Murdock's Order
Story by AnnoyedDragon on SoFurry
Another long running theme that's been in my head for years, yet never did anything with it. Just something I'd choose and then run scenarios through from time to time.
This is a dystopian sci-fi revolving around animal transformation, depressing unjust world so know what you're getting into. You can find a 'to the point' back story below, but I also wrote the above short story to give some insight into the world. It's only a taster of the theme, I haven't got any solid storylines to run through it yet but it was fun to play with something regarding it for once.
-
Backstory
-
Far in the future humanity live in completely automated cities in which all their needs are provided for, as a basic human right. Hundreds of these megastructures are scattered across the Earth, the space between them allowed to return to the wilds. With little need to travel, each city becoming isolated from each other, only communicating the most basic of information.
As a consequence the leading cause of death is suicide, as people suffer from existential crisis. There is no strife to their lives, no stimulation, just an endless road of comfortable existence. If you know that fifty years from now that life will be the same of what you are already sick of now, why not just skip to the end and be done with it?
Progress has stagnated, few people are driven to strive for anything because there is no need or motivation. Each city is dealing with this crisis in their own way, trying to stop humanity from just laying down and dying. They’re open to creative options.
One man calls for the life support technology to be shut down. To reintroduce hardship to the human race, to reintroduce struggle and the need for betterment, so people have a reason to strive for something better. He is regarded as mad, because they’d just be striving towards what they already have now, why make people suffer unnecessarily?
Besides, everything is automated, people will not voluntarily restrict their own access to the necessities of life. Why go hungry trying to figure out how to farm again; when food dispensers are widely and freely available?
The madman comes to detest his fellow citizenry. Barely even seeing them as human, as they are born with a sense of entitlement to the fruits of humanity; despite contributing nothing to their creation. He sees them as being no better than animals, living to satisfy base biological needs and having no strength of will of their own.
The humanity of history forever strived for something better, something greater. To learn and to grow and to seek a life with meaning. A characteristic that has largely been abandoned by their descendants, who aspire to nothing but to find some means or pleasure to make the passing of time more bearable.
If they live for base pursuits like animals and aspire for nothing more, then let them be animals.
He and other individuals of similar thinking studied the old technologies, learning how their medical support was in fact tiny machines that regulated body health. That they were all in fact saturated by these machines, and that they could be programmed to serve different purposes.
They studied the programming, the safeguards and how to circumvent them, becoming skilled in fields that had long since gone extinct. Neglected for a lack of reason to learn them.
The program was set, it distributed through the cities network, now it was just a matter of waiting.
Little by little, people began to realise something was terribly wrong. Their bodies gradually shifting, becoming less and less like their own. Panic spread, shock and horror as people slowly grew tails and hides of varying species, no one understood how it was happening or how to prevent it. No one seemed immune and the medical machines didn’t even recognise there was a problem.
Some welcomed the changes, novelty that shook them from their daily trance. Numb to the threat due to a lifetime of bore, for the first time in decades experiencing something new and exciting. Apathetic to the erasure of their own humanity.
But the panic soon became mutual, as it was discovered the various dispensers that kept the population well fed and supplied no longer recognised them as citizens. Their humanity too eroded to be seen as people, the machines declining their inputs.
Chaos broke out, as in their terror people’s behaviour devolved to the feral beasts they were slowly becoming. No one knew what to do, eventually they’d cease to be human at all, locked within a city that refused to care for them. They’d all starve and die, their bodies left to rot in the place they once called home. Leaving it empty for forever more.
Then, a all too familiar madman appeared on every screen, as human as he was before. Due to the systems perceived rapid decline in the population, all authority had been transferred to the last remaining humans. Those loyal to him.
His terms were simple. From now on, people would work, in exchange those still human would grant them access to the basic needs of their survival; by accessing the dispensers on their behalf. They’d also be granted an allowance of medication, the dosage of which determines the level of humanity the nano machines would maintain their body at.
Those who prove to be loyal and productive, will eventually receive the maximum dose to maintain a pure human form. Once again giving them free access to the cities dispensers and machines.
Those who were moderately useful, the vast majority of the population, would only be given a maintenance dose to prevent further loss of humanity. If they wished to do better than that, they had best be productive and earn their humanity back.
Those who refused to work, refused to obey, would receive nothing. Their bodies would be allowed to continue to change until they ceased to be human at all, merely animals in form. Then they’d be cast outside into the wild, to live as the beasts they deserved to be.
So, with little choice, many obeyed. Receiving their first allowances of the medication. Some were forced outside, crying at the exterior walls of their former home until their clothes fell from their bodies and they were forced to venture out into the wilds; in search of sustenance. Human no more.
A new class system emerged, determined by one’s level of physical humanity.
The elites who were pure in human form and had unlimited access to the cities resources, all tried to earn their favour. When you became completely human you could order the machines to produce the medication for you, giving you great power over others and securing your families position in society.
The middle classes; embarrassed hybrids who did their best to present themselves as being more human than they actually were. Using makeup, clothing and careful shaving in order to appear as being of higher position than they may actually be. Competing amongst each other, trying to out-human their peers.
Then the precarious lower classes, more animal than human and struggling to earn enough productivity to justify their next dose of the change halting medication. Juggling between their biological needs and preventing themselves from descending too far into inhumanity; lest they be forced outside and lose it all.
Forming families had become complicated. You not only had to find someone but someone mixed with the same species, else you’d not be reproductively compatible. Everyone favoured those who were the most human. Sometimes you’d just have to date down, someone more animal than you, because the availability of a species in your section of the city is limited.
Which was needless to say; discouraged and considered irresponsible. If you wanted your children to have the best life chances, you wouldn’t date down. You’d aim to couple with someone who brought as much pre-existing human into the family as possible.
Dating down brought with it other problems, as the more animal someone was; the greater the likelihood of them birthing multiple young. Compounding the economic pressure on the parents, as if they are so inhuman they are having litters; they probably are less able to afford them.
Pregnant women needed higher doses of the medication as the fetus diluted it within their system. Unborn children didn’t actually need the medication, because the changes would only begin at the point of birth. Its creators saw no purpose in making unborn children try to ‘earn’ their humanity. This was seen as a means of forcing the parent to not have children whimsically, to economically factor the expense of supporting the child before having one.
So unless you had stock once the children were born; they’d eventually lose whatever humanity they did have. Having until a certain age to ‘human up’ or get out. Placing them at greater risk of economic exploitation, as they are desperate to reach those minimum levels in time.
Low levels of humanity were all too often associated with poverty, as the parents weren’t able to afford keeping them much above that minimum level. For this reason cross species dating became popular among the lower classes, to allow casual sex without the risk of pregnancy. The other classes looked down on this behaviour, equating sexual looseness as being a symptom of their descent into animalistic nature.
A complex relationship emerged between the people and the tool used to coerce them, marrying the contrast between humanity and animal. A level of inhumanity was normalised, depending on which economic class you found yourself in. With the poorest most likely to engage in the least human behaviours, not being apologetic about it; unlike those higher up.
Rumour has it that somewhere beyond the cities walls, former human tribes had learned to live in nature again. Restarting the establishment of civilization in its most basic form. Though who could say, no one wanted to find out first hand by being made the leave the city. So they all remained trapped, trying not to fall through the cracks, working not only to live but to earn their right to be part of the human race.
In a twisted way, the plan worked. People no longer struggled with purpose or meaning to their lives, they were too busy living them not only to sustain themselves but aspiring to rise up from where they were. Suicide levels dropped and humanity, at least this form of it, slowly began to advance once again.
Neighbouring cities were at a loss to explain why this particular one was showing so many positive measurements, but didn’t dare travel across the wild lands to see for themselves how they achieved it. If they did, I wonder what they would make of what they found.
My alarm went off, ripping me from a particularly pleasant dream... fuck.
I hit the damn thing with my fist to silence it, ouching as a single piece of fur got caught between the seal and yanking out as my arm rose of its own accord... Well at least that woke me up a bit more.
I hated fur... I hated it! The shedding, the constant grooming to avoid it matting. I was in constant fur limbo, some days it would thin a bit more but then the next it would thicken up again. It was thin generally, my skin clearly visible below it, but not thin enough for me. I could try shaving it but damn; that would be annoying to maintain.
I would have been better off like her.
My girl was still laying besides me as I rolled over, two delicate nostril holes on her muzzle, two large closed eyelids behind that. Those lizards were always smiling; even when times were hard, it really picked you up. Her skin is still largely human you know, just a pale colour with the slight texture of scales here and there. It gives her body a really smooth and clean look, so soft, not a hair in sight.
Lizards had a lot going for them in that regard, unlike a rat like me.
To be honest... I still had the hots for other rodents, you cannot really blame me for that; I'm wired for tits and lots of them. But being a rodent, there were way too many risks involved in same species dating. We're a horny lot and have you seen, oh god, have you seen how many kids we can have?
No amount of compatible ass would make up for accidentally getting one pregnant, I'd have so many kids to support I'd be bankrupted and booted outside in no time. Interspecies, it's the safest way to go, all the fun a horny rat like me could ask for with no chance of a life destroying knock up.
There were downsides to dating a lizard, of course. But... damn, you'd be hard pressed to find a thicker ass. Lizard tail, no comparisons my friend, that rump can take anything you throw at it; it's got more meat than you'll ever need.
Her eyelids slowly opened and that grin grew a little wider, leaning over and nuzzling against my shoulder fur affectionately.
"Gotta get up babe..." I said to her, kissing her on the tip of her muzzle and getting out from under the covers. Two rodent feet hit the cold floor, I pulling my tail from the warmth as I began getting ready.
She moaned femininely, rubbing her large eyes and stretching about under the covers. The shape of her body and her thick tail moving about beneath them. "...What time is it?" She asked, through rows of tiny teeth decorating the interior of her long face.
"Work time..." I responded, as I threaded my tail through the back of some pants and pulled them all the way up, buckling the belt.
She groaned, hesitating, then threw the covers off herself, using the cold to force her to become more alert.
Yeah... downsides were on show now. She was completely nude, completely smooth, completely lacking in breasts. That was a lizard thing, you got a lot of junk in the trunk but it came at the cost of those feminine essentials.
No nipples, no belly button, oh and did I mention? I got a good look as I walked around the bed getting ready, that nude lizard lady bearing all; unapologetically holding her legs open in that strange oh so delightful way that they do... No asshole and no vagina!
Lizards have their own special sort of equipment called a cloaca, I think. Right between her legs you could see it, this large horizontal opening just below their crotch; on the tail a little bit. It was kind of genitalia and anus rolled into one, it took some getting used to but I'm ok with it. My dick certainly wasn't complaining, she felt good all the same, you take everyone for how they come around here.
Now would I have preferred your more traditional female equipment on a sexy rat girl rocking 12 tits... Yeah, I'd like that very much thank you. But not enough for the litter that often came after. So your lizard booty and your fun oven that smiled back at you, that's what I had and hell; I genuinely liked the girl they came attached to.
I glanced over her as she lay stretching and moaning on the bed, flicking her tail left and right, loosening up for another day. It creating such a need in me, making the colossal pair of rat nuts being supporting by my pants burn with desire.
"Girl you better get some clothes on because we do not have time to recreate last night..."
She giggled, but I was being totally serious. Rodents have a ferocious libido, one of the many joys I interheted from the species, so her laying nude like that with her legs all open and ready wasn't helping!
She finally got up and ran for the bathroom, where she had dumped her clothes the night prior. I continued to throw clothes on, pushing my ears in to get the vest over my head and stretching the rubberized shoes shaped for my particular feet over them. No sense in hard shoes when your feet are always fluctuating...
I grabbed my teeth file and set to work. Another joy of my breed, perpetually growing teeth that I had to regularly file down. People bitch about the dentist but they don't know the struggle us rodents have.
I suddenly heard her whine from the bathroom, sounding annoyed.
"Oh I've got more scales!" She cried.
"You look fine..." I responded dispassionately, finishing up and packing my tools.
"Can I borrow one of your meds, I'll pay you back?" Soon came after.
"Girl, I know I didn't hear that..."
I went over to the secure storage where they were kept, intent on getting my dose before she came back out and made an issue of it.
There were things people were willing to do for one another down here, but begging medication off you was one thing you didn't do. She was my girl and I loved her and all, but there were lines.
I placed my hand over the display and it scanned the unique code of my nanites, ensuring that they were in fact flowing through the live veins of a hand and not just some sample. It confirmed my identity, then dispensed a single pill. I downed it quickly, dry for the time being. I could always drink something later to help it down.
"I'm sorry..." She said, sheepishly from around the corner, wearing a shirt but still nude crotch down. "I just get nervous, I don't want to go back to being all scales again..."
I walked over and gave her a reassuring hug, rubbing the curve of her reptilian back. "I know hon... I'd love you all the same... I gotta go to work, there is food packs in the cupboard; I'll see you later..."
With that we kissed, in our awkward way; muzzle to muzzle. Then I departed to my job in the metal works.
I was one of the lucky ones, having the skill set to fix up the post-Murdock machines; thanks to tinkering with whatever I could find as a kid. I often came home with the odd cut and scrape from doing that, but it paid off in dividends as an adult.
I was still amongst the bottom of the food chain mind you, but I earned that bit more than others I worked with, being able to maintain a slightly higher level of humanity than the average joe you see down here.
They say things didn't used to be this way. That once upon a time there were no problems, everyone got to eat and guess what; everyone was human! Crazy I know, the idea of literally everyone around you being a purebred human being. Sounds pretty boring, but they were better times I guess.
There was one particular nutjob who took issue with all this peace and happiness going around, by the name of Murdock. He wasn't content with automated utopia, thinking it made people too soft and lazy; some bullshit like that.
You see, having absolutely everything provided to you for free turned humanities collective intelligence to blubber. People didn't bother to learn or better themselves. Because what was the point, when everything you could possibly want and need was freely available? So a lot of the old expertise were forgotten, until Murdock decided to freshen up on them.
He read up on the old technologies, how everything worked, including the nanites in everyone's bloodstream maintaining their health and bodies. He had a particular idea of what a human being should be, and anyone who failed to live up to that standard; basically didn't deserve to be human.
So he edited the nanites programming. They didn't know any better, they were just repairing people's bodies based on the blueprint they had available. That this scumbag replaced that blueprint with something else really began to fuck things up, the whole city was turning into animal things and no one knew how to stop it.
This was particularly fucked up because all the machines, all the dispensers that provided food and essentials, no longer recognised them as people. They had become too altered to be considered human anymore, unable to use their own technology, and the nanomachines just kept pushing them even further away.
But Murdock, he knew how to stop it. In fact he had specifically programmed the nanites to scale the changes between human and animal based on their exposure to a particular drug. A drug that only he and his followers were able to produce, because they were the only human fuckers left still able to use the technology.
So you've got a city full of animal people, on their way to losing it all, then Murdock gives them a choice.
Either they do whatever he wants them to do, or they don't get the medication to halt the changes. They could reclaim their humanity, with a high enough dose. They just had to behave as Murdock wanted them to behave, to work for their daily bread rather than being entitled to it by default.
So Murdock and his goons became the new overlords of the city and everyone danced to their tune. Those who refused didn't get to eat, worse they didn't get any of the medication, so they just kept changing until they ceased to be human at all. Then they were driven outside to the wildlands, to live like the animals they had become...
The rules of Murdock's city... everybody works, except the privileged few. Loyalists and their immediate loved ones, strange how you can suddenly be qualified to join the ruling class through simple association; isn't it?
If you want to eat, you do your job. If you want the meds to prevent you turning into an animal, you better earn your next dose or you're in trouble my friend. Anyone who falls below a certain percentage of humanity, gets forced outside and left to it.
If you're a good boy and work hard, maybe you'll earn enough doses to reclaim some of your lost humanity. Get in the good books of the people in power and you may even reclaim your humanity again, imagine that, unlimited access to food and anything else you could need.
One problem, most of us were born this way so we're not really that arsed about it, beyond the promises of plenty for going full human. The prospect of us getting anywhere near pure humanity is also rather bleek, society isn't exactly socially mobile. You're more likely to fall back into inhumanity than move forward.
If you're one of the middle or upper classes, then sure, you aspire to become human one day so you have free access to the cities dispensers. If you care about class and social standing and all that, you're working towards increasing your humanity, that's your life.
Me, I'm working class, I don't give a fuck. Sure I'd like to be a bit less fuzzy but I'm not really bothered by the whole part animal thing. To turn more human you have to increase your dosage, but if you do that you burn through your stash, making you work all the harder to maintain that dosage.
Why would I do that when I can build up a supply, so I don't have to worry about suddenly running out and turning more beastly?
I'll take the security over the social mobility, thank you very much. Especially given those of our particular economic standing basically live in constant insecurity. We're precarious, we don't know when the work is going to dry up and you'll be scrambling for your next dose.
So it's starting to make sense why I don't want a litter of ten kids, isn't it now? I'm a rat, we reproduce like crazy and if you don't keep that in check you're going to go broke. If you go broke, you lose humanity. If you lose too much humanity, you're outside and you are wildlife now.
Nothing is guaranteed, you have to earn your right to be human here. That's Murdock's philosophy. People work to achieve, animals simply exist. If you're not being productive then you're no better than an animal.
So sure, it seems harsh when I deny my girl a dose, but that's how things work here. We can have relationships and get on with each other, but you hang onto your medication supply like your very humanity depends on it. Because it does.
I can deal with her being a bit more scaly in bed. I'm sure whatever reason has her missing doses she'll have under control soon... Hell if it comes to it I'll help her out, ok? But I can never admit to that. You cannot be perceived as charitable, as having heart strings to tug, because it will land you outside.
I walked down the corridor, past the various doors of the living quarters of my section and out into the central area. Leaning on the metallic fence of my high raised position; as I caught sight of some sort of comotion below. A bunch of people of varying species were stood in a circle, watching some avian arguing with a floating metal drone.
Bloody hell, I looked at the bird a little closer and realised just how far gone they were. They were wearing a hoodie to cover themselves up, but you could tell their torso was radically deformed under there. Compressed small with long avian legs making up the majority of their height.
It didn't even look like they were wearing any pants, just some legs and tail feathers poking out from under the hoodie. I don't think they could wear pants any more...
Your core body is the last thing to go, most people around here had a largely human torso because it was essential in being able to stand. If you lose your ability to stand upright, you're in serious trouble.
In the case of the bird man here, or women, it was hard to tell at this point... Because of the type of avian they were; they could still pull off the appearance of standing up, but you could tell something wasn't right.
Of course, you can't trick a drone, they measure your humanity by communicating with your nanites so no number of layers are going to hide that you're dipping below the standard.
The drones speaker system popped, indicating it was about to broadcast audio.
[FINAL WARNING PERIOD EXPIRED, YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO INCREASE YOUR MEDICATION LEVELS OR YOU WILL BE ESCORTED OUTSIDE THE CITY]
Fuck... looks like we're watching a final eviction notice here...
"I n... need more time!" It squarked, its voice having a deep avian tone. "L... look at this! How am I sssupposed to work with th... these? You understand don't you? Sssurely that just... justifies an extension!"
The bird held out its hands... its wings... a mess of feathers poked out from the hoodies sleeves, awkwardly crammed through the clothing's arms.
Crap, I felt sorry for the guy because that was a really shitty deal. Even if I was far gone I'd still be able to grasp and manipulate objects, a bird would lose the use of its arms much earlier than other species.
[FINAL WARNING PERIOD EXPIRED, YOU HAVE 30 SECONDS TO INCREASE YOUR MEDICATION LEVELS OR YOU WILL BE ESCORTED OUTSIDE THE CITY]
"N... Nnno! Please!" The bird cried.
It began looking around in a panic, abandoning the facade of a human shape as its elongated neck pushed out from under its hoodie. It squawked ferally.
"S... sssomeone, please!"
It began running between people in the crowd, begging them for medication, trying to grip one person as they fled but finding it was unable to grab anything with its wings.
[FINAL WARNING PERIOD EXPIRED, YOU HAVE 15 SECONDS TO INCREASE YOUR MEDICATION LEVELS OR YOU WILL BE ESCORTED OUTSIDE THE CITY]
It began repeatedly squawking in terror, its mind too flooded with adrenaline to concentrate on verbalizing with its beak.
Whimpering uncontrollably, it bent over and used its feet to pull the hoodie from its body. Looking over itself with sorrowful eyes as it emerged; seemingly in shame at how bad it had allowed things to get. The now completely naked animal then spread its wings and began running; attempting to take flight.
[FINAL WARNING, YOU HAVE UNTIL 5... 4...]
It flapped and kicked from the ground several times, until suddenly it was in the air, probably for the first time in its life.
You fly bird man... you fly... but I knew what came next.
[3... 2... 1... CITIZENRY EXPIRED]
The bird fell to the ground, remaining there.
Maybe, you could outrun the drones, but you couldn't outrun the nanites in your veins. The bird had been put to sleep, the drone casually making its way to its body; before several flexible wires shot out from under its metallic shell. Wrapping around the bird, lifting it from the ground, then carrying it towards the nearest city exit.
It would wake up outside, where its body would be allowed to continue its degeneration until not a drop of human blood remained. That person was no longer legally a person, just an animal now.
That wasn't the scariest part. You would think it would be, but it wasn't. Because you hadn't turned into just any ordinary animal, the brain was largely left untouched and the body scaled up to reflect that. You had to spend the rest of your life in the wilds, remembering who and what you used to be, remembering what you had lost and knowing you could never go back...
Erasing the mind would have offered some form of release, some equivalent to death, allowing an instinctually driven beast to take your place. But no, you had to figure that shit out for yourself, a human consciousness forced to live as an animal forever more.
The circle of people slowly dispersed as the bird disappeared from sight, returning to their routines.
It was fucked up, but what are you going to do?
There is no coming back from going full beast and you can be damn sure if you find yourself slipping through those cracks; no one is putting themselves on the line to help you. The fact that you are there shows it would be a wasted dose, you are too irresponsible to be human so go be an animal.
Look it's not that hard to maintain the minimum expected levels of humanity. You get a lot of near feral kids running about on a low maintenance dose, because they can't get thrown out until they're legally an adult. I spent most of my childhood walking on all fours wearing nothing but my own fur, you can get by like that. Only bums who made poor decisions end up outside...
There were things he could have still done. They had graspable feet, they had a beak. They could have taken scrap from the intake pile and transferred it to the smelting works, functional wings would have made for quick trips with small loads. It would be a meager living but enough to prevent this outcome.
No one is judging so long as you pull your own weight. We're all heavily animal down here anyhow, what's a few percent one direction or the other? No one would have judged them for looking like that, we all fall on tough times, you can eventually climb back up and become respectable again.
They chose not to fight for their humanity. There were things they could have done, they didn't, so this is what you get. Go outside and be a bird then, leave civilisation to those who keep it running and actually contribute...
... Listen to me. We've all been living in Murdock's world for so long, we're starting to adopt his twisted values.
I had to get to work. Get food, get meds, rinse and repeat. I should do a little extra for a while were I can, build up more of a surplus. I couldn't have my girlfriend turning into a pet... not her, I wouldn't let that happen to her.