Alex sat down on the soft carpeted steps with his head resting in his hands, he had been staring at the dark patch of blood that had been soaked into the carpet fibres for nearly the last half hour deep in thought regarding the recent transmutation event. He should have been able to switch off his brain to that kind of thing so it wouldn’t affect him, but seeing his own crewman helplessly convulse and contort into new, foreign shapes had touched the captain in a profound and disturbing way, to see a grown officer suffer from a curse hidden within his own genome suddenly becoming an overwhelming, dominating force had made Alex think about his own susceptibility to Transmutation.
His deep thoughts were interrupted by intense itching becoming overwhelmingly irritable stemming from his right shoulder. Alex sharply inhaled and let out a loud sigh of relief and pleasure when he scratched at it, feeling each scab and bump in his skin left by his old friend, Milo. Afterwards he had pulled his helmet ring off and unzipped his suit to inspect the bite wound. Two rows of twelve puncture wounds perfectly lined up in a V shape pattern, each puncture site was covered in a solidified crust of dried blood like studded jewellery embedded in his skin.
There was no doubt about it, he would think to himself that his friend would use the full strength of his jaw to throw him out of the way in order to sacrifice himself. But did that mean something else?
Alex wondered some more, staring at his healed wound until his vision blurred and he was seeing double if he had contracted lycanthropy? But even the reassurances he would tell himself did not seem to work: He didn’t bite hard enough, the fangs weren’t in long enough, I didn’t feel the injection of fluid into my body.
He knew Liyurch had tended to his wounds and redressed the bandage that was first placed on it shortly after getting the wound but the doctor nor Alex discussed the possible consequences of it. Then his mind turned to him Transmutating into a Lykan as well before being reminded of what happened to Christopher not too long ago, seeing his entire nervous system glow with a strangely beautiful radiance as he transformed into something else… something inhuman. And those words spoken by Liyurch, explaining the ethereal glow echoed in his ears ``It will feel like his soul is on fire.” No matter how much he tried, Alex couldn’t picture the pain Christopher felt. Fire in his veins burning him up from the inside out as his potential to harness magia would increase drastically, new abilities to utilise, stronger attacks and usages would all be guaranteed as you transition from a species with low level magia harnessing ability to one with a much higher capacity.
Silas slithered out of the guest bedroom and gently closed the door behind him, the click of the door’s lock instantly snapped Alex’s attention over towards the Naga whose eyes were glued to the floor as he slithered over towards the couch and lied down, covering the entire seating surface area.
“How is he?” Alex asked.
“I’ve calmed him down for now. He’s stopped hyperventilating and his incoherent rambling.” Silas said, tired. His eyes were closed and his hands covered his face.
“I’m more concerned about that venom spitting he did.” Clemens said.
“It’s a matter of training and discipline but he won’t be spitting venom whenever he gets angry again.”
For a brief moment no one spoke, then Clemens started to speak. “Did you see that hood and scale pattern he got? Hard to believe a Transmutated human got that rare display of physical traits.”
Silas chuckled. “You know, if we took him to my home town on Sadestevar then Christopher won’t have any troubles finding feminine companionship to coil with at night. That hood and bespectacled pattern on it is a highly desirable trait.”
“Having his pick of mating companions won’t do him any good if he cannot cope with his own reflection.” Alex said standing up on the steps and proceeding down them. He then made his way to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. “Right now, all we can hope for is that the Galaxius gets here as soon as it can. They should hopefully have a fully stocked infirmary that can help Christopher more than we can.”
Liyurch looked towards Alex with his bright big eyes. His wings limply resting on the couch and his tail flopped onto the ground. “I can try and counsel him in the meantime but I don’t have much experience with Transmutated folks.”
“I reckon we should leave him be, let him rest.” Silas spoke out from behind the couch.
Alex took a sip of water from his glass, then he swished the clear, tepid liquid around in his smooth round glass before taking another sip. He looked thoughtfully before glancing at the dark patch on the carpet.
That’s going to be a bitch to clean, won’t it?
And just like that, silence had once again filled the small yacht with Silas’s comment hanging in the air and ringing in the ears of those who had listened. Alex could see it in the other’s eyes, he knew they knew it too. Clemens knew it was the only option because he didn’t know what else to do, Liyurch knew it because as a medical professional he understood that Christopher needed time to grieve. Then he turned to face the wall that obstructed his view of the guest bedroom. If Alex strained his perception hard enough he swore he could hear the muffled sobs of Christopher coming through them. And it pained him to see such a tragedy be inflicted upon someone under his command, nothing he could do would fix it, make it better. Shapeshifting was illegal now.
Perhaps long ago, in the days before the Alliance, before Revelation Day when Cryptids had to hide in plain sight among humans could someone help Christopher find some coping mechanism to still look at himself in the mirror and live. Such a strange time for the world when his own ancestors were unaware of the many varied species of Terrans that hid in plain sight; human as they looked on the outside but inside they knew they carried a powerful secret that would threaten mankind and possibly spark a new war. Perhaps they were lucky when a Dragon showed himself in front of the old United Nations assembly and asked for peace. Were humans ready for such a revelation at the time or were they unfazed by the hardships the early twenty-first century had brought upon them? Regardless of the reason, the end result was the most optimistic one and it had spurred a new age for Humanity, for Cryptids… a new golden age for all of Terra.
But thinking of the old times did not help Alex out with Christopher’s current predicament. Knowledge of the ability to shapeshift has been lost over the generations and the few surviving long lived species of Cryptids who were there no longer share knowledge of how to perform such a spell for even spreading such knowledge could cause harm to society. Alex was always indifferent to that particular law, as controversial as it was among human society; on one side he could understand why it was implemented. Preventing transmutated humans from hiding their true forms in a society that would accept it and in the case of a more dangerous individual the law would protect innocents from harm. Yet on the other side of the argument, no human ever asks for transmutation and as Alex, Clemens, Silas and Liyurch have recently witnessed; undergoing such a painful, excruciating change of species was not an enviable process to experience. The harm, the mental damage it can cause to an individual’s sense of self identity, their confidence and being would ultimately be under threat and if the temporary fix was to shapeshift back into a human body, then why render it a crime to hide something?
It didn’t bother Alex, his thoughts on the subject hadn’t changed despite what he witnessed.
Under the sink, in one of the clean white cabinets, Alex found several bottles of cleaning chemicals. His knowledge of chemistry was rudimentary ever since he studied very minor elements of it in the academy. But he attempted to mix some of them with warm water added to help him remove the darkening stain on the carpet. Only a short while after he had begun scrubbing the carpet did his elbows and shoulders start to ache from the repetitive movements, occasionally glancing at the other three crewmembers who barely noticed what he was doing. Not that he minded, in fact he preferred to be doing this alone. The repetitive movements, the dull task at hand, it was all to keep his mind at ease from wandering off and thinking about recent events.
Slowly the stain began to fade, and return the patch of carpet to its original cream colour like the rest of the carpet. Alex’s shoulders ached and burned yet he didn’t realise Silas slithering up to him. The human looked up at the scutes that got close to him and watched as the scutes led his gaze up past the wide chest of the Naga to see his broad scaly snout look down on him.
“Here.” He softly spoke.
And with his hands, a blue light shimmered around his long-clawed fingers which he then twirled both hands around each other before tucking his left thumb into his palm and leaving only his middle and index finger still outstretched. Alex then felt the air around his hands crackle alive with energy that made his hairs stand on end, even inside the gloves. He watched with bewilderment as the blue light shimmered around what was left of the dark stain and faded until it slowly matched the rest of the carpet, removing any trace of its presence from the rest of the world outside the yacht.
Alex looked up at Silas with a slightly annoyed expression. Completely ignoring the feat of magic that had transpired before his very eyes. “I had that!”
“But you don’t have magic.”
“Doesn’t matter, I needed something to keep me occupied.” Alex said through a heavy sigh.
“I could always crudely cut a vital artery and leave a big spill if it will make you feel better, captain.” Liyurch chirped.
No matter what, that dragon seems to always be eager or easy to please. His poor bedside manner countered by his positive disposition for even the most unusual of tasks.
“No thank you.”
“You sure?” Liyurch continued. “I could cut one of the larger arteries in my wing, though it won’t bleed much. Or I could cut Silas if he was willing, he has plenty of blood to spare! Almost fifteen kilograms of it.”
Silas whipped his head around with a smirk inching its way across his snout. “Hey don’t go volunteering me for blood bag duty!”
Alex couldn’t help repress the chuckle he felt coming on. “No, thank you doc, though you should really tone down your enthusiasm.”
“I am the wonder child!” Liyurch shouted.
Alex laughed. Silas laughed. Clemens tried to restrain his own at the random comment from the doctor.
“You certainly are a wonder.” Clemens replied.
The living room came alive once more with the light chuckling of the four men in the yacht. For a moment of brief respite, Alex actually had forgotten about the transmutation, he felt his irritability slipping away.
Then the electronic chorus of beeps rang from the cockpit; Clemens, who had just a second ago been sitting on the couch had suddenly thrown himself backwards over the back rest of the couch and made a dash for the cockpit, his feet falls muffled by the carpeting yet still loud enough to be heard as he traversed the steps up into the cockpit. From where Alex could see on his knees, Clemens listened intently to the headset he had pressed against his ear, Clemens had his back turned towards them but when he shifted in his spot, Alex caught a glance at his face and saw what looked to be confusion or intense focus. Then Alex stood up to walk over to Clemens to see the young helmsman look confused for a moment then deep in thought the next.
“What is it? Is it the Galaxius?”
“I-I think so… I can’t understand the language but its on a repeating cycle, that much I recognise. I think it might be draconic.”
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Suddenly, Liyurch slithered right alongside Alex’s side which startled the man as he hadn’t noticed the young dragon’s approach.
“Put it on, I can translate.”
Clemens nodded then turned to face the console and flicked a few switches and the cockpit came alive with the deep voice of a creature that spoke in a heavily consonant based language. Several words spoken seemed familiar with the language adding its own version to make it more compatible.
“Ovkhost yakhta, tämö I.D.N Galaxius Mons, u voz mootergalaten sigulla vamiz zho’ghaval sah khapazhinyo ghall toä koordinaatin; Nelt Azhkorn Tüll gol, dro mintön, dzhonyeto sikrun. Tograklein dzhonyeto qen, ghaltoh arkmintön, dro arksikrun. U vozh tёl yakhta”
Then the transmission beeped once more to signify the end of the call and Alex turned to look at his Dragon doctor.
“Well, what did they say and why is it in Draconic?”
“The message was that the Galaxius was experiencing engine troubles. They asked if we were able to proceed to a set of coordinates, they provided so they could save us.” Liyurch explained.
Clemens took a step down the steps just outside the cockpit’s door frame. “What were the coordinates? We don’t have a large travel distance, we’ll either burn through our fuel or blow out our Jump Drive if it’s too far away.”
“I’ll put it in the computer and you can tell me, I’m not a pilot.” Liyurch said as he brushed past Alex, letting his tail brush alongside his captain's thigh.
Then, Liyurch backed away from the console after he pressed in a series of numbers and Clemens approached to get a closer look on the screen, he then pointed to the series of digits on the left and asked “Did they say if this was Right Ascension or is it Declination?”
“They said it was Right Ascension.” The young dragon shrugged.
Then Clemens typed in the numbers and plotted them into the navigation computer. Alex stood and watched as his helmsman looked over the different screens, pondering. Then nothing for a brief moment followed by him stroking his chin as if to say he was indecisive in his thought process. Clemens then stood up and walked out of the cockpit and pressed his arms against the polished wooden railings.
“So, I guess good news; the coordinates the Galaxius provided are about twenty-one hours away from here at maximum Jump velocity.”
Alex then crossed his arms over his chest. “So now what’s the bad news?”
The young helmsman let out a short sigh. “Well it’s a near day’s Jump to the coordinates. But I am more concerned about our guest,” he said, jerking his head towards the direction of the guest bedroom. “Don’t get me wrong, sir; the inertial stabilisers are top notch. STARCOM really broke the bank building these yachts for their Captains but even with them engaged it could stress Chris out. And I don’t want a stressed-out Naga thrashing about and spitting venom.”
Alex nodded as he thought to himself for a moment. Then he looked at Clemens and instructed him to make the Jump and that Alex would take on the blame for anything that happens, to which the helmsman nodded affirmatively and began to fire up the Jump Drive. Contrary to the Jump procedure on the Phoenix; the yacht could jump without its crew buckled in, nor could they worry about intense inertial drag from entering or exiting jumps. In only a few short minutes, Alex could hear the soft whirring of the yacht's jump drive warming up before a sudden burst of colour splashed along the skylight and side windows. Stars that seemed so far away, so immovable had suddenly paced themselves and crawled away and out of sight as the yacht sped away to speeds unfathomable to the mind without the aid of a navigation computer or the G.W.I Network.
“Hey doc!” Clemens called out. “Did they say why they spoke Draconic?”
As Alex hesitantly approached the door to the guest bedroom, he braced himself for what could be waiting for him inside. Silas told him that Christopher wanted to speak to him and while Alex was not keen on the idea of going in there, he had to do it nevertheless. Despite the different appearance Christopher now has, he was still an officer of the Alliance Navy and Alex was his commanding officer. No matter what his personal opinions may be, his own aversions, Alex had to be there for a member of his crew.
I just hope he doesn’t try to bite me or give me his venom.
Before he knocked on the door to announce his intent to enter the guest room, the young captain unzipped his suit followed by unclipping his helmet ring and slipping his space suit all the way down to his waist before tying the sleeves to hasten it against his waist. Alex looked down and saw his white singlet stained yellow with sweat and the stench of multiple days without a wash. It disgusted him how unprofessional he looked and yet he was glad and annoyed that it was the Dragons that were coming to pick them up. Alex made a note to himself to tidy up his appearance before the Dragons boarded the yacht to rescue them. He didn’t want them to get any ideas.
Damn Dragons have to be so judge-y. They hardly wear clothing, who are they to be giving fashion advice? Oh, but wait, they think they are better than humans in every possible way. So of course, their advice and judgement on garments is better than ours… narcissistic varanid’s.
After Alex rapped his knuckles on the door, he heard a raspy voice call out to him from the other side.
“Come.” The hoarse voice of Christopher’s new serpentine vocal cords uttered.
Inside the guest bedroom was a dark and untidy room with the bedside lamps knocked onto the floor and the bedsheets dragged off the mattress and covering the newly formed Naga, coiled in on himself with his tail end sticking out in front of him. Christopher looked up at Alex when he entered the room but managed to keep his head low resting on his new flexible body.
“It’s all really me...” Christopher spoke with sadness in his voice.
Alex took two steps closer towards the mattress when Christopher’s tail slithered away from his body and towards the mattress, causing Alex to flinch and halt his advance. Christopher took notice of this and looked at his captain with his big golden eyes filled with sorrow and pain.
“I’m not going to bite you… or spit venom, I- I didn’t even know Naga’s-… I could do that.” He stammered.
Alex felt the knot in his stomach loosen up just enough to let him sit on the corner of the mattress, it sank under his weight all the while keeping his eyes glued on the Naga resting in a coiled up bundle of scales. The middle row of the coil slowly expanded and collapsed in on itself periodically with Christopher flicking his tongue irregularly. On several flicks, Alex noticed the tongue angling itself towards his general direction with each flick a blur of motion but each time lasted long enough to be noticed.
“You know… things look very different… these eyes. They’re not my birth eyes,” Christopher continued. Then with one of his taloned fingers he pointed to a series of depressions running along his upper lip. “I can see you clearly… but these… I can see your body heat. You look so warm, glowing with an aura of energy that I couldn’t see before.”
Christopher slowly rose up off his coiled body, his tongue flicking straight between the two.
“I guess being a Naga isn’t all bad, is it?” Alex said with a smirk.
He didn’t fully believe what he said himself but nevertheless a small part of him in the back of his mind hoped that it might be enough to convince the former human and bring him into a better emotional state.
“Maybe,” Christopher said with a small curl in his lip before it was quickly snuffed out. “But every time I look at myself in the reflection, I still see human me looking back and then it suddenly gets replaced with… with this.” He gestured to himself, huffing.
“I understand it must be hard for you. Trying to get accustomed to this new body, you must have been hit with a hard sense of Taxonomical Dysphoria.” Alex softly spoke.
“I can still feel them… my legs I mean. I can still move them and yet… they are no longer there. Well, except for these little calcified spurs I got near what the doctor tells me is my new cloaca!” Christopher said, turning his head around to examine his body.
Alex looked around to see what Christopher was talking about as he reached for his tail and brought it up to show the captain. The underside of his body was a pale shade of his normal colour, the scutes showed a small opening at the base of the tail where two small dark brown prongs prodded out from. Alex frowned as he studied them, thinking how Christopher’s legs had gone from normal to just those. Then Christopher let go of his body letting it fall to the floor with a muffled thump.
“Sir,” Christopher continued. “What about my family? My girlfriend? What if they all leave me because of this? Oh god..”
“Hey hey, stop that now, nobody gets left behind on my crew. No one. Human or Naga. Once we get rescued by the Dragons, I will see to it you get mobility retraining and therapy. Besides, there’s plenty to look forward to.” Alex said cheerily, patting Christopher on the back.
It felt strange to actually touch the Naga, the scales so smooth under his touch. The warmth of Christopher’s body gave the scales a relaxing texture to Alex.
“Like what?”
“Well, Silas reckons you might have jackpotted in this instance; he reckons your hood is an attractive feature on his home world. Imagine that, eh? Your pick of female companions as they desire your hood. Maybe you’ll even settle down and pass on your genes.”
Christopher’s scaly snout twisted towards Alex so fast that he could have sworn he heard something inside Christopher crack. With one eye ridge raised, the Naga had gone from sad to confused in an instant.
“Just something positive to keep you focused on, something to look forward to.”
Then Alex felt a pull in his stomach and the gentle humming of the Yacht’s engines died down. They must have stopped. Alex excused himself for a moment and walked out of the room and headed straight for the cockpit which Clemens was just exiting
“Ahh, there you are sir, we have arrived and the Galaxius says they are inbound shortly.”
Alex acknowledged before going back to the guest bedroom to fetch Christopher out from the bedroom. Alex thought he might be able to coax the former human out from his dark, self-imposed isolation by giving him something to see with his own eyes that would lift his spirits. Although hesitant, the Naga eventually began to slowly inch himself out towards the door.
The first time Christopher tried to raise his upper body almost caused him to fall backwards onto the safety of his own long body, his arms waving wildly in an attempt to stabilise himself almost looked comical. His next two attempts at an upright posture fared better however the next problem for Christopher to tackle was the locomotion of his new body which despite the intensity of his whole body slithering in motion he was gaining very little attraction as though he was simply running on the spot. An idea in his mind occurred to Alex on how to assist Christopher. But even if he wasn’t a physical therapist, trained or none, he couldn’t be certain that his idea would be good but despite the circumstances he saw no other option. So he took Christophers scaly hand and guided him toward the door, the dark thick nails that grew out of his fingers slid around Alex’s wrist and he could feel their razor sharp points digging into his skin as they gripped him. But he ignored the pain for the sake of Christopher as he pulled on his arm to guide him. Behind his upright body Alex could see coils coming undone until Christopher was one long serpent with an upright posture. For a moment, Christopher flinched letting out a hiss of pain and tried to cover his eyes, pulling his arm out of Alex’s hand.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked worriedly.
“It's… it's just too much, I’m seeing too much. Even with my eyes closed I can still see you, your warmth and I can smell you or taste you. Whichever. I don’t know!” Christopher exclaimed, rubbing his eyes.
Trying to avoid distressing the Naga further Alex frantically looked around for Silas and signalled for him to come over and take over. When he did, Silas slowly slithered up to Christopher who still had his balled fists pressed against his teary eyes.
“Okay, Chris? Listen to me, just slowly tilt your head down and open your eyes.”
And Christopher complied, he lowered his head with his eyes tightly shut, his tongue still flicking intermittently. The cockpit behind Alex chirped and Clemens shouted “We got incoming, Galaxius inbound.”
And right on queue, a flash of light lit up from the skylight and walls of glass that seeped into the yacht's main room. Alex proceeded up the steps and into the cockpit to see the large crustacean looking warship rapidly approaching. Its large forward-facing blades surrounded them before the main hull of the ship loomed ominously over them and blocked out all light around the yacht. Clemens coordinated with the Draconic Flight boss over the radio with professionalism that Alex had come to expect from him.
“Imperial Draconic Dreadnought Galaxius Mons, we require medical personnel for a Tango-Mike victim and prepare LOX crews for refuelling of our flight systems… Confirmed PriFly, sending Navcom control to primary LSO... A type-three Yacht, set grapplers for two hundred tonne gradient… I confirm and acknowledge your instructions. Yacht controls are now yours, PriFly.” Clemens said.
Alex looked out the cockpit as Clemens continued to speak with the Landing Signal officer who had taken control over his yacht and watched as they guided them in towards the Galaxius’ hangar. Situated behind the main bulbous body and in front of the elongated section that lead to the engines of the ship a pair of colossal hangar doors opened above them and their yacht slowly rose upwards into the ventral side of the Dragon battleship. The inside of the vessel was no different than that of the Rakii, the ship under Liyurch’s older sister’s command; Clean white interior with rows of flashing beacons pulsing orange hazard light into his eyes. Similarly, sticking out from the otherwise featureless walls were bulky arms coiled in on itself, ready to strike out at anything that was threatening. Yet, this very pose brought back memories of the alien insects that had boarded his ship and killed his crew, their raptorial appendages were brought in close to its body before it lashed out with such frightening speed and efficiency that body parts in power armour were severed cleanly. Slowly they budged outwards and extended its fabric pads towards the yacht and they suddenly bumped against the hull to create the magnetic seal behind the fabric padding.
A second thud resonated through the hull before Clemens briefly said the umbilical seal had been established and pressurised. Alex then went back into his room to undo his waist tied suit and placed it around over his body and clipped his helmet ring in place under his chin and then he left his room as presentable as he could given the circumstances and while Alex didn’t look at himself in the mirror he knew deep down that he still must have looked unpresentable.
Clemens then jumped down the steps, landing with an ‘oomph’ as he did. Alex rolled his eyes at his helmsman then proceeded to the airlock behind the kitchen with Silas and Clemens following close behind him. Liyurch followed close by, however Alex ordered him to tend to Christopher until the Galaxius’ medical teams relieved him. Both inner and outer doors opened at the same time, letting out a sharp hiss of air escape while a small alarm beeped rapidly to warn the occupants. Then, calmly strolling down the umbilical were two Imperial Draconic Marines, dressed in heavy plates of metal that covered each large section of their body, protected from the dangers of space with a beige suit underneath. Covering what he assumed to be a face of bared fangs and sinister glares were the sinister green lights on their broad maroon-coloured helmets, one of them glanced at each of the occupants while the other remained still.
“Which of you is the commanding officer?” It spoke. The helmet’s speaker transmitted the heavily modulated, guttural voice of its user to sound as intimidating as possible.
Alex took one step forward with his hands clasped behind his back. “I am. My name is Alexander Rowan, former captain of the U.T.S.S Phoenix.”
Then the dragon jerked its head on its long neck towards the back of the umbilical, gesturing for the group to follow them into the Galaxius before both dragons turned around and walked back down the Umbilical corridor. The trio followed the dragons in the well lit glass corridor in silence. Nearly half way transiting the umbilical the same dragon that spoke before turned its head so it was looking behind it and said.
“You requested a medical team for a Zhol’yat, yes?” It said.
“Yes,” Alex replied. “our doctor, Chief Medical Officer Liyurch Grayich is currently tending to him as we speak.”
Alex could only think of what aid Liyurch was providing to the mourning Christopher. But now that a fully staffed and fully equipped medical team could now tend to the transmutated human.
Then the crew crossed over the threshold of the umbilical and entered a large room whose ceiling was covered in pipes and electrical cable wires criss-crossing over each other to look like a busy city intersection with all primary coloured wires used. Alex squinted and he could have sworn he saw some of the lesser used colours for the ships extensive electrical network including bicoloured cables, above them in painted black lettering against a white backdrop lit up by vertical lighting fixtures were the words “Welcome to the I.D.N Galaxius Mons” followed by the similar text in claw writing, the written language of the dragons presumably saying the same sentence.
At least we are safe now.