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_ Chapter 5- Countdown to the Truth _

<UEF-A 'Tiamat' - B Deck> May 22, 2085

Canith was woken up by the door being buzzed. He answered the door in just a pair of shorts. Standing in the door was an Anthro bear who identified himself as Lewis. "Will said you needed a training partner," he said, looking Canith over. "I volunteered to help out. You everything you need to do this morning?"

Calling up Aura on the holo-field on his desk, he set up a group of directives for the morning and shut everything else down. He then changed into some workout clothes and grabbed a pair of workout gloves from the PGU. Giving everything one last look over, he walked out and locked his door.

The pair walked to the gym while Lewis explained the workout routine he had in mind. "I figure we should start with the two-mile jog, followed by some weightlifting. Today will be doing abs and back, and tomorrow we will hit shoulders and legs if you are still up for it." He then showed Canith some stretches and warm-up exercises. They then began jogging, taking the stairs to C Deck and following the trail in the hydroponics area. Any time Canith got used to the speed, Lewis within speed up just a little bit more. By the time they returned to the gym on B deck, Canith was very much out of breath.

Lewis showed them some more stretches, then started in on the exercises themselves. Canith didn't manage much weight here - Lewis at least doubled Canith's weight each time. While they were lifting, Lewis explained that he was part of the engine crew as well as the security crew. "If anyone gets violent, we step in. If boarded, we repel them. It's our job to be fit for anything." While they were working out, other Anthros would pass them by and way. Some offer greetings while others just a brief nod before heading off. At one point an Arctic Wolf jogged past with a headset and and only nodded it Lewis, who smiled back.

"Who was that?" Canith asked. The two were obviously acquainted, but it was one of the few on board he didn't have a name for that he knew of.

"That was Snow." Lewis look to Canith, went to say something more, thought better of it and simply said, "you will meet him eventually."

Canith raised an eyebrow at this cryptic answer. Then knowing how the crew seem to be adept at avoiding his questions, especially if they were about E deck, he let the subject drop. They finally finish shortly thereafter, and Lewis made plans for Canith to work out in the mornings with him. Then he ran off along the trail, and Canith returned to his room to shower and change. He grabbed a small meal in the galley and headed up to the AI room afterwards.

Will was waiting for my the door. "So what did you think of Lewis?" He asked with a grin. Canith recounted the mornings exercises, meetings, and cryptic remarks - all the while Will listened intently. He chuckled a bit some of the snippets of conversation, and hmm'ed thoughtfully at the encounter with Snow. He asked Canith after the recount to show him some of the projects he was working on, and Canith gladly did. They spent most of the afternoon doing this, and after a while went to the galley to grab some food for dinner.

Over dinner they discuss likes and dislikes, places and people of interest, and other miscellaneous topics. When Canith started yawning quite a bit, Will told him he would be there in the morning to work out as well. Hashing out the details, they parted ways, looking forward to tomorrow.

As they parted ways, an Anthro polar bear sitting in a shadowy corner watched them both walk off. She pulled out a datapad and typed in a command. Dagon, the Capt.'s AI, appeared on screen. "The new guy should be ready soon. Snow agrees. Will should be the one to approach them about it, and extend the invitation."

Dagon nodded once and disappeared. She closed out our datapad, and walked over to the grav-lift. Placing her paw on the reader, the lift quickly descended down into E deck.

<UEF-A 'Tiamat' - B Deck> May 23, 2085

The early knock on the door did not come as a suprise to Canith, who opened it immediately. Lewis greeted him, then turned and they both took off at a brisk jog. Waiting for them at the start of the trail in hydroponics was Will, and another wolf who introduce themselves as Kevin. He was wearing blue shorts that accommodated his tail, and a black tank top that showed off his silvery fur. Will however, had on a tight pair of black spandex shorts and a black T-shirt that said 'Wild Thing' on the front. Canith raised an eyebrow at this but didn't comment.

All of them went through warm-up stretches, and then took off as a group. Canith still was having a hard time keeping up with Thomas, but the two wolves left them in the dust. They glance at each other with lupine grins, then shifted into a full spread. A couple of times Will did his blur trick, and quickly started outpacing Kevin.

By the time Canith and Lewis caught up with the wolves, they were already lifting weights. Lewis once again outpaced Canith on weight, they Canith simply shrugged it off. While working, the same Panther from the other day ran by on her way to the elevators. "I've seen her before. Who is she?"

"The Panther? Her name is Cloud. She's pretty nice." Lewis chuckled at some private joke, and pointed out the time. Canith thanks for reminding him of the meeting, and jogged off to go get a quick shower and get changed. As he left, Lewis turned to Will. "Really Will? You think the spandex was maybe a little over the top? And seriously -'Wild Thing'?" Lewis just shook his head.

"What?" Will exclaimed in mock insult. Then, in a much more insecure tone, "Do you even think he noticed?"

"I think he noticed at first, but it was either a casual glance or he quickly dismissed it." Kevin stated.

"At least I beat you." Will huffed, seeking an advantage.

"Only because you are phasing like crazy. You shouldn't phase in front of the new guy after all. It against ship policy. The simple fact he didn't ask about it with him being as inquisitive as he is points the fact you have probably done this before to him - phased in front of him that is." Lewis said in a condescending tone.

<UEF-A 'Tiamat' - B Deck> May 23, 2085

Canith managed to get a really good shower in and slipped into a jumpsuit. After making sure his uplink was secure and Aura was standing by, he headed out and down to the galley to meet the officers for lunch. As he walked in, he saw Harvey and Desmond already there. Harvey grabbed a glass of water for Canith, then wandered off as Canith sat down next to Desmond.

"The others will be here shortly. We don't normally start till about 1300 anyways." Desmond said. They traded idle banter back and forth for a bit before the rest of the officer started showing up. Once everyone was seated, Harvey brought out everyone's watch. Everyone's food was different, due to the dietary restrictions of the individual species. As Harvey passed it out, however, Desmond begin introducing everyone.

"Of course you're he know the Capt., Des, Sylvie, Aris, and myself. The Capt. is obvious, and Des is his right hand. Sylvie is in charge of nutrition, Aris for engineering .For the ones you haven't met yet I don't believe, we have Harris," he gestures to the Dolphin those carefully eating a large fish, "Terry," a western dragon with blues scales and ivory spines lining his back working on a sandwich, "and then are daring duo Trickshot and Daredevil." The pair he indicated was a pair of human morph angel and demon archetypes that were both working on some sort of noodle dish.

Everyone greeted Canith in turn, either with a simple nod, a wave, or of word of to of greeting. At first there was not much talking as people began to eat. As the messier of the dishes were finished and all of them tidied away, idle chatter about various systems and personnel became the main conversation. Canith learned a great deal about the ship's organizational structure and crew through their talk. Eventually though, the officers began getting up one by one and walking off eventually leaving Canith and Desmond alone. They chatted back and forth for little bit longer before the they got up and Desmond motioned for Canith to follow them.

Desmond led him to the grav lift, to A deck, and then to the bridge. He took them to each station, introducing him to all the different individuals working and explained the various fine points of each system to Canith that he might not have known otherwise. Aura both listened and commented as was appropriate, and by the time they were finished Canith had to truly claim fatigue and went to go lay down.

Canith did not notice however, as he headed towards the grav-lift, that Will was standing in the shadows. As the grav lift went down Will muttered to himself, "soon man, soon."

<UEF-A 'Tiamat' - B Deck> May 24, 2085

"Come on Canith, almost there - sprinted out!" Lewis shouted, aching Canith to sprint the last leg of the run. Finishing much out of breath, Canith barely gasped out of question.

"Why is there so many people here today?" Around them the gym was packed. There was two separate groups of rabbits that was busy with aerobics, a group of foxes were working on abs and thighs, a pair of bears were benching a tremendous amount of weight. So much in fact, that Canith suspected that Lewis had been loading his own bar lightly as a result. Canith even spotted Will and Kevin in the press of bodies. They were working on push-ups and crunches with a red western dragon.

"Well," Lewis began hesitantly, "honestly, most find other ways and/or other times to work out. I think they are here right now to make you feel more comfortable. After all, our last few sessions did not have many people here, which might lead to odd assumptions as to where everybody was." He motioned Canith over to a bench near Will, and they walked over and started working out.

At one point while he was resting and Lewis was benching, Canith happened to glance over just as Will bend over to stretch. Standing behind him with Sue, and she was staring at his ass with an intensity reserved for steaks. He started to look away, but then notice that Sue, which he could've sworn was female, had a male like bulge in the front of her jumpsuit. It was revealed only because she had been sweating so much and her outfit was clinging to her curves. And she was very much aroused. Will finish the stretch and noticed Canith's staring. Blushing, he walked over and asked him how his day was. Canith absentmindedly responded, then was approached by Sue.

"I just wanted to say sorry for the other day. It was uncalled for, and very childish of me." She quickly hugged him, and he could feel the definite bulge. (So I wasn't imagining things.) She disengaged quickly, the walked off after getting Will a significant look.

The rest of Canith's day went by in a blur with him barely able to concentrate on his normal tasks. Even as he went to sleep that night, the same thoughts kept circling around in his head_._

"The changes I get but I could have sworn that Sue was female. The fact That she had a package yet everyone was still using her and she definitely doesn't quite add up. Also the attitudes and vibes I've been getting don't seem to match up with some of the others either. I just can't figure out what's going on here."

<UEF-A 'Tiamat' - B Deck> May 25 2085

Canith sat in the middle of his room in the lotus position meditating. As his mind floated in a detached state, he let his thoughts worry away at the problems like the water in the stream over rock. First and foremost was the fact that he had been aboard the Tiamat now for a week. In that time he had managed to meet a good portion of the rather strange crew. There was Will, the wolf he had befriended. There was Sue, who at first had hated him, but seems to have came a round quickly. There was Desmond, the gryphon officer, and many others.

Yet every one of them seem to be hiding something. Most obvious was the purpose of this mysterious E deck. But more and more often there seems to be more subtle things that's taking place and things that seem to be missing altogether.

The Capt. did not frowned on relationships aboard a ship, yet there did not appear to be any. No one complained about the shortage of shore leave. Everyone treated everyone else like family, Canith included. And then there was the matter of Sue's obviously mismatched anatomy and the other personality quirks he had noticed but thought nothing of. It was rather creepy.

As he sat there meditating over these issues, his door buzzed and at the same time he received the message. Canith was startled for a moment at the tool stimulus input, and went to the door first. Standing there was Will. He asked permission to come in, and Canith granted it, confused as to why he was being so formal. As Canith stepped aside and Will stepped in, will quickly turned and shut and locked the door. After he did this he turned back around and nervously stepped to the middle of room. It was only then that he began speaking. "Hey Canith, how you feeling today?" He was shifting from foot to foot restlessly in his ears were swiveling constantly.

Canith had never seen him nervous before. "Dude, was wrong? You are nervous as hell, and it's a little disturbing. Come sit down and explain."

Wills next question came completely out of left field. "Have you been to E deck yet?"

Canith answer was automatic. "Nope. The Capt. Has and give me access yet. And every time I see someone who either I think works there or mention anything about it, everyone just shuts down on me. No one will tell me anything about it at all." Will let out a small sign followed by a chuckle.

"You want to know why? It's a rather complex answer, and once you know it you can't back out. I'll try that explain it the best I can, but some things will require examples rather than words.

Canith was caught off guard at this very direct statement. On one hand, it had been driving him crazy trying to guess what E deck was for. In theory, it would be at least partially a medical deck. But that wouldn't explain all of it. His research into ark ships would explain part of it as well, but wouldn't explain why it would be a very well trafficked area. On the other hand the stipulation of 'you cannot back out' was disturbing. It sounded like an initiation of some sort. "The Capt. Still hasn't given me permission to go there, so why does it matter?"

Aura picked this moment to chime in. "Canith, you received the message a minute ago it was from the Capt. through Dagon, and the message reads as follows:

'If Will deems it appropriate, you will have access.'

I can only conclude that E deck access is with the Capt. Is referring to." Will gave a surprise to laugh at this, making Canith aware of the fact that Aura was speaking out loud. He also didn't seem as nervous anymore.

"Well, that option is out. So you want to know?" Will cocked an eyebrow at Canith. Canith just shrugged.

"All right, I'll bite. What's up?"

"Well, as I said, it's hard to explain. But I'll try anyways. First off, I was chosen to approach you about this because you seem to respond the best to me." Will seemed slightly excited about this but the and continued to explain. Canith however notice that the various mannerisms that Will was exhibiting reminded him of the girlish gesture he'd seen from high school girls getting ready to share a particularly juicy bit of gossip. The last time he had seen this had actually been from Harvey in the galley. This led Canith's mind down some strange pathways and a theory began to form.

"So, when the Tiamat was first commissioned to be built, it was slotted as the deep space exploration craft. When the war between the religious zealots and and the modders broke out, it was reduced to a short range exploration craft and it was delayed getting started. However, that was just the official report. Unofficially, the main reason why the ship was delayed and the reclassification took place was due to a last-minute retrofit that required the entirety of E deck to be overhauled and fitted with top-secret technologies that absolutely could not fall into the hands of those zealots. Among the various technologies was the much improved gene splicing technologies that created Anthros in the first place."

"Okay," Canith said, growing impatient. "I'll be honest that I knew most of this already except about the unofficial. Although I will admit, that more than part of the reason why I came to get on the ship in the first place was the fact that I traced those technologies to the ship. I wasn't sure, but all the evidence pointed towards it."

"Okay, okay. As I said I'm not good at this. So you understand the technologies that we have on the deck, at least some of them. But to understand the secrecy behind the deck, you have to kind of understand our mission. You see, we are looking for new place to set down roots. A world out of reach to the humans. To do this, would require a very large gene pool. Otherwise crossbreeding and interbreeding would kill out whatever population we started very quickly. We could bring others in, but that would only help a little bit." Will grew silent for a moment, then snapped his fingers as a thought occurred to him.

"I just remembered something, and judging by your decorations around here you might be familiar with it. Do you know the old mythology behind Tiamat?"

Canith group confused by this complete change of direction, but went with it anyways. "Yeah, the great mother of the earth. Guardian of the gate of balance. Evil to some, good to others. Usually depicted as having five heads, but one mind." He had a thing for dragons and mythology, one that he couldn't deny.

"Nice, not that sure putting all of those aspects together. The Tiamat embodies that diversely." Unfortunately, Canith was now thoroughly confused at this point. Will seem to realize this almost instantly, so elaborated a bit. "Everyone, except you at the moment, spend some time at least once a week on E deck. I know you've noticed the lack of relationships and the stray glimpses of packages on females around here. Hell, Sue was practically humping your leg yesterday. Some people have probably even cracked jokes about it, and yet you never even noticed it. Have you figured out yet, or do I need to keep going?."

Canith had subconsciously slid to the edge of his seat by this time. "Yeah, hard not to notice when she was rubbing up against me. And from what you're hinting at, everything seems to revolve around E deck. So again I ask, what's up?"

Will got an evil gleam to his eye, and they walked over to the door major it was locked. Turning back to Canith, he measured them up with his eyes before continuing. "Before I answer that you need to answer me two questions. One will be awkward but won't matter for long, and the other one is much more general. Are you straight, bi, or gay?"

This question once more caught Canith flat-footed. Implications then started pouring into his mind. 'Won't matter for long'?that combined with the question itself shattered whatever theory he might've had. "Well, I guess I would have to say bi."

"This was a lot easier." Will smiled as he asked, "what is your stance on relationships with Anthros?"

This question was by far easier for Canith to answer. "I'm fine with Anthros, or else I wouldn't even be here to begin with. I've had good friends in the past that were Anthros, and have even more now. As to getting intimate with them, I can't say I've been intimate with any. Human or Anthro. I have either not had the time or the inclination. That's not to say I wouldn't enjoy it."

This question seemed to relieve Will, as he let out a breath he had been holding. "Well, you answered honestly at least, so far as I can tell. So here's the deal." Will then shrugged out of his jumpsuit. Like Canith had suspected, Will (like most the crew) didn't wear anything under the jumpsuit. With as much fur and scales as most of them had it just wasn't practical. Of course, this was easily eclipsed by the fact that will was hard. Puzzled, Canith started to point this out, when will turned around and bent over. Moving his tail out of the way, revealed a rather startling surprise.

"Wait, what the hell?!" Just behind Will's sack was a perfectly formed pair of feminine lips slightly puffy and moist with arousal. Will's voice came from between his legs.

"You understand yet?" Canith was stunned into silence as everything clicked together. Will's shyness at the gym. Desmond's winks and vague offers. Sue's bulge, and Eris's tail slap. Those and dozens more little incidences were quickly reclassified in his mind for what they truly were in light of this new information. Canith also noticed that Will was still bent over.

"They will, you to stand back up now." He looked down and realized that the show would made him rather hard as well. "This is definitely not what I was expecting. So the rest of the crew is also dual gendered?"

"Yes and no. It's easier to say that they have the potential to be, rather than they actually are. The systems down on E deck keep the population on the ship rather balanced between male, female, and dual gendered. It skews the balance here and there, but for the most part it manages just fine. Also, it ensures that nobody's gender is truly set in stone. Weekly trips there can end up seeing your gender change every week or not change for months at a time. Most don't ask questions about it, and just enjoy the benefits of it. After all, the system ensures that in less we are at a location to populate, which we have not gotten to yet, we cannot get pregnant. It leads to some rather... fun times."

"Well, that definitely explains that and much more besides. So are you going to get dressed?" Will grinned deviously and began to do a reverse striptease slowly easing his jumpsuit back into place.

"So now that everything's crystal clear to you, you ready to go?" Canith stopped himself from asking where. The comment about not backing out made sense now. He nodded to Aura, then remembering the ion-fields, left his uplink in the room and followed Will out. "Don't worry man, relax. It's fun!" Canith since the that simple statement was loaded with additional meaning. Will just laughed and guided them both towards the grav-lifts.