FSE

Furry search engine

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(F TF Meganeura)

Megan had only graduated high school two years ago, but already she could tell she did not belong. Her job hunting went terribly, resulting in very temporary flings with employers at the best. She was a clever person, and attractive, but had no particular talents and no focussed interest to chase after. Megan longed for a simpler existence, where getting your own meals and surviving day to day was all anyone was expected to do. The modern world did not really allow for that. Recently there had been many odd reports and rumours of a new organisation called AWE however, and she seen this as her chance to break out of the mold. Megan had been waiting outside of the local AWE wing and as soon as Rex Aldinn stepped out from his limo she approached him with a tape recorder.

"Mr. Aldinn, is it true you have paying major media outlets to avoid reporting on these recent prehistoric animal sightings? AWE openly admits to researching the prehistoric life and trying to revive them. They keep cropping up, and some of these appearances have caused property distruction and even several fatalities. Surely you would know people would trace it back to AWE, whether the media reported on it or not?"

Rex paused, sighing as he turned to face her. "If this was the case, don't you think the government would have stepped in, a while ago? It is an ambitious project, mistakes will happen, but we repair them and there has been no serious threat to anyone yet. The media don't report on it because it is a non-issue, and covering it would just be fear mongering."

"But how do they keep appearing outside of AWE's testing facility... unless it is virally transmitted? And all the missing persons reports that crop up around where these things happen? The government should be stepping in, yes. But one quick Google search of your net worth tells people why the government doesn't step in."

Rex glanced around, not seeing anyone else with Megan. "You really want to keep pressing this, then walk with me. I have things to do."

Megan followed Rex as he walked quickly into AWE. "Actually, I am not with the media."

"What?"

"I just pretended to be because I knew it would get your attention, I am not here to rat anyone out. I know you have been turning people into prehistoric creatures to reverse extinction and I want in."

"You think you have what it takes to be a researcher for AWE?"

"Volunteer. I always dreamed of being able to fly and live a simpler life... obviously just a silly dream normally. Except along comes a company that can transform one life form into another..."

Rex quickly altered his course to take them to a different part of the facility rather than his office. "Well we welcome any volunteers. Our research stems from a revolutionary discovery of neo cells. Ironically the eldest living organism on the planet. But perfectly preserved, trapped in an isolated ecosystem so their evolutionary progress was effectively in stasis. They could be used in any manner of ways to do a great number of things. But AWE focusses on one path in particular- undoing the unfair extinction of prehistoric life."

Megan was looking around her like a child in a candy shop at all the fossils and models of prehistoric life on display as art pieces throughout the building. "Why prehistoric only, though? Humans have plowed over a lot of species even in recent history and wiped them out."

Rex huffed. "But they lost the evolutionary gambit. We killed them, is the difference. We evolved to a point where we win, and they lose. Yes we have guns and they don't, but they could have evolved to learn how to use or make weapons too- and didn't. So they lose. Natural selection taken to the next level. Prehistoric life however, was wiped out by massive climate shifts, mostly brought about by a meteor. An outside force that just happened to hit us by random chance. Humans came into being and won the dice roll against the megafauna because of random chance, not superiority."

Megan paused in the second lobby they passed at a statue of a strangely human looking creature that looked like some sort of alien! Vaguely human, it had hooved feet, an eel like tail, large and long tendril hands that looked like a sea slug's parapodium, a shelled back, and even an inflated throat like a bull frog. The face and head were almost completely human though.

"What on earth is this statue of?"

"Lilith. Officially I am the founder of AWE, but the argument can be made that Lilith here is the true founder. She discovered Neo Cells with her husband, but she did not share AWE's vision. This form is what the neo cells did to her without any direct guidance. Odd, perhaps unsettling at first. But, beautiful really. She became a superior life form. She went into hiding though because the outside world would not accept this form of hers. We at AWE still appreciate it properly. Dr. Magnus, our head researcher makes sure the neo cells do not have free reign here though. Letting them out into the world as they are WOULD be dangerous. If we preprogram them however, we can control just what they do."

Rex knocked on an already open door as the two of them stepped partially into a dark office. A handsome but lazy looking scientist sit in a chair adjusted so far back he might as well be laying down. He slowly turned the chair to face them, just using his feet against the leg of the desk.

"Aldinn... I don't like being interrupted. I don't barge into your office."

"You didn't look like you were doing anything."

"I wasn't doing anything. That's what you interrupted. What is it?"

Rex flicked the lights on, and nudged Megan forward. "A request. Flying creature- you have any complete samples?" He looked at Megan. "This is Dr. Opus Magnus, AWE head of research and implementation."

Magnus seemed to perk up a bit now that he knew he had a new test subject. He opened a locked metal containment unit and a heavy haze fell from it from the cooled air inside. There was hundreds of vials held horizontally inside so only the stoppers faced outward and a small digital display identified its contents. Since flying was the only criteria, Magnus easily procured the sequence. Rex left them to it to return to his office. Magnus explained that bug samples were the easiest to complete DNA sequences for, because they often lost limbs to tree sap that eventually turned to amber, sealing and preserving biological material within. For Megan he produced a syringe of neo cells programmed with the complete genetic sequence for Meganeura- the ancestor of the odonata order; dragon and damselfly.

Magnus had her fill out a bit of quick paperwork, but had another stack of more intricate contracts. Since she volunteered, Magnus had another proposition for her. She would have to agree to a contract to work for them, and remain silent about her work publically, and also wave a few of her rights away. Because once this transformation completed she would be able to fly- she could be very valuable to AWE as a scout. If she agreed to be their eyes in the sky, Magnus had a device he could give her that very, very few others got the opportunity to wear. He showed Megan the large mechanical looking bracelet he wore around his upper arm with a large rounded button on it. He explained that the device was co-created by Aden, Lilith's husband originally to help those who have been affected by the neo cells should they ever get out of hand. The device used a frequency that caused the neo cells to revert, undoing changes. The original model before Aden took his share of the research and left, could only undo so many changes- so if the subject was severely altered it would not be able to completely revert them. The current version Magnus had actually used neo cells inside of it because they are so easily imprinted. One stores the DNA sequence of the transformation, the other houses a copy of the persons original genes. Pressing the button on the bracer switches which signal the rest of the cells receive, allowing the person to transform between two completely different forms. If Megan agreed to work for AWE, she could change freely back and forth. She seen no reason not to, and signed herself up. Magnus told her she made a very good choice- because exactly as they were back when they still lived- Meganeura actually could not live in Earth's atmosphere. Earth had an obscenely high oxygen level back then, compared to now, which allowed megafauna to thrive. Earth's current o2 levels were only about 20%, which was likely too low to allow meganeura to fly, unless it was slightly altered.

Megan asked if there was a place she could change. There was numerous chambers for that within AWE but generally they were meant to contain and cow the less willing. Since she volunteered there was no reason to contain her when she changed, so he just suggested the roof and directed her to the stairs leading up to it. She could already feel herself changing as she ascended the stairs. She had already dawned the bracer used to control it, and it was set to retain a bit of her humanity once fully changed- she would still have her mind, respiratory system and some other minor alterations. That should allow her to fly even in the current, burned out version of the atmosphere.

The first changes was what at first seemed like her skin shifting around. It seemed to pull taught in some places, stretching the pours smooth and it pinched together in other places. The indented areas of skin framed her joints, starting from her toes up. She started to walk a bit lighter on her feet as she felt something else odd, and much harder to place. Her bones were actually softening and starting to dissolve, from her toes up as well. The displacement of material from her bones caused her body to react to its momentary frailty with caution, even though she was not consciously aware of it. The material that had been her bones though gathered into her skin, causing it to harden. This did not affect her mobility too badly, as the indentations in her skin from her first change became the hinge points. The smooth, taught sections were hardening into chitin plates- the indents are the edges of the segments where her joints move. Megan leaned heavily on the handrail as she went up the stairs toward the roof, and because of that was quick to notice when the same thing started to happen to her arms, starting from her fingers up. Before the skin started to harden into chitin, it almost made her look like she was turning into a ball-joint doll, with the seams where she bends.

It started to feel like someone was hugging her tightly as her ribs started to pull in on their own, trying to downsize. Megan's lower back muscles advanced in a uniform tube, starting to grow a tail out over her skirt, but her actual tailbone did not grow. The end of her tailbone opened up to allow the nerves to continue onward, but bugs have exoskeletons, so her actual spine wasn't needed. The chitin on her legs- and soon after her arms- started to turn color from a fleshy peach to a metallic vermillion. She reached the top of the stairs at the door to the roof just as her breath was forced out a moment, and her ribs cracked several times! Her entire torso squeezed in, shrinking in width as the extra mass was focussed to a point on either side. Chitin formed out from under her arms so far and so rapid that it almost looked like watching something melt in reverse. First nubs, then little tubes, then a clear joint as the new limbs took shape. She used her existing arms to pull up her shirt and let out the two new arms growing under them! The nerves formed before the flesh and chitin, so it felt like her arms were trapped inside of something, because she could already feel she should have fingers before her fingers actually grew. Because they grew in along with the chitin encasing them, her new hands finished growing in looking more claw-like. The second pair of hands only had two fingers and a thumb, and all ended in claw like points.

Megan staggered out onto the roof, immediately smiling at the wind rushing past her. She tossed her ill-fit shirt and wiggled out of her skirt right away, loving the feeling of the open air and sun on her body. Meganeura are exothermic, so they enjoy sunbaithing, but can also vibrate their wings at such an extreme speed that they can generate their own heat if needed. All the rules and regulations she was struggling to adhere to? All the work and social circles she failed to fit in with? None of it mattered now. She was about to transcend humanity- she can throw all the rules out now, she existed above them.

Megan quickly stumbled forward, even though she did not try to move. Her legs were squeezing, pressurizing. She caught herself with her four hands before her face hit the roof, and slowly started to rise. She wasn't lifting herself, her arms were getting longer! Her scrawny second arms simply grew longer, but her original two started to get more narrow as they lengthened to better match the new ones. She looked down at her legs which looked like a juice box being sucked dry- collapsing in on themselves. They were becoming scrawnier but unlike her arms they were not growing any longer. A meganeura's rear legs are only half the size of the front two. As they compacted, her toes started to fuse together, drawn into two points, turning into inward facing claws. Her body started to harden on the surface, her breasts compacting under two forming chitin plates for her pectoral muscles. The chitin hardened at first into the shape of her underlaying muscle structure, but then further expanded and fused so there was much fewer seams. Her vision started to double up, making her very dizzy for several long moments. Her iris and pupils split into two, then four, then eight. Soon her entire eye was covered, and still they continued to multiply making each one smaller in order for them all to fit. Then her eyes started to bulge out, struggling to find room for all the receptors. As the bone of her skull dissolved to continue the chitin casing, the eye sockets became no more so her eyes were more free to expand unhindered. A meganeura eye has 24,000 receptors each- allowing it to see an almost complete 360 degrees around itself. This meant the more her receptors multiplied, the more she could see without having to move her eyes, and eventually she lost the ability to move her eyes at all because they seen in every direction at the same time anyway. The more the compound eyes swelled out from the sides of her head the farther back and forth she could see, allowing her to see almost directly behind herself as well- giving her a great view of her own transformations. Two spike-like antennae erupted from her head like horns, but they were small. Odonata rely on their percise eye sight, so they don't really need antennae.

Her tail remained rather tube shaped, but grew tremendously. Her vagina and anus were consumed as it expanded so wide on the base that it dragged them into itself. It grew to the same length as the entire rest of her body and still continued. Female meganeura have their genitals near the end of their long tail, while males have theirs near the base. Even compared to other bugs, the odonata species have a complex mating process. She started to feel more and more wind against the flesh of her head as strands of her hair were carried away in the wind. Her head became more round, the eyes now taking up more than half of the entire head as they finally stopped growing. Her nose vanished entirely into the rounding head as the skin transitioned to the metallic looking chitin. Megan rolled onto her side and curled her long tail up under herself to feel with her arms as it still grew bigger. In becoming so long and narrow, the digits of her top hands were squished together and merged so she only had two fingers and a thumb, like her second set. Her jaw grew tremendously, but folded in on itself as new joints also formed, so it did not stick out any further than it already had. Her mandibles were connected by skin still, but could be extended out almost a foot from her head, having three joints each, making them almost like small arms. The end was tipped with two giant inward curved fangs, allowing the meganeura to launch its jaws at the enemy. Her teeth remained but were converted and fused with the chitin that overtook her jaws, so her teeth were now a serrated edge on the mandibles.

Megan shrank but the shrinking had no feeling of its own, and was only noticeable through her other senses. The wind became stronger, each wave of it felt larger. Her perspective kept changing as the building under her seemed to grow in size. The sky became more vast. Meganeura were easily one of the largest flying insects to ever exist, with a 30cm wingspan, but this is where some of Megan's human traits persisted. She shrank but not nearly to normal meganaura sizes. Her body was still about a foot and a half long, with another three feet worth of her giant butt/tail. Her back grew up into a hunch before four long translucent spikes erupted from the growth and quickly unfurled into wings! They began to stiffen immediately as metallic looking veins wove up through them in complex networks. Like a dragonfly, and unlike a damselfly, meganeura cannot draw their wings in- they are fully extended at all times. As soon as they formed her muscles ached with need to move and she rapidly beat her wings, nearly yanking herself up off the roof entirely on accident. She properly uncurled her body as the changes seemed to settle. The bracer that controlled the transformation remained on- the inner lining inflated to remain stuck to her much longer, much more narrow arms.

It was a strange feeling. The chitin casing on her entire body was sort of like feeling touch through a fingernail. It was a solid outside but she could still fully feel through it. Her body now worked on hydraulic pressure from her internal liquids rather than muscle sinew to move her limbs, so her limbs did not become tired like they used to. She could still wear her body out, but not the same way. It almost felt more... mechanical? There was less conscious thought required to maintain it. Like when she gripped something, rather than there being a grip with more of one part of the hand than another, or with your wrist bend a sertain way, there was just grip or not. There was no variations, no holding in a specific way, she was either gripping something or she wasn't. And it made her feel a hell of a lot stronger. That coupled with her muscles no longer tiring like they used to, she could carry around a hell of a lot more weight than as a human. Her entire body was a metallic vermillion colour, but had a deep blue sheen to it when the light reflected off it. Megan flexed all her muscles, swinging her tail around and even extending her multi jointed jaw out and back again.

Megan exploded off the roof in an instant, smiling internally as she looked out over the city below her. She darted side to side, forward and up and down in the air. Because meganeura have two sets of huge wings, they can hover in place, stop on a dime, or change direction on a moments notice- they are very effective predatory insects because they fly with extreme percision. With a bit more caution she hovered her way off the edge of the roof, finally into open sky. Megan was above everyone now! Above her former problems! They can keep all their stuffy rules down there- from up here, they don't bug her.