Till Death 2
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Till Death
by Rune
* * * * *
Chapter 2
Thorium Blue
*This is part of a 6-chapter furry sci-fi story about a long-distance gay romance that goes horribly right. As a fair warning, the story is a tragedy and features very graphic portrayal of not just sex, but sickness and death. This chapter contains language (such as the F-word.)*
* * * * *
The yellow and orange flames in the small round windows faded away, revealing a city of glittering round metal and glass structures stretching off into black hills. In the windows on one side of the cabin, twin setting suns flashed into view in the middle of an orange sunset. On the other side, they sky was black with approaching night. Eerie blue lights were turning on here and there across the city, in the curved silver buildings and on the concrete streets.
Tension flashed through Dorn's body. He felt his stomach sink. This was real! This was really happening! He was going to die a slow and terrible death in this strange city.
"Hello? Yeah, I was entering the planet's atmosphere," the whitefurred businesswolf began chatting into his headset again, "Probably in an hour or two. Depends how long they take getting us off the ship."
"Look at that!" said the fat blackfurred guy, pointing at the double-sunset.
"Take a holo!" said the fat blackfurred lady.
They jumped up, and squeezed between the seats to get to the round windows.
"Aie!" yowled the yellow spotted stewardess, jumping up and rushing down the aisle, "Liztenn you! Jet back inn yourr zeatz!" she hissed.
The guy snapped one holo out the window before climbing around the seats back to where they were sitting.
"Well that's not good," said the businesswolf, "Are you sure? Positive? Alright, send it to me and I'll take a look at it."
The stewardess walked to the back of the cabin and sat behind Dorn again.
The sunset and city windows rotated as the ship turned towards the spaceport.
* * * * *
The ancient stone hall echoed with the roar of the crowd. Transparent wolves darted ghost-like between the ancient carved wooden pillars, dressed in the white or red of opposing teams. The green field beneath their feet floated just above the stone floor like a sheet of tinted glass. And bounding across it was the black and white ball they were kicking.
Dorn opened the creaking wooden door at the front of the hall and walked across the stone floor. It was smooth and a bit shiny: he'd scrubbed it that morning. One of the players rushed through him, and he couldn't help but close his eyes as if expecting the guy to bash into him. Opening his eyes again, he continued on, wading through the ankle-high transparent green field and made his way to the ancient wood and leather throne his father was slouching in. The green gems of his platinum neckring glittered in the shifting light of the holoprogram, just over his collarless dress shirt and pants.
His ice blue eyes glared at Dorn from out of his white-tipped grey muzzle.
"What now, Dorn?" his father said, annoyed.
"Can we talk now, sir?" asked Dorn.
"Oh come on!" said his father, "Can't you wait until the game's over?"
Last night, his father had said that while watching some program on the Ethtarshi And Joran Wars, and then went to bed as soon as it ended.
"Only if you hear me out instead of going to sleep... sir," Dorn said.
"How about tomorrow?" his father rolled his eyes.
"You said that yesterday... sir," Dorn was starting to feel frustrated. He was only trying to tell him he was going to leave the planet in a few days out of common courtesy, rather than just leaving out of the blue. But lately, his father always had some game or holoprogram to watch every night.
"When can we talk about something important?" asked Dorn.
"...something important, sir," his father grumbled, "You never remember your manners, omega."
"Well, sir," Dorn overemphasized the word out of frustration, "I'm going to be leaving the house soon, and I just thought you'd find time to talk about some..."
"Where the hell are you going at this time of night?" snapped his father.
"Not now," said Dorn, "I mean, I'm not going anywhere tonight, but I'm going to be moving soon."
"What?" hissed his father, "What do you mean moving?"
"We can talk about it when you have time, sir," said Dorn.
"I have time now!" blurted his father.
He suddenly swiped his paw at the hologram and the roar of the crowd was suddenly silenced.
"You mean you're thinking of moving out?" asked his father with a bit of panic.
"Not thinking," said Dorn, "I'll be leaving next week, sir. I already have a flight booked."
"A flight? To where? Where could you possibly go?" snapped his father.
"I'll be leaving the planet..." began Dorn.
"What do you mean, leaving the planet?" growled his father.
"Leaving the planet, sir," Dorn repeated.
"Where... what..." his father was at a loss for words, "What planet?"
"Orazon, sir," said Dorn.
"Never heard of it..." muttered his father.
"It's at the other end of the Federation," said Dorn.
"Oh, Goddess," his father winced, "Couldn't stand me that much, could you?"
Dorn tensed, taking a step back.
"Look, Dorn," his father suddenly sat up straight, taking on a calm, candid tone, "I know we've had our differences, but leaving the planet? You know, you might not think... believe this, but this clan, this family, needs you."
Needed his work around the house was more like it.
"An omega is just as important as an alpha," continued his father, "You have to support us. And you'll have to be there to support your brother when he becomes alpha, after I'm gone."
Dorn felt his brow tighten with anger. He should have been a beta just like Garin, with his own chance to become alpha.
"I know you don't understand all this yet, but when you get older..." his father continued.
"Dad, I'm leaving!" snapped Dorn, "I already booked and paid for the flight and I'll..."
"Then un-book it!" snarled his father.
"No," said Dorn.
"I can't believe this!" growled his father, "After all we... I did... I sacrificed... you ungrateful little fuck!"
Insults flooded Dorn's brain, but he gritted his fangs to keep from saying anything.
"I did everything I could for you," his father seethed with anger, "And this is how you repay me?"
"This has nothing to do with you... sir," said Dorn, "It's about my life, and what I want to do with it."
"Yes, it's always about you, omega," said his father bitterly, "Never once did you ever think about me, or your mother, or brother, or the good of the clan. I don't think you once said you cared about us since you were a little pup!"
Dorn felt his eyes widen in shock. After all the years of cold treatment, his father had the hypocrisy to say he was the one who didn't care about him?
"And you haven't said you loved me, or acted like it... ever," said Dorn, turning towards the glowing green field where the black and white ball was being kicked about.
"How dare you talk to me that way! Don't you walk away when I'm talking to you, pup!" his father growled in that tone that made Dorn wince, "You're not allowed to move out, omega! I forbid it!"
Dorn kept walking, his paws veiled by the holographic field as mute transparent players swirled around him. Soon his father would be out of his life completely.
* * * * *
Dorn double-checked the pockets of his ragged khaki pants. Computer, earbuds, radiation medications... both bottles: the liquid and the pills. That was it. That, and his clothes: the pants and the white T-shirt on his back. He would board the starship by the same scan of his paw that locked the doors to the house, and his money was in his bank account he could access over the net... except he'd spent all of it already. He didn't bother packing a single bag or suitcase. He didn't need the charging cord for his computer: he wasn't going to live long enough for it to run out of power. He wasn't going to live long enough for a change of clothes to matter either, and his other clothes were even more torn up anyway.
He could have bought better clothes, some rugs for the floor or his room, or put better lighting in it, but for the past couple years, all his money went into saving up for the starship flight to see Drazzy. The only reason it didn't take another several years was that Drazzy had pitched in. Drazzy's office work paid much better than Dorn's job, so he was able to pay for most of the cost of the trip.
There was the beep of a car horn in the driveway. The taxi!
He rushed out his room, leaving the ugly lamp on and the door open, and headed for the foyer. His parents were standing there, somber and fidgeting.
"I suppose I can't change your mind, Dorn," said his father.
His father had been at a loss to understand why he'd travel to a planet where the very inhabitants were radioactive. He didn't dare tell him about having a boyfriend, let alone how quickly he'd die when he was with Drazzy. He just vaguely mentioned "job opportunities" and left it at that.
"I'll miss you," said his mother, on the verge of tears.
Miss him doing all the housework like some kind of slave, was more like it.
He started towards the door.
"Don't forget to text, or email," she added.
He didn't have the heart to tell her he wouldn't live long enough to send her anything, even if he wanted to.
Dorn opened the antique front door, and there was a rush of warm air. It was a bright summer morning outside. Birds were singing, and a shiny yellow electric van was waiting for him in the gravel driveway.
"Aren't you taking anything with you? Any clothes?" his mother asked with sudden horror.
"Maybe if you'd bought me something worth taking with me when these got holes," Dorn said, pointing at the holes in his khaki pants. They'd gotten so large over the years, they were on the verge of ripping the bottom half of his pants legs off.
With that, he stepped out towards the bright yellow taxi van.
Dorn paused, and slowly turned his head back towards his parents, who had stepped just outside the front door.
"You're supposed to say 'I love you'," he said softly.
His parents would have the rest of their lives for that parting shot to sink in...
He turned back towards the taxi, and rushed towards it.
* * * * *
The ship stopped moving forward as it switched to its hoverdrive.
It descended slowly, and crosses of green lights appeared in the bottoms of the small round windows. The landing pads of the spaceport.
One green X grew until its strings of green lights filled the windows on all sides. The strings of green lights became larger and brighter and even larger.
Finally, the ship touched down in the center of the green X so gently Dorn didn't feel a thing.
"Hello again," the familiar voice of chief steward Narth returned, "Welcome to Morlin City, Planet Orazon."
In the round windows, the green lines of lights stretched out. Beyond them, exotic blue floodlights illuminated the other starships. Some were angular, others blocky, each sitting in the middle of its own lines of green lights.
Excitement gripped every fiber of Dorn's body. Drazzy. He was finally on Drazzy's planet. In just a few minutes, he was going to meet Drazzy in the flesh!
"Now please proceed to the radiation suit lockers," the chief steward added, "where our flight staff will assist you in putting on your radiation suits before you board the shuttles. Once again, please head to the radiation suit lockers at the rear."
As the other passengers began chatting and standing up, Dorn reached through the cloud of blue holomenus and flicked off the computer. The holomenus vanished, and he tucked the computer back in his pocket.
He stood up, his legs stiff and sore from sitting for so long. The spotted yellow ethtarshi stewardess stood up and lead the line of wolves shuffling over the carpet with her graceful strides.
"Really?" asked the businesswolf behind him, "Well, I wouldn't put it past them. I've always said you have to keep an eye on those kethtarshi. You wouldn't believe the shit they've tried to sneak into contracts on me."
The stewardess's tail twitched. She kept walking without a word.
They continued past the toilet, into the white metal windowless corridors at the rear of the ship, where the stewardess directed him to a narrow room of metal lockers and benches.
His gaze was met by an alien whose eyes were two pools of violet, looking out of a short, blunt snout topped by tall round ears. Its fur was a light tan color with white splattered irregularly across the front of its snout and limbs, as if a can of paint had been thrown on it. The rest of the creature was covered by the blue shirt, loincloth, and stockings of the starline's uniform, including its long tail.
The yellow spotted stewardess and the tanfurred alien spoke back and forth in some language Dorn had never heard before. Then she and the alien began taking the passengers' measurements with a holoprogram that surrounded them with auras of color-coded numbers.
"Yeah. Let me put it this way," said the businesswolf, "now this is just between you and me, don't go blabbing this around, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was the first to go if there was a downsizing."
The violet-eyed alien walked around them, manipulating the numbers with his paws, and talking to the stewardess in his language. As he measured each passenger, she opened the metal lockers with the appropriately-sized blue plastic suits, and began instructing them in how to put the suits on.
"Zthe panntz go onn firzt," she said.
The stiff outer plastic of the suits crinkled noisily.
"Shit, these things are heavy," said the businesswolf with the headset. "What? I'm putting on a space suit right now..." He continued to talk while he put the suit on.
A young, grey-furred, brown-eyed wolf with a blue headset walked in. While the starline's blue uniform looked alright on the short-furred aliens, it was absolutely gorgeous on the body of the hot young male. His greyfurred hips were enticingly bare, the long blue loincloth swayed with his steps as if about to expose his sheath at any second, and there was nothing covering his bare ass except his own tail... as long as he held it down low. The blue sleeve on his tail was weird, though. It forced the thick grey fur of his tail down into an awkwardly thin tube, which ended in a fuzzy ball of fur where his tailtip was left bare. It was obviously never intended for wolves.
"Is everyone doing alright?" Dorn recognized the warm voice of chief steward Narth.
"This is taking a long time," complained the fat blackfur.
"Hey, it's better to do it slow and get it right than to get irradiated," said Narth, "Let me get you a suit."
He talked to the tanfurred alien in its language for a bit, and then brought out a pair of radiation suits for the tourists, helping them put them on. As he turned, Dorn glimpsed an iron ring that was almost completely covered up by the blue collar of his shirt. The chief steward was an omega!
Slowly it dawned on Dorn. Aliens knew nothing about clan ranks. They were unique to wolves. So an ethtarshi and whatever species the tanfur was, didn't know that the chief steward's neckring meant anything. As far as they knew it was just a fashion accessory, and he was their boss.
The blue plastic suits made a noisy crinkling sound every time they moved. The businesswolf complained they were heavy the whole time. The tourists put the heavy jackets on backwards at first. The elderly couple didn't connect the gloves and boots properly and the stewardess had to take them off and put them on again, and then they were weighed down so much it seemed they could barely stand.
Finally it was Dorn's turn. The spotted yellow stewardess unfolded the thick blue plastic pants and he stepped into them. Then a heavy jacket went over his head. It felt like it was crushing down his shoulders, and he could feel it pressing his legs down. She lifted the pants up around his tail and the two parts locked together seamlessly. Then she fitted a heavy sleeve around his tail which clicked into place.
Then she handed him boots and gloves for his paws, which he put on himself. But he couldn't get them to attach to his pants and sleeves.
She knelt down and locked the boots into the pants with a slight twisting motion. Then she did the same for the gloves, connecting them to the sleeves with a sort of metal rings.
The whole thing was thick and heavy, and he was glad to be able to sit down on the bench. Finally, the helmet, which had a cockpit-like construction of thick clear plastic and reinforcing struts for the muzzle.
The helmet was uncomfortable and awkward, until it finally fit into place around his ears, and locked into place. He could feel air blowing the fur of his cheeks in time with his breaths, passing through filters on the sides of the helmet.
The only smell inside the suit was the stench of tangy plastic. Every sound, every voice was muffled and hollow. Being in the suit was suddenly hot and a bit claustrophobic.
He panted for a moment. He was going to his death. He would die by being with Drazzy, and there was no getting out of it now.
"Excuse me, sir," the chief steward walked up to the pudgy blackfurred tourist. He looked even fatter with the thick suit on.
"I notice you're carrying your holocam outside your suit," said the chief steward.
"What about it?" the guy's voice came hollow through the helmet.
"Anything you carry outside your suit is going to be exposed to the radiation," said the chief steward.
"So?" asked the guy.
He clutched his holocam a little tighter in his heavy blue gloves.
"It's going to be irradiated," explained the chief steward, "and become radioactive very quickly out there."
The guy stared at the chief steward blankly.
"You wouldn't be able to handle it without gloves, or have it in the hotel room with you, and you wouldn't be able to take it home with you," the chief steward explained.
"Then how am I supposed to take holos of our trip?" the guy was getting annoyed.
"There's rental holocams available in the spaceport," said the chief steward, "when you turn in the rental cam they give you a memory chip with all your holos in it."
"How much does it cost?" blurted the blackfurred lady.
"A lot less than a new holocam," said the chief steward.
"Take it," said the lady.
"Oh, alright," sighed the guy, "Now I got to put this back in my pocket. How do I..." he started feeling around his blue suit.
The chief steward said something to the stewardess, and she unlocked the belt of the man's suit and pulled the pants down a bit, so he could tuck the holocam into the pocket of his shorts. Then she locked the suit up.
The chief steward opened up a holomenu in the same shade of blue as his uniform, and poked it.
"Ok, everybody, listen up," said the chief steward, his voice reverberating throughout the ship, "Once you exit the starship, do not, under any circumstances, open up your suit unless you're in a radiation-shielded hotel or restroom. And don't head out anywhere without the full suit on. And don't forget to put the boots and tail-sleeve on when you put the suit back on. There's always a few people every year who forget. One last rule. Always remember: keep your suit on."
If only he knew what Dorn was planning to do with Drazzy...
"Is everybody all set, then?" asked the chief steward, closing up the holomenu and intercom.
Dorn and the businesswolf nodded.
"Alright," said the chief steward, "Follow the green arrows out the ship, thank you for flying."
"Have a jood time," said the stewardess, grinning.
Dorn rose slowly, joining the loud crinkling of the radiation-suited passengers. The fat guy almost stumbled over when he stood up from the bench. Dorn was suddenly thankful to have had practice walking around in boots all winter. Though the suit was even more awkward to walk in than boots alone: it weighed him down, and the slightest unsteadiness was punished by its bulk trying to tip him over.
Slowly, he stomped forward with careful, deliberate motions, the suit's thick material crinkling loudly with every move he made. He and the other passengers lumbered out the door of the locker room, turned in the direction of a holographic green arrow, and stomped their way down a tunnel with a metal door at the end.
As the last passenger stomped into the tunnel, two halves of a thick metal door slid shut behind them with a metallic crash. Then the door in front of them slid open noisily to reveal a moving sidewalk going sideways.
They crinkled their way onto the sidewalk, which was moving down a spacious round tunnel. The lighting in the tunnel had a blue tint to it. All along the moving sidewalk, holo-ads floated overhead, most in one particular alien language. The ordinaz language.
He was finally there! It all seemed unreal. Like he was just dreaming about meeting Drazzy and would wake up to find himself in his bed, back in the storeroom. Yet it was happening.
He reached for his computer to text Drazzy. His gloved paw crinkled against the leg of his suit.
Shit! His computer was in his pants pocket, inside the suit. And even though he wasn't planning on keeping the suit on, he couldn't just pop it open in public, in front of the other passengers. Not without causing a scene.
His muscles tensed a little more. Now he had no way to contact Drazzy if they somehow missed each other...
The moving sidewalk ended at a luggage conveyor, where reinforced metal trunks glided along. Bulky radiation-shielded trunks were the only kind of luggage allowed to be taken to the planet: anything else would quickly become saturated with radiation, contaminating everything inside.
The other passengers lumbered off towards the luggage conveyor, but Dorn didn't have any luggage. He wasn't planning on living on the planet very long...
He stomped towards a set of thick silver scanning gates that rose up out of the floor. Aliens in blue, yellow, and red radiation suits of different shapes and sizes had lined up in front of them, mixed in with blue-green scalies without suits.
Zordinaz.
At last, he saw Drazzy's people with his own eyes! Most of them wore dull grey or black pants and shirts which laced up around the jiggling flesh-horns along their backs. The smooth alien skin of their heads, hands and feet shimmered gorgeously, something Dorn had never noticed before. It didn't show in any holo, not even the nude one Drazzy had sent.
Dorn joined the back of the line. It was moving, but not that fast. He had nothing to do but look around.
Some of the zordinaz were single shades of green. Others were all blue. Many of them had the blue glowing bulbs of flesh on the ends of their dangling flesh-horns, but not all. Some had flesh-horns that were short and dull. None of them were half as beautiful as Drazzy, though. Most of the zordinaz were fat, or skinny, or old, or just plain out of shape.
The guards standing by the scanning rings and inspecting the passengers were also zordinaz, some almost as beautiful as Drazzy. The skin of their snouts glittered, some mostly green, some mostly blue. Even with their dull grey armored vests over drab grey uniforms, Dorn could see their muscles were well-toned. If Dorn didn't already have Drazzy, he might have even been tempted to try to strike up a conversation with one of them. But they weren't anyone's friends: their triple-pairs of green eyes seemed to glow menacingly at every last creature passing through their scanners, zordinaz and radiation-suited alien alike.
Dorn looked ahead for any sign of Drazzy. He found his gaze drawn to every half-green, half-blue ordinaz, and while they weren't the most common coloration, there were still a lot of them.
Dorn's heart skipped a beat, then thudded twice as hard. There, at long last! Behind several transparent holo-ads, he finally saw... an unfamiliar green and blue ordinaz emerge from out of the holos, whose face had been partially blocked by the ads he was straining to see through.
Dorn sighed.
Ahead in the line, a group of creatures in red radiation suits didn't have luggage either. They had very long tails wrapped in multiple tail sleeves joined end to end. Some held their tails in strange, tight spirals behind them, while others wiggled their tails along the ground like a snake. One of them turned its head and he recognized its jet-black muzzle fur and turquoise eyes. Shjoran. They liked to live simple lives, which explained why they were traveling so light. As light as he was...
Where was Drazzy? He hoped vaguely that Drazzy would walk up and be there waiting for him to pass through the inspection. But there was no sign of him.
In the next line over, were some of that tanfurred species with the purple eyes, in blue radiation suits. They were loaded down with heavy radiation-proof trunks, grunting and muttering as they struggled with their piles of luggage. Ahead in the same line, a lone scaley in a red radiation suit cast rather smug looks at everyone around it with a fierce horned and tattooed muzzle. In the line on the other side of Dorn was a group of small creatures half his height in yellow suits, chatting in high-pitched voices...
Finally, he reached the head of the line, and turned his attention towards the ordinaz guard.
He stepped into the silver gate, his blue radiation suit crinkling, The muscular blue guard glared at him with his three pairs of glowing eyes. Then the guard turned towards a green holomenu that had been blurred so it couldn't be read by its transparent backside. After only a few seconds, he waved Dorn through.
Dorn stepped out of the ring, and entered the open space in the middle of the vaulted spaceport.
The front! He'd told Drazzy to wait for him at the front entrance.
He stomped along faster, his suit crinkling a bit louder. He panted from the exertion, and air flowed into his cheekfur through the filters with every breath he took. He stepped around blue and green zordinaz and radiation-suited creatures, the sounds of footsteps and movement echoing across the spaceport and muffled through the suit. Colorful holo-ads in unfamiliar languages flashed above his head.
At last, he reached the glass sliding doors at the front of the spaceport, and rushed out into the night.
There were lines of wheeled vehicles shining under the blue floodlights. They had oddly-angled glass fronts and large white clouds rising from their rears. The yellow thrusters of a distant starship flared in the dark sky over blue city lights. He shot glances in all directions. There was an ordinaz in some sort of red uniform standing by one of the vehicles, a pair of thin zordinaz walking towards spaceport's door...
"Dojji!" called a low-pitched voice to his side.
He snapped his head around with a crinkle of the radiation suit. Walking up to him was the green-muzzled, blue-headed face of his love he had stared at in that holo so many times, but now solid, real... and with shimmering smooth skin more beautiful than it ever appeared in the holo. Drazzy's three pairs of luminous eyes sat above a glowing green pointed tongue in the middle of a breathless toothy grin. Atop his head, the blue glowing orbs at the tips of his topmost flesh-horns suddenly brightened, and he rushed towards Dorn.
"Drazzy!" Dorn's cry echoed in the suit. He started to run towards Drazzy, but the suit's bulk and weight unbalanced him. He caught himself from falling flat on his face with a sweep of his tail, and fell into a fast walk, the suit crinkling loudly with every movement.
In front of him, Drazzy moved with surprising grace. Long pairs of glittering green toes on each foot flexed to put a spring in his steps, while the glowing blue bulbs along the spine of his tail flashed into view with every stride. A sweeping golden graphic flexed back and forth in the fabric of the dark grey shirt and pants Drazzy was wearing. On Drazzy's green wrists and ankles pairs of golden bracelets glinted under the floodlights, shining gold chains holding them together.
Drazzy crumpled the front of Dorn's suit against his chest as they embraced. Dorn could barely feel Drazzy's body with his thickly-padded arms and paws, but Drazzy's hug squeezed the sides and back of the suit around him. Dorn's muzzle quivered involuntarily as tears of joy dampened the fur under his eyes, blinding him.
For several minutes, they stood there, hugging silently. Joy washed though every fiber of Dorn's body.
Then Drazzy let go and took a step back. Dorn opened his eyes to see six glowing eyes staring longingly at him. Wordlessly, Drazzy brought his two-clawed green hand up to the side of the rigid cockpit-like helmet around Dorn's muzzle. Dorn brought his blue gloved paw up to Drazzy's chest, but could barely feel a thing.
Finally, Drazzy pulled away, and placed his two-clawed hands on Dorn's shoulders, still staring at him longingly with his three pairs of eyes. Golden bracelet and chain-adorned green arms flanked Dorn's muzzle. The graphic on Drazzy's dark grey shirt was a stylized dragon-like creature made of fine golden thread, which was also stitched into geometric patterns in the cuffs and collar.
"Godz, you're more beautiful jjan I ever dreamed," Drazzy said whistfully, his accent lingering on every "o" sound.
"You too," said Dorn, "I never imagined you'd be so beautiful."
The blue bulbs atop Drazzy's flesh horns glowed with renewed brightness, and his glowing green tongue appeared again as his smiled.
"Did you get dressed up for me?" asked Dorn.
Drazzy's blue flesh-horns were tossed about as he nodded, "You're only going to zee me once in your life..."
"Thank you," said Dorn.
"I can't wait to hold you," said Drazzy, "all of you, onze we get you out of..."
"Shh!" said Dorn, "I don't think we should talk about our plans in public!" he hissed.
"Who'z going to know?" said Drazzy, "No one here can underztand uz. Jjiz izn't a very well-known language..."
"The other wolves, from the ship, are around here," explained Dorn.
"You're, you're right," said Drazzy, the blue tips of his flesh-horns dimming a bit, "Let'z go. We'll take the zubway."
Drazzy grabbed his gloved paw and began leading him down the sidewalk. They walked down a concrete path well-lit with bluish lights, marked with painted symbols and signs in ordinaz and several other alien languages. Dorn was just able to curl his gloved paw in Drazzy's fingers, and they continued on, as close to walking paw-in-paw as they could get.
The entire length of Drazzy's blue spine, from forehead to tailtip, sprouted dangling blue flesh-horns with glowing tips. His grey shirt laced-up at the back around the flesh-horns, while his pants had a large tailhole. His tail was bare, and covered in beautiful shimmering blue skin sprouting a line of luminescent blue orbs on short flesh-horns.
A steady stream of green and blue zordinaz, along with red, blue, and yellow radiation-suited shjoran, kethtarshi, and creatures Dorn didn't recognize walked past them. Soon they reached a low rectangular archway topped with a holosign. Inside it, blue-lit concrete steps went down. They walked down them paw-in-paw.
At the bottom of the stairs was a huge chamber under an arched concrete roof, with four pairs of train rails crossing it. A tangle of arching and branching metal walkways led between the entrance and the boarding platforms, which were crowded with zordinaz and radiation-suited creatures, standing between red holographic warnings floating over the edges of the platforms.
Drazzy bought Dorn an eighteen day pass to the city subways at a transparent holo box. The holokiosk automatically logged Dorn's bodyscan into the subway system.
"For you, eightyteen dayz is a lifetime pazz," Drazzy smirked.
It was a strange thought.
Tugging his paw, Drazzy lead him over the metal walkways and down metal steps to a concrete platform crowded with blue and green zordinaz. Some with glowing flesh-horns, some without. Different ages, sizes, and dress, though grey and black were the most common colors of clothing. Red holographic warnings Dorn couldn't read floated over the edges of the platform, surrounding them.
"Careful," said Drazzy, "Don't ever ztand where jjoze holos are."
"Why?" asked Dorn.
"Jje trainz move at hundredz of kilometerz per hour," explained Drazzy, "Jje air around jjem movez juzt az fazt, and it'll blow you away."
"I didn't quite get that," winced Dorn.
Drazzy let go of his paw, and faced him, becoming more animated, "Jje trainz, jjey cut jjrough jje air," he slid one green, golden-bracelet adorned hand past the other, "It makez wind, zo ztrong it'z...
While Drazzy spoke, there was a beep, and a synthetic voice repeated itself in three alien languages. As if to prove Drazzy's point, suddenly a white blur blasted through the station with a rippled roar Dorn could feel even through the suit.
"Holy shit!" said Dorn.
The trains really did move dangerously fast.
"Told you," smirked Drazzy, his flesh-horns brightening.
There was another beep, a synthetic voice in three languages, and finally, a humming white train slowly came to a stop in front of them, hovering just above the tracks. Then the red holowarnings between them and the train suddenly vanished, and its doors opened.
They walked in, jostling against the zordinaz, and found a couple of hard plastic seats. The seats had troughs for their tails that were a bit uncomfortable, but tolerable.
Through the windows, Dorn noticed one of the other platforms had all the radiation-suited aliens besides him.
"How come all the, uh, aliens are over there?" asked Dorn, "Should we be..."
"Jjat'z jje route to jje tourizt area. All the radiation shielded hotelz, and zpecial shopz," explained Drazzy, "But I don't live jjere, zo we're going jjiz way."
"What way?" asked Dorn.
"I jjought I'd show you a few of my favorite plazez around here before we... got down to buzinezz," said Drazzy.
Why not? The longer Dorn stayed in the suit before heading over to Drazzy's apartment, the more time he'd have before being exposed to radiation. And the longer they'd be able to be together.
"That's a good idea," Dorn nodded, "I'd like that."
There was a beep, a synthetic message repeated in the same three alien languages, and then the doors closed. The train started to move, several of the zordinaz leaning, or clutching metal rails to stay in their seats with the initial burst of speed. Dorn was the only one not shoved around by the train's motion, thanks to his heavy radiation suit.
The train kept accelerating, minute after minute. There was no way to tell how fast they were moving in the dark underground tunnel, but occasionally, a blue light would flash by the windows like a bullet.
Eventually, the train slowed down and made a stop in another, smaller underground station. There Drazzy led him through a change of trains. A rush of zordinaz moved with them. Again, Dorn noticed some of them had glowing blue flesh-horns and some didn't.
"Drazzy?" started Dorn after they were seated on the next train.
"Yez?" said Drazzy.
"Can I ask you a stupid question?" Dorn continued.
"What iz it?" said Drazzy.
"Why do some Zordinaz not have any err... horns that glow?" asked Dorn.
Drazzy giggled, his blue flesh-horns brightening, "Jjoze are jje femalez."
"Oh," Dorn said, feeling a bit stupid.
"I jjink you have good tazte, jjough," said Drazzy.
"What do you mean?" questioned Dorn.
"I jjink you decided to be wijj me, becauze uz boyz are prettier," smirked Drazzy, "We have jje pretty hornz."
Dorn chuckled.
Suddenly, the black tunnel was torn away, and rounded glass-walled buildings with blue lights whipped by in a blur. Then they were replaced by clusters of irregular dark shapes with glowing green hearts.
"What are those?" asked Dorn.
"Zredi," said Drazzy, "Let'z call jjem 'treez'."
"Those are the trees on your planet?" said Dorn.
"Yez," replied Drazzy, "In fact, you're going to get to zee a lot more of jjem. I'm taking you to my favorite zpot in jje park."
"We're going to the park at night?" questioned Dorn.
"Oh yez, lotz of people like to zee it at night when you can zee it glow," explained Drazzy.
The scenery was suddenly ripped away by a black tunnel. Then Dorn felt the train begin to decelerate, and eventually it came to a halt at another underground station. This time, Drazzy led him by the paw up concrete stairs and out into the night. Only a few zordinaz went with them.
Ahead of them wound a concrete trail lit with blue lights atop lampposts on either side. It lead into a wall of green glowing alien vegetation. Instead of individual leaves, the trees had massive drooping fleshy fronds, each illuminated with a faint green light from within. The forest was bathed in the soft glow of its own trees.
They walked slowly down the path, paw-in-paw. Ahead of them, a family of blue zordinaz walked along, the waist-high children pointing at Dorn and asking questions. He just might have been the first alien they ever saw in person. In the dim light, Dorn noticed the family of blue zordinaz were a bit overbright. As was a green ordinaz in dark shorts that jogged past them.
Then he noticed Drazzy's body was lit up too! Every feature of his muzzle, hands, tail, and feet stood out. His clothes were darker than his body.
"Drazzy, you're glowing!" said Dorn.
"You finally notized," giggled Drazzy.
"No, I mean," Dorn struggled to explain, "Your skin, your body, not just your eyes and your horns."
"Ah..." a look of comprehension came over Drazzy, "Told you I waz radioactive," he smirked.
No wonder being with an ordinaz even for a few minutes was deadly! They had so much radioactive isotope in their bodies, they literally glowed in the dark...
One side of the path opened into a field of dark blue, bulbous plants snaking out of the soil. Drazzy led Dorn over it, but with the boots over his paws, he had no way to feel whatever texture the strange plants might have had underpaw. Here and there were clusters of round bushes with blue glowing tips. Drazzy walked up a small bluish hill and sat down, facing back towards the concrete trail. Dorn's heavy suit crinkled noisily as he sat down next to him.
In the distance, over the quiet glowing forest of green lobed trees, was the city's skyline. The skyscrapers were dotted with blue lights. Above it all, two moons hung low in the sky: a blotchy crescent of green, and one of blue.
"I can't tell you how many timez I've come here and wished you were here," said Drazzy, "Zo I could show you jjiz."
They sat there in silence for a long while, the only sound air passing in and out of Dorn's helmet filters. Dorn was dark in his blue suit, its edge faintly illuminated by the green light from Drazzy's triple-pair of eyes, and the blue flesh-horns running down his spine. Drazzy's skin on his head, hands, and feet was clearly visible, shimmering green and blue. His body produced its own faint light from deep within.
In front of them, the forest was a mass of faint green lobes arcing around each other. It was so unfamiliar to his eyes, Dorn found he was having trouble seeing exactly where the different fleshy fronds were or which tree they were attached to, like the whole forest was some sort of massive optical illusion. Below the low forest canopy was a tangled mess of blue snaking plants with glowing tips. And in the dark, blue field, something flashed...
"Did you see that?" asked Dorn.
"Yez," Drazzy said calmly, "I waz hoping jjey'd be out tonight."
More flashes, like tiny blue flashlights in the dark.
"What is that?" asked Dorn.
"Zev-zin... bugz, of a kind," said Drazzy.
As Dorn's eyes became attuned to the darkness, he started to see the small, fly-like insects that produced the flashes, slowly wheeling about in the dark, flashing every now and then.
"Just like fireflies," he said.
"What?" asked Drazzy.
"On my planet," explained Dorn, "There's a bug that flashes green..."
"Ah," nodded Drazzy, "Do jjoze have uranium in jjem?"
"No, it's a chemical... of some kind," said Dorn.
"Jje bugz on your planet glow by uzing a chemical?" puzzled Drazzy.
"Well, just the fireflies," said Dorn.
"Jjat'z, jjat'z very wierd," said Drazzy, "How doez it work?"
"I don't know," said Dorn, "I'm not a biologist."
One of the blue bugs passed near them.
Dorn tried to catch it in his paws, but with the thick suit to slow his movements, it slipped past him easily.
It circled around, and Drazzy scooped it up. Cupping it in his hands, he held it close to Dorn. Dorn took it into his gloved paws carefully, and suddenly there was a bright blue light covering his gloves.
"Awww," moaned Drazzy, "You crushed it."
Dorn saw that his gloves were dripping with glowing blue juice.
"I didn't mean too," said Dorn, "It's these gloves..."
"Eww," winced Drazzy, "Wipe your pawz off on the ground."
Dorn rose to a kneeling position and swiped his gloved paws across the soft, blue plants. The blue bug juice stuck to them, leaving glowing stains.
"I zuppoze," announced Drazzy, "It'z about time we got to my plaze and got you out of jjat clumzy jjing."
Dorn's body tensed with excitement at the thought. He might as well. While he wanted to spend as much time as possible in the suit so his time with Drazzy would last longer, there was no point in staying in the suit until he was hungry and exhausted. There wouldn't be any time for him to rest and recuperate after he took the suit off, not if they were going to make love before the radiation made Dorn sick...
"I thought you'd never ask," said Dorn.
They stood up, Dorn's suit crinkling loudly.
Then he stood up. Drazzy took his gloved paw in his hand and they walked back to the subway station.