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Counter Earth Chronicles

Chapter 99: Somewhere Else Entirely (The Outpost Of The Forgotten Part One)

Day 322 (morning)

"Are we there yet?"

"No!" The brown bear grumbled at me.

"How long has it been?"

"About twenty minutes since you asked the last time. Pet our destination is still twelve miles to the north. Whining is not going to get us there any faster!"

"Sorry mistress. It is really unbearable out here. The cold, the amount of snow that fell from the storm...."

"Yes pet. I don't think it was three feet." My fierce ursine warrior said as we trudged through yet another snow drift.

"Well considering these drifts we have been plodding through are almost up to my chest. I would say closer to four feet."

"OOF!!!" My she beast said as another tree branch dumped its contents onto our heads.

"It doesn't help that we aren't dressed for the weather either...." I said laughing.

"What is so funny?!" She asked me.

"You look like a polar bear!!!"

"And you look like a snow man!" She said returning the laugh. "The white stuff tends to coat everything pet." My she beast said checking her halo map.

As she was checking- I was also checking our surroundings. We were marching northward very slowly mound by mound, drift by drift threw this snowy landscape of white death.

"How much longer?"

"Eleven and a half miles." She said as we resumed our trek to reach whatever those structures were on her map before I succumbed to the elements.

"UGH!!!" I said shivering.

"It will help if you think of something positive pet."

"Like what?"

"Reaching our destination, satiating our hunger and thirst, relaxing by a warm fire and sleeping on something soft and cuddly."

"You are right. Despite the desperate situation we are in right now. We are together."

"That is the spirit Alex."

"And you have forgotten about the rigors of your job."

"Life or death situations can do that to a person."

"Damn, another drift?! What is the total now ten?" I huffed.

"Alex you were counting?" My lady bear said as I continued to shiver.

"I am starting to get sick of snow drifts."

"Here to me." Lady Ursa said pulling me to her.

She then hoisted me up and sat me down on her shoulders.

"Better?"

"Some what, turn right. I think if we head to where the brush is the densest; where there are more trees we can avoid some of the snow drifts- well as many as possible."

"Good idea pet."

"This place must be something to see during the summer. I mean I wonder how many rivers we have crossed that have been frozen over? I wonder how many things we have stepped over that have been buried under the snow fall? By the way does this area even experience summer?!"

"I don't think so pet."

"You know it is a good thing Corbin isn't here."

"I don't know about that Alex." My mistress said exhaling.

"How so?"

"If he was, he would have turned all this into some big expedition- Corbin's Adventure. He would have use his flying squirrel attack on the aliens and then leapt tree to tree showing us where to walk in the forest." My bear knight said laughing.

"Now he is safe and sound studying archeological sites while we are trudging through the wilderness toward some unknown structure we saw on a map."

Our twelve mile hike did take almost all day. Several times my bear knight had to warm my freezing hands to keep frostbite from setting in. She also had to stop and warm me as well.

All the while she kept me talking about anything and everything to make sure I wasn't succumbing to the cold. No subject was off topic. In a weird way it was our first opportunity to really spend extended time together.

"So why do you think the aliens are studying beastials pet?"

"That is hard to say mistress. When I questioned them, they were mum about it, other than saying they had the right to do so. Maybe the High Evolutionary's grand experiment caught their attention. Maybe they are just fascinated with beastials. I know I am."

"Let's not go through there." Lady Ursa said coming to a abrupt stop.

The snow drifts ahead of us didn't look smooth and silky. In contrast they looked jagged, rocky and ragged.

"Mistress, this was an avalanche." I said studying the scene.

"We better go around it- carefully. I noticed that you didn't talk about what else you saw on the spacecraft pet." My she beast said as we headed east making our detour.

"I saw some things I can not un-remember mistress."

"Please pet, what did you see?"

"I saw the alien creatures performing examinations and tests on their victims. In one lab I saw several beings playing with an ibex's eyes as if they were some type of dice in a board game."

"That is disturbing."

"In another lab I saw two more massaging a clydesdale's brain." I said as my fierce ursine warrior entered another snow drift.

"That doesn't sound so bad Alex."

"It was after it had been removed from her scull mistress."

"How many captives would you say there were?"

"Quite a lot. Where I was housed, I saw quite a lot being caged- adults, adolescents and cubs."

"I hope at some point they are returned to the empire." Lady Ursa said disturbed.

"Not all mistress. You and the knight core can cross off Triceraton from your list. He is with them. I was told the alien creatures plan to study him indefinitely. When I last saw him, he was bawling like a baby claiming the greys had turned him inside out to look at his organs."

"Did they do any of that to me Alex?"

"If they did, it was before they brought me to see you."

It was at that point my she beast stopped asking me for more details about her abduction as we continued northward.

Morning turned into afternoon and then afternoon to evening and the snow drifts changed from four feet to five. But so did our conversation.

"So it was after that first mission that Lady Vermin and I became friends. Really good friends. Alex? Alex? Stay with me."

"Sorry mistress. I am just so cold." I said as I continued to shiver.

"We are close now pet within a mile. Alex?"

"I am listening." I said as I continued to shiver.

"Ok pet stay with me."

"I am trying. Can I ask you something?"

"Anything pet. Just do not fall asleep."

"Tell me about your first time."

"My first time?"

"The first time you were intimate with another."

"Um, ah that will have to wait for another time. We are here. OH MY." I heard my warrior bear say as she laid eyes on the structure. "We have overestimated its size- greatly."

The squares we had seen on her halo map were two identical four storey buildings both grey with a long track of windows on each floor making both look quite distinctive. There was also a glass hallway connecting both buildings easily visible from the outside.

"That's niceeee." I mumbled as the last of my resolve faded as I succumbed to the cold.

The next thing I remember was being on a soft flat bed my fierce ursine warrior was on top of me. It felt so warm, so safe and so comfortable.

(But how? We were trudging through a frozen wasteland and I was freezing to death. Did we die?)

There was something more- my bear knight didn't quite feel just right. I mean her strength, her bulk and muscle were there but her warm soft fur wasn't. Where were her paws, that nubby tail of hers or that muzzle that I loved to nuzzle. They were missing too. In its place were hands, feet, a nose and tail-less butt and skin. Human skin.

(What the hell?)

"You are cute." A dark skinned female said to me. "I also like the freckles."

I looked up at the human female who was lying on me, keeping me warm and trying to raise my body temperature. I assumed that it had dropped when I succumbed to the cold.

"Mistress?!" I said studying the female.

She stood six feet tall, with a bulky physique, strong, fierce and powerful looking. Her skin was the same color of Lady Ursa's fur. In fact she was the spitting image of my she beast- but in human form!

"Oh no the greys came back and turned you into a human!" I shrieked.

"Well no." She started to say.

"Damn them! How dare they!" I said spouting.

"Actually..." The dark skinned woman said moving off of me.

"I thought they wouldn't be back for several years!"

"I am not who you think I am." She said deftly placing a finger over my lips.

(Well that seemed familiar.)

"Then who are you and where is my mistress?"

"I am Bertha- freckles." She said crossing her arms studying me. "You and the bear were found at the entrance this evening."

"The entrance of what?" I asked.

"The Maximum." She said looking down at me.

"What is the Maximum?" I asked.

"It is a outpost where the worst of the worst of the empire are sent to be forgotten."

"You mean as in maximum security prison?!"

"In a manner of speaking. Now tell me what are you doing here? How did you two find this place?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try."

"My companion and I were camping in the Dark Forest near World One. One evening we saw some strange lights hovering over a nearby lake. I stupidly signaled them. The lights turned out to be a spacecraft of some sort. We were taken aboard and examined by its occupants for a long period of time before being released." I said.

Bertha took a seat at the opposite side of the room as she continued to follow my story.

"The thing was when they released us, we weren't returned to the Dark Forest, they dropped us off here on the western continent.... and you don't believe me."

"That is a fantastical story freckles, but not outside the universe of possibility. I have heard rumors that grey aliens have been observing the High Evolutionary's grand experiment for sometime. I even heard that the Beastial's master is aware of what is happening and is just turning a blind eye to it."

(Really?)

"So you and the she bear wandered around looking for shelter until you found this place. Boy, are you a long, long way from the home!" She cackled.

"Bertha, you know you bear a striking resemblance to my mistress. It is like you are a human version of her. You two even sound the same."

"Your mistress is an original beastial right?"

"Yes." I said nodding.

"That is because I am the template she was designed from."

"Template?"

"When the High Evolutionary decided to create his first class citizens some thirty years ago, He designed them to be a combination of human beings and animals. As such he decided to use some of the populace- his new subjects for the human part and the indigenous fauna for the animal part to create his new race of animal beings. I was selected. As were several others here."

"So some of the master's first beastials designs were based off of humans?!"

"Exactly. That is why your mistress and I look some what alike."

"Where is my bear?"

"She is talking to the warden. They have been meeting for the last several hours." She said raising an eyebrow. "He left you with me to receive 'treatment.'

"Some treatment." I said looking around.

I was placed on a lower bunk in a 15' x15' prison cell. Unlike the holding center in castle Wundagore this was a bit of an upgrade. It looked like a micro apartment. Two bunkbeds. A carpeted floor, bookcase with several pads, a desk and chair and a shower, sink and bathroom toward the rear. In the front was a glass wall which was the entrance and exit.

(Wow, this was Bertha's prison cell.)

"This is where you live?"

"Yes."

"What was your crime if I may ask?"

Before Bertha could respond the glass wall came down and in walked my brown bear followed by a humanoid who was about a foot a taller than my mistress. He was wearing a dark black body suit with yellow shoulder pads, black boots. He had blond hair, mustache and trimmed beard. The most prominent detail of his physique was the intense red eyes. He could have been a relative of the High Evolutionary or maybe a member of his same race?

"Ah it appears that you have recovered." The man said entering Bertha's cell. "You were in bad shape when you arrived."

"Alex are you alright?" My she beast asked.

"A little weak and tired. But I will be fine." I replied.

"Good job Bertha." The man said to the dark skinned human doppelgänger of my she beast. "Your actions are most appreciated."

"Thank you warden." Bertha responded humbly.

"Now if you are up to it little human, come with me- we have much to discuss."

Lady Ursa and I followed the man out of Bertha's cell. When I did, I got to see where we were at- it was a wing of this facility two levels in total each containing twenty four cell like living units forty eight in total. As we left the wing I glanced at the occupants of the other cells. I saw beastials of all shapes and sizes including a female manticore and female griffon both were housed in separate cells filled with nothing but mirrors.

(Damn, Is that Nikki Waters and Kathryn Hurt! So this is where they wound up! Served them right!)

"Alex, this is Warden Fields." Lady Ursa said.

"What is this place?"

"This is The Maximum- a isolated outpost where the worst of the worst are housed and forgotten." He said to me. "You and Lady Ursa appeared on my doorstep this evening, you were in bad shape Mr. Winter. Since we are lacking adequate staffing at the moment, I left you with Bertha for the time being." The man said as we entered the glass hallway and made our way over to the other building.

"Alex is quite resilient." My fierce ursine warrior chimed in.

"Apparently he is. This way. I will show you around your new home. Make yourselves comfortable as you will be staying with us for some time to come." He said as we entered a stairwell and climbed to the third floor.

(The warden's words would ring very true.)

"Why is that sir?"

"This facility was designed as a dumping ground to house those the empire wanted to dispose of. As such it was placed in one of the remotest regions of the planet." The man said stopping to let us look out a window. "Lovely isn't it? But don't let it fool you. The weather is quite deadly most of the year as you may have noticed."

"Sir, I noticed that there doesn't seem to be any support staff." Lady Ursa said as we followed him around the third floor.

"I won't lie to you madam knight we do have a staffing problem." Mr. Fields said. "We are cut off from the empire for the most part and the isolation is rough on any individual. The design of the outpost isn't particularly helpful either. It may look big on the exterior, but it the interior is rather small. It is comprised of two four storey buildings the administration and the prison buildings, both connected by a glass hallway on the first floor and a hallway in the basement."

"Where are we now?" I asked.

"You are on the third floor of the administration building- this is the library." He said opening the door to a 20' by 20' room with shelves and shelves of pads and a few tables. "You will find articles of events and happenings through out the empire here. However, the articles are only updated four times a year."

"I see." I said.

"So Mr. Fields how does this place get by without any support staff?" My fierce ursine warrior asked as we walked around the library.

"I rely on the prisoners. Bertha for instance despite being left of center she is a adequate healer. This way." The warden said as we left the room and proceeded down the hallway.

"If this is a maximum security prison where the baddest of the bad are placed how did you know she wouldn't harm me?" I asked as the man escorted us to another room in this remote place of the forgotten.

"If she had killed you Mr. Winter the length of her sentence and her punishment would have been quite severe. This is the communications room."

Lady Ursa opened the door to a single monitor and a desk and a table.

"This is supposed to be a long range communications device but, it has problematic since its installation." The warden admitted reluctantly.

"So how do you communicate with the empire?" I asked.

"We don't"

"So how do you receive supplies? Shipments? Food?" Lady Ursa asked.

"At four prearranged times of year." The warden said. "Originally we received shipments but that was stopped in favor of the jump room."

"Jump room?" My she beast asked.

"Yes that is in the basement. I will show you that a little later." He said as we followed him down to the second floor. "This floor here is the administrative offices. This is where I work."

After opening up a few doorways and allowing us to peer in, we were taken to the first floor to look around.

"This is the infirmary." Warden Fields said.

"Not much to look at." I said peering into a very sterile looking 10' x 10' room with a table, counter and a window looking out into the cold desolate landscape. "So what is Bertha in for?"

"She is a washed up wrestler pet- known as the Strangler." My bear knight said responding. Apparently she knew about her.

"She is the least dangerous of all that are in here." The warden added.

"Why is she in here?"

"She killed an opponent during a match some years ago." The man said as his face turned quite emotionless.

"Well I am sure it was an accident and unintentional..." I concluded as we left the so called infirmary.

"And several spectators watching the match."

(WOW.)

I looked at my bear knight and then back at the warden.

"The empire didn't think it was an accident. So she was judged and punished and was fated to receive the living death. But the master spared her from that since he had used her as a template for his new class of citizens. Now over here is the kitchen." He said taking us to into a single room with just a few tables and counter.

"So small." Lady Ursa commented.

"The meals are prepared here and then brought to the prisoners in their cells."

"Who do we have here?" Came a voice behind the counter.

My mistress and I stared at the spotted canid looking beastial looking back at us.

"Spirited this is Lady Ursa and Alex they will be staying with us for a while." The warden announced.

"Visitors! By they way it is Spirit for short."

"Um yeah visitors." I said to the beastial chef.

"Spirit prepares the meals for the facility. He is also a model prisoner- most of the time." The warden said as we left the room and headed downstairs into the basement of the administrative building.

The basement was quite small compared to the other floors. The floor was marble and it didn't have quite as many rooms.

"This room over here is known as the jump room." The warden said opening another door to what looked like a closet and an elevated octagonal stage. "The empire now uses experimental technology to jump supplies from one location to another. This is how the facility keeps operational."

"Impressive." My she beast said examining the platform.

"Some type of teleportation technology."

(Like what brought me to Counter Earth)

"Yes it is fairly new slightly unstable too. We can only receive items, not send them."

"Mr. Fields the electronics that you have shown us seem quite fragile who maintains them?" My she beast asked.

"You mean as in engineer? We don't have one. Well, in a official capacity. Boris tinkers with the electronics to try to keep them working."

"Another prisoner?" Lady Ursa asked raising an eyebrow as we left the jump room.

"Yes madam knight. He is another of the 'tamer' prisoners who I have tasked with that responsibility. He knows our survival depends on the jump room working." The warden said closing the door.

"What else is in the basement here?" I asked.

"Storage and laundry. That concludes our tour of the administration building. Now let me show you the prison building."

So warden Fields escorted us down the hallway to the prison building, up a stair well and to the fourth floor. The entire floor consisted of one room, which provided a great view of the surrounding wilderness.

"What is on this floor?" My bear knight asked.

"The Art Gallery." The man responded.

"The Art Gallery?" I observed. "In a prison?"

"Yes because very special prisoners are stored here." Mr. Field said letting us in the large room.

In the room were numerous human statues in various positions and poses. I counted about twenty five in all. They were placed equal distant from each other.

"Is this?"

"Yes Mr. Winter. The prisoners you see here and on the floor below have been sentenced to the living death; they are in suspended animation- at a point between life and death- awake and aware of what is happening around them but not able to actually 'live' if you will.

(OH MY.)

"That machine in the corner over there places the condemned into this state."

"How long are they stuck like that?"

"For all of eternity or until the master deems that their time has been served."

I kept staring. This was the first time I had seen the living death up close save for the hub special Final Judgement where I saw what happened to Mike Anger.

(Wait!)

I started combing through the prisoners in the room. In the far corner I found him.

(So this is what happened to the rebel sympathizer who framed Lea).

"Mr. Fields, how many prisoners are housed in this facility?" My bear knight asked.

"Sixty, but we can accommodate up to seventy two prisoners. Those in the main wing and those housed here. Yes it is quite a small number, fortunately there aren't many the master has deemed the worst of the worst."

"I was wondering about that- because most of the sentences are imprisonment, experimentation, de-evolution and the living death." I added.

"The vast majority of those that are sentenced to imprisonment are housed in the dungeons of the castles, those that are sentenced to the living death are brought here and a small number who are to be forgotten are also brought here."

"How many outposts like this are there?" I asked as we left the floor.

"Just this one which is all that is needed because crime in the empire is low and the punishment for crimes in the empire is quite severe."

"Have there been any escapes?" My brown bear asked.

"From time to time but none have ever made their way back to the empire. Remember this is a remote outpost where prisoners are sent to oblivion. It is purposely placed in a forgotten wasteland for that reason. If there are any escapees- there is nothing for them to escape to, no where to go."

"So anyone escaping would find themselves in the snowy white death outside." My she beast said as we continued to follow the warden.

"Precisely."

Well that concludes the tour."

"So exactly where will we be staying?" I asked the warden.

"In the prison wing. We have some empty cells there. You two can bunk in one of them. You have the entire run of the outpost. If you need anything come find me, or see Boris, Bertha or Spirit."

The warden showed us to our cell which was a bit barren, but my mistress and I would have plenty of time to turn it into something comfortable and accommodating.

"Wow, some vacation huh mistress?" I said joining her on the top bunk. "How long do you think we will be here?"

My warrior bear was silent as I snuggled her.

"I mean how are we going to get back to the empire from this desolate wasteland?"

Lady Ursa remained silent as if she was in deep thought.

"Mistress?"

"What is it Alex?"

"You seem to be miles away."

"I think we are going to be here for a long, long time; there is no escape from here for anyone."

"Well it could be worse we could be dying outside." I said as the wind whipped up outside like another snow storm was approaching.

My she beast pulled me to her as she kissed me on the cheek.

"I have been thinking. Something doesn't add up here pet." She whispered to me.

"What do you mean?"

"I understand the purpose of a facility like this. I was aware that the bad beastials and humans were being discarded in places like this once they left the dungeons of the master's castles. But why is it cut off from the empire?"

"Remember the warden said that this is the end of the world for the prisoners housed here." I countered.

"Yes pet and my communicator doesn't work so far away from the empire which is probably the same for this facility but you would think that there would have been some sort of work around for that."

"When you put it like that it does seem strange."

"Another thing that seems strange is that the warden is the only member on staff. There aren't any supporting staff, guards, healers, engineers, maintenance, shipping, receiving, cafeteria given the size of this facility. The warden had to use some of the prisoners to keep this place running. Quite odd pet."

"Well perhaps things will look different after a full night's sleep mistress." I said as I relaxed as she pulled me close resting her chin on my head. I rested my butt in her crotch and my back against her chest and drifted off to howling wind outside.

Day 323

"Well don't you two make a cute couple!" I heard a canid voice say. "Morning visitors. It is time for breakfast."

"Uh what is breakfast?"

"Mixed granola, rice and kale." The spotted dog beastial said.

"That is breakfast?"

"Yes and for lunch I decided to kick it up a notch." He said as Lady Ursa took our portions.

"How is that?"

"It is going to be kale, rice and granola!" The crazy beastial said moving on to the next cell.

"How are you feeling mistress?"

"Ok for now, but at some point I am going to need my 'Essence of Winter' otherwise..."

"Actually no, you just need my DNA to alleviate your symptoms. It could be as intimate like before or as simple as a me holding your paw."

"How did you learn that?"

"It was the greys."

"Really pet, I prefer the prior but given our new accommodations and lack of privacy I think holding your hand will have to suffice."

"So what is on the schedule for today?" I asked my mistress.

"I would like to explore the REST of the facility."

"Didn't we do that yesterday evening during the warden's tour?"

"Yes, pet but the parts he didn't show us."

"Ok."

Since we were permanent guests of the facility with nothing but time on our hands we decided to explore the Maximum all of it- starting in the prison building at the ground floor. Beneath the prison wing and living art gallery in the basement we found what looked to be some type of gym/arena with mats and a ring which we assumed was for exercising and sparing.

Above the basement on the first and second floor were the prison wings where the prisoners were housed. Above that on the third and fourth floor was the art gallery- the storage floors for those who had received the living death.

From there we went over to the other building starting at the basement. we revisited the jump room. Above that on the first floor was the cafeteria and infirmary. On the second floor was the staff offices. Then on the third floor was the library and communications. Then above that the living quarters for the facility staff if there were any.

"The fourth floor is probably the nicest of the entire outpost." I said noticing the carpeting, nice art work and pleasant color scheme as we walked down the hallway.

We found what must have been the warden's living quarters. It had to be, because it was the nicest room on the floor.

Since we hadn't seen him all morning, we decided to pay him a visit.

"Warden are you there?" Lady Ursa said knocking on the door.

When we received no response, I was prepared to leave, perhaps he was in the prison wing. My she beast had other ideas. She pressed a button next to the door opening it.

Before I could say anything, she walked right through.

It was even nicer on the inside.

"I wondered why we weren't given rooms up here?" I said as my bear knight went room to room checking out the nice apartment. "It is not like they didn't have the space."

"The kitchen, living, family rooms are small but cozy." My she beast said observing.

"Yeah it even has a nice view outside and enough closet space." I said as I opened one of the closets off of the kitchen.

**PLOP**

"Uh mistress..."

"Yes pet?"

"I think I know why we haven't seen the warden today."

Lady Ursa came back into the hallway to see what I was looking at.

The closets in the apartment were indeed quite large. Large enough to store bodies in because the one I just happened to open produced the body of the outpost's leader in it. It appeared that he had been deceased for quite some time.

To Be Continued....