{"sf1_id":912255,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Victernus - Chapter 21","author":"Baumarius","words":2426,"posted_at":"2015-09-18T23:49:00.000Z","tags":["Cybernetics","Science","Transformation","War","Werewolf","Wolf","apocalypse","corruption","dystopia","implants","mind","tf","uploading"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/912255-victernus-chapter-21","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/912255","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=912255\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"            When Namara did not return, Mahalia\nand Athius decided to go out and find Gala. Because Mahalia's tracking device\ntold her that Namara was still near the forum, she figured that he had gotten\nside-tracked with the scientists. It was not unlike him, considering that he\nusually had trouble stopping when going on about psychology and computers.\n            Once the fog - a simulation built so\nthat the students would not leave the School during teaching hours - lifted,\nAthius and Mahalia set out towards the school's courtyard. Mahalia walked with\nAthius in the street, but still had her cloaking technology active so that she\nwould not be found out. They remained silent so that Athius would not seem\nsuspicious or schizophrenic. He could still see her, and all he had to do was\ntouch her to join her in her stealth.\n            The School's courtyard rested in the\n\"shadow\" of a giant building before the forum. The School itself had fourteen\nstories and housed every grade up through twelfth. It was, as the Great\nDemonstrators of the past had called it, \"the machine over the machine.\" There,\nsome hopes and dreams were realized, and some were crushed. Students who failed\nto meet the standards were never heard from again, and only the new ones dared\nto speculate.\n            When they reached the courtyard,\nAthius saw his friends working on a new project out on one of the paths. Gala\nwas with them, and they were all sitting down on the ground. Athius glanced at\nMahalia, who gave him a nod to go forward. He stepped forward and headed for\nthem confidently, half-hoping that he wouldn't have to try too hard to convince\nthem to join him.\n            Their response to seeing him was not\nborn of amusement or playfulness, but of fear. Gala got to her feet and came\nclose, asking, \"Where were you? You missed the first class!\"\n            He sighed, \"Gala... I couldn't do it.\nI had something else to attend to first...\"\n            She scolded him, \"What do you mean you\ncouldn't do it? You know the penalty for skipping school!\"\n            Athius shook his head, \"I already\nreceived enough grief from my dad last night... I didn't come here to get it from\nyou too.\"\n            Gala narrowed her eyes at him and\nasked, \"What do you mean? You're gonna get it from the school officials now!\"\n            He stared at her painfully and\nspoke, \"I did not come back here to be subjected to this system again!\" After\nlooking down at the ground briefly, he took off his shirt and turned around so\nthat she could see. He looked over his shoulder and said, \"I came to find out\nif you would leave with me.\"\n            She gasped and covered her mouth.\n\"Your dad did that to you?!\"\n            He nodded and then put his shirt\nback on, turning to her again. \"Last night, I found someone from the old society...\nthe one before New Selania. It's hard to explain how he is still living, but he\nand his friends have offered us a way out of this cavern. He says that he's\nbeen to the surface, and that it is perfectly safe. He also wants to give us a\nlife that isn't forcefully devoted to science research.\"\n            Gala looked back at her group and\nthen said, \"I'll have to think about it... I'll run it by our friends and see\nwhat they think.\"\n            Athius stepped back from her and\nwarned, \"Think quickly - there isn't much time left. How about... how about we\nmeet tomorrow night at the bridge that leads outside of the city? We can talk\nmore then.\"\n            She sighed, \"I'll see what I can do...\nWhat you are asking for is a lot, you know.\"\n            \"Yeah... but, you are my best friend. I\nreally don't want to leave you behind...\"\n            Gala nodded softly. In response,\nAthius put his hands in his pockets and began to walk back to Mahalia slowly. \"I\nguess I'll see you, then. Be careful Gala.\" When he finished, he took Mahalia's\nhand and vanished.\n---\n            Namara woke up in a small black cage\nthat was barely big enough to give him room to stretch in. Thick iron bars\nsurrounded him on all sides, spaced apart just shy of being able to let his\nhead through. Touching his neck, he found that he was wearing a thick collar. He\ntried sitting up, but he hit his head on the cage's roof. He rubbed his head\ngently and then peeked out of the cage. Around him were more cages - all empty,\nas he would have expected. There were no animals down in the cavern except for\nthe flying ones in the forest.\n            A little rectangle of blue light\nfiltered in through the automatic door at the end of the room. Namara called out,\n\"Hey, is there anyone here?\"\n            Someone's shadow moved over the\nrectangle. A few pistons hissed behind the wall and then the door slid open.\nThey took two steps in. A light female voice sounded, \"Hello?\"\n            Namara sighed in relief and\ncontinued, \"Hey... Can you get me out of here?\"\n            She approached and stopped by the\ncage, looking around for the source of the voice. After bending over and\nlooking into Namara's cage, she stood back up and called, \"Where are you?\"\n            He tapped on the bars and said,\n\"It's me. I can talk, you know.\"\n            She crouched back down and then\nraised her eyebrow, \"But... You're a... a...\"\n            Namara saw the thin, blonde teenager\non the other side and then smiled. \"I think 'werewolf' is the word you're\nlooking for. You can call me Namara. Who are you?\"\n            Sitting down, she folded her legs\nand asked, \"Um... My name is Laieh.\"\n            Namara smiled, \"That's a nice name,\"\nand then pointed at the bars, \"Now, would you please let me out? This cage is\ncramped and I don't really like being treated like this kind of animal. I also kinda need to go to the bathroom\nsoon...\"\n            Laieh sighed and then got back to\nher feet, heading back out. \"I'll have to ask Jordan... I'll be right back.\"\n            He held onto one of the bars and\ncalled out, \"Hurry back!\"\n            The electronic door slid back into\nplace when she left, leaving Namara in silence again. He sighed. Darn it, why does Lynn have to be alive\nstill? That idiot should have died so long ago... Ugh, I hate him so much!\n            When Laieh returned, she came with a\nwhite-haired, thin man who was scolding her, \"You know, they warned you that it\ncan mess with your mind. You can't give in.\" They both stepped in front of the\ncage and bent down to look. He continued, \"Just look at it. This thing was made to kill!\"\n            Namara shook his head as best he\ncould and then interrupted, \"Jordan? I was not made to kill. I made myself this\nway to find what may be the pinnacle of human desire. I have never taken a\nlife.\"\n            He laughed and mocked, \"Why would\nyou become an animal to find something human? I have not heard something more\nstupid in my entire life!\" He started laughing hysterically, \"Everyone knows\nthat other animals can't think anywhere near the way humans do!\"\n            Namara growled, \"That's because\nnobody has ever been anything else before. But, here I am; I have the brain\ncapacity of a dog, and I can still do this!\" He grabbed the bars at the front of\nthe cage and tried to thrust himself into the man's mind. But, he pulled back\nout when he felt himself getting shocked around his neck continuously. He shook\nand stuttered, \"St...st....sss....\" and then fell limp on the ground when it stopped.\nA warm sensation formed around one of his hips. He thought to them shakily, D...damn it...\n            Jordan laughed again, \"He's wetting\nhimself, isn't he?\"\n            Namara shouted into their minds, Well, I wouldn't have IF YOU HAD LET ME OUT\nALREADY!\n            Silence filled the air. Attempting\nto compensate, Namara apologized, I'm\nsorry... for yelling... Please don't let me sit here like this.\n            Jordan stood and told Laieh, \"Pull\nhim out and get him on one of the tables. You can clean him there and get him\nready.\"\n            She protested, \"You're the reason this\nhappened in the first place!\"\n            He shook his head and walked out,\n\"Not my problem.\"\n            Laieh looked down at the helpless\nwolf in front of him and said uneasily, \"Well, as long as you don't do anything\nto me...\"\n            Namara rolled his eyes. Laieh, I can't even move. Besides, I\nwouldn't do anything to you. I really am sorry...\n            She pressed the pads of a security\ndevice that was resting on the cage and then the lock opened. After letting the\ndoor swing open, she took his arms and pulled him out, dragging him into a white\noperating room. There were three large, beige-colored beds inside that were\nbeside tables with monitoring equipment on top - most of it geared towards\nanimals. Laieh shouted into the doorway on the other end of the room, \"Hey Jordan,\nget back here! I need your help getting him on the table.\"\n            Jordan huffed, \"Fine,\" and then came\nback through the hallway. Stopping at Namara's feet, he bent down and grabbed\nhis ankles. With Laieh, he lifted Namara up and put him onto the bed. Once he\nwas settled, Jordan left them alone.\n            Laieh took one look at Namara and\nsaid, \"Screw this; I'm getting the bucket.\"\n            Namara sighed, feeling his control\nreturning slowly. I didn't come all this\nway to have... this... happen to me. The thought made him chuckle.\n            Laieh returned shortly after,\nlugging a bucket of water towards him. Because he was able to move his mouth\nagain, he asked aloud, \"Um... what are you d-\"\n            Before he could finish, she lifted\nit up and dumped the bucket of freezing cold water on his belly, letting it\nwash him clean. The freezing feeling shot through his limbs, giving him\ncomplete control over his body again. He grabbed the bed with his hand tightly\nand sucked in air through his teeth before shouting, \"H-hey!\" He felt\ndisoriented, feeling a phantom limb clutching the bed where his prosthesis was.\n            She laughed, watching as he\nsquirmed. The bed sucked up most of the water and drained it into a bin below.\nAs he dripped clean, she flipped a couple of switches on the end of the table\nthat caused air to blow upwards through tiny holes. She smiled, \"That'll get\nyou dry enough.\"\n            Namara shivered and then rested for\na moment. Before he could get up, he felt himself being pushed backwards into a\ntube. He sat up and then hit his head, only to lie back down. He tried grasping\nthe edges with his hands, but they were too slippery for him to pull himself\nback out. He called, \"Hey, what are you doing?!\"\n             Laieh's voice entered the tube, \"I'm just\nrunning a couple scans to make sure you're alright. Don't worry.\"\n            A light-blue glow ascended up the\ntube towards Namara's head and then back down to his feet. When it shut off, it\nwas replaced by thin red lights that circled his whole body at a high speed. He\nwatched them until they dissipated, cuing the bed to slide back out. When it\ncame to a stop, he sat up and asked, \"Well... is everything alright?\"\n            Laieh, who seemed to be processing\nthe data on the screen near the scanner, responded, \"Yeah, it's just... hmm...\"\n            Namara slid off of the bed and\napproached the screen, \"What's the problem?\"\n            She pointed to a three-dimensional\ndiagram of his body and zoomed in to his shoulder and then the corpus callosum\nin his brain. \"There's a few... implants, if you would call them that... that I've\nnever seen before. The technology doesn't appear to be Selanian by any\nstandard.\"\n            He smiled, \"Well, one of my\ncompanions from a long time ago gave me a telepathy implant. I think it might\nbe related.\"\n            Laieh shook her head and zoomed in\nto a section of his frontal lobe, \"I'm pretty sure that this is the telepathy implant. Whatever those other things are...\nWell, I don't know. I see no reason as to why they are there.\"\n            Namara shrugged, unable to offer up\nan explanation. He thought to himself, I'm\ngoing to have to have Theo look into this.\n            Behind them, Jordan entered the room\nand said, \"Hurry up guys; the GD's not getting any younger.\"\n            Laieh sighed and told Namara, \"Yeah,\nyou should probably go. I'll keep looking into this for you just in case.\"\n            He agreed and said, \"Thanks,\" and\nthen followed Jordan, leaving Laieh on her own.\n            Jordan eyed her in suspicion before\nturning and heading out. The hallway he walked down was bland and dark and led\ninto the receiving area of the veterinary clinic. The lobby had a five chairs\nlined up on a wall and thick metal cage in the center. He pointed to it and\nsaid, \"You're going to have to get in there.\"\n            Namara laughed, \"I'm not a dog.\"\n            He held up the remote for the collar\nand said, \"The hell you're not. You'd better get in the cage or I'm going to\nhave to shock you and do it myself.\"\n            He sighed and twitched one of his\nears, \"Fine.\" Stepping close to it, he bent down and opened it before asking,\n\"Why are there chairs here? And cages? Honestly, what is even the point of this\nplace? New Selania doesn't have animals, does it?\"\n            Jordan held up the button in his\nhand and threatened, \"Get in already!\"\n            Namara mocked, \"Fine,\" and then\ncrawled into the cage, curling up on the bottom so that he could fit properly.\nHe pulled the door shut and listened to the locking mechanism slide into place.\nSuddenly, he was reminded of how when he first transformed, he was able to lift\nthe glass enclosure with his mind. Ideas began pumping in, and he couldn't help\nbut feel excited about them. He sighed. They would have to wait. For now, he\nwould rest.","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/911967-victernus-chapter-20.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/912869-victernus-chapter-22.json"}