FSE

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Chapter 2. Head in the clouds

5102 years after the brink.

Location: Ecunomenopolis “Astral queen"

Narrator: Thorren

9 months later.

Amid blaring alarms and a rising tone warning me of the ever increasing CO2 levels…

I found my body half crammed into an access hatch, pretzel like. God damn, can't focus. I turned my head away from the repair work, blinking quickly to wet my eyes, a thought suddenly occurred to me. What the, is that my junk protruding out? haha. The situation came into focus as my eyes gained lubrication, Hell, might as well go all the way! The distinct features of a half-chub were exposed against the thin pant material, showing its-self off like some voyeur to the whole universe. Fuck man, am I competing for some type of zero-gee contortionist title? Hot damn.

I Looked through the array of tiny pipes around my head, through my hair which was floating in front of my eyes, between my legs, and crotch, to the furry creature beyond…. Which somehow still looked less ridiculous than me in zero-gee. Like, what-the-fuck? “Dog, hand me the torch," I said with a grunt, and an umph, the best I could do in my current position.

The EAP let out a soft little chime, “CO2 levels at 80ppm and rising, unconsciousness will occur within 7 minutes."

My day was just getting better and better! Hmm, my junks pointing right at its face, her face? Haha, Shit.. the things I do for this job. Dog better not get any ideas. And as if by reflex, my dick chose that moment to start inflating…just ignore it, it'll go down…I watched as the dog pulled the tool out of the magnetic walker tool pod. My pant boner slowly protruding into the access way, haha, access way, between my legs.

Focus… “Thorren focus." I said.

“What?" It said.

“Nothing", I said. (oops was that out loud?)

Fuck, I was feeling dizzy. Looking back through my legs, I see the dog lighting the torch for me, it was about to pass it through, its face changing expressions as I raised an eye brow. “Didn't think you were that stupid, dog." I said.

It blew out the torch with a huff, and looking chagrined, (huh that looks kinda cute on a dog), handed me both the lighter and the torch, sans flame.

“Watch it," I said, as I realized my dick now occluded well over half the opening to my face.

Was that a scowl or a grin on its face? flippin dogs, their expressions could be all too different from that of humans. I think it tried especially hard not to brush against my pants, and with that bit of embarrassment complete, I grabbed the equipment from its hand (…soft…and…rough?? fuck..focus… ) and a few minutes later I sealed up the pipe.

The sensor which had indicated a pure CO2 leak, had finally silenced. Thank goodness, “will you help me out of here? I can't see straight from the exposure," I said.

It grunted, and in a raspy contralto voice, “one moment."

Weird, maybe this one is a male? I thought I recognized its anatomy as female, mind you, I don't look at those bits often, but some things are hard not to notice when you are peaking through your own legs, and junk, at another creature. “Dog, status of our CO2 levels? I'm feeling funny," and with that a giggle escaped my lips.

An in-human hand appeared within my vision, and I grabbed it. “CO2 at 115 ppm and still rizing sir." It said.

Fuck fuck fuck.. *click,* *grumble,* *click,* grumble,* Error code: A7-1742904:01….beep…..beep…. Error code: A7-1742904:01.. Looking down at the dim, grimy screen, and not recognizing the error code as one I saw before, I found myself muttering, “What the fuck, System explain." I said.

The soft trill of the Simulator ship's engineering assistance program (EAP) spoke through the nearest speaker, a tired sound coming from somewhere within the skeletal structure of tubes and control modules in front of me. “Oxygenation catalyzer does not recognize recycler loop," fuck fuck fuck!! “Dog, thoughts?" I said.

It shuffled closer to get a better look at the screen, its fur brushing against my exposed flesh, and with that a chill went up my spine as we both stood motionless, floating in front of the tiny engineering console. It was just a dog, why was I feeling this way? I don't even know this dog, looking over, It stared for a minute at the screen and readouts it provided..

“CO2 at 120 ppm, unconsciousness will occur within 3 minutes," came another soft chime from the EAP.

The dog spoke up, it too sounded like the words were getting difficult, “Purge the system sir…When you repaired the loop, contamination may have been introduced. Causing…ah, Causing… An unknown state to be read within, causing the catalyzer computer to not recognize what the loop was trying to tell it…"

“Damn dog, I didn't think of that," I said.

I paused, trying to clear my thoughts, my head was spinning, and all I could think were horny thoughts!… Focus… I spoke up as best I could, “EAP,…ahh…purge the loop? Andddd reset the CO2 recycler," (ok, now thats definitely a smirk), the console began flashing code as the computer executed my orders…reading..I smeared away some condensation..purge complete, reset in progress….and…green. Error code cleared. CO2ppm falling, 119…118…117… I sighed in relief, another test passed.

“Wuh!!!!" I spoke up, my mind riding high on the achievement, trying to remember what I was supposed to do next, “end cockpit recording," I said..(A long pause, a deep breadth…) “scenario complete"…I said.

The EAP spoke up immediately, “Recording ceased, please wait several minutes while atmosphere is equalized with the loading bay."

Then a voice came over the speaker system which was definitely not generated, A Man's voice, sounding slightly disgusted, gruff and not friendly spoke; “E-5, Thorren, open the hatch when you have recovered sufficiently to walk, and please tell the computer to reset the atmo, I don't want the smell of dog in my simulator, got it?" And with a squelch of the speaker, everything went silent.

I think we both took a moment to just take it all in. The tiny engineering room was dimly lit now, no more flashing lights, and blaring alarms. All was bathed in a dull green hue, atmo fans silently running in the background. The whirr of machinery muted, and the sounds outside the simulator ship coming into sharp focus. My ears picked up the distinct clangs of repair crews working on the corp's shuttles, heavy equipment riding along the steel floor on electric motors, the distant sounds of actuating doors and hydraulics. And behind all that, the grumble of one of the Ecumenopolis's nuclear hearts, vibrating through the deck-plates, it felt good, felt like home. All was well.

I was trying to remember where I was, who ittt was… towards the end I had been running on sheer training and instinct, yet my mind kept returning to the dog. Horny thoughts which made no sense. Memory and awareness slow to return to the forefront of my consciousness, the dog..Um..Sharra. A Khurroan, Fox-like aliens. Viewed as second class citizens..

A thudding pulse broke the memory chain, and a dull head-ache sprung up behind my eyes. Oww.

Minutes later, memory started coming back to me in flashes…I lay motionless, for some time, as the fog around the memories of myself and my past receded.

Oh…Sharra…My duty station double, my friend..How I had just treated her made my throat tighten up, my face turning into a grimace to hide my soul pain. I couldn't look now, she was probably furious with me, the spitfire she was.

Then my ears picked up on sounds emanating from beside me, and I could just make out the shape of her body in my peripheral vision. The breathing of my partner was a little quick, and I think I heard a few whines of relief. I hadn't heard her whine in a long time, and it over-rode my self-centered thoughts and anguish.

We were both still floating slowly towards the adjacent wall, where the engineering recovery/rest nook was. I looked over at her face, not realizing in my stupor that she was literally right against me, and my face bumped her muzzle as I tried to look. Zero-gee making the motion more awkward, I placed my hands on her waist,(warm), and steadied our relative motions so I could look at her properly. She was ok, a little grin plastered all over her features, triumphant even.

I think we sighed at the same time, hands between us, searching for each-other, practically no coordination left, and, upon finding hers, we grasped them tightly together, shaking slightly.

And in unison I heard my own voice, and that raspy contralto saying,“that was a stressful test,"

I giggled and said, “Shit Sharra, thats just creepy, you in my head?"

She turned her head towards me, the fox-like profile of her features now pointing right at me, her muzzle lips inches from my face, we both just stared at each other for a minute, letting go the stress from the test we had just endured. Taking and giving strength to one another in that purposeful stare. We were a team, and there was nothing we couldn't do together. Then she spoke up, tho I was more-so fascinated in the way her face muscles moved to create the human sounds at the moment. I almost leaned forward to kiss her right there and then.

“Yeah, these engineering ratings tests are brutal. Especially the ones which physically effect us. eh?… Thorren?" She said, with a pause.

I think she caught the micro movement of my lips towards her face, and an indiscernible expression crossed her features, indecision, desire, acceptance, disgust? What was it. But for just a moment, her mouth remained parted, on finishing the final syllable of my name, her breadth tickling the whiskers of my beard. With no warning, an electric tingle ran up and down my spine, causing an irrepressible body convulsion. Whatever we were sharing, it broke the moment.

She jolted slightly at my twitch, looking at me strangely, and eeped out, “Thorren are you alright?"

I tried to hastily recover as she spoke my name, “I'm ok, just a shiver" I said.

She smiled at me then, recovering quickly, and said, “you don't have to be cold, c'mere."

And with that look of reassurance, she swung us through the remainder of space, micro-gravity no problem for her, with that long tail to change our vector. Thirty seconds later we landed right into the notch big enough for the both of us, we pressed our feet to the adjacent wall, wedging ourselves into the sleep/recovery nook. Then, to my surprise, as soon as she had leverage, she moved from beside me to on top of me, making me have to suppress another body length undulation. Fuck man, I thought, my head needs to get out of the clouds. We've been through dozens of these simulator tests, and not once had I been so unprofessional…Tho in no other test was my head floating in CO2. There was that..

“Thorren, Look at me," came a raspy contralto from my left ear. Startling me out of my stupor.

Oh how hard it was to look at her when the warmth of her body covered me from stem to stern. I tried very hard to look nonplussed as I turned back to gaze into those beautiful fiery Bronze orbs of hers… And when I did, I swore her ears went back a few degrees.

The EAP let out a report, “CO2 @ 70ppm, 69ppm, 68ppm," We were comfortable now, sharing body heat, her hands' heat and the rough pads there suddenly came to the forefront of my awareness. God damn I thought, we've been holding hands like this for the whole time? And if on cue, an uncomfortable stiffness made its-self known in my pants, hopefully she doesn't notice… Fuck Fuck Fuck! I thought.

I spoke quickly, I wanted to distract her from what my body was trying to tell her, “Sharra, I'm sorry for how I treated you in there. I couldn't think, I couldn't remember who you were, and my mind defaulted to the training. Sharra…I.."

She silenced me with a claw-tip to my lips and spoke softly to me, “Thorren, its ok" She said, “I know that wasn't you. You were delusional towards the end… I'm ok. It doesn't hurt that much, and I forgive you." She paused at this, face contorting into an evil grin, “Especially, if you trade your next weeks rations with mine!" She squeezed my hand again, and grinned a little grin in triumph.

My mouth was agape at her banter, carefully controlling the expression on my face to make sure she thought I was looking past her hurt, to her purposeful playfullness…

But I could still see the pain in her eyes, the tension around her brow and rigidity of her ears. She was hurting, and that hurt me. I simply couldn't absolve myself of the pain I had caused my friend, and I vowed to make it known to her.

“fine!" I said, with a crafty smile of my own, continuing with our constantly used silly joke we both used, “But we split the rations 50/50."

She looked like she was about to protest, (per the joke scipt! Haha) but with the tapping of one of her canines with a stubby claw on her paw (a habit she has which makes a terrible sound), and with a genuine smile on her lips, she responded, “ok."

Of course, she could have let it at that, inside joke complete, but instead she craned her neck forward a little, closing the space between us in the recovery nook, and with a boop of her nose to mine she giggled, and licked my nose playfully. She loves doing that, knowing that it always gets me to splutter.

I spluttered. Haha.

Two hours later, we were both heading to the same place to find out our test results. I was quickly running a lint roller over my engineering overalls, as having cuddled my friend for some 15 minutes, her fur had gotten all over me. Others may be disgusted by such a thing, but all I could think was that I would cherish that memory for the rest of my days. In that delusional state, both of us had our inhibitions lessened, and we had almost kissed. I hadn't felt the warmth of her body like that ever before, and it had been thrilling to have my …platonic… friend that close, even just once.

“Give me that," came the voice of my Sharra from beside me, “you still floating on CO2?, you've got a goofy grin all over your face Thorren. And you haven't gotten anything below your waist." She said.

Oh shit, I thought. But was side-tracked again by the lint roller being ran up and down my pants, no quarter given apparently, as she ran it roughly right over my junk. I winced a little.

“Toughen up butter-cup," came from my left.

And her use of human euphemisms never ceased to surprise me.

We passed another E-rating (a corp engineer), and I got the strangest look from him as Sharra ran the lint roller over my butt… Oh shit, I hope he doesn't work in our section…

“Sharra you done yet?" I said.

“almost" She said, sounding irritated.

And with that, we arrived at our destination. A nod between us to confirm we were both ready and we knocked.

A gruff voice came from the interior, “Come in."

We were standing in front of the desk of the board's representative for our section of the workforce, Dockside maintenance for under-city 12, and Corp general technician. Most others would never have to see this man's swarmy face, but Sharra and I had tested out of the ranks of lower level technicians immediately. Sharra's scores were even above my own, that day had surprised me greatly, for it had once again reminded me that she was no animal, she was an intelligent sentient being, albeit an alien one, but thats not how I saw her, not anymore. We were Corp general technicians by rank, even tho we were locked in to only certain areas of work due to our company status, and therefore we reported directly to thew boards representative.

He was an unscrupulous businessman whom we had been forced to visit on many occasions, for promotion after promotion. I think he hated us for our enthusiasm, as much as we despised him for his apparent disgust of my partner, Sharra. It seemed that he chose to ignore us today, a usual tactic of his to make us feel uncomfortable, and it worked, we squirmed with the desire to be done with this place. What a repugnant man.

Looking around, taking note that this was a new office, it probably had more value than I would make in a decade. Fuck, realizing he even had a window looking out into the space metropolis, Skyscrapers stretching for as far as the eye can see, clear blue hued skies, and a fake sun suspended in the center by gravitic control, it being the sum total luminescence of a trillion tiny light emitting diodes at its core. It was the true wonder of an ecumenopolis, a tiny curved inward planet in the blackness of space, I never tired of seeing it, as it existed nowhere else in space.

Minutes ticked by, and the man kept working diligently at the tablet on his desk. Not a second glance given to us since he let us in. Looking over at Sharra I shrugged, she motioned me to put my eyes forward.

Hmm, mind wandering I looked out the window to the Ecumenopolis beyond. We were on the 200th floor of our corps super-scraper, and as such could see the curvature of the city quite well. It was easy to forget at ground level that the entire city covered the interior of a space globe. I could just make out the other side of the globes interior, tho you couldn't look directly at the sun to do so, the skyscrapers on its side pointing right at me through the blue hazed sky, the distant buildings some 15 miles distant. God damn, Fuckin one somthin billion people all living aboard what amounted to a small moons worth of solid Steel and titanium infrastructure. They say that from the inside you'd never know your just a floating barge in space, but I say otherwise, at least if your not a moron, tho I may be biased since I'm an engineer. Theres reminders absolutely everywhere that your still living in space. This office for example, that window was vacuum proof, just like this building was, just in-case the globe was ever pierced, or leaked air.

They say some of the newer ones were better, tho thats an oxymoron considering no one really knows how long they existed before the brink. Fuckin corps. I swore to myself, I had thought that this place would be a golden opportunity..

And hell, it really is for most..

But not for Sharra's kind, here, she was trash. And therefore, there was no future here for the both of us. Surely, with the Astral queen being only one of maybe 20 or so ecumenopolis galaxy wide, their influence could not extend to the thousands of tribal territories, each with hundreds, if not thousands of small human settlements within its included stars. Each of those territories basically a governmental structure all of its own, led by its tribal leaders. Hell, the scope was mind boggling, as best I knew, humans only inhabited The Milky-way, and the Milky Way had about a 1000 sectors, with maybe 80 of them populated with humans.. Thats still staggeringly huge, with millions upon millions of stars included in that celestial territory. Even within all that mess, Sharra said that her people did interact with human's, and it was mostly fine, just like any two groups. Tho she had not yet admitted to me why her people hid in general from the true eye of humanity, the ecumenopolis corp governmental bodies. From her stories, and from her stature of a second class citizen, I had my suspicions, but It was a touchy subject with her. Neither of us had really revealed our pasts to the other yet.

Still, I was sure we could find a nice place, or fuck it, we could try for a freighter venture if Sharra wanted to stay mobile, I had a favor or two in sputznia which might net me a real Pile of shit freighter, but still, it could be ours. And we were smart, we'd fix it right up!

*thud*

In the middle of my reminiscing, tablet now on the desk, he chose to speak up, “Thorren, despite my personal recommendation otherwise, the Exec board has chosen to approve your advancement to general engineering's E-6 rating, congrats on your advancement. However, the corporation does not feel it is yet time to provide you with citizenship to our city. Therefore, you will remain on company script for your food and housing allotment. Your regular pay has been increased to 80,000 credits, and since you must remain on work visa without citizen ID for the foreseeable future, your pay will remain paid fourth to you in full, in its weight in galactic platinum. Additionally, your dog now has an E-5 rating and it is approved for an extra quarter ration.

A pause, long enough for me to take in the edge of smugness creeping into the mans voice, and he filled me in on the rest; “your dogs compensation will remain at that of an apprenticeships wage, and its request for official visa to enter into the citizenry of my great City, Astral Queen, has been denied. However, you will be happy to hear that her working visa has been extended another 6 local months, and she may keep her place within the companies dog barracks."

Momentarily, I was stricken, no Khurroan has distinguished herself like Sharra, no Khurroan was rated as an E-5, tho she's never seen a drop of respect, or a dime of the money deserved. In my mind, no one has worked harder! I fought to prevent showing my anger, but couldn't contain it.

Speaking quickly I said, "Sir, she's no less a person than I am… She deserves better treatment than this for her distinguishing actions." I could just feel the anger radiating off my friend at my defense of her.

Suddenly the companies spokesman cut me of, and interjected, “E-6, Thorren, in conclusion, your over-reliance on your dog's creativity and capability is disgusting, and you will not be able to hide your dim-witted intellect much longer. Get it through your thick skull, they are tools, the fact that this company allows you to have a dog as your watch station double and service partner is a disrespect to the broader service, which many will not stand forever."

At that he came very close to me, face to face, the smell of expensive whisky and cigar smoke swirled around me, making me slightly dizzy, and then he whispered so that the recorders would not pick it up, “and you, and it… Better watch out, because, you will not have protection forever." His face backed away, taking with it the whisps of the man's pleasures.

Sharra's ears next to me picked up on all of it, the huge radar domes that they are, I saw the right one twitch as she registered the man's threat. I fought to keep my mouth shut.

The fat man returned to the rich mahogany of his desk with a bounce in his step, the asshole. He leaned back in his chair, taking another puff on the cigar before speaking, “Go-on Engineering rating E-6, enjoy the day with your toy, but make sure she returns to her barracks when her shift is over, do be careful of the curfew. You wouldn't want her being stranded in the under-city all by herself, would you?

Sharra and I about faced in-sync and left the compartment as quickly as was acceptable.

In the hallway, the office door just sliding shut, Sharra let out a fierce growl, her tail Puffing up three times its normal size, the Ridge of fur along her back would have been sticking up too, had her engineering overalls not covered it. That must have been stiflingly uncomfortable. Tho, the exposed fur running up the back of her neck and into her hair-like-mane was a twitter, and I wanted to reach down and flatten it. I knew better, now that we were both no longer under the effects of the CO2, that I'd probably get my hand bitten if I tried to demean her like that. Not when she was in this kind of state. I was following her down to one of the corp's conscript messes, and despite her species short stature, I was struggling to keep up. Her power walking was exceedingly quick, and I was trying to maintain protocol until we got out of corporate proper. No doubt that filth was watching our reaction on some fuckin holovid, probably stroking his two inch dick somthin fierce at our plight. Asshole.

I spoke up as she entered the nearest lift, she, mashing the button as I called out “Wait!"

She looked up, a fierce snarl on her muzzle, barely controlled rage in her eyes.. “Don't you ever fucking learn Thorren?! AHH! I don't need your help." She said.

The thought came to me unbidden..Hate for me, hate for my species..Hate for what we have done to her in the past. “Wait! I'm Sorr.." I said again. The doors shut, she mashing the button the whole time. Fuck, I thought, she's pissed. I quickly grabbed the next lift down to the street level. Knowing where she was going, she needed time to cool off, and either she'd show herself to me when she was ready, or I'd find her eventually.

Outside the corp tower, on what was nominally the city proper, or should I say, the layer of city that actually looks like the Human cities of old, with a proper sky above you, albeit this one had skyscrapers pointing down at you from some 15 miles away.. But still, far better than the under layer of the city where there was no sky and all you had to look forward to was a knife in the gut, and a swift ending.. I shivered at past memories.

I quickly made my way down the street, angling for one of the few places Sharra and I were allowed to eat in the ecumenopolis city proper. I swung around the corner adjacent to the super-scraper for the curbside conscript bar built into the next sleek looking high-rise, purposefully ignoring the corp gates only blocks away which reminded me I was effectively a prisoner within the corp's buildings and its areas of the machine decks and under-city. Sharra and I would never get citizenship! It was amazing how there could be such prosperity and poverty only a few hundred feet apart. The city proper being a beacon of humanity and yet the under-city being filled with the worst of human impulses, the criminals there absolutely deplorable. It showed that there was a rot within the ecumenopolis, not a visible one, but it still permeated everything, it creeped into your consciousness, it hid in the alleys, it showed itself in the tv broadcasts, the falsitivity of it all, like some cheep confection designed to hide the real thing from you with its thin veneer of goodness. Scumbags, the lot of them.

I walked through Old Holo-advertisements flickering on and off as their holo-matrixes intermittently functioned, sometimes showing some stupid soda drinks, other times flickering fuzz. Their stupdity didn't even make me twitch a smile today, I was mad. Heck, right here is a perfect example! The corp cares about us so little they don't even upkeep the only “nice" conscript food joint on the entire premises, these holo-vids so old as to be irrelevant.

God damn, how can they treat Sharra like that? My thoughts kept coming back to her, and I remembered that she needed time to cool down. Finally, ducking into the entrance proper, I could see the place was pretty full of other conscripts like Sharra and I. Hmm, this won't be easy, but she'll make herself known when she's ready.

I scanned the crowd looking for my friend. Humans predominated the group, tho two other Khurroan, and a few other alien species were present around the fringes of the mess, in the darker alcoves, and mostly in groups no smaller Than 3.

I thought inwardly to myself, as I leaned against a column near the entrance, what a joke it was that the humans here discriminated against the Khurroan, a fox like alien species, and others aliens. Yet there were the Modded, The gen-gineered, and The Elite, among humans alone. Their appearances varying widely within the first two groups. There's one, I thought. A “modded," humans whom either inherited purchased genetic alterations from their parents, or payed for active genetic changes to their bodies. He was probably a security type, His chest and neck, limbs somewhat, had extruded tiny platelets acting like armor. I guessed it would be very hard to kill him with a knife, or small firearm. Not too many soft spots on him…Oh shit..He looked at me.

I quickly averted my eyes, looking at the nearest wall and taking in all of its details… Hmm, so interesting. Painted dull engineering red, typical access panels at the top and bottom, someone had left the bottom one swung open…how lazy…Inside I could just make out the edge of a power conduit. Hmm, a big one too. Trying to be inconspicuous, I let my mind wander down the rabbet hole staring at that wall. I thought about all the science fiction novels, and tv shows which show these glowing plasma power conduits coursing all over a ship, or in this case, floating space-city, as if spacecraft of the future would run on something better than the old fashion electron…Nope.. I thought.. hell, here we are.. who knows how many centuries since humanity first left o'hallowed planet earth. Since the first atomic war, and here we are, still using fission to power humanity, to power civilization. I was brought out of my reverie when a shadow suddenly found itself covering me.

Why you eyeing me up E-6? I looked up to see the modded guy I had been looking at. God damn, I can't catch a break. I searched his lapel for rank, Fuck, S-6, effectively 1 rank higher than myself since he is a security type… fuck fuck fuck, I racked my brain for an answer out of this one. Bing! Trying to pass off a grin, “I ain't ever seen scales like that before. What can it deflect?," I said.. hoping he would take the bait to flaunt his own ego. Hook line and sinker…

A huge finger came into my vision and stabbed its-self into my chest. “I ever see you looking at me like that again and I'll mop the floor with you, you got a problem with that?" He said.

Guy really can't catch a break. “Nope, no problem," I said. And with that he pulled his finger back, picked his tray back up and walked away. So much for being sly.

Regaining my bearings, I scanned over the room, still looking for my friend, a little upset she didn't come to my rescue in that. I still couldn't find her, she might not of been here. I looked for the two Khurr-kula I had seen earlier, but, finding them sitting together in a dark alcove, neither had the distinct white and grey patterned pelt of my friend. Her white furred ears, trimmed in black around around their triangular edges, the easiest giveaway. But she wasn't here. There were no other radar domes protruding amid the masses. I briefly took note of the two Khurroan. They had dull eyes, dirty fur, and looked gaunt, I had seen Sharra speaking with both before, but I had never figured out a way to go talk to them. I felt guilty, and I fought to control my reaction at how they were treated here. Unfortunately, despite my guilt, there was nothing I could do for them, everything I was making, I was saving for Sharra and I. However, I always made sure to show basic human decency, and respect to any alien, Khurroan or otherwise, that I worked with. They were my equals. Refocusing on the task at hand, I wanted to find Sharra now, angry or not, the corp representatives words coming back to haunt me. I'd take Sharra's wrath if it would mean she'd be safe with me. That thought was shaming in its own way, but I didn't want too dwell on it at the moment. Instead, I quickly grabbed my script ration and flew out of the mess to go look for Sharra in all of her usual places.

First place, storage closet F-6B, down one level into the engineering section of our Companies controlled space within the city. Our usual meeting place when she wanted to get away from the universe. Taking the lift that was just outside the Corp conscript mess hall, I quickly flashed my ID tag on the authentication pad, ducking into the lift and moments later it depositing me on the “F," machine deck. The space quickly became constricting as I made my way past skeletal pipes and data lines, Data busses, Hydraulic repeaters, and power conduits. It was always fun to play a bit of Tetris with my body, squeezing through equipment and meandering around power cables thicker than myself snaking along the deck space. Just gotta watch out for the odd puddle of grease, or tripping hazard; The light was low and indirect, with emitters placed almost randomly through the maze of conduits and machinery, so tripping hazards were always a concern. I couldn't even smell my food as I approached the storage closet, the distinct odors of unwashed bodies and machine oil permeated the whole space.

Coming up on a paneled section of the wall, I looked for the recessed door hinge. My fingers following the groove of metal engrained in my memory from so many times in the past. Click, swing…Soft whimpers. She was balled up on the bench, face between her knees, tail wrapped around herself. I squeezed into the bench space beside her. “caaa u clo do" came from the pile of fur.

“what," I said.

Her muzzle poked up slightly, “can you close the door?"

“sure" I said, and did so. The space was now even smaller.

Cracking a wry smile, I knew how to get my friend back to the side of happiness. I split open my ration tray. An ear twitch. I grabbed my fork, removed its wrapper. Another ear twitch, I had her, I knew it. I took the fork and attempted to scrape up a bite of the meat. There it is, She turned her head quickly, Eyes regaining that fire I knew so well. Her voice was still a little weak, but it gained strength with each word, “you forget your promise already?" She said.

In response, I rose the fork to my lips and took a big sniff, her lip curled. I won, she just didn't know it yet. “ok" I said, and instead turned the fork to her mouth, she was uncurling at this point, sitting normally, digitigrade feet dangling from the bench, tail drooped between them. She leaned over and took the bite from my fork. “where's your share of the deal," I said. She leaned over and grabbed a much smaller container, she opened it and cracking a sad smile, finishing her bite of food, she said, “they already increased my ration allotment by 1/4, at least they are quick to process my meager reward," her statement brought the fire right back to my heart and my blood felt like poison, my stomach no longer hungry, I think I must have shown it, cause she faltered in her presentation of her food to me.

“Thorren?," She said.

“I'm ok" I said.

She gave my hand a squeeze, the rough pads of her palms brushing against my own calluses. haha, the mark of an engineer I thought, hers are just a bit more natural. I squeezed back.

“I'm sorry. I hate this." I said. It was a conversation we have had countless times, we knew our roles by wrote, the lines practically set in stone. But then she surprised me.

She gave me a stern look, opening her muzzle..(Here we go, line one, or so I thought.) “Thorren" she began, “I know you don't believe in it, I know you wish you could change it. Don't be angry on my behalf," she chided me with a crooning growl.

I found it endearing that she was trying to sum up all the points in one sentence.“I know, its just that," I said. She shushed me again, this time with a bite of her own ration directly to my mouth. mhmm.

“Ok," I mumbled.

Then bleck! She grinned, “is it bad today?" she said.

“Yeah" I said,

And then, cause I'm always curious to explore the differences between us, I said, “whats this smell like to you?"

I scooped a bit of her ration with my fork and hovered it a few inches below her nose. She hovered her nose closer to it, nose pad flexing, kinda dog-like, her head didn't turn towards me. But, she made eye contact with me as her nose went to work. Oddly, her ears swiveled towards me as my blood pressure spiked with my heart-rate. I don't know why my heart did that, but when we looked at each other, my cheeks flushed red, her nose doing its work…

“Its partially fermented beef stock, some chicken analog, protein derivatives for Khurroan bodies, and a mix of vitamins for whatever the meats didn't cover. Probably to keep me healthy, cause those meats don't have all the nutrients I need. Oh, and some more than healthy, food safe grease…" She paused, face frowning slightly, at the gross disrespect to her people..

She picked up again, voice softening, “probably cause they don't care to actually clean the machines that grind up this stuff, just stuff em full of silicon grease so they keep running, who cares about us."

She was mad, but on the verge of tears. Her situation was so precarious. The only one of her kind in the corps 2nd class script barracks, whom didn't spend their day slogging radioactive waste, albeit in protective suits…mostly…or working on the outside of the cumenoplis, and if they were lucky, were low level technicians, doing the dirtiest fixes in this engineering sector. She and I were General technicians, rated for some of the hardest repairs, and with today's rating approval, we could even do emergency repairs in a crisis.

“Hey, you don't have to eat that crap" she said, motioning to take her ration tray from my hands.

I stopped her. Matching her own softly spoken words,“Sharra, we share all our meals, just cause this ones worst than most doesn't mean that I'm going to stoop to their level, and make you eat it." I said…

In fact, I thought, my anger would fuel me just fine, all the food tasted the same right now. I made it a point to eat only her ration.. half-way through, our natural switching point, she tried to take her tray again. I looked at her, “Not this time Sharra," I said. Allowing a rare edge to enter my voice, absolute refusal of her request to switch obvious.

I sought out her paw and gave it a squeeze to let her know my earnest intent. Eating with my other hand for the rest of our meal, I pretended I didn't feel an occasional tear land on my arm, or see the soaked darker white fur beneath her eyes. Her hand occasionally shook, and that too I pretended not to notice. I knew her well enough, she would want to keep her dignity, and so I did nothing but hold her hand.

When we finished, I checked the time, we had 30 minutes till our shift started. Thinking that enough time had passed in silence for her to recoup, I curled an arm around my friend, she immediately tucked her body against me, mumbling something into my shirt that I could not make out. Her tail wrapped around us, and that startled me, I couldn't remember a time she did that before, and it stirred a feeling in my chest. Heat flushed my cheeks, and I fought to hide my bodies reaction to my friend. Looking down, observing just how emotionally strung out she was, I figured we could both do with a lighter subject.

“So, what did you think of the simulation today?" I said.

“It was difficult, maybe you should brush up on your sensor tech" she said.

“Oh?" I said, “why is that?"

“Cause even an E-2 could have realized that if the sensor was reading something outside its normal range, that it would report erroneous data to the Oxygenator Catalyst computer." She said.

“Well ok smart stuff, who's the one who found the CO2 leak in the first place. Cause it certainly wasn't your nose.." I said.

“Thorren" she giggled, “CO2 has no smell. You jackass"

“It was still me," I said, pridefully.

“You got lucky," She said, “Cause it was only a matter of time before I realized that the rising CO2 levels were increasing at a rate faster than what our two bodies could produce."

“Ok Sharra" I leaned in dramatically, practically placing half my face into one of her big ears, “But you know what the key word is there… Time, my dear, cause by the time you found it we might of passed out. And therefore in this instance he who found it first still wins." I made sure that my beard tickled a few of the hairs inside her ear, I wanted her to squirm as much as she made me when she licked my nose.

“Fine, fine, so whats the score?," teetering her head back and fourth against my side, she looked up at me then, “and what did you just call me?" She said.

“The way I see it, its.." Her second statement finished registering in my brain, and I had to mentally recall my last words. I heard a laugh, apparently smoke could have been rising out of my ears for how hard I was thinking. “ugh, I said my friend. And more importantly the score is tied, 2 for 2." I said.

She seemed to let the matter drop, Fuck man, I need to get myself under control, no more slip-ups.

“Why is it 2 for 2?" She said.

Oh thank god. “Cause the way I see it, I found the leak. So thats one for me. But you figured out which system was actually leaking. Thats one for you. A stroke of genius I do say on that one, seeing as nothing appeared wrong in the system display. But it was intuition on my behalf that found us where that system was inside the ship. Thats two for me. And finally, your the one who realized why my repair wasn't working. So thats two for you. A solid day for us eh?" I said.

She grinned at me, “Yeah, a solid day" she said.

We hugged for awhile, both of us were on-shift shortly.