FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Author's Note: Alright, this was a commission for JoeEdgeXI. Shi asked me to do an origin story for hir character, and, well... Here we are. I apologize in advance for mangling whatever ideas you might have had. Remember, I love requests, and I have no shame; just a couple of caveats; no M/M, no beastiality, or non-consensual sex. Oh, and no more than one herm per pairing. Other than that, go crazy, and, as always...

Enjoy.

The darkness of space is a harsh place, in both senses of the word; without the umbra of an atmosphere to bend their light, the stars do not twinkle, but rather glare, like angry eyes of forgotten gods. And it is harsh in the traditional sense; it is barren and lifeless beyond compare. Only one spot in all its expanse shines with the light of life; a tiny, yellow sun way out in the backwater of the universe (if you get that reference, have a whole damn Internet cake). A resident of the third rock from that sun birthed life, and that life climbed from the cradle of its planet and expanded throughout the solar system, from the vast underground ruins of Mars, to the un-ending ice of Io, to the cloying and dense beyond belief methyl-forests of Venus, and even to that cold lump of ice and rock Pluto. Only one planet defeats them; the tiny freezing-hot hummingbird Mercury. It zips along its orbit with ecstatic frenzy, its years longer than its day. One side is a hell on earth, cooked by the unyielding light of the sun, where rivers and seas of molten metal ride on the semi-liquid crust. Its other side is almost as bad; a wasteland almost as cold as pure vacuum, with what little of its tenuous atmosphere pooling in liquid puddles.

It was on the subject of Mercury that a meeting had been called, in an orbiting station somewhere between Earth and Mars. The station was the size of a small country, but it carried no markings, and its transponder was set to a frequency the Solar Patrol could not receive. This station was a haven for the most powerful men in the world; not the chairmen of the Solar Board; those puppets would never lay eyes upon the station's gleaming expanse. No, this station was the sole property of the group responsible for all high-level dealings in the system; the Pantheon Consortium.

In what appeared to be a 21st century boardroom, interrupted only by a transparent aluminum window into space, six people waited impatiently for the seventh member. No member knew another member's true name; they were business partners, not friends. The seven's appellations were taken from what they managed. The manager of Earth, an African women in her 60's or 70's was called Gaia. The director of industrious Io was an old man with a long white beard. He was Zeus. The twitchy manager of Pluto and all her scientific facilities and observatories went by Hades. The administrator of Luna, a pinched looking woman of Asian descent, was Selene. The head of Venus's chemical extraction plants was a stunning American female, who took great pride in her moniker of Aphrodite. Finally, there was the hulking German called Ares, who directed Martian archaeology. They were waiting for the last member of the group, the head of their research division. He was the iconoclast of the group; a completely bald man of indeterminate race and age, he refused to adopt the name of Prometheus that the group had assigned him, and went solely by his title: The Director.

The pneumatic doors hissed open, and The Director slid into the room, his rubber lab coat squeaking faintly. He threw down his portfolio with polished apathy, and sat down. He steepled his fingers on the table, and smiled coldly. He spoke in an odd Texas drawl. "Well, now, surely you ladies and gentlemen weren't waiting for just me, would you?"

Gaia leaned forward, her expression un-amused. "Director, we do not appreciate games. We have called this meeting for one reason, and one reason only, and that reason is a question; Can Mercury be colonized?"

The Director scanned the faces of the room, and calmly uttered one sentence. "Not by current means."

This hit the room like a slap on the face. Ares placed both hands on the table menacingly. "Director, it was my understanding that you were ordered to cease all other activity, and focus on the issue of Mercury."

The Director stared him down with a bored look. "You would be correct, Professor. I understand that archeology is your forte, so if you would kindly sit back and give your mouth a rest, I might be able to explain my findings."

Ares nearly blew a blood vessel, but managed to restrain himself. The Director put his feet on the table, and stared at the ceiling. "As you know, the only side of Mercury of interest is the side facing the sun. It is there that all the heavy metals reside, and where the Sun's energy is most potent. It is that problem, gentlemen, that defeats us. We have run several tests, both on and off planet, and each time, the answer is the same; Mercury is too hot. No matter how much insulation we use, no matter the amount of cryogenics we employ, nothing on that planet can go below 500 degrees. This includes the circuitry inside all robot probes. The new carbon-mangasteel alloy Hades was kind enough to send us is capable of providing armor shells capable of withstanding it, but it's conductivity is too good to properly insulate its contents, and too poor to make circuits out of. No robot, either in production or in design, can survive Mercury's fury."

Hades spoke rapidly, his words spilling out all at once in a torrent of speech. "So, that's it? Game over, man? We can't have anything down there that won't blow a fuse and stop working?"

The Director didn't even look at him. "No current means exist to colonize Mercury."

Aphrodite inspected her nails. "Director, you keep using that phrase. 'Current means'. Failure in this group is not tolerated, so I greatly hope that you have some other method of getting us Mercury's riches."

The Director gave her a sour smile. "You would be correct. Let me make one thing very clear, though; technology will not give us Mercury. It can help, it can aid, but it cannot deliver. And there is no medal for second place in this endeavor. So we must turn to an oft-neglected field; biology."

Selene gave him a disapproving look. "Elaborate."

The Director spoke not to her, but to Aphrodite. "It is my understanding that there is a creature on your world; a sort of bird-like beast that can survive in the methyl-forests?"

Aphrodite nodded. "Yes. My people call them firehawks; they ingest long chain carbohydrates and catalytically decompose them. The bacteria needed for this shine through its clear skin with red luminescence, making them appear to be on fire."

The Director turned to Zeus. "I have also heard that there is species of fox-like animal on your planet; a sort of multi-tailed thing, an Iotian ice-fox, am I correct?"

Zeus nodded, saying nothing. The Director turned his gaze back to Gaia. "Imagine, if you will, my fellow board members, a life-form. This life-form has been built to serve from birth, and gets nothing but enjoyment from working for free. Now, imagine this life-form can withstand temperatures of up to 500 degrees above, and 5 below. Kelvin. Ladies and gentlemen, that is what I am proposing; a genetically engineered worker comprised of firehawk, human, and ice-fox DNA."

This was greeted by silence. Finally, Selene spoke. "When can you finish this life-form?"

The Director smirked. "Your faith is touching. I shall have the worker within the fiscal year."

Ares leaned heavily against the table. "Aren't you forgetting, Director? You would need the boards approval for something like that."

Gaia interjected. "Indeed he would." Standing, she said "All in favor of The Director's project, say 'yea'."

Aphrodite, The Director, and Selene said 'yea'.

"All against, say 'nay'."

Ares, Zeus, and Hades said 'nay'.

Gaia's lips twitched. "It falls to me then. Director, begin your project at once."

The Director bowed his head, and said "My thanks, Gaia. Let not your heart be troubled; Mercury shall be tamed." He picked up his unopened folder, and exited the boardroom. Ares glared at Gaia. "You just sent him out to waste all of our money on a harebrained scheme. Are you trying to destroy the Consortium?"

Gaia smiled lazily. "The way I see it, this has two outcomes. One, The Director succeeds, and Mercury is a bargain at any price. Two, he fails, and we get to 'remove' him. Everyone wins, wouldn't you say?"

Ares sat back into his chair with a grunt. "I half hope he fails."

As The Director walked through the halls, the artificial gravity doing nothing to dull the spring in his step, he pulled out a small comlink. He dialed up a familiar number, and as soon as a connection was established, he said "Project Long Last is go. Begin ASAP." Then he hung up. He smirked as his heels clicked along the hard plastic floor. His dream would soon be reality.

The Director knew the Consortium; any project had to have some kind of risk-reward clearly cut out for them. It was godsend for him, as it finally allowed him the opportunity to initiate his pet project. His cross-planetary hybrid had not been a research project to design a worker who could survive Mercury; it had begun years earlier, in what would have been called a labor of love if there was any in The Director's heart. Right now, in his private lab built into an asteroid, a single strand of unique DNA was being inserted into an egg, and stimulated into growth. The Director smiled as he contemplated the future.

Five months later, The Director frowned as he contemplated the present. The lab on Phobos-5, one of the larger and more stable pieces of rock in the Belt, was an ideal location. Populated entirely by security guards, scientists, and technicians, The Director had eliminated all variables he could. However, sometimes, life is not ideal. He darkly eyed a fluid-filled tube, about the right size and shape for a person. A small object floated within. The Director's assistant, a young man named Nicholas Fielding, pushed spiky dirty blond hair out of his yes. "Sir, I'm sorry. This one died last night."

The Director tapped a finger on the pod, which was only one piece of advanced equipment in the best biotechnology lab in the galaxy. Banks of Hood units lined the walls, and Cray gene sequencer outlets pulsed at workstations. There was even a memetic station to begin flash training the moment the hybrid gained awareness. But none of it did any good if the embryos kept dying. The Director turned to Nick, and said "Fielding, can you explain this?"

Nick checked a few read-outs. "Same as last time, sir; Around the second trimester, the heart refuses to activate. It just... Stops."

The Director brushed a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Ideas?"

Nick glanced up at him. "I know you don't like the idea sir, but if we tried using some Martian magic..."

The Director almost snarled. "I told you never to use that word. Magic does not exist; the extinct, I might add, Martians were merely trained in a science that we cannot, as of yet, understand. That is all. I will not countenance the use of such random elements in my..."

The pneumatic door to the lab hissed open, and The Director spun on his heel. "I'm very busy, what do you..."

He paled when he saw Gaia. She had her arms folded, and was staring at him with a predatory expression. He stepped slightly to the right to obscure the dead hybrid. "Yes?"

"I've come to check on your progress. I have here a report," she said, digging out a printout, "that you've spent around 1.3 billion dollars. I hope you have something to show for it."

The Director drew himself up. "Biology is not an exact science. The worker will be ready when it is ready."

Gaia smiled, but there was no life in it. "Be that as it may, economics is an exact science. Our funding is precious, and I am beginning to think it is misplaced in you. You have one year to have a living, breathing hybrid. The clock is ticking, Director." She then walked unconcernedly out of the room.

Nick watched another bead of sweat drip down The Director's face. The Director turned, and stared at the embryo. After a minute, he spoke. "Fielding."

Nick snapped to attention. "Yes sir?"

"Call Jules, and tell him to bring in the Verde Tablet next supply run."

Nick picked up a phone, and stopped. "Sir, what did that woman say? Something about a worker?"

The Director brushed his sleeve against his forehead. "The... Commercial point of Project Long Last is to create highly durable free labor for Mercury. I thought I had told you that."

Nick blanched. "No... No you didn't. I thought this was a scientific endeavor, not a commercial enterprise. You said..."

The Director turned a cold, grey eye on him. "You aren't having second thoughts, are you, Fielding? Because do not forget that no one is irreplaceable."

Nick gulped. "Y-yes sir."

A week later, a cigar-shaped vessel nosed into the lab's docking port, and a Samsonite case was rushed to the main lab. Nick, alone in the lab, unlatched the case and stared at the artifact within. The Tablet was made of slate, and was about the size and shape of a shoebox, and was covered in strange writing on all sides. Despite the best efforts of many people, the Martian hieroglyphics have never been translated. The strangest thing, though, is that all of the letters glow, with a strange pulsing green light. The Verde Tablet had been found in the Martian Catacombs, and had been found to have a very strange effect on all life; it was a true panacea, a real cure-all. Wounds healed in quintuple time, pathogens shriveled and died, and the will to live was bolstered. The fact that The Director had acquired it gave Nick shivers. He wondered once more about the Director's mysterious backers.

He was interrupted by The Director's entrance. The Director took one look at the Tablet, and sneered. "Well, if it's here... Has it been sterilized?"

"Yes sir."

Well, throw it in the pod and fertilize another egg. Let's hope for the best."

Nick took the Tablet reverently from its case, and gently placed it on the floor of the pod. He stepped back, and closed the door. The pod filled with the amni-not-ic fluid (if you can't tell, it's artificial amniotic fluid, with the added bonus of being a [perfluorocarbon](%5C).) He stepped back to a console, and initiated a well-worn subroutine, which would place a strand of artificial hybrid DNA in a blank egg and stimulate parthogenesis. The egg was then dumped into the fluid. The Director had been leaning his head against the wall, and finally turned towards the tank. His eyes widened. "Great Scott!"

Nick whipped his head around, and gasped. The Tablet had floated off the floor of the tank, and was now orbiting around the tiny egg. It pulsed benevolently. The Director put his hand over his heart, and gasped. "Let's hope that means it's working."

It did. As the weeks and months passed, the embryo grew quickly, even in the acceleration tank. Nick was puzzled to come in and discover that one day, the Tablet had disappeared, until he noticed a faint green light pulsing from the child inside. He took a moment to look over the creature. The Director has spliced the DNA together years ago, and had never run an iso simulation, so no one knew what to expect, but it probably wasn't this.

The hybrid was curled in the fluid in the fetal position, it's arms and legs hunched into its' frame. However, instead of four limbs, the creature had six; two arms, two legs, and a pair of wings sprouting out of its back, around the shoulder blades. The creature itself, if it was standing, would resemble a human, at least in stature. However, the creature was coated in white fur, like an ice-fox. The resemblance to a fox was further increased by the fact that it had a muzzle instead of a face, and ears that grew through a head of raven black hair. From its spine grew nine tails, each all alike; snow white, like the body, but at the end a splash of crimson. The wings were tipped like that as well, and flame-like patterns of the same color swirled on the creature's chest and smooth groin. It appeared to be androgynous.

As the creature developed, Nicholas spent more and more time in the lab, more time even than The Director. He spent hours just staring at it, and the green glow from its stomach. One day, when the creature had grown to adult size, Nick was in the lab playing with the wall-length viewscreen, switching between the views of space from the outside cameras. He zoomed in on a view of Earth, and he sighed. The Director had said no one was leaving until the cursed project had finished. He heard someone say "That looks pretty."

Nick looked around. He hadn't heard the door open, and he was alone. He saw no one, and dismissed what he had heard. He went back to looking at Earth. After a moment, he heard "Is that where you come from?"

He stood up, and looked around in consternation. "Where is that coming from?" he thought.

"I'm over here."

Nick turned around twice. He then realized that the voice wasn't coming from any point in the room, he was hearing it in his head. He did one final turn around the room, and his heart almost stopped. Inside the tank, the creature's eyes had opened. And they were staring at him.

Furthermore, the creature looked different from the last time he saw it. In fact, it wasn't an it anymore. When Nick hadn't been looking, the creature had grown a pair of human-looking breasts, and her hips had bent and splayed out.

The creature smiled. "Hello," Nick heard. He blinked. He couldn't believe what he saw. After a while, he thought "Uh... Hi."

The creature just kept smiling at him. Nick got his courage together and thought "Is it my imagination, or did you change recently?"

The creature looked down and up her own body, and reached up to grasp her right breast. Nick's right eye twitched. "Yes," thought the creature. "I saw this design in your head. I liked it."

Nick's shock was starting to numb. "You can see in my head?"

The creature looked up, and looked confused. "I'm not supposed to? I'm sorry. I could sense another mind before, but it was too cold." She smiled. "Yours is warm."

Nick was starting to think he was dreaming. "Do you have a name?"

The creature squeezed her eyes shut. "Aeri."

"Where did that come from?"

Aeri put up one of her fingers to the Plexiglas tube, and pointed to the small lettering on it. She ran her finger below it, and said "Aeri."

Nick scrutinized it. That wasn't what it said; the lettering on the tank read 1R-3A. Then, he flipped it around in his head, and read AE-RI. He was impressed. "Where did you learn to read?"

Aeri stared at him. "From your mind. I learned a lot of stuff in there; how to talk, how to read, and your name. I didn't want to dig too deep. I thought you were ignoring me; you never answered back."

Nick put up a hand. "Wait, wait... You were talking to me before, in my head?"

Aeri cocked her head, and looked confused. She pointed to her ears, and tapped the tank. Nick realized his mistake; he had been speaking out loud. He repeated his question mentally. She nodded, smiling. "Yes. I tried several times. You couldn't hear me?"

Nick shook his head. Aeri squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh, it doesn't matter. You can hear me now."

Nick started thinking. "When could you look into my head?"

Aeri shrugged. "I always could. You seemed... Sad. I wanted to help. But I thought you were ignoring me, so I stopped trying. Earlier, I decided to go deeper, and found more thoughts, like these," she said, fondling her breasts again.

Nick coughed, and was about to say something when Aeri frowned. "That cold mind is coming again. Whenever it comes, it makes you sad. Why does it keep coming?"

Nick connected a few dots, and blanched. "It's The Director! Go... Go back to the way you were, and close your eyes! Quick!"

Aeri obeyed instantly. Her breasts receded into her chest, her hips shrunk, and her eyes shut. In a moment, she had gone back to her previous state. Nick sat down in a chair just as The Director entered. The Director looked at Aeri, and snorted. He looked at Nick. "Any change, Fielding?"

Nick shook his head. The Director smirked humorlessly. "All that's missing is the spark of life. You think we should try hitting it with a lightning bolt?"

Nick nearly screamed. "Eh... Probably not a good idea."

The Director chuckled. "Oh, just a joke."

He walked out of the room. Nick swallowed, and felt his pulse; pounding. He waited until it was normal, and thought "Aeri? It's alright, you can open your eyes. He's gone."

Aeri opened her eyes, and all her womanly features returned. She looked with concern at Nick. "What happened? The cold one was talking, and you got scared and angry." She cocked her head at him. "Why does the cold one make you sad?"

Nick leaned his head on his hand. "He... The Director makes me sad because he... He doesn't understand that life is sacred."

Aeri's eyes shone. "You... Were scared... For me? Why?"

Nick tapped his finger against his forehead. "Because you're the first truly artificial life-form. You're the first of your kind, and that makes you special." And because your beau...

Aeri blinked. "What was that last thought? It was there for a second, but it flicked away."

Nick shook his head. "Nothing."

Aeri shrugged. "Ok. Nick, what is my purpose?"

Nick was thrown by the non sequiter, and picked his head off his arm. "What?"

"In your head, it says that everyone has a purpose. What's mine?"

Nick sighed. "It's... Not something you want to know."

Aeri said nothing, and Nick twitched. It felt like he was remembering something, but he wasn't trying to. His mind flashed across The Director explaining the purpose of Project Long Last, and understood. "No! Aeri! Please, stop!"

Aeri jerked back in her tank, and cringed. "I'm sorry, Nick! I didn't try to, it just happened!"

Nick saw she was starting to cry. He said "Hey, it's alright; it just scared me. It's weird knowing someone who can look into your head. I'm sorry, it was wrong of me to shout. Are you okay?"

Aeri rubbed her eyes, and sniffed. "Yes."

Nick looked at his watch. "Mmm... I've got work to do. Aeri, can you do something for me?"

She nodded . He continued. "Okay, go back to the way you were before and close your eyes. We don't anyone to know you're... Awake. I'll be back tomorrow, and we can talk more. Alright?"

She nodded, and said "Come back soon."

Her eyes closed, and she went back to being androgynous. Nick turned slowly, and shut off the light. Looking back at the glow of the tank, he reluctantly shut the door. He started on his rounds, hands in his pockets. Later, when he passed by the main maintenance module, he heard a whistle. He backed up a bit, and saw one of his friends, Jeff Patterson, waving to him.

Nick sauntered in, and leaned over Jeff's console. "Yeah, man, what's up?"

Jeff tapped a few keys, and averted his eyes momentarily. He smirked slightly. "Hey, Nick. You got something you want to tell me?"

Nick frowned. "Uh... No?"

Jeff tapped a few more keys. "That's odd... I had thought this would be noteworthy."

Nick blanched as footage from the lab flickered up on the screen. He watched in horror as he witnessed Aeri's transformation, his own interaction with her, and his subterfuge with The Director. He whispered in horror to Jeff. "Who have you shown this to?!"

Jeff closed the window. "No one, yet. You hid her from The Director, so I assumed you had a reason. Care to share?"

Nick took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. "She talked to me today. In my head. She said her name was Aeri, and she's been reading my mind all along. If The Director knew she was awake..." Nick shuddered. "He told me he wants to make them a race of slaves. Slaves! I can't let that happen. I... I don't know what I'm going to do yet, but I'm going to get her off this station."

Jeff raised his hands palms-up. "I hear you." He rewound a little bit and smiled. "She's a foxy little thing, if you haven't noticed. But I don't know what I can do. You know I'd do you a solid any day of the week, but I'm off surveillance duty tomorrow, and if the new guy decides to look through past logs..."

Nick sweated in silence as Jeff cracked his knuckles. He then set his fingers to the keys, and leered at the screen. "Unless... Some clever bastard were to corrupt the footage, and were also to loop this uninteresting little video anytime his buddy needs it."

Nick watched as the surveillance footage whited out. He then watched as Jeff edited footage of him puttering around the lab doing nothing interesting as an unconscious Aeri floated in the tank. Jeff tapped a few more keys, and snapped his fingers. "Done."

He tossed Nick a small security clicker. "Here. We use these clickers to set down security waypoints, like air leaks or broken ducts. Someone, however, changed the computer's interpretation of this one. If someone were to click it, it would show this boring scene until it was clicked again. Why, someone could do anything they want for as long as they want to. Good thing it disappeared, right?" Jeff winked.

Nick got the hint, and pocketed it. "Right. I owe you one."

Jeff tapped his forehead with a finger. "You owe me TWO. Which, coincidentally, is the number of boxes of cigars I expect to see in my name on the next supply run."

Nick smiled, and mock-saluted. "Aye, sir."

Nick exited the maintenance module, and took his station in the Docking Area. He keyed his ID, and put his hands into the station waldos. The holographic display came up, and he set about compiling all the supplies that the base would need on the next supply run. After putting together all the necessary items, Nick reviewed the list he kept only in his head, and scrolled the interface to a part of the virtual hold, and clicked a few times. Not many people knew, but the freighter had a small divot in the center of it, a line that ran all around the ship. The cavity was hidden by one of the holographic lines of the simulation, so unless you knew it was there, you'd never find it. For Jeff, he put in two boxes of cigars, for himself a few choice foodstuffs, and the usual hard matter correspondence The Director frowned upon. He could shut off all electronic communication, Nick thought, but neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail nor the unfathomable vacuum of space could stop the mail.

After Nick had finished his duties aboard the station, he went to bed. He didn't dare going back into the lab so soon. As he slid beneath the sheets of the spartan room, he worried about Aeri. What if The Director caught her by surprise? What if someone discovered Jeff's electronic futzing? Would she be turned into a living factory, cranking out more hybrids for The Director, or shipped out to Mercury posthaste?

However, his worries weren't enough to hold his mind to the material world, and he soon slipped into sleep. In his dream, he floated on his back through a sea of clouds. He rolled to and fro, not thinking about anything.

"Nick?"

Nick frowned, and rolled over, trying to savor his sleep.

"Nick? Is that you?"

He opened his eyes reluctantly... And stared. He was still dreaming. All around him, there was nothing but clouds filling a baby blue sky. He looked around, and gasped when Aeri soared up from beneath him, propelled on her massive wings. She grasped him tightly and cork-screwed through the air, giggling excitedly.

"It IS you! How did you come here?"

Nick numbly put a hand on her back. It was amazing how real it felt; her silky fur felt even softer than it looked in real light.

"Uh... I didn't try to, I just fell asleep. Is this... Your dream?"

She didn't release him. "Yes."

He looked around. The sky went on for miles in every direction, and the clouds rose like puffy skyscrapers. "How? You've never been outside the lab."

She held him at arms length, and spiraled along an ice-cream like cloud. "I found this in your memories. It was so pretty, I couldn't help myself. Then I felt your mind here, and I had to see. But it's real! You're here!"

She let him go, and he floated along with her as she dived into the cloud and came out again. She glided on her wings with ease, and her eyes were squeezed shut in contentment, and a beatific smile graced her face. Nick leaned his body into the slight wind, and said "So this is how real you can see my memories?"

She turned to face him. "Uh-huh."

He thought for a second. "If I think of something, can you do the same thing you can here?"

She nodded. He smiled. "Alright, try this on for size."

He closed his eyes and concentrated on one of his favorite memories; New Year's, 2200. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in Lunar Square, the 15-mile area that it encompassed totally packed with people. The orbital elevator in its center was empty, as the huge glittering ball rocketed up from Earth 15 times as fast as the speed of sound.

He felt something soft on his hand, and looked down. Aeri had entwined her palm in his, and was looking around the huge towers with tears in her eyes. She finally choked out "It's... So... Beautiful..."

Nick looked around. He waved a hand in front of a cheering man, and hardly blinked when his hand passed right through the man's face. He turned to Aeri. "They can't see us or hear us, can they?"

She shook her head. "I can only recreate what you experienced."

Nick looked around, until he spotted himself in the crowd. He pointed. "Then why aren't we seeing this from my eyes?"

Aeri cocked her head. "Because I'm using the experience in your head only as a guideline, silly. Who's that?"

Nick looked, and his heart ached. Hanging on his past self's arm was his ex-girlfriend, Vicky Newman. She laughed as he hoisted her off the ground to ride piggy-back. He answered glumly. "That's my... Old girlfriend."

Aeri tightened her grip, and stepped closer, brushing her fur against his arm. "This memory... Makes you sad. Why?"

Nick sniffed. "Well... She broke up with me a few months later. She said that I couldn't provide for us, and hooked up with a stock broker from Venus."

Aeri hugged his arm. "I'm sorry, Nick... Can I help?"

Nick hugged her back. "Well... Maybe."

He reached down, and lifted her off her feet. She squeaked, but smiled when he set her behind his head, and gripped her legs. She curled her wings around them, and laid her stomach against his head, purring deep in her throat. Nick smiled, and looked up, where he could see the glowing ball approach on the carbon nanofiber rope. He counted down as the ball shot down, and as it slammed into the pneumatic cushion and descended into the square, his cheer was not lost among the mighty yawp that went up from the crowd. Aeri snuggled against him, and said "That was cool! What else have you done?"

As the night pressed on, Nick took Aeri through a guided tour of the solar system. She loved the vast methyl forests of Venus, adored the chilly glaciers of Io, and looked in awe at Pluto's massive Bigboy lens, hewn into the planets very core and able to see into other galaxies. Dawn came all too soon, and as Aeri and Nick glided through Luna's tall towers, Aeri embraced him again. "Nick, will you come see me after you wake up?"

Nick held her back. He was starting to wonder how he really felt about this beautiful hybrid. "Sure, Aeri. It'll be a while; I have to eat breakfast, and do some real work, but I'll be by as soon as I can."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "Thank you. It's time to get up now."

She placed her fingers on his forehead, and Nick blinked his eyes open. He was lying in bed, and the artificial sun lights were starting to come on. He stretched, and yawned. God, he felt good! All that REM dreaming must have sent his brain on the neurological equivalent of a spa trip. He leapt from the bed, and attacked his closet like a man possessed. He strode out into the halls with an energy he had rarely known. He set upon his duties and jobs with gusto, completing each job with a flourish. After all his data-recording, result-interpolating, and incoming correspondence for The Director had been taken care of, he walked toward the lab. After checking both ways, he clicked the clicker, and stepped inside.

Aeri floated inside, unconscious and genderless. Nick flipped a few switches, and locked the door. He then tapped on the tank. Aeri's eyes flared open, and her womanly features reappeared. She smiled. "Hello, Nick."

He smiled, too. "Hello, Aeri."

Aeri frowned a little as she tried to unfold her wings, and bumped up against the sides of the tank. She looked at him pleadingly. Nick raised his hand. "Say no more." He sat himself at a console, and brought up the tank interface. As he was about to empty it, he thought better of it, and called up a few more menus. He was relieved to see that the tank wasn't monitored from any other room, and in fact didn't have a way to count when it was opened and closed. He went back to the origin, and laid down a few keystrokes. With a soft tone, the tank began to drain. As the fluid level fell, Aeri's paws touched ground for the first time, and she wobbled a little.

As the fluid completely receded, the door hissed open. Nick moved to support her, but Aeri waved him off. Her fur was still damp with amni-not-ic fluid. She closed her eyes, and the green glow in her midsection flared. Suddenly, steam began to rise from her, and the fiery highlights on her body burned with light. Nick felt a palpable heat wave hit his face, and gasped as he understood another gift of the Verde Tablet; pyrokinesis!

After her fur had dried, Aeri stepped out of the tube. Her grace and ease of motion surprised Nick. After all, she'd never walked before in her life. She approached him, swinging her hips, and reached out her paws. They settled on his face, and she closed her eyes. She began running her palms over his head, then down his chest, down somewhere that made him yelp, down his legs, until she was feeling his feet. After that, she straightened up, and rubbed her palms together. Finally, she opened her eyes, and smiled. "You feel exactly like I imagined." Nick blushed even deeper than he had before, and said nothing. Aeri stepped closer, and pushed her forehead against his.

A whirlwind of images assaulted his mind as Aeri delved into his consciousness. He felt her presence as... Something welcome, actually. It felt like a warm breeze blowing against his skin, or a silk curtain brushing against him. He could feel happiness from her, and she said "I missed you, Nick."

He reached up and put her arms around her, although that seemed a little unnecessary at that point. "I missed you too, Aeri."

She laughed, and continued on a whirlwind romp through his memories. Nick decided against saying something; he was the only way Aeri could learn about the world. Besides, it didn't feel half bad. A faint sensory impression coupled with an image flashed through his head, and he shunted it away quickly, but Aeri swept back to it. He squirmed as Aeri watched the memory with curiosity, and when it ended, she replayed it, and asked "I know her... She was your old mate. What are you doing?"

Nick wanted to spontaneously combust. "Eh... Uh... Um... W-well, see, when two people love each other very much..." He trailed off.

Aeri had another question. "What is love?"

Nick decided to answer the less awkward of the two questions. "Well, Aeri, love is... Love is when two people feel for so each other so much, their hearts and minds sort of become one. You laugh when they laugh, you cry when they cry, and so on. It's one of the things everyone is looking for."

Aeri said "Oh." She was silent for a while, and then moved in closer to Nick. "I love you, Nick."

Nick blinked. He couldn't find his voice for a few seconds. When he did, he squeezed her tighter. "I love you too, Aeri."

She laughed. "If you love me, then what was that thing you were doing earlier?"

Nick began to sweat. "Well, it's a difficult subject... It..."

Aeri huffed. "Oh, hush."

Nick felt her mental fingers go rifling deep into his brain, beyond the limbic system, beyond the reptile center, until she encompassed his brain in totality. She rooted through the language center of his brain, and cross-referenced everything he knew about sex with everything he had ever seen pertaining to it. Then she did a little figuring of her own, and stored away everything he knew about it in her own mind. She drew out and smacked his chest playfully. "You dummy, why's it hard? You said it happens when two people love each other." She ran her fingers up into his hair, and looked up at him sweetly. "I love you... Do you love me?"

Nick tickled her ears, and she giggled. "Of course I do, Aeri."

He was startled to see a predatory gleam jump in her eyes. "Good."

With a smooth, slick motion, she slid his shirt off. He was shocked by her sudden transition from sweet naïve thing to sex kitten, but knew that copying wholesale tracts of his brain had to do weird things to a telepath. She threw his shirt against the wall, and pulled her foot up to strip off his pants fluidly. She put her nose to his navel, and licked up his body slowly, causing him to shiver. He was now VERY glad that Jeff wasn't on watch duty. He figured that it was bad form to let her do all the work, and brought his hands up to caress her back. She moaned in her throat, and clasped her paws onto his shoulders, slowly kneading her claws into his skin. She steered him slowly backward, until his legs brushed up against the memetic station. At his touch, the station unfolded. It was the size of a large tanning booth, padded with soft cushions, and large enough for two people who didn't mind each other's company. She tipped him over, and pinned him to the station. She smiled lazily, and scooted his body entirely into the station. She pounced on him, and spread her wings for balance. She began to lick him all over, running her tongue all over his body, and purring at the taste. His underwear had developed a serious tent in it, and she looked at it with a feral hunger. She reached forward her with back paw, and ripped the fabric open with a sharp claw. Nick gasped as the fine claw nearly sliced his skin. She yanked his underwear down, and growled in expectation as his freed member stood at attention. She adjusted her posture a little, and wrapped her tongue around it.

Nick groaned, and arched his back a little. Aeri's eyes narrowed, and she reached a clawed hand up, and forced him down. Talking through the dick in her mouth, she said "Stay down, honey; it'll be easier on you." Nick nodded, and tried to hold himself still. It wasn't easy. Aeri rubbed her tongue up and down, her grip on his erection never faltering. After lubricating the shaft quite well, she slowly closed her muzzle around it, and began to move her whole head over him. Nick was trying very hard not to thrust back, and was clenching his fists so hard they had turned as white as Aeri's pelt. Eventually, Aeri drew her head back from his cock, and adjusted her position again, turning around and wrapping her tails around him; three on each arm, and three around his neck. She looked back at him, and grinned. "Aw, poor baby... Don't worry, this'll be great."

She lowered herself onto him slowly, whining softly. Nick had guessed that if she had breasts, she probably had other parts, but had never looked. Her tails contracted around his limbs, bringing her down harder and harder, until everything but his sack was inside her. She looked back, panting. "Don't think I'm done yet!" She pushed down on him with strength no human possessed, and Nick grimaced. With a barely audible 'pop', Aeri encompassed his manhood in full. She wriggled her hips, and laughed. "Oh, it gets better." Nick then felt her tighten around him; but not in orgasm. Her walls were closing in on him, and finally they closed entirely. He was trapped in her, and could not have pulled himself out with a crowbar.

Then her walls began to slide around him, and he moaned. In the fuzzy recesses of his mind, he guessed shape shifting was another gift of the Verde Tablet, but his conscious mind soon faded as Aeri's treasure itself ground him up and down. The motion changed, but never faded; it would pull him, and then push out a little, gyrate around him, or simply pulse gently. Aeri groaned, and the motion increased. She thrust down on him again and again, as if she was trying to take his whole body inside her. Nick couldn't stand it anymore, and thrust back with a grunt. She received the motion gratefully, and whined softly. Her tails let go of him, and she rotated herself, without letting him leave her. She leaned over his face, and jiggled her breasts over him. She looked down at him, and grinned.

Nick reached up his hands to fondle them. They were even softer and squishier than their human counterparts. Aeri wriggled her hips, and slowly swiveled her shoulders, bringing one breast closer, then the other. She reached forward, and gripped his head tightly. She put her nose to his, and panted "Almost there, Nick. Now, just be a good boy, and suck for me."

Nick would have asked what she meant, but he was cut off by the nipple shoved in his mouth. Aeri was lying with her chest on his head, and was leaning her head back, closing her eyes, and gasping. Nick grasped her meaning, and began to suck on her teat. Aeri howled breathlessly, and ground herself down onto him. He drew his tongue over the erect nub, and lovingly cleaned the bare area around the nipple, all while suckling on it gently.

Aeri screamed, and her walls clamped down on Nick with savage delight. She dug her claws into his back hard enough to draw beads of blood, and bit her teeth into his shoulder. Nick didn't care, as a few seconds into her orgasm, he released too. He exploded into her with a long, heartfelt-sigh, which continued as Aeri's treasure continued to milk him for his seed. Aeri drew her tongue over his bare skin as she quivered again, and yelped softly.

Eventually, it was over, and Aeri's strength left her. She lay panting on top of Nick, and slowly pulled her claws out of his skin. She whined in dismay as she looked at his blood caking her nails, but Nick just laughed wearily. Throwing a hand over her shoulder, he whispered "'S alright, Aeri, I'm fine."

Aeri gently licked his cheek. "Wow... That was incredible, Nick..." Her voice had gone back to its soft tone, and the gleam was gone from her eyes.

Nick scratched behind her ears, and laughed as she thumped nine tails. "You're kind of a dom, aren't you?"

Aeri pushed the top of her head into his neck, and closed her eyes. "I learned everything from you."

Nick put his head back, and stroked her soft back. "Well, I guess I'm lucky you didn't roll me over and commence thrusting."

Aeri giggled, and was quiet. She was asleep. Nick blinked blearily a few times, and closed his eyes. He drew his arms around his beautiful hybrid, and scratched the base of her wings. He sighed, and drifted off.

When he came to, he was alone on the memetic station. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and peered over the edge of the lid. Aeri was lying on her side, back turned to him. She held her leg in the air, and her head was stretched between her legs. He watched for a moment, and heard a soft rasping noise. She must have heard him, or sensed that he was awake, as she looked over her shoulder, gasped, and scuttled to her feet. Before she hid her groin with her hands, Nick could see the fur around it matted with her saliva. Nick got out of the station, and stretched. He retrieved his pants from the pile at the wall, and pulled them up sans underpants. He struggled into his shirt, and finally approached Aeri. She squeaked softly as he embraced her. He pulled his head back a little, and kissed her. He smirked as he broke it off. "You've still got a little spot on the right."

Aeri's pink tongue shot out and licked up the droplet of white on her muzzle. He chuckled, and looked at his watch. His eyes bugged out. "Christ on a cracker, I've got work to do!"

Aeri quickly hugged him. He could just barely feel the moisture of her treasure through his pants leg. "You're leaving?"

He nuzzled her ears. "Yeah, baby, I've got work to do. Look, I can't come back tonight, but when I go to sleep..."

Aeri smiled. "I'll be waiting."

Months passed. As The Director went quietly insane, Aeri and Nick cavorted behind his back. During the day, Nick would plot their escape, and sometimes have a romantic rendezvous with his hybrid, and at night, he took Aeri through a kaleidoscope of memory, teaching her everything he knew about the universe, academics, and people. As the plan came together, Nick became bolder and bolder. More escape supplies came in on the shuttle, his duties were shirked more and more, and he walked the halls of the station with increasing confidence... Until one day.

Perhaps three months after he first mated with Aeri, Nick was walking Aeri through the history of Earth. The two walked through the halls of the Louvre, and Nick pointed out a portrait of Napoleon. He had just started explaining the rise and fall of the emperor when Aeri got a strange look on her face. She turned to him, and opened her mouth as if to speak. However, instead of speaking, she just vanished. Nick gasped as the scene around him collapsed into blackness. He woke with a start, just in time to hear joyful shouting from the corridor. He had just gotten dressed when The Director hurtled through the door. He gripped Nick's shoulders with manic fury, an insane gleam showing in his eyes. "Fielding! It happened!"

Nick was too busy being shaken violently to answer, so The Director continued. "The hybrid! It grew female features! It's still comatose, more's the pity, but that's irrelevant! Her children will do just as well. We're inseminating now!"

And The Director was gone. Nick picked himself up off the ground, and tried to clear his head. Suddenly, what The Director had said penetrated his mind. Nick froze, and his heart sank. He bellowed with all his mental might "AERI!" and flew through the corridors. He burst into the lab, and found it empty. He backed up against a wall, and wiped sweat off his face. He ran back into the hall, and began to comb the station.

In an older section of the facility, The Director sat behind a Plexiglas wall and watched as technicians deftly attached leads and wires to her belly. He barked at one of the attending physicians. "Hurry it up! We don't have a year to do this."

The doctor bowed and scraped before him. "We're sorry, Mr. Director, but we have to perform a sonogram before we begin exploratory surgery. We have to know where the eggs are before we try to fertilize one."

One of the technicians said something to the doctor, who turned to a screen. The doctor said "Ah, it should be ready now. Now let's see what..."

The screen clicked on, and the doctor's voice meandered. His eyes widened, then narrowed, then widened again as he took in the X-ray of Aeri's womb. The Director prompted him "Yes? What's the problem?"

The doctor hemmed and hawed, and pulled out a few folders from a cabinet in the observation room. After comparing some pictures from the folders to the screen, he turned to The Director, trembling. "Uh... S-sir, I hate to tell you this, but... She's already pregnant."

The Director didn't move a muscle. The doctor continued. "By the looks of the fetus, it's a human, around first trimester, or two to three months. Have... Has anyone been around the hybrid to..."

The Director said nothing, but simply rose slowly from his chair. "Fielding," he spat. He brought his comlink to his ear with cold anger, and yelled "Macready! Put out an APB on my assistant Nicholas Fielding." He was silent a second, and hissed "Yes. Shoot to kill."

Nick threw open the door to another empty room. He swore, and started running again, but skidded to a halt when his comlink rang. He brought to his head, and said "Yes?"

Jeff screamed "Hide, man! The Director's put a hit out on you! Security forces are coming your way, and they're shooting to kill. I've got you on the station map. Duck into that room, I'll lock the door!"

Nick threw himself inside the storage room, and the door hissed shut behind him, and he heard the electronic lock engage. He heard running feet outside the door, and the lock bang a few times. "Locked," he heard, and the feet moved on. Nick brought the comlink back up. "Jeff! Where's Aeri?"

He heard keys clicking. Jeff said "Your fuzzy little girlfriend's out in the gynecologic ward. I'll walk you through it, and watch for security."

Nick stepped outside, and looked both ways. "Okay, what now?"

"Take a left. Go until you hit the reactor, and take a right."

Nick ran as fast as he could, pelting down the hall with singular focus. He heard the humming of the reactor, and skidded around the corner. Jeff spoke again. "Alright, go straight until you see the back door of the cafeteria."

Jeff guided Nick through corridors and halls toward the old ward, warning him of any security. As Nick neared his destination, he gasped into the comlink. "Jeff, warm up the escape shuttle. That's how we were going to get out of here eventually, but subtlety just went out the window."

Jeff threw down a few deft keystrokes. "Done. Anywhere in particular you want to go?"

"Luna. We'll go to ground for as long as it takes there."

"Got it. Hold it! She's on your next left."

Several meters away, The Director was talking to Gaia. "Yes, I know, the whole sordid thing is a mess, but at least it's moving forward. Yes, I... Mmm. We'll abort it, of course; there's too many people here already, and I... No, we haven't found him yet, but it's..." He heard screaming. "Oh, what the hell? Gaia, I'll report later, something's going on."

He closed the connection, and walked over to the window to see Nick threatening the surgical team with a bone saw as the now-awake hybrid tore at her bindings. The Director snarled. "Fielding..."

Nick screamed "Alright, punks, against the wall!" He menaced the head doctor, and called out to Aeri mentally. "Aeri! Are you alright?"

Aeri's thoughts came to him in a flood of emotions; panic, sorrow... And expectation? "I'm sorry, Nick, I must have let the disguise slip while we were dreaming! Are we going to be able to get out of here?"

Nick lurched threateningly at an intern. "Yeah, I've got the shuttle primed. Let's go!"

Aeri shook of her last strap, and bolted out of the room, Nick following. Suddenly, The Director loomed before them, holding a pistol. He sneered at Nick. "Fielding, what have I told you about contaminating experiments?" The hammer went back, and Aeri snarled. Shooting her paw forward, she gripped one side of The Director's bald head. Her fiery markings flared, and The Director screamed as his flesh seared. He staggered backwards, holding his hand to the paw-shaped burn mark appearing on his head. Nick grabbed Aeri's still-warm paw, and led her to the escape shuttle. As they turned a corner, they saw a squad of security personnel coming towards them. The guards opened fire. Aeri shoved Nick back behind the corner, and spread her wings. She leaped forward, and caught the air. Soaring above the fusillade of lead, she reached the guards before they had time for another barrage, and her outstretched wings neatly clocked each and every one of them into unconsciousness.

Nick poked his head around the corner, and gaped. "Wow... I didn't know you could do that."

Aeri smiled. "I can do a lot of things." She bumped her wings against the side of the hallway, and frowned. "Unfortunately, I can't fly in here. It's too small."

Nick hurried past here. "It's just as well, we're almost there."

After turning a few more corners, they saw the shuttle; or at least, they saw all of the shuttle they could. What they saw was a door. That door led into the shuttle, which launched out from the facility in case of emergency. Nick urged her inside, and stepped into the cramped shuttle himself. Most of the shuttle was packed with supplies; the new iodrive he's smuggled, foodstuffs, and two spacesuits. He buckled Aeri into the complicated seat, and did the same with himself. He punched controls, flipped switches, and buttoned buttons. Green lights came up across the board...

Except one. 'Docking clamp release' glowed a stubborn red. Nick swore; without releasing the docking clamps, the shuttle would have to tear a huge hole out of the facility, if it could even get off. He tried to get access to the clamps, but swore again when he saw that the system had been locked. He unclasped his seat, and got out. Aeri tried to as well, but couldn't work the devices. "Where are you going?"

Nick wrenched open the door, and thought "I've got to disable the locking clamps. Hold on a second." He looked across the hall, and saw what he was looking for; the access panel. The hallway was shaped sort of like a plus sign; the shuttle and access panel were at opposite ends of the plus, which the main corridor bisected. He was about to run out into the main corridor, when he heard a voice. It was The Director.

"Fielding! We know you're in there."

Nick froze. NO! Not now! We're so close! He peeked around the corner carefully. He saw The Director, his face blackened by his burn, surrounded by a crowd of security personnel. The Director continued. "We've locked the shuttle, in case you were wondering. I do not take kindly to thieves, Fielding. Return my hybrid at once."

Nick yelled "'Your' hybrid? If you had, just once, shown that you understood the sanctity of life, then this might have never happened!"

The Director sneered. "I refuse to debate semantics, Fielding. You have ten seconds to surrender yourself. Ten..."

Nick's eyes flicked between the wall of guns and the panel. Just one button pushed, and the docking clamps would disengage.

"Nine..."

Could he make it there and back without getting shot? No, impossible. If Aeri were here, maybe she could, but she was still tied up in her chair.

"Eight..."

Maybe the question was if he could get there and back without getting shot too much. He knew he could take a couple of those small-bore bullets, but could he take a hundred?

"Seven..."

Nick realized that there was no way out of this situation that didn't involve death. If he tried to press the switch, he'd get shot. If he did nothing, then the guards would shoot him and Aeri both. If he fired the thrusters with the docking clamps still engaged, then the shuttle would tear the station a new one, and possibly kill him, Aeri, and everyone aboard.

"Six..."

That was it, he realized. Death was going to happen, one way or the other. The only choice, his only choice, was how many would die.

"Five..."

"Aeri," Nick thought, "reach over and flip the switch labeled 'Engine IDLE'."

He felt her confirmation, and felt a barely perceptible thrum in his shoes as the shuttle's engines warmed.

"Four..."

Nick tensed his feet. "Aeri, you know I love you, right?"

"Yes, Nick, I... Why? What are you doing?"

"Three..."

"We're not getting out of here without a sacrifice. There's just no way around it."

He felt horror from her. "No! Don't! There has to a..."

"Two..."

"No, Aeri, there isn't. Look, when you get to Luna, find a guy named Bill, Bill Hesh. Tell him Nick sent you."

"Nick, don't do this! I..."

"One..."

Nick tensed into a sprinter's posture. "I love you, Aeri."

He sprang forward, pushing off his foot with all his might. From his left, he heard the chatter of the guns. Three, six, eight white-hot metal slugs hit him, punching into his skin and sending warm blood fountaining into the air. He screamed in pain, but pushed forward, his vision dilating around the 'Release Clamps' button. He felt his legs go numb, and started to slide along the wall. He took a few more ragged steps, and managed to flatten his palm against the button.

For a second, nothing happened. Then, the wall vanished. The shuttle punched out, taking the station wall with it. Black space sucked at the atmosphere, and Nick, The Director, and the wailing guards were pulled into vacuum. As the cold, prickling sensation crawled up him, Nick smiled. At least Aeri got away... As he died, he thought he could even see her, reaching out to him with a paw, her face twisted in sorrow... Wearing a spacesuit?

Aeri grasped Nick around the arm, and hauled him into the airlock. As the lock hissed shut, she tore the suit off her, and grabbed his shoulders. She was starting to cry. "Nick, you're going to be alright."

Nick raised his hand to look; vacuum blisters were starting to come up, each filling with blood, and his bullet wounds were starting to look inconsequential. He laughed wearily, and the laugh turned into a racking, bloody cough. "Don't lie to me, Aeri... I'm a goner."

She growled, and her grip started to shake. "You have to be okay! You're my mate!" She gripped one of his hands, and pushed it to her belly. "I'm pregnant, Nick. It's yours."

Nick rubbed her belly with a look of awe, before his hand shook and collapsed. "That's... Wonderful, Aeri." He laid his head back on the ground. "But, Aeri... Death's a big shit sandwich, and we've all got to scarf it someday." He smiled, faintly. "Bon appétit."

Aeri sniffled, and leaned over him, pushing her forehead to his. "Nick. I want to try something. If I can copy information in your head into mine... Can I copy you?"

Nick groaned. "Try, if you want to... I'm going anyway, may as well leave something behind."

Aeri gripped him tightly, and through his fading awareness, Nick could feel her mental fingers digging into his brain, all gentleness forgotten. She spread her tendrils through his entire being, until she could see everything that made Nick Nick. She studied it, thinking on how to incorporate it into herself, and decided. As she began drawing him into her, she bent, and kissed him full on the mouth. She drew in his breath, and his essence with it. Slowly, slowly, the light of intelligence left Nick, and a second later, the light of life.

Aeri slowly let his body go, and rose. She leaned against the wall and groaned, a burning ache building in her head. When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in nothingness.

"Wow... I hope this isn't your head, because it's completely empty."

Aeri whirled around, and saw Nick, hale and hearty again, standing behind her and smiling. She rushed into his arms. "Oh, Nick! Did it work?"

He scratched her ears. "Depends on what you mean by 'work'. Right now, all my memories are becoming yours, and yours are becoming mine. If you want to be Zen about it, two are becoming one."

She nuzzled her nose into his neck, and wasn't surprised to find she couldn't pull away. "So does this mean you're going to go away again?"

He ruffled her hair. "Of course not. You and me, we're going to become one. One being, one mind, one memory."

She sighed, closed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Nick. I could have saved you."

"No... One of us was going to die. But now, we're not. This is actually better than I thought it'd turn out." He pressed his arms to her, and they started to sink into her. "Take good care of our kid, will you?"

She hugged him tighter. "I will. Thank... Thank you, Nick."

He smiled. "Nick? Who's that?"

The hybrid stood in the shuttle, swaying on it's feet. It raised it's head, and stared out into space with Nick's eyes. The fusion of Nick and Aeri was something... Unprecedented. Both of them, neither of them... Both male, and female. Shi raised a claw, and scratched into the wall. Shi scrawled an A, an E, an R, and an I. Then she moved hir hand over a little, and wrote an N, an I, a C, and a K. Finally, she scratched out the last three letters, and looked at the wall. "Aerin," shi breathed. Shi sighed, and sat in the pilot's chair, and scrolled with experience down the menu, until shi saw her destination. She altered a few vectors, and sent a message from 'Nick' to Bill, saying to expect someone.

Aerin sat back, and looked back out at space, and started tapping hir claws on the seat rest. When shi got to Luna, she was going to have a good meal, and a hot shower. Then... Hir fingers clenched around the seat rest, pulverizing it. Then... Revenge.