Isle of Earth and Sky: Chapter 1
#1 of Isle of Earth and Sky
In a city where, apparently, femboys are the rulers, a lone cheshire cat takes a road less traveled by.
Hallow Star watches above the edges of the city border, the horizon ever present. The sea of white is not present today, revealing all of the land below it. The cheshire cat inhales the fresh sky air; it never gets old. It's always cool and breezy up in the city of Ayanus. Often he would just sit at the very border and let the wind course through his black and white fur, those pink eyes peering over the horizon like every other day. Call him odd, but he finds the everyday scenery more peaceful than what happens in Ayanus, one of the many floating cities in the sky.
Because there is a lot to do.
He isn't on a vacation. Rather, he's just waiting for his business to find him. He's wearing his company uniform after all. Black tank-top for a shirt, tight jeans shorts that give way to his rather curved hips, and for his fluffy striped tail of course. Last, and certainly not least, the signature biolinked necklace key. Said necklace chirps. It alerts him of his incoming business.
"Mister Star!" a high feminine pitch breaks the peace.
Hallow turns to the voice. It's a squirrel employee of the company with the same outfit as him. Though his necklace is smaller, less noticeable. It's a certified rank gap between them. Not long after the sounds of heavy steps follow suit. A large doberman with muscle and masculinity follows suit. Unlike its clothed handler, the large muscular doberman did not wear clothes other than their biolinked collar.
'Rather,' Hallow thought, 'it's by law that such figures did not wear clothes.'
"I'm really sorry I'm late. Something had to be taken care of."
The petite squirrel makes a tugging motion, and the doberman clearly reacts to it as if the collar truly did have some leather leash to it. The cheshire cat raises a brow at their antics.
"Did you know how much time you made me waste because you couldn't control yourself?" his large bushy tail flicks angrily as he tried to control his tone.
"I'm sorry." says the doberman with expected submission.
"I'm sorry what?" the squirrel egged the doberman to finish.
"I'm sorry that you made me waste your time with my cock...Sir."
This is an expected response for those like the doberman. The squirrel seems to haphazardly accept the apology.
"We'll need to get you back in conditioning if you manage to mess up my life again." the squirrel threatens before returning his attention to Hallow. "Sorry about that. I uh...try to keep my personal life out of business."
Hallow nods distantly. "It doesn't matter that we bring our Feralics to work, Allus. As long as they use themselves properly."
"Yes, I know." Allus nods as well. "But you can't really expect them to do much without their dicks grabbing their attention soon after."
"Of course." Hallow sighs at Allus' description of them. "They're savages after all."
"Indeed." Allus' necklace glows as holographs manifest before him. Like waving hands in water, the squirrel moves the screens with little thought in mind as he tosses them to Hallow, which he catches absentmindedly.
He opens the screen again. It shows various brain scans of several Feralics they captured a few days ago. This is Hallow's job. A subjugator.
"Ayanus seems to have crossed over Feralics territory that seems to have an environment that's mainly composed of desert this time." says Allus, zooming the screen onto some of the brain scans and highlighting some parts of the cerebrum. "But our drones picked up an oasis environment close to the territory bearing fruit. And it looks like the fruit has increased their mental capacity."
"Did this cause us to lose our subjugation force integrity?" asks Hallow.
"No Sir, but the tribe did take down more drones than usual." says Allus.
The cheshire cat paused his observation and turned his head to the squirrel. "Tell me Allus, why do we even interact with the Feralics?"
The squirrel's answer came out with confidence. "It's because we want to, Sir. If it weren't for us, they wouldn't know that they can live better lives than to live off the land and war with one another for dominance."
Hallow huffed and turned to the doberman, who simply waits with his muzzle aimed down to the sidewalk. "Other than that?"
"Uh...I mean, they just make good pets." Allus shrugged.
"Right. Thing is, if we were to actually face one without the technology we have, we'd most definitely lose." says the cheshire cat. "And we'd be pets."
"Except they don't have the technology that we do." Allus points out the obvious. Hallow rolls his eyes a bit. The squirrel giggled. "All that muscle created by years and years of training and honing their skills, beaten by a hunk of metal made merely days ago."
"Right," the feline made a half smirk. "Anyway, you're saying that the Feralics in this region are more intelligent in their strategy?"
"Yes, but that didn't change much. We still managed to round them all up without too much of a hassle." says Allus. "But the other thing is the-"
"Conditioning."
Allus looks stunned for a few seconds. "Yeah...their minds are more solidified, more resistant to our conditioning."
"Why not just increase the conditioning level?" he suggests.
"Well, we did do that. But when we did, a batch of Feralics ended up too conditioned. They can't do the most basic things unless we tell them to." Allus summarizes.
"Right, and you want me to just...add the decimals between the whole numbers."
"Yes! That's why I'm here, I've been sent to take you to the Cognito facility." says Allus.
This is where the main part of his job comes in.
"All right, lead me."
"Come!" Allus orders his Feralic. The doberman hurryingly rushes over to the side of his owner before Hallow follows the two as they navigate to the Cognito room.
Hallow follows the squirrel whilst his doberman pet is just behind him. The halls underneath the city ground of Ayanus. The white halls are lit by fluorescent lights, the temperature is cool. For citizens of Ayanus they wear jackets in the underground halls. Like a hospital, the whole underground facility is colder as to slow and prevent the pathogens the Feralics may end up bringing to Ayanus. Fortunately there's also a sanitization process the moment they're captured. Once cleaned, they go through some processes for their new purpose in the city of Ayanus. Though the whole process isn't Hallow's concern.
He's a subjugator. His job doesn't stop when he captures a Feralic. Physical subjugation is one thing.
The mind is a whole other ordeal.
After walking to the end of a hall, the doors lead to an expansion that leads to the Cognito Facility. Box office spaces are organized perfectly into square rows and columns with many other sleek, lithe, and girlish employees on computers. Their thick rumps are supported with bottom supportive chairs as they do their jobs.
The job of a subjugator is one that has more time on one's hands than usual. Control must not only be distributed, but maintained. And, if desired, customized.
Hallow heads to his office, located at the edge of the office platform where he could personally see the shipment of new Feralics, along with other subjugators of similar status. In reality the office platform is located directly above the Cognito Floor, where all the magic happens. Hallow beyond the glass wall, a dozen feet or more above the conveyor belts that lead the Feralics to the Cognito Room.
"So, about this new batch?" the cheshire cat heads back to his office to do his work. His necklace glows as his office computer turns on in his presence.
"Yes, these new Feralics as mentioned earlier are more resistant to the conditioning." Allus takes the hologram information and integrates it with his computer, the device already allocating the data. "Hopefully we can get this batch integrated with their serial line as soon as possible."
"Right," Hallow sighs and starts overlooking all the data with more focus. "You can go back to your duties, Allus. I'll take care of this."
"Thank you Sir." the squirrel takes his leave, tuggin the doberman with him.
The cheshire cat huffs and absentmindedly adjusts the data. Conditioning levels are mainly in whole numbers because the specific decimals are often a hassle to deal with. If there's one thing that Hallow thinks of his job, it's a hassle. Every subjugator in the Cognito Facility are simply button pushers despite the intimidating name. Unless there's some really smart or strategic Feralics, almost no thought is put into the job. Sure, Hallow's job gets him more pay, but it's still the same. It's just very specific numbers. Once he puts in the numbers, all the machines do the work.
His eyes move to the camera feed below. Rows upon rows of bound Feralics, all strapped to pods to keep them comfy while the conditioning does their work. Sometimes the Feralics would squirm or try to get out, but they ultimately go still after a few minutes. There's a patch of missing pods from the endless rows, the one he has to deal with. There's a total of twelve of them, three rows and four columns. All of them are squirming to try and get out of the pod. But theblack iridescent nanotechnology they're swimming in makes sure they won't so much as stain the glass with their noses.
The batch appears to be anubian jackals, according to the nanites that formed into cameras to watch over them while inside the pods. Despite the hot climate they come from, they're quite muscular.
Hallow shook his head and sighs. He should get to work.
Fingers move with efficiency as he rounds up and specifies the level of the conditioning depending on the subject's brainwaves. The closer the synchrony, the better, and the faster they break.
2.45...
3.1...
1.001...
2.81...
The numbers fly without so much as a second thought.
2.098...
1.322...
3.009...
1.55...
He's almost done. After this he can move onto the batches needed for adjustments.
1.23...
3.005...
2.75...
...
...
Hallow looked at the last one in the batch. The jackal's still squirming and writhing in the nanite pool. He's just as muscled as the others who have gone still due to the nanites flashing around them with subliminal messages and hypnotic lights. He's got a bit of bluish eyes to him, and he looks quite young. All in all, there's not much that makes him stand out.
...
...
So...why did he stop?
...
...
[Personal administration permission sent...
...
...
Granted]
Hallow steps out of his office and starts walking back into the halls. He...doesn't know why he did that. So perhaps he'll find the answer when he sees the jackal for himself.