John Martin had turned his successful engineering business over to his kids -- much to their consternation. While camping deep in the national forest, he met a fox hybrid in great need of help.

sex: 2/10
violence: 6/10
profanity: 3/10

Categories: Hybrid, Elemental, PSI

Timeline: 2068

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Chapter Eight: Friends

Esther and I were at the bottom of the black diamond hill when we saw what looked like a three headed four legged furry careening wildly down the hill. A better look revealed a cat taur carrying an absolute cat morf and an absolute fox morf.

And sure enough, Tabatha was doing aerobatics with three other flying kitties. I couldn't help but smile at Tabatha's delight at seeing Bitsy, Tipsy, and Whiskers, the flying kitties of the three goofballs that were heading down the hill at breakneck speed.

The taur, Graycloud, had a ski on each leg, which gave her unprecedented maneuverability. She was wildly taking the moguls, jumping from side to side and bouncing high into the air. It looked for all the world like she was trying to lose her passengers.

Gleeful maniacal laughter drifted down to us.

When she got to a place where there were no other skiers around or above her, she took a jump and looped high in the air. The three separated, landed several feet from each other, and rolled ass over applecart.

Graycloud put her skis back on, the other two hopped back on her back, and they continued down the hill, none the worse for wear.

Upon reaching the bottom, they headed directly for us. Then, all four skis kicked up a spray of snow. The 'virtual shields' that Cara had taught us to put up guided the snow up and around us.

The golden fox morf ran to me and gave me a tackle hug. "Kitty and Fox! My favorite!"

The other two came and joined in the hug. "I heard that you had morfed," said the bipedal cat. "I have to say that I approve!"

"And your old tired excuse about robbing the cradle is now toast," added the golden fox.

I looked over at my girlfriend. "Esther, these three reprobates are Vickie O'Kelley," I pointed at the golden fox, "Catniss Stein," I indicated the bipedal cat, "And Chakat Graycloud, daughter of Anita and Darren Miller," I pointed to the taur.

"And this is Esther Newton, my girlfriend."

As one, the three of them abandoned me and glomped Esther.

"Girlfriend?" Catniss asked. "More like lifemate."

"Lifemate? Asked Esther.

I chuckled. "With genuine anthropomorphic fur-bearing people around, Furry Fandom has become much more active and real. It's not surprising that some of the terminology has made into popular culture."

"It's not just terminology," said Vicky. "It's real! We're lifemates!" She pointed to Catniss and Graycloud.

"And what does that entail?" asked Esther.

"Just like it sounds, it's a commitment to stay together for life. Denmates share a home and/or cub raising responsibilities. Companions are kinda friends with benefits. None of those commitments promise exclusivity. In fact, these three like to play a game where they seduce and wear out some poor unfortunate young stud."

"Not unfortunate! We make sure that they have fun!" said Vicky.

"You confuse them by not following their rules," I said.

"Hey, we never lie to them," Catniss huffed.

"True enough," I chuckled. "I never said that you did anything wrong. You just catch those poor clueless boys unawares."

"We can't help it if we're too much woman for them," smirked Catniss.

"Too much man, too," said Vicky. "Not me, of course."

"I can see where that would cause them some consternation," said Esther.

"How can they not know?" I asked. "It's not like Graycloud's genitals aren't flapping in the breeze. And Catniss likes to wear some rather daring clothes."

"That's all fine in theory, but when they come face to... eh... face with it," said Catniss with a grin.

"I would pay to see that," chuckled Esther.

"No need to pay!" said Vickie. "No need to limit yourself to watching, either!"

"Um... I'm in an exclusive relationship with John."

"Why?" asked Graycloud.

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"Why? Who said so?" asked Graycloud.

Esther looked to me for help.

"Don't look at me," I told her. "There is nothing inherently wrong with polyamory. It's even Biblical. The Old Testament patriarchs did it. Nowhere did God speak out against it. Monogamy is a cultural norm, not a moral or ethical norm."

She looked a little worried, so I went over and wrapped her in a hug. "Don't worry. I'm not going to cheat on you. Nor am I going to pressure you into goofing around with others."

I kissed her deeply. After we came up for air, I said, "I'm content to love only you."

"For now?" she asked with a grin.

"Who can say what will happen in a thousand years? How will we feel? What will we even look like? I just know that I'll always love you." I gave her another deep kiss.

Catniss, Graycloud, and Vickie hooted and clapped.

This time, when we came up for air, Esther asked, "Will you be my lifemate?"

"Yes!" I said as I kissed her again.

The Three Musketeers, or maybe the Three Stooges, jumped up and down and congratulated us.

Chapter Nine: Awakening

Sara, Kim, Tina, Jerry, Esther, and I were sitting in the cafeteria when we felt the first stirrings of Candice's mind coming to full wakefulness. Tina went in to check on her, unobtrusively using her bio powers to give her a full check-up. After encouraging her to do her morning ablutions and laying some clothes out on her bed, she came back to us.

Candice was all smiles when she came out wearing the cutest little open back dress that bore a vague resemblance to Tinkerbell's. She didn't really look like Tinkerbell, but she was definitely pixiish in shape, though her wings were not out. Her legs were more shapely than Tink's, and her feet were adorned with ballet-style flats. To say that she looked cute would be an understatement.

She curtsied and did a spin. "How do I look?" she asked in a delightfully musical soprano.

"Wonderful!" said Jerry.

"Beautiful," said Tina. "We do good work!"

Kim and Sara went over and sandwich hugged her. "Welcome to the butterflies -- again!"

"Try putting your wings out," Sara said.

She concentrated a bit, and four wings popped out of her back. The top pair were just below her shoulders, and the bottom pair were about half way down her back. They were each about half again as long as her arms, and were shaped like dragonfly wings. She definitely looked like a well-proportioned pixie.

"Go ahead and hover," I said. "Don't think about how to do it. Just do it. Esther and I have practiced for hours in the VR simulator, and have downloaded the skills to you. It should all come automatically if you relax."

She moved her wings experimentally. Then, they started moving fast enough to blur. She laughed as her feet lifted off of the ground. She hovered unsteadily for a bit, but soon got the hang of it.

She zoomed straight up to the fortunately tall ceiling. She experimented with hovering at different angles, moving around, moving to a horizontal position, and finally zooming off to the other side of the room.

She giggled maniacally as she came back, flew upside-down, did some loops, and finally landed daintily among us. Her smile lit the room.

She ran and glomped on to me, hugging me tightly. I could barely feel her weight. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! You gave me everything I ever wanted!" Then she gave a smirk that reminded me somewhat of Esther in one of her more mischievous moods. "I gratefully accept your offer of employment."

"Great!" I said. "Go get yourself something to eat while I set things up. While you're at it, check your internal stores and make sure you have enough of the right kinds of minerals. Also, get acquainted with your coin computer system."

She thought a minute. "Oh, that's right! You installed one of those coins that you developed with the Pentwaters. I used to be so envious of the technopaths that had them. Thanks again!"

"It's more than a single coin. You have sensors about different parts of your body connected with optical fiber. You'll find it quite useful when flying. You also have what is essentially a personal avionics pack built in to your body."

She smiled and flew over to the serving tables. She piled up quite a bit of food, took the tray, and flew back. The tray was a bit large and clumsy, but she handled it without a problem.

I used my own coin computer to find her someone to show her around, set up her employee records, get her a room in the Martin Engineering student dorms, and send a message to the three reprobates. I also consulted with the girls, then had some basic clothing manufactured and sent to her new room.

Esther and I walked Candice to student lounge 3C. Since that's one of the 'anything goes' lounges, there's no telling what might be happening there. I have had people tell me that it's unprofessional to allow such shenanigans to happen on company property, but I am more in favor of happy employees than I am of trying to look so prim and proper. Happy employees are productive employees. Happy employees stick around and don't go looking for greener pastures.

Anyhow, when I said that we walked Candice, I should have said that we walked, and Candice flitted about. She was using up a decent amount of energy, but the muscles that drive her wings don't wear down or feel fatigue. We could see her chest expanding as she took deep rapid breaths, but the only real limitation to her endurance is the amount of fat and glycogen that she can store.

We got to the lounge in time to see Graycloud tackle Vicky to the floor. She laid her lower torso on Vicky so that her feet just barely stuck out. She used her hand paws and arms to pin Vicky's arms and shoulders to the floor.

"Vee haf come for da veel! Ver ist your spinning veel?" she asked with a bad German accent.

"Nooooo! You can't have it!" Vicky replied.

Graycloud used her tail to tickle the bottoms of Vicky's feet. Vicky laughed helplessly. "Ver ist your spinning veel?"

"No! Take the little girl, but leave the wheel."

Graycloud pinned Vicky's arms with hers, and used her hand paws to tickle her underarms. Vicky shrieked. "No! no! no! You can't have it!"

"Agent Catniss!" Graycloud said.

"jawohl, frauline kommandantor!"

"Ze fezzer!"

"At vonce, frauline kommandantor!"

"No, no! Not the feather!" shrieked Vicky.

"Ze fezzer!"

"Noooooooo!"

Catniss pulled out what looked like the shed flight feather of a flying cat. She sat on Vicky's hands to pin them, then lightly stroked Vicky's arm. Vicky shrieked. Catniss then used the feather to lightly tickle her face, arms, upper chest -- any place she could reach. Meanwhile, Graycloud was still tickling her underarms and the soles of her feet.

"You vill tell us ver you haf hidden ze spinning veel!" cackled Graycloud.

Vicky couldn't answer because she was too busy shrieking and laughing.

Candice looked concerned, so I whispered to her, "If they tickle you without mercy, the safeword is 'redlight.'" She looked confused, so I held up my finger and indicated that she should wait and watch.

Vicky was laughing and shrieking and struggling. She started panting and making little barking noises. "ah! ah! ah! ah!" Suddenly, she stiffened and stopped breathing, shaking violently. Then, she went limp and started breathing heavily.

Catniss and Graycloud got off of her and picked her up gently, cradling her between them. Vicky smiled and panted, "Chakats give the best tickles."

There was scattered applause from the rest of the room. The terror trio smiled and bowed.

"Did I just see what I think I just saw?" asked Candice.

"If you thought you saw three close friends role-playing, and tickling Vicky to the point of orgasm, then hugging her warmly, then yes, you saw what you thought you saw."

"You said something about a safeword," Candice said.

"Those three have always loved role playing games. They went from table top RPGs and computer based RPGs to LARPing..."

"LARPing?"

"Live Action Role Playing," I replied. "Usually, people will dress up in medieval or sword and sorcery type costumes and play out stories, but those three have added other games. Games like 'stern headmaster and sexy student' and 'returning lord lost the key to the chastity belt.'"

"And the safe word?"

"If it goes too far -- if someone becomes uncomfortable with what is happening, they can use the safe word. Otherwise, all of the screaming is just part of the story. 'No' doesn't mean 'no' until the safeword is given."

The three, Graycloud still cradling Vicky, walked over.

"You three sure left a good first impression upon our new apprentice," I said. Then I introduced them.

Vicky hopped down and gave her a hug. "Welcome to the changeling club!" she said.

"How did you know?" Candice asked.

Catniss pointed to the four cats sitting on a high shelf that was put there just for them. "Graycloud and I are empathic. Vicky is empathic through her flying kitty. We have felt changelings before, and you have the definite feel of a changeling who is deliriously happy with her change. Congratulations!"

Candice blushed.

Graycloud chuckled. "There is nothing to blush about. All three of us are changelings. Catniss and I met Vicky the day after she changed from Charles. We have been the best of friends ever since, and lifemates soon thereafter."

I could practically see the pieces of the puzzle falling together in Candice's mind. "I'll bet you three are the reason half the campus is reading all those chakat stories."

"And the chakat stories are almost certainly the reason that the three of us morfed the way we did," agreed Graycloud. "Which supports the doctors Martins' theory that our minds can exert some influence over our changes."

"I'm a BBV!" Vicky said, bouncing up and down. "Big boobied vixen! Big boobied vixen!"

Catniss rolled her eyes. "Yes, Vicky is every bit the big breasted vixen, and definitely proud of it."

"And a proud member of the changeling double-dang furry boob club!" Vicky added.

I chuckled. "These three very professional engineering students will be showing you around Martin Engineering. They are near the top of our company's students, and our company only hires top students, so individually, they are the top of the top. As a team, they can't be beat. They work together better and more smoothly and closely than any other engineering team I have ever seen."

I turned to the terror trio. "Candice was recommended by Jerry Wright. She will almost certainly end up in our aviation division. And, she is the first tester of our human flight modifications. Have you heard of project Pixie Princess?"

Candice extended her wings and started flying around like Tinkerbell.

Chapter Ten: Politics

Esther and I were dressed to the nines. She looked lovely in her ball gown. I looked good enough in my tux, but I still looked like a high school kid. Fortunately, the kids were also invited to the mayor's ball. They can do all the shmoozing amongst the movers and shakers.

"Mayor Anthony Stevens and Mirabella, his wife, are our latest paying customers for the anti aging process. They decided to go poly -- ostensibly to allow them more freedom to enjoy their new bodies. Most of us know that it's more like a dynastic wedding. They are free to seduce potential allies, and have blackmail material if they happen to seduce married people of power."

"So, can we expect to see them on the prowl at the ball?" Esther asked.

"Mirabella more than Andy, I would guess," I replied. "Since it's his ball, he will have to behave himself. Somewhat, at least."

I handed our invitation to the door guard. He scrutinized it carefully, then let us pass. Usually, I just get waved through. Another thing to get used to with this new body.

We came upon a knot of people. "Ah, I see the Pentwater dynasty is here. This must be an important ball."

I made introductions all the way around. Marvin Senior was there with Gertrude (Trudy) Marie Pentwater. I shook Marvin's hand and gave Trudy a hug. "Lovely as ever, Trudy."

Marvin Junior and the talented and lovely Penelope (Penny) Patricia Pentwater were next.

Penny looked me over and chuckled. "I see you gave up on trying to be a grumpy old fart. I must say that the kitty-fox look suits you well."

"Yep! Now you look younger than I do," Gertrude (Gerty) Pentwater said.

"Almost all growed up, but still a snot," I retorted.

"Hey! I'm seventeen!" she said.

Then I turned to a tall blond and well-muscled young man. "Marvin Pentwater the third, you look ready to carry on your heritage. Are you ready to shmooze all of the ladies of power? You'll have them wrapped around your little finger."

"As long as he comes home with me," said Brenda Pentwater-Orpenheimer, a petite curvy partial fox morf. "I'm not ready to share my lifemate. Give me a few hundred years of so."

Then she turned to Esther. "I see John has good taste. And I have to say I approve of his morf. Some of your genes seem to have rubbed off on him."

*Don't worry. It's just a figure of speech. We encourage it to reinforce the idea that people are likely to get changes similar to those of the people that they hang around,* came a thought from across the room. I looked over and saw Kim and Sara approaching.

More hugs were exchanged.

"I see your family is continuing its tradition of morfing into kids," Marvin senior snarked.

"Three incidents does not a trend make," I retorted.

"And yet, all of the Martins who didn't morf during adolescence morfed into adolescents," Marvin senior replied.

"Unlike little bro, I do not look younger than my kids," Kim said.

Sara turned to me. "So, how is our latest changeling doing?"

I smiled. "She is being oriented by the terror trio. They seem to be getting along well enough."

Kim chuckled. "The terror trio? You matched that poor innocent kid with them? She's come a long way from her fundamentalist upbringing, according to Jerry, but is she really ready for those three?"

"Nothing like starting her with a trial by fire," Sara added.

"You don't know the half of it," I smirked. "They started their 'vee haf come for da veel' skit as soon as we walked into the lounge. I even had to explain the concept of the safe word to her."

I spotted a familiar face, all decked out in his dress blues. "Ah, there's general Hughes. He was expressing some interest in our anti-aging process. I think he likes the idea of soldiers with superhuman endurance and built-in armor."

"He might like it for himself," Esther replied.

"He became less enamored with the idea after it turned me into someone that looks young and old at the same time. He needs to maintain his image as a tough old bird."

Esther chuckled. "It seems to be working for him on the home front. I detect some of the ladies here eyeing him up, and staring daggers at Mirabella. Maybe they think it's unfair of the mayor's wife to monopolize him."

Mirabella was less than subtle. "Tell me, General, when was the last time you had sex?"

"Oh, I would have to guess around twenty forty-five."

"Really?" Mirabella gasped. "That sure was a long time ago!"

"Not really. It's only," He looked at his watch, "twenty-two thirty now."

"Good evening, Jim," I said as I held out my hand. At his confused look, I said, "John Martin."

"Ah, I heard that you had morfed," he said as he shook my hand. "Who's the lovely lady that you have on your arm?"

"Jim, this is my lifemate Esther Newton. Esther, this is Admiral James Nelson."

"Lifemate, eh? Doing the poly thing like the mayor?"

"Nope, I'm not ready to share him yet. Maybe in a thousand years or so," Esther replied with a chuckle.

"We already have a group of three furry reprobates that have called dibs. They are shaping up to be one of our best engineering teams, so I hope to keep them around for a good long time," I said. "Anyhow, I heard you had some business for us. Finally ready to upgrade that body of yours? We have some of our artist types working on a body type that says, 'military top commander.'"

"Not for me, but we might be interested in some upgrades for our commando types -- Navy Seals and the like. We would have to do several dozen in a reasonably short time for a price that won't cause us to have to mortgage a battleship."

I grinned. "We are working on finding a way of storing oxygen inside hollow bones. We need to find just the right compound and just the right biological mechanism to store and extract the oxygen." I thought for a second, then added, "We have a human flyer now. No powers necessary. She flits around quite nicely under muscle power alone."

"Now that I have to see! How cumbersome are the wings?"

"Not at all. They're fully retractable. She can hover and fly at perhaps thirty miles per hour -- we haven't run her through her paces yet."

"I'll have to try to recruit her."

"Not a chance," Esther replied. "She's deliriously happy with her changes, but her passion lies with engineering. She's currently being shown around the company by the terror trio. Anyhow, at four foot eight inches, she isn't exactly military material."

"You might be surprised," he replied. "Dynamite comes in small packages. If she is strong and sturdy, and can handle the weapons, she'll do great."

"You're welcome to try to recruit her, but I can tell you right now that you won't be able to pay her even what she's making as an EIT."

"EIT?"

"Engineer In Training."

"Maybe I can appeal to her patriotism."

I chuckled. "She will do a lot more for our country, and for civilization in general, by coming up with wonderful new flying machines."

Esther said, "You can upgrade your own volunteer if you want to pay us for the conversion. It took three powerful bio elementals about ten hours to do the job, but we should be able to refine the process so that it'll take less time."

Jim sighed. "You always were fond of dangling enticing bait, then telling us that we can't afford it. I see you're training your new beau to do the same thing."

"I didn't figure you were looking for new super sailors, anyhow."

"There are rumors that you are developing a 3D printer type machine that makes its own raw materials and pumps out tasty and nutritious meals. Such a device would be very useful on ships, and especially on submarines."

"Yes, I have heard that the real limit to how long a sub can be deployed is how much food can be stored aboard. I'm sure that your submariners would love staying underwater for even longer," I mused.

"They'll love eating well consistently, and not depending on hard crackers and powdered eggs near the end of a deployment."

"I think we can arrange a demonstration," I said. "And you can meet Candice at the same time."

"Good evening, Andy. You're looking spry and healthy."

"Not surprising, John. It seems that your company does good work." He looked at Esther. "So, who's the lovely lady that is accompanying you?"

"Andy, this is Esther Newton, my lifemate. Esther, this is Mayor Anthony Stevens."

"Going poly?" he asked with a slight smirk.

"Not any time soon," I replied. "Esther is enough woman for me."

He chuckled. "The terror trio will be disappointed."

"Does everyone know about those three?" Esther asked.

"They're kinda hard to miss," I replied. "They're well known around the school and the company due to their talent. They stand out at all the conventions of the geek and furry fandom communities. And their shenanigans tend to attract attention at all of the recreational areas."

"The chief of police is keeping an eye on them, too," Andy commented.

"I don't know why you don't fire that son of a bitch," I said. "His tendency to aggressively go after the hybrids and treat them like second class citizens is making the whole city a less friendly place for them."

"You mean 'us,'" Esther said.

Andy shook his head sadly. "He is just too well connected, and he is very careful to keep his prejudice hidden."

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