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Chapter Nine - Hostile Work Environment

The days passed and Erin was still no closer to the truth of what happened to her friend to cause him to want to turn into a Bal'Kar, and worse still during her time interviewing him another had decided to breach the containment protocol and turn themselves into one as well. This caused Dr. Winters to suspend all activity in the containment wing until further notices, leaving only a bare bones crew to keep tabs on the growing number of creatures that now dwelled in the caverns. Even her investigation was suspended, relying instead on video chat in order to talk to Newlyn and the others... all of them save for Serathin himself whom no one was allowed to speak with. It was one such call that she was on at the moment, seeing Newlyn's face on the screen as she once more sighed.

"I know that you're all for the Bal'Kar now, but you have to give me something on why people are just up and getting themselves converted," Erin said, the snow leopard just shaking his head. "If you don't give me something then Dr. Winters isn't going to let anyone else to get within a hundred yards of you guys, even now he's talking about just shutting down and evacuating the entire city."

"Well you can tell Dr. Winters that Serathin says that he needs to remember his part of the bargain," Newlyn replied as his face grew more serious. "We agreed to not attempt to assimilate anyone in exchange for him allowing those who willingly wish to join us to do so. We can sense several people who already are thinking of joining us, if he cuts them off from being able to explore that option than we will feel less inclined to honor our part of the deal."

There was a hint of anger in Newlyn's voice that didn't seem like his own, and given the ability of the Bal'Kar to communicate telepathically he wondered if he wasn't seeing the sabrewolf's emotion and decided to switch the topic slightly. "Who else wants to be a Bal'Kar?" she asked. "How will we know who is feeling such things and who isn't if they hide them like you did, or Arlo, or anyone?"

"Well the answer to the latter question is that you need to make the atmosphere more accepting to such an idea," Newlyn replied as his grin began to grow on his muzzle. "As for who is all thinking about joining us... well, there are a number of people that may surprise you..." As Newlyn continued to speak Erin noticed that his fur was starting to recede and his ears started to stretch in the start of his reversion to his Bal'Kar form. "...like yourself."

The lupine was taken aback at such an accusation, looking away and shaking her head as her former friend accused her of wanting to jump ship from her species and join them. "You know it's true..." Newlyn teased, his voice deepening slightly and growing an alien tone to it. "Of course you can try to deny it, but deep down you know that our talks together have caused you to be more and more enamored with the concept. Our conversations have also linked us with a very light psychic connection... how else would I be able to talk to you like this?"

Erin realized what Newlyn was inferring and looked up to see his Bal'Kar form staring at her, a smile on its muzzle as goo dripped down its head and neck. Even though she was stunned at what she was seeing it also sparked an epiphany, gasping slightly as she knew what was happening to the others. "That's why the others are turning..." she said as she looked at Newlyn, who tilted his head. "Serathin must have talked to Arlo and you, and I bet the other one that engaged in conversation did the same thing!"

"Very clever," Newlyn replied. "Of course we can only make connections with those who would be willing to receive us, with ideals just like ours. Perhaps you've been a Bal'Kar all along..."

Just as the wolf was about to rebuke the idea saying that the others would have known if she had been turned, she suddenly felt something drip down her muzzle and onto the floor, followed by another... and another... as a small puddle began to form on the floor she couldn't believe her eyes. It was impossible, she hadn't been anywhere near anything that the Bal'Kar did and kept her suit on the whole time, but even as she felt more of the bio-extract leak from her nose and mouth her tongue began to feel thick and heavy in her muzzle. Tiny tentacles began to poke out from her muzzle and the rest of her body, the fur around it growing matted as she felt her pointed ears begin to grow longer. Though there was no mirror the walls were stainless steel and when she looked at herself she gasped, which caused her growing tongue to flop out past her lips as it began to turn a bright green.

She was turning into a Bal'Kar in the middle of the facility, she realized in horror as those tentacles that had poked their way out of her body began to grow thicker, oozing with more of the bio-extract that pooled on the floor as she tried to handle her now foot-long tongue. It felt like every inch of her body was starting to wiggle and writhe as more of her fur disappeared to the rubber flesh underneath, trying to reach up to the door as rapidly shifting eyes looked to the door handle. While she didn't know how anyone was going to react to her transformation she knew she had to tell someone, but as she reached out with her forepaw to open the door she saw it just in time to watch her paws turn black and explode in size, the claws on her toes forming together and turning white while it thickened into... into...

Bashers. The name came to her mind even though she knew little of Bal'Kar anatomy, realizing that what she was gaining knowledge of what she was turning into. As more tentacles slid out of her skull and around her muzzle she knew they were known as disintegrators, feeling them start to crackle with energy as her entire frame shifted. Her tails also began to drip with extract as she could begin to feel the writhing appendages begin to merge together, using the newfound flexibility in her transforming neck to look back and see that her mess of tails were now becoming one entity starting right between her legs. It would become her breeder... no, her grappler, and be where all those wonderful eggs would sit that she would get from other Bal'Kar.

Erin quickly shook her head when she realized what she was thinking, focusing on what was happening to her instead of what she could do to help protect the lives of the other workers in this facility. If she couldn't control herself her extremely contagious body might cause many others to have to join her... though it wasn't the worse sensation in the world as she wiggled her growing abdomen in the air while glowing green lines appeared on it. In fact... it looked kind of cute in a strange way, her mind going back to the comment she had made days ago before Newlyn had become a Bal'Kar. She could almost see him there growing his own grappler as his other tentacles spread out across the cavern floor, that overwhelming feeling of happiness washing through his body just like what was happening to her.

Happening to her... she hadn't even realized it but she had felt a growing sense of joy as her body continued to grow and change, feeling her hind legs split down the middle and form into four more of the thick rubber appendages as the bio-extract began to fill the room the more she produced of it. All she ever wanted was to make others happy, and now sensing the link she realized that she could make so many more happy if she just became a Bal'Kar, wrapping these new tentacles around them while they turned into creatures just like them...

A sudden knock caused a surge of panic to run through Erin's body as she looked up towards the dented door to see it shaking slightly. "I need to use the video link, Erin!" the voice on the other side replied as her eyes widened in horror. She was about to be found out, and when that happened they might not even bother trying to bring her to the Bal'Kar containment room. Her mind raised as she tried to figure out what to do as the door rattled once again with the incessant pounding on the other side.

"Just a second!" Erin shouted in panic, though it quickly turned to confusion when she realized that she was able to speak even with that growing slurper in her mouth. When she looked back at her reflection she was surprised to see not a growing, transforming Bal'Kar, but a normal female wolf instead. Even her eyes had gone back to normal as she investigated around her and saw that all of the bio-extract she had leaked out of her body was gone. Whether some sort of waking dream or hallucination she didn't know, all she knew was she had to get out of there as she opened the door and quickly apologized to the cheetah on the other side before sprinting past him.

Even though the others took notice of her run through the hallways, particularly when they got smacked by one of her many tails flitting about behind her, she didn't even care as she made her way through the facility. While the initial goal had been to go to Dr. Winters office when she was finally done running she found herself in her own room. She knew she had to go to the tiger and report what was going on, but at the same time she needed a second to collect her thoughts on what she had thought just happened to her. There was no way she was just going to shake off what she saw and felt, everything she experienced was so real it was like she was actually transforming.

"Perhaps you were," a voice suddenly said that caused her to yelp and jump up so high she landed on all fours on her bed, her entire body turning to see the draconic sabrewolf that was sitting on her chair with those glowing green eyes looking at her. "Or maybe that was just you preparing yourself for such a thing."

"Get out of my head!" Erin shouted as she closed her eyes and shook her head, only to see the Bal'Kar sitting there with a bored expression on his face. "Why are you doing this to me..."

"Because from what Newlyn has shared with the hive you would be far, far happier here," Serathin replied. "Now before you go on with the whole you don't know me or what could I possibly understand, you must realize that it's as if the snow leopard's knowledge is like my own now, freely given among the hivemind that links all of us. For the latter of your presumed argument I was a lot like you, not understanding what was happening to me until I finally accepted that I was a Bal'Kar."

"But... you were infected with bio-extract," Erin tried to counter as she started to acclimate to the presence of a creature she knew wasn't actually there. "Plus if you guys are all about sharing on this network, then why don't I know everything about you, or vice versa?"

Erin was slightly surprised when the sabrewolf let out a chuckle and spun himself around on the chair before gazing back at her. "You are only... lightly connected via Newlyn to us," Serathin informed her. "Any stronger and you would have come running through that containment door and cannonballed into the bio-extract pool with how much need you would have. Of course I find it extremely interesting that what is lust for us translates to happiness to you."

"Why?" Erin asked, suddenly curious. "Lust and happiness are basically the same thing."

The sabrewolf shook his head and stood up from the chair. "While they're not mutually exclusive they are also not the same thing," he rebutted as he stretched. "But I've been in your mind long enough, it's time for me to go and for you to do what you need to do. Go ahead and tell Dr. Winters what you figured out, to be honest I didn't even realize that was a thing until we started connecting to people that talked to us. Of course that's not the only reason that people may give themselves to us... but I think one revelation is enough for the tiger for now."

Erin wanted to ask more but when she blinked the hybrid was gone, leaving her alone to her thoughts once more. All that talk of psychic links and happiness and becoming Bal'Kar continued swirl in the wolf's head as she flopped down on her side. Though everything that the creature had told her could be a lie it was her job to know when people were lying and... he didn't seem like he was. That combined with the fact that it didn't seem the Bal'Kar really lied if it wasn't life or death meant that Newlyn really did think she would be perfect to join those creatures, maybe cuddle in those tentacles of theirs...

The lupine let out a mental groan as she realized she was romanticizing them yet again, rolling over and plopping her head into the pillows a few times before stopping and lying there for a while longer. Had it not been Newlyn that joined the Bal'Kar this would likely be an easy choice for her, but with him on board and spilling all of her secrets to them they may as well be connected to her own mind. There was also the safety of the facility to think about and what she needed to do to protect it and the people that were contained within it. In the end after hours of internal debate she boiled it all down to one choice, sighing as she got up off of her bed and began to make her way back to August's office once she had finished with something else first.

************************************************

A few hours later Erin sat in the desk chair once more, waiting as he read through the report that she gave him. "So you're saying the source of our problem is that just talking with them can cause certain people to establish links that drive them to want to be with them?" August asked, the tiger watching as Erin nodded. "Well I have to say I didn't see that coming, I thought that as long as they didn't zap people with those controllers that they'd be safe from any mental effects. Speaking of such, in light of this fact are you sure that you want to file this paperwork in light of the recent developments?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Erin replied stoically. "Everything should be in order for the higher-ups."

"I have to say that I'm really sad to see you go," August replied as he stood up and shook Erin's hand. "I'd attempt to convince you to stay with us but I think it would fall on deaf ears. Still, you're going to be missed here by a lot of people."

Erin just nodded and held out her forepaw to shake his head. Even though she was sad about leaving her job and those that were connected with it she knew in her heart that she had to leave... it was the only way that she could do what she needed to do. At her request all her things were already packed away, the only thing she had to do left was resign her position, which she just did. Once everything was squared away she thanked Dr. Winters for the opportunity and walked out of his office and back into the facility.

Her journey eventually took her to a steel door, putting in her code for the last time in order to open it. Once she had pawed in the last number she heard the hydraulics hiss and the metal pulled itself back to reveal the pressure chamber. "Well look who's back," the dragon sitting at the table said. "Didn't realize that August was letting people back into the observation deck so soon, if you'll just stay put for a second I'll go and dig out your suit-"

"No need," Erin interrupted with a grin on her muzzle, her tails all wagging as she looked at the other door that remained shut. "If you could let me through that would be great."

"Oh..." the dragon replied as he looked at that same door. "I uh... I guess I can get the process started, but I'm going to have to call Dr. Winters while it pressurizes to make sure you have permission to do that. You alright with that?"

The feral wolf nodded and watched the rather perplexed dragon walk outside of the room and have the door shut behind him. It only took a minute for the security check to go through, the doors opening soon after that led to the observation deck. A thrill of excitement passed through her body as she made her way to the elevator and then down to the cavern. At no point did the decontamination system kick in, there was no need for it at this point as the car made its way all the way to the bottom and opened to let the wolf out.

"Well look at what we have here," a familiar voice said, Serathin leaning against one of the stone walls in his guise form. "I guess I must have made a great case, and you didn't even have to fake falling into a pool of bio-extract or pretending to go down here for a sample collection and then strip down."

"Let's just say that Dr. August would much rather keep you on the side of allies instead of enemies even if it means losing a few people to your lusts," she said before looking around in amazement at how far the three Bal'Kar had dug their way into the cavern, glowing pools of bio-extract and black pulsating rubber tendrils everywhere. "Wow, you guys have definitely made a home for yourselves here... so... do I just jump in to one of the pools or am I already going to start changing?"

"I wouldn't dream of taking this one," Serathin said with a chuckle as he motioned with his head to further back in the cavern. "Go on, he's waiting for you."

Erin nodded and padded past the hybrid deeper into the cave. While she passed through several natural archways she saw another of the Bal'Kar with their spreaders pressed against the wall, though a quick look revealed that it wasn't Newlyn. Eventually she got to the back of the cave and walked around one of the larger extract pools, looking around in confusion before her ear twitched as she heard something behind her. When she looked back she saw the somewhat familiar face of Bal'Kar Newlyn, the former snow leopard slowly rising out of the pool with his tentacles sliding on the stone in front of him.

"It looks like you're finally ready to give me that hug I've wanted," Newlyn said with his new voice as his he put his grabbers to either side of her. "Ready to take the final plunge?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Erin replied as she took one last deep breath before bounding up and jumping on Newlyn until she had gotten her chest against his... or whatever it would be that he had beneath his head. Almost immediately she began to feel her stomach and forearms tingle as they slid against the gooey rubber Bal'Kar skin, gasping slightly as something began to push out of Newlyn's body and slide against hers. The tiny tendrils, called Seethers by Newlyn, continued to wiggle and slither against her body as a pair of tentacles that weren't the bashers wrapped around and held her closer.

Erin huffed and gasped as she could feel the Bal'Kar cells assimilating her own, turning her fur and flesh into rubber and more of the seethers as her mouth opened in shock. Almost immediately she felt so... happy, not only her own happiness for being with her friend and others like him, but their joy for her joining the hive. As she felt the seethers push their way into her body her frame immediately began to expand, the black rubber stretching as she felt several tentacles push their way out of her sides and out into the open air. Just as she let out another gasp of pure bliss her already blackening muzzle was suddenly stuffed full of bright green slurper as some of the bio-extract dripped down her throat.

Any previous physical restrictions were soon eliminated and as her lupine body continued to warp and reshape itself all she could focus on was that long tongue-like appendage sliding down deeper inside her. Her fleshy insides were quickly converted by the potent transformative, to the point where she doubted that any of her organs were intact anymore. As though to prove the point what fur of hers that remained untransformed at the moment was pushed out as the seethers that were forming every part of her being slithered around inside her, continuing her changes as she felt her rear merge into the growth that had been her tail. "Shame that you're going to lose those tails of yours," Newlyn said, only this time his voice resonated inside her head as her muzzle began to expand out around the thick slurper and her normal teeth began to grow the point where her still semi-wolven muzzle couldn't contain them anymore. "Still, it's going to be replaced with something much better."

Even if Erin knew how to telepathically reply she was so lost in the combined pleasure that she was getting from her own transformation that she likely wouldn't have. All she could do was hold on for the ride, but even that was starting to become hard to do as she suddenly felt something distinctly alien touch her mind. At first she thought it was Newlyn, but as that tendril of foreign thought continued to take root in her mind her glowing eyes widened when she realized that it was the hivemind that Newlyn had told her about. Suddenly the thoughts of many began to surface in her own mind, all of them singing songs of joy and lust that she could understand now. While Newlyn, Serathin, and Arlo were definitely the most recognizable of the Bal'Kar she could sense there were others too... a striped dragon, another arctic wolf, a collie that seemed to be at the heart of it all, it felt like she was integrating with all of them and, more importantly, could feel their happiness in her joining.

The droplets of bio-extract that had started to form on her rubber skin began to intensify as her multi-segmented abdomen continued to grow out of her cluster of tails just as she had seen in, feeling the bulbous appendage shifting her entire body as what had been her forelimbs thickened with seethers and bone as they became her powerful bashers. At this point as their chests continued to press together they could feel each other's tendrils playing and wrapping around one another, sharing in each other's touch as Newlyn positively beamed at the transforming wolf. Erin continued to squirm as she felt her mass continue to swell, growing more tentacles from her sides and feeling her hind legs lengthen and stretch while Newlyn continued to hold her close.

Erin suddenly felt a rush of happiness come from two of the tentacles that had grown out of her back, her new eyes looking up at them to see that the ends had started to swell. Right before her eyes she saw the rubber petals peel back, showing off the singular eyes and exposed seethers of her new controller tentacles. It was a strange sensation when the semi-autonomous tentacles came online, looking around with new curiosity as they fed her expanding mind with new information. It wasn't long before Newlyn's own controllers came over and interacted with them, mingling their seethers together as Erin's body grew nearly to the size of Newlyn's.

It didn't take long after Erin's body filled out did the two continue to twine their tentacles around one another, and though she could now feel the lust of the hive right at that moment she was content to be wrapped around the one that had brought her here. As Newlyn began to withdraw the slurper from her throat he suddenly found hers wrapping around it, the former wolf's mutated tongue coiling around it until the two played a bit of tug of war before they finally separated. "I can't believe that you talked me into this," Erin said as she looked around with new eyes and new senses, feeling the pure happiness and arousal that filled this cavern as well as the hivemind. "But I'm really glad you did."

"I'm glad that you came over there," Newlyn replied with a smile on his muzzle. "I have to admit I was worried that you wouldn't join me... think of all the time that you would have lost if you had decided to resist the call. Can you feel your happiness reverberating through the hivemind, sense how your pure emotion causes so many others to feel the same?"

"I do..." Erin replied, closing her eyes for a second to savor the sensation before opening them again and looking up at Newlyn once more. "So what do we do now? What about the others in the facility that still haven't seen the light of our perfection?"

"They'll come around soon enough," Newlyn replied as he began to slide into the bio-extract pool, dragging her along with so they could bathe in the rich ooze together. "Until then I could always fill that lovely little abdomen of yours with eggs. Or if you'd like there is something that we can do called merging, something akin to what you were experiencing during your transformation where we take our seethers and join them together."

Erin thought about it for a second before she laughed and squeezed her tentacles around Newlyn's. "I like the sound of that merging thing," she said, both Bal'Kar's seethers twitching slightly from the mere thought of being able to slide into the body of one another. "It's like the ultimate hug, except instead of giving someone a token of your mutual affection you'll turn into what I assume is one huge writhing mass of wriggling tentacles."

"Something like that," Newlyn chuckled himself. "Man, you really like hugs."

"I like making people happy," Erin corrected as she continued to bask in the emotional radiance of the hive link she now had. "Now that I know what it's like to be a Bal'Kar and the sheer wonder that we exude I know now that my purpose is to share this with as many people as I can. I do hope that Dr. Winters might let us mingle with the other researchers soon, I would so love to bring them into the fold so that they can experience this with us."

Just as Newlyn was about to reply they felt and heard the presence of another behind them as Serathin once more walked over towards them, though now the sabertoothed Bal'Kar was back in his true form as he gave them a wink. "I wouldn't worry about that too much," he said as he planted a spreader against the stone floor of the cavern, watching as the tentacles that pushed their way out of it began to dig into the hard substance and almost immediately soften it. "As Newlyn mentioned before the others that dwell in their facility and hide behind what they think are their protections will soon find themselves much like you, curious at first and with the embers of a burning desire that they have no idea where it came from. Then, just like the rest of the inferior creatures that live on this world, they will seek out their own perfection..."

That thought resonated through the link and Erin could feel all the other Bal'Kar responding with chitters of approval, all of them connected through biological ascendancy and the sole desire to spread that to others. It was true, Erin realized herself as she found her own chittering to join in the mix, they were an unstoppable force ready to bring about a new era. Soon Bal'Kar would spread and cover this planet, which would then in itself transform in order to suit their desires....

Which means that soon there were going to be a lot more Bal'Kar that she could hug.