System of the Damned

Chapter 8 - Xavier

How many ways can you make jerky?

I apparently had gotten mildly injured during my work and not eaten nearly enough to do what I’d done. My person had also guarded me while I’d slept and scared a few lab techs to tears in making them help me, mice were always so easy to scare. The humans had lost nearly forty people to the storm and dragons, three had been killed by lightning.

I woke as the last of the storm was passing and found my person curled up on one side of the room, a pregnant Hera sleeping atop him as if he was a couch. It made me smile as I looked myself over, I was laying in a human kit incubator. The needle in my arm made me pause and I looked up to see that the small saline bag was all that hadn’t emptied, so I worked it loose and watched the hole seal. That was intriguing, I was healing much more quickly now and I could hear the machines working, so I wasn’t moving fast.

It took a little work and I wasn’t able to stand, but I sat up and looked around again, making a chitter and waiting a second. Hera came over and leaned her head up, moving back seeing me awake and barking at my person. He startled awake and sat up, looking around and then over to me, his canine maw twisting into a smile. Then he tilted his head up and let out a long howl, Hera of course joined in and I squeaked in laughter. My human had always sort of reminded me of a puppy, and now he was fluffy and could howl proper.

It only took that single howl to get one of the lab techs to come in, one of the younger ones who was nicer. The poor mouse looked tired and I chittered, waving an ear in greeting at him. I wiggled my fingers like I was typing and he nodded, stepping back out. He came back a moment later with a keyboard for me and a voice synthesizer for it to link to. He looked at my person and Hera and sighed. “You little miss are supposed to be relaxing in your comfy bed. You only have another week, maybe two before you give birth.” His gentle voice flowed as he scritched around her ears as she huffed. “Oh don’t give me that...go and relax. Lola needs her pregnancy partner for this…”

Lola was my mate and overdue for a normal rabbit in her pregnancy, but we were expecting her to have them within two weeks. Longer pregnancies were normal for those of us with many mods. I took the keyboard and chittered as I typed. “Hera, please keep my mate company.” She looked over to me and nodded before waddling off slowly for where my mate was nested. My eyes went to my person, who was urinating through the door of the bathroom into the shower at the other end. “We will have to turn him back or build him larger spaces...am I ok Dr Edgar?” He seemed to prefer his first name when dealing with people.

The Doctor paused in pulling a grey blanket from a cabinet and nodded as he looked at me. “Yes, you will be ok. Will.” He said and touched my person’s black fuzzy arm, holding up the blanket. “We don’t have clothes that will fit...use this like a toga, Major.” I watched my person get a confused look and then an ear twitched as he took it and wrapped it more like a kilt. “Thank you sir. Are you still hurting?” He got a head shake and a huff. “I know, don’t try talking for now...we’re still running the samples. You may turn back on your own.”

My stomach growled and I chittered as my person looked at me, my fingers quickly typing. “Food?” He nodded and looked toward Dr Edgar.

The nice mouse just grinned. “Yes yes, your stash of dragon meat is still in the cooler where you put it. Just be careful if you cook it, the meat is high in phosphorus, and the bones are high enough in phosphorus and magnesium that they’ll be flammable when they dry “ He moved out of the way and let him through, turning to look at me as my person had to wiggle through the door.

“You, young man.” He said wiggling a finger at me and smiling. I chittered and gave him my best innocent look. “Don’t even try to do that. I saw the camera feeds from outside. You’re seen in exactly four frames after the lightning strike, in four different places. Not only that, but your muscles that I saw in the scan show signs like you ran for miles under heavy weight.” He was grinning as he looked at me, pulling himself up a chair and dropping the side of the incubator as he sat. “So...all of the details.”

I had to admit I actually liked Dr Edgar Williams, he was nice to me and the others, and understood we weren’t stupid. So he’d earned respect from most of us, and I squeaked softly and settled back into the covers half sitting up. “I’m guessing it’s the minerals and genetic modifications, time stopped for me after the lightning hit my suit. My heart was beating fast and when I calmed it, things moved, but things I’d touched...exploded.” The synthesizer spoke as I typed and he looked thoughtful. “What is it?”

He rubbed his chin and moved to pick up a tablet, logging into it and going through its files. “These are the images I found, the Captain demanded we find out what had happened.” He said and brought up the first two shots, it was the lightning striking, and then a frame later my suit’s chest exploded along with a bit of ground. “When you willingly apply force to things, it is like a meteorite hitting them.”

I chittered softly and rubbed an ear in thought. “I couldn’t be affecting things at light speed. I’d have destroyed everything. The valley would be gone.” The synthesizer spoke as I leaned back, then he played the next segment and I got to watch as a bright blur appeared, a wave of mud and water exploding out from where I’d moved. But the damage from my runs at the shockwave were incredible. The ground erupted up and where I kicked off the ground shock had just seemed to vaporize several meters of ground. Everywhere I’d gone, there was a blur of light and my head cocked to the side as I chittered.

“I know...our best guess, and all it is right now is a guess.” He said and sighed, not speaking until I chittered at him. He shook himself. “Sorry, I’m tired and I’ve been looking over dragon samples, and samples from the two of you.” He covered his mouth as he yawned. “But best guess is that you weren’t fully in phase with reality, otherwise like you said...we’d all be dead. Once you’re healed up, I’d love if...” He paused. “In a safe area.” He held up a finger and pointed to the craters I’d made in the frozen images. “Because you can apparently apply force, and I don’t want you blowing holes in the ship or people.” He winked.

I chittered and gave him a shocked look, which only made him roll his eyes. “Ok I won’t make people go splat or make things go boom.” I typed and held a hand over my heart.

He wiggled a finger at me. “I’ll hold you to that, and…” He brought up a clip of my person swinging his sword onto a dragon, then its head exploding and my small muddy form appearing and dropping into my person’s hands. “That...you scared the sense into him. I don’t think he’s all there right now…” There was the sound of a squeaky toy from down the hall and he sighed. “See...that is how we got him to let us treat you...a squeak toy.”

I shook my head, my person had never been “right” and had liked to have fun as he said it, but I could see a more canine form of him going giddy with a squeak toy and it made me squeak in laughter. “I will do what I can for him, maybe calming him down or meditation will help. Though, how are my mice? Did we lose any of them?”

It took him a moment and he started to laugh, shaking his head and wiping away a tear from his eye as he caught his breath a moment later. “Mice...you still call doctors and techs that?” I nodded and he sighed. “Why am I not surprised, but your mice made it, some I’m sure will join security, and others no doubt have ptsd. I can’t blame them...this world is insane.”

We both looked up and over as the smell of something like seared chicken wafted into the room and my person growled as he ducked and wiggled through the door. I leaned up more and chittered as he came over, a bowl twice as large as myself being set in front of me. I tossed my keyboard aside and rolled forward, climbing up and grabbing a chunk the size of my head. I fell back and lost myself in a frenzy of eating and flavors.

My person casually watched me and used his claw to stab hunks of meat in another bowl, popping them into his maw and chomping them down. I don’t know how many chunks of meat I ate, I think I got down twice my weight before I flopped back and burped, content and finally feeling full. I felt the urge to go feral and start bathing myself, but it wasn’t hard to keep that down since I was hurt.

I wasn’t expecting to find that Dr Edgar had left and Commander Wulf was standing patiently, letting us eat our fill. He calmly set down a large bag and moved to the bathroom, coming out with a wet towel and a damp rag, handing the towel to my person and setting the rag down for me. “Since you two have had your fill...and you are calm…” He nodded to my person, who snorted as he wiped his hands and maw clean. Igor’s eyes moved to me. “And you’re no longer an explosive blur.” He gave me a crooked grin. “Feeling better?” He had to ask as I was scrubbing my face and body with the rag.

I moved to my keyboard, my left ankle still tender and making me limp a little. “Much better, I will keep my pulse calm and…” I looked at my left leg. “I will need him to carry me, I overdid it during the storm.” Even with having slept and eaten, my joints still ached and muscles throbbed from wear and tear.

He nodded and reached into his breast pocket, pulling out two items and setting them down beside me. One looked like a tiny roll of supportive bandage, and the other was a cane...that was my size. “Some of the techs made those, we actually have several rolls of bandage like that now, and one took the time to forge you a steel and Caltunium cane.”

I set the keyboard aside and picked up the roll, letting it unfold and slowly wrapping my ankle with it. It took me a moment and then I looked over the cane, it had an odd shine to it and after I gave it a tiny charge, it glowed softly. I noticed that it appeared to have some of my shed fur hammered into it. When I looked up to thank the XO, I chittered instead. Humans loved it when you made little nose wiggles at them too, and cute looks seemed to break them.

My person was being handed things from the bag. “Now Major, we can’t have you running around like a movie monster, you must at least wear things.” The first item was his sword holder, and then a harness that’d been radically altered and enlarged. It had a throat mic with a long neck strap and an ear clip. “And there is also this…” He held up a shoulder pad that would attach to the harness, which had a spot for my keyboard and a bulged spot like a seat for me. “For now, you two are not to be apart. Major O’Connell is still mentally unstable, and if you try to move fast...you could destroy things.”

I chittered and my person stuck his tongue out at the XO and moved to put on the harness, clawed hands being careful to get the shoulder pad in place and latches locked without fur in them. “I also have some idea what the sounds he makes mean, and I can use this to talk for the both of us.” The synthesizer spoke for me as I typed.

My person huffed and twitched an ear, his maw working and something like “Ruck aroo.” Came out, making the XO smirk. “We cannot have the good Major sounding like a scary scooby doo, now can we?” He asked and my person slumped a little, ears drooping. “I also managed to get a few of the people in laundry to…” He trailed off and pulled out a pair of camouflage pants that had been sown together from what looked like three pairs.

My person yipped and grabbed them carefully, looking them over and murring as he looked through a slit for his tail with a clasp at the belt line. The zipper area had been altered with clasps and it looked like it had been reinforced in several places. He moved over and dropped his pseudo kilt, having to lay on the floor to have the room to work himself into the pants. “I wasn’t able to get anyone to make you boots, but you’re going to have a few more pairs of those at least.”

I chittered and stood up, using the cane and holding my keyboard under one arm as I half walked and half waddled over to where the synthesizer sat on my bedding. My person came over and murred, actually dressed and sword hanging on his back in it’s holder. He casually put the synthesizer into a net pocket on his harness and then held down his hand for me, lifting me up to his shoulder. We’d gotten used to this sort of thing over the time since we’d met, and I wasn’t afraid of heights. I actually enjoyed the ride most of the times I’d ridden my person.

Once I was settled in my seat and even found a little leather belt, I squeaked and latched my keyboard into place. “First Sergeant Xavier and Major O’Connell ready for duty sir.” I typed and the two of us saluted, though my person was slouched over to keep from banging his head on the ceiling.

Commander Wulf nodded and returned the salute, motioning us to follow him. “The giant that we took down during the storm died a few hours ago. Most likely it suffocated under its own weight and injuries. Captain Rowland would like you two to check it out, the mimics have fed off of some of the dragons that we didn’t carve up, but they won’t move toward it. We’d like you two to scout it and see if there is a reason why.”

My person huffed and I chittered. “Sending the two combat soldiers you have to scout, who just happen to have recently become terror influences?” The synthesizer spoke and my person snorted and made a few noises of his own.

“Along with drone backup, but yes, you two are also the most likely to make it out if there is an issue. You’re injured, but the Major is quite fast for someone his size. It is also the reason for the net pouch on the back of his shoulder, if he goes into a monster run, use the pouch.” He stopped in the hall and gave us both a stern look. “You are not to get into combat, Xavier is injured, you’re unstable and get feral, and neither of you can actually speak.” He gave me a look and turned on my person’s radio.

He sighed. “But everyone else is also either trying to clean up, harvest the kills, or are burying the dead. This also lets you both get out and check an area. Major O’Connell can climb well, you can move over him and act like a mobile set of eyes...and the techs are of course already rethinking a new exoskeleton suit for you.” He turned to start walking again, moving for the supply elevator instead of a ladder. Some large fluffy being had already nearly gotten stuck in one. I had to admit it was like riding a giant bear, my own personal war wolf.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

My mind tried to remember what the big war wolves were called, but I typed up something even as I thought. “Thank you sir, please tell them thank you for me, and we will be careful.” I relaxed and found the movement of my person’s body rather relaxing, and soon enough I passed out.

***************

I woke up about the time that my person yipped, my eyes snapping open and for the first time I got to see the damage I’d done. Twenty deep and broad trenches were half full of rainwater, and the craters were large enough to fit a bulldozer inside. I chittered as I looked around and leaned into the giant clawed hand that lifted to give me a little scritch. I typed up a message. “I did this…me. This is insane, what is going to happen if a human becomes like me. I weigh two pounds.” And then I couldn’t stop the glare as my person held up four fingers, then squeaked as he thumbed towards himself and made a six, a five, and a two. Six hundred and fifty two pounds, just how much Caltunium had we absorbed!?

I chittered and pointed to a barren strip with a dozen or so foot wide path between two of the...ponds. Yes, the craters were turning into ponds as runoff from a few streams had run into the furthest crater and were feeding into the others. It was surreal, me, a damned four pound bunny, had created these craters, by kicking. Granted I’d been kicking at apparently light speed, but still, I’d done it. I’d saved the humans and made some big whopping...my ankle throbbed and and leaned to rub it and huffed.

The storm had made an absolute mess of the woods and small meadows, my person pointed to where a few of the O’Pangs as most were calling the armored omnivores now, were ripping hunks from a dragon impaled on a tree. He kept away from them and we stayed quiet as he wound our way toward the dead titan and the ruined area where it had crashed. A few of the smaller forest beasts, only about my person’s size, simply ran when we came across them. They were all odd, armored, or too many eyes, too many legs. One of the smaller ones looked like a mix between a bat, cat, and monkey and were worse thieves than mimics.

When we finally got to the tail though, we both paused, the air felt odd, almost like being in the generator room aboard the ship. I chittered and he growled, the two of us feeling the wrongness in the air and he crouched low. I slowly shifted my ears, the tips tingling more toward the hind legs a kilometer or so ahead. A soft squeak from me and he crept forward, moving like the predator he now was and making no sound as we moved forward. I held up my hands and waved them in the air and then pointed my ears forward, knowing the drone controller would bring the scout drone further out at the sign.

What I didn’t know was that the drone had malfunctioned and had to return, leaving us without backup as we went forward. Not that it would have helped, Both of the tanks were now low on ammunition, their guns broken down, and being cleaned. And then as we got near one of the dead titan’s feet, our ears snapped up at almost musical sounds. Both of us could hear higher and lower tones than a normal human, and there were also sounds of tools and machines.

We shared a look and I nodded so he moved closer to the noise, a gutteral rough speech flowing on the air along with the odd musical speech we’d heard. He crept closer and we both listened, ears turning and shifting softly to the different sounds. A whining yipping laugh caused him to pause and there was a thick trunk of a tree and brush between us and the nearest noise, then a trilling sound with something like rapid clicks. Odd sounds for talking, but he moved for another spot that was thinner brush we could peek through.

In the damaged area around the leg of the titan, two different bipedal races moved about with wheeled vehicles lined up and meat being loaded into them. There were also long strings run between damaged trees with thick ribbons of dragon meat hanging from them. The aliens were dipping the meat into large barrels and then hanging it. Others were working plates free, and cutting out slabs of meat. And then more were tending what looked like large portable smokers, which were mostly just producing a light misty smoke.

We watched them and I smiled and unhooked myself, moving to pet my person’s cheek as one of the two races looked quite canine and like smaller stocky versions of him. Their thinner fur had seemingly metallic hues to it and an odd range of colors. It looked like they’d been on the planet long enough to evolve to a stockier build than they’d probably had, but I was only guessing. The noises that they made for language were rougher and had many chest born aspects to it like different noted growls or chuffs, my ears twitched and I saw something that made me pat his cheek.

The second race was hairless and shorter than even the normal humans, the tallest was under five feet and they moved with an odd grace. Noseless with what looked like an aquatic mammal’s blowhole just above the eyes in the forehead. Larger eyes that were dark in color or black. The noises they made sounded rather musical, like a much higher form of dolphin or whale song. But it was the staff one of them lifted up that made me chitter, at the head was a gem as large as me that glowed brightly.

The alien closed its large eyes and snapped out the staff, then about twenty feet from them the air seemed to tear open. The area on the other side was dark and one of the vehicles moved around and through it, another moving through after the first passed. The new truck wasn’t empty and had another race riding in the back. The new ones were as tall as my person and lithe in form, with manes of fur that ran from head to lower back with an extra set of arms coming off the back below the normal set. The length and shape of their heads resembled a rhino to some extent.

My person sniffed the air and I did as well, the first two smelled of predators, omnivores maybe, but these new ones. They smelled of prey, thick blunted fingernails or claws, and blunt grinding teeth were visible when they spoke. I pat his cheek and waited for him to look before pointing to my eye and then my moving mouth and ear.

He nodded and then pointed to his neck mic and pressed the button to turn off the synthesizer. I nodded and moved back slowly to my seat, flopping into it tiredly and starting to type. “Found three of the other groups harvesting meat and scales from the giant. No doubt before the meat spoils. We are going to make contact and I recommend that you harvest the meat as well, they seem to be soaking it first in water or a solution.”

It was a direct transmission to the Captain and XO, and it only took a moment for me to hear the response from my person’s ear unit. “Copy that, be very careful. We’ve actually been soaking the meat. Be careful and I will have one of the harvesting teams head for the tail in a while, find out if we can be peaceful.”

My person snorted softly and I let out a little chitter. “Copy that Captain, going radio silent. Will check in when we either run for our lives, or have gotten some language.” I sent and chittered, my person clicking off his com and waiting for me to belt myself in before moving. He still moved with a predator’s...no it was a stalking soldier, a predator didn’t keep its senses peaked in ways other than its prey. He had to be careful since not only was he much larger in mass than one of the canine ones, but he was armed with that giant sword. I don’t think he could have actually fired a rifle, his fingers were too big to fit into the trigger guard.

When he got near one of the vehicles, we still hadn’t been seen and I chittered softly. When he looked over at me, I pointed to myself, my keyboard, and the synthesizer and pointed to the hood, then pointed to him and motioned like getting down. His eyes narrowed, but he nodded, gently moving me and my items to the hood of the odd wheeled truck. He unhooked his sword and knelt down, the large blade resting against him as he hid himself in the truck’s shadow. I walked using my cane and gently nudged the synthesizer closer to the edge, sitting on the hood and mimic’d the smaller one’s greeting. Sadly it was much squeakier, but I think I got all of the different notes right.

Either way, every head in almost one hundred yards turned to look at me and the air became very quiet. I scanned the many different faces and bowed lightly, touching my chest and then my nose in the same way I’d seen the smaller ones do in greeting. Then I motioned for some of them to come closer, sadly one of the four armed grunted and charged, its head reminding me of a four eyed rhino, but with four smaller horns instead of the larger single.

It had gotten shocked, I smelled of predator, and was alien to it, so no wonder at least one charged. I turned and looked at it, time slowing just enough as it got closer so that I could move my stuff to the side. The being’s three fingered hand coming out to grab me, I grabbed it, whacked it on each knuckle as I shoved it away. When my pulse slowed to normal, it roared out in pain and slammed into the truck, its head landing next to me.

I thumped it on its cheek and it made a snort of pain and grabbed its face as it pulled back, two hands on its face and one hand rubbing the knuckles of the other on the other set. I chittered at it and motioned with my cane and then behind me and let out a loud squeak. Then on que, my person slowly raised up, his monstrous sword resting on his shoulder and his eyes glowing with energy much like mine did. I squeaked, bitching at the stupid alien and made a motion like taking off a head.

My person looked from me to them and bowed lightly, but his eyes never left them. His hand moved to make motions like talking and then pointed to me and the two he recognized as leaders.They shared a look and the duo started to move over, motioning the others back to work, and my person made me smile as he hooked his sword and moved for the carcass. The others were using tools to get the scales loose, he simply grabbed one and glowed for a second before ripping it free. A growl rumbled from him and he paused when he saw several looking at him.

I squeaked and nodded, his hand went to his sword and it glowed brightly as he drew it and his clawed fingers went to another scale, drawing in the power to himself and then pushing it into the sword. Then he went to shoving the blade between scales and popping them free, using the strengthened blade and his own immense strength, some of the others moved to use the tools and pull the large scales away to a pile.

It appeared most of them hadn’t taken to the way of life that me or my human had come to accept, though some of them were far stronger than others. The herbivores were running some sort of grinding machine that they were putting drained scales into, others were using wires to drain the scale energy into what looked like a battery truck.

The smaller leader held their hand out to me and I pushed my keyboard into it and hopped in, the other hand picking up the synthesizer. The other had moved to set the spots to sit around a small fire he’d started. By the time we got to the fire I realized the one toting me was female, definitely an aquatic mammal. My things and I were set in one spot and the other two went to sit in equal spacing around the fire.

I chittered as I thought and the larger one pulled something from his pocket, claws moving to hook a device on his ear and another to his harness. The furless one did much the same, hooking one to her vest and something to her small ear. “Greetings tiny being, I am Grek and this furless one is named…” It was odd hearing the clicking growling sound that came from the small female. “Stormwind.”

I just stared at them, his words had come out in english and I stared dumbfounded at them, there was a loud booming yelp as my person crashed to the ground. The two chuffed and trilled and the translators they were using replicated their laughter to human laughter. After a moment the smaller female, Stormwind, looked at me curiously. “I am a Lo’Kar, and the head of our people. Grek, is a Ca’zeze, our people were locked in combat when they ended up here.” She touched the device on her vest and trilled softly, apparently it was a sigh or something like my chitters. “The Eda made these for us.”

I chittered and typed up something as she spoke, thinking before poking the button to transmit it. “Do not bother with my noises, I do not have a true language, I am First Sergeant Xavier, I am with the humans...a lab born animal.” I kept typing and nodded toward my person as he went back to work. “That is my person, until the storm, he was human. His name is Major Roderick O’Connell...his handle is Hound.” I chittered a little and looked to see that I was getting a rude gesture pointed at me. “We are both heavily modified genetically, him…”

Grek held up a clawed finger, head cocked to the side. “What was the word after modified? It did not translate.”

I scratched the base of my ear. “Genetically...the building blocks of our life is carbon, we were altered at our smallest possible points and enhanced. The humans call them genes….” I moved and waddled to the side, using my cane to draw as best a double helix as I could. “I was made stronger, smarter, far smarter than any of my kind normally.” I typed after moving back, both looking at the drawing in the dirt and then to me. “My person was made far stronger, more dense, much faster healing, and some genes from an animal were used to enhance his senses.” I grinned. “Those animals...resemble you.” I pointed to Grek as my synthesizer spoke for me.

The burly male stiffened, he resembled a wolf with a pit bull’s frame as a two legged, the female trilled in laughter. “His world has something mildly similar to my people, but if you are an enhanced animal and he is…” She pointed to my person. “Was human...how are you like you are now? The Eda didn’t mention humans changing their form, and none of them were so...large.” She seemed almost mildly offended by my person’s height.

She turned and blinked as she saw him slicing strips of meat from the titan and eating them raw, then she looked to Grek and finally to me. “You do not prepare the foods of this world before you consume them?” She looked to the staff’s gem and then to me. “You have a great deal of Nobu crystal within you then, we have built up a tolerance to it, but we’ve had to take great care with it. It can make one unsta…”

As she looked at me, I raised my pulse with a memory and gingerly moved very carefully a few of my steps to the side and then a few toward her. I had to be very careful and closed my eyes to slow my pulse once more. “..ble…” The next thing that left her was a thudding wave of sound that ruffled my fur and the dirt more than I’d done moving. Apparently I’d startled her, and definately aquatic mammals with that sonar pulse she’d let fly.

Grek nodded. “Yes, you have a great deal of it within you.” He pointed a claw toward me and an ear twitched. “Be very careful in doing that small one, you’re the one who caused the devastation…” He nodded toward the ship and camp and I nodded and pat my leg, using the cane to move back and sit down. “We have had people who tried and caused horrible damage, but now I see how one so small could so easily defeat a Rodu.” He nodded back toward where a group of the four armed ones were loading more of the drained scales into grinders.

I chittered in thought. “What do the Eda look like? We’ve not seen any sign of…” Stormwind pointed to the giant dead titan and my jaw dropped.

“They’re much smaller...they call the giant ones and those you killed...ferals or fallen. They are from an ancient ship that crashed here long before the nicer Eda became trapped.” Stormwind said and her head cocked to the side as there was a crashing sound far behind me that was coming closer.

I stood and squeaked at my person and pointed to myself and then up, he huffed and latched his sword as he came over. He held up a strip of meat and growled low, ears snapping up on many of the Ca’zeze at the sound, but there were several sounds of shock as he breathed out a tongue of flame and seared the meat. I took it and nibbled on it as I stood in his hand.

“What are you…” Grek trailed off as my person looked up and then curled his arm back and hurled me straight up into the air. I had to remind him that he was much stronger than he had been before, my pulse sped up some and I looked around from over a hundred meters in the air. I couldn’t help but chitter as I saw the source of the sound, one of the tractor tire mimics was rolling and bouncing toward us with a duffle bag in the open center of its form.

A few seconds later my person caught me and I chittered and made a flexing motion and chittered at him, then pointed to my keyboard. When he set me down I typed it up. “Our Captain must have asked for gear to be brought to us. A mimic is bringing it.”

“A what?” came from Grek and was answered when my person chuffed and pointed to a rock, then his eye. Grek and Stormwind both stood and started to back up. “Your people trust those always hungry, always thieving monsters!?” He snarled out and then a tire nearly the size of my person bounced clear of the brush and rolled to a stop beside him.

A few blades were drawn and my person growled low, clawed hand held up for them to stop, and then a single finger pointed at the ground where the leaders had sat. He stepped back to the titan and tore off a hunk of meat larger than myself and came back, holding it for the Mimic to take.

The wheel sprouted several eyes and set the bag down with a tendril, then took the hunk of meat and tossed it into a mouth that opened in the tread. It jiggled and turned in place to roll and then bounce back for the camp. I chittered and shook my head. “Yes...they’re not that stupid and learn boundaries, eventually.” I pointed an ear toward my person as I typed again. “He saved a small one our first day, since then they’ve worked with us...that one and three others act as the tires for a large machine.”

Grek growled toward my person, who raised a brow and growled back low as he touched the blade of his sword. The energy rushed into him and his eyes and entire body seemed to glow bright, but it was his fur that shined the brightest. The snarl that rumbled out of him was low as he and the other male. Both of them jumped when I waddled to a rock and froze time for myself, sighing and smacking it with my cane before waddling back. When I slowed my pulse the rock and a foot of ground around it exploded into dust, causing both of them to go on guard toward the spot.

I chittered and growled at them both, pointing to my ankle and then to either of them as I moved to sit down. Stormwind made a face and looked between them. “I believe our small friend is telling you to both stop, he’s injured, and will hurt you both.” Her translated tones were calm and level. “And I agree, so both of you calm down and let us see what they were sent.”

Grek chuffed and sat, his eyes going crossed and a whine flowing from him as Stormwind grabbed his ear in a way mothers and wives had for millenia. “Sorry ...sorry...I won’t pick a fight with the human that looks like my kind.” The alpha male whined as many husbands and children had over the ages.

I squeaked in laughter and took a moment to catch my breath as my person dumped the energy into his sword’s blade, his brow raised toward me as he set it aside and sat. It took me a moment to be able to type. “Human mothers do that....” My person chuffed and I nodded. “And wives. My own mate has taken my ear a time or two, it seems to transcend species.”

My person got out a pair of tablets, two injectors, a new voice synthesizer, and half the bag was food and water. He took one of the injectors and gave it a thoughtful look before sticking it to his neck and injecting himself. I saw the almost worried or fearful looks they gave the injectors and chittered, connecting to the new synthesizer. “It is a sedative, my person turned during the storm from lightning strikes. He is a soldier, a warrior, it will keep him stable. Now let us get to the fun of learning how not to enrage each other, then you can meet the humans.”

Stormwind nodded her head with a little twist to it and Grek chuffed and did the same odd tilted nod of his head. With that we began to speak of the odd nature of the different races, and the fun quirks. My person also passed out a few times, it seemed that the dosage needed to be lowered, having to wait for your stoned werewolf to not be stumble footed is annoying.