allow him to fail to perform, but it was still awkward and he fought her the whole beginning.

Soon enough he was to the point that he forgot he was not involved in starting this event and was no longer fighting her. With his cooperation it was much more pleasant, but still a forced action, and though he was oblivious, she knew it as what it was. She would have time now to find something that would not fight her or be traumatized by the geas, or she would have time to convince this one to work with it.

Of course when his time came, she would not object to helping him as long as he was not fully objectionable to help, and he would not have much to fight with against the spell-induced need. But for now, the mind thief was definitely helpful.

Then it was done. Ahh, the cute noises he made. She felt the life threatening need fade as the magics were satisfied. The other spells would not be an issue, so she didn't worry about them. She climbed off him, silently amused as he made a swipe to catch her and missed. Right. Forget that he didn't want it and so of course he wants more. Typical male. Well. Typical female too. The combiners depended on that.

Now it was time to move forward again. The mind thief would have to come off and he'd have to start living with everything that happened from here on.

* * *

He felt good and relaxed and happy. He didn't know why, really. It was very dark and he knew that something was not really right. He was not on a bed or even dressed. A small rock was very uncomfortable against his back. But he had no idea how he got into this situation.

There was a light pressure against the top of his head, then a pull.

He swore his brains were being ripped out. He screamed. Then it was over. He felt fine, as if he shouldn't even really be screaming. So he stopped, confused.

There was a squishy crunch nearby that made him jump. It sounded like something alive being stepped on. He looked around, but the darkness was not going to make way for him to see anything. He was aware that there was something of considerable size near him though.

Someone said something. He couldn't understand a word of it, but it sounded like they were trying to be non-threatening.

"Where am I? Who am I? What the hell is going on?" he asked.

There was a pause, then more of the odd language. It sounded comforting even if it couldn't answer his questions.

He carefully got to his feet, realizing that the surface was not smooth or stable, and looked around for any flicker of light. There was none.

More of those odd words that sounded like nothing he'd heard before. They came from a different direction as well. Then more of them, moving away.

A shake of his head. "I can't see anything," he said, trying to follow the voice. He stubbed his toe and stumbled. Before he fell flat on his face, he caught himself against something covered in soft fur and at least as tall as he was, though it didn't give or wobble beneath that fur surface. It was like falling against a huge fur-covered couch. Then the voice again, very near him, and the furred surface moved.

"I can't..." he started to repeat, then the surface nudged against him gently and caused him to move in a direction that the voice had been going. The voice again, very close.

"Is that your animal?" he asked, taking the guidance from the nudges. He tripped again and he was aware of the furred thing moving very fast to catch him.

* * *

The thing was blind as an egg. It also seemed to have a penchant for finding every single piece of debris to stumble over and lose its balance on its two-legged stance. But his forelimbs were obviously not made for locomotion. She'd never make it far this way.

It reacted intelligently though. She couldn't make sense of his odd sounds, but it was definitely a language of some sort, based on the repeating patterns. She would have to find a way to communicate with it properly, but that would need it to be able to see. This entire structure was a mess and liable to fall down atop them at any moment, but it still blocked whatever light this thing was sensitive to. Perhaps if she moved it to another place where another color was, it would be able to see using that color. She knew different creatures saw in different colors of light, and there was very little in high colors here at all. Many creatures were limited to those colors for their eyes to work.

"Okay, I'm going to carry you," she said carefully, hoping that it would understand and not be upset at being handled by her. Though she really should start thinking about it more as a male. If she found no other options, he might be the only way to stay alive.

She moved and twisted herself about to prepare and make the motion as simple and non-threatening and quick as possible. Then she snagged his hips and lifted him onto her back, just behind the base of her wings, setting him down carefully and hoping that he'd balance and stay atop her. She didn't know what the sounds he made were, but she could tell he was definitely a touch stressed by it.

* * *

"Woah, what the fuck?!" he cried as something literally grabbed him by the waist and picked him up as if he were nothing. He was nearly to the point of flailing when his legs were set atop the same furred surface he had fallen against before.

The voice was in front of him and spoke quickly at him, trying to calm him down it seemed. Whatever he was on was a good size, about twice the width of a horse, and now that he was atop it, he could tell it was definitely alive. It was not easy to sit astride, but he was limber enough to handle it, leaning forward to keep his balance better.

The creature started moving. It was very stable thankfully and easy to ride, so he didn't feel any threat of falling off.

"What is this?" he asked, simply holding on for the time being, not wanting to cause a problem in the darkness. The voice responded from well ahead and still meant as little as before.

Was this a dream? Hard to say. He didn't remember anything. So maybe it was a dream. Maybe it wasn't. It didn't feel like a dream though. It felt all wrong to be a dream, and he was not one who was keen on being left alone in a toe-stubbing, all-encompassing darkness. At least this person and their animal could see or something, and they hadn't done anything bad. Go with this to get a better handle on things. If it was a dream, it wouldn't matter, but if it was not a dream as much as it felt like it wasn't, it could save his life.

* * *

She picked her way through the rubble and broken walls, avoiding the most damaged sections and keeping her keen senses aware for other possible survivors. She found none. So many killed. But this was only one building, and the one that she had been housed in. She was lucky her body was not amongst those lying cold in the debris.

Soon she spotted the outer wall, the low colors penetrating it well. Climbing over piles of mess, she followed it until she found a break in it. It was dark outside, the sun down and the sky clouded over. That likely wouldn't help this one on her back. But she knew this place had things that created high colors, so perhaps she could find some. The whole world seemed dead here, but in the distance she could hear the ongoing battle and chaos. Best to avoid that and hope that whoever won would not seek to kill them. If she could make an escape without being noticed, that would be best.

Once they were away from the facility, they could try to find a way out of the geas and a way to get to their respective homes. Hopefully there was some way to hide from the combiners out there if the attackers didn't somehow destroy them all.

Her head swung around as she looked for a suitable direction to go. A quick glance back at the odd creature on her back showed that he still couldn't see, based on his reactions. This area was mostly quiet, the buildings here considered destroyed and left behind by the attack. Only the occasional settling of rubble or reaction of equipment was making noise. Her companion obviously didn't like things like the small explosion that happened a few hundred feet off either.

She paid close attention as she picked her way amidst the rubble. If any other specimens were alive, it would be best to help save them. Nothing - not even the non-intelligent ones - deserved to be torn from their homes and subjected to these experiments. Sadly she found no others and the hot spots from the destruction made it distinctly difficult to sense other living heat. She would try to stay close to the facility if the attackers wiped out the combiners and perhaps when things calmed down, she could make a better effort to search.

She stepped over the body of a dead combiner, unable to hold back a hiss at it, but that hiss caused her companion to tense up. "Not at you," she said soothingly, stroking his back with her tail. He flinched at the touch at first, but then relaxed, trying to reach to catch her tail, though she didn't let him.

There was a noise from the battle in the distance. A combiner ship was trying to take off and escape, its engines whining as they were pushed to levels that they were not designed for. It lifted into the air, seeming slow from this distance. But with other attack vessels from whoever was attacking the combiners swarming around it, it didn't make it far.

It was under fire even before it launched and its support fighters were obliterated in short order. The multiple explosions that were blossoming from its hull were lighting the area spectacularly, but she could tell her companion was not taking well to them. Extending a wing, she turned to the side to shield him from the direct light with the massive appendage.

Then it exploded. Even her senses were thrown askew for a moment and she averted her head, hunkering down and drawing her wing closer to her new friend as she knew that powerful explosions usually came with just as powerful shock waves.

Sensing the oncoming blast, she flicked her tail up to pull him down against her side and folded him between her body and the top of her wing on the far side, away from the blast. She put as much energy as she could toward pushing anything blown in their direction away, but the blast wave left some things that got through, pummeling her wing and body beneath it. It took nearly all her energy to divert a massive chunk of smoldering metal, sending it crashing just over them rather than into them. Even her powerful form would not survive such an impact.

She was left bruised and bleeding in spots from the thrown debris, but she didn't have the energy to deal with that at the moment. Her wing was still flight-worthy and she had to conserve what little energy she had left in case of another threat. That or in case they found somebody else in bad condition, though she'd only be able to stabilize them - maybe - at this point.

* * *

The man tried to catch whatever brushed against his back, desperately wanting to have a better idea of what was happening around him. He knew they were in a much more open area now, maybe outside even, but it was still pitch black. There were occasional blindingly-bright flashes of light that did little but leave him blinking away tears, no more knowledgeable for the effort.

He knew that there was distinctive danger. The sounds of explosions in the distance and reports and sounds that he didn't recognize. The movement of whatever he was on - likely an animal that belonged to whoever had found him - did not take a straight line, but with its claws clicking again, his sensitized hearing told him of the echoes from objects that they skirted around.

Then there was a sound in the distance, many explosions and a whine that made him uncomfortable. He looked back toward the ruckus and could make out a massive shape rising into the air in the distance, flashes of distressingly-bright light emanating from its surface. He might call himself nuts, but he swore it had to be something like a space ship! Like an ALIEN space ship. What the hell was going on?!

The flashes of light were soon hurting his bare skin as much as they were hurting his eyes, but something moved to slip between him and the light source as he tried to blink the pain away. First there was no light, then there was too much light. He couldn't get a break, could he?

Just as he thought he could start making out things again in the brief flashes of light, there was a massive, blinding eruption of photons that forced his eyes shut, tearing. Something suddenly pushed against his back, forcing him to slide off away from the source of the light, before he was promptly pinned against the animal by something very big and strong and also fuzz-covered when he finally made sense of the sensation.

There was a lot of strength holding him between the fuzzy surface and the furred side of what he was riding and his mind tried to make sense of what just happened. Then the whole world rocked and his ears were left ringing despite being covered by the thing.

It seemed like an eternity of shaking and painfully loud noise before all became silent once again. More so than before with the ringing in his ears and not much else. All prior attempts to make sense of what exactly this creature was had been interrupted, but now that he had seen what he could only come to the conclusion was an alien space ship of some kind, his mind was going all over the place with what this thing could be now. Many of the images he came up with were not comforting though, so he tried to quell his worry and just focus on the moment.

The massive thing that held him against its side loosened and he slid down its side, unable to hold on. But he was caught first by a strong, sift surface that felt very flexible, then lifted again by what felt like the same thing that had lifted him before. Both blind in the dark and deaf as well, he was hyper-sensitive to the feel of things. It was like a huge hand holding him by the waist, literally coming together around his front. He managed to get a quick feel in with his fingertips, encountering fingers as thick as his wrist and soft fur on the backs of them. His mind was going places that were likely to freak him out again, so he tried to tune out as he was placed onto its back again.

Some of the fur beneath his right leg was wet now and he touched it quizzically. There was a flinch from the beast. He realized it was a wound. He was more cautious after that. Animals from any world were likely to not take kindly to having wounds poked.

They didn't move too much further before the creature he was riding on stopped. A moment later, the voice spoke again. It repeated the same odd words a few times amidst others, then the creature he was on huffed, maybe uncomfortable with the delay after being injured.

He felt movement of the creature's muscles beneath his hands on its back, then more speaking from the person. Then something snaked around his wrist from behind him, making him flinch and pull away, swatting at it in surprise.

The voice changed tone and he could sense the creature bending and shifting beneath him, the voice talking more. Then suddenly he was grasped around the waist again and lifted off the back. The grip shifted him around more quickly that he really liked until he found himself held against the creature's chest and another fuzzy hand holding him. Both hands changed position and he had the sudden realization that it was the animal itself that had picked him up now and likely the other times too.

Said thoughts promptly left his mind as he was subjected to substantial force that pulled his head down as the thing leaped up. The upward motion didn't stop there. He felt the air whiz by and worked to pull his head back and avoid whiplash as the thing made distinct movements that coordinated and felt like flapping wings were supporting it. He was pretty sure a string of expletives left his mouth at some point. Maybe more than one such string.

The flight leveled out and he wasn't fighting to keep his head steady. He could tell the beast was not flying fully stably. That explosion that his hearing was only just starting to recover from must have injured it. He wondered for a moment how the person who was with him was getting around. Maybe he had another animal to ride? Or, given that he'd seen a spaceship, for all he knew the person could have a hoverbelt or wings or something.

Without light, it was impossible to tell if they flew far. He knew they didn't fly too long though before the animal began to descend. His hearing was finally starting to recover enough and he could still hear the occasional explosion in the background behind them.

The beast suddenly dropped like a stone. He was worried for a moment that they were going to crash, but it spread its wings and pulled up before landing on its hind legs with a thump and setting him down. His attention was drawn by movement in the sky as a formation of five aircraft of some sort flew over relatively low. The craft continued back in the direction they had come from though.

The person spoke again, though he was apparently aware that he couldn't understand him. Then a single sound. The man looked around and started to step toward the voice, but something moved close and pushed him back to where he was, slipping away before he could touch it. The same sound was repeated.

He wasn't stupid. The person apparently wanted him to stay. He tried to replicate the sound he had heard with only partial success and planted both feet in turn, settling himself to stand in place. The other made another sound and then the huge beast moved away, rustling through what he hoped were plants. Everything smelled odd here and like nothing he had smelled before, so combined with the huge animal and the spacecraft, he was getting the sinking feeling that he was not on Earth anymore.

He yawned tiredly. Hopefully there would be light eventually. He didn't relish the thought of going around blindly all the time. Obviously the ships had lights, so it was not a lightless place. If he was lucky, it was just night. He really did wish he could remember anything. The first thing he remembered at all was the dark and the person who had just had him ride the animal out of wherever they just left. The really big animal. Really big, flying animal. And he was naked. Unable to see in the dark.

...

He was screwed. He knew there were other places he'd been, though only by reference and not by memory. This was not where he belonged and he was probably going to die here.

Shrinking in on himself he shivered. It wasn't cold. He just didn't like the idea of dying somewhere alone with no memory of who he was or any of his past. Did his memories make him who he was? Hmmm... Fish. He liked fish. He didn't remember why he liked fish, but he liked eating fish. So that was part of who he was that wasn't missing. That thought calmed him down at least. Now he just had to wait and see what happened, assuming he trusted the person and animal who had carried him away. They had protected him from things, so they were hopefully safe.

* * *

The outer wall of the compound forced her to take a chance and fly. She could see the searching beams of light from all the ships in the sky and did her best to avoid them. It was somewhat awkward. She'd tried to tell the creature to hold on, but she couldn't communicate that to him effectively. Ended up just holding him against her chest like a hunk of meat and carrying him. She worried that it might hurt him and he did indeed make a lot of distinct noises as she did so, but he seemed to be okay. She didn't really have enough energy to scan him again now.

She flew as far as she could before a number of the flying ships had aimed their low color lights at her and started heading her way. Then she needed to get out of the air.

Once she'd gotten safely to the ground, she shielded them both against the beams of low color light they were shining downward. Let them see the ground. It tired her more, but given that the combiners were definitely not friendly and the attackers had not exactly left anybody that she'd seen alive other than the creature she was with, she couldn't take the chance of being discovered.

When the ships were safely gone, she considered the little creature she had with her. There was less background light in low colors here, so she was emitting her own light now to see more clearly, only in low colors though. More things were able to see high colors and she didn't want to give herself away.

Unable to see as he was, she'd have to take a chance and scout on the ground without him. He was still extremely important, since she wasn't sure she'd be able to find anybody else before the geas demanded her to take action again, so she kept a close ear on him when she left.

He took to her telling him to stay well and it was cute to hear him mimic the words. He at least had some understanding, which was good. An animal would meet the needs of the geas but would be more difficult to work with.

With several minutes of searching, she was able to find a suitably-covered area in the forest that would protect them from precipitation and from airborne eyes. The thick foliage around it would also shield them from high colors bouncing off them and being seen by others on the ground as easily. She could bring him here and they could get some rest. In the morning, with the sun up, he should hopefully be able to see and navigate more easily. With luck, the battle would be over before too long and she'd be able to take stock when it was safer to do so. High colors were focused by her eyes and provided different information on the surroundings than the low colors her horns picked up.

She headed back to her new companion and found him fidgeting where she'd left him. She called out to him softly as she approached and he perked. Good. He associated her voice with positive things, which would make their relationship easier.

"I found a safe place for the night," she said, even though he couldn't understand her. She knew that language was difficult to learn and just exposing him to it enough, as well as the sound of her voice, would be helpful.

A quick glance at the ground showed it to be mostly smooth. She would try to guide him. See if he adjusted to the dark and took her guidance. Her tail snaked to him and gave him nudges and touches. "Come this way," she murmured.

With enough gentle prods and tugs, he started moving. He stumbled, and since a fall likely wouldn't hurt him, she only partially caught him with her tail. He moved more carefully, not dedicating fully to steps until he knew they were stable and lifting his feet higher. Good. He was adaptive too.

She spoke to him quietly as she led him and finally as a last test, she moved over a mid-sized bush that would obstruct him and continued speaking from the other side of it as her tail tried to guide him around it. Sure enough, he tried to walk straight toward her voice until he encountered the bush. She smiled to herself and was more insistent with her tail, nudging him around it. He was unsure at first, but he followed the physical direction finally and made it around the bush.

She could tell that he was taking the guidance of her tail more seriously now. Excellent. He had to trust her if this was going to work out. She was definitely more capable than he was. She'd not seen any sign of anything interesting Warmth-wise from him. He seemed nearly as helpless as a blind youngling and she felt protective toward him. Even beyond her need of him to satisfy the demands of the geas.

It took longer than her just carrying him to reach the safe spot she had found, but she knew it was important to both of them for him to trust her. Their lives would depend on it.

He was obviously tired. Yawning was a universal sign amongst those that breathed air still. At the place, she laid down and curled up against the tree, directing him into the curl of her body.

"Rest here against me. Your body does not hold heat well and I don't want anything to attack you," she said. She watched as he touched her side gingerly, then she got impatient and finally just curled a wing over him and forced him to flop against her. She bit back a hiss of pain as she accidentally directed him against a wound and waited for the discomfort to fade before repositioning him a little. She cooed to him as he squirmed and finally he stilled. "Rest," she said repeatedly, tightening her wing across him anytime he squirmed.

Finally he got the idea and held still, mimicking her word again. She smiled. That was a good start. She fought her own exhaustion until she was convinced he might be asleep, then she curled her head around and rested it near him, falling asleep as well with ears and horns perked for any nearby thing that could be a potential threat as she slept. Of course her mind already identified the creature she had picked up as an ally for the time being. At least definitely not a threat to her.

* * *

He didn't feel too bad when he woke up. Odd sunlight filtered down through the leaves of plants that looked even more alien than the jungles in South America and he laid on something that was soft on the surface but very firm and warm beneath. It took him a few seconds to wake up and get his bearings.

He remembered nothing before the prior night. But he remembered the big beast and the person who had helped him. He was sleeping against the huge creature now.

Lifting his head, he tried to get a better look around. The light was orangish to a degree, but the thing he was asleep on was still a pale blue in color despite the odd tint of the light. Its fur was very soft, similar to a chinchilla, and about an inch in length. The beast was just as big as he imagined it from the dark.

Being so close to it made it more difficult to get a full overview without looking all around himself, but as he took in the shape of the creature, his mind was coming to only one conclusion from what he knew. This thing was a dragon. Massive membraned wings laid folded at its sides and a long neck and tapered tail graced the front and back ends respectively. The fuzzy hands that had picked him up like nothing the night before bore claws longer than his fingers. He must have literally been tucked beneath a wing at the start of his sleep, but he'd slid down slightly and was free of it now.

He craned his neck a little to see its head. Two pairs of horns swept back and then up from the top and fluffy ears were pointed in two directions, nearly resembling animal ears that he knew other than the bifurcated tips. The horns were offset a little with the front ones being farther to the sides than the back pair, which also curved in a slightly different way and looked distinctly different than the nearly eye-bending black of the front of the forward pair. At least the backs of them was not as dark, reflecting from a shined surface.

He looked around more but saw no sign of the person who had been helping him. Perhaps he was off taking care of something. A small stretch from him made the creature give a small whine in its sleep and he realized he had hit the same wound his leg found the night before. He realized that there were several cuts and gashes along its side, especially its shoulder, as well as bruises on its wing.

Somehow he managed to not completely freak out at the idea of sleeping on what was effectively a dragon in shape and pretty darn big. The creature was likely resting because of the wounds. With the other person gone, he didn't want to wake it up. It was obviously a helpful beast though, as it had carried him all that way and protected him from the explosion. He knew some medicine, so maybe he could at least help the poor dragon while it slept if he was careful.

He slid very cautiously down its side. No clothing? That didn't strike him as normal, though he couldn't remember. Made it more difficult to do as much though. He looked around and spotted a large, thick leaf. He heard running water nearby. At least he hoped it was water. If this was indeed another planet, it could be hard to say. Maybe that would work.

He examined the leaf from a distance first, then poked it carefully with a pinky, just in case it bit him. It stayed inert, so he touched it more directly. No biting, no vines wrapping around him and pulling him into a giant plant maw. So he took hold and yanked. It came off the stem more easily than he expected, but seemed strong enough.

With the leaf in grasp, he worked on folding it into a makeshift container as he headed toward the nearby sound of liquid. Despite the odd look of the plants and their slightly darker green color, the sound resolved itself into a stream of genuine water not more than twenty feet away. Footprints of things he didn't recognize covered places where the water pooled, so things must drink from it.

He carried his leaf container to the stream and dunked it in to get a little water in it. The leaf held, so he got more. Soon he carried back the chilled water without much difficulty, happy that he could even set the folded leaf down and have it continue to contain the fluid.

The beast was still asleep. He wanted to be careful. If he startled it, it might lash out at him, especially with its master gone.

"Good morning, big boy," he said softly from a little distance. "Wake up there, I want you to know what I'm doing and not whack me." A strike from this thing would likely kill him.

Its ear twitched and a massive eye opened, turning to focus on him. It lifted its head and watched him for a moment as he nodded. "Good boy, I don't want to startle you." It seemed curious and watchful, but not tense or upset, so he walked forward carefully, carrying the water.

His eyes were mostly on a wound on its shoulder that looked like it still had shrapnel in it. "There, good boy, I just want to help you," he said, moving within potentially lethal range of the thing. Yes, he saw a glint of metal there.

"Um... Here... this doesn't upset you, does it?" He slowly upended a small bit of water onto its shoulder nearby, just in case it was like a cat and hated water. It simply watched him, then looked at where he made the fur wet, then resumed watching him, not making any other motion.

A deep breath to calm himself down. His hands were shaking a little. But he wanted to help. He could do this. "I'm going to pour water on the wound to rinse away the blood," he said soothingly. "If we're lucky, it'll free the piece of metal too."

This was more nerve-wracking than he expected and he was shaking more as he tilted the water. This was the moment of truth. If it hurt much, he could be disemboweled in a heartbeat. The water splashed on the wound and the creature jerked its head back with the beginning of a hiss, but then just cringed and continued to watch.

His breath came out in a woosh as he continued to pour the water over the wound, the nearly-purple red blood coloring the water as it ran down the fur. The beast relaxed a little. The cool water should help the wound numb somewhat too. Soon the water was running clear, halfway empty from the leaf, but the metal shard was still there. That had to come out.

The man set the leaf of water down and got nervous again. THIS would probably hurt. But if the other person went off and left it here, perhaps he didn't know it was bad. "This will hurt a little," he said. "You're a good boy, this will help you feel better. Good boy, stay calm, don't bite my head off, be a good boy," he recited.

He caught the jagged piece of metal with his fingertips, ignoring the sharp point that poked him, and closed his eyes, then tugged gently before yanking it out. This time there was a distinct hiss of pain from the beast, but no claws lashed out at him and no teeth closed on him.

His eyes opened and he quickly got the water, pouring it over the new leak from the wound and wetting the fine fur to the side so he could see if there were any other pieces of metal in the wound. It seemed clear and soon the water ran clean again, just before it ran out.

He nodded. That was much better. It could heal now. He'd be happier if he had anything to sanitize it, but he had to make due with what he could. He looked back up at the creature and saw that it was watching him, an odd, indecipherable look on its face. Was it angry?

"Good boy, that will feel better for you now," he said, trying to calm it down. "It will heal better and not hurt as much. You can relax, you did a good job. Your person will be proud of you." He patted it gently above the wet spot.

The look on its face grew in intensity and he stared, finally taking a step back as it started to make a repeated chuffing noise. Then he fell over backward as it uncurled and stood.

Standing, its mass was more apparent. Easily ten feet at its shoulders and probably ten to twelve feet from chest to rump. Its neck extended nearly as far to its big head and its tail twice as long to a tapered tip. Its claws sunk into the ground as it clenched its paws, stretching. Then its head swung around and it examined his handiwork, making that sound again.

There was a soft glow from its eyes and his mouth fell open as the wound on its shoulder closed and healed even as he watched. Then it turned its attention to the rest of itself and the various spots of blood, bruises that showed through the fur on its wing membranes, rips in the fuzzy membranes, and even just missing tufts of fur were repaired and healed in seconds.

When it was done, it looked at him and made that chuffing sound again. It turned to face him and sat on its haunches. Hmm. Tough to tell if it was male or female, since it was flat and smooth fur all the way down. Its tail curled around in front of it and it peered at him.

"Well, I guess you didn't need the help," he said, climbing to his feet and staring. Was that magic the thing just did? Sure seemed like it with the glowing eyes and all. "Maybe that's why your person left you and I here. He knew you'd be fine." He looked at the leaf. "Well, I guess it's the thought that counts." He looked around more. "I hope your person gets back soon. I feel very lost."

Then the creature tilted its head and spoke in the same other-language voice of the person who'd saved him the night before.

* * *

Her ear twitched as he woke and she woke as well. She didn't want to startle him, so she paid attention with her horns to the low colors reflecting off him as well as her ears and sense of smell. Most things that relied on eyes thought that closed eyes meant asleep.

There was some worry in her as he slid off her and seemed to be trying to sneak away. Then the odd actions with the leaf. Well, he didn't know it wasn't dangerous, so his caution was good. She paid close attention as he walked away. If she had to retrieve him, she would. She didn't want to rely on finding another for the geas. But he returned with the water.

When he started making noises at her, he was obviously trying to wake her up. She paid close attention to his speech patterns and noises and compared them to how he was acting visibly as well as other things like the heat of his skin and his scent. It was helping her to learn his ways and maybe eventually his language.

She had no idea at first why he wanted to pour water on her, but then he started pouring it on the wound and it occurred to her that he was using old non-Warmth medicine. Clean the wound and take care of it so it could heal. She watched, amused at how inefficient this was, but she realized that this was important. He was showing that he cared and wanted to help. He likely didn't know she could heal herself easily with her Warmth.

Yanking the shrapnel out was uncomfortable, but she allowed it. It helped her trust him and would help him trust her more. Based on his reactions, he was obviously worried that she would be upset with what he was doing. Then she watched as he washed the wound again. Not bad for the fact that he had apparently no Warmth or even anything else like it, no supplies, and no idea how she'd react.

The whole situation amused her and she laughed out loud finally. He was startled when she climbed to her feet, but the fall didn't hurt him. She took a moment to heal herself first. Hopefully that would reassure him and it definitely helped her feel better. She needed to be at her best just in case. She giggled again as she thought about how he'd tried to help, but it warmed her heart at the same time.

Now that he could see, she sat and peered at him, trying to decide how to best communicate with him. He kept looking around searchingly, as if he expected somebody else. Hmm. She listened intently as he made sounds again, then tilted her head at him.

"I know we can't understand each other, but I appreciate what you did. I wish I knew why you look like you want to find somebody else though," she said.

He reacted oddly, taking a step back and staring at her like she was about to eat him. He looked around wildly and his disposition was definitely changed. He spoke very fast at her, waving his forelimbs wildly, obviously stressed.

"Woah, calm down... Hush, hush... it's okay. What is upsetting you?" she asked worriedly as she tried to soothe him with her voice.

He stopped making noises and stared at her, eyes wide and his body smelling odd. She worried about this sudden change, especially as he wobbled a bit. Then he shook his head side to side and put a forepaw up, extending one of the digits in her direction as he made noises again. His skin was whiter than it had been a moment before and he didn't look or smell well.

* * *

"Y-you're the one who was talking?" he stammered, pointing at the creature. It was peering at him more closely.

It was one thing when he thought this thing was just a beast and there was a person who was helping him. But now it looked like there was no 'person' other than this huge dragon thing. He shook his head again. He didn't feel right. There had to be another person, right? Big animals didn't... did they?

Why was the world tilting? "Th-there... there has to be... a per..." he muttered. Then he was blacking out and only vaguely aware of the creature lunging at him suddenly. Not that he could do anything about it.

He woke up only a few second later. He was looking up at the beast's face and it was holding him in both forepaws, having kept him from hitting the ground. Its wings were slightly spread and cupped over him. Protectively? It was staring intently at him and drew its head back, the small glow fading from its eyes as he came to.

"There... isn't...?" he muttered, then he took a deep breath. Alien spaceships, no memories for himself, and apparently the only person who was around and who had saved him was this great big dragon thing that he had thought was a beast. That would take some getting used to. Was this really the one who had been talking to him? Maybe it wasn't really talking, like a language? Maybe it was just noises? But... it sounded like it knew.

"I'm... I'm okay," he said, picking himself back to his feet off it's careful hold. It continued to watch him, but backed away a little. It stayed within reach distance though.

"Um... okay. I can deal with this," he muttered, brushing down his non-existent clothing out of habit. The creature stayed silent, watching. "I just need to... need to figure this out."

Okay. If it was talking a language, it had to have some smarts. He looked at it measuringly. Obviously it would have different ideas about things and needs than he did. Maybe he could try to get an understanding with it. At least figure out if it really was intelligent. He had its undivided attention, which spoke for the idea that it probably was what had helped him and spoken.

"Um, I need to know that you are actually intelligent first," he muttered to himself. "Right, then. First basic test..."

He looked down at the ground and spotted a few blades of grass. Or something at least close enough to grass to be called such. He turned his back and squatted, leaning over it and fiddling with it so the creature couldn't see what he was doing. He paid very close attention and finally glanced over his shoulder.

It was craning its neck to the side and trying to see. Good. It was curious. That was an important indicator of at least some intelligence. He stood back up and smiled. "Okay, that's a good sign," he said, trying to distract it with his hand held up to the side. It did glance at his hand, but then peered at the spot he'd been hovering over for a moment longer before returning its attention to him.

"Um, okay..." He thought more. Then he stood and held out his hand. The creature watched. He slapped his hand and the dragon drew back. "No," he said firmly. "Bad." It looked at him. He cringed and shielded himself as if afraid. "No!" he said. Then he stopped that act.

He made a swatting motion at the creature as if threatening it away. "No!" he said.

Then he changed and beckoned. "Yes, good." He stroked his own arm and tried to look happy. "Yes."

The thing looked at him this whole time. He wasn't sure if it understood. He walked over and found the piece of metal he'd taken from the wound and picked it up. "No," he said as he swung it at his arm and pulled back. He held up the metal. "Bad."

The ... dragon?... tilted its head and considered. Then it formed its lips and said as clearly as it could, "No." It held up claws and bared its teeth, ears laying back. "No". Then it calmed and looked at him.

He swatted. "No." Then he nodded and patted his own arm. "Yes."

The creature made some shapes with its mouth, then managed, "Yehhhs." Not perfect. "Yes." it said, trying again.

He nodded. "Yes, good." He considered for a moment and then reached out and stepped forward, rubbing the bridge of its nose. "Yes."

The creature considered, then looked around in the trees. It reared up onto hind legs and reached into a tree, bringing down a massive, spiky bulb that it set down between them. "Yes," it said pushing the bulb toward him. The word began with an odd click that the man recognized might mean the same as a question mark ending for his language.

It poked the bulb and then sliced it in half with a claw. "Yes," it said with the same click, then licked a half before promptly nomming it. "Yes," it said with no click, then made a rumbling sound.

He nodded again, "Yes!" he exclaimed. He tried to replicate the rumbling sound, which made the dragon look at him funny, then start chuffing again.

"You're laughing," he said in realization. "You think that's funny." He looked at the gaze he was given, then tried to replicate the chuffing sound while holding his arms out at the dragon. "Yes," he said. Then he held his arms toward himself and laughed. "Yes."

He looked at the fruit and touched it lightly with a fingertip, then licked his finger. It was sweet and tasty. He smiled. "Yes," he said, then broke a piece off with some effort and munched on it. It sated his hunger swiftly. "Yes," he said again.

"Yes," the dragon said with the click, nudging the remaining fruit toward him.

He shook his head. He held his hands in the size he'd just eaten. "Yes," he said. Then he held his hands to either side of the two-foot-wide fruit. "No," he said, moving his hands to the sides of his belly to show the difference.

The dragon chuffed again, then tugged on the fruit. "Yes?" Yep, that click meant a question.

"Yes," he agreed, pushing the fruit toward the dragon further and nodding. The dragon understood and promptly munched the remains of that half of the fruit.

Once the fruit was swallowed, the dragon rumble-purred again and rubbed its head against him. "Yes," it said. Then it drew back and hissed, showing off claws. "No?"

He held up his hand like a claw and simulated the hiss. "No." Then he dropped his hand and rubbed the dragon's nose again. "Yes."

"Yes," the dragon said. Seemed they had at least the most important part of a basic understanding. Then it peered at him closely before reaching forward with the tip of its tail and curling that around his wrist, pulling his hand forward to inspect. There was a small cut on his fingertip from extracting the piece of metal.

"No," the dragon said, tapping the cut with the tip of the fuzzy tail while the next segment continued to hold his wrist. Its eyes glowed for a moment and the tiny cut vanished, along with the minor pain it had carried. "Yes," the dragon said as its eyes dimmed.

He glanced up at it. "Wow... yes. Thank you."

* * *

She was somewhat ashamed that she hadn't noticed the cut on his finger before, but she was learning his body language and scent communication better. He was both surprised and grateful that she healed it for him.

Starting to have more communication with him was also exciting. His very unassuming word for negative and oddly negatively-hissy word for positive were a start.

She considered and held up her claws again, then said, "No," in her language. To him it was like a short cymbal crash, a quick, sharp "Tss" that would definitely get anything's attention and indicated negative in a relatively universal sound.

He looked at her, confused for a moment, then understanding. "Ts," he said, pushing away with his hands at the air.

"Yes," she said in her language, tugging him closer with the end of her tail around his waist.

"Rrruh," he recited, not quite getting the rolling purr right, but close enough. Again, a happy sound for a positive rather than the hiss that his "yes" made.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, even more excited now. With the basic premise, she'd learned some of his words and he learned some of hers. This was good. She tugged him closer and nuzzled him happily. "Ee-ess" she said in his language, then 'Rrruh' in hers. She was pleased.

She purrumbled and then turned her attention and senses toward the distant facility. She spent some time looking at its low colors and listening for the sounds of combat. All was silent and she saw few of the prior low color light sources that had been present before.

She turned her search to the sky, looking for any of the flying ships and their low color search lights. None of those about either. All seemed safe enough. So she turned her gaze back to the facility, paying very close attention and looking for any sign of the combiners. Even one could be a problem for both of them if it had its tools. The spells on them gave the combiners excellent control.

Now that the attack seemed to be over it would be the best time to find any potential surviving victims. She was growing to like this odd creature, but there was strength in numbers and if they couldn't find a good way to get home, numbers would be a benefit.

She looked back down at the human and frowned to herself. She was reluctant to take him with her when she didn't know whether it was safe. Even the little piece of metal has injured him just from him pulling it out of her. He seemed quite fragile, and his death could potentially mean hers if she couldn't find a replacement in time for the geas.

Finally she sighed. "Stay," she said, hoping he'd recognize the word from the prior night. "Stay."

He didn't express understanding at first, but then his face lit up and he nodded. That up and down motion of his head seemed to be another thing he did to express positive. In her people and some others, it was flirting. Ahh well. He moved to sit beneath a tree nearby and looked a little worried.

She didn't blame him. After the mind thief, he'd have no sense of self nor memories beyond what he knew of her. She also felt comforted that he was not happy to see her go. That showed he found value in her presence, which she appreciated.

"I'll be back," she promised him with a look over her shoulder as she spread her wings to take off. She knew he couldn't understand her, so she folded her wings and went to nuzzle him, then repeated herself encouragingly before stepping away and spreading her wings. She leaped into the air, flying up and away swiftly to investigate the ruins of the compound.

* * *

He enjoyed rolling the dragon's words for yes and no in his mouth, but he watched worriedly as it left. At least it seemed to not want to go, so hopefully it would return. It returned last night when it left him and it led him accurately when he couldn't see. That alone spoke of its intellect and intent when he thought about it.

Leaning against the tree, he started looking around the forest. The plants bore leaves that were more of a blue color than green. He listened to the sounds but was only able to make out trees creaking and the nearby stream. Didn't seem to be a lot of animal sounds.

It occurred to him that if something big did attack him, he was out of luck. Nothing but himself at all. No weapons, no protective gear. To remedy that, he started carefully searching the nearby area for anything useful. Soon he had a collected pile of rocks to throw and sticks of varying sizes that would make appropriate clubs, staves, and spear-like implements.

With that issue handled, he moved to the stream. Obviously numerous animals came here to drink, so either he just hadn't seen them yet or they were not comfortable with his or the dragon's presence and avoided the space. Some of the footprints were quite large and from the depression in the mud, obviously heavy animals. Hopefully nothing dangerous.

He moved part of his collection of weaponry to within reach of the stream and took the opportunity to clean up, rubbing himself with the sand and rinsing the dirt off as best he could in the cold water.

The massive feline-like creature that padded up to drink from the pool snuck up on him with such ease that he didn't even realize it was there until it stood up from finishing drinking, gazing at him curiously. He froze, knowing that running like a ninny would be a common solution, but completely useless. This was a cat the size of a small moose. He had no doubt of its ability to run him down.

The cat watched him, then slunk to the side and started padding over. He reached for a long pole, torn between whether he could scare it off or whether it would react violently if he upset it. It didn't seem to be stalking him, which was good. So he watched and tried to keep the pole between him and the cat.

The black-furred creature padded closer, then stopped at the end of the stick to sniff it. It leaned forward just a little and with an audible snap of its jaws, it bit the end of the stick off and sat down, chewing it. Then it took a more controlled bite of the stick, apparently quite enjoying eating the wood.

He watched in horror as the cat consumed bite after bite, quickly reducing his long pole to a not-long pole.Soon it was within arm's reach and looked at him again before taking another bite of the pole.

Its teeth shattered the wood and pulled it from his hands at the same time, a splinter catching in his finger. He yelped in pain, dropping the remains of the stick. The cat reacted much worse though, yowling and falling onto its side, licking furiously at its paw. It looked at the human and whimpered, pulling itself closer on its side with the other paw.

He stared, mouth agape. "Wha...?" The pain in his hand was forgotten for a moment. But then it came back with a vengeance. He winced and the cat whimpered. With an effort he managed to get his fingernails around the splinter and pull it out, then he dunked his hand under the cold water to soothe it. Even as he did, the cat stopped reacting so much in pain and started to relax, licking at its paw now.

Shaking his head, he tried to make sense of the feline's reaction. "Not trying to eat me or hurt me, but what just happened?"

The cat rolled back onto its feet and limped over, fishing his hand out of the water with a forepaw before he could react. Then it licked worriedly at the splinter wound, giving a whine when the man flinched in pain. It stopped and stared at him, unsure of what to do, so he dunked his hand back into the water. The cat relaxed again as the pain in his finger faded, then it sidled up to him and leaned against him like a huge housepet.

"Okay, seriously? Dafuq?" he said, not really able to believe what was happening. The cat looked at him and licked his head. Despite the oddness, somehow that was comforting. The cat paused and drew back, then resumed licking more avidly and soon more affectionately. It was odd, being licked by a cat that was at least five feet at the shoulders, but it really did help him feel better. The more he felt better, the more the cat licked.

Finally it started to be a bit much and was more annoying, his hair pulled the wrong way by the licks. The cat paused, seeming confused, then gave up and just leaned against him again. That helped too. Weird huge cat-like thing when he was lost in a strange world and it wasn't trying to eat him. It was being friendly. He liked that.

His head turned at a rustle in the leaves and he saw another creature heading toward the water. A squat, short thing. It glanced at the cat, who just watched it uncaringly, and went to drink.

"Weirdest cat ever," he muttered, picking up a rock by his hip and then tossing it to the side. The rock clunked off something louder than he expected and startled the creature at the water.

The little piggy-shaped thing jumped at the sound and landed very badly, twisting its leg about with a high-pitched sound of pain. The cat reacted instantly, yowling and pulling the same leg up of its own.

The human watched as the scene unfolded. The yowl startled the piggy thing again and it pulled away further, scratching itself up badly on a nearby thorn bush. The cat yelped and yowled more, trying to approach the piggy thing. But with the pain of the accidental injury and the huge cat looming over it, it screeched again and then made another sound of pain.

Almost in a frenzy now, the cat's attitude changed from one of concern and pain to sudden fierceness. Its - his, now that he had a better look - eyes glowed a deep purple and he suddenly pulled himself up from the apparent pain he was in, leaping onto the piggything and ending its pain and life in a massive single chomp.

Feline eyes slowly dimmed and the cat spat and pawed at its jaw, then padded over and stuffed its mouth under water. It was ignoring the piggything corpse now. After drinking deeply, it walked back over and sniffed at the dead piggything, then reached with a forepaw and started pulling debris over it to bury it like a bowel movement.

The man gawked. What had just happened exactly? Feline paws padded back over and the cat leaned against him again, then craned his neck over and started munching on nearby foliage, purring.

He looked at the spot where the splinter had been in his hand, then looked at the cat-like creature. His brow narrowing, he pinched the splinter spot, making it ache. The cat promptly stopped eating and whined at him, lifting the same paw relative to the splinter wound. He stopped the pinch and the pain faded, and the cat obviously recovered also, though he gave the man a look of 'how could you?' before resuming nomming the leaves.

"You... feel my pain..." the man said. "You felt the pain of that rotund thing also. And when the pain got to be too much, you killed it to get YOURSELF out of its misery." He stared at the massive cat.

"Do you have any feelings of your own?" he asked wonderingly. Like silly human he was, he stupidly reached out and pinched the back of the feline's leg.

Thankfully the cat just yanked the leg away and gave a little hiss of discomfort, warning this good-feeling thing rather than destroying it with massive jaws.

"So you feel your own pain too. Wow. That must suck if there's a lot of things in pain around you and you're injured too."

He scooted away from the water now that his hand was becoming too numb in the cold stream and the cat followed him, continuing to snuggle close. Curiously, he reached out and stroked the big feline.

There was some confusion at first, then finally a happy purring or something close enough thereto to mean the same thing. He chuckled. "Okay, you feel happy for yourself too. That's a good thing." He squirmed and reached over his own shoulder to scratch an incessantly growing itch and as he did so, the feline made very satisfied noises, rolling his own shoulder as well.

"Well, huh. You like to eat plants and you're like, a feeling sensing cat," he shrugged. "Hopefully if something else tries to attack me, you'll stop it so I don't get hurt rather than helping it so I stop hurting sooner." He considered. "You probably won't stick around, but I'll call you Sy."

Sy looked at him without comprehension of what he was saying, but liked the fact that the human was happy with the brief company, so he nuzzled again and leaned on the man.

"Okay, I'm clean enough. I'm going to go back to where the big dragonthing told me to stay. Bye, Sy." He had no idea why he was talking to the cat, but it was comforting too. Half a sense of normalcy to hear his own voice at least.

Any predator cat would be watched carefully, but he was convinced that the cat was an herbivore despite the carnivorous-looking teeth. He had no problem turning his back on the cat and walking back to his stay spot.

He didn't expect to be followed, though he probably should have. He dropped to sit, spinning as he did, and realized that Sy was inches behind him. The cat sat too, then invaded his personal space tremendously. Cats this big were not meant to be lap cats! At least the one time there was a threat of pain from squished legs, Sy knew it even as he did and adjusted instantly, curling up more around him instead.

"Hey! Seriously, kitty cat, you're getting a little bit too close here."

Sy just looked at him and then nuzzled him and purred. The nuzzle wasn't half bad, which simply led to more nuzzling and cheek rubs since they made him happy and apparently whatever made him happy made Sy happy.

He tried to push the big kitty off, but Sy apparently thought it was just playful and simply got closer, squishing him a little more before easing up. "Okay, okay, you can stay," he muttered, not really having much choice in the matter.

With a satisfied, rumbling purr, Sy resumed proper nuzzles and licks of him to enjoy the resulting happies.

The relaxation allowed him to think at least. What had happened to him? He knew he didn't belong here. He knew of things like hamburgers and pizza, though he couldn't remember them precisely. His name. No idea what it was. He knew he used to answer to something, but he couldn't remember what. He knew names in general when he thought about them. Frank? Steve? John? Bill?

A sigh escaped his lips and he started scratching and petting Sy idly as he mused. Steve would work well enough. Maybe he could explain it to the big fluffy dragon creature and he'd understand too. He wondered if the dragon had a name. If he did, could his poor human lips even pronounce it?

He squirmed as the licks and nuzzles got a touch ticklish for him, but Sy didn't like him being uncomfortable any more than he liked it, so the cat repositioned himself and tried elsewhere that was not ticklish. Okay, it was nice, but it did get distracting after a while. Not much of a while either.

A push with his hands did as much good as the last time he tried though and the huge cat just got more possessive instead, giving a low growl of warning when the human got too pushy. Steve tried to squirm away then, just to get up and move away, but Sy pulled him closer and growled again. He had no doubt that the cat could easily accidentally hurt him enough to make it a death sentence to end the pain, so he finally gave up on trying to get away. Surely the cat would tire of his flavor eventually.

Unfortunately, he'd not expected Sy to find the motherlode of happy sensations. He should have foreseen it. The feline hadn't been leaving much of him unlicked or nuzzled.

"H-hey!" he squeaked, sucking in a breath at the lick and trying to push the huge head away from his groin. But it wasn't the taste of his flesh the cat was after. It was the physical sensations in his body. Despite his surprise and dismay, the physical feeling of the lick was something he couldn't avoid and the feline absolutely loved it and wanted more.

Sy's neck muscles were tremendously stronger than Steve's little human arms and the cat's grip was tightening as the human tried to squirm away. Throughout this all, his body was happily betraying him to the graces of the tongue, and since Sy knew exactly what felt good to him and wanted that more, the cat had an extra leg up on making sure he enjoyed it more than he at all wanted to.

"Come on, stop, really," he said, though it was getting to be only halfhearted as his flesh responded. He doubled himself over and successfully blocked the cat's friendly advances with the mass of his body. "What if somebody sees...?" he started. Then he realized: He was on an alien planet in the middle of the forest with nobody around.

The big feline whined softly, licking and nuzzling and searching for the prior source of good feelings in the human, but that was well-protected in a way that his animal mind couldn't develop a good way to get at right now.

There really was nobody around to see. And it did feel good. Not like the cat was going to injure him either. If he was stuck waiting here for the dragon, he may as well enjoy himself. He had a full belly and was safe. Sy seemed to like him well enough. Why not get some bonding time in with the big kitty? Maybe Sy would end up being a pet or good companion.

Sy was sad that the bestest part was gone, but still happy to lick and nuzzle elsewhere. He was encouraging without being forceful when push came to shove. This kind of relaxed acceptance helped Steve make up his mind and he uncurled, exposing himself for the cat again.

A happy purr escaped the feline and rumbled against his body through the massive barrel of the cat's chest. Sy recognized the parts on sight and was very happy to return to them, letting out a delighted little sound that seemed to combine a bark and a short meow with a chuff. His hands rubbed between the great big, perked ears while a limber tongue quickly made him quite happy.

Steve writhed as the cat got to him more, finding all the right buttons by just directly sensing what felt best to him. The huge feline paws were not going to let him go and the licks were not going to let up as long as his body liked them. He let out a whimper and gritted his teeth. He was not going to get out of the cat's attention this way at all.

As the huge muzzle went down over him, he realized he pretty much just had to deal with it. Sure his mind was protesting furiously, but his body didn't give a flying fuck. It just felt damn good. Steve tensed, not trying to get away anymore, though it still got Sy to hold him more firmly. Now it was just comfortable, and with the sensation coursing through his body, his mind was soon enough shut up.

It didn't take long before the human grit his teeth and let out another grunt and squeak. Sy didn't have any problem with the mouthful of juice he got. No idea whether he cared for the flavor or not, but he obviously very much liked the feeling Steve had. The human's juices were just something to be cleaned up most likely.

It was even much less-long after that before the human was overly sensitive and soon Sy stopped because the happy had turned to uncomfortable. He looked confused. The happy turned to owie? He gave a disapproving grumble, but left Steve alone from the licking, shifting the human in his grip and getting him into a nice close snuggle. He finally forced Steve via feline wiles and just pure strength of overpowering muscular capability into being on his side with his back against Sy's front, spooned by a cuddly cat.

Steve panted softly, still recovering from the encounter. He'd enjoyed it. A lot. If he hadn't, the cat wouldn't have done it. Sy just wanted to do things the human liked, if he understood how it worked well enough. Didn't stop him from having the nagging feeling that he shouldn't have enjoyed it. Something was niggling at him that it was wrong somehow. But damned if he could remember. He had to stop to consider. If it was partially built into him, maybe it was important. But honestly, he wasn't hurt and nobody was around to judge him, so why should he worry really?

"Hey, why are you so squirmy?" he asked when he realized how much Sy was moving.

The cat wasn't keeping still at all, shifting and squirming more behind him as time went by. He kept replacing his grip on the human, shifting the man around and against him. He was purring the whole while, but let out a little whine every once in a while.

The man tried to think of his own body quickly. Was he physically uncomfortable? No, not at all. The active feline was not hurting him or bending him oddly, and in fact the squirming itself was more likely to make him uncomfortable than just restful snuggling could.

He tried to move more with the cat to see if that helped, making sure that he wouldn't accidentally discomfort the massive creature. The kitty just wanted him to feel nice, so he saw no reason to not help Sy be more comfortable as long as he didn't elicit a killing attack from pain.

"Are you laying on a rock, fellah? Got a stick poking yo-OU?! Eee!"

Definitely should have anticipated that one too. When he had a splinter in his hand, the cat acted like his paw was injured. So naturally, get a horny and very happy human and you'll end up with a horny cat who apparently also wanted to be very happy.

That wasn't a tree branch poking the man at all, nor was Sy likely being poked by anything. Quite the opposite, Sy seemed intent on doing some poking of his own and Steve had helpfully moved his smaller body to make the cat more comfortable and placed his rear end in prime prodding position for the feisty feline.

"Hey, I'm not a... whatever you are!" Steve protested, squirming.

But now that the feline had found his friend's flesh where he wanted it, he was not keen to take no for an answer. Making better sense of the fact that the human was smaller than him, it wasn't difficult for him to make further adjustments using all four paws without any need for Steve's assistance and without any trouble despite the man's protesting squirming.

Steve quickly found himself with a wet spot getting extremely close to being deeper and thought quickly. With a proper shift of his body, he managed to get the feline's flesh up against his back and trapped between his back and the cat's belly. That would work well enough. The cat could enjoy the feel of a friend at least and he wouldn't have to worry about being poked.

Did he really have any reason to be upset? He had vague feelings of big cats being dangerous, but that was also there before when he first saw Sy at the stream. Some concept of not liking guys that way, but this wasn't for his gazing-longingly-at benefit. This was Sy filling feline needs acquired as a natural response to what the human enjoyed. Maybe this would be just fine. Sy wouldn't want to hurt him, after all.

His meandering musings finally came to the conclusion that there was no good reason to deny Sy his own fun. If it hurt him, it would hurt the cat too, so he knew he'd be safe. He was pretty sure he didn't previously look for guys, but at the same time he knew it was something that felt good enough if the brain didn't get in the way. With his memories gone, there was much less to get in the way. He'd let the huge cat lick him and it hadn't made his brain melt in some kind of protest. Why not enjoy the moment and give more back to Sy? He could feel the cat enjoying himself against the human's bare back. That part of Sy didn't feel big enough to hurt him either.

Steve fidgeted a little and patted Sy's paw, then took a good hold of the paw and pulled himself up along the cat's belly again, letting the feline shaft free behind him. Sy whined at first, since the arrangement had felt good. Sy pushed with his hips, knowing that there were happy feelings to be had there and now Steve tilted himself back more, trying to accommodate the angle. He felt the cat poking and leaving wetness along him as he positioned himself better.

The human tensed just a little as the cat finally found a spot that parted before the spear of feline flesh and allowed the slick shaft to gain a deeper, much more enjoyable start to things. His breath drew in suddenly through his teeth. There was a little discomfort, but Sy could sense that easily and was extra cautious until that passed.

He was sweating now in reaction. Or possibly as the day became warmer. But Sy was getting what he wanted as he delved deeper into the human. Steve had half an urge to reconsider, but honestly he was finding less reason to do so as the seconds ticked by and the massive cat held him close and rocked a little deeper with each push of his massive hips.

More to his amazement, as Sy sunk further, purring so deeply behind him and grooming and mouthing at his neck, he found his own body reacting again in response. Mind - and what went on mentally in it - aside, all in all it just felt good.

The response of his body just got Sy to enjoy it more, though the cat was cheating now, having his own fun without sharing the feeling with the human. After all, when the human was subject to the feline's wiles, the cat was getting a taste of all of that too. The massive cat let out soft chuffs and growfs, pushing the man down further and gripping him close as he finally managed to sink his full length into the waiting space.

With the cat's haunches obstructing the view of the human, to an onlooker it could easily appear to be a rocking snuggle unless they managed to get down-tail of them. Thankfully, despite his size of body, the cat wasn't putting undue strain on Steve's personal capacity. The fact that the event had the man aroused again just drove the cat more and so the cat drove himself physically more in a pleased effort to enjoy.

Just like Steve hadn't lasted long when Sy was licking, Sy was not going to last long. Primarily because he was a cat, but hey, a cat was fine too. Steve was quickly letting out little moans of his own and soon hugged one of the massive forepaws that clung to his body and held him against the thick-furred chest.

No sooner than Sy started to reach the peak of his desire and had completely shattered the prior illusion of a rocking snuggle with the avid thrusting of his hips than Steve heard the beat of massive wings. The dragon's landing was light and out in the field that had a clear view of the sky, but Steve could hear him rustling through the leaves at a rapid pace.

Steve's face - and likely much more of him - turned beet red as the dragon poked his head around the foliage and spotted the pair of them. Just in time for Sy to take the entirety of the man's shoulder, or more the crook of his neck, in his mouth, holding carefully as he hilted himself and released both a delighted rowl and a spurt of hot juices into the human.

The dragon observed this and paused, watching. Steve wondered if this was going to be bad, or very bad, or really, really bad. But the dragon just resumed walking, a small bag hanging around his neck on a band, and made that soft chuffing sound that Steve recognized as laughter, followed by a "rrruh" - his word for yes.

Soon enough the dragon was beside them, only slightly acknowledged by the massive cat. As Sy let go of Steve's neck and shoulder and started giving him affectionate and very pleased licks, the dragon settled to his own haunches and tilted his head. "Yes? Good?" the dragon asked with his little clicks that turned the words into questions. He gestured at the cat with a paw and tail, meaning that he was asking about that.

Steve swallowed and fidgeted as he felt the cat still throbbing inside him. But the dragon didn't seem at all upset or concerned, so he swallowed again and considered the question carefully. "Er, Yes. Um... Rrruh." He nodded, squirming and eliciting a sudden, loud purr from Sy as he must have given the kitty something happy to enjoy with the movement. At least the red in his face was slowly going away.

The dragon talked a lot as he carefully untied the bag from his neck and set it down. He seemed to be talking for the sake of talking, or talking to himself, but Steve hoped the attitude translated to cheery. He plucked the bag up and carried it over to the two, settling down and waiting for the feline to tire of glomming the man.

* * *

As she flew back to the compound, she wondered if she should worry about her companion. He seemed pretty fragile. She knew by smell that a psycat held the area, so other animals that could endanger him would be scarce. Psycats did not take kindly to things that caused pain in others and drove them off or killed them in short order. Maybe the little creature would even meet the psycat. He seemed more likely to run than try to attack it, so hopefully any encounter would go well.

She didn't intend to take long. She wanted to see how the companion dealt on his own and she had to see if the facility still posed a threat. She could head back if it was warranted and safe enough later. If she could find a way to remove the geas, that would be a good start. Getting home was also another thing to seek. Surviving, however, was the current goal. It would be a long enough flight home without the little one and the geas. Not to mention that he probably wanted to go home too, wherever that was.

Closing closer to the wreckage, she expended some energy to hide herself from all the colors, both low and high. There was enough high color light from the sun that anything with high color eyes would spot her in an instant otherwise. No reason to take chances. She knew the combiners could easily capture or hurt her if they were still there, and she didn't know what the ones attacking them would do to her either.

With the better clarity she got from the bright high colors and her eyes, she had a better understanding of what she'd escaped from last night. Whoever came to attack intended to wipe out the combiners utterly. She landed and folded her wings close, moving carefully to not disturb anything or make any sound.

Her nose told her new things. The attackers had come in by foot after the bombardment. She could smell their presence. They were no longer in this region though. No sign of heat colors nearby, though there was an active source of low colors in the distance where the ship had been blown up.

The lack of low colors in most of the facility did not bode well for surviving devices though. Most devices glowed with the energy running through them. No low colors, no energy. She had been hoping she could find a device of some sort to undo the geas. Failing at that, many things could prove useful to her or her companion.

Rounding a corner, she discovered something that boded better for her. The scent of the attackers was strong and several combiners lay more-recently-dead than the attack the prior night. That was not as important as the slave who lay dead near them.

The fact that the slave was dead was not the important part. The fact that there was the telltale signs of attempted medical care and the heat of the body showed it had died only recently was the important part. The scent of the attackers was strong on its body. They had tried to help it. Even though they had failed, the body was in a comfortable position and was laid to rest with respect.

She glanced over toward the source of low colors in the distance and started heading that way. Along the way, she found more instance where combiners were slaughtered and dead slaves had been arranged postmortem or given treatment prior to their departure from life.

Swinging her head around as she went allowed her to keep track of things with her horns and their low color detection. The lack of anything warm enough to be alive and the lack of any low colors that would indicate working devices was becoming disheartening. She determined it to be safe enough to stop cloaking herself for the moment though.

With some worry, she headed in the direction of the working devices. That seemed to be the most promising. She had to pick her way over the rubble, but she could smell the attackers the whole way as she went. They'd been through in the deep of the night to dispatch any combiners that were left and obviously had made efforts in dozens of cases to try to assist the slaves the combiners had held. She was also comforted by the fact that she could occasionally scent scenes where slaves had walked away with the attacking people under their own power.

The active area grew closer and as she moved, she began to see more ships descending, matching the general configuration of those that she'd seen flying overhead the night before. These ships belonged to the attackers. From the looks of things, they had a force stationed here now.

She perked more as she saw the low colors from the horns of one of her people in the distance. Their owner was looking around with radiated low light. Feet carried her more quickly as a result. She wanted to make sure she got there before anybody left. Thankfully the increasing number of ships coming in hot from orbit indicated that there was a longer term presence intended.

Her head jerked back as she came around a corner and nearly bowled over a group of the attackers who were walking with one of her people and two other slaves. Her sudden appearance caused them to cry out in surprise and some raised weapons at her, but they held their shots as they realized what she was.

"Oh, another one of us!" the Faradai who was walking with them exclaimed. She looked at one of the slaves who was being helped along by two of the attackers. "Can you heal that one? I'm short on energy."

She drew her head back. "But where are my manners?!" she exclaimed, aghast. "Bright day, elder sister. A better one than the one before. There is no sign of any living combiner." She was correct that the other was quite her elder, being many times her size. The smaller one was only about four feet tall at the shoulders. Didn't make her old, mind you, just older. "Trenn stands before you."

She tilted her head, moving carefully to the injured slave. "Bright day," she responded. "No offense taken. These are dark times." The soldiers made way to let her by and one of them talked at Trenn. "Rashani stands before you," she murmured, giving her name in the same manner as the other had.

"No, she looks uninjured," Trenn replied to the soldier. It spoke again and gestured at Rashani, and Trenn said, "I don't know. I recognize her scent from the slaves. You should give her a word hiss though."

"Word hiss?" Rashani asked, applying healing energies to the slave until she was in good health again. Then she turned her attention to the fully-armored creatures. The helmets gave her the impression they had long faces, unlike her companion, but even low light didn't make out much inside the armor. Each suit of armor had a source of flickering low light though, so they obviously used it for communication.

One of the armored creatures whose armor looked different than the similar armor of most of the others pulled an object off its waist and held it up, talking. Trenn pointed at the thing with a claw. "That one can touch the side of your neck with that and it makes a hiss. Then in a little while you can understand people properly."

Rashani chuffed lightly. "Translator injection." The armored one nodded.

"I have no idea what that means," Trenn said sullenly.

"That's okay. When you are older you will start learning more of other things," Rashani said, reaching out with her healing Warmth to the younger Faradai. She sensed no ill effects from the translators and determined that they were very tiny devices that bridged necessary connections in the speech centers of the brain to allow new languages to make sense until the brain parts grew their own understanding. She ducked her head and tapped her neck. "I will accept that, and I would like one of the applicators if I may. I have others who are not here who would very much benefit from the devices."

The armored one pressed it against her neck and sure enough it hissed. She'd expected this and lowered the defenses of her skin to allow the stream of liquid through it. A small sting at worst and not something that discomfitted her at all.

"Thank you," she said. She turned her attention to Trenn. "I saw another of our tribe glowing from the distance. Was that you or did more of us survive?"

"That was me, but one other survived. There were six of us that I knew of, besides you. We'd heard of the elder sister, but never seen you."

"They kept me separate from most of everybody because of my size. I don't think they realized that we just grow bigger as we grow older and thought I was something special beyond my age." She considered. "Six?"

"Three males and three females. Only Jalli and I survived the initial attack."

"We didn't know they had prisoners here or we wouldn't have razed it from the air," one of the armored ones said. Good. The translation thing worked swiftly.

Trenn drooped her wings in meaning. "The dorms for the male slaves took a direct hit. We went through, searching for any left, but we couldn't find any. I smelled that you went through there last night too." She hung her head. "Not many of the female slaves survived either. I've been able to save three and Jalli saved four. They brought about twelve to us, but we ran out of Warmth quickly and lost five of them."

The smaller Faradai glanced over at the two other slaves. "These two are the last ones the Skyia have found and I looked too from the air with no better luck. We lost one of the seven we first saved to the geas. So ten of us in all, all female." She took a deep breath. "We all have some time before the geas claims us. The Skia understand about the geas now too, though they don't know its origin. They recognize many of the slaves' races and have offered to transport them home and provide services if the geas becomes a problem while they travel.

"The rest they are reluctant to take," Trenn continued. "The combiners - apparently a group from a race called the Massai - are causing them a lot of problems and they are short on resources. But at least some of them can go home. Unfortunately the rest come from worlds that are not space-faring yet, so the Skia have no idea where to take them back to."

"The three of us will want to stay together most likely. How many are stuck here and don't have homes?" Rashani asked.

"Two," Trenn said. "The Skyia said that if somebody out there figures out the geas, they will send word and help back."

"We should probably take the two with us to our home, then. Staying together gives us the best chance of surviving the geas."

"True," Trenn agreed. "Not as easy without males though. The trip will be a strain. I know the geas doesn't always recognize satisfaction between two females."

"We'll figure something out," Rashani said. She was not ready to say that she had managed to save a male. The mind thief tended to only be used on slaves that were reluctant or refused to perform when they had their memories. The male she'd saved might not be of any help to them at all. But she'd also been hoping to find more surviving males and that didn't sound likely now.

She tried to think of how she'd explain the need for the translation-device injector. She'd mentioned finding somebody already, but if she got back and found him in bad shape or dead, that would bode badly for her when questions came up. Hm. Healing was not always perfect though.

"I came back hoping to find more answers and to see if there was anybody else to save. I found one other slave. I need to take a word hiss back there. Hopefully we can travel soon if the healing works well. A rest was needed." She was very careful not to indicate his gender.

Trenn looked at her curiously, barely picking up on the odd manner of speech, but the one who had given her the injection held up a spare unit. "You can take this one. You are much better at helping wounded people than we are, so we'll trust if you say she can't travel yet."

Rashani was relieved. The Skyia said it, not her. She watched as the armored soldier got a cloth bag out and got some strong cord from one of his team, cutting it and tying it to make a loop that she could wear around her neck.

Trenn chuffed in amusement. "The little thing was hard for me to carry flying. Your paws are much bigger."

She dipped a wing, agreeing. "I will take this to the other slave and hope nothing bad happened while I was gone. If all is well, we will return shortly."

Trenn dipped a wing in response. "Stay Warm, sister."

A hop and a powerful flap later, she was airborne with her little prize pouch that would allow her to have decent communication with the male. She winged back swiftly to where she'd left him, berating herself mentally for having done so now. But how could she have known that all the other males were killed?

Her ear perked at soft growls as she landed and she walked carefully between the trees, worried at first that he had fallen victim and meal to a predator. Then she smelled the distinctive scent of the psycat and relaxed. The male was probably fine.

She was given reason to pause when she rounded the tree and spotted the two of them. The psycat had the man in a tight embrace and was about to bite his shoulder? Psycats didn't normally attack people! What had the male done? His skin was even changing color in the high colors and he was giving off more heat all of a sudden.

Then the cat moved and let out a happy noise and she realized what was going on. Well, that was one way to befriend a psycat she guessed. Never heard of anybody doing it that way before though.

She chuffed in amusement as she started walking again, but inside she was happy. The mind thief had made her afraid the male would not be able to help them with the geas for whatever reason, but here he was doing this. Hmmm... though maybe he didn't mount females? That could be a problem if it were the case. Hopefully if it were, she could gain his trust and get him to make an exception, otherwise the trip could be deadly for the five survivors.

"Yes," she said as she reached them, watching the cat groom the male. Yep, he'd definitely made a friend. She sat down and tilted her head. "Ee-ess? G-uu-d?" she asked, emulating the words he had used before. She pointed to the cat with claw and tailtip, trying to get across the idea that she was asking if the male was happy with what the cat did.

The male was not quick to respond, but finally he made a noise and said his hissy word, then yes in her language. He even nodded, which she equated to a wing dip. He moved quite a bit and the psycat took it well, purring deeply. But his color was returning to normal and his surface temperature dropping.

"I know you can't understand me yet," she said, carefully removing the pouch from around her neck and setting it beside herself. "But this will solve the problem. I'm also glad you found the psycat. They make excellent friends if they bond with you."

She was highly amused still. "Usually people bond with psycats by petting them and grooming them. I've never heard of anybody bonding with one by being mounted by him." She plucked the bag off the ground and carried it over. "Hopefully it doesn't mean that you won't mount females. But the cat obviously likes you now."

She settled to sit again, watching as the cat snuggled the male some more, then finally gave a massive stretch and released the small male, twisting about to groom himself clean. The little soft male sat up and looked up at her. Then he pointed to the bag and said some things.

"This will help," she said. She upended the bag, letting the little device fall out. He stared at it but didn't seem to understand. That was not the best of signs, but maybe he came from a lower technology world.

"Um, okay, stay... stay..." she said, then she nudged his head to the side with her tail. "Stay," she said again when she had his neck exposed.

He tilted his head back to straight when her tail let go of it and she hissed a soft "No" at him and re-tilted his head. "Stay." This time he held perfectly still.

She paid close attention to her tail and worked it as deftly as she could to pick up the small device, but it was not easy. Finally he noted her trouble and picked it up for her, holding it out but still holding his head to the side. That was helpful!

Rather than trying to take it from him, she used her tailtip to clasp his hand closed and directed it with the device to his neck. Before he was really aware of what she was doing, she got the end against his neck and he jumped at the hiss from the device, making a sound.

She extended Warmth into him and tracked the little devices as they moved about in his brain and soon became still in the right places, then she released his hand and let him set the device down.

"That should be better now," she said. His eyes widened and he jerked back, literally falling back onto the psycat. The cat nosed at him and pushed him back upright.

The male made some sounds, talking, but she twitched an ear negatively. "I can't understand you yet. The translator doesn't know your language. You need to talk to me a lot for it to learn it. The talking won't be wasted. I won't understand it when you say it, but memories are processed through that part of the brain too, so once the translation works, I'll be able to remember what you said." She chuffed happily. "So just tell me things. It'll pick up quickly. I can see the network the translators use in low colors, so they will read information directly from your brain as you talk."

* * *

Steve was still trying to figure out just how this whole thing worked. He felt the sting of an injection and then a few moments later, he was suddenly able to understand the dragon. It wasn't like the words were being translated into English. His words were literally just making sense to the human.

"I really, really don't know what just happened, but if it can help you understand me so I can ask questions and get answers, then I'm all for it." He took a deep breath and tried to decide where to begin.

"I don't know my name, but I decided to use Steve as my name because it's a name from my world and I can answer to it. I have absolutely no memory of anything in the past, but I came to the conclusion that this place is definitely not where I'm supposed to be. It was hard to tell at first, but I somehow know that I'm not even on my world.

"I remember nothing before you found me in the dark. I thought there was a person and an animal, but it turned out they were both you. You are the person and the animal." He paused. "Well, I don't mean like in a bad way. You're not my shape at all, so at first I thought you were just a dumb beast like this cat."

He glanced over his shoulder at Sy. "Anyway, it was pretty scary at first. All the smoke and the dark, and you helped me. So I trust you. I know I've never seen anything like you, because I remember things a little in some ways. At least I know when I encounter something completely new.

"You kept me safe and got me out of wherever we were, and you had me ride on your back when you flew. That was a surprise. I didn't expect anything as big as you to be able to fly. I'd tell you more about things in my past, but I really can't remember them, so I'll, um, just keep rambling about what I do remember."

He looked back at the dragon, noting that he was still watching attentively, ears perked. "Right, um. You worked with me on words. I like your words for yes and no better than mine. Yours sound like what they mean. Then you said a word that I think meant to stay, so I stayed, and you left. I went to the stream to wash up because I was really dirty, and then this big cat came up."

He reached behind himself and patted Sy. "The cat didn't make sense. I thought he'd want to eat me, but instead he ate my stick. I got a splinter in my hand and it hurt him too. So I figured out what was going on. The cat feels the same things I feel physically. He doesn't seem to sense emotions, but anything that my body feels, he feels too. Not just me either.

"Another creature got startled and injured itself, then the cat killed it for hurting too much. That's how I think it works at least," he said, shivering at the memory. "Then he seemed upset and nuzzled and licked me, and I liked it, so he was happy. I decided to call him Sy. Anyway, he found a sensitive spot to lick and I really enjoyed that and he did too. But because he enjoyed it too, he got a good hold of me and started humping me. I realized there was no really good reason not to let him, since I'm alone here and he might be a friend. So I let him, and then you came back."

Swallowing, he shrugged. "You had the little injector thing and now I'm talking and I don't even know if this is enough talking, but I think I'm running out of things to say."

"That's okay," the dragon said. "I started to understand you when you were talking about working on words." He tilted his head and perked his ears. "I can understand you now, which is good. You mentioned wanting to ask me questions. I think you should hear the basics first and see what your questions are after that."

Steve nodded. "Okay. Tell me how screwed I am."

"Well, you're alive, which is good," the dragon said. "My name is Rashani. You are, as you thought, on another planet. My people call ourselves Faradai. We know technology since other races come here frequently enough but we do not use it much ourselves. We do not go to space, for example."

The dragon settled down and got more comfortable. "Up until last night, you were a prisoner or slave of a race that I always called combiners. They are apparently called the Massai. Last night, another race called Skyia came and bombed the facility we were held at with the intent of killing all the Massai in it. They didn't know we slaves were there too, so most of us were killed. Out of hundreds or even thousands of us, only twelve survived."

Steve noted the droop of his wings and started to associate that with sad and the dragon continued.

"We called them combiners because they were trying to breed all of us into other things. They used some method to ensure that we females will become gravid from males, even of completely different species and races, and they also placed some kind of effect on us to force us to mate. They could trigger the mating need whenever they wanted, but it also triggers on its own after time. The need is fatally strong. If the need comes up or is triggered, the slave has only about an hour to mate successfully or they will die."

Steve blinked several times. "Wait... so I got abducted by aliens and I've been forced by something to be fucking aliens for who knows how long and I can't remember it?!" He shook his head. "Sounds completely nuts." Then he did a double take. "Did you say 'we females'? You're a girl?!"

The dragon looked at him and dipped her wing briefly. "Yes, I'm female. You didn't know that?" She seemed genuinely surprised.

The man took a deep breath. "Um, no, I didn't. Females of my species, whatever that is, have certain body features. You don't have them, so I didn't know, but I just assumed you were male. Probably because of your voice being so deep." It would take a little bit to rectify the idea that the dragon was female.

"Female Faradai have features too. Especially back between the legs. Males have a bump there and females do not. Then we have a hole while males bear a penis tucked away and hidden inside."

He blinked at the candid discussion. "I see."

"You will be able to see when we reach our home," she said. "There are two other female Faradai, and two other female slaves who survived. The Skyia have no idea what the other two females are and said they are not space-faring races, so chances are they would not be able to get home easily if they even know where their home is relative to here."

It took quite a bit of thought, but he finally shook his head. "I don't think my people travel much in space either. Does that mean I'm stuck here?" he asked worriedly.

"If the Skyia can't figure out what you are and you indeed aren't part of the space community, then it might be tough to get you home," she answered. Her wings drooped again. "I'm sorry, I know it's not something you want to hear."

"But maybe they know where I live and I'll be able to go home."

"True, they might. But we need your help to get us home first."

"Oh? Why?"

"It's a very long trip and we intend to take the other two displaced slaves too. We will need your help to make it back alive."

"Er, I doubt that I could do much about anything that your claws and teeth couldn't do better."

"No, not that. The geas I told you about. The thing that forces us to mate or die. We need a male along who is willing to help. It affects you too. So you need a female who is willing to help you otherwise you'll be dead in short order as well. Since we're all afflicted, we're happy to help you if you help us."

"I... Um... Okay... yeah. Dying doesn't sound too good." He swallowed. "Um, I guess that it's okay, but... you're like huge compared to me! How would that even work?"

"The geas doesn't care. You mount a female and leave your seed in her and it satisfies the geas for either of you. Females can sometimes satisfy it by bringing each other to peaks, but that's hit and miss."

"What if I just rubbed myself? Or why don't you just rub yourself for that matter?"

"That doesn't work. The geas triggers to be safe and satisfied from the life force of the partner. It absolutely requires somebody else to be involved. Doesn't have to be another slave, but it does have to be a living, breathing creature. I know some slaves even tried involving plants rather than deal with the breeding imperative. When your life depends on it, knowing alternatives is important. That's how we know that females together can sometimes work, but more often doesn't. Males together works decently enough if the male with the need can release his juices in the other male."

"So... you're bringing me along as a stud service so you don't die."

She set her ears back briefly and bunted him with her nose. "Also so you don't die. And because I want to make sure you get help too when a cure is found for the geas. Also because I care. Being so far from home and stuck somewhere must be horrible for you. That must be why they stole your memories. Makes it difficult to be unhappy if you can't remember anything past a few seconds. Keeps you complacent that way."

Her tongue snaked out and she licked his chest. "And I owe you. You saved my life from the geas last night and you will likely save us all many more times as we go."

"Last night?"

"I found you nearly dead and healed you. The geas was demanding, so I encouraged you to mate with me before I removed the thing that took your memories." Her wings drooped. "I'm sorry I didn't take it before, but I figured it had to be there for a reason, and my life depended on you not asking questions. If you were suddenly able to remember things beyond a few seconds and confused, maybe you would have not helped me." She turned her head away. "I'm very sorry for using you like that."

"You healed me?" he asked. "I... I think I remember that. A little. You saved my life. I saved yours." He sighed. "I guess we really are all in this together, so we should help each other. I just think this is a lot of responsibility for me."

She chuffed at him, her laughter. "We'll help keep you safe. Hopefully you're willing to be more than just a stick of meat for us. We've been quite abused by this whole situation and I know I'd like to have a companion who I can care about and get to know. I've spent so long having my tail forced up to allow whatever male they decide to mix with me at the time to mount and then I probably never see that male again or even know who he was."

"Sounds awful," Steve murmured.

"Worse for you. Your memories of everything were consumed. Who knows how many countless females you were forced to mate with, unwitting and never to remember past the moment."

Steve became thoughtful at that. "How does that even work? I mean, on my world, my people can mate with each other, but we can't have children with other species."

"Mostly it went badly," Rashani said. "Just like the geas, they have some way of forcing fertility and conception even between completely dissimilar races and creatures. Though we females are locked away from offspring unless induced now. I know that most of the results were completely failed. Aborted short term or died shortly after birth or before maturity. There were some viable offspring though, and they started mating those as well. I'm not sure what their main goal was."

The human had odd feelings about the idea that there might have been half-him kids somehow. Would they be cute, or monstrosities? "Okay.... Okay... " He sighed. "I'm sorry, this is a lot to handle." He took a deep breath. "Where do we start, then?"

"We need to return to the Skyia first and meet the other two females. Do you think you can hold on to my back as I fly? I can carry you if you're not sure and I know it's not easy. Best to grip the very base of my wings if you try." She dropped onto her tummy and pulled her foreleg against her side at an angle.

"Um, I'll try," he said, walking up to her side. He considered her side and reached up, trying to jump and cling, but slowly sliding down the furry flank. This made the dragoness chuff again.

"Silly. Step onto my forepaw, then lean against my side as I lift it so you can step onto my elbow. Then lean against my side again as I lift my elbow and you'll be able to reach just fine," Rashani said.

He looked at her forepaw. "Won't that hurt your hand?" he asked, worried about stepping on it.

She swung her head around and chuffed at him. "You're not nearly heavy enough to hurt me," she said with a purrumble. "Thank you for the concern though."

He had some misgivings, but he did as she directed. First both feet onto her forepaw. He forgot to brace against her side but she tilted her paw as she lifted it, forcing him to do so. He yelped in surprise as she did, but then he found it easy to step onto the back of her foreleg.

She had left out the fact that he had to sidestep up to her elbow, but he caught on when she waited and he remembered her mention of her elbow. Then when he was there in a step or two, she lifted her whole arm and he was almost literally just dumped onto her back because of how much he had to lean against her side.

He paused, taking a moment to try to decipher what had just happened. He was on her back somehow and his mind was still trying to figure out how exactly that occurred. But he finally just took a deep breath. "Okay, that... that worked."

Sy made an almost bark-like noise up at him, looking ready to jump up beside him.

"Oh, no, Sy, stay down there!" The cat paused at the urgency in his voice and after some consideration, aborted the jump prep.

She chuffed again. "Best he stay," she agreed. "I've carried people before, so I know it's a bit of a surprise the first time. When we get to my home, I can find one of my harnesses if you are not comfortable with flying bareback. But if you spend enough time climbing on, that gets to be quick and easy."

He looked at her wings from where he was. When they were folded, they laid well against her sides and he'd been dumped over the one when he was pushed onto her back. In fact, the far wing was likely the main reason that he didn't simply tumble off the other side.

"Get a good grip on the base of my wings, as close to my body as you can," she said, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Why don't I hook my arms under them?" he asked curiously.

She tilted her head, then spread a wing out and he saw why. From the smallest finger of the wing, the lightly-fuzzed membrane connected to her side almost all the way down to her flank, giving it a three-sided connection between her side, the leading surface of the wing, and closest digit on the wing. When it was folded, this highly-elastic membrane was hidden beneath the rest of the wing.

This fact gave him some confidence that he would not slide off to the side, since the wing membrane lifted his legs up when the fold they were situated in was stretched tight. The membrane between her shoulder and wrist on the leading edge also looked easier to grip.

"Can I hold on here without any problem?" he asked, touching the membrane's leading edge in awe, feeling along it.

"You may," she said, watching him. "If your hands get too warm, move them out a few inches away from the muscle. If they get too cold, move them closer."

He took a deep breath and got a good grip on the flap of skin as she padded out to the open field, Sy following along curiously.

Then she stretched her wings further and looked back at him. "If you are going to fall off, you'll probably do it when I take off. Thankfully the field is soft. Are you ready?"

He nodded and swallowed noisily.

Rashani redirected her attention upward and lifted her wings, then leaped up and away.

* * *

She giggled internally at the yelp of surprise he made when she took off, but she was paying close attention to his weight and balance as she went. Her tail was ready to snag him if he fell, even though that would be awkward. But he clung well and took the action decently and she was proud of him again. Even many other races she had carried didn't do this process well.

She tilted her head down and noticed that the psycat was running after her in a panic. Poor thing. He was already very attached to this alien. That could be a good thing. Psycats were protective. It fell behind quickly compared to her flight speed. It would likely give up and wait back where they had been.

She winged back to the facility, feeling as this creature named Steve started to become more confident and was willing to lean to the side and look past her neck. She had to slow her flight some as he was lifting himself a bit too far from her body and she didn't want the wing to tear him away, but she was confident enough in her energy levels that she used warmth to make a shield against the wind for him. It also helped her air flow and allowed her to speed up again.

"You fly really fast!" he shouted over the wind. She couldn't answer when flying, but she did a wing dip in acknowledgement.

She soon became aware of him getting too brave for her comfort, so she let some wind through the shield and let it buffet him enough to get him to cling against her back again. Much safer. If he wanted to see everything, it would be best for her to carry him. She just knew that people usually didn't enjoy feeling like they didn't have control.

It wasn't long before they were descending toward the spaceport area of the facility where the invading Skyia had set up camp. She hadn't been here yet, but she could see them all about and she could see the low light glow of her sisters' horns.

A small aircraft or spaceship swung around to escort her down, but it led instead of following, so she accepted the escort. In a moment, she pulled up carefully and touched down, hind feet first and front legs second. The Skyia came to meet her and she was happy to see that many were not wearing battle armor, so she could see their faces and bodies with just clothing instead of hard armor.

"You brought back the other victim you mentioned?" one of the Skyia asked, looking up at Steve on her back. All the Skyia she saw were the same in high color appearance. Long muzzles like foxes and white fur, with dark grey fur on the points of their ears and on their hands.

"Yes, this is him," she said. She'd not admitted it was a male before, but that would be difficult to hide now. She folded her wings and settled to her tummy so he could climb off.

Steve was staring at the Skyia. "I... Um... Hi?" He seemed somewhat awestruck, so she helped, lifting him off with her tail and setting him onto his feet. He stood there awkwardly as the Skyia looked him over.

"I've never seen anything like him," the Skyia finally said.

"He thinks his race is not space-faring," she pointed out. "Sadly the Massai used a mind-thief on him, so his memories are permanently lost. Even my healing can't help that."

Another Skyia took a scan of the human. "We'll send this off to our database, just in case. We do keep records on non-stellar races we've encountered and we can collaborate with others. We'll also see if any of the data we captured from the Massai has any information, but it will take quite a bit of time for us to decode it."

"The rest of us who were slaves will need his help to reach my home safely," she said, "But we do hope that you find an answer to the geas and also where the three homes are."

"Sister!"

Ah, both of the other two were heading toward them.

"You brought back the other one you saved? Is she safe?" Trenn asked, bouncing up and skidding to a halt.

"It's a MALE!" Jalli exclaimed as she came up. She was even smaller than Trenn, only standing perhaps two feet at the shoulders. Of course because she was on all fours, her whole body was at least the size of Steve. "Is HE safe? I recognize his scent."

"He's safe," Rashani assured them.

"You saved a male?!" Trenn asked. "That is wonderful! It'll make the trip home better." She padded over to Steve, who was staring open-mouthed at the two of them and sniffed at his belly. "I remember his scent too. He had a mind thief. Is he going to have a problem with us?" She looked at him measuringly. "He already seems kind of frazzled."

Rashani opened her mouth but realized she'd never actually checked on whether the psycat meant he only liked males. So she turned her attention to Steve. "You will have no problem mating with us when the geas requires it, I hope." She was, in fact, a little worried.

"Oh? I... Ummm... I'll be fine," he squeaked. Then he coughed. "Three different sizes?"

"We grow larger as we grow older," Rashani explained.

"Oh," he said, somewhat bemused as Trenn and Jalli took up positions on either side of him. "You said there were two others?"

"They're coming. They don't run as fast as we do," Trenn explained.

"We're here," another voice said. It was a tiny little tawny, female, fox-like creature on two legs with great big ears. She stood perhaps 3'4" at the top of her head, though her ears topped over ten inches above that. Behind her was a black feline biped who stood a more comfortable 5'9".

"You're... um... very short..." Steve said awkwardly, looking at the first one.

"Actually, I'm pretty tall," the little one said. "Just found out that all you aliens are even like much, much taller." She walked up to Steve and patted his hip. "And you have like almost no fur on you. Do you get cold?"

"I... yes, I think my people do. Um, why are all the aliens I'm meeting covered in fur?"

"The Massai aren't," the black cat said. "The combiners. They are slime balls." She smiled, showing off sharp white teeth against her black face. "I am Berris. The little one is Fess. My tribe is the Nara'kya and she is Talis, she says."

Steve looked at them and then at the nearby Skyia. "Um, and why are they wearing clothing and we're not?"

"Faradai don't wear clothing," Rashani said.

"Ah, unfortunately we're not allowed to provide any technology to non-space-faring civilizations," the fox nearby said. "We're already pushing it by giving you translation technology, but we can at least point out on our reports that we couldn't communicate with you to find out you're not space faring without them."

* * *

Steve had half a feeling that he wanted to wear clothing, though he couldn't remember why. So he tried one more bright idea. "What if we have to go someplace cold? I don't have fur."

"Sorry," the Skyia said. "I wish I could help."

Steve sighed. "Okay."

"We should be on our way," Rashani said. "There are three bipeds though and only two of us who can carry," she said, looking at the two smaller dragons.

"We ride you?" Fess asked curiously.

"Yes, and we fly," Rashani said.

"I can carry Berris and perhaps if Fess rides on..." Trenn said, then paused. "Um, what is the male's name?" she asked her neck arching as she drew her head back, embarrassed.

"I don't know what my name is," Steve admitted, "but I took a name from my world, Steve."

Trenn nodded and nudged his chest lightly with her nose. "Steve," she said, working the word out. "So, if Steve rides on you, and Fess holds on to his back. Otherwise you would have to carry her in your forepaws."

"I'd rather hold on than be carried," Fess said.

"Okay," Rashani said. "Steve, climb on. She can watch how you do it and then climb on as well." She turned her attention to the little fox. "You'll need to hold on tight."

"I'll fly support," Jalli said. "I won't be able to carry her, but I can make sure she lands safely if she falls."

Steve nodded and climbed up, understanding the process better now that he'd done it once. Then the little fox climbed up and laid on his back, clinging to his hips with her legs and then wrapping her arms under his armpits when he got a hold on the dragoness's wings. It was actually pretty comfortable and he was warm now.

"Hold on," a Skyia said, running up. "Do any of you know about a great big black cat? It came to our perimeter from the same direction you flew in from and seemed intent on coming in. We tried to scare it away, but it ignored us. So we stunned it. But it didn't stun well and instead of attacking, it's still trying to move this way, though it's not happy about the stun."

"Sy?!" Steve exclaimed. He completely forgot about the vixen clinging to his back as he pushed himself up off the Rashani and scrambled down her back, landing a little hard and twisting his ankle somewhat. Fess squeaked in surprise and clung to his back as he ran off in the indicated direction.

Soon he came upon a scene where the poor psycat was trying to crawl despite being partially-paralyzed by a stun. The armored Skyia were still standing between Sy and the base, but they were backing away since Sy was ignoring them and just trying to move forward.

The cat perked as he saw Steve and let out a piteous meyowl, trying to pull his unresponsive form forward more quickly.

"Stop, stay there!" Steve exclaimed, pushing past the armored soldiers and surprising them. He squatted beside Sy and the cat finally stopped trying to crawl forward now that Steve had met him. Sy mewled and whimpered to the human, craning his neck to lift his head and lick at the man's bare chest.

Steve grabbed the cat's head and helped to hold it up, looking over his shoulders at the soldiers. "What did you do to him?!" he demanded.

"We didn't know what he was, but he didn't act aggressive, so we tried to stun him. It didn't work fully. Normally it would knock him out and he'd wake up sore. It's the strongest stun we could safely try and he still kept going. He should recover though," the soldier said apologetically.

Sy whimpered and tried to pull the rest of his body toward Steve, but wasn't quite able to. This obviously upset the poor cat.

"You'll be okay, Sy," he said soothingly. "Just lay still and you'll recover." He was more worried about the streaks of blood from the cat having dragged himself across sharp debris.

"I'll help," Rashani said from behind him. Sy made an odd noise and then gave a squirm, then finally relaxed before picking himself up to his feet.

Steve watched to make sure the cat was okay before looking over his shoulder at the Faradai, seeing her eyes stop glowing just after he looked. "Thank you," he said softly, patting the psycat's shoulder affectionately.

"That's... a really BIG kitty," Fess murmured, really close to his ear. He jumped as he realized that she was still clinging to his back.

"Oh, yes... He is. He's a good cat and not dangerous unless you get badly hurt," Steve said. Then it occurred to him that he was carrying her quite more easily than he seemed to think he should be able to. He was a geek, not an athlete. She didn't feel light for her size. She was small, but still would he a heck of a rucksack for him to carry. He just wasn't straining to do so.

Steve patted her arm that was still clinging around beneath his own. "Sorry to drag you along for that. I just completely forgot you were on my back when I thought Sy was here and hurt." He was still musing about the odd strength though. Not like super-strength, he just felt decently strong.

* * *

"I don't think we should fly if the cat is going to follow us and be left behind," Rashani said sagely. She'd been left wondering when Steve suddenly ran off, but the four of them tailed him easily. He didn't run very fast compared to them.

It was an intriguing thing watching Steve worry and fret over the psycat. He seemed very attached to Sy already, even after only these few hours. Maybe he had a mind-thief before because otherwise he'd become attached to anything he mated with? She knew some races were fiercely protective of their mates.

"So I guess we'll walk out. It won't hurt anything, though it will take longer by some time. Maybe Sy will decide he'd rather stay in his territory. If he does, we'll fly when he departs." She also watched Steve. He was introspective and worried about something.

"You weren't going to fly past on the way out and leave Sy behind if he stayed where we left him, were you?" Steve asked her.

Her ears went back and her chin went up. "No, definitely not! I intended for us to return there. Psycats are good protectors and companions, though I don't know much about them beyond that. I figured that having him with us as long as he was willing would be a good thing for us." She didn't mention that she also figured if Steve was only going to mate with males, they could always encourage the psycat to mount them and keep them alive.

Steve relaxed at that, but the prior introspection was still there. She thought she was reading him better, but she wasn't sure what had him musing right now. She watched him carefully for a moment, extending her Warmth into him briefly to see if he was injured. He didn't seem hurt, but he didn't seem at full health either, so she healed him a little just to see if it would help.

Again she drew back a little after the fact as the healing didn't feel completely normal to her, but it seemed to work. He stood up straighter. He didn't realize she was doing that to him, but he definitely noticed the effect, and instead of acting more normal, he acted even more in the unusual way he was.

"Everything is okay here now? We got the report, but I wanted to check in person," the Skyia they had been working with said as he walked up.

"Everything's fine," she told him. "We'll head off now. We'll see if we can figure out some way to signal you if we need your attention."

"We'll be here for several months as we go through everything," the Skyia said, scratching his ear lightly. "I found records of Faradai, so we can give you some things at least. You're not space-faring generally, but there are records of your technology levels and interaction with other space-faring races."

He was genuinely curious. "How did you end up making interstellar contacts without having an orbital or planetary space port?"

Rashani smiled. "It's not a secret. We sense and emit low color light. Turns out most space-faring races use it for things too, so our shine grabbed their attention. We've had multiple offers for space travel, but we've declined them. We could make our own ships, but we like it here better than ships and space."

"Low colored light?" the male fox asked, confused.

"You see this color," she said, tapping a red thing with her tailtip. "And this color," she said, pointing to a blue part of his armor. "The first is lower energy light that reflects off it. When the light energy gets too low, you stop seeing it. It just goes through you and other things a little. So you use it to send signals between machines that can sense it."

"You mean radio?" he asked, understanding dawning.

"I've heard it called that, yes. Our horns pick them up across a very broad range." She hadn't explained this to off-worlders in a looooong time. "The front horns detect them and even take a very directional phase detection with them, so we can sense with a very good resolution. Not quite as sharp as the high colors focus through our eyes, but still very good. Our back horns can emit the low color light in any color we want. Different colors work better for different things. The higher the color, the more it reflects in many cases, while lower colors pass through things more easily."

The Skyia looked impressed. "So you can effectively see in radio," he exclaimed.

"Low colors," Rashani agreed, dipping her wings briefly. "And our back horns glow very brightly when we want them to."

"That probably explains the odd interference we've seen on occasion," he murmured.

"Why are the front horns sooooooo black?" Steve asked curiously. "They almost look like they don't exist at all. Like just a hole in the world."

"Black? Ahh! Not reflective in high colors." She dipped her wings again. "They are also non-reflective in low colors. Light that reflects doesn't get sensed, does it? It gets sent back out into the world."

"Those must be really sensitive, then," the soldier said. "I think our people will want to visit again in the future, now that we know you're here."

"We'll be here. As long as you don't misbehave, we'll be friendly."

One of the fully-armored soldiers snorted. "How can a planet-bound race protect itself from space faring races though? Obviously the Massai got you."

"The Massai got seven of us and did something that neutralized us against them. We had no way to tell our people, otherwise the Massai likely wouldn't have survived."

"No offense, but teeth and claws only go so far against advanced weaponry."

"Oooo! Advanced weapons! I remember this!" Jalli exclaimed. "Can I show him?" She bounced on all fours.

"Show us what?" the soldier asked warily.

"Go ahead," Rashani said with a wing dip and a chuff.

* * *

Steve was still trying to figure out his unusual strength when he suddenly felt even stronger and better. He was confused for a moment, but he'd figure that out later.

He leaned against Sy and put his hands under Fess's legs to hold her on his back more comfortably for her as he listened to the discussion about radio. "Would you like me to set you down?" he finally whispered to her.

"No," she said, giving a squirm against his back briefly. "I like seeing things from up here." She rested her chin on his shoulder

The answer to his inquiry about the black was informative. He knew what she was saying and it made sense, which built another piece of the puzzle of his past.

His introspection was interrupted by the littlest dragoness suddenly bouncing like an excited dog. His attention refocused on her and he tried to figure out what he'd just missed.

Then she was gone.

She literally just vanished. He blinked and his jaw dropped. Disappearing dragons now?

The next thing that happened was more interesting though. There was a sharp crack sound that ran away from him, similar to a very tiny thunder. But the report of the sound was combined with a small explosion of debris across the clear area.

The soldiers ducked to ready and trained their weapons on the sound and explosion. The black cat, Berris, went all fluffy. Fess was clinging to Steve him much more tightly. Only the larger two Faradai and Sy were relaxed and unconcerned.

Jalli reappeared a moment later, sitting comfortably on her haunches a short distance from where she started. "See!" she exclaimed happily.

"You did that?" one of the soldiers demanded.

"Yep!"

They all relaxed again, a little shaken. "What was that? Where did you go?"

Rashani chuffed several times, laughing, then answered. "We can shield ourselves from all the colors so the light just goes past us. But we can also bend any colors. So we make a really bright flash with our horns in certain colors and focus it into a really small beam."

"You make your own radio laser," Steve said. "From the sounds of it, a really powerful one. Maybe not polarized like a laser, but hyper-columnated. That crack along the whole path was ionized air." He was impressed. He wasn't sure how he knew that, but it sounded accurate enough.

"I focus it on a spot smaller than the tip of a fur," Jalli said. "That was really low strength too."

"That's... impressive," the soldier said. "Doesn't help against orbital things, but serious business on the ground."

"We can see ships in space," Rashani said. "Depending on how big they are, it might take many of us hitting them to bring them down, but if we considered them a threat, we could definitely see and shoot at them."

The soldier took a deep breath, audible through his helmet, then offered his final concern. "What if they're EM shielded?"

"In extreme cases like that, we just reach out to them with our Warmth instead. Can't shield against Warmth."

"Warmth?"

Steve was curious about this too. The way the dragons said it bore a feeling of importance. Even just their voices conveyed special meaning in a way that Steve would be used to only seeing in something like italic writing or similar.

Rashani dipped her wings in an affirmative. "It's the source of our magic. It's how we heal things and how we shield ourselves and how we exert force on things and stuff. It's something deep inside all Faradai." She looked up and searched the sky. "For example, I can sense that there is a big ship in high orbit. It has a lot of reactive stuff, especially in its core. That reaction is controlled though. Ah! Antimatter reactions. Nice. So, if you were an enemy and we wanted to get rid of you, we might just give a strong nudge to that antimatter and push it into the side of the containment system, setting it all off at once. That would work pretty well, right?"

The soldier drew his head back. "That would completely destroy the ship and probably most of a fleet," he admitted. "Okay, well, then I guess you can protect yourself against interstellar threats."

Rashani chuffed. "Like I said, we could go to space, but we don't. Even our younglings don't learn technology until they are much older. Warmth is much more important."

"With all this, how did the Massai capture and hold you?"

Steve watched as all three pairs of wings drooped low.

"They used some kind of magic on us that we can't figure out. Something that forces us to do things, and controls us, and can hurt us badly," Trenn said. "We're capable, but I think all of us were captured in our sleep or similar. Or surprised. I know some of us were surprised. Whatever it is, we can't sense it with our Warmth, and we can't see any low colors being used to communicate with it or shield it from low colors and block it." She shuddered. "We were shown quite quickly that if we shielded ourselves from all the colors, they would activate the spells and hurt us badly."

Rashani gave herself a shake. "Only since you destroyed most of the facility have we been free of the spells. But the spells are probably still there, so we're glad the Massai are dead." Her wings drooped further, the tips touching the ground. "It's just a shame that most of us slaves were killed too."

There was silence for a moment, then the Skyia without the helmet looked down, his ears laying to the sides. "We didn't know they had prisoners here. All our information indicated it was just a Massai facility on a livable planet with no space-faring sentients." He sniffled lightly. "The deaths are something that none of us in this battlegroup like to think of. We expect to be recovering bodies for months."

One of the armored soldiers put an arm around another and they all looked dejected. Even Fess was sniffling against Steve's back.

Rashani looked up and pulled her wings back up tight against her sides. "The combiners... the Massai... are evil. If you knew about them, I can understand why you'd be quick to want to ensure they are decimated. We will mourn the lost, but it will not bring them back. Now, we must go on with our lives and celebrate the fact we still have them. We will look forward to discovering the source of the spells and the geas that we are afflicted with and curing it." She looked at the other dragons and the three bipeds. "In the meantime, we will stay together and help each other."

She dipped her wing decisively. "We must be on our way. We have a long way to travel and we will be going by foot from the very start now, instead of a ways up the mountain."

Steve looked up toward the distant mountains. "I guess we have to go over those?"

"Around them, but it is a pass."

"I see snow... This is going to be very unpleasant for me."

The fox without the helmet sighed. "Hold on, I'll see what I can do." He ran off and they waited for a short time before he returned with a small case. "Stupid," he muttered as he opened it and pulled out a device of some sort, approaching Steve.

"What is?" Steve asked, looking at the device warily. It was somewhat creepy looking. An eight-inch long tube, twice the diameter of a D-Cell battery, with four spindly extrusions from one end.

"We can't give you clothing because we're not allowed to share technology with non-tech races. But my commander figures this is fine instead," he responded, working controls on the device.

"Isn't that a...?" one of the other soldiers started to ask, but he was cut off by the first.

"Yes! Yes it is. Stupid."

"How can she even justify that?"

The fox twisted his ears back and glanced up. "Clothing is obvious, she says. This isn't. So who on a planet like this would notice? That's her logic at least." He looked at the human. "Though I'd say it's because she has a big heart."

Steve was not sure what was going on. "What exactly is it?"

"It's an extreme environment field implant," the Skyia said, resuming poking the controls. "A good one too. Rated for two centuries of operation."

"I don't even have one that good," one of the soldiers lamented.

Another soldier nudged that one with an elbow. "You're not on an elite strike squad either," she said.

"You also have armor to wear," the first fox said. "This creature doesn't have anything and we can't give him anything visible."

Steve watched the back and forth banter. "Okay, wait a minute. Extreme environment whatzit?"

They looked up as the translation system wrangled the new word for a moment, then finally figured it out. The fox who was working on the device smiled, showing off sharp fangs. "It creates a protective field around you to deal with conditions outside that are otherwise detrimental to you. It's limited, so it doesn't generate breathable oxygen for example, so you can't go into space. It'll keep you warm in the cold and cool in the heat and protect you from some physical things to a degree. It's a supplement to armor or other gear, so don't expect it to stop bullets or shrapnel or falling trees or angry claws. It'll protect your feet from bad surfaces though and keep bugs from biting you."

The fox pulled a second little device out of the case and held it up in Steve's direction. "I need to scan your physiology and get it programmed. Wouldn't do for you to be permanently too hot or too cold." Seemed odd, but hey, whatever worked in tech for aliens, right?

"Okay, that's good to go. Turn around and, ah, the little one needs to get off your back."

Fess let go and dropped to her feet behind him and he turned around, his back chilled after the warm fur was against it.

The fox held the smaller thing near the back of his neck and the whole area went numb. Steve flinched in reaction. "Hold still please," the Skyia advised him. There was a sensation of pressure against the base of his neck and the others watched curiously. Steve noticed that Rashani's eyes started glowing slightly.

"Wait...." Steve said. "Implant?!" Maybe this wasn't such a good id...

It was just a pinch and a hiss and then the dull ache hit him for a moment. Sy's head jerked up and the cat whined, feeling the discomfort also. The cat pawed at the back of his neck and glared at Steve with a "How could you do this to me? I thought you loved me!" look on his face.

"There you go. That will take a few minutes to integrate the neural channel and it'll probably be sore for a few days. You'll be able to control it within half an hour."

"Ow..." Steve muttered as the pain was slowly increasing.

* * *

Rashani watched the intended solution being implemented. Implant? Interesting. When she noticed the Skyia was working on Steve's back, just below his neck, she extended her Warmth into the man just to check and just in case. Huh. The first device had modified the nerves in the area so sensations were not there. It was just numb to the human.

"Pause... Implant?!" Steve said. Then the fox activated the second device against his spine.

Rashani was shocked. She took a moment to recover her wits and missed whatever the fox was telling Steve. She was more concerned about the fact that the human's nerves were recovering from the numbing much faster than the first device was to account for and Steve was starting to experience greater pain as his body tried to figure out what the heck just happened. The psycat was reacting too, not pleased with the situation.

Quickly, she evaluated the site and dampened the nerves before healing the area around the new device in him. That brought immediate relief to him and allowed her to reduce the numbing she was providing. But that was... wow.

"What just happened?" Steve asked as the fox walked back around in front of him and worked on the larger device again.

"The field implant was implanted," the fox said. He pulled the back end off the tube and allowed a good-sized object to drop into his hand.

Fess stood up as tall as she could to try to see and Berris looked, then put her hand over her mouth in surprise. Steve stared at the object, not understanding at first, but then it finally registered.

Steve turned pale. "That's... that's a bone," he said.

"Yes. It's one of the bones from your spine. It was replaced with the implant," the fox said, tossing it aside.

Steve was startled by the complete disrespect with which a part of his body that had just been unceremoniously removed from his person was cast aside. "You just... you just sucked a bone out of my body and stuck something else in instead..." he murmured, not feeling too spiffy all of a sudden.

Rashani flicked her ear and scooted closer, subtly getting into position.

"Yes. That's part of why the pre-scan was necessary. The new part had to match the old part precisely and perform the same physical function as well as its implant function."

Sy looked at Steve and looked off where the bone had been tossed. The cat was doing much better now that the human was not in pain. He padded over and sniffed at the bone, then carefully picked it up in his maw and carried it back to Steve, dropping it in front of the human and sitting. The cat was obviously proud and happy to return the missing part.

"M-my..." Steve said. Then he wobbled, starting to pass out.

Fess was close and noticed this, making a squeak and scooting against him to try to push him back upright. He wasn't going to stay such though.

Rashani was ready however and her tail curled around his body several times, holding him up as she nudged his mind with Warmth to help him recover. She turned her attention to the Skyia. "You really should have explained it to him and asked his permission first," she growled.

The fox looked surprised, then realization came over his features. "You don't even have medical technology like this?" he asked the human meekly.

Steve was in no condition to answer yet but Rashani put her ears back and responded. "Obviously not. Also your numbing device didn't take good enough hold. I had to heal him. If a Faradai weren't here, he'd be in agonizing pain." She tilted her head at the psycat. "Or with the cat here, torn to shreds."

"I - wow. I'm sorry, I didn't realize," the Skyia murmured. He took Steve's hand. "Are you going to be okay?"

Steve swallowed hard. "I think so. Just wow. Really."

He was stable enough now and she let him go, but Fess still clung to his arm.

"That was freaky!" Fess exclaimed. "Even we don't have things that just replace bones with machine parts without a hospital."

The psycat licked the human comfortingly and Rashani sighed. "Well, it's done and best to leave it as is and move on," she said. "I suppose we should wait for that to work fully or have him ride one of us. The bottom of his feet are surprisingly fragile. I suspect his people normally cover them. The debris here won't do them any good."

Fess squirmed. "Can he ride you? I'd like to get going and find someplace comfortable soon."

Rashani looked at the small vixen and Fess made a bit of a worried face, then murmured, "Geas soon for me. I don't like this place and I'd like to avoid unhappiness as much as possible."

"Oh! Okay, yes. We can easily make it somewhere better in time," Rashani said. She looked at Steve. "Are you okay? Go ahead and climb onto my back. We need to head out." She moved her foreleg for him to do so.

"I'm sorry again about that," the tall fox told Steve, letting go of the human's hand. "Hopefully the help it gives you will be worth the trouble I caused without realizing it."

"It's okay," Steve said, taking a deep breath and glancing at the cervical vertebrae the psycat was pawing at. "It'll just go on the big list of completely fucked up stuff I'm dealing with now. I don't remember a thing, but I know that this is still fucked up, so I'll just deal with it or die from it. I'd rather deal with it." He rubbed his eyes. "Is it normal to have a weird glow in parts of my vision?"

"Yes, that's normal. It integrates and until you know how to react as if it's a part of you knowledge-wise, it feeds the information to you in a manner you can understand visually. When you learn to just know what it's telling you, the visual info is reduced unless you want it. Until it gets basic integration, it'll just be random glows in your vision. Like I said, a few minutes to half an hour."

"Okay. Distracting." He walked over to Rashani and she watched him carefully, wanting to make sure he was okay. Fess followed close on his heels, holding his elbow though it was above her. He remembered how to get onto her back though and the action went well this third time. She dipped her wings in reaction, happy with his quick learning.

She felt him get comfortable and looked at the others. "Let's get going." She turned her attention to the Skyia. "Is there a breach in the outer wall anywhere that direction?" she asked, indicating the way they had to go.

"Yes, complete collapse of the guard towers and also the gates have been forced open."

"Good. We'll look for a gate. Less hazardous than trying to climb over destruction."

"We'll try to find you if anything else comes up that can help you," the Skyia said.

"Thank you," Rashani said with a smile. Then she turned to depart, carrying Steve and making sure to pick a route that everybody else could keep up through.

* * *

Fess looked around at the cleared fields as they left the compound's gates. She'd not been outside the place. As a slave, her every action was tightly controlled by the Massai. This world was alien to her, as were all these people. Her people had enough fun poking other planets in their own solar system. While they thought there was likely other life out there, they hadn't discovered any before.

She glanced furtively at the male. Steve? Odd that he was so bare of fur. At least he was bipedal and such. Because of her size, they'd taken more to manual method of trying to breed her. With some of the males she'd seen, this made sense, but maybe she was lucky. She'd not been bred too often and only two attempts had partially taken. One self-aborted very early on, the other was manually aborted by the Massai for whatever reason.

Poor Berris was a different matter. Bred frequently, and though most of the tries didn't take, she'd borne enough monstrosities to full term to find the whole matter extremely unpleasant. She'd befriended Berris when she first arrived, Berris having just gone through another still-birth and having to watch the body be liquified and disposed of. Fess was pretty sure that only Berris' knowledge of the dorm building and her little "personal fort" had saved the two of them during the attack.

She noticed Berris falling back a little, but still keeping the same pace. She dropped back to meet her, legs working more quickly than the taller cat. "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

"I was just hoping that when the combiners were gone, the needs would go away," Berris said with a sniffle.

"We'll find a way to cure us," Fess said. "Steve seems nice. You can get to know him too. Without the combiners... the Massai... controlling everything, it won't be nearly as bad in the breeding. Might even be okay. There won't be any offspring from this. Never was unless the combiners wanted there to be. And when we get elsewhere, you can find any other male if you don't like Steve. We're really in a much better situation than we were before."

Berris smiled just a little. "True. It'll be nice to not be bound up, bent over, and humped until the male goes off. Some of them hurt, but the Massai didn't care."

"And we can get to know each other better and be together when we're not being forced to mate," Fess told her encouragingly.

"Okay, that's a benefit," Berris agreed. "It's been years since I've been able to socialize." She glanced at the little fox. "Does it upset you that we're still being driven by this need?"

Fess laid her ears to the sides. "It does. It definitely does. I'd rather like a guy first and then enjoy time with him." She brightened. "Hopefully I can make the best of this and start to like this male whatever-he-is. It'll make things better if I can."

Berris looked up at Steve briefly. Then she smiled. "He looks funny, but then all of us look funny to each other. He's handling things well, I guess. Different thing being mind-wiped rather than remembering everything that's been going on. I never figured out what logic they had behind putting mind-thieves on different people. But they only seem to have started using them about a year ago. I wonder how long he's been here. I haven't seen him before."

"I saw him being led somewhere once in passing. That was about a month or two ago." Fess perked an ear and looked off to the side. "There's a commotion over there," she said softly. Then she frowned. "Getting louder too." She grabbed the cat's hand and dragged her along faster to where the three dragons were becoming aware of the approaching sounds. Even the psycat was looking upset now.

"Everybody hold on and be quiet," the big dragoness murmured. "Duck down. I can see something in low color, but not well. It's coming in our direction, but hopefully we can avoid being spotted."

"Let me look," the mid-sized one, Trenn, said. "I can see..." she started to say, then suddenly she cried out and fell over unconscious.

"No, it's a Massai!" Jalli exclaimed.

Fess laid her ears back. That was the last thing they wanted to encounter! "Run!" she hissed, turning around and starting to.

None of them made it very far at all before the Massai's slave-control devices knocked them out.

* * *

Voices were muffled. Steve groaned and tried to make sense of things through what seemed like cotton stuffed in his ears. More voices, some cries of concern, and a wail. They were starting to make more sense now.

"...you okay?" somebody was asking him. A strong, armored grip was working to pull him out from under something very heavy.

"I'm sore. I can't hear or see very well," he replied, trying to shield his eyes from the light that felt far too bright. His eyes were highly dilated and it was very uncomfortable.

"Steve! You're okay!" Jalli, the little dragoness grabbed him and helped pull, finally freeing his leg from the weight atop it. "Oh Warmth, why did this have to happen?" she wailed.

"What happened?" Steve asked numbly.

The Skyia answered. "We detected a burst of energy from here so we came to investigate. There was a Massai still alive. We dispatched it. We appear to have interrupted its intent to kill all of you." She paused in speaking. "I'm sorry we were too late to save all of you."

Steve got a knot in his stomach at that statement. "Who...?" he asked.

"The two larger winged ones," she murmured. "The big black cat was also acting injured at first, but he's calmed down now and seems to be fine."

"Whaa... what happened?" Fess whimpered nearby. "Ow, my eyes..."

"Oooooo... ow," Berris groaned. Then she scrambled up and nearly fell over again. "Massai?!"

"You're okay, the Massai is dead," another soldier told her.

"Everybody is healed who survived," Jalli said numbly.

"Who survived? Who didn't?!" Berris demanded worriedly.

"Rashani and Trenn didn't make it," Jalli murmured.

"No..." Fess whimpered.

Steve felt sick, squinting and shielding his eyes against the light as they slowly adjusted. The heavy thing that he had been pulled out from under was Rashani. Trenn lay nearby. Both were unmoving, their eyes staring and tiny rivulets of purple-red blood seeping from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouth.

His first friend in this alien nightmare. The one he trusted and who saved him and helped him. Dead. Just like that. His gaze swung around at the squad of five soldiers who were helping and alert nearby, then to the staring faces of Fess and Berris. Jalli was standing near Trenn, her wings dragging the ground and her ears laid back in anger.

"We're doing a wider and more detailed scan of the area and the planet," one of the soldiers said. "If there are any other Massai on the world, we'll find them." He paused and looked off toward the facility. "In fact, that's done. They found two more and neutralized them."

"That won't bring Rashani and Trenn back," Jalli murmured. "Warmth to them always." She lifted her wings and steeled herself. "We need to keep moving soon. They wouldn't want us to hurt ourselves over them." She walked over to Steve and took his wrist with her tail, then led him over to Berris. She did the same with Fess. "I'm going to free them and send their bodies on. You may watch if you like, or you may move on ahead."

Steve walked back to Rashani and stroked her head between her horns. "You saved my life," he murmured. "You were the only friend I had in this nightmare." He fell against her side and clung for a moment. "I never got to know you well, but I'll miss you."

He picked himself off her soft body and moved over to stroke Trenn's head as well. "You didn't deserve this at all. None of us did," he told her. "All we have is each other, and now we have less. For both of you, I swear we'll do everything we can to... to..." He had to stop. He had no idea what they could do. He was just speaking what came to mind and that led to a dead end.

"To keep each other," Fess finished for him, slipping her hand into his.

Berris stepped up beside Fess and touched Trenn gently as well. "We'll keep each other," she agreed. "With no more Massai, at least we'll have a fighting chance if anything else comes up." She shot a look over at the soldiers who were looking on silently. "You said the Massai are like this as a whole race. If you find any more of them, kill the excrements for us."

"We will," the soldier said, touching her visor and lifting it so they could see the pain in her face. "For our own families and people too."

Jalli moved forward and nuzzled Trenn's neck gently, then backed away. "Y-you'll need to move back," she said, choking a little.

The three of them stepped carefully away and Jalli moved between them and the two lifeless Faradai, spreading her wings wide and lifting them high. She stood proud, her head up and her neck extended. Steve could see her eyes begin to glow brightly.

All of them were forced to avert their gazes as the two bodies suddenly were alight in heat and radiance. The soldiers seemed surprised as well, though they shielded their faces. Steve could feel the heat washing over him, but it felt comfortable, not too hot though it was tremendously intense.

The glow and the heat faded and Steve blinked his tearing eyes, finally able to look back. The ground was disturbed where they had fallen, but nothing was damaged. There was just a soft afterglow in the spots they once were, a bright space hanging in the air.

"Stay Warm, sisters," Jalli murmured, letting her wings drop back to her side and lowering her head as the glow in her eyes faded.

"Wh-what is that glow?" Fess asked quietly, then squeaked as the glowing spots moved a little, wobbling in the air.

"That's the core of their Warmth," Jalli murmured. "As long as we are freed when we die, we go on. They will go to the ones who mean the most to them." She watched as Trenn's glow lifted more swiftly and then sailed off into the distance. "I suspect Trenn has gone to her mate from before she was captured. She spoke of him fondly and missed him greatly." Her wing dipped twice.

There was a long silence as Rashani's glow hovered there, moving this way and that uncertainly. Then Fess finally asked, "Why isn't she moving?"

"I - I don't know," Jalli admitted. "She'd normally be gone by now, on her way." She lifted her feet in succession. "I know I did the rites properly. Faradai know it instinctually, so even a wordless youngling could free them," she said, fretting. "Sister? What keeps you here?" she murmured.

"Maybe she doesn't have anybody anymore?" Fess said softly. "That would be so sad."

The glow continued to range further, as if searching very timidly.

"She was a good person," Steve murmured. "She has to have had..."

As he started talking, the glow pulled to a halt in its wanderings and lifted slightly further off the ground. Then he was interrupted in his words, the last thing in his awareness being the glow shooting in his direction before he blacked out.

---

"He's waking up," Fess said quietly, but excitedly.

He forced his eyes open and managed to focus on the people looking down at him. He was under trees now and laying on something soft. A bit of getting a feeling for his surroundings and he realized he was laying on Sy's side. The cat was snoozing.

A quick look around found only the three girls and Sy nearby. The area looked familiar. Ah! It was the place he'd slept with Rashani.

What in the world just happened?

* * *

Berris was torn apart inside by the event. She'd seen the cruelty of the Massai many times. Slaves just knocked down by the controls and their silent bodies dragged over to the disposal to be tossed in without them even being dead. She'd always been reluctant to form any friendships amongst the slave because of this and only the charming and bouncy personality that Fess bore had managed to get her in with the black feline.

With the attack and sudden freedom, she'd finally had hope. Though she held herself aloof as a slave, she knew Jalli and Trenn and knew how they and the other Faradai helped the slaves who had been injured. Though the controlling whatever that was on them neutralized the Faradai's ability to hide and attack, the healing they did wasn't noticed. She'd only seen the big Faradai from a distance a few times, but had respect for her since the Massai always kept her alone and away from everybody else. She must be something important.

Now they were dead. Her illusion of safety was shattered. Only the direct assurance of the Skyia that there were no more Massai on the planet now kept her from breaking down and curling up into a little ball to cry.

Once she was over the shock and sad, she just became angry. She'd finally caught the eye of a good male before the Massai stole her from her world. Her planet knew space travel, but they'd only expanded to the other habitable world in their star system as well as starting landforming and climateforming on one other world.

She hoped to never see another Massai again. She hoped with all her being that the Skyia would wipe them out completely.

Whatever Jalli did was interesting. It was a breath of fresh air. Her people had beliefs, but none of their religions or science could really say without a doubt that anybody continued on beyond death. To see the glows and to know that these were literally the two Faradai going on. It gave her hope and warmed her spirits.

Rashani's hovering around worried her though. She could tell that Jalli was concerned too.

"Maybe she doesn't have anybody anymore," she heard Fess say. No, that couldn't be possible. Somebody had to have been important to her.

Her heart was sinking and she wasn't aware of what Steve was saying, then her attention was caught as the Rashani glow suddenly flew at Steve and literally knocked him backward. Thankfully Fess was just behind him and managed to partially catch him while one of the soldiers leaped over and finished catching him.

Berris managed to pull her mouth closed and looked at the group, Jalli standing shocked.

"What happened?!" Fess cried, fretting over the human.

"Rashani just... she just went to him!" Jalli exclaimed. "I didn't even know a Faradai could go to somebody who wasn't one of us." She ran over and mantled her wings protectively above Steve, her eyes glowing. "He's okay. He's just not made for a Faradai to go into him."

"That means he's the most important one to her?" Berris asked softly.

"It does," Jalli said.

"I saw when they first brought him in," Barris admitted quietly. "He hasn't been here very long." She was looking at the man with a newfound respect. "If he made such an impression on her in so short a time, he must be something special."

"That's true," Jalli agreed, coming to the same realization. "She's a very old Faradai too. Of all the others she's encountered, he's the most important to her."

"Do you need medical assistance?" the Skyia asked.

"No," Jalli said. "He just needs time to adjust to this. He's perfectly healthy and I doubt that she'd want him to be otherwise. She continues to exist as long as he does." She paused in thought. "I don't know what will happen when he dies though. Normally we continue on in each we go to, but he's not a Faradai."

"Let's not think of that," she said, shivering despite herself. What she was hearing was making her happier.

"I can't carry any of you while flying, but I can carry him walking," Jalli said, the glow in her eyes fading. She stayed over him protectively though. "Help put him onto my back. I can hold his legs up with my wings."

"You'll be okay now?" the soldier asked.

"We should be," Jalli said.

"Good luck, and hopefully no more unpleasant surprises," the soldier said, flipping her visor back down. They all walked around a nearby low rise and shortly afterward took off on a set of personal transports, heading back to the facility.

Barris and Fess carefully positioned the man onto Jalli's back, her wings holding his legs from dragging on the ground. The big, black psycat watched curiously and made some noises a few times, but seemed very relaxed. As they got Steve situated, the cat finally padded off a short distance and started eating the leaves off a tree.

"The cat is eating a tree!" Fess exclaimed.

"It's a psycat. They're herbivores and generally peaceful. They're able to feel the physical sensations of creatures around them though and don't take kindly to being put into pain. If something is injured badly enough, they will kill it to stop feeling its pain." She curled her tail around and patted Steve's back to check his positioning quickly. "Otherwise they tend to chase away or kill hunters in their territory. Things being killed hurts them and they don't like that."

Berris held her ears askance. "A herbivore cat-like thing. Well, that's new to me."

"He seems to really like this male, so he'll be protective of him. That'll help us all as long as the cat is around. At least a little. Obviously didn't help against the Massai." Jalli turned and started walking carefully, gaining speed as she gained confidence in carrying the human.

"He's gonna wake up before the need gets too bad for me, I hope," Fess said softly, fretting.

"I hope so. We can probably convince his body to help you even if he doesn't," she said. "I hope."

Barris didn't say anything and after that they walked in silence, each thinking their own thing. The psycat caught up to them a short time later and led them in a direction slightly away from their original path, but soon they came to a clearing and Jalli sniffed at the ground. "They were here before. This is a good place to stop if Rashani picked it before."

Jali quickly found a path left by them and followed it to the nook of the tree. The psycat obviously recognized the place and flopped in the shade by the trunk. He looked at Steve and chuffed, then reached over and snagged the human off Jalli's back before any of them could do anything, pulling the limp man close.

"It's safe, right?" Barris asked, crouching worriedly.

"Yes," Jalli said, dipping her wing. "I heard what he said before. He even named the cat Sy."

Sy chuffled and barked at Steve, licking him worriedly when he got no response. Then he finally huffed in frustration and pulled the man to lay up on his massive feline side before laying his own head down and closing his eyes.

Fess leaned over and peered at Steve. "What's it like, going into somebody after you die?" she asked.

"I don't know," Jalli said. "I hope not to find out too soon either."

"Oh! Right!"

Berris smiled to herself. Fess was always cute. Maybe she was right, too. Maybe this odd, alien male was somebody worthwhile for them.

"He's waking up," Fess said softly, trying to hide her excitement.

Jalli and Berris both leaned over to peer at him as he rubbed his eyes groggily and finally sat up, looking around.

"This place," he said. "This is where I first saw Rash..." He choked, unable to continue as tears welled into his eyes.

* * *

Fess fretted. The need was getting badly stronger and now he was all sad. But at least he was awake.

"How did we get here?" he asked. "Why don't I remember coming here?"

Barris looked at Fess, then at Steve. "Something unexpected happened and you were asleep. We carried you this way and the psycat - Sy - showed us to here."

"Guess he remembers the good things here," Steve said with a smile, patting the sleeping cat.

Barris saw Fess squirming uncomfortably and got a serious look on her face. "Steve. I know you just had a bad time and you're possibly confused and upset, but now Fess's life depends on your help." His eyes widened.

"W-what did I do?"

"You didn't do anything bad," Barris said, comforting him and pulling him off the sleeping feline and onto her lap. "Remember the need they put into us? Fess is under its influence and if she doesn't get mated soon, it will kill her."

Fess whimpered as his face went white and she worried more. Way to put performance anxiety into him, Barris.

"W-what if I can't help?" Steve squeaked, having the exact same thoughts.

"Relax," Barris purred. "Close your eyes, lean back against me." She slipped her arms around him and rubbed his tummy and waist. "Don't think about bad things. Think about good things," she purred. Her touch slipped down to caress him below and he gasped.

Fess knew she had to help too. She dropped to her haunches first, then decided otherwise and moved to straddle his legs. Fess was good at getting reluctant males to behave well physically. She would see if she could help him mentally.

She leaned against him, feeling his body along her front, and shivered happily. She licked his throat softly, hoping he would respond to that as her people would. "Steve, this is more than just my life," she whispered to him. "All the time I've been stolen has been bad. Having you face to face with me and in my arms is such a wonderful thing." She ran her hands down his sides.

She could feel the encouragement having an effect on him, his flesh pressing up against her wetness. She moved closer to him and lifted herself to get him positioned, then pushed herself down around him, feeling the warmth of his body slip into hers. He made a cute little squeak sound but his heavy breaths told her he was okay and enjoying it.

His flesh was hard and warm, but soft and velvety on the outside. It wasn't the same shape as her people's, but it was larger than the one boyfriend she'd had before. Not too big though like some of the males she had forced into her as a slave. Just deliciously full for her.

Berris extracted her hands from between the two and was doing something behind Fess now. Soon Fess felt the feline's finger rubbing gently at the space where this male was slipping into her. She rocked and clung to his sides, riding on him and gritting her teeth through the growing pain, not wanting to admit to it and upset him. But if he didn't unload soon, it would not end well for her.

"I need you," she whispered huskily. "I need to feel you. Cum in me." With her face beside him, she could hide the pain from him seeing even if his eyes were open, but Berris laid her ears back in concern. This was cutting it close. She pushed down on him and ground against him desperately, feeling Berris move her arm, but she was starting to get tunnel vision. If she fell off him, she doubted he'd have the fortitude to finish.

Then suddenly his whole body stiffened and he let out another squeak of surprise. She felt his shaft buck inside her and then the gratifying and life-saving splash of his juices into her depths. The pain that was wracking her faded immediately and she let her breath out in a woosh. She clung to him gratefully and stretched her neck up to whisper to Berris, "Don't tell him how close it was."

He had his own panting sneak up on him quickly and he shivered slightly. She felt him throb inside her a few more times and relished in it. When they forced her to breed or even when she had to satisfy the need, the male would hop on top and pop and stop. Then he'd be dragged off as soon as she had his seed and she'd be dragged off too.

His arms slid around her, somewhat belated, but even that meant a lot to her. "Thank you," she murmured, resting her cheek against his chest, her body so small compared to his.

"I'll have to remember that in case of any emergencies," Jalli murmured behind her.

"It works well on most males with similar anatomy," Berris said with a purr.

"Mmmm," Fess murmured. "I just like the being able to keep him afterwards."

* * *

Steve caught his breath slowly as the black cat pulled her finger out of him down there. He didn't know why he could hear so well, or why he could feel that Fess had been in so much distress. His worry was gnawing at him and despite the delicious tightness and heat she bore, his mind was not in it.

Berris came to the rescue with her slickened fingertip in a way he didn't expect though. Barris used Anal Probe and it was super-effective! He didn't know where that thought came from, but it made him giggle a little. He was just happy he'd been able to help. More happy that Fess was so pleased beyond just his saving her life.

He sucked in a breath as she slid her finger out of his ass and hugged the little vixen close. "I don't want to lose any more of us," he said softly. "But I also want us to be happier than we were." The slight vibration of her body and the happy relaxation she bore spoke volumes.

"I don't want you to get so close to danger again," he murmured to her softly.

She stiffened and drew back from him to look him in the face. "How did you know?"

"I'm honestly not sure," he said, reaching up to stroke her cheek gently. "I can hear better and I can kinda sense things about all of you." He squinched his eyes closed. "That and I have a weird readout in my vision now." Shutting his eyes was not actually effective at removing the latter either.

Fess looked at him worriedly. "It's not too bad, is it?"

He opened his eyes again and they darted about for a moment, trying to focus on the information. "It's telling me environmental conditions and giving me control hints, but it's not telling me things that I consider more important."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that we're all in this together and are going to get through it. Or anything about any of you to get to know you. Or that you're cute and warm and adorable and very nice to hold," he listed off, finishing with a kiss to the tip of her nose. Then he made a face. "Your nose is damp," he observed.

She giggled at his words, then perked her ears at his statement of the obvious at the end. "Of course. It's supposed to be. Yours isn't?" She touched his nose with a fingertip and her eyes widened. "It isn't! I never noticed that before."

"You two are cute together," Berris purred from behind him, though she had a touch of sad in her voice.

"I hope for all four of us to be cute together," he said. "While I don't want to get in the way of anybody important you have waiting for you, I also don't want to be just a life-stick dick unless I absolutely have to be." He wilted some himself as he realized that was a possibility. Rashani had said she wanted more from him, but these three were unknowns.

"Not fond of the sex without attachment or worry? Don't like getting good feelings for doing your job if you can't demand some of the mind and emotion as well?" Berris asked sharply. Jalli was peering at him as well.

"I can't even remember any of it, but I know I was 'used' once even by Rashani," he said. He hung his head. "We've all be used. We've all been abused. We're all homeless and lost and..." He shook his head and sighed. "I guess you're right. It's too much for me to ask."

"Even if we're asking the same and you were just the one brave enough to say it?" Berris asked more gently as Jalli nuzzled his arm in agreement with her.

"I...?" he started, not sure what words to put to it.

"Don't get me wrong," Berris said, "The males who were slaves were not even a fraction as bad as the Massai. But for the most part they didn't care about comforts or emotions. They did what was demanded of them, dropped their load in a hole, and went on their way. Maybe they wanted emotions too, but if they did, they hid it well."

"Maybe that's why they put a mind stealer on him," Fess said softly. "Maybe that's why Rashani went into him too."

Berris agreed. "If he got emotional, that might make sense. Keep good males from being good."

Steve was stuck on the second statement though. "Rashani went into m-me?" he asked, his question ending in a squeak.

"She did," Jalli advised him, sitting comfortably and curling her tail around in front of her legs like a cat. "You're the most important person in the world to her."

"I only knew her for a little while! Surely she must have had somebody she knew better and longer who was more important."

Jalli chuffed in amusement. "You sound like you are trying to convince her otherwise. What's done is done. You're the one she loved the most in the world." Her ears twisted to the sides. "I don't know how that'll affect you. I know you're in better health and you've got some Warmth now in you. But it's Rashani as a part of you and she's still herself until you die. But it seems she's still working through you a little. Like your sensing the urgency in Fess's plight."

Fess coughed. "I just wanted to say - and I know this is completely on a different topic - that you just finished getting soft and slipped out of me. I'm still holding you and snuggling you though. Both of these things mean a lot to me right now. So, um, thank you." She rested her cheek against his chest again.

"You're welcome?" he said cautiously, then he shook his head and revised it. "No... Not a question. You're very welcome, Fess." He took a deep breath and pulled her more warmly against himself. "I really don't know what to make of Rashani's choice. But it's comforting. I hope to understand it better eventually. Right now we need to figure out a way to make sure nobody ever gets that close to being hurt by the geas again."

"It builds all the time, we just don't feel it until it's demanding," Berris said. "It doesn't build at the same speed all the time though. I've seen it be as quick as a few days or as long as a few weeks."

He was thinking it, but he wasn't going to say it. Jalli did though. "Maybe if we just mate more frequently? It'll reset the needs anyway and give us more room for possible problems."

Steve thought the other two might be offended by such an idea, but to his surprise, they agreed.

It was Jalli who caught his disbelief. "You think that we're not allowed to want to enjoy? It's not uncommon for a healthy pair of Faradai in a relationship to mate two or three times a day for bonding."

"Well, Talis pairs in love end up mating for an hour or two straight," Fess countered. "Even if it's not as often. A lot of fun goes into it."

"Nara'kya group up, not just pairing off, and we fight to the death with only the two standing victors mating violently afterwards and hoping they survive their wounds from mating," Berris said.

"REALLY?!" Fess exclaimed.

"No, but you should have seen the look on your face," the black cat chuckled. Then she fell sullen. "No, we do group up though. It's not uncommon for any one in a group to mate more often than once a day for some time, then less-often. All evens out to about once every other day I guess." She was silent for a moment, then muttered, "Not that I'd have any first hand experience. I got defensive around suitors and anti-social. And bad jokes like the one I just made. I hope that doesn't scare you off like it scared them. I really just want a nice mate to love and I really want to go home."

There was the whine of an engine nearby approaching the ground. "Hello?" somebody called.

They all stood up except Sy, who remained blissfully asleep.

The armored Skyia came through the trees and waved. "No clear area to land here. I'm glad I caught you. Berris, is it? We did a different search on you and we found a record of an observation on your star system. We know where you live, so I'm here to pick you up so you can go home."

Berris looked torn, glancing between them and the Skyia. Then she set her ears to the sides. "We have very advanced medicine on my planet. If they did something to our bodies to make the needs and control us, then they can find out what's wrong with me."

She looked down, her ears laying back in distress. "I have to go. I hope you understand. But I swear on the seven tails of the gods that if I find an answer to cure us, I'll come back and help you." She rushed over and grabbed Fess, lifting her up in a hug, then set her down and hugged Jalli. "I'll never forget you and I hope you'll never forget me. But I have to go home. I... I just have to."

She grabbed Steve's hand and grabbed his gaze with her own golden eyes. "Take good care of them, and of Rashani now too," she whispered. Then she looked away and ran to the soldier. "Take me home, please," she begged, then ran past him toward the waiting vehicle.

The soldier huffed awkwardly and turned, departing, and soon the engine noise grew and then faded into the distance.

"But... but..." Fess murmured, still in shock over how quickly it all happened.

Steve looked at his two remaining companions. Jalli hadn't said a word but her wings were drooped to the ground. Before they had been six and ready to journey who knew how far with a massive dragon to protect them and carry them. Now it was just the three of them and the smallest two and fragile human at that.

He could tell how torn they were and how hurt they were despite being happy for Berris. He didn't blame her. A chance to go home was something he'd jump at too.

The engine sound was returning.

"Maybe she's coming back!" Fess said hopefully.

But after the craft landed, only a single Skyia soldier walked through the forest to them.

"Steve?" she said, looking at them. "You're a human. You come from a planet that your people call Earth. We managed to decrypt the records of your pick up swiftly. Seems they only acquired you a few months ago. It included standard slip coordinates and everything. You can go home."

"But..." Fess said softly, looking like her whole world was being torn from her. She said no more though, turning her back on him.

He could go home. He could stop being an alien abductee and pick up again. He could...

No he couldn't. No memory. Rashani inside him. But something much more important.

"Come with me please," the soldier said, holding her hand out to him.

"No." He walked over to Fess and put his hands on her shoulder, but she spun around and grabbed them instead, staring up at him. He smiled down at her. "No, I won't go. These two are depending on me and I won't leave them."

"We can assign a male soldier to accompany them, but we can't just let you stay here," she said. "We confirmed that your race doesn't even have interplanetary travel and barely any presence in space. To leave you out here would be breaking so many treaties it's not even funny."

"I have no memories," Steve said earnestly. "I have who knows what alien things affecting me. What could that do to my whole planet and all the people on it?" He didn't mention Rashani. She was a personal thing.

"We would have to keep you until we could somehow remove or undo whatever was used to control you, but we do have to take you home. Like I said, a soldier will be assigned to accompany these two for their medical needs." She took a step towards him.

"NO!" Steve said. "Even more important to me are these two." He looked at Fess and then at Jalli. "We've been through this hell together. We don't need medical help. We need each other as friends."

Jalli moved between him and the soldier and Fess glared at the Skyia, who finally stopped. She hung her head. "It's not worth traumatizing you to force you to go. But I do hope you understand what you're doing. To get away with this at all, we'll have to wipe out all our records of ever having found you personally. We'll never be able to get you home after that. You're a non-person to the space community, so you'd be stuck here. If the little vixen's home is found, you'd be stuck here with only the Faradai, and her people are just across this continent, so who knows how long that would last. You've not even known them long, you only got your memories starting last night. Please, just let us take you home."

Fess looked up at him again, worried. He shook his head and leveled his gaze at the Skyia. "No. I'm staying for them."

The soldier shook her head at him. "Good luck, then," she murmured, sounding genuinely concerned. "Take good care of each other." She turned to go.

"HEY!" Fess barked.

The Skyia turned around.

"If you just happen to find where I live too, DON'T BOTHER COMING BACK! We don't need any more stress."

The soldier chuckled. "Noted," she murmured, then turned and walked away. The whine of the engine left into the distance, taking with it any chance for him to get home. Ever.

"You gave up everything for us," Jalli said, gazing up at him.

Steve shook his head. "No, I didn't give up anything. I don't have anything. No memories, no home, nothing. All I have is you. You wouldn't give up much if I left. The soldier would keep you alive. You'd get home, and maybe even Fess would get home."

He squatted to be eye level with Fess. "Maybe I'm just being greedy myself, since you two are all I have at all. But I don't want to take Rashani away from here and I don't want to cost you me." He touched the little vixen's cheek. "I know how you felt. I'm not a quick dick stick. We're in this together. I swear I'm not going to leave you two unless you tell me to."

Fess reached out and rubbed a tear off his cheek, then looked at Jalli and smiled. "Maybe this is why Rashani went into him after all." Then she lunged at him and grabbed him, hugging him so tightly his ribs hurt for a moment before loosening her grip and just holding him. "Thank you," she whispered.

Jalli moved closer and mantled her wings protectively across both of them, rearing onto her hind legs to wrap forelegs around them. He wasn't sure how he could tell, but he knew that Rashani approved too.

After a long moment just holding each other, he gave them both a little kiss on whatever he could reach, then gazed off up the hill. "We're going to need to figure out what we'll do now. We don't have Rashani and Trenn to protect us with their size and we don't have strength in numbers anymore. Jalli could fly easily, but she can't carry either of us. From what I understand, we have a long way to go to reach your people, Jalli, and no civilization between here and there."

"A day's hard flight, a month or more by foot," Jalli agreed.

"We'll make it," he murmured. "Together, we'll make it."

---

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