Kaleidoscope X

Interest of Time

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The Starbreeze

Prototype Science Cruiser

Orbiting Trans-Planet Darius Prime (Darius-3)

13:11, 36/2/1

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"Sit!" Elliot shoved Artemis into a seat on the Bridge and pinned his shoulder back for an inspection. "Thank the gods it was just the seam of your new socket. If you'd ruptured your new lung you'd be in trouble without a replacement on board."

"I need to see my brother, Doc!"

"No, you need me to suture this shoulder. Sit still and we'll be done sooner." Ellie felt the resistance subside and quietly got to work with a bottle of antiseptic solution. "...Your brother is fine as far as I can tell. We'll take a closer look in a minute, fingers crossed. Okay?"

"Yeah." Vixellyn moved closer now that the two had calmed and Artemis took her paw with a tense grip. "What the hell happened? God's will aside, mountains don't normally come flying from the sky."

"That wasn't a mountain. Here, look:" Paprika tossed up a hologram on the main emitter representing the planet's orbit around its star Darius. "The Gaians must have taken off after finding this out themselves. The whole orbit is loaded with asteroids. It makes very little sense, unless maybe the impacts break off more chunks to leave in this planet's wake. I'd imagine the speed and orbit would suffer quite rapidly though."

"No, the orbit is sharpening already." Glacier swiped her thumbs over the top of her Slate, apparently being able to read some form of Braille via the unlit screen area. "The collisons we escaped look like they stole... about a tenth of the velocity of Darius Prime. Wow."

"Impressive. I'd love to see what you could do with a set of working eyes." Rika bonked herself on the head and rolled her eyes, catching her poor phrasing only after the fact. "Sorry. I would have taken a bit to do the math on that though. That seems impossible, by the way; No planet could keep such a large orbital radius if it suffered these impacts regularly."

"I think this might be one of the first, actually. The laser chromatography report is stating the asteroids indeed are made of the same material as the planet..." The wolfess groaned as she felt around for a seat, bumping into control consoles instead. "The, uh... The trajectories don't follow the planet's orbit, though. The asteroids that impacted were recorded as moving twice as fast as Darius Prime, but directly toward it."

"How... did I not notice that?" Rika guided Glacier to a chair and sat beside her. "The asteroids are moving fast enough they should have deviated from the planet's orbit, which means... Yeah, the pieces are probably pretty new. They must have come from a larger impact, or maybe an explosion."

Arty hissed beneath his breath as Ellie worked a needle and thread under his skin. "So what? The Gaians blew up a moon and hurled it at us?"

"No, this is far too much debris for a moon." Rika furled her brow at the hologram. "In fact... the total mass is almost the same as the planet..."

"Indeed." Prisma reconfigured the asteroids in the hologram as she entered the Bridge. "Sparks has 'adjusted her eyes' so to say. She's mentioned that the asteroids do not have an aura like the planet" She finished building her massively complex puzzle, a perfectly matching planet hovering beside Darius Prime. "I believe these are both the same satellite, one intact and one destroyed."

"Damn... So the planet came from another universe, but blew up ours coming here?" Arty winced as Elliot finished his patch job and began cleaning up. "I'm not sure that's boding well for us. I'd rather not watch more populated planets explode like that, you know."

"Arty..." Adrian entered the room, giving his stepson a kiss on the forehead at first sight. "I couldn't help overhearing this mess. Mind if I add a little wisdom?"

"Go right ahead."

"Well the way I see it, we already had probes here from almost a year ago and they mentioned an asteroid belt. I checked the survey reports myself before we came out here." Dee found a window and peered outside, the huge remnants of one planet coasting beside the Starbreeze. "I think the version we set our paws down upon was the alien version of Darius. It was pulled here and just happened to have the same orbit. It was only a matter of time until there was a collision large enough to pierce the atmosphere."

"Which means the Gaians had nothing to do with this. Hm." Arty stood once Elliot was finished and immediately headed for the hallway. "Let's regroup. We can figure out what to do about tracking the Gaians after we've patched ourselves up."

"No objections here. You need a checkup scan and maybe you can talk some sense into your brother while we're at it." Elliot grabbed his medical kit and followed Arty's brisk pace. "You know he still refuses to let me scan him? I get trying to act tough, but have you seen him? Something about Vydr doesn't feel right."

"He's not as bad off as you're probably thinking. Void just... wants to find himself, I think." Arty leapt over the first zero-G elevator shaft and offered a paw to help Vix land on the other side with him. "You think he's worse though? Physically, I mean?"

"Have you seen him hunched over? Notice he winces when he yawns? Ellie hopped the gap and effortlessly continued walking, years of experience with the ship coming to fruition. "I think I've seen him wheezing, too. It makes me think he's popped a rib or torn his sternum."

"Shit... Really?" Arty paused to shoo away the related imagery, then leapt across the rearward elevator shaft into Vix's arms this time. "I'll see what I can do about that. I can't have my little brother hurting after he saved pretty much everyone."

"He grabbed me first..." Vixellyn dipped her head into Arty's shoulder as they walked to the Medical Bay door. "He knew it could end badly like before, but he blinked me away anyway. I need to thank him properly."

"Then get him under that scanner when he wakes. I'm sure he'd love to get better." Elliot tapped the controls and slid open the door, immediately groaning at the sight of Iolvin waving his detached cock around in the air. "Alright, idiot. As funny as you think that is, I'd prefer to keep this place sterile. Do I have to make you sterile to facilitate that? Hm?"

"What? Oh." Yoyo slapped his artificial cock across a nearby table and laid back in his commandeered bed. "Sorry, doc. It broke off in the rough flying and I figured you might have the tools to fix it. That's my only dick I've got on me."

"Yes, and he won't stop groaning about it." Zoë sat beside her husband and moved his paw away from the crotch of her pants. "Maybe we should make him wait. He might get better at treating a lady to a proper time..."

"You know I love going down on you, kiddo. I'm not as good as Adri, but still..."

Elliot held up a paw for silence and then shook his head. "I'll take a look, but that might have to wait for Liv to fix it. Now could you please clear the way? I've got to give your son a few scans."

"Do what you need to do, doc. My boys come first." Yoyo stood from his bed and guided his son to take his place. "I'll give you and your girl some privacy. Check on your brother for me, will ya'?"

"How could I not? Just take a load off, dad. We'll be fine." Arty slid back into the bed so the overhead scanner was in line, then gave a nod to his father. "Let's get this over with. Do I need one of those contrast things this time?"

"Nope. This is just a quick one." Elliot brought up a set of hologram controls and triggered the scanner. "Let's see what we have here... Okay, your new lung is still sealed. That's good. You didn't rip any muscles or tendons... Hormones are a bit out of whack, but that's a bit expected... Aside from the tug on that arm mount, you're looking good."

Vix perked up at the clean bill of health. "So he'll be fine?"

"Don't let him overdo things with that fork lift of an arm until the base heals and he'll be dandy. You on the other paw..." Ellie tapped his temple a few times and pulled up the fox's chart. "I noticed something peculiar in your blood test. Would you mind letting me check some things in more detail on the scanner?"

Arty slipped off the bed and offered to help Vix step onto it. "It's not anything bad, is it?"

"I wouldn't assume anything life endangering. She just has an imbalance--" Elliot caught himself before he went too far, adjusting to a taller, more professional stance. "Actually, maybe you should give us some space. This might go into personal territory."

"Oh, girl stuff? Yeah, I'll give you a minute then." Artemis curiously snatched his father's prosthetic cock and chuckled as he headed for Ellie's office. "I'll see if I can't get my old man's junk to stop acting like junk. Just let me know when you're done so we can bug my brother."

"Thanks, Arty." Elliot let the panthott slip out of the room before setting the scanner to a specific mode. "This'll only take a moment to confirm. One second, hon."

"What do you think's wrong? Don't..." Vix cringed, but tried her best not to interfere with the scanner. "You don't think it's some kind of... sexual disease, do you?"

"Not unless I had reason to do so. You don't sleep around, do you? Not at your age, certainly." Elliot adjusted the focus of his hologram and stared for a bit, then stomped over to Vix and slid a paw beneath her shirt for a confirmation on her stomach. "Wait, did you? What happened to you?" Why do you have scars here?"

"I was... too high to remember clearly. They gave me something powerful that day." Vixellyn averted her eyes to the far wall but her paws roamed to her scars beneath her soft tummy fur. "I do remember them heating up some kind of metal thing, like a poker. It hurt like hell for weeks after, too."

"Dear gods..." Ellie pulled his holograms over and showed a jumbled mess of scar tissue. He then flipped through his archives and extracted a digitized image from an old medical text. "This is what a vagina and uterus are supposed to look like, but yours is... scrambled, to put it lightly. Whomever did this to you, they were demons."

"They rescued me from a crash. I couldn't exactly complain." Her brow furling at the memories, Vix groaned and pushed the doctor away. "They must have had a good reason for it. I never had problems when they made me have sex with them, or the people after that."

"They... intentionally destroyed your reproductive system...?" Elliot took another look at her bloodwork and flushed the news of rape from his mind. "Right. That explains the tracking chip at least. Well... I see lower levels of some key hormones, so I'll prescribe some pills to help that. I'd also appreciate if you let me take a closer look later, because the damage might not be as severe as it looks in the general scanner."

"Y-Yeah..." Vix hopped off the bed, her paw still rubbing her scar. "Doc, I wanted to... I'd, uh, like to have a family one day... maybe with Art..."

"I'm on your side there, hon. Sadly though... things aren't looking good in that department. I'm so very sorry, dear." Elliot knocked on his office door, then paused in opening it after a muffled go-ahead bled through. "Vixellyn, you and Arty should have a talk about this. Being unable to have kids can be a deal breaker for some people, and he deserves to know--in your own time, though."

"I'll... tell him soon, I swear. I just want to know more first." Vix stood by the door for a moment, then slumped her head into Ellie's shoulder. "Thanks, doc."

"Try not to stress out over it too much. We'll look over your options later." Elliot rubbed Vix's head, then propped her up to enter the office in his stead. "Your boyfriend's in heat, so you know. Maybe focus on that so you can both relax a bit. You're not equipped to solve that problem, but I'm sure Arty would love the assistance all the same. My office is all yours for a few hours if you need it."

"He's in heat...? Ah, th-thank you." Vix opened the door and slipped inside, her eyes darting all over the place instead of to the obvious lure of her boyfriend wielding a fake cock. "Hey, Art. We're, uh, done with things."

"Oh? That was fast." Arty placed the dong on Elliot's large desk and leaned back in the doctor's chair with a playful clasp of his fingers. "Nothing too serious, then?"

"Nothing I didn't already know. It'll be fine." Finally regaining the willpower to face her boyfriend, Vixellyn slipped onto the side of the desk and picked up the cock for inspection. "How exactly is this broken? And... it's been cleaned, right?"

"Yeah, it's clean. And it looks like the same as my arm--the seal broke. It runs on blood pressure the same as the real deal though, so that means it had to go or dad would need a few pints." Arty rocked in the leather chair and made a bulge in his pants quite well known. "You content with holding a fake one of those? We could head back to our suite and get your paws on the real deal..."

"I knew looking at this would send your mind to the gutter." Vix smirked as she crossed her legs and rested a hindpaw over his throbbing bulge. "You can't strain your arm though. Maybe we should try something new? Maybe let me take the lead?"

"That... could be fun, yeah. You like being in charge, or just on top?"

"I don't know. I never got the chance to try, but... I'm really wanting to give it a shot now." Vix hopped off the desk and pointed to the cleared surface with her new toy. "Think you could get up there--without the pants? I've got something I want to try."

"Here? Uh... Sure, yeah." Arty shoved down his pants and briefs, kicked them to the wall, and sat on the edge of the desk. "If you want to sit when going down on me, I'm not gonna fight it. That's probably just plain better for your back."

"Oh, I'm not going down on you." Vix kicked the chair to the side, unzipped the fly of her jeans, and poked the otter dildo through the hole. "I actually wanted to see how you liked this. That's not asking too much, is it?"

"N-No, I... Well, I've never..." Arty twitched as that false cock pressed beneath his balls and nudged his tiny pussy. "I've never used that part of me, but... I trust you, if you want to give it a shot."

"Never? But... it feels amazing if you do things right." Vix rubbed her leased manhood until it was properly lubricated, proving at least her love's heated sex was in the mood. "We can stop if you'd rather make it special. I don't mind riding one of these, real or otherwise."

"No, keep going. I kind of... want to try it..." Arty gripped his two cocks and groaned in frustration. "What about these, then? I'd hate to leave a glowing mess all over."

"Um... Ah... Oh, here." Vix nudged open the sole drawer of the desk and pulled two condoms out of a hidden stash. "Apparently Elliot thinks the same way. That or he's got a secret girlfriend."

"I'm not much to judge at the moment." Arty took a condom and ripped the foil, working to cover his smaller cock while Vix took care of the larger. "Your paw feels nice. Think you could--?"

"Of course. Just relax, I guess." Vix slowly shoved her hips forward, her phallus fighting to part Arty's tight cunt. She began stroking his cock and he loosened just enough to allow entrance, but not without a hiss and gasp. "Too much? Too fast?"

"N-No... It's just new." Arty gasped as his tail fell flush with Vix's own, a slight chirp escaping to his embarrassment. "M-Maybe a bit much..."

"You seem to like it though." Vixellyn pressed as far as she was willing for her first try as leader of this little dance. Once Artemis found his breath again she slowly rolled and ground her hips to the tune of pleasured hisses. "I don't even need to use my paw at all, do I?"

Arty grit his teeth and shook his head, silently clenching around the borrowed cock while his own two filled their condoms with hefty pulses of blue. "Oh God, Vix... I... I, uh..."

"Shush. Enjoy it, silly. I don't mind if you blow a bit early here and there." Vix gave each of those throbbing spires a few loving strokes anyway for good measure, giggling as she drew out the last dregs of her man's peak. "You came harder than I think I ever have. Feel better?"

"I-I could..." Arty tilted his hips to aid his failing words. "Um... Could we... uh, keep going?"

"You get it bad, huh? I don't think just one more go is going to solve your problem, Art. Maybe...?" Vix worked one of the condoms free of its depleted cock and fumbled with the base of her prosthetic one. "I think that might work... Trust me, Art?"

"Y-Yeah." Arty nodded through a layer of confusion until that condom snapped around the base of the cock currently embedded inside him. "Oh, um... Okay?"

"Bit of a long shot, but I hear this is what you need right now." Vix placed her new makeshift latex balls between her and the toy she shared, then slowly crushed that balloon so the contents rocketed through the cock and spilled deep inside her lover. "Is that good?"

Arty shut his eyes as a tingling in his core began tickling. Moments later his eyes rolled back in their sockets as the sensations converted to pure pleasure. "G-God...!"

"It's that good? Damn. Now I wish I could feel that myself." Vix cradled Arty and nuzzled into his neck as his heat quenched itself in hearty orgasm. "That's it. Ride it out, Art."

"V-Vix..." Arty thrashed a moment longer, then joined his love in caring cuddles. "That was... intense. How did you know what to--?"

"Elliot may have let it slip that you were in heat. It's just not in me to leave someone wanting like that, so..."

Arty craned upward and suckled into a soft kiss. "I don't deserve you."

"Well to be honest it wasn't really me that did the hard work there. Make sure to fix your dad's junk after this." Vix pulled the tool in question free of her lover and held a paw over his leaking snatch. "I guess we ended up making a mess too, huh? I'll handle the cleanup if you take care of the dong?"

"In a bit. I'm not sure I can stand after that. My legs are like putty and--"

A door leading to a back office area opened, Caitlyn's head poked out, and then she returned nonchalantly. "Whoops."

"Hey, don't just run off--" Vixellyn shook her head at the closing door and hopped over to prevent the automated lock from engaging around her extended paw. "How much did you see?"

"Uh... N-Not much..." The shy puff of pink retreated into what appeared to be a resting room for the attending physician, where her sister Leannan stretched nude across the lone bed. "C-Could--?"

"We didn't see anything if you didn't?"

"...Please?"

"Deal. Did you need through the office?" Vix offered a clear path to the outermost door. "I hope we didn't keep you two locked up in there too long."

"We'll, uh... We can wait. Thanks." Cait took a quick look at Arty as he hurriedly dressed, framing a clear view of his drooling cunt as he reached for his pants. "So he does have both sets..."

"Yeah... I'm not sure he likes that being known though, so please don't--"

"Doctor-patient confidentiality. My muzzle is sealed, Vix." Cait quirked an eyebrow as her nostrils twitched. "He's in heat? I didn't know that could, um... Maybe I could help? There's only so many ways to--"

"I think I solved that puzzle, actually. He's probably fine, b-but you can take a look if you want. Not like you haven't seen it all anyway." Vix peered back into the dimly lit back room and noticed Lea was contently asleep. "Or are you helping your sister with something, perhaps?"

"We... We're just c-close." Cait stepped out of the room and let the door shut securely. "This is our room. Since I'm studying druidic medicine it helps to be close to the Elliot's patients."

"Well that's a good cause, so you won't have me prying any further uninvited." Vix sighed and flicked her own ear in a tick. "Right. We need to check Art's brother, not screw around. Maybe you'd like to help?"

"I was sneaking out to do rounds anyway. Sure." Cait averted her eyes and afforded one last modicum of privacy to the couple. "I'll wait for you to, um... make yourselves presentable..."

"Thanks, Caity. Er... Sorry you had to see that in the first place." Vix reached for some tissues on the desk and patted the various fluids from her pants. "Arty, are you...?"

Artemis squirmed about his thighs but otherwise looked clean and proper. "I'm, uh, leaking some but... I think I've got it. Whole load of tissues down there."

"I'd say you were trying to pack your bulge but it's already a bit full in those pants." Vixellyn slid her arms below Arty's and pressed her lips to his. "Mn... At least you seem like you feel better. Want to check on your brother now and scurry back to clean up this mess?"

"I'd prefer to scurry back and make the mess worse. You didn't cum, and that's not my style."

"No. I never cared about that, only about helping you. Don't worry about me right now, silly."

"You might not care, but I do. My dad only taught me so much, but one of those things was to treat my mate better than myself." Arty broke for the door and opened it with his technomancy. "The other thing he taught me is family comes first. Let's get Vydr back on his paws."

"I hear that. Not sure I fully agree, but it works as-is for now." Vix yipped as she was tugged along playfully, reaching a paw out for the remaining pink fluffball. "Eep! Caity, come on! We don't know where Void's at!"

"O-Okay! Uh..." Cait couldn't actually grab that paw if she tried, the giggling couple bounding into the Medical Bay's central area aimlessly. She instead took a more deliberate pace straight for the correct room and opened the door for the others. "Void is in here. Are you trying to wake him back up? I'd actually warn against that."

"Well Elliot thinks he needs a full scan, so if we can do that without waking him I'd be fine with it." Arty swung his love into the room and shut the door. "Oh, Ria. Have you been here the whole time?"

Ilaria brushed her long ears back out of habit and perked up for the guests, worry wiping from the actress' face. "Oh, it's nothing. I just didn't want Vydr to get lonely."

"Well neither do I. Thanks, hon." Arty eased away his grip on Vix's paw and moved to his brother's free side. "He looks like he's in a little pain. How's he been? Oh, and where's Mime?"

"Mime got hungry a while ago and went to raid the meat locker. Better that than my Vydr." Ria leaned against her love's shoulder up until he started to wheeze. "This has been bothering me. He's not breathing right or something. You mentioned a scan?"

"Yeah. Void has been avoiding one trying to act tough, but Elliot thinks that might have backfired or something. It's a good starting point, and as his brother I'm making the call."

"We only have a small scanner here and I'm not that good at using them yet. They take a little more finesse." Cait placed a paw over Void's chest and it started to glow with magic. "I'm sure I can find something this way though. Just give me a minute to figure out what's normal and what isn't."

"Well I'll try the bioscanner while you try that. No training needed on my part." Arty found the scanner overhead, then in a hearty blue haze he gained control of the device. "You're not kidding. This is a lot more complex than it looks. Let's see... Hologram output, good... Ah, general scan mode. Let's see what we get."

A hologram popped up beneath the scanner, showing what appeared to be a part of the intestine. "It's working, but that's too low. You're near the spleen and need to, uh..." Caitlyn took her free paw and hovered it over the focus of the scanner, then moved that paw up to an odd section near Void's heart. "I'm sensing something is off right here. Can you aim that up here? It's a bit tricky because the scanning area is tight."

"Roger that. Aim?... Aim... Traversal? Ah, rotation." The hologram's image shifted to show Void's clavicle, then the overshoot corrected to focus beneath Cait's paw. "Well that's cool. Never seen a beating heart before."

"What isn't right here? What am I not seeing?" Cait used a combination of her druidic magic and the hologram to snap her head up in a concerning conclusion. "His lung is punctured. No, more... It's more like..."

"Crap, that's not good. I just went through that myself."

"Yours was obliterated, not just punctured. I just hope we won't need a spare lung we don't have." Cait held up her free paw to silence Arty's response, focusing on the injury for more details. "His... His rib broke and punctured his lung twice, then the tip pressed against his heart. For some reason his lung actually healed around the rib, but his heart is occasionally going into arrhythmia. How does this happen without anyone knowing?"

"He probably knew and ignored it. The nanites in his blood did the rest to make it non-lethal, I'd guess." His part done, Arty left the scanner in place and clasped his brother's paw for a prayer. "¿Cómo pudiste ser tan densa, mi hermano? Oraré por ti..."

"Sexy..." Vix stared into Arty's eyes for a moment, then caught herself mentally drooling over him and his accent. "S-Sorry."

"No, it's okay--"

"Is that why you've got the scent of sex about ya', brother?" Vydr gripped Arty's paw and then broke their mild embrace. "You didn't have to step aside for me. Bed your lady well, Arty."

"You know I can't do that yet. Dad would never leave me alone." Art sighed but tried to keep a smile on his muzzle. "Besides, you're actually more of a pressing matter--quite literally, actually. I'm not losing more family any time soon if I can help it."

"Well I'm just dandy, so you--"

"Void, you have a rib just about punching through your heart. Please... I'd respect if you wanted to deal with that on your own, but don't lie about it--especial not to Ria." Arty doubled down and tightly grabbed his brother's paw again. "But if you do want some help, I'm here for you. Nobody has to know except those in this room."

"Shit." Void coughed as he tried to sit up then fell limp in defeat. "Elliot finally had a look? He's going to talk to my parents, and then I'll never..." He paused as he saw the hologram above him, then looked over to Ilaria as she failed to hide her tears. "Right. Pride does you no good if you're dead. What's the plan, brother?"

"I don't have a clue, honestly. I do know I'm for anything that doesn't involve Elliot, for your own needs." Arty looked around for something particular and frustration wracked his expression after a moment. "Where'd Cher's lantern go? I placed her right here to look after you... Ugh, I figured we could use her to help since she's not exactly solid. She'd be great for surgery, right?"

Ria tilted her head in thought. "A lantern? I think I saw one earlier, but..."

"Sorry about that, bro." Phoebe announced his presence just prior to making himself visible in the corner, Cherenkov's lantern swinging from his paw. "I was just admiring her while she slept. I never meant to cause a fuss."

"Phebes... You scared the bloody shit out of me." Void held a paw to his chest and pointed the other next to the otter. "Emmi, you th-there t--?"

"Void?" Arty tensed as his brother fell completely lifeless, fear scorching his nerves. "Void!? What... What happened!?"

"Move! Clear!" Cait shoved Arty aside and placed both her glowing paws over her patient. Silence filled the room as she worked, driving nails into the family's collective chests with every second that passed. Finally Cait sighed in relief and eased away her magic. "He's alright, for now anyway. From what I can tell, his nanites made a few adaptations so his heart wouldn't gouge itself, but... I think that led the the arrhythmia and potentially a spastic response like this."

"What does that mean?" Art gripped Cait's shoulders and forced a quick answer. "How do we fix him?"

"The rib didn't just heal. It regrew to fit the new position. We need to remove it entirely so there's no physical risk to his heart or lungs." The ottkat eased Arty down from his tense concerns even though her own meekness started to break her voice. "H-His nanites have all imp-printed the changes. We can't fix his organs without them, uh... reverting to their current state. He must have lost too many of his previous nanites when he bled from the original injury and... now h-his current ones will rebuild him wrongly."

"Then... He's going to...?"

Cait bopped Arty on the head and groaned at him being more of a wimp than her for once. "No, Arty. He'll be fine. Vydr just fell asleep to prevent damage. Think of it like stimulus-induced narcolepsy or something." She checked the otter's heart and nodded in confirmation. "Everything's beating just fine again. Let's get a room prepped and fix that rib. Then you better start thinking about how to thank Vydr for doing this to himself to save you."

Vix slid over quietly and whispered into Art's ear. "We could start by keeping his girlfriend comfortable."

"No. I mean... Yes, obviously, but not just that." Arty stood and headed for the door, tapping Phoebe on the way out. "Let Cher know she should help where she can. I'm going to the bridge."

Pho held up the lamp and tilted it back to the others. "Arty? You don't want to be here? Our brother needs our support."

"Worrying at his side isn't going to help him or make things better." Artemis stormed down the hallway, one last remark slipping through the closing door. "Keeping his ship away from that Gaia bitch, on the other paw..."

The Starbreeze

Orbiting Darius Prime

14:33, 36/2/1

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"You're sure this will work as planned?" Artemis stood over the pilot's seats and observed his aunt Ilaria and cousins Michelle and Mikhaila as they baffled even him with the complexity of the actions they input into the ship controls. "It's hard to imagine you actually managed to dive to other universes."

"It wasn't easy, son." Iolvin stepped up to Arty from behind and rested his real paw on his good shoulder. "It might not be easy to handle what you find, at that. Just know we're in this together as a tribe."

"Do you always get this sappy before we get our tails tugged?"

"Oh, he's gotten better at holding it back. Your father is the softest family man I've ever known, and that's saying something if you ever met your grandpa." Ari finished her calculation inputs and looked back at the two. "I'd say our little adventures through time and space are what made him want to settle down and start a family."

Arty scoffed that comment. "Except he made me before any of that, as far as I know."

"Your mother was too lovely to ignore, even with a war in view. No, she was far too brilliant not to steal my attention."

"She said she got knocked up in the toilet of some bar. Your idea of romance is sort of strange, dad."

"Hey, that... wasn't easy on me. We were really close as friends, but to take that last step..." Yoyo gained a bit of blush beneath his fur as he thought on the past. "When we knew we were going to cross that line, the setting wasn't important. We... Well, maybe you don't want the details. I just didn't want to leave her wanting more, if you follow me. Sandy deserved every single bit of the man she craved, and she gave me all of herself. I don't regret that night, or that it led to a boy I'm proud to call mine."

"Well I'm sure she was--" Arty stopped himself from finishing that quip once he noticed his father had tears dripping from his fur. "Dad... this really does get to you, doesn't it? Mom... would like to see you helping me, I think."

"Y-Yeah. She could rely on me, alright. She was family to me even before that." Yoyo squeezed his son's shoulder harder before backing away to wipe his face. "And that's why if it comes down to it I'd die for you in her place. I'd have no regrets."

"Don't you dare leave me alone just to see her again, Yoyo." Ari stood from her seat and joined her brother by the navigation hologram. "Remember that we're a pair, you and I."

"I'd never leave you given a choice, Lulu. But for my sons? My grandchildren?"

"You don't have anything to worry about, Yoyo." Ari gave her twin brother a hug, finally feeling the tremble in his muscles. "You've raised those boys into strong men. Sh..."

Mik and Chelle gave each other a loud, deliberate high-five, followed by a similar slap of their thick tails. "Oh-ey. Rahee tsu goh."

"Girls..." Ilaria sighed and made her way over to where her daughters could see her paws for some signing. <You don't need to stress yourselves with speech, baby girls. Arty is fine with reading if you spell it out in hardlight.>

<Well we were done working and he's watching you. It was easier. Besides... we want to fit in with the whole family, not just our side of it.> Chelle signed for the duo while Mik created subtitles for Arty. <We're ready to go. Okay to dive when you are.>

"Let's not dally about then. Let's fire things up." Arty walked over and gripped the back of the twins' shared seat. "We need every second we can take if we're going to beat Gaia to a living version of this place. What are the odds, anyway?"

<We'd have to know how many factors and choices go into making that end result. Potentially the odds are infinite.>

Glitch fluttered into Arty's view and sat full-sized in a free seat. "It definitely is infinite, indefinitely."

"...What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. Just everything, my Artist." Glitch crossed her ankles over the seat ahead of her, stretched her arms up, and snapped her fingers. "I'm sure it'll work out somehow. Just have an open mind."

"We have an issue, son?" Yoyo followed his son's gaze to the seat and deduced his words were directed to the Figment. "What's she saying?"

"Sensible nonsense, as always. Even her words are playful riddles." Arty sighed and tapped Chelle's shoulder. "She's creative, but resourceful. Let's hope Glitch is just bettering our odds somehow. You're green to go, cousins."

<Aye, aye!> The girls tapped a code submission key and the dive system began spooling into action. Then they waved their paws and created a portal above Glitch's seat, through which Robyn fell onto the cushions. <All set.>

"Pillow? Wait--we need to stop, girls." Ari stepped over to her wife, but before she could reach her the gravity system failed in the start of the interuniversal dive. "Damnit. You planned this, didn't you? Pillow, I asked you to watch the Volk while--"

"Oy, and miss out on all this adventure? No chance, love." The squirrel-borg giggled as she played in the lack of gravity. "I was bloody dead when ya' last did a jump like this. No way I'm missin' out this time, yeah? Gotta see what my baby can push."

"Ah... Well if it's just to observe, I'm fine with that. You could have just asked though."

"I don' just mean the ship, love. It's a thrill moving through our girls' portals all the same." Robby glided to her wife and planted a kiss on her muzzle. "And I love findin' this look over your face. It's cute."

Ilaria grew into the kiss a bit faster than she did the idea it masked, then slowly guided Robyn's legs downward in preparation. "Careful, Pillow. Gravity comes back hard in a few seconds."

"Ah. Thank ya' love."

"...You rebuilt her, so you deserve to see what she can do. Oh!" Gravity quickly made itself known as the Starbreeze exited its dive tunnel. Ari caught Robyn by the shoulders and pulled her into her chest, leaving the couple as the only furs remaining standing besides Prisma. "See? Pretty intense, isn't it?"

"Aye, truth." Robyn used her vantage to playfully lay a kiss on her wife's chest implant, then hopped out of the surprised otter's arms and gazed out the nearest window. "That's supposed to be the same planet? Truly?"

"I... guess so?" Arty regained his space legs and joined his aunt for a view. "The population's definitely higher. You can see lights from orbit we didn't see before."

"And don't forget the lack of deadly asteroids." Vydr limped onto the Bridge, quite obviously relying on Mime to support his weight and Vixellyn for a crutch. "Hold that thought. Pris, might I bother you for a debris scan?"

"Aye, Void. One moment."

Artemis broke from his vantage of the Darius Prime to hushedly voice his concern. "You need to be in bed. They don't need to watch you die playing the good captain."

"I'm fine, brother. There's pain, yeah... but you know less about this ship than I do. Priorities and safeties." Void caught sight of Robyn and waved to her with a smile. "Mum? When did you arrive?"

"About three seconds before the dive, my lovely." Robby moved to give her son a hug, but he held out a paw and shook his head slightly. "No? Since when do you pass on a snug?"

"Since I just had major surgery," the young Captain whispered. He reached out to guide his mom closer on his own terms and gave her cheek a kiss. "Quite nice to see you, mum. You're always welcome on my ship."

Robyn smirked as she teased her stepson. "Your ship, is it? I don't remember giving her away."

"Well she flies like her maker prances. Good on ya' havin' a paw in this ship. You'll have to share that whole story with me later."

"Gladly, Vydr."

"Void? The scan is complete." Prisma walked to the central console and rested her paws over the railings. "Shall I display the results on the navigation table?"

"Aye, but also overlay over the external views."

"I'm sorry, but... we don't have screens or projectors over the Bridge windows." Pris shut a protective shutter over a front window and used embedded projectors to display a contour-based image of outside. "I could project onto shutters and through heads-up displays, if you'd like."

"Ah, yeah. That one's an upgrade I put on your other ship, love." Robyn shrugged her shoulders with a smile. "The technology didn't exist for holograms on aluminum screens when we fixed up the Starbreeze."

"So I got the second generation? I'll coax a set of changes from you one of these days, mum." Void groaned as he approached the central table projector and leaned in for a closer look. "This'll do, Pris. So then... There's a lot of large debris, but nothing like we s--Guh!"

"Vydr, I told you not to push yourself. This isn't a broken leg or whatever. Your lungs drive everything inside you." Arty kept his voice down as he moved his brother to the Captain's chair. "Rest. I'll take care of things for a while."

"And when you leave this ship? What then?" Void regulated his breath to only use about half his lung volume in shorter huffs. "I can work from a chair, brother. Let me help. I swear I'll hit the sack once we're clear."

"Just... don't give me a reason to be scared for you again, Vydr. Watch yourself, for Ria if nobody else." Arty pulled up a copy of the hologram on the chair's lower resolution hologram and returned to the larger original. "Pris, can you determine if these larger rocks are natural?"

"Absolutely. I will require a small--"

"They're all naturally occuring." Sparks walked into the Bridge sporting a hint of blood on her arm, likely due to the blind not faring well in gravity shifts. "If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's when objects don't belong in a universe. I cannot see the mundane, but the alien entropy of foreign matter curses my third eye for the duration of its presence."

"So, natural then?"

Prisma nodded and updated the markings with trajectories, past and predicted. "These satellites have regular orbits. My hypothesis is that a moon did not survive an extrastellar impact."

"Lucky for them. Better to lose a moon than your planet." Vix leaned over a beveled window to the side and admired the difference on the surface of the planet. "The last version might have taken the hit. This one has a lot of cities on the surface."

Artemis craned his head to check on his intensely focused girlfriend. "On the surface? As opposed to where?"

"In the caves, of course. That's where all the cities were on the other one. There were just a few small outposts on the surface." Vixellyn almost appeared to be taking notes on the differences, leaning on the clear aluminum. "Maybe they were still testing the surface again? It looks like this version is doing much better though."

"That's... the first I've heard of that. Then again I was unconscious most of our first visit." Art shot his brother a concerned look, one met with a similar response to Vix's knowledge of the unknown. "I think it's time to see exactly how lucky they have it. For all we know they've all been killed and they just left the lights running."

"Just say the word and I'll be there with my rifle, son." Iolvin rested his paw on his twin sister's shoulder and shared a grin with her. "I'm sure Lulu's up for a little mud on her boots too. Right, sis?"

Ilaria upgraded that grasp into a sideways hug, roping her thick tail into it for effect. "Only if you help me clean it off in the shower when we're done, Yoyo."