FSE

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Lost and Found Gren Drake, 2011

The site was on the small site, probably only a couple of buildings even back when it was still intact. It was also closer to the nearby mega-crater than most explorers (tomb raiders, Fred silently said to himself, we loot the remains of those too long dead to care) were willing to go. Still in the radiological safe zone--the crater itself could still make one glow, even after 40,000 years, figuratively at least--but close enough the blast of the ancient weapon had ravaged even the super-durable materials of the ancients.

Fred glanced back towards where the monstrous six-axis transport was parked. Already they had repacked most of their equipment. Tom was just outside the vehicle scrubbing the last of the dirt from the site off and while Fred normally loved to admire that hard-muscled body as it gleamed with moisture, he couldn't get over the feeling that they had missed something.

They had found nothing at the site, not even the remains of furniture. Either others had been there first or the long exposure had destroyed anything that remained. They would share the intimacy of the coy from the growing night--the intimacy that was by far the best part of searching the ruins--and in the morning they would search out the next site, the next chance to find the mother lode of ancient goods and technology.

Then he stubbed his toe. His loud, vicious curses echoed off the crumbling walls and shattered remains of windows. Some made it so far as to echo from the light forest around them. He cursed the half ruined walls and unseen rubble.

Only whatever he had stubbed his toe on was in the middle of the corridor. There was no wall there, half collapsed or otherwise, and looking down he could see that there was no rubble either. Just a narrow corner of stone poking out of the sandy soil.

He crouched and dug around the stone with his hands. Sure, it wasn't likely to be anything important, but they weren't on a deadline, either. The stone was flat and almost vertical. Not half a foot down it turned, becoming instead horizontal. Fred's fingers became raged from the continued digging, but his effort soon paid off as it turned vertical again.

He'd found stairs. Nothing else had indicated the building had so much as a basement or even a substantial foundation, though given its age the latter was certainly present in some form.

"Tom! Grab a shovel! I think I might have found something!" Fred stood as he spoke, turning towards where Tom had been loading the last of their gear into the six-axis, still only half dressed.

"Oh? What is it?" Even as he spoke, Tom was running towards Fred, a shovel visible in his hand.

"I think they're stairs."

"What, more? What do you need the shovel for?"

Fred shook his head, gesturing at the ground. "No. Stairs down. They appear to have been filled in, but that means anything down there might be preserved."

Tom stopped a few steps away, panting slightly. Theirs was a physical life with little opportunity to get out of shape. There was no time to admire the hard muscle, though. He looked down at where Fred had dug out the step slightly.

"I'll get started excavating this while you grab a shovel. With a bit of luck we might have it made."

Fred nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Who knew what treasures lay beneath the surface of this unassuming ruin?

It took a few hours and the sun was well past the horizon when they finished. They had stopped briefly to unpack lanterns, but despite the delay the two of them dug past the dirt clogging up the stairs into what had clearly been a much larger facility than the surface site suggested. The dirt-filled passage alone continued almost as long as the above building.

They lit their way with an electric lantern. After their initial attempt to mount hooks in the ceiling and out of the way shattered the drill bit, they settled for simply carrying one with them.

Heavy doors opened to an easy touch to reveal rooms upon rooms filled with computer equipment and strange lab gear. All appeared quite dead and thick dust concealed nearly every feature before being swept away. There was little enough that they'd be able to take with them to sell, but the bounty for having found the place would be decent enough.

Just as they were poking their heads into the fifth room the facility was flooded with light. Banks of lights along the edges of the ceiling came on in chunks, each with a solid thunk noise that echoed in the unoccupied halls.

"Um," Fred said, reaching out to grab Tom's arm. His fingers laced around his companion's flesh as he pulled himself a bit closer, silently taking comfort in the feel of his partner.

"Well," Tom said. "I guess the bounty for finding this will be larger." The smile he gave Fred didn't reach his eyes and he wrapped his hand around Fred's. It remained unspoken between them that if the ruins still operated so too might the defences the Ancients were so fond of.

There was an additional serious of thunks, panels in the ceiling slide out and something began to extend from behind them. Neither stayed around to see just what was making its presence known. Fred pulled his companion into one of the side-rooms, pulling a sliding glass door shut behind him. It was one of many that were filled with banks of computers, only where they had been little more than sheets of glass, now they stood with screens glowing, text flying past.

He stepped over to one, keeping a cautious eye out for any hidden compartments that might open as he did. It was, as expected, in High Ancient. Tom, he knew, had a book for translating it, woefully incomplete as it was, but to Fred it was nothing more than a jumbled mess of random symbols. Since nothing was staying visible on the screens for more than a few seconds anyway he figured that decided out what it said didn't matter so much. Instead, he studied the room's second most interesting feature: a large basin in the middle of the floor. It wasn't the first such that they'd seen, though in the light of their lanterns they hadn't had a chance to get a really good look at it before.

The basin was formed of impossibly thin, featureless metal and looked to have been embedded right into the floor. It was partially filled with what appeared to be clear water. Knowing just how long the facility had been standing empty it seemed unlikely that this could really be what it seemed; surely even with the way it had been sealed off some kind of algae would have formed or debris fallen in. He simply could not see standing water still being so clear after forty thousand years without added chemicals.

Neither computers nor improbably clear water could distract him from what the formerly dead ruins did next. A voice rang through the building, unintelligible as it spoke a language dead for long millennia, and the grinding of gears as the heavy, ceiling mounted weaponry in the hall turned to track the intruders from the hall; what before had been extending was revealed to be a pair of long, hollow tubes extending from a roughly square base. It was an auto-cannon; for all their science, the Ancients seemed fascinated with common bullets.

"Stay clear!" Tom pulled Fred to the side of the room, against the wall with the door. It seemed unlikely that anything would try to shoot them through the wall; if the inner walls were anything like the ones on the surface it seemed unlikely anything could. The door, however, looked unable to stop a half-hearted punch.

Tom, it seemed, wanted to take no chances with the cannon as he crouched down against the wall. Fred could well understand; the idea of losing Tom was worse than that of dying. But it did call one question into mind: what now?

It seemed like they'd been trapped inside the small room for hours. It had become clear to Tom that the weapon outside wasn't going to fire into the room any time soon, but that didn't mean they could escape. Fred stayed back against the wall as Tom investigated the computers. They seemed to have finished whatever automatic sequence they'd been going through and while some still had a text display as before most had switched to a graphical interface. With an initially cautious touch, Tom experimented with them; there was little enough else to do.

That he could find his way around the interface at all was both amazing and a testament to its designers. While he didn't doubt that it was intended to control whatever process the basin was involved in, he lacked the knowledge to guess what that might be. There was a reason that he and Fred were no more than explorers and looters rather than proper archaeologists: neither of them had any real knowledge of the ruins they exploited.

Not that anyone knew a whole lot about them.

He'd managed to get a screen to display what looked like one of the reptilian sakin; it was well known that the ancients had kept them, as well as many other species, as servants so it wasn't too much of a surprise to find the picture. From his pants pocket he pulled the small guide to the Ancient language he carried with him and tried to figure out what some of the text displayed alongside the image said.

"Hey, Fred," he said after a few minutes. "Come take a look at this. There seems to be a treasure-trove of information on this system."

"If we get to survive to tell anyone." Despite his complaining, Fred stood and joined Tom at the large computer display. "So, what of it? I see a sakin and a bunch of little squiggly marks."

"Yes," Tom said, "but there are a lot of marks. I can only find a few words in the translation guide here," he waved the anorexic book, "but those I can suggest we're looking at an informational display."

"Well, there'll be a good bounty for finding this place if you're right," Fred said, "but first we have to escape." Tom watched as Fred edged around the basin towards the door. Despite being able to see the ceiling mounted gun from where he was, the weapon didn't seem to have any objections to Tom's presence. Perhaps it didn't want to risk damaging the equipment behind him.

This soon revealed itself to be correct. As Fred neared the door the mounted gun suddenly swivelled far more smoothly than the grinding sound they had heard previously suggested to point at him. Before he could react rapid, ear-shattering bangs rang out, echoing through the facility. The glass of the door shattered, spraying shards into the room.

Fred gasped, clutching at his body, but even as Tom rushed towards him, heedless of the weapon, he could see that there was nothing he could do. Fred's shirt was torn and stained red, a stain that grew rapidly. More blood was dripping to the floor. As Fred stumbled backwards his boots stepped in the pools causing him to leave bloody footprints. Then he bumped into the side of the basin, grasping it as he nearly tumbled.

"Fred!" As Tom rushed towards Fred, Fred turned to him, his eyes wide and his skin pale.

"Ack-" He opened his mouth, but any words he might have intended were quickly replaced with blood dribbling out. Then, with a quiet sigh, he collapsed. Tom reached him as his body fell onto the edge of the basin and reached out for his companion, but he was still in shock and was too slow, too inaccurate. Fred tumbled into the basin.

Even then Tom would not have hesitated to reach into the clear water, but Fred's entry seemed to have triggered something and the basin started to close, the previously unseen lid extruding outwards from the sides of the basin.

"Fred!" Tom grabbed the edges of the lid, trying to hold it back, to force it open once more, but the force closing it was relentless. Despite a decided lack of speed, the force pulled Tom along with it and when it was almost sealed he let go for fear that it would sever his fingers.

That didn't stop him from beating on the lid, pounding on it desperately in the vain hope that it would somehow recognize his need to see his partner once more. But it was for not. Fred was dead, victim of an installation built by a long disappeared civilization, and Tom had not even his body left to remember him.

He stood, gazing around the room with tear filled eyes, before walking over to the doorway; if he couldn't have Fred in life than perhaps he could at least join him in death.

He stood in the doorway and willed the ceiling mounted gun to do its worst. Several moments passed and he realized that he was still alive, uninjured. The gun was making a clicking noise, but no bullets were forthcoming. It was either out of ammo or broken, its last shots expended on Fred.

Tom uttered an inarticulate cry and fell to his knees, then collapsed entirely to the ground. There might be other guns, guns still functional, but that would require picking himself up, moving about once more.

He couldn't be bothered. Even that didn't seem to have any point anymore. If he waited long enough perhaps his life would leave of its own accord.

Several hours later Tom was still in that room, though he had dragged himself to where the screen was and he had his translation book out once more. Most of the text remained unintelligible, but he had managed to pick out a few more words, not that he learned any more than before. Most significantly was that the display had gained a new feature: a constantly changing set of symbols that he soon worked out to be numbers. It was a count-down timer and it had started just when Fred had fallen into the basin. Perhaps the basin served another purpose rather than simply storing water?

Perhaps it would even be able to heal Fred?

The ancient machinery that had been discovered in usable shape was often capable of performing tasks that were nothing short of miraculous. The Ancients had a control over the world that modern science still could not dream of duplicating.

Unfortunately, while his translation book listed the numerals used by the Ancients, it had nothing to say about how they measured time. He supposed he could time how long it took the numerals to change with his watch and figure out how long it would take that way, but that would have been too much effort.

He glanced back towards the basin; the hours that had passed had not lessened the pain of losing his long-time companion, though the discovery of the timer did kindle new hope. He tried not to let too much hope build for fear that the disappointment that seemed inevitable would bring him crashing back down. He'd seen Fred's torso torn apart by those bullets and nothing could survive that kind of injury.

Once more he looked at the timer and he wished it would hurry up. Even if the hope proved false at least there wouldn't be the same tedious waiting. He settled to lean against the side of the basin as time passed and he watched the timer count down.

The last digit changed to zero. Even before he had a chance to feel crushed that nothing happened, a light started flashing, illuminating the room in alternating red and yellow patterns. A long tone was echoing from the screen and he dragged himself over to look at it.

The display had changed with a new window having appeared over the old display. There were only the two words on it. The first meant 'Done' and the second 'Acknowledge'. This one was displayed as a button so he touched it; what would it do?

There was a grinding behind him. The basin was opening once more and he ran to it. Had his hope been in vain? Would he find Fred restored or would he find a mutilated corpse? Even if it had been intended to heal people, it was entirely possible that, since the Ancients weren't human, it had done harm in its attempts to do good. In as much as one could harm a corpse.

What he found instead was something totally unexpected. Lying in the basin and coming slowly to its senses was one of the reptilian sakin. The water-like fluid that had previously been in the basin was almost completely gone now with only a few small pools remaining.

Tom wondered where the sakin had come from. And what had the thing done with Fred's body? Despite an urge to throttle the hapless occupant, to blame everything on it, he restrained himself. It was no fault of the occupant's that it had replaced Fred.

A thought occurred to Tom. Could this be one of the Ancients, or at least one of their servants, preserved through the ages and now exchanged for Fred's broken body? The sakin's mouth opened and strange, frightful sounds that belonged in the mouth of neither of their respective species echoed forth. The Ancient language! How he wished he had an audio recorder. A sample of the language being spoken would be forth a fortune.

"Gah!" The figure seemed to find its tongue then, its words losing the strange tones as it propped itself up on its elbows.

"Tom?" It said. "What is it? You look confused."

Tom blinked. He knew perfectly well that the Ancients hadn't used English, that the language hadn't even existed then. Indeed, if he hadn't known better he would have said that, while the actual pitch and tone had changed, the sakin's mannerisms reminded him of Fred.

"Fred?" he asked. It was impossible, but if ever there was someone to do the impossible, it was the Ancients.

"Yes, Tom?"

"What happened to you?" Tom gestured at the figure that increasingly seemed to be Fred.

"I was shot. I'll admit my memory of the moment is rather hazy, but I'm pretty sure you were there. After I fell into the basin it closed over me. At first I was drowning in the water, but then it was like I was asleep. I had the strangest dreams. And, I'll admit, I do feel a bit strange at the moment."

"Err," Tom said. "Have you looked at yourself?"

"No. Should I?" Fred looked down at his body and, although Tom had trouble reading his changed body language, he had no doubt that what he was seeing was shock. The wide eyes were in common with humans, as was the sudden stiffness. Moments later Fred was sitting up and running his hands over his new, scaled body. After a moment he seemed to notice his tail and picked it up, holding it and bending it.

"Amazing," he said. "I think this might just make our fortunes."

Tom shook his head. "Only if it can do it again."

"No." Fred stood, grasping the side of the basin and wavering back and forth. His tail swished below him as he moved as if to balance him. Considering how long Fred had had the tail, Tom suspected that the action was instinctive. Whatever the device that surrounded them, it seemed to have not only changed his long-time partner on a physical level, but also made sure Fred was able to use his new body. Only, not too well since Fred was still wavering back and forth, wobbling as he leaned against the side of the basin.

"So, ah, now what?" Fred asked after a moment.

"Now I think we need to get out of here. Further exploration we can leave for whoever follows up this discovery."

"And what about that gun? I've been shot once already and this thing doesn't look ready to perform another miracle."

"It appears to be out of bullets," Tom said, stepping over to the door to demonstrate. Once again the ceiling mounted gun issued a series of rapid clicks.

Fred watched him. "I'm not going to ask how you discovered that. Let's just get out of here." He joined Tom in the corridor outside of the room, still leaning on the wall, but more stable now than before. They both looked up and down the corridor.

"Uh, I don't suppose you remember which way we came in?" Tom asked.

"My head's still a bit fuzzy from getting shot earlier. Besides I'm still trying to adjust to this." He gestured at himself. "You're on your own for now."

Tom glanced up and down the corridor once more. "Ah. Damn."

They'd been wandering through the partially awakened facility for what must have been at least a couple of hours. Since Fred's clothing, including his watch, had been destroyed by whatever process had performed its miracle on him so it was hard to be sure.

Not that he didn't appreciate the time. Getting used to the feel of his body, not to mention the changes in the world around him, was going to take a long time. The colour had drained out of the world; what was left was not exactly grey, but he couldn't think of any better way to describe it. The world around him not as distinct as it had been either, though it was not unclear.

Not that the changes in his vision were the biggest changes; indeed, they were almost the smallest. The world was filled with scents he had never smelt before, odours unfamiliar and familiar reaching his nostrils with greater strength and clarity than he would have believed possible. Not only could he smell Tom in front of him, something he'd never been able to do before, but he could even smell Tom's scent lingering in the air everywhere his co-explorer had been. And not only was the smell stronger, he could separate the smell of Tom's sweat, of his natural scent, and even the dirt and grime that inevitably accumulated when exploring. It was all clear in just the way his vision wasn't.

And then there were his ears. They were large and pointed backwards; every sound was sharper and he could hear so much more. Even the sound of the distant, unseen dirt shifting was audible and his ears were constantly twitching as they focused on each sound. Despite being able to hear quieter sounds everything hadn't gotten louder; the quieter sounds were just more audible.

He shook his head; there was a lot of adjusting to do. And some awkwardness. Being naked around Tom wasn't an issue, but once they got back to the six-axis where he had extra clothing, he still was going to be able to get dressed. Thanks to the thick tail extending behind him he was going to have to buy a whole new wardrobe.

"Fred?" Tom asked and as Fred heard this he felt his ears perk up. Apparently they liked hearing Tom's voice just as much as the rest of him did.

"Yes?" he asked. As much as he liked hearing Tom's voice, he wasn't sure how the changes would effect their relationship yet. Joy that he had survived certainly, but he was also smelling a bit of what his altered brain was telling him was trepidation and that made him fear what Tom was about to say.

"I do believe we're lost," Tom said. Fred breathed a sigh of relief; it wasn't about him, about the change. Their relationship was almost certainly going to change because of the, well, changes. Was it going to destroy the intimacy that'd developed between them?

"Oh good," he said before the import of Tom's words sunk in. Once it did, the strange look that Tom gave him made rather more sense. "Sorry. My mind's still, adjusting to this."

Tom nodded. "Understandable. I don't suppose you have any ideas on what to do to get out of here?"

They were in, a T-intersection with apparently unmarked corridors in every direction. "Perhaps we could put our hand on the wall and follow it until we reach the exit?" Even as he said it he knew it wouldn't work; while often maze-like, the facility had chambers and rooms surrounded entirely by corridors. Just following one wall was as likely to lead them in circles as it was to lead them out. He sniffed the air. "At least it shouldn't be too far."

Tom glanced at Fred. "How do you know that? Do you recognize these corridors?"

"You can't smell the fresh air and the foresty scents?" Admittedly, Fred was still getting used to the changes, but the smell of the fresh air was so clear that it was almost inconceivable that Tom couldn't notice it.

Fred watched Tom's nostrils flare, his nose crinkling. "No. The only thing I can smell is dust and dirt."

"Hmm." Fred circled the corridor they were at, sampling the air. It didn't take long for him to conclude that the smells were quiet heady. Being able to distinguish so many scents seemed so natural that he wondered how he had ever failed to smell them, though since Tom still couldn't he had to believe that had been the case.

"I believe the smell is a bit stronger down this way," he said, gesturing.

"You sure?"

"Got any better ideas?" He shrugged and started down the corridor. As they walked he was surprised to realize that he could hear the sound of Tom's bootsteps behind him and of his new-found claws clicking against the floor. They would, no doubt, need trimmed. He sighed as he realized he was going to need to learn a whole new kind of personal grooming, but at least lots of native-born sakin to learn it from. He could have been changed into something entirely different and had to learn it on his own.

The journey out of the facility was neither quick nor fast. More than once they ran into places where the scents from outside were coming in through vents or being moved via air ducts. In a few cases they actually crawled through these, but most were too small and they were forced to find another path. And the complex was huge, far larger than it had seemed and larger than the crumbling ruins on the surface suggested.

Still, it took them only a few hours to find their way out. As they stepped out into the light of day, Fred blinked several times. Although the sun had only just risen, everything was much brighter than it should have been. Or, not so much brighter, but that the same brightness was less dark, in as much as that made sense. Shadows were still present and no less visible, but seemed less shadowy and concealing. Many seemed almost comforting for the way they blocked out the not-dark sun in the sky.

Still, it was good to be on the surface once more and he inhaled the heady and rich scent of the forest surrounding them.

"Shall we be off?" he said, gesturing towards were the six-axis was parked.

The interior of the six-axis was unchanged. Two seats were crammed in the front under the large, reinforced windshield with a plethora of controls in front of them to control the vehicle. It was far more complex than a regular passenger vehicle was, but then, a passenger vehicle wouldn't last long trundling through the raw, untamed forests of the New World.

Just as important was the interior space behind the seats. A wide was bolted to one side across from a portable stove and fridge. Numerous supplies were packed into any space that they fit.

Fred climbed in after Tom through the door in the back of the vehicle, ducking to keep from hitting his head. It was a habit he normally didn't think of, but today he felt the ends of his ears brush against the doorframe. It was definitely going to take a while to get used to the changed shape of his head.

Tom went straight to the controls and was endeavoured to get the vehicle started, while Fred followed a short distance behind. When he settled into the co-passenger's seat he found that his tail made it rather uncomfortable; the seat needed a groove in the middle for that newly developed limb. Added to this, he was still naked and the fabric of the seat was rough and unpleasant against his skin. Or scales now, he supposed.

As Tom started the vehicle Fred stood once more, moved into the back and stretched out on the cot. It wasn't particularly comfortable, but then it never had been and was no less so now. He laid on his side, stretching out with his tail curling limp behind him.

Though the sky was clear when they set out, it took only an hour or two for the sky to become filled with dark clouds: a storm. Fred could feel the steady rumble of the vehicle die as Tom shut it down once more; while no amount of rain or dark posed a threat to it there was the risk an unseen cliff and just because the six-axis would be unharmed didn't mean the same was true for its occupants.

Fred was still lying on the cot when Tom slipped back and sat on the edge of it next to him and he put a hand on his shoulder.

"How are you doing? Are you holding up alright?"

Fred nodded, his check brushing against the pillow.

"You sure? I could drive us back to civilization in the dark rather than waiting."

"No," Fred said. "No rush at all. It's just been strange getting used to everything. It seems so different now." He shook his head, watching as Tom stood, at least to the extent the headroom in the six-axis allowed, and stripped out of his shirt. His chest was as well-built as ever; their lives were good exercise.

"A lot of things are different," Tom said. "If nothing else, we're both going to be able to retire from."

"You really want to? We've been searching all this time for the big break, but now that we've got it, I'm not sure I really want it. Even without the obvious price."

Tom was silent for a moment. "Perhaps not. I have gotten rather used to this life, but sometimes it'd be nice to have a home to go to with walls and furniture and real food. But as for that price you mentioned," Tom looked into Fred's eyes and ran his hand along his companion's scaled back. "I don't think it's too awful. It does come with certain benefits after all," he touched Fred's nose, "and it's not like you've become one of those species that can't use standard fixtures."

Fred sighed. "I suppose you're right, but it seems, well..." He felt a moment of disappointment as Tom stood up, but this didn't last long. His companion was simply taking off his pants. The bed had no blankets in the climate-controlled interior so Tom just laid down next to Fred and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"It'll all seem better when the storm clears," he said, pulling himself against Fred. With the sound of rain pounding on the thick walls of their vehicle Fred slipped in and out of a doze. The hours passed, though the storm showed no signs of dissipating.

When Tom finally woke the storm was still pounding. He considered getting up and grabbing a bite to eat, but the heavily preserved food was not appealing. Instead, he propped himself up on one arm and looked down at Fred. He could help a curious, questing hand sneak down his companion's chest. The scales there felt surprisingly smooth under his hand. Fred's musculature was the same as a human's, at least above the waist, one of those problems that had long troubled scientists, but as his hand went downwards, the muscles shifted from where they'd have been in a human thanks to the thick tail.

He was startled when his hand failed to encounter the expected obstruction just past Fred's waist and he almost pulled his hand back. Really, he told himself, it shouldn't have been such a surprise. Fred hadn't been exactly been wearing much.

"Eh?" Fred said, waking.

"Don't worry," Tom told him. "It's just me." His fingers explored the unobstructed area and found a well concealed opening and slipped inside of it. To his surprise it was slightly moist and held something that felt kind of like the missing obstruction. He felt a shiver run through Fred's body, the sensation quite noticeable where their bodies touched.

Pulling his finger back out once more he circled it around this opening, looking into Fred's eyes and enjoying the sounds his companion was making. His other hand slipped down his companion's back, fingers exploring the bumps of Fred's spine as they descended to rest in the small of his back. The feel of the tail extending outwards rather than merely the twin buttocks was unexpected, but it didn't feel at all unnatural. Indeed, despite knowing that his partner had been human only the previous day, the changes felt quite natural.

The hand he'd been rubbing Fred's genital opening with shifted to the side to rub against his thighs and the upper portions of his tail; the flesh was all as firm and well-muscled as one would expect from someone who spent all their time in the field, but he had a feeling that even had Fred been unfit before he would still have been well muscled now.

He felt Fred's newfound tail brush against his legs, rubbing his shins. It did not seem to be the most dexterous of limbs, but he supposed that could just be a matter of practice.

"I-" Fred began, but Tom shushed him, pulling his hand back up to explore the opening he'd found previously.

"There's no need to say anything," He could feel the firmness he'd felt inside that opening pressing against him now, harder than he would have expected. He brought his hand up to touch and gently stroke it. Like the place where it had been hidden, it was slightly moist. Nor was it especially warm, not nearly as warm as he would have expected from something inside his companion's body.

Fred began to respond more instinctively, his own hands rubbing Tom's thighs, the claws pressing against his skin, not painfully, but more sensually than he'd have imagined possible.

Without thinking about it he rolled Fred onto his back, lifting himself above his companion. He realized then that his companion was shorter than before, despite having already been shorter than Tom. He could feel Fred had become quite hard, but he ignored the stiff shaft for the moment, instead choosing to gaze into Fred's eyes. He couldn't help a wince when he saw the angle Fred's newfound ears were bent at, but Fred didn't seem to mind or even notice, so his wince didn't last very long.

The problem with this position, he thought, was that he needed his arms to hold himself up. Fred, however, didn't have this problem and his arms were roving over Tom's body, claws lightly stroking his flesh as they spiralled over him, ever approaching his cock. When he felt an additional pressure pressing against his legs he glanced back and was surprised to see Fred's tail had curled around to tuck itself between Tom's thighs.

He balanced on one hand so he could stroke Fred's chest with the other for a moment before lowering his hand to grasp Fred's cock.

"You want me to go on?" he asked.

"Oh, yes." As Fred spoke Tom got a good view of the teeth inside his snout and quailed for a moment, but quickly recovered. They'd been partners for many years and he knew Fred would do nothing to hurt him.

He turned around before positioning himself over Fred's head, his hard cock brushing against Fred's chin. He leaned over, Fred's own now unfamiliar cock was pointing straight up at his lips. He could feel Fred's tongue on his cock as he lowered his lips around Fred's own shaft, taking it in and tasting it.

Fred seemed to have the same idea and the newfound inflexibility of his lips was more than made up for by the length and dexterity of his tongue; this organ was wrapping around and teasing Tom's cock in ways he'd never imagined would have been possible.

Despite this distraction, Tom was able to keep his mind on what he was doing sufficiently to continue his own efforts as he took Fred's cock entirely into his mouth, his lips working over its surface as he bobbed his head and his tongue teasing the delicate flesh. It was strange having to relearn one's companion's anatomy, but unlike discovering a new lover.

Fred's efforts, while less energetic, were at least as effective and Tom could feel the bolts of pure sensation that shot through his body, the shivers and the moans that echoed out from around the cock in his mouth. His hips thrust weakly at the muzzle engulfing his cock, feeling his companion's breath against his pubes and the occasion brush of that snout against his flesh. What he didn't feel was the slightest touch of teeth. The taste and feel of Fred's cock was strange, yet not unpleasant; how could they be considering who they belonged to?

Sweat glimmered on his body and his heart pounded in his chest; he wasn't going to last much longer. He wanted to tell Fred this, to tell him to slow down, but his mouth was full. Besides, from the way Fred was moving beneath him he doubted his companion was much further from his climax than Tom himself was.

The sensations continued to build up and he was forced to move his hand from Fred's groin as his body started to shake with the effort of not giving into his climax while also continuing his efforts on Fred.

He was not able to hold out long and moments later he could feel his cock emptying his seed into Fred's waiting mouth where it was readily swallowed; he could feel the motions of Fred's tongue as he swallowed and the unusual feel only prolonged the experience.

Moments later Fred's hips were shoved up against Tom's face as his newly nonhuman semen was shot into Tom's throat. It wasn't hot, but it still had a distinctive salty taste to it, both different and similar to how Fred had tasted before.

Then Tom collapsed by Fred's side, panting as he turned around to hold Fred close, embracing him. Their spent cocks were pressed together, though not for long as Fred's retracted back into his body.

They relaxed in the afterglow of their orgasm, all the problems of their experience with the facility momentarily forgotten. For a time it was as if nothing had changed.

Later it might be different; they would have to deal with Fred's changes, though thankfully there were legal procedures for such events however rare they might be, and with the consequences of discovering a live site.

For now, though, it was sufficient that they had each other.