Chapter 3
Chapter 3.
A deep, pulsing hum, which I felt more than heard, throbbed in my chest. Zero Point Drive, FTL. It harnessed the energy in quantum foam, drawing it directly from the universe. It's all you can eat, just keep in mind that there is no such thing as naturally occurring supernovae. They are all industrial accidents, on the scale of a solar system. Each is thought to have involved energy sourced at the quantum level.
"Something smells off about him."
"You saw that lab, he rubbed up against something weird, that's all."
"No. It's him..."
"I'm going to wake him. He just needs a shower."
I smelled something sharp, it was piercingly strong, and it burned. My ears flattened as I grabbed at what was in front of my nose, smelling salts, and pushed it away. My nose was raw, all scents had become unpleasantly strong. Still, I knew two other Rhenthar were in the room with me, without having to open my eyes. I knew that it was Ash and Casey, two of my shipmates. I was terrified that I might be hallucinating. I also smelled my blood, old and crusty.
"There he is. He's awake, it lives." I opened my eyes and found the room's lighting to be an incredibly comfortable dim red. Casey. Tears edged into my vision, I blinked them away. Third in charge of my crew, a tester of sorts. Ash was right next to him, a female. Now, that bitch could code. She came from white German Shepherd lineage, and looked like a small white wolf, except for her blue eyes. Casey had the floppy ears and black shorthair coat of a black Labrador. The kind of fur that never needed a brush, I was rather jealous of that.
"Ash." I cleared my throat, and regretted it instantly, it was still irritated from the tubes that had been in it. "Made my own brute force tool." My voice sounded hoarse, my toothy smile grew big. A decidedly foreign feeling, but a good one.
"Congratulations," she rolled her eyes. "You really can code your way out of a polymer cube." Ash could probably have made that tool in her sleep.
"Zim?" It hurt me to say the name, to even think it. But I had to know.
"If you mean Wayne McKenzy," Ash narrowed her eyes, "the one running that freak show we found... the authorities have him in custody."
"The facility?" My lips revealed a different kind of smile, full of sharp teeth.
"Power generator failure, quite explosive. A real shame," Casey grinned.
Parts of my consciousness slowly came online. Recognition that I was literally out of the woods, out of danger, the adventure of a lifetime had been survived, and now shelved into the depths of my memory. There was a lot I could do without remembering. I needed to look into a personal shielding device, if I was ever going to put another paw inside a nightclub again.
Whatever Zim had dosed me with was still lingering, my mind felt pretty screwed up.
Ash stared at me; her blue eyes were like tiny white dwarfs, and just as bright. She focused on my neck, before returning to my eyes. I reached up and felt the collar that was still there. I put several fingers under it-
"Don't," in unison. "Leave it be, Keems." Ash, she sounded serious. "It's monitoring you. I don't know what it's set to, but if you try to take it off, it could kill you."
Stress, rising. My comfort of having been saved was slipping away. "Oh, Dog! You've got to get this thing off me," I reached down and fumbled with my sheath, my ears splayed sideways from embarrassment. The numbness surrounding my prick was still there. Even more prominent was the tube leading into my bladder, it ached continuously. It was impossible to ignore, triggering the same nerves that normally indicated I needed to pee. I had to fucking pull it out, right now. Not later, not in five minutes, right now.
"Forget the collar, down here, that jerk installed this... thing..." I kept tugging on my sheath, trying to decide on if I wanted to show them. I wanted to slide it down and rip the fucking thing out.
Neither Casey nor Ash looked. My eyes caught theirs... with silence. I pointed down, they didn't follow. "I'm fucking serious!"
"Just... calm down," Casey said in an irritated manner. "Look, you're in a unique position right now. The collar is in an untampered state, the guy this freak sold you to has no idea who we are, we're just slavers taking you to your new digs. If we take the collar off, this mission is a bust, do you want that?"
I cringed and nodded, "But what about this... thing?" Once again, I pointed between my legs. Why weren't they looking? Rhenthar aren't like humans, we don't wear clothing, private-parts aren't very private. Then I caught their scent, anxiety from Ash, fear, from Casey. I didn't like that at all. Who's in control here? Shouldn't we be in control?
Casey looked away, his scent shifted to anger and resignation. Urk.
"That's-" Ash gently pulled my paw from my sheath, and set it onto my thigh, "a bigger problem, Keman."
"What do you mean, a bigger problem? Help me take it out, this new owner of mine won't know it isn't there, you have no idea what this thing feels like! I can't get my mind off it, it's almost like it's fucking moving, and I really gotta pee, fuck-"
"That's because it's alive." Ash murmured.
My eyes opened wide, but I went on like I hadn't heard, "I'm talking about what's in and around my dick, he fucking glued it on, we're going to need some sort of solvent." I looked at Casey, "what are surgical glues typically made from?"
"It isn't glued," Casey shook his head sadly, "it's bonded to your tissue at the cellular level. It's incorporated into your vascular structure. Cut it, it bleeds your blood, Keman. It's a parasite, and it's alive." He avoided my eyes.
I stammered, swallowed, taking that in. Panic rose swiftly, my muscles tensed up, adrenaline fired. I couldn't help it, Casey and Ash both smelled afraid, and my fear was rising, too. Horror and shame twisted together, but they couldn't mix, like water and oil, they only rubbed each other. I needed help, but I wanted to run away, so they didn't have to see what the fuck was growing on my dick.
I'd gone back to squeezing my sheath without realizing it. I looked down, and yanked my paw away, like I had touched a welding arc. It was moving inside me. It really wasn't my imagination, I could feel it! I freaked out and pulled my sheath down, exposing the wicked black creature enveloping me. Fuck. This! I narrowed my eyes, the room took on a red hue. I'd spear it with a claw, rip it off, yes... "gotta get it off, gotta get it off..." I gibbered and mumbled to myself.
Ash backhanded me. I paused, caught with my emotions hovering between fear and aggression, a tilting point. My mouth was stuck open while I stared at her.
"Keman. Calm. The fuck. Down." I looked away, and instead her eyes drilled into the side of my head.
"Please," I whimpered, "I need to pull it off, it hurts..."
"You can't! So just shut up and listen." Ash showed plenty of white, I dipped my muzzle in submission. "It's designed to be worn for a very long time, Keman. Like, forever. It's a slaver device, designed to control you. Breeding, pleasure, scent marking. Like your collar, if you try to take it off, it kills you. It's full of neurotoxins; don't even nick it with a claw. Just... leave it alone."
Casey took one look at what was between my legs and jumped to his feet, he started pacing, reeking of fury. My mind reeled. "I just... there must... be a way to take this off. What the fuck, you can't leave this on me!"
"I'm sorry, we just don't know how to take it off," he said. "But if there is," he spun and pointed a finger at me, "we'll find it. Trust me, Keman. I've seen the designs of that thing. It scares the hell out of me. The fact that anything like this would even be designed for one of us is absurd. On the black market, that thing on your dick, it cost more than this ship. I just don't get it, for a slavers market? Rhenthar haven't been slaves for centuries, it doesn't make sense." I saw his paw grope his sheath as he turned away to stare out a window. Stars crept past in long lines.
I couldn't take it anymore, "Look, I have to take a leak, real bad..." I looked at Ash.
"That's pretty normal, from what I've read. It'll fade in time. If you think this is bad, you should see the female version."
"No," I shook my muzzle, "you don't get it. I gotta pee, I gotta fucking pee! How do I do that?" I put plenty of growl into it. I meant it, my bladder was ready to explode, and it was getting worse by the second.
"Oh." Ash cocked her ears sideways in humility, "you mean, you really have to go. That's not something you can do on your own, anymore. We installed a device on the urinal in your quarters. Just... pretend that you can go, and it'll take care of the rest. Hey-"
I was backing out of the room, relief couldn't wait another second, "what?" Strained humor wafted into my nose.
"You play with yourself too much, maybe this will do you some good?"
I turned and looked at Casey, he had covered his eyes with a paw, he shook his muzzle slowly. I ran from the room, shouting, "Ash Ass, Ass Ash!" She hated when people made fun of her name like that. She might chase after me, so I poured speed into my sore legs, and dropped to all fours. I don't know how long I had been asleep, but the movement was pure bliss.
Some Rhenthar are bipeds, like humans, with long femurs and flat feet. Others are quadrupeds, their feet are digitigrade, they walk on their toes and their hind paws are small. It would hurt to stand up and put all of their weight onto them for any length of time, plus, their balance would be poor. I'm digitigrade, but I'm in between, my femurs are short, so I can walk on all fours without my knees touching the ground, or I can walk upright on my big hind paws. I'm not a "quad," as they're called, but my sheath still runs parallel to my spine, and that means it points up when I'm standing up. It makes peeing while standing up very inconvenient, but if I wasn't built this way my parts would drag on the ground when I walked on all fours. All canines have a bone in their penis called the Os. It prevents me from bending down to point into a human style toilet, though I can pull my sheath back far enough to swivel the whole thing at the base, but that's painful. The solution for me, and any quad, is a moveable collection pod, with handles on the sides: the Rhenthar urinal.
The pod has a soft, rubbery opening in the front. To urinate, I just press it against my sheath and give it a hump. My sheath draws back, my penis enters the inner chamber, and any output is sucked away. It works in Zero-G, it cleans both itself and the user with each use. Like human toilets, they came in a million varieties. The version on this ship was basic, but the fact that there was a market for these slaver modifications really bothered me. That my team was able to find one on such short notice... didn't sit well.
I shivered like a pup, as I danced between entrances to private quarters, trying to remember which one was mine. I located it and raced inside, up to the urinal, still on all fours. I crammed it between my legs, squashing my still-very-tender nuts. Nothing happened when I told my bladder to go. I heard a motorized whine, and felt a tube squeeze into my urethra, ostensibly piercing the tip of the parasite. My bladder deflated slowly, and it didn't empty all the way. The relief of having gone didn't arrive. I waited, and pushed harder. It felt like my bladder was still half full. It was still inside, Dog. I flushed, warm water gurgled inside and rinsed me off, and I pulled out and stared down at my new enemy.
The same contours of my prick remained, but it was shiny black instead of a veiny reddish white. I sat on my haunches and licked at it, sniffing and touching it carefully with my fingertips. I could feel pressure, but most other sensations were missing, as if I was covered in a really thick condom. Unlike a condom, though, I couldn't make it slide around. I squeezed, and the tube inside me squirmed, pain rose up into my bladder. Dog! I pinched behind my knot and located a solid mass there, it felt hard, like steel, or maybe bone. I gripped it and pulled, pushed, it didn't feel good. No sex? No pawwing? Dog. Were the orgasms I experienced in the facility my last? I paw a couple of times per day, normally. How long could I go without? A few days, maybe a week? Not since puberty, had I gone more than that. Impossible, this was going to be hell.
And what the fuck, I couldn't pee on my own now? I shook my head, this was so unreal. I covered it up with my sheath, hating the way it felt, and inspected my collar carefully, moving to stare at it in the mirror.
It was a lot more flexible than it looked. It was still hot to the touch, like it had some sort of fuel cell inside. Methane Nickel could produce that kind of heat. The gold contacts on the inside were spring loaded, but the pressure against my skin was gentle.
I saw some fluff under it, and pulled it away, but more fur came with it. My actions turned frantic, as I dug more and more of my fur out from under the collar. All of it fell away, a band of bare, pink skin was underneath. The sink was now full of my fluffy undercoat, along with my coarse, outer guard hairs, the ones responsible for my coloring. I'm used to shedding my undercoat twice a year, seeing fluffs of it was no big deal. My guard hairs, though, seeing them made me want to cry. They only fell out with rare forms of cancer, or other, equally unhealthy events, like radiation poisoning. The ship would never allow particle or energy radiation to board. This was something else entirely, I peered at the skin closely and saw that it was completely smooth. The collar had to be responsible.
I lifted it up higher on my neck, putting my dense fur back under it. The sensation of so much metal against my skin had felt strange. Now, though, the pink ring was hella obvious. If I left it there, I'd probably have a second bare patch in another week, I whimpered.
I slid the collar back down, onto the bald patch. At least it felt looser there, without the bulk of my fur under it. I needed to know how it was making my fur fall out. A few twitches of my mind, and my wetware searched the local datanet for electronic means of depilatory. Results streamed in, instantly.
Nothing had a field effect. All involved direct contact with the follicle. In the case of high frequency electricity, or microwave ablation, the process involved targeting individual follicles. The same was involved with laser treatment. The collar was accomplishing something new. Whoever designed it had deep pockets, it was cutting edge technology.
I rotated it, to look at the graphical display. Hexadecimal data streamed across it, cycling faster when I moved, slower when I held still. The keys on the pad next to it weren't labeled. I pushed one- (discontinuity)
"Who's... ow!" I rolled around on the floor, holding my head in my forepaws. I tried to understand what happened. Thank Dog we built ships with padded floors, for our claws to get a good grip in. My ears were ringing, but my neck didn't hurt, so I wasn't sure it was the collar. I checked my HUD, brought up my vitals. Heart rate drastically changed eighteen minutes prior, and I had been motionless since. I was out for eighteen minutes! Dog. Ok, this thing has to come off. This is crazy!
I got up on wobbly legs, and made my way back to the galley. I weighed the idea of telling Ash and Casey about my experience, or just pretending it didn't happen. I liked the latter.
Casey was staring out the window at stars passing by. Ash held a cup of something that smelled wonderful. My stomach woke up, I hadn't eaten anything in over a week. It growled, my mouth watered.
"I've decided on something," I announced, Ash turned to look at me. "I was thinking I want to wipe the last week from my memory." I left no time for refusal, "look, I know it's possible, I don't give a shit about side effects. Something like Scopolamine, but deeper, retroactive." I had all the data displayed in my HUD, several drugs could work.
Casey and Ash exchanged a cryptic glance, both their ears were pointing elsewhere. Ash mumbled, "You want to wake up, with no memory of how you gained a collar and that parasite? You would flip out all over again, except it would be worse."
"Oh," I bit my bottom lip. I hadn't thought about that.
"You need those experiences," Casey picked up on the thread, "or the guys picking you up will know for sure that you aren't the guy they just bought. I hate to say it, but you need to stay fucked up in the head right now, Keman. I want you to jump, when I say 'boo.' I want you whimpering, and I want you reeking of fear. You think you could do all that, if you didn't remember the last week?" Ash nodded in agreement.
It made sense, sadly. I hadn't thought about that, either. "Well, afterwards? Please? You wouldn't believe what it was like, I don't think I can ever mount someone again, without thinking of that place, what it did to me."
Ash straightened her ears, she eyed my sheath, "I'm sorry, but you won't be mounting anyone until you deal with that, first."
"Oh," my ears wilted again, "yeah." I started having second thoughts on this mission, I realized I wanted out, I wanted to go back to the way things were. I felt weak, vulnerable, and afraid in a way that was new. Afraid of my future. Ash took my paw in her hands, and placed the cup into it, curling my fingers around it. I lapped at it for a minute, relishing the taste of real beef broth. I stared out the window with Casey, licking my lips.
"How long?"
Casey eyed me, calculating. "Two days, get some rest."