"Okay..." Jasmine grinned holding up her hands. "Now I am holding up two fingers on the left, and three fingers on the right. How many fingers am I holding up?"
Sigi sat back, smiling with her tongue hanging out.
"Bark! (Fingers! Hands!)" Sigi replied proudly, and Jasmine couldn't keep a straight face.
"Aww, it's a good thing you're pretty, huh Sigi?" Jasmine teased.
"Bark, Bark! (Good girl! Good Namegiver!)." The translator chirped without any of the enthusiasm the dog had.
"Yes, and a very good girl at that!" Jasmine repeated. She had calmed down a lot since her talks with Sieglinde. The human had tried to think of topics the two could discuss, but it was very obvious Sigi was a master of only a few subjects. Her toys, trees and Oskar being her favourite.
"Okay Sigi, I'm going to go outside and let the doctors know we're ready to come out now." Jasmine slid down off the pod's gel bed and stretched her legs. The patient room was small, holding only the bed-like pod, and a shelf filled with phials of prescription meds. Jasmine walked over for a closer look. There were easily over a hundred different vials, sitting neatly in packs of four. She picked up one at eye level, smooth glass cylinders, like D-batteries each holding a different coloured liquid. It was then that Jasmine noticed that the entire shelf was organised by colour! It made sense... She supposed, recalling how many clear medicines she had in her life. If their medical tech were advanced enough it would have been easier to teach what colour was for what illness than trying to remember the ridiculous names Humans had assigned to their own pharmaceuticals. Ibuprofen, paracetamol, codeine, betaine, morphine...
“(Oh? You’ve got a headache? Take the light blue one!... What colour was the one Xant had taken?)”
Sieglinde suddenly snapped to attention. Letting out an excited bark.
"BARK! (KIMIKO!!)"
Jasmine turned around startled.
"Huh, what? Sigi? Are you alright?"
The dog did not answer her, jumping straight off the bed with ease and running up to the door. Pawing at the sensor to open it.
"Sigi?!" Jasmine called after her, scrambling to put the medicine back on the shelf in the right spot while Sigi shot through the operations room. Jasmine followed, calling after the dog for some sort of explanation.
"Sigi stop! Heel!"
Jasmine did her best to grab onto the dog, but the golden retriever slipped through her hands and picked up the pace, completely ignoring the gaggle of doctors on the outside and running down the hall.
"Bark Bark! (Kimiko! Hear Kimiko!)" She bellowed excitedly.
"Sigi! Stooooop!" Jasmine cried in vain chasing after her runaway dog.
The doctors, having been engrossed in the live stream of Jasmine's own neuro functions, were ripped from their discussion to watch Sigi and Jasmine disappear down the hall.
"Jasmine?" Xant called and motioned to follow after. Rynard stopped him in his tracks.
"You better leave this to me doc," Rynard smirked, crouching down to ready a running start. "You ain't going catch them at that speed."
The Captain took off, almost leaping with every step. It would take a while before his bulk would catch up with the agile human and dog, but there was no way either of them was going to outrun him once he reached top speed.
-*-
It wasn't long before the Specimens began to wriggle. The dose Duuarn had prepared was only meant to sedate them for the transfer. It was wearing off quicker than expected.
The female began to thrash in Arc’s arms, barking louder and louder as they drew closer to the medical wing of the station.
"Bark bark bark bark! (Loud noise! Stop! Loud noise! Pain!)" she cried out over and over.
"What loud noise? I don't hear nothin!" Arc argued with the dog. "Stay still why don't ya!" He ended up having to bring her to his chest, using all four arms to hold her secure.
"Bark bark bark bark! (Loud noise! Stop! Loud noise! Pain!)" Kimiko continued to wail, doing her best to break free and pull the translator out of her ear.
Duuarn snapped, spinning around to see the commotion.
"Don't you dare damage my specimen!" He snarled, reaching for his Medipen. Spades growled at Duuarn as he got closer to his friend with another shot of tranquilizers.
"Grrrr (Back off Vet...)" The dog threatened. Suk reached for the dog's jaw, clamping it tight.
"You will NOT be taking another bite, especially of the Doctor." The guard warned, staring down the fierce beast’s ever growing temper.
Duuarn aimed his Medipen at Kimiko's fur and was about to administer a second safe dose when a bounding ball of golden fur appeared around a corner and jumped into Arc’s side.
"Bark bark!(Kimiko! heard Kimiko!)” Sieglinde greeted happily.
Duuarn stopped. His prized Specimen was roaming free, and neither Subject Creator nor her dull escort were around.
"Bark! Bark!(Spades! Kimiko!)" The golden-haired specimen jumped and ran excitedly in circles. Barking the same strange phrases over and over again. "Bark Bark!(Spades Kimiko!) Bark Yapp! Bark, Bark!(Namegiver! Found Namegiver! Good Namegiver!)"
That strange phrase was enough to set the other two off, they became even more belligerent, even under the influence of sedation. Barking and growling to be let go. The male’s jaw broke free of Suk’s grip and tried to take another bite of the guard.
The golden needed to be detained for everyone's safety.
"Arc! Restrain her!" Duuarn ordered, and the Arvas guard gave him an incredulous look.
"I know I've got four arms, but these things aren't that easy to-"
"Just force it to the ground!" Duuarn snapped, turning his aim to Sieglinde.
Arc snarled at the doctor and begrudgingly followed orders. He lifted the struggling Kimiko, grabbing her by the collar and hanging her in the air, leaving his left hands now free to pin the energetic golden to the floor in a quick strike. Kimiko's bark choked, her entire body suspended by the collar.
Sieglinde yelped and struggled, but she only needed to be in place for a moment while Duuarn injected the tranquiliser-
"SIGI!!" Jasmine's voice carried down the empty halls.
Duuarn’s black eyes looked up to see the Creator Subject barreling toward them at full speed. He had miscalculated her whereabouts. He rose immediately and hid the Medipen behind his back.
Jasmine let out another yell in panic.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Her voice rose with the volume of her Freq, Suk and Arc shifted in front of Duuarn as he felt his own feet pull him to the back wall. Jasmine was not slowing down, she charged toward Arc and screamed at him.
"PUT HER DOWN FOR GODSAKE!!"
Arcs hands fell limp to their sides.
Kimiko crashed onto the floor and Sigi scrambled to her feet, both dogs barely taking seconds before bounding toward the human. Spades thrashed until Suk had no choice but to let him go, then the dog came charging to Jasmine, straight after his pack. Jasmine staggered her pace, arms open wide to receive the terrified animals.
"Bark whimper bark!! (Namegiver! Namegiver!)"
"Whimper whimper! (Namegiver, safe, Friend!)"
"Bark Bark!(Namegiver! Female, Sigi, Friend!)"
They all shouted at once.
The dogs crowded Jasmine, who held and ruffled their furs reassuringly. Pressing her face into them, her tone soothing.
"Hey hey! It's okay, it's going to be okay! I'm here now! Are you alright?"
Smelly tongues and hot breath lapped at her face. Jasmine immediately rubbed Kimiko's throat, the dog whined thankfully nudging its head into her shoulder. She had not been seriously hurt, and for a moment Jasmine was relieved.
Duuarn was terrified. He stared at Arc and Suk, did they even try to defend against her Freq pulses?!
Suk gaped at his companion, Arc was a ‘Defense Artist’.
"You gave in to her commands..." Suk stated. Defence Artists were supposed to be extra resilient, they were supposed to ignore the orders of an opponent's Freq. Arc stared back at him in shock.
"I... I know." He gulped, looking at his traitorous hands, "I couldn't fight back, it just felt like the right thing to do."
"It WAS the right thing to do!" Jasmine yelled. Standing up to her feet and glaring at the group. "You were choking her!"
Spades growled, standing in front of Jasmine to defend the Namegiver as best he could.
"Grrrrrrr (Takers, Vet, Not Friend...)"
Jasmine's hand rested on his head, gently tossing his ears.
"Easy boy. They're not the enemy, just a bit misguided."
"Ruff! (At ease.)" Spades sat at attention, acknowledging her request.
"Just what were you trying to do?! What is it with you people and trying to chokehold dogs?!" Jasmine threw her hands in the air.
The three turned to each other, each one looking for someone to answer her. Duuarn stepped forward, hands behind his back, holding onto the readied Medipen for comfort.
"This is not standard procedure," he began matter of factly. "The specimens were refusing to cooperate we needed to subdue them to-"
"Subdue them?" Jasmine turned to Spades, kneeling down and holding his face as she asked him.
"Did they hurt you boy?"
"Grrr whine (Yes)" The dog answered without coercion. "Whine (Pain, sleepy)"
Once again the Esaander staff were dumbfounded, the User answered her without a single protest! He had been nothing but ill-mannered and stubborn the entire time, but he followed a single request from her. The Creator species must have engineered them that way, obedience to their makers. Another useful parameter, her species had thought of everything.
Jasmine’s outrage became ever more focused.
"Pain, sleepy?" she repeated, before directing her confusion to the Doctor. "Did you drug them? Why did you need to drug them?!" she demanded. Duuarn took a single step back, returning behind his so called 'guards'.
"They were refusing to be escorted to Medical for tests," he explained, bitter he needed to divulge his motives to an unregistered Subject. Jasmine turned back to Spades.
"Did the doctor-" She pointed at Duuarn, her voice was always soft when speaking to the Specimens. A tone Duuarn himself found insulting.
"-Tell you why you needed to go with them?"
"Grrrr, bark bark Grr!(No, Vet, No respect, Not pack) Grrrrr whimper ruff! (Take Sieglinde, not take Spades)" Spades answered, his bark growing ever more vicious.
"Good boy." Jasmine smiled at the dog, but her glare turned ugly toward the doctor.
"You didn't even try to explain it to them, did you?! What’s the point of giving them translators if you're not even going to talk to them?!"
"There was no time." Duuarn defended."You of all people should understand the significance of these tests."
"Oh, I understand completely," The halls became their enemy as she stalked closer. Her voice raised and echoed down the white walls, every syllable became like ice. "It's more convenient to drug them and take what you need, saying they were uncooperative than to admit your own incompetence!" Every pulse was firmly directed at Duuarn, and he felt his blood run cold.
"The Specimens-" He didn't get to finish his sentence. Arc and Suk took either side of his arms and slammed him against the wall. Pinning him as Jasmine unleashed her wrath, from ice to an all-consuming fire.
"Specimens?! These dogs are living, feeling beings! With thoughts and fears of their own!" The fury shook Duuarn to his core, his heart was afraid to beat. "I will not let you abuse them for the sake of your own fucking curiosity!" Arc and Suks grip were like steel, unrelenting. They glared at him with the same intensity as the human, she had taken their will.
The Doctor tried gasping, to call out in pain but she was unstoppable in her onslaught. He could feel the blood clotting in his arms. "You're a fucking doctor! How can you treat them like this?! I thought they were going to help with whatever is left of your fucked up genome?!" The dogs barked, but Jasmine was too consumed to listen. "Or do you just get off on having complete control of-?!"
Talons grabbed her shoulder, and Jasmine's body went flying.
She let out a scream of shock as she was launched backwards, her body collided with the hallway floor, skidding against the tiles until she ran out of momentum.
Rynard did not turn to see if Jasmine was alright.
He stormed toward the twin guards and thrust his massive hands forward into his subordinates. They were almost crushed against the walls, wailing in sudden shock and pain. Forcing them to let go of the captive doctor and struggle within his own grasp.
Duuarn slumped to the floor, utterly still, save for the tremor in his arm.
"Snap out of it, you drones!" Rynard roared, equalising the disrupted Freq in the area. The Arvas twins gasped, breaking from the trance the human had unwittingly placed them under.
"Capt'n?!" Arc stammered, trying to wriggle free.
"Captain, we're sorry!" Suk begged his superior "We couldn't stop it-"
"Shut up!" Rynard growled, dropping the pair, "Grab the Doctor and take him to Medical now!" He ordered, throwing his arm in the direction of the west hall.
"Yessir!"
"Yessir!"
The guards opened their wings and scooped up the paralytic Qzetillian, flying down the hall.
Rynard turned around slowly.
Jasmine had not moved.
She was curled up in a ball, shaking. The dogs surrounding her, pacing worriedly.
"Jasi-" Rynard spoke.
"Fuck off!!" Came the aggressive pulse. "What the fuck was that for?!..." Her voice crackled again. "Jesus fucking Christ Rynard!.... My fucking arm..." She sucked in ragged breaths, her Freq pulses a maelstrom. Fear, anger, confusion, pain, Rynard weathered them all against his own nerves.
"Jasi," he tried again, his voice a steady tone. Sending out nullifying pulses of his own. "You were hurting him-"
"He was choking the dog!" she cried out, another pulse of anger.
"You nearly stiffed him, Jasi." Rynard growled, closing the gap between them. Jasmine gasped, holding her tender arm, suppressing the pain and tears.
"I had to get you away from the doctor," Rynard explained, "You were Freq-frying him."
"You could have just fucking yelled 'Jasi stop!" she shouted back, "You didn't have to break my fucking arm." She winced and struggled to sit up. Sigi and Kimiko nudged their faces into hers. Spades tried to stand up to the behemoth walking closer. They were strangely unharmed by her outburst.
"I needed to break your focus, or you would have been attacking me instead."
"Fuck..." Jasmine cried. "fuckfuckfuckfuckfuuuuuuuuuuuuu-" she screamed in anguish. Rynard felt like a Freq-bomb had gone off. A sledgehammer’s worth of Freq hit him in the chest, and he staggered to one knee. '-uuuuuck!"
Her lungs emptied, Jasmine took another ragged breath and whimpered. She didn't think it was broken, but she wouldn't have been surprised if there was a bruise running the length of her entire arm in the morning. "Fuck." Jasmine whispered one final time. “(What the fuck have you done this time Jasi? You nearly killed someone over a bloody dog...)” Her mind berated her.
"Are you calm now?" The Captain’s deep voice asked, a claw scratching the tiled floor ever so slightly.
"Yeah. Shit." she panted, and shakily stood on her feet. Rynard rose slowly with her, never breaking line of sight.
"I can't let you come into contact with the others on the station. I'm going to have to escort you to Security." he explained firmly.
Jasmine nodded. The high energy from her attack fading fast, and deep regret was taking its place.
"The dogs are coming with me." She added quickly.
Rynard nodded in return to her demand. "Wasn't even going to try to break you up."
Jasmine glanced down, Sigi and Kimiko by her side, Spades in front defending her.
"Sigi. Kimiko? Spades? You need to follow me. Is that understood?"
"Bark!(Yes, Friend!)" yapped Sigi.
"Bark bark!(Yes, Namegiver!)" barked Kimiko.
"Bark Ruff!(Yes, Boss!)" growled Spades.
All three dogs focused on her, ready and willing to follow orders unquestioningly. Like a Princess and her entourage.
"I'll come quietly, Captain." she replied, now as meek as her former fury was formidable. A living Freq-bomb, Commander and Big head all in one. Rynard was thankful there was only one Human on the station.
Rynard activated his Com line to Isk's office, following protocol.
CPT Rynard: Isk, this is Captain Rynard,
OM Isk:
CPT Rynard: An incident has occurred in Medical Corridor 5, put the facility on lockdown until I give the okay.
OM Isk:
CPT Rynard: No, the Creator Subject has injured Dr. Duuarn in the corridor, he has been sent for emergency treatment. I am escorting the Creator Subject and the three User Specimens to Security for containment. Stand by for updates on the situation.
OM Isk:
CPT Rynard: Understood
[Comms Disconnected]