The little alcoves dug into the wall made for cozy spaces to sleep, having solid rock between each personal space kept the outside noises from disturbing them, and still Beryl couldn't sleep herself even if Rosemary just laid quiet in her corner. She had her Stretchtab set as wide as she could in front of her, locked to her fingerprints so all the small child could do is tap playfully at it. She scrolled through the controlled newsfeed, the mishap she took part in barely a blip, the article warning passengers of the occasional water supply interruption taking more space below it. Beryl could not see how this could inconvenience someone so much as she had to shower in public at specific times herself.
She heard the door slide open, and the light footsteps made it clear to her that it was her sister Emerald, so she got out of her alcove to meet her. The moment the curtain was swooshed to the side Beryl saw her, her barely spotted white fur full of twirly curls and the strange uniform bar waitresses wore, it looked great on her, in fact better than it would look on Beryl herself. She didn't know what it was called, that strange silky jumpsuit with no fabric on either arms or legs that displayed half of her sister’s butt, paired with the tall shoes she sometimes saw on the passenger’s feet.
“Beryl! I can’t believe you almost missed my first day at the new job” Emerald said in a bubbly tone Beryl had never heard before, then laughed loudly. “How does it sound? I have been practicing.” She stretched her carefully manicured hand and scruffed the tuft on top of her sister’s head.
Not liking to be reminded that she was shorter than her younger sister she pushed the hand out of her head. “It sounds okay” She tried to smile, but could not fake it.
Her sister put her hand on her shoulder “You're a wreck, whatever happened in there wasn't good for you.” Beryl drooped her snoot and shoulders, her ears folding back in turn.
“Add to that the scare of believing we had a new baby…”
image [https://i.imgur.com/3Y4Mbaz.png]
Emerald cackled “Aw, give mom a break she's just trying to help a friend”
Beryl snorted, her mother, always trying to compensate for what happened with her mate and for how much help they needed after that. These days she knew better than to resent it but it still happened sometimes. “It’s alright i guess, what's the new job supposed to be like?”
“I have to be cute and ditzy in a very attractive way to the patrons and wait tables” Emerald pantomimed holding a tray and handing drinks. “Don't get to keep all the tips though” Her face morphed into a sour frown.
“Im sure youll find a way to get something out of this, i know you enough for that”
“it's why i've been practicing my act, i’m sure i'll break a heart of two”
Beryl cringed and shook her head. “So so happy to see you working though”
“And they’ll get me a Stretchpad like yours, for taking orders and whatnot”
“Speaking of that…” Beryl went to her alcove and picked hers up, scrolling her message tab “No news of mom, but she should be getting here soon, i wanna offload that kid to her ASAP and sleep.”
Emerald put an oversized jacket over her outfit and turned on the cooktop “As for me, i'm going to have a cup of coffee and then go, i have to help with the shift change too.”
Beryl went over to the table and sat on the opposite side of her sister. It was strange to see her sister like this, so confident, sounding so old, like she was away not for a day but longer. She managed to give a sincere smile this time. “Good luck”
“Not gonna call me candy top and ruin my curls this time?” She teased, her face sporting a crooked grin.
“No, I am sincerely happy for you, really.” She blushed, holding back her laughter, they both may be adults now but being two years older than her sister still let her feel entitled to pick on her. “Maybe i do need a new job too”
“So mom would stop complaining about you smelling like either chlorine or trash every day?” Jasper said from behind her, she and Emerald turned to face him, and he dipped his head. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine, not the whole reason though, I don't want a job where being there is like making a statement or something, maybe i need to work a job fit for a rabbit again.”
Emerald got up and filled her mug with coffee. “If they start hiring again I'll tell you.”
A noise came from the door and the three of them turned their heads to face it. Right behind the doorway was their mother, a middle aged Cunimorph more like Emerald in appearance than the other two siblings, with few marks of age, the more pronounced one were her graying spots. She put her bag of supplies down, and came towards Beryl giving her a tired hug.
“I can’t believe they told u s they were looking for you.” She ran her fingers along Beryl’s greasy, matted cheek fur.“I’ve Never seen you come back from there looking so awful.”
“At this point i'm expecting these things honestly.” She Shrugged “They only care as much as they need to.”
“How is Rosemary?” Her Mother asked, moving over to the counter to serve herself some coffee.
“Okay, sleeping on my bed, i tried to when i got here but couldn't.”
“Thanks for picking her up and Shredder let you out early? that's great coming from him.”
Emerald emptied her mug in a single gulp and paced closer to the two of them. “I should be going.”
Their mother leaned towards Emerald and nuzzled her cheek. “Good luck up there, is it at that restaurant bordering the lake? I used to be a hostess there long ago.”
Emerald smiled sheepishly, her ears flushed. “Not just a restaurant anymore, but yes. I should be back at 5 am.” She glanced back at Beryl before leaving.
A moment later they were both sitting at the table, her Mother sipping on her coffee and Beryl slouched over. “Y’sure you don't want to eat anything?” Beryl shook her head.
Jasper fiddled with his sister’s Stretchpad, idly scrolling through maps and menus. “Mom, my friends must be outside already, can I go and play?” After a swift yes from his mother he too left to the main tunnel.
“Go lay on my bed“ she stroked the scruffy fur on Beryls neck, making her mumble something to her mother. “and i'll make dinner.”
She dragged her body to her mothers alcove and nearly collapsed on the somewhat soft mattress, pulling the blankets over her to feel warmer against the cold underground air. Some time later her mother laid next to her.
“You're awake” she said to her, stroking the little black tuft on her head.
“It’s nothing, mom, just… wondering what's gonna happen if they decide I'm guilty” She curled up away from her mother, leaving just her nose out of the blanket.
Her mother laid beside her, her chin facing the rock ceiling even if her eyes glanced at her daughter “and you're that sure it could happen?”
Beryl’s voice began to falter “Not because its my fault”
She put a hand over the bundle of bun and blanket “Beryl, what happened to your dad was-”
“Not his fault.” she exclaimed, low yet distinctly distressed.
Her gently pulled the end of the blanked down, revealing a sniffling, teary eyed Beryl. “We have no idea, but it was out of our control.”
Beryl’s head slipped out of the bundle, resting on her mother’s lap “I don't know how you can go up there and look after their kids for the whole day.”
Her mothers hands very gently groomed her fluff and her ears. “Believe me, the kids aren’t that bad these days, at least better than their parents.”
“Doubt it.”
“Some of them are even polite with me these days, so maybe they want it to change too.” She got up and remained kneeled beside her daughter.
Beryl grunted and wiggled away from her mother, she felt a pull to blanket, and then it covered her again.
* * *
Screamer threw another piece of trash at her, she picked it up, vacuumed the ice particles from it and threw it in the “polymer” pile. Beryl looked up, the tall, domed ceiling filled with chutes was the main defining feature of the Main Aft Recycling Plant, it was a curious place for her as she got to see just how much the passengers used and consumed compared to them. As for her current placement, Shredder told her it would be a terrible idea to remain at Water Purification while the whole place had to be rebuilt and the investigation was underway. She agreed but just wished her current work partners, Screamer and Prowler wouldn't yap for the entirety of the shift, but that's likely what working with a pair of siblings was supposed to be like.
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“It might be dull work for you but it's nice to have you at recycling once in a while” Screamer said to her from the top of the trash pile he was standing on.
Prowler pulled a huge piece of scrap metal and began cutting it with her plasma multitool. “Still crazy that we never run out of stuff.” She said in her usual hoarse voice.
Screamer balked “over 300 years and we are down 15% raw materials, honestly they oughta give us a raise!” and laughed.
Beryl stopped to think, almost failing to catch a piece of prefab wall thrown at her “Almost 50% when we get there, checks out that it was made to last two trips.”
Prowler lifted the UV shield from her helmet, turning to face her “And they sure act like it, do nothing but drink and party and only work half the time we have to, morons.”
“Looking forward to the stories my sister will bring home” Beryl commented while analyzing a discarded bottle of liquor. “I wanna know what this tastes like” She threw it in a pile.
“If you find something nice around here you can keep it if ya want, as long as old Cheddar Shredder doesn't find out.” He snickered.
“Noted” She vacuumed more frost, a silly grin formed on her face. “I had no idea the lack of life-support in these areas was actually required, it really makes it much easier.”
“Also you don't have to smell any of this” Prowler spread her arms, turning to face the larger mounds in the distance. “Though the bioreactor chamber has an atmosphere, place is the absolute worst but without that, no fertilizer.”
“...All a grand circle…” Beryl recited one of the songs from the videos they would show at the daycare.
Prowler groaned “You guys listened to that too?, sometimes i wonder how much of it is fake”
Screamer snickered, slowly getting down from the pile “Oh we are definitely not going to be all equals once we get there, that i'm sure.”
Beryl sighed “Maybe we’ll manage to cut ourselves our own piece of the pie once we get there, if we push hard enough.” She glanced at her gloved hands and rubbed one on the other, getting the dust and crud out of them. Not a lot of information about the universe was afforded to the Zoimorphs, but she knew they were heading to a star named Phoenicia and once they got there, they would evaluate where they would stay there. They knew there would be enough light, water and raw materials so they could go on even if the planet was not a candidate for terraforming. That promise of a bright future was supposed to keep them from rioting and taking over the ship, but to her the fragility of their existence being composed mostly of sterile creatures more adapted to live in space was the real reason. If they tried a real coup they might never manage to fix their sterility and then they would just doom themselves.
Screamer patted her shoulder from behind “Nuff Dreaming, Shredder just told me that's enough sortin’ for today, time to get the Exo, carry these to the containers and load them on the next cargo trains.”
Beryl grinned when she heard that, it was hard to find an excuse to pilot an exoskeleton in her line of work, so much she hasn't yet. “Can I try it, or-?”
“Again, Shredder doesn't have to know right?” He got ahead of them and towards the hangars. “If the job gets done right no one bothers to check the recordings so as long as you do that you're good!”
“Fuck yes!” She ran after him, not caring to hide her gleeful laughter, letting it echo on the walls of that grimy chamber. Screamer typed his password on the hangar door and it rolled up, revealing a dark, murky interior, she couldn’t see much besides the cracked and oil stained concrete floor but soon the lights came on one by one, revealing the tall, bulky humanoid machine amidst haphazardly piled up parts and tools. It stood with stout and wide legs, its arms too long in proportion to its torso, attached to shoulders too wide. In the center rested a backless seat large enough for a person in a suit, regular issue or EVA to sit in on, the legs kept from dangling by supports that were flush with its chassis.
beryl gasped, taken aback “It’s way bigger than i thought it would be”
“About 4 meters, more than that would be a waste of power. By the way I've done the latest checkup on it myself, so this should be a breeze for you.” Screamer crossed his arms, grinning at her.
“Do I just?...”
“Climb on the saddle, I’ll strap you in” he put his hand on a sensor pad on the chassis and several steps popped out of the machine. Beryl climbed to the top and sat on the padded surface, Screamer followed in tow and linked the suit’s harness to the Exo. He stood to her side, one foot on a step and his hand holding on to one the arm’s pistons. “So you know your suit uses your ID implant to communicate with your nervous system right?” He was gesturing with his free hand, making a show out of it and so did not wait for her to answer “You probably never used it for anything other than uploading health data but the Exo uses that connection to get input data from you, that way you free your actual hands for other tasks while you control it.” He typed something in one of three small displays in front of her. “Just authorizing you, it's going to ask what implant to connect to, for now it's yours…”
He was lost in thought for a moment, mumbling things to himself until the screens flashed green. “So what now?” Beryl looked to her sides, not seeing much besides the Exo’s shoulders, each standing a meter or so taller than her. She noticed its shoulders rotated along with hers. “What?”
“You're in! Try moving your arms and fingers, i'm going to the hangar to your left to sync up too!” He hopped down and disappeared behind her. The machines hands moved in front of her, and she realized she was in control, its fingers twirling to her command.
“Woa” She tried other simple movements like clapping and she cackled at how off and awkward it looked on a body like that. She left the hangar, its tight quarters now bothering her as she felt taller than ever before.
“Wait wait don't go out too far yet!” She turned her head and saw Screamer riding his Exoskeleton and hurrying out of the structure. “We need the tools! lots of shoveling to do today.”
“Sorry, this is just so cool.”
“It's fine! but in the end we are just shoveling crap onto containers.”
He was not lying, the tool for today’s tasks was indeed a giant shovel, its massive girth making the trash piles they spent the day sorting look like gravel. With the Exos they were able to lift the containers into the wheeled supports and fill them easily, then Prowler controlled a crane remotely to lift them onto the wagons.
Beryl knew that this was still work, but she had not been that entertained in a very long time, taking every opportunity she could to try and see what the suit could do, even dancing in it. She and Screamer made a good team and quickly packed all that trash to be processed. Looking back at him she saw a suited figure in orange and blue colors sharing the seat with him, their arms holding on to his waist. They waved at her.
“Haha, I forgot to tell you about her, she's from transportation. I usually meet her at the airlock after her shift”
“But you had to break another rule and give her a ride, right?” She snickered “Nice to see the crap they let you pull here, wish i could do that”
She was surprised to find out the lady from transportation was a Hyenimorph. She was taller and bulkier than either her or the siblings and had a puffy, well kept brown and tan coat full of stripes.
“Well, what's a bunny doing down here?” She asked Screamer, who now had half of his jumpsuit zippered down, hanging from his hips. His chest was bare besides the tubes still attached to his sphincters, despite all warnings on the wall he vaped in the airlock, the fumes defiantly coming out of his thrac tubes. He just shrugged and moved closer to the hyena with a stupid grin, getting on his tiptoes to kiss her. Prowler slapped the back of his head “You're gonna get yourself fired you moron…”
image [https://i.imgur.com/CFiINeE.png]
Beryl was not expecting that, and raced to find an answer for her. “Uuuh It’s what was available here, my workplace exploded two days ago, and you are?”
“H3F4567, they call me Ziggy, cause I have a funny stripe that goes up my mane.” She twirled the dark stripe that came out of her silver mane.
“Well i think it's pretty” said Beryl, removing her tight hood and finally releasing her ears with a recognizable fwomp
“Yes she's pretty…” Screamer nuzzled Ziggy’s neck, and both their ears blushed.
Beryl went on with the steps required to get out of the suit, removing her gloves, then unzipping the layers and detaching the light adhesive that kept the tubes in place. She couldnt help retching as she pulled them out and threw them in the biohazard chute. “So that's what you do here? Break rules and make out with girls from other departments?” She still stroked her neck, the area around the flap feeling raw.
“Yea, and i kinda like it”
“Nice, too bad i’ll probably be fired or worse, i’m liking it here too.” Her long ears drooped.
The massive hyena petted Beryl’s head, the hand as large as her head. “Aww, that can’t happen. What if you can prove it wasn't your fault? There must be something you remember.”
Beryl sat down and stroked her temple “It was all so fast, and not in my field of view. Then the nasty water carried me away and destroyed most things in that room.”
Screamer sat down next to her on the bench, wiggling his nose and along with it his whiskers as he tried to think of something. “If you say it was impossible for it to be an accident, who would be more likely to sabotage it?”
“I’m not part of the circles that would know, I'm neither management nor in contact with humans…Emerald!” She got up and rushed to get out of her jumpsuit and into her regular clothes. “If someone can help me with this right now it's my sister, she's around drunk humans all the time!”
* * *
“No, I am not accepting help from one of them!”
Beryl nearly screamed at her sister, it was too unexpected, even if it came from Emerald. And now she had to listen to her nonsensical plans in some random storage unit.
“Look, I know it sounds like an awful idea to you, but I've been hearing a lot of things since I got that job. They weren't always like this… listen” She rested a hand on her shoulder, her make-up not done yet despite already wearing her uniform under the same oversized jacket. Beryl grunted and finally let her speak.
“They weren't always like this, we weren't a thing yet when the ship was built, they came up with the idea after they left the solar system, there was this shift in government after the second generation got into power and they pushed to have us made. Point is, this would not be allowed on earth and everyone there would think it's not right to treat us this way”
“I never had any interaction with them that didnt start with them shoving a finger into my mouth so i find that very hard to swallow, even then, we are isolated so how many humans here would risk themselves to support us?”
“Plenty, You should come with me one day and chat with them.”
“Are you- I have a job and i don't want to lose it.”
“You don’t work night shift do you?”
Beryl could swear she heard her eye veins pop, she grumbled for a moment before saying no.
“My boss is very politically involved with Zoimorph causes so it will be easy to get you a temporary permit, as long as you actually do the work there.” Her sister's voice slowly turned into a murmur in her head as she looked down and imagined herself wearing that silly costume, the way it hugged her curves and what little she had on her chest. Her ears drooped and she felt herself flush.
“Okay, this better be worth it.”