by Bob Arnold

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Admin Note: This story of Bob's was given to me to post on BigCloset TopShelf. I think that all of Bob's memories and the hard work that he has done for Erin and us should always be treasured. I would like to thank DVH for having given me the opportunity to post this for us. Thank you so very much. In honor of Bob's memories, I am leaving the text precisely how he left it. I don't want to correct it, dress it up or arrange anything within it. That is part of his legacy that he left behind and I will not presume to diminish it in any way. ~ Sephrena
 

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The door whooshed closed behind me as I slumped down into a chair. The room aboard the Star Princess was everything it was supposed to be. The air seemed fresh; the beds looked eminently comfortable, and the brochure described the food as the best on this side of galaxy. If everything was so great, why did I feel so miserable?

After a few moments of peace and quiet I heard a beep coming from the door. “Come in.”

The door whooshed open revealing a sand colored chakat with long golden hair carrying two large bags, one in each hand, and two more bags in a carrier on hir back.

“I hope you don’t mind a room mate. I had to make travel arrangements at the last moment. This was the only space available.”

“I thought I was going to be alone on this trip but having someone to share the room with is fine.” I staggered to my feet and spread my arms open wide. “I’m Tobias Warner, child of Amanda and William Warner.”

Shi smiled at my offer of a Chakat style greeting and bounded over to me after putting hir luggage on the bed. “I am Chakat Sandstorm, child of White Ears and Firestorm.”

Shi hugged me tightly for a few moments then slowly pulled away with a look of concern on hir face. “Are you feeling all right, Tobias?”

“Please call me Toby, Sandstorm. I’ll be fine. I just need a few minutes to rest. I have an illness that catches up to me every now and then.”

“Please call me Sandy, Toby. Are you sure you’re going to be fine?”

“I’m sure, Sandy.” I slumped back down in the chair and waited for the woozy feeling to pass.

“Okay, Toby. Are you leaving early or are you going all the way to Chakona?” Sandy started to unpack hir bags and put things away.

“I’m staying on all the way, Sandy.”

“So what are you going to do on Chakona? Just sight seeing?”

“No, something more important I’m afraid.”

“Business then?”

“Of a sort I suppose.”

Sandy stopped unpacking and padded over to my chair. Shi got comfortable on the floor and looked intensely at me. “It’s not business is it.”

“No, not really.” I reached for my bag and pulled a well-worn copy of Scientific Chakat out of a pouch on the side. I opened the magazine to a particular page and handed it to hir. Shi took a few moments to scan the first page of the article.

“So you’re going to see Professor Oceanwalker about your illness?”

I simply nodded in agreement.

“If I’m being too nosey here let me know and I won’t ask again but you must have a serious problem if you need to see hir.”

“I do.”

“And?”

“Are you sure you really want to hear this, Sandy?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know all about you, Toby. We’re going to be spending the next three months sharing this cabin.”

“All right, just remember you asked. It all started nearly two hundred fifty years ago when…”

“TWO HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS? You barely look about fifty!”

“Let me explain, Sandy and you’ll understand.” Shi nodded eagerly then settled down to listen.

“That was when I learned that I had a fatal genetic disease. It was considered incurable then. At the age of thirty-nine, just hours before I would have died, I was placed in a stasis chamber aboard a storage facility orbiting the sun. Then the wars started and Terra was thrown into chaos. Everyone forgot the orbiting storage facilities in the panic that followed.

The storage ship I was in was rediscovered about ten years ago by a ship sent to find out about an asteroid they thought was going to crash into Terra. The asteroid turned out to be the storage ship. I was brought to the Institute for Rehabilitational Research in Brisbane, Australia. There they revived me and I learned that my disease was curable after two hundred fifty years of medical advancements. I had the treatment for my disease but after a couple of weeks I fell ill again. I learned then that the time I spent in that crude stasis pod had damaged my body beyond any effort to repair it. I was told back then that I had about ten years left to live.”

Sandy shifted uncomfortably on the mat on the floor. “There’s nothing else they can do?”

“On my last visit to the Institute I was told that I had about four months left. There was nothing else that they could do for me. That was about a month ago.”

Several tears rolled down the fur on Sandy’s cheeks. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Toby.”

I pulled her close and hugged her tightly. “Don’t cry for me, Sandy. I’ve had a good life. Back before I went into stasis I was a computer programmer. I’ve been able to live comfortably in this time by writing software for the new computer systems. It took a while to master the new systems but they really aren’t so different than the computers I used to work with.”

Hir sniffles slowly subsided as we hugged each other. “Here I though I was going to be the one that comforted you, Toby.”

“No problem, Sandy. Now that you know my story, such as it is, what makes you travel all the way to Chakona?”

“I’m going home.”

“Chakona is your home?”

“Yes, it is. I was attending a conference on environmental issues in Melbourne and I’m heading back home. I was born in Amistad and have lived there most of my life.”

“I’ll be going to see Professor Oceanwalker as soon as I arrive in Amistad. I hope that hir experiments are the final solution for me.”

At that moment a low growl came from my stomach followed a few seconds later by a similar and somewhat louder growl from Sandy’s lower torso. We both laughed at the sound.

“Well, I think we both need to go get something to eat. How about it, Sandy? Care to have dinner with me?”

“I’d be honored, Toby. Let me change and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Sandy?”

“Yes, Toby?”

“I do know all about chakat customs. Just be yourself, okay?”

Sandy looked momentarily shocked at my comment. “So how do you, someone who’s been in this time a bit less than ten years, know all about chakat customs? Chakats weren’t even around during your first forty years of life.”

“That’s easy to explain, Sandy. When I was finally released from the Institute, two of the chakat nurses there allowed me to stay with them for a few months until I could get my feet on the ground and make a place for myself in this new world of yours. That short time was one of the most confusing and most enjoyable of my entire life.”

Sandy smiled again then took off hir jacket and reached around behind hir to unhook hir halter-top. Shi turned around with another of those marvelous and unnerving chakat smiles. “You like?”

Now it was my turn to look a bit shocked. Hir nipples were quite erect and showing through the white fur that covered hir throat and chest. “This might turn out to be a very interesting trip.”

“We’ll see about that.” Shi hugged me tightly then rummaged around in hir luggage. Shi found a light blue top that barely covered hir and followed it with a short jacket left unbuttoned. I whistled as shi modeled it for me.

“Very nice, Sandy. Do you always dress like that when you go out to eat?”

“No, just when I go out with someone I like.” Shi gave me another hug and a lick-kiss on my cheek then pulled me to my feet. “Let’s go!”

I offered my arm and we walked together down the halls of the ship to the nearest restaurant. We got more than a few stares along the way. It isn’t very often that you see a stunningly beautiful chakat walking arm in arm with a six-foot tall 200 kg (about 450 pound) human. I hadn’t always weighed that much. The damage to my body caused the weight gain. No amount of dieting or medication seemed to reduce the weight and the additional pounds I carried were a constant drag on the precious few resources my body still possessed.

While we ate I learned more about my traveling companion. Shi owned hir own business helping other businesses on Chakona meet the strict environmental regulations on the planet. Chakona was a pristine world when it was first colonized and the government intended that it stay that way. Shi was quite successful and shi was considered the leading expert on the planet in environmental matters. Shi owned a home in Amistad and, although shi had several close companions, shi had no denmates or lifemate yet. Hir business sometimes kept hir far too busy to begin such relationships. The latest example was hir travel to Australia on Terra for an environmental conference. Shi was rather well traveled and from time to time consulted on other worlds for their own environmental needs.

While there were faster ways to get to Chakona, shi enjoyed the leisurely pace of the Star Princess and its frequent stops at worlds along the way to Chakona. Shi maintained business associations at nearly every stop on the trip and as we arrived for a few days layover at each stop shi planned on visits to each of them. Shi invited me to travel with hir on each of hir side trips.

While I had tried all of the faster ways to Chakona I kept running into problems getting a seat or having the flight canceled. I finally booked a compartment on the Star Princess hoping that I’d make it to Chakona before my time ran out.

“Sandy, I might not be able to go with you much of the time. I do have limitations you know.”

“Are you that bad off, Toby?”

I forced down a lump that was forming at the back of my throat. “Yes. If the Professor’s treatment won’t work for me I won’t be returning to Terra. I may not even make it to Chakona in time. So you see, this may be a one-way trip for me. I’ll come with you as much as my health will allow, Sandy. I’d like to see as much of this world as I can in case I don’t have the opportunity to continue.”

Shi leaned over and hugged me tightly again right there in the middle of the restaurant full of people. As the hug continued I felt a sense of love and peace flow into me. I realized that Sandy was projecting the feelings with hir empathic ability and I tried very hard to echo those feelings back to hir.

By the time we finished our meal my eyelids were starting to droop and I was finding it increasingly difficult to stay awake. I had overtaxed my body and now I was paying the price.

Sandy looked very concerned as shi saw my condition. After I explained what was wrong and what needed to be done, Sandy carefully guided me back to the room and had me lay down on the bed. Moments later I passed out.

When I woke up I felt a warm furry body next to mine in the bed. I stirred a little feeling the need to get out of the bed and use the bathroom. A furry tail snaked its way around my ankles before I had the chance.

The soft purring sound next to me stopped. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

“Unless you can tell me another way around it I was going to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back, I promise.” The furry tail unwrapped itself from my ankles.

As I got unsteadily to me feet I realized that I was totally naked although I didn’t remember getting into bed that way. I needed just a couple of minutes to finish in the bathroom then I returned to the dimly lit bedroom.

Moments after I crawled back into the bed I felt a pair of breasts push up against my back as a hand, two paws and a furry tail draped themselves over my body. The feelings sent little shivers up and down my spine. Sandy must have felt them.

“Are you okay, Toby?”

“Well…”

I heard a deep sigh behind me. “I knew I shouldn’t have done this.” I felt hir start to pull away from me so I grabbed hir hand and held on as tightly as I could.

“Sandy, please stay.” Shi stopped pulling away and lay quietly behind me.

“You said you knew all about chakat customs didn’t you?”

“I said I knew all about them. I didn’t say that I’d actually participated in any of them.”

“Oh, sorry. Do you forgive me?”

“There isn’t anything to forgive you for. Besides, if waking up with a chakat in your bed always feels this good it won’t take much for me to get used to it.” I lifted hir hand and gently kissed it. I felt hir nuzzle my neck then lick-kiss me on the cheek again.

“Better be careful what you wish for, Toby.” Shi pulled me closer and began hir gentle purring again. I felt a furry tail wiggling in a very sensitive spot between my legs. Sadly there was no response to the stimulus. I looked up sleepily at my bedmate.

“Are you angry with me?”

“No.” I snuggled closer to the warm furry body in front of me.

“Toby, I came into heat overnight. It would give me great pleasure if you could…”

I put my finger on her muzzle. “I know, Sandy. Believe me when I say I would like nothing better than to spend some time with you in that way but it just isn’t possible.”

Shi batted my finger away. “Have I done something wrong?”

“No, quite the contrary. It’s simply because that part of me doesn’t work that way any more. The stasis damage left me quite impotent. I’ve been told that it’s permanent.”

Sandy looked quite upset by the news. “Sandy, I understand the needs of a chakat and I hope that you’ll find someone to take care of them for you.” I pulled hir close and hugged hir as tightly as I could. Shi just seemed to melt into my arms. We stayed like that for several minutes.

As I started to drift off to sleep again shi gave me another one of those wonderful lick-kisses. “Now shall we get back to sleep? I’m going to show you as much fun as you can handle tomorrow.”

“Sounds good to me.” I felt her pull me closer as the purring started again. Within moments I was asleep.

When I woke up Sandy wasn’t beside me in the bed. Shi must have used the shower and dryer because shi was busy brushing out hir fur and hair.

“I was wondering when you were going to wake up.”

“It would have been better waking up with you beside me.”

“Sorry but I had to use the facilities myself and I didn’t want to wake you up too early when I tried to get back into the bed.”

“That’s okay, Sandy. For some reason I only woke up that one time. Usually I pray to the porcelain Goddess a few times during the night.”

“What? What Goddess?”

“It’s an old Terran term that means throwing up in the bathroom. I do that sometimes. The way I usually feel I can’t stand to eat much anyway.”

“I did notice that you barely ate anything last night. Hmmm… maybe if we keep a little log of what you eat there’s a certain food that doesn’t agree with you. Ever tried that?”

“I’ve usually been out of it way too far to remember what I ate let alone write it down.”

Sandy got a big frown on hir muzzle. A chakat frown is decidedly a lot less pleasant than a chakat smile even if you are used to seeing a chakat smile.

“Toby, you HAVE to take better care of yourself.”

I put my head in my hands. “Lately it doesn’t seem to matter. I’m going to die anyway. Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing the right thing trying to fight it.”

“Why? Do you want to die?”

“I really don’t have any choice. If the treatment doesn’t work I have no future do I?”

“But you don’t even know yet if the treatment will work for you? Why not try to enjoy the time you have left? What do you gain by sitting around and moping about it?”

I sighed and shook my head. “Nothing I guess. Tell me something? Why are you even bothering with me at all? I’m not even your species.”

“Umm… remember when we hugged when we first met?” I nodded that I did. “Well, you know chakats are empathic, right?” I nodded again. “Good. When we hugged I got the impression that you really were a gentle spirit trapped in a cruel fate of a failing body. Chakats celebrate life and we try to do anything we possibly can to help others feel the same way. Life is a precious thing. It should be nurtured and fought for as much as possible.”

“While I’m not as convinced as you seem to be that I’m worth saving I won’t fight you, Sandy. I will try to make good use of the time I have left and I thank you for being here with me to help me enjoy it as much as possible.”

Sandy rewarded me with another hug and lick-kiss as we cuddled for a few minutes. This time I was the one that broke the hug to take care of my own morning business. I walked back into the bedroom a few minutes later after dressing in the bathroom

Sandy was busy at the computer terminal and making notes on her PADD. “Are you ready to go get some breakfast now?”

“Well, I think I can manage something so you won’t be eating alone.”

“And you’re going to eat a proper breakfast too. No picking at your food either!”

“Yes, Mother!”

Breakfast and the rest of the day went better than I ever expected it could. Despite some initial queasiness as I ate, I felt so much better after properly stuffing myself that Sandy and I made a tour of most of the huge liner. We spent several hours wandering in and out of the various shops that catered to the needs of the passengers.

I forced myself to eat a reasonably normal lunch and supper and by the end of the day I felt as though some of my energy had returned. I still didn’t feel well but the general tired feeling that I usually had decreased considerably.

Thanks to Sandy’s careful documentation of what I ate we figured out that I had a problem with milk and dairy products in general. Once we figured that out I stopped throwing up at night and slept much better. It may also have been that Sandy and I continued to share a bed at night. Either way, I was glad that the fatigue and sleepless nights I had experienced were reduced even if only for a short time.

By the end of the second month the fatigue level had increased and despite me eating better the lethargy had returned with a vengeance. I spent as much time with Sandy as my health allowed, much more than I would have ever been able to spend with hir if shi hadn’t cared for me the way shi did.

We reached Chakona just in time. Because of my worsening condition we elected to use the shuttle rather than the transporter to reach the ground. As we left the Star Princess, Sandy started to point out the various places on the planet from our high orbit around it. I tried as hard as I could to listen to Sandy’s running dialog but my heart wasn’t in it as the world around me faded to blackness.

- - - - - - - - - -

Sandy looked over at the figure strapped into the seat next to hir expecting an answer when none came.

“Toby? TOBY!” Shi reached over and placed a finger on his neck feeling a very faint and irregular heartbeat.

“PILOT! Declare a medical emergency and get us cleared to land at Professor Oceanwalker’s lab. Have someone call ahead and let them know we’re coming in with an emergency case.”

“Right away, miss.” The pilot immediately radioed the landing control center to set things in motion.

Sandy took hold of Toby’s cold and clammy hand. “Some on, Toby, you made it this far, don’t give up now!” Tears started to roll down her cheeks soaking into hir fur. Hir empathic ability was still picking up the weak and rapidly fading spark of life that was Toby Warner. “You’ve got to make it! You’ve just got to!”

*********************************
Chapter Two

“TOBY! Come on Toby. Wake up!”

I felt a hand gently shaking my shoulder as the world resolved itself out of a swirl of colors and sounds. My head felt like it was about ready to explode and I had no feeling except a numb tingling from my body. Ever so slowly a face came into focus before me. I tried to say “SANDY!” but all I heard was a jumble of mixed up sounds.

“Don’t try to talk right now. Let me explain. Okay?”

I weakly nodded my head. Something didn’t feel quite right and I still didn’t have any solid feeling in my body.

“We nearly lost you there. You passed out on the shuttle and I had the pilot divert us to Professor Oceanwalker’s lab. You were nearly dead when we got you in here. In fact, you within a few seconds of death just as the transformation process started.”

My eyes must have gotten real big. “Want to know how come you’re still here?”

I nodded weakly again. “Well, thanks to you having your medical records with you Professor Oceanwalker was able to do an immediate transformation.”

“That’s right.” I looked to Sandy’s side to see another chakat in a white lab coat. “We nearly lost you. I’ve never had someone so close to death as you were successfully undergo the transformation process. It’s something of a miracle that you made it at all. We didn’t have time to run the full sequence of compatibility tests.”

I started to regain some feeling in my body. I tried another mumble this time having a bit more success. “Budwhut amI?”

“What are you? Well we had a few problems there. The process can’t remove excess weight yet, only ADD weight. That limited the choices quite a bit. The closest form to your old weight was… is a chakat, Toby.”

A little bit more feeling had returned, enough for me to feel Sandy squeezing my hand. I followed hir gaze to see a hand covered in white fur in Sandy’s hand. I followed the arm upwards still seeing white fur with a splotchy pattern of orange, brown and black blotches. I continued onward to my chest where I found two very large breasts tipped with prominent pink nipples poking out from the snow-white fur. All of a sudden the world faded to black again.

* * * * * * * * *

Professor OceanWalker looked at the instruments above the bio-bed. “Shi’s just fainted. Shi’ll be fine. Hir other signs are very good. I think shi just needs the rest. That must have been a very rough transition for hir.”

“I think Toby was expecting to remain a human, Professor. I hope I did the right thing.”

The Professor put hir hand on Sandy’s shoulder and looked into hir eyes. “Sandy, you did the only thing you could. Otherwise Toby would be dead.”

“I know but it still upsets me. I hope that shi… um… HE can adapt to hir… HIS new form.”

“Well, at the moment Toby needs all the rest shi can get. Shi will be out for at least another twelve hours or so while the nutrients I’ve added to the medication help bring hir body back to what is normal for chakat. There was just enough of everything to do the transformation but hir body needs to rebuild its resources now.”

“Thanks, Professor. Mind if I wait here?”

“No but shi won’t even know you’re here. I think you need to take care of yourself too. Shi’s going to need you, you know. You’re going to have to teach hir everything shi needs to know about being a chakat.”

Sandy looked down at the sleeping chakat in the bed before her and gently stroked hir face. A low growl rumbled from Sandy’s tummy.

Professor Oceanwalker put hir hand on Sandy’s shoulder. “She’ll be out for quite a while, you know. Are you hungry?”

“Yes.”

“Then come with me and we’ll get something to eat in the cafeteria.”

Sandy followed the Professor out of the room but not before leaning over and giving the sleeping chakat a lick-kiss. “Sleep well, my love. I’ll be back soon.”

* * * * * * * *

The world quickly faded back into existence. As the disorientation subsided I noticed that the world was on its side or maybe it was that I was on my side. I raised my hands up to find that they were now covered in short white fur. Each finger had a retractable claw that appeared and disappeared as I flexed my fingers slowly. The fur extended up my arms and became dappled with large orange, brown and black spots. My chest was covered with the same short fur. It was snow-white. Large breasts jutted out from my chest with the pink nipple of each breast standing out prominently from the fur. I bent around at the waist to see that I was now attached to a feline body with four paws. The front paws… MY front paws… had longer toes that resembled crude fingers. My gaze shifted to my hindquarters to discover a long tail covered in the same spotted fur pattern as the rest of me ending in a snow-white tip. It lay unmoving on the floor. My rear paws looked normal, for a feline that is.

I raised my hands to my face to feel a muzzle replacing my mouth and nose. My ears had moved to the top of my head and seemed to have a mind of their own as they responded to the changing sounds in the room.

“Just stay there for a few minutes and get used to the feelings, Toby.”

I nodded as Sandy came over to stand beside me. As our eyes met I felt a wave of love and desire fill me. I fully understood Sandy’s feelings for me now. Something I hadn’t been able to fully realize before. When our eyes parted I could still feel hir presence at the back of my mind. I know Sandy’s ears blushed inside and I suspect mine turned a nice deep shade of pink as well.

“How are you doing, Toby?”

I smiled one of those toothy chakat smiles at Sandy. “Ah’m phffine, Shandy. Khan yhou ah..nerstan mee?”

“Mostly, Toby. Don’t worry about it, you’ll get better quickly though.” The feeling was unlike any other as hir hand stroked gently along the fur on my lower torso. It also created a stirring further back in my new anatomy. I looked back to find my penis was starting to peek out of its sheath.

“Uhmm… Shandy, yuh gottah schtop thet er ah’m gunnah…” I nodded toward my rear end. She glanced back to where I was nodding.

“Well, at least we’re certain THAT body part works just fine now.” Sandy nearly fell down laughing and I must admit that I joined hir at the absurdity of the situation.

“AHEM!” We both stopped giggling and looked over at the Professor. “If you two are done I think we can move Toby to a more comfortable room now. The readings are stable. For all purposes Toby is now a very healthy twenty year old chakat with all the benefits and problems that go with it.”

“Thaaankz, Prahfezzor.” I managed to somehow stand up then tried to walk forward to shake hir hand and made about two steps before I fell flat on my muzzle.

“Well, I expected about as much. Let us help you to a room you can stay in for a day or so. It could take you that long before you have enough control to leave.” Professor Oceanwalker motioned for another chakat to help Sandy guide me down the hallway to a room. Sandy handed me my tail so I could keep it out of the doors that whooshed open then closed behind us.

I thumped down on cushion as the door closed. It felt really strange that I wasn’t sitting on my butt with my human legs stretched out in front of me. The view instead was of my hand-paws covered in mottled orange, brown, black and white fur. Sandy eased hirself down beside me and lick-kissed my cheek. I impulsively returned the lick-kiss and hugged Sandy tighter than I ever could before.

“You made it, Toby! You made it! You’re going to be all right.”

“Thankz, Sandy. It juzt feelz sho strahnge to havv fhor pawz and a tayle.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Shi wrapped her tail around mine. The sensation both erotic and wonderful causing a stirring in my lower regions again. “Wait until you have your first heat. I have something I think you’ll really enjoy!” Shi lick-kissed my cheek again then reached over and started scratching my lower torso just at the base of my tail. Little shocks of pleasure echoed through my body as my tail went straight up then started to lash furiously side to side all by itself. It took several seconds before I realized that the purring sound I heard was coming from me!

“Ooooooo… now I know what my cat was feeling when I did that to her.”

Sandy continued to scratch me in that ever so sensitive spot. I felt something building up inside me that I wasn’t quite ready to handle.

“STOP THAT! I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet, Sandy.” Reluctantly I pushed Sandy’s hand away. “Let’s not get something started right now that I don’t know how to finish, okay?”

“Okay, Toby. Let’s get you walking better first. It already sounds like you’re slowly figuring out that new mouth of yours. Now stand up and we’ll try some leg movements so you can get a better feeling for how you move.”

I got back up on my paws with some difficulty and stood there as Sandy had me lift each leg in turn and move it about. Shi explained that when I stood on three of my four paws I had to shift my weight slightly to prevent falling over. It was sort of like moving the remaining leg on the end of a four-legged table when the other leg on that end had fallen off. Moving ever so slightly to the side helped redistribute my weight on the remaining leg so that I was properly balanced on three legs. My tail, when I learned to control it, would also help me keep properly balanced when standing and walking. For the moment it just hung down dragging on the floor even though I had figured out how to twitch the end of it.

The first few minutes of my exercises I steadied myself by holding onto the back of the only chair in the room. It hit me quite suddenly that I now had little use for a chair other than to possibly steady myself as I was now or to use it as a step to reach something up high. I wondered if I would ever miss sitting in a big comfy reclining chair again.

Sandy watched me practice then announced that is was time that I tried walking. I managed to make a few circles around the room without falling on my muzzle then repeated the process walking in the opposite direction. As I was doing that, Sandy grabbed the chair and placed it about two feet away from one wall in the corner of the room then motioned me over.

“What next, Sandy?”

“Looks like you’ve got forward partially figured out. Let’s see how well you can do reverse shall we? Walk between the chair and the wall until your muzzle is touching the wall in front of you.”

“Oh, I see what you’re doing. I’ll get into situations where I can’t easily turn around so I’ll need to know how to back out of a tight spot. Okay, let me try.”

I walked forward until my breasts almost touched the wall. I couldn’t go any further without mashing them into the wall and I suspected that might hurt. It took me several tries to get my legs to move in the proper sequence to back out of the enclosed space. I was able to do it only after I had stepped on my tail several times. Sandy handed it to me to hold out of the way. I repeated the exercise several times finding it a little easier each time to back up.

Feeling rather drained I got comfortable again on one of the lounging pillows in the center of the room. I had an empty feeling in not just one but two spots in my body.

“Sandy, can I get something to eat? I feel like I could eat an entire horse.”

She started giggling as she shook her head. “Don’t let a Quange hear you say that. You’d probably get stomped flat. Let me go check with the Professor and see if there’s some place to eat around here.”

A few minutes later Sandy returned with Professor Oceanwalker. I followed both of them to a cafeteria in the building. I watched Sandy and Oceanwalker fill their trays for a few moments then filled my own tray accordingly. I remembered how much food Sandy put away and realized that I now needed much more. I had two stomachs to fill now.
By the time I got to the table I started to drool slightly from the overpowering aromas drifting into my nose. I realized now just how much my illness had dulled my senses in my old body. I knew that a chakat’s senses are much greater than human senses but even allowing for that I had to admit that before I could barely smell or taste the food that I ate. It all changed so slowly I never realized that it was happening to me.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with more tests and practice with my new body. After the last of the tests was completed the professor returned to the room I was staying in.

“It looks like you two are free to go now. All of the tests say you’re a normal, healthy chakat, Toby. If you notice anything out of the ordinary please don’t hesitate to call me.”

“Thanks, Professor! I can never properly express my gratitude for what you’ve done for me.”

“That’s quite all right. I’m happy that once again the project has been used to save a life when no other alternatives worked. Live a full and happy life, Toby. Tail high!”

“Thank you again, Professor!”

Oceanwalker left the room as I turned toward Sandy. “So what do we do now? I can’t go out like this.” All I wore was a paper vest to preserve my modesty in the clinic.

“I thought of this earlier so I got something out of my bags.” Shi pulled a small halter top out of hir waist pouch. “Here, try this on.”

I took off the vest and tried the top. It barely fit and left a lot of cleavage on view. “I think I’ll need a few new things, Sandy.”

“We’ll make a few stops on the way home, Toby. I still need groceries too.”

Sandy led the way to a waiting PTV and I waited while shi converted a seat into the chakat style bench that I would need. Getting into the PTV as a chakat was a new experience for me with just a slight bit of help from Sandy to make sure my tail was out of the way when the door closed. As I watched her pull out into traffic I realized that I was going to have to learn how to drive all over again.

The first stop was at a mall. Sandy pulled me along beside hir as we walked along looking in the windows of each store. Shi selected a store dragging me inside as well. Shi made me try on at least a dozen different tops and accessories selecting about half of them for me to buy. Since this was all still very new to me I just went along with hir decisions. When it came time to pay for things I got a look at the temporary identity card that Professor Oceanwalker had given me until all my records could be changed. The old face was replaced with the face of a chakat with black shoulder length hair. One ear was orange while the other was covered by black fur instead. My muzzle was entirely white and the color extended down my throat and upper chest to cover my breasts.

The trip to Chakona had taken most of my resources. Paying for the pile of goods on the counter used up much of the little that was left in my bank account. What remained wouldn’t buy me a decent meal now. Sandy noticed my frown but remained quiet until we pulled into the grocery store parking lot.

“Don’t worry about a job, Toby. I have one for you with my company. I need a good computer programmer.”

“I don’t want charity, Sandy. I need to make it on my own.”

“WHAT?”

“You’re giving me a job aren’t you?”

“The ONLY thing I’m giving you is a chance to prove your worth to my company. You’ll have to earn the right to keep the job on your own, Toby. If you’re as good as you’ve said you are then there shouldn’t be a problem should there?”

“No, there won’t be any problem, Sandy. Thanks for letting me try.”

“No problem, love. Now if you want to earn your supper you can help me shop for groceries. It takes a lot to feed two hungry chakats you know! There’s NOTHING in the house either since I was away so long.”

We each grabbed a cart and I trailed behind Sandy as shi filled the cart shi was pushing. Then shi exchanged the full cart for my empty one and started filling it. I thought for a few moments then offered to make a favorite of mine for Sandy. It took a little while to find all of the ingredients or at least some modern equivalents for some of them.

I must have been walking and talking much better because nobody took me for anything other than what I appeared to be while we passed thru the checkout line. We loaded up the back of the PTV to nearly overflowing then jumped in for the ride to Sandy’s home.

We shuttled our bags and the groceries into the house fairly quickly and I helped Sandy put things away then we began to prepare supper. I spent almost three hours preparing a huge tray of lasagna loaded with meat, loads of cheese and veggies. The store didn’t seem to have any wide pasta so I had to make my own from scratch first. I figured it would take nearly an hour to properly bake in the oven so Sandy and I got comfortable on some lounging pads to wait.

“So how has your first few hours as a chakat been, Toby?”

“Decidedly different, Sandy.”

“I’m sort of intrigued to know what you found was different.”

“Well, not having to wear pants for one. Then there are having breasts, four paws and a tail. There’s having a muzzle filled with quite a set of teeth, eating so much, my vastly increased sense of smell, taste and hearing, and about a thousand little things. Then here was going to the bathroom for the first time as a chakat…” I covered my face with my hands and cringed.

“Don’t worry about it, hun. You finally got things figured out so you won’t need any help again.” Shi scratched my back where my upper and lower torsos met sending little waves of pleasure racing thru my spine.

“Don’t do that, Sandy. I told you I’m not ready yet.”

“Did Professor Oceanwalker give you any indication what phase was going to be the first in your cycle?”

“No, shi couldn’t tell me. It’s been different for everyone that chose the chakat form. Some had the male phase while others had their female phase first. There’s just no way to tell what and when I’m afraid.”

“I just want to make sure you know that I’m here to help, Toby. It would give me great pleasure to give you pleasure when you need it.”

“Thanks, Sandy. When the time comes you’ll be the second to know. I’ll be the first.”

“Maybe, maybe not. In case your nose hasn’t figured it out yet I’m on heat now, Toby.”

“Is that what that scent is? I was wondering why I was getting a little horny.”

“So do you think you’re ready for that aspect of being a chakat yet?”

“I was ready for that the first time we hugged, Sandy. I just didn’t have working equipment to be able to do anything about it.”

“I thought I’d never hear you say that love.” Shi gave me a big lick-kiss and a hug that I eagerly returned. “I know that I felt it then, Toby. I was hoping you felt my attraction to you too.”

“I couldn’t then, Sandy but you’re always in my thoughts since this morning. I can feel you in the back of my mind all of the time.”

“Me too. We bonded, Toby. That usually means that we’re destined to be lifemates but I’ll understand if it doesn’t work out that way. I know that this is all still so new for you.”

“Well, you have a problem that’s a bit more umm… urgent at the moment and I think I’m ready to help you with it after we eat. Let me go check the lasagna.”

“Just like a chakat, always thinking of your stomachs first.” Sandy was giggling as shi followed me into the kitchen. Shi busied hirself making up a large salad with all kinds of veggies and a type of dressing that I had never had before. It smelled great though so we decided to start early with the salad then have the lasagna when it was ready.

When Sandy tasted the lasagna I got promoted to official cook of the house. Sandy was growing extremely tired of eating hir own cooking and having someone else around that could cook was going to be such a treat for hir.

After the dishes were cleaned and put away Sandy and I retired to hir bedroom. I had gained enough control of my new chakat body to properly please Sandy by mounting hir. Several hours later we lay exhausted in a tangle of arms, paws and tails. I learned what it was like both to drink Sandy’s milkwater and for hir to take mine. I had to admit to myself that the chakat form was quite versatile for our lovemaking activities. While I had declined Sandy’s offer to mount me, I knew that I would enjoy the experience immensely when the time came. It was hard to tell which of us was purring the loudest as we drifted off to sleep.

Waking up was a highly enjoyable experience since Sandy’s muzzle was buried firmly between my breasts. We were still entangled quite tightly and I hoped that my need to use the facilities wouldn’t arouse Sandy before I had the chance to get back in bed and do it myself in a way I thought shi would find most pleasurable. As I carefully snuggled up to Sandy again hir eyes fluttered open.

“Drat. I was hoping to wake you up in a different way, love.” Shi snuggled closer to me and lick-kissed me.

“And how were you going to do that?”

I slowly traced a few lazy circles around hir nipples with my hands. “How’s this?”

“Ooh that feels so good. I wish I could stay here all day like this but I promised that I’d visit the office today, Toby.”

I stopped rubbing hir nipples and lick-kissed the top of hir head. “Want some company? I need to do something with myself now too.”

“Sounds good to me, love. I think its time we got up. Want to share the shower?”

“I suppose I do need to know as much as I can about this new body of mine and proper hygiene is a big part of it. I suspect though that you have something more planned?”

Shi got a wicked grin on her face. “Well, if you do to me this morning what you did to me last night I’d be one contented kitty all day long.” Shi licked the nipple of one of my breasts then gently took a mouthful of my milkwater.

“Do that to the other one and we have a deal, my love.”

That led to one of the most wonderful shower sessions in my memory. Sandy was still in heat and I took great pleasure in satisfying hir. Our love for each other grew much stronger as our bodies worked together toward an all-consuming dual climax. We lay together for several minutes on the floor of the shower before either of us could move enough to stand again. When we finally recovered we completed the shower then used the fur dryer. I knew that Sandy really enjoyed being groomed from our time together on the Star Princess and now it was my turn to find out just how erotic a good grooming could be. As I floated down from a bliss overload Sandy swatted my rump to get my attention.

“I thought I heard the windows rattling because you were purring so loud.”

I hugged Sandy tightly. “So? On board the ship you were purring so loud I thought I heard the deck plates rattling. Is a good grooming always that pleasurable to a chakat?”

“Mostly, especially when it’s done by someone that cares about you.”

“If you’d kept that up much longer I was thinking of having you mount me on the spot.”

“Well, I’ll have to keep that in mind for later tonight.”

“If I’m ready for it by then, Sandy. Hadn’t we better get ready for work?”

Shi sighed deeply. “I suppose so although I can think of better things to do with our day.”

Sandy dressed in a halter-top, light jacket and a belt pouch. I dressed in similar style then, with hir help, bundled my hair into a ponytail to keep it out of the way.

“Are we going to eat then leave or will we get something on the way there?”

“It’s just a few blocks away. I usually walk and get breakfast at a little cafe along the way.”

“Sounds good to me. I can use the exercise and the walking time.”

We left the house and set off down the street for Sandy’s place of business. We walked in silence for a block or so as I took in the sights, sounds and smells of the area. I never realized that my human senses were so limited until I took the form of a chakat barely twenty-four hours ago.

“Umm… Toby, what are we going to tell my staff about you?”

“The truth, Sandy. I see no reason to hide who and what I used to be. I’m still inexperienced when it comes to being a chakat so if they know all about me maybe they can help.”

“Are you going to take a chakat style name or do you want to use Tobias or Toby?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I’ll probably always respond to my old name out of habit but I’ve decided to take a chakat type name.” I stopped and turned toward Sandstorm holding my arms out for a hug. “I am Chakat Calico, child of Amanda and William.”

Sandy returned the hug. “Calico, huh? Well, that’s pretty much your fur pattern with those orange, brown and black spots. Can I call you Cali for short?”

My stomachs growled. “Sure! I’ll answer to almost anything as long as there’s food involved.”

“Okay, Cali. I get the message.” Sandy giggled then hugged me tightly. “The café is just another block away. I’ll race you!” Sandy took off running as fast as shi could.

I sped up my pace to the point where a quick walk no longer felt comfortable. I pushed a little harder hoping that my body would know what to do to go faster. My gait changed and I found myself flying down the street at a speed that, for a human, would have been quite impossible. I was barely breathing hard when the café and Sandy loomed into view.

“That was incredible, Sandy! Does running always give you that kind of wild and free feeling?’

“Yup. Quite a blast isn’t it?”

“I’ll say.” I looked at the building in front of us. The sign in the window read ‘Redmane’s Café — Everyone welcome!’. I pointed to the sign. “Redmane? A chakat?”

Sandy nodded. “Yup. I think I should warn you that shi’s someone special. You’ll like hir.”

“Well, let’s go in. I’m intrigued.”

“Feline curiosity?”

“Something like that.” I stuck my tongue out at Sandy. Shi grabbed my arm and towed me along into the café.

It seemed to be larger than most human café’s that I had ever been in but then this was a world of chakats, taurs and other morph species that needed the room. The atmosphere was bright and cheery while the smells wafting out from the kitchen area made my mouth water. A chakat with a rather unruly head of red hair bounded over to us.

“SANDY! You’ve been gone for ages. Welcome back!” Shi gave Sandy a huge hug and lick-kiss that Sandy eagerly returned. Then shi turned toward me. “So who is this ravishing creature?”

“Redmane, I’d like you to meet Calico, my denmate.”

She opened hir arms wide. “Hi! I’m Chakat Redmane, daughter of Graytuft and Blackstripe.”

I hesitated only for a moment then returned the traditional greeting. “I’m Chakat Calico, child of Amanda and William. You can call me Cali if you like, Redmane.”

“Just call me Red. Everyone around here does. Amanda and William, they sound like human names, Cali.”

“They are, Red. Let us get comfy and place our orders then I’ll tell you all about it, okay?”

“Where are my manners anyway? Want a booth or a table, Sandy?”

“How about a booth today. It’s a little more private.”

“Sure thing. Right this way.” Shi took us to a booth off to the side and has us get comfortable. A foxtaur tod came over to set up the table properly and take our orders.

Sandy looked up and smiled at the tod. “Hi, Faruk. How’s the family?”

“Same as always, Sandy. Mom and Dad are still on Darvos working on that refinery project while my sister Taro is away at college. How have you been?”

“Not too bad, Faruk. I’d like you to meek Calico, my denmate.”

“Hi, Calico. Welcome to Redmane’s. You met the boss already I take it?”

I nodded in agreement. “Shi seems like quite a character.”

“Shi’s a real paw full all right. So what are you going to have this morning?” He got out a pad of paper and a pencil.

I motioned for Sandy to order first. “I’ll have my usual, a stack of waffles with sausage and three eggs plus a big mug of tea and lots of syrup for the waffles.” Sandy looked at me. “How about you, Cali?”

“That sounds good to me. I’ll have the same, Faruk.”

“Anything else?”

“Nope, all set, Faruk.” We watched as he left for the kitchen to place our orders.

A couple of minutes later Red walked over with a tray with three huge mugs of tea. Shi sat a mug in front of each of us then slid in beside me in the booth. I noticed that our mugs had our names on them.

“Well, this is a special place. Names on the mugs?”

Sandy smiled then turned my mug around to look then nodded to Red.

“Yup. I always provide my regulars with personalized mugs. Just leave it on the table and we’ll wash it and store it for the next time you’re here.”

“Thanks, Red but you’re assuming I’m going to be here a lot aren’t you?”

“Just how long have you been Sandy’s denmate anyway? You should know by now that shi always stops here for breakfast on the way to the office.”

“I guess that’s part of the story you need to hear, Red. Let me start from the beginning…”

Almost half an hour later I completed the story while munching on my breakfast.

“So you’ve only been a chakat for a bit more than a day? That’s incredible!”

“I know, Red. I have a LOT to learn. I feel so much better than I ever felt before and this body can do so much more than I ever could as a human. Right, Sandy?”

“True. Cali found out all about the male experience last night.” I felt my ears grow warm.

Red chuckled a bit. “So what was it like, Cali?”

I sighed then choked back the lump in my throat. “I guess I should get used to this. I forget that chakats are quite a bit more open about sexuality than humans are. To be honest, Red, I thoroughly enjoyed our activities last night. I’m looking forward to doing it again.”

Red snuggled a bit closer then gave me a tight hug and a big lick-kiss. “Any time you want to practice, Cali, just let me know!”

I started to sputter a bit not knowing what to say or do. Sandy gently put hir hand on my arm. “Calm down, Cali! It’s okay! I think you could do no better than Red here as a willing teacher. I know shi’s made me happy every time we’ve gotten together.”

Red put hir arm around my waist. “You haven’t really experienced anything related to chakat sexuality until you’ve been in the middle of a chakat maneuver, hon!”

“Chakat maneuver? What’s that?”

Red whispered an explanation in my ear. I was tempted to refuse immediately until I considered the possible effect on my chakat body of both sexes reaching orgasm at the same time.

“Red, I promise that when I’m ready to handle that you’ll be the other person in the threesome. As for um… lessons… those will have to wait a bit until I’m more familiar with this body. I’m still something of a major klutz at times.”

Red wrapped hir tail around mine. “Okay, Cali. Just let me know when you’re ready.” Shi hugged me even tighter then outright kissed me.

Red slid out of the booth to take care of some new customers that had just come in the front door. Sandy was giggling at my expression of total surprise. “I think you made a new friend, Cali!”

“Really? I though shi was just joking.”

“You really do have a LOT to learn yet. There’s been only one other that Red has ever offered hirself to in the ten years I’ve been coming here.”

“Who was that?”

“Me, Cali. Shi must see something very special in you for hir to do that. The same thing I saw the first time I met you.”

“This is one aspect of being a chakat that will take me a long time to get used to.”

“Wait until you’ve tried the maneuver, Cali! Now come on or we’re going to be late for my first day back.”

“I thought the boss never had to worry about those things.”

“It’s also up to the boss to set the proper example, Cali. Remember that!”

“Yes, Boss!”

Shi paid our bill on the way out of the café and hugged Red goodbye. I hugged Red too and got in a lick-kiss for good measure. I followed Sandy outside then we turned to the right as I followed hir at an easy run that ate up a lot of ground quickly.

A couple of minutes later we slowed to a walk in front of a large single story building. The sign in front read “Sansdtorm Consulting”. From what I could see the building took up most of the block that it sat on.

“This is yours, Sandy?”

“Yup. It belonged to my parents first though. I decided to stay in the business when they retired a couple of years ago. Let’s go in.”

“Where are your parents anyway?”

“They live on the outskirts of Amistad. You’ll have a chance to meet them in a couple of days, Cali.”

We walked into the lobby of the building and were greeted by a black furred chakat with a white blaze mark on hir throat. “Hi, Sandy! Nice to have you back! Are you staying around a while this time?”

“I never really know, Blaze. It depends on what happens next. By the way, this is Calico, my denmate.”

I opened my arms to Blaze for a traditional chakat hug. “I’m Ckakat Calico, child of Amanda and William. I’m pleased to meet you, Blaze.”

Shi hugged me tightly then looked me over from head to tail. “Denmate? WOW! It’s about time, Sandy! How did you meet hir?”

“On the Star Princess on the way back here. It’s long story, Blaze. I’ll let Cali tell it at lunch, okay?”

“Okay but I’m already dying of curiosity. See you both at lunch!” Shi turned bath to the busy communications terminal.

Sandy motioned for me to follow hir on a tour of the place. It turned out that I was somewhat wrong in my understanding of the business. Environmental concerns were only a small fraction of the consulting services that the company offered. They handled everything from minor factory problems to terraforming entire planets. If you had any kind of a problem, Sandy could, for a fee, hook you up with an expert to get it resolved.

Sandy settled me into an office a couple of doors away from hers and left me to get familiar with the computer equipment shi used for business operations. Their system was current state of the art and capable of more processing power than almost any other system I’d seen to date. I was deeply lost in thought as I felt an arm snake around my waist.

“Lost, love?” I turned slightly to find Sandy standing next to me with a huge smile on hir muzzle.

“Just amazed at this computer system, Sandy.”

“You must have been in some pretty deep thought. I called to you a half a dozen times from the doorway and you didn’t answer.”

“Sorry. I do a sort of brain/body disconnect thing when I’m really concentrating. I guess becoming a chakat didn’t take away that ability. Did you need me, Sandy?”

Shi nodded then handed me a sheet of paper. It was a message from a steel production facility on Darvos about a problem with the plant. The plant was putting out incredible levels of pollution but according to the computerized control systems the plant was operating as it always had, one hundred percent pollution free. The maintenance staff of the plant could find no sign of equipment failure or record keeping error to produce such a monumental failure. The local government was threatening to shut the plant down putting thousands out of work until the problem could be resolved. Since the plant was critical for the economy of the planet the current owners had about a week to get the plant back into clean operation again or they would be forced to sell it to another company that said they could.

“Are you taking the job, Sandy? Seems like this one is really important.”

“Yup. I’m going in a couple of hours. Darvos is a two-day trip away. Cali, I want you with me on this. I need someone that can check over that computer. Are you up to the challenge?”

“I go where you go, Sandy. Do we need anything for the trip?”

“I have a PTV waiting to take us back to the house so we can pack. We’ll need enough for maybe a week although I hope we can take care of this in a day or two at most. I have the company ship waiting at the spaceport to take us there.”

“I’ll be ready to go in a minute or two.” I logged off the terminal then shut it down.

Blaze greeted us in the lobby again. “Just can’t stay around huh, boss?”

“Hey, a job is a job, Blaze. It helps pay the bills.”

“Just bring me back some of that famous Darvos cheese. It’s hard to get here, Sandy.”

“You got it!”

The PTV dropped us off at the house in just a few minutes. It took us nearly an hour to pack and secure the house again. I relied on Sandy’s suggestions as to what to take or leave behind on the trip since this was my first time traveling as a chakat.

The ship was being brought online as Sandy parked hir PTV at the company owned hanger. Shi waved to a vixen sitting just inside the hatch of the shuttle.

“Hi, Vivan. Did Blaze brief you when shi called?”

“Yup. We’re headed for Darvos, right?”

“Right. I need to make a stop at Darvosa University when we get to the planet. I need to check something first.”

“Okay, let me file a flight plan then we can get going.” The vixen headed inside the building as Sandy and I transferred our bags from the PTV to the shuttle.

Sandy and I settled into the seats and strapped in while we waited. “A vixen as a pilot? How did you ever find her, Sandy?”

“I stole her away from the line that runs the Star Princess when she decided to settle down on Chakona. She was a pilot for the line on the Princess. Best pilot I’ve ever known too.”

Vivan slid into the pilot’s seat and pressed a button to seal up the hatch. “All set, Sandy. You both strapped in back there?”

“Light her off when you’re ready, Viv.”

“Right.”

We watched as she ran through her list of pre-flight checks then fired up the engines. We lifted off with just a slight bobble as a gust of wind hit the shuttle.

For two days the small ship hurtled thru the darkness of space. Sandy and I settled into one small cabin and Vivan took the other one. Each of us pulled a shift at the helm watching the ship’s systems as it sped along on automatic pilot.

The flight went smoothly until we were about ten thousand feet up and seventy miles away from Darvosa, the capitol city of the planet. That’s when trouble set in. We heard and felt a loud bang as the shuttle lurched violently to one side then the other. Wind came screaming in through a hole that appeared near the rear of the shuttle.

“What happened, Viv?”

“I think we were hit with some kind of particle beam weapon. The sensors registered an energy surge just before they went dead.”

“Are we gonna make it?”

“Not at the rate we’re dropping. This thing has the gliding characteristics of a brick without the engines and I can only get about a third of the power we need to maintain flight. I think I can get us down in one piece though.”

“Do what you can, Viv. Cali, pull those belts tighter. When we land, get out as fast as you can. Be sure to take the survival kit with you. It’s located in a locker by the door.”

“Right, Sandy.” I sat with a big lump in my throat. Just days ago I was a human staring Death in the face, now I was a chakat facing the same situation.

“Viv, any chance of getting off an emergency alert while we’re still high enough to have it heard?”

“No. The power surge fried the com system, Sandy. We’re going down and nobody knows where we are for certain. Darvosa should have had us on the approach radar though when the transponder stopped working. It should have triggered an alert already.”

“Good. Is there a clear spot we can make?”

“No. We’re over a heavily forested area. We’re gonna have to take our chances here. I can’t make it to the next clearing. Hang on we’re going in…”

Chapter Three

Seconds later we crashed into a grove of trees breaking off parts of the shuttle as it went. The tearing of metal was quite frightening as the shuttle knocked down tree after tree as it ground to a halt. Smoke started to fill the fractured cabin as a fire broke out in the pilot’s console.

“Viv, Sandy, are you okay?’

“I’m okay, Cali. I have a gash on my side but I can walk.”

“Sandy, can you help me with Viv? I think she’s been knocked out.”

We pulled the limp form of our pilot from her seat and eased ourselves out of the rear hatch. As I tended to Viv, Sandy went back inside the shuttle long enough to grab the survival pack from the locker. We quickly moved away from the burning shuttle as the smoke intensified. Moments later a huge explosion rocked the shuttle blowing it to bits when the fire reached the fuel tanks. We huddled behind a rock outcropping as chunks of shuttle and a large fireball flew over our heads.

When the roar subsided we peeked over the rocks to see the shuttle totally demolished and a large ring of ground around it charred black from the explosion and fire. Trees around the explosion zone were still burning.

“Sandy, help me get Viv further away from here.”

“I think you’re right, Cali. Let’s go this way. I think I smell water.” Sandy helped me get the still unconscious Viv on my back and steadied her there as we moved away from the burning wreck toward the smell of water. We traveled over a couple of low rock ridges to find a stream in the small valley below us. A wide shady spot along the stream was just ahead.

Sandy lapped several mouthfuls of water and pronounced it fit to drink owing to a chakat’s unique anatomy. I drank deeply of the clear cold liquid and felt much better then set to work tending to Viv. She had a nasty wound over one eye that used up most of the bandages in the survival kit. Her leg was a different problem though. It had a gash in the calf of the leg and she moaned as we tried to straighten the leg to bandage it.

“Think it’s broken, Sandy?” shi looked at the leg and gently probed for the bones under the flesh.

“Maybe. I’d feel better if we had a splint to put on it temporarily.”

“I think I can make up one. Let me have your top, Sandy.” I reached around and undid the clasp on my own top letting my breasts swing free. “See if you can find a couple of sticks about an inch around and a couple of feet long. Strip any branches and leaves off of them, okay?”

A few moments later Sandy returned. “Will this do?”

“Perfect, Sandy.” I used the rest of the bandages to dress the wound then I placed the sticks carefully beside Viv’s injured leg and used our tops as straps to bind the sticks to her leg at the top and bottom. “There, not perfect but it ought to get us through. Now let me take a look at you.”

I looked at the gash in Sandy’s side on hir lower torso. “Go wash off the blood, Sandy. It doesn’t look too bad but all that blood makes it hard to tell.” Shi walked into the stream and gently lay down in the cool water letting it soak into the matted fur. A couple of minutes later most of the dried blood had dissolved and shi gently rubbed the area to remove the rest. I noticed hir wincing as shi rubbed the blood away.

“Does that hurt?”

“Some still, yes.”

“I don’t have anything left in the kit to cover that, Sandy. What can we do?”

“You can lick it.”

“ME? Lick that?”

“Yup. Chakat saliva has an antibiotic property and it won’t hurt you one bit. It’s in a spot I can’t reach so you’re going to have to make sure the wound is clean by licking it.”

“All right. I’ll do it.” I steeled myself and began licking the wound. The taste of blood was not one that I wanted to enjoy ever again but it wasn’t bad as I first thought. “There. How’s that?”

Sandy looked at the wound and pronounced it clean. “Now I’d better do the same for you, love.”

“For me? Whatever for?” Shi pointed to a red blotch on the left side of my upper torso. There a small shard of glass poked out of the skin. I winced as I gently pulled it out then I went to the stream to clean the wound. As I lay down in the cool water on my front, the water made my nipples stand up poking out of my fur. I let a couple of minutes go by then gently washed the area to get rid of the caked blood. After getting as much out as I could I stood up again and shook myself dry like a dog with the water flying everywhere. Some of the cold water must have landed on Viv because she started to move again.

“Easy, Viv. You’re okay. We’re all out and safe but I’m afraid the shuttle is gone.”

She started to try to sit up. “Sandy, I…”

I gently pushed her back down again. “You stay there for a while, Viv, you took quite a beating back there. You’ve got a gash on your head and maybe a broken leg.”

“Oh, I wondered. Can I get something to drink?”

“Well, I understand that there’s not much better than a chakat’s milkwater for someone that needs a bit of a pick-me-up. Want some, Viv?”

“If you’re offering, Cali, I’d love some.”

To Sandy’s surprise I offered a beast to Viv. Shi looked at me with a questioning glance.

“I’m just trying to do what any other chakat would do, Sandy. She needs the nutrition right now. Besides, you and I can drink some things she can’t.”

“Good point. We don’t know how long we’ll be out here.”

Viv released my breast. “I’d say not long maybe. Just before we went in I saw a glimpse of the main highway into Darvosa about fifteen miles away. I think we can make it.”

“Maybe, Viv. We could just stay here and activate the emergency beacon though. They’ll be out searching for the shuttle.”

“I’d advise against activating the beacon, Sandy.”

“WHAT? Why?”

“Because this wasn’t an accident. Remember what Viv told us just before the crash?”

“That we took a hit from some form of energy weapon?”

“Yup. Someone didn’t want us to get to that factory. They were willing to kill us to stop us.”

“But why?”

“That’s what we need to find out, Sandy.”

A roaring sound floated to us from the direction of the crash site. “Sounds like we need to check that out. Sandy, can you go? I think your fur coloring might be better than mine in this forest setting. Watch yourself and don’t give yourself away until you know who they are for certain.”

“Right, love. If I’m not back in ten minutes or so send in the cavalry.” I hugged hir then gave hir a lick-kiss as a bonus. I watched as shi slinked over the ridge between the crash site and us.

“How are you doing, Viv?”

“Okay, can I have more milkwater, please?’

“Sure, help yourself. As much as I have to offer, Viv.”

I purred as she drained both breasts then I went to the stream to drink as much water as I could hold to replenish my supply of milkwater. I remembered from my reading on chakat physiology that it would take a few hours. Sandy returned about the time I started to become worried that shi wasn’t back yet.

“Damn! You were right, Cali. Two humans got out of an unmarked shuttle that landed in the crash area. I got close enough to hear them talking. One said that they needed to call their boss and tell him that their plan succeeded and that we were no longer a threat to them. Right now they think we’re dead.”

“That’s an advantage for us. They won’t follow us now.”

“So what’s the next step, Cali?”

“Viv said that there was a highway within traveling distance. I suggest we head there. We should be able to get help.”

Viv nodded in agreement. “If I remember right that’s the main land highway into the area. Because of the distance between aid stations, there are solar powered emergency boxes about every two miles along the road.”

“Good enough, Viv. Are you doing well enough to travel if one of us carries you?”

“I think so, Cali.”

“Good. Sandy, was there a canteen in that survival kit by any chance?”

Sandy rummaged in the bag for a moment. “Sure. I’ll fill it now.”

“Drink as much as you can hold too. We can use our milkwater if we don’t run across water again. As for food I think you and I can survive on what we find. We’ll give the available survival rations to Viv. Her body can’t handle what ours can. If it’s around fifteen miles we should be able to make it in a day or two depending on the terrain and how fast we can move. Viv, how much daylight do you figure we have left?”

“I’d say maybe six or seven hours. Cali. What do you have in mind?”

“We can travel for five hours or so then we’ll find a place to camp for the night. I doubt that we’re going to make it to the highway today.”

“I think you’re probably right. Say, how did you know we were set up?”

“Call it a human guess, Viv.”

“Human guess? But you’re a chakat!”

“I am now. Two days ago I used to be human.”

“This is a story I’ve GOT to hear.”

Sandy returned with the filled canteen and helped get Viv on my back again. She sat just in back of my lower shoulders and hung onto my upper torso just beneath my breasts being careful of my wound a bit lower down. As we walked I told her the story of my rebirth as a chakat.

“Is this true, Sandy?”

Shi nodded. “I was there with hir, Viv. It’s all true.”

“WOW! I’d never have suspected, Cali.”

“I have an excellent teacher, Viv.” I reached over and held Sandy’s hand. “We’re denmates now.”

We walked in silence until the allotted five hours were just about over. Thanks to the compass in the emergency beacon unit and Viv’s navigating we were still on track for the highway. We came across a small stream running by a rock wall with a large enough overhang to shield us from the rain that was beginning to fall.

“I think this is where we’ll stop for the night. What do you both think?”

Sandy sniffed the air for a few moments. “Feels like a good spot to me. I think I smell the scent of a few bush rabbits not far from here. Anyone want supper?”

Viv nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

“I second the motion, Sandy. How are your hunting skills?”

“A little rusty but I think I can manage. Unless you want to eat it raw can you get a fire going?”

“Sure, Sandy. I think we’re safe. They won’t be looking for us now that they’ve assumed we died in the blast.”

Sandy nodded then quietly slipped off into the surrounding underbrush. I got Viv comfortable under the rock ledge then set to work collecting firewood. Thanks to the flint in the survival kit, I had a nice little fire going when Sandy returned with what looked like a pig in hir arms.

“Anyone for roast bush pig? The rabbits got away.”

“You caught it, you butcher it.” I handed hir the knife from the survival pack. A few minutes later shi had gutted the pig then we set up a couple of sticks on either side of the fire and placed the pig on another stick suspended over the fire.

Viv tended to the pig while Sandy and I used the stream to wash the grit of the trail out of our fur. Bathing in the stream turned into something of a sexual experience as we washed each other in the cold water. Parts of my new anatomy were definitely becoming very sensitive as Sandy washed my back and tail.

“Umm… Sandy, I think you need to stop that.” She lovingly continued to wash a certain spot.

“Are you really sure you want me to stop, Cali?” The pressure increased a bit and I went into sexual overload.

“Umm… no. Sandy, I think it’s time.”

“What? Here? Now?”

“Yes, here and now. What happened today made me realize just how much we love each other. Since someone is out to kill us I don’t want to miss the experience of mating as a female. Can we do it now, please?”

“Are you sure this is what you want, love?”

In answer I reached down and gently started to stroke hir sheath. It had the desired effect as hir penis slid rigidly into view. I offered my backside to hir and moved my tail aside to allow hir easy entry.

Somehow, Sandy managed to keep me right on the edge of orgasm as shi pounded in and out of me. The sensation was altogether peasant and my howls of ecstasy echoed through the forest. After what seemed like an eternity Sandy and I climaxed together then collapsed beside the stream. For several minutes nether of us was able to move let alone think clearly. As the sexually induced fog lifted we cleaned ourselves up and returned to the camp.

Viv was grinning from ear to ear when we returned arm in arm. “So it sounds like you two had some fun cleaning up.”

“Yup. Sandy and I consummated our relationship. This time I was the female.” I realized that I was no longer hesitant to express my sexual escapades in the presence of anyone else. For some strange reason I was actually excited about the possibility that the chakat maneuver presented if we ever got out of this mess.

The roast pig tasted wonderful and I found that I could eat even smaller the bones thanks to my teeth and chakat digestive system. We couldn’t finish the entire pig and left the rest wrapped in a plastic bag that was in the survival kit. It should keep until the morning when we would have the rest for breakfast.

We banked the fire with some additional wood then settled down packed tightly together under the one survival blanket that was in the kit. If we crowded together it was just big enough to cover all three of us. I discovered just how far I had come in such a short time when I realized that I actually preferred to share my bed with others. As a human I had usually preferred to sleep alone. I probably would have died alone if it wasn’t for the tender care and love of my chakat mate snuggled up under the blanket. Viv was snuggled between us since she had started to shiver as the temperature dropped.

I woke several times during the night when my ever-alert ears picked up some unknown sounds. Sandy kept reassuring me that there was nothing in this part of Darvos that would dare mess with a single chakat let alone two of them and vixen. Each time I woke I stirred the fire and added more wood to keep it going. I reasoned that the light would help keep the creatures away. Sandy told me again that there wasn’t much that was more fearsome than an enraged chakat but I still had my doubts since I personally had never seen an angry chakat.

Morning arrived a few hours later without incident. I opened my eyes to discover that Sandy was missing. Since I could still feel hir in the back of my mind I wasn’t too concerned about where shi had gone.

Viv was snuggled up tightly beside me with her arms around my waist and a big smile on her muzzle. I needed to get up to relieve myself but Viv just hugged me tighter as I started to stir. I really needed to go so I had no choice but to wake her gently. I lick-kissed the beautiful vixen on the top of her head. Her eyes fluttered open a few moments later.

“Morning Vivan. Feeling better today?”

“Much, thanks. I was having this marvelous dream about you and I…”

“Another time, love. Right now I need to get up. A chakat bladder can only hold just so much before it bursts!”

“Sorry! Hey, do you mind giving me a ride to the stream. I need to clean up some too.”

I rolled onto my tummy after she released me. “Sure, climb on and hold on tight!”

She did as instructed, this time each hand cupping one of my breasts. “Hey! Don’t start anything now. Medically you’re in no condition.”

“It’s just that your nipples looked so cold. They’re positively frigid!”

‘I don’t really feel it, Viv. Here’s the stream. Want me to leave you for a few minutes?”

“Not really. I might need your help.”

I watched her strip out of the tight fitting flight suit she wore. We had cut the pants leg over the break to the thigh to be able to see the damage so she had no problem taking the suit off over the makeshift splint. Then she took off the bra and panties she wore and I helped her settle down on a rock out in the middle of the stream. I settled into the water next to her to let her use my lower back as a prop for her injured leg. I remembered that Sandy had said that chakats are more resistant to infections than other taurs or morphs so I didn’t want Viv to get the wound wet.

Sandy turned up a few minutes later with a big load of berries in a piece of cloth from the kit. “Here, try these. They’re great!”

I sampled a few of the berries and reveled in their sweet taste. I found out from Sandy that the berries were similar to wild raspberries of the type that grew on Terra although they didn’t taste quite the same. We finished the berries then returned to the campsite where the rest of the roast pig got polished off. After refilling the canteen and Sandy and I drinking as much as we could comfortably hold we took off again for the highway. There was no way to tell how far we had come since yesterday so we decided to go as far as possible until the light started to fade again then we would make camp for one more day.

After a short break near another stream we found for a quick lunch using the survival rations we pressed on toward the highway. We were awarded a couple of hours later by the sounds of PTV’s and heavy trucks whizzing by at high speeds. We stayed in the cool of the woods alongside the road until we came to one of the emergency boxes. Sandy was elected to make the call. Shi returned to the edge of the woods where we waited in the shade of a large tree. The temperature had climbed into the range where chakats aren’t very comfortable.

“Well, I have good news and bad news.”

I gave hir a weary smile after carrying Viv on my back most of the day. “So what’s the bad news?”

“They found the wreckage just a couple of hours after the crash. They assumed what the humans did. We’ve been declared dead.”

“And that’s bad news? Let me tell you, I’ve died twice already. It isn’t such a bad thing, love. So what’s the good news?”

“There’s a safety cruiser within about five miles of us that will pick us up shortly. I told them we’d be waiting by the woods near the box because of the heat. I also asked them to keep it quiet that we’re okay for the moment.”

“What are we gonna tell the authorities about the crash? There probably isn’t enough left of the shuttle for them to figure out what really happened, Sandy.”

Viv piped up. “Let me talk to them on that. I can tell them that the power system failed. Since there isn’t enough of the shuttle left to put in a thimble they’ll have to believe me.”

“Are you sure, Viv? I don’t want you to get into any trouble because of us.”

“I’m sure, Cali. You two need to find out what’s going on at that plant. I have a feeling that it’s at the center of this whole mess. Promise me one thing will you?”

I reached over and held Viv’s hand. “Anything!”

“Find the bastards that did this and put them away for life if you can.”

I squeezed her hand tightly. “That’s a promise. NOBODY messes with the people I care about and gets away with it.”

Sandy gave her a big hug and a lick-kiss. “Me too, Viv. Nobody messes with an employee of Sandstorm Consulting, NOBODY!”

We waited for a few more minutes until a large truck with flashing red lights pulled over near the call box. Sandy padded out to the truck to carefully verify their identification then when shi was satisfied shi motioned for us to come over. As we got close we realized that there were only a couple of chakats on board the truck.

Viv did have a broken leg and we retrieved our tops after they took off the makeshift splint to put on a real one. We got comfortable on a lounging pad in the back end of the large truck. The air conditioning was working overtime to cool down four very warm chakats and a vixen.

When we got to the nearest aid center the authorities were waiting for us. It was pretty much as we figured. Sandy was able to arrange with hir business that sufficient documentation be made available to prove who we were beyond any doubt. Shi also arranged for a three replacement credit cards since everything we had went up when the shuttle did.

Viv explained about the power failure and, there being no evidence to counter the story, the authorities assumed it to be the case. I would have loved to say what really happened but there was no evidence left to prove our story was the right one.

Vivan was soon on her way to a hospital in Darvosa while Sandy and I remained for more questioning. After almost three hours of grilling we were told that we were free to go. Sandy’s first stop in Darvosa was a government office to get the identity paperwork that had been destroyed by the crash. I have to hand it to the Darvosan government staff. They had temporary paperwork ready for all three of us in less than an hour. The next stop was at a local branch of the bank that Sandwalker Consulting used. With the temporary ID paperwork we were able to get some cash and new credit cards. Again, unlike the Terran bureaucracy I was used to, the folks at the bank were extremely helpful and had everything taken care of in less than an hour.

Our next stop was to pick up the rental PTV that we would use during our stay. I was almost washed out for the day but I agreed that we should head for the hospital to find out how Viv was doing. Within a few days Viv’s injuries should be completely healed. Except for some lingering stiffness and a bit of muscle weakness Viv would be as good as new. We left her in the care of the doctors and nursing staff and headed for the hotel where Sandy held reservations.

On the way we stopped at a local mall and got clothes and other necessities to replace our lost items. We settled into the rooms at the hotel as the sun started to set for the day. Once again, Sandy and I decided to share a bed. We both agreed that our nerves were jangled enough that the cuddling company would be most welcomed. The room was designed with taurs in mind so the whirlpool bath was big enough for two. A fur dryer was available too. I decided that a nice warm bath was a great idea since muscles I didn’t have just a few days ago expressed their displeasure at being abused on our trek. Due to Sandy’s injury I had carried Viv most of the way on my back and those muscles were very sore from the additional weight. In spite of our baths in the streams I still felt like a layer of grime lurked just under my fur and the smell coming from both of us made my sensitive nose wrinkle in mild disgust. I didn’t have to prompt Sandy to join me either.

Washing and grooming was another sensual experience. Unfortunately neither of us had much energy left to do anything about it. We ordered room service bring up our supper from the restaurant and talked over the events of the day as we munched.

“Where do we go from here, Sandy?”

“Well, we head for the plant tomorrow after I check with the air quality monitoring station at the University. They’re downwind from the plant a lot because of the prevailing winds so they should be able to independently verify the pollution charges against the company. If it’s true, then we head for the plant.”

“You know that there will be some folks there that won’t be very happy to see us don’t you? We’re going to have to be extremely careful.”

Hir tail curled tightly around mine. “I know, love. That’s why I want us to stay together wherever we go on the plant. One chakat alone is quite a handful, two is something you don’t want to mess with.”

“I’ll have to learn how to do that. It feels so good.”

“Do what?”

“Wrap my tail around yours. I’ve got basic control of it, just not the finer points yet.”

“You can practice with me all you want, Cali.” Shi leaned close and gave a mind numbing kiss and a hug.

“Love, while I would like nothing better than to share a wild night with you I suspect that neither of us are in much of a condition to really enjoy it. Can I get a rain-check on that?”

“I know, I’m feeling wiped out too. We haven’t had the normal sleep we need the past few days. I’m all for finishing up our meals then hitting the bed early.”

“I think we have a plan.” Now it was my turn to return Sandy’s kiss and hug.

We finished supper, set the dishes on the tray outside the door in the hallway for pickup and eventually collapsed on the bed mat in each other’s arms.

Ten hours later my eyes fluttered open again. The bed beside me was empty and I heard the water running in the bathroom. I stretched my arms, my four legs and my tail feeling none the worse for our little adventure in the wilderness. I continued to be surprised by the capabilities of my new chakat body. Even at the peak of health with my old body I could have never survived the things I had in the past few days. I padded over to the bathroom and discovered that Sandy was drawing another bath.

“Is there room for one more?”

“I was hoping that you’d wake up in time. I do so love having someone wash my back.”

“I know that feeling, Sandy. One condition though.”

“And that is?”

“Let’s not get anything started today. I think we need to retain all our energies for the day ahead. I have a bad feeling about going to the plant.” I eased into the tub beside Sandy and started to apply some scented bath soap to hir fur rubbing it in as I went.

“A premonition, Cali?”

“No, I really don’t believe in that sort of stuff. It just bothers me that there were only two places that knew where we were going and when we would arrive, your business and the plant. How certain are you of the staff at the business, Sandy?”

“Everyone there has been with me for at least five years. We’ve added some new people but they’re all at branch offices on Chakona and off-planet. Do you think it’s one of them?

“Are any of them humans?”

“A few but again they’re mostly in branch offices especially on Terra and the human settled worlds.”

“Would they have any access to the computer net at the office?”

“Yes but just to exchange schedules and other planning information, you know, business stuff.”

“Like our travel schedule?”

I didn’t think it was possible for the inside of a chakat’s ears to drain of any color but Sandy’s turned to an ashen white. “So there may be someone planted inside the business?”

“It’s a possibility I can’t overlook, Sandy.” Shi stayed very quiet as we finished our bath. The fur dryer was loud enough that talking comfortably wasn’t easy either.

We continued talking as we got dressed. “So what do we do now, Cali?”

“Well, how much do you know about their computer system at the steel plant?”

“I can get the complete spec if I call the office but that might tip them off to what we’re doing. We helped them install it though. They used some accounting software called TW-Accounting Plus though.”

I started to laugh. “What’s so funny, Cali?”

“Remember when I told you I wrote some software after I was revived?”

Shi nodded then hir eyes went wide. “TW… Tobias Warner?”

“YUP! I think we got ‘em now. That’s the software I wrote. It does much more in the background than just the accounting, Sandy. I even built in a secret back door for diagnostic work.”

“Well, this IS a new twist isn’t it!”

“I think we need to get moving right after breakfast. When we get to the plant I can gain access to the files easily. That may clarify the situation.”

We hurried to finish then headed for the PTV in the parking lot. I noticed something strange about it as we got close to it.

“Sandy, you locked this up last night, right?” I inhaled then wriggled my muzzle in disgust.

“Yes, I always do, Cali, why?”

“’cause it isn’t locked now and I smell something that I didn’t smell last night. Stay back while I check this out.”

“Okay.” Shi moved away from the PTV to the sidewalk.

I started by looking in the windows seeing nothing unusual. I moved around to the back of the PTV. Thanks to the flexibility of my chakat body I was able to poke my head under the PTV far enough to see the fuel tank. This was a longer-range model and it used hydrogen stored in the tank as the main fuel.

As I looked a bit closer I saw a small metal box with a short rod sticking out of one end that looked quite out of place on the tank. The odor of cheap cologne of some type was all over the box.

“SANDY! RUN! Get away! There’s a bomb under here!”

I was about twenty feet behind Sandy and almost twice that away from the van when it exploded in a huge ball of flame. The concussion wave sent me sprawling on the ground as the wall of flames caught up to me. The last thing I smelled was the odor of burned fur.

Chapter Four

I felt someone squeezing my hand as the world came oh so slowly back into focus. The sounds around me told me that I was in a hospital room. I pried my eyes open to find the Sandy’s smiling face in front of mine.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Cali!”

“Did anyone get the name of the Quange that stomped all over me? I feel like crap!” I started to move only to discover that I was in suspended in some sort of frame.

“Don’t try to move, Cali. You’re in a support frame because of some burns you have. It makes the burns heal faster if there’s no pressure on them.”

“How bad, Saandy?”

“The doctors say you’ll be out of here in a day or two. Mostly singed fur and a couple of small burn spots. Fortunately the blast was so hot that most of it was already rising when it swept over us.”

“Us? Are you hurt too?”

“Just some minor burns. I’m afraid you got the worst of it.”

“Why does my head hurt so much?”

“You got a pretty nasty cut and concussion when your head hit the pavement. You’ve been out almost a full day, love.”

“What about the plant?”

“I’ve already talked to them and then the local government. I got the plant an extension on the shutdown order in view of the situation.”

“How much did you tell the government?”

“Everything, Cali. That’s why there are a few security people in plainclothes and hospital garb scattered around here. Here’s also a uniformed guard out in the hallway at the door.”

“So what are they telling the public about the explosion? They can’t hide something like that.”

“The news networks are being told that it was a hydrogen leak. These days they’re kind of rare but still possible. I’ve already been told that the investigation team has found traces of the bomb.”

“Do they have any idea who might have planted it?”

“They think that the Humans First movement has finally wormed its way onto Darvos.”

“Humans First? Here on a planet full of taurs and morphs?”

“Yup. Those folks have really got to be off the deep end to try this on a planet where humans are definitely in the minority.”

“You got THAT right, Sandy. Can you get me a computer in here? I think I can get into their system through the network. If I can I just might be able to get the information we need to put them away.”

“Let me work on it, Cali. The government folks will provide us with anything we need. Now go back to sleep for a while. You need the rest to get better.” Sandy gave me a careful lick-kiss and hug then left to round up a computer.

I tried to get some sleep but the feeling that I was missing something wouldn’t go away. Try as I might I just couldn’t fit the pieces of the puzzle I had together to figure who did this to us and exactly why they did it. All I knew for certain was that the parties responsible didn’t want us to get to the plant. I was so exhausted that my body finally decided the issue for me sending me into a deep sleep.

When I woke up again I found that I was laying in a large hospital type bed designed for chakats. Gone was the frame I had been strapped onto and the myriad of wires and tubes that had been poking into me almost everywhere on my body. The room was quiet with the bright sunlight streaming in the windows. Sandy was stretched out on a pad next to my bed on the floor and there was a computer set up at a workstation off in the corner of the room.

I reached over for a pitcher of ice water on the stand next to the bead and groaned slightly at the pain the effort caused in my head. Sandy was beside me in moments.

“Glad to see you’re awake again, love! We were all worried about you.”

“How long have I been out this time?”

“A little over a day.”

“So I guess I’m doing quite a bit better?”

“True, I’d say you’re doing fine so far, Cali. Did you want some water? I saw you reaching for the pitcher.”

“I think right now that some milkwater might give me a bigger boost, Sandy.”

“I was hoping you’d ask.” Shi dropped her halter-top and presented hir breasts. They appeared to be a bit larger than I had noticed previously.

“It looks like you made some extra. Thank You!” I eagerly latched on to one of the offered breasts and proceeded to drain both of them much to the delight of Sandy and my own stomachs. I felt much better after Sandy’s offering but I still felt an empty spot inside. “Sandy, can I get some solid food?”

“Of course. Let me have them send up supper for us.”

“Okay. Can I get up to use the facilities?”

“Just take it slow and easy, love, and don’t leave the suite of rooms. The rest of the world has been told we’re in critical condition and aren’t expected to survive.”

“Three paws in the grave and the forth on a banana peel, eh?”

“What?”

“Sorry, I modified an old Terran saying. It means that as far as the rest of the world is concerned we’re as good as dead already.”

“That’s the theory. As soon as we can get some proof they’ll release the word that we’re getting better. They figure that we’ll be safe after that.”

Sandy left to get some food sent up as I started to stretch and work out the kinks in muscles from being restrained for so long. I was finally able to examine my body and found that the fur on my back and tail was singed and in a couple of spots was gone down to the skin. The spots weren’t very big and it looked as though the fur was already starting to come back in since there was a light fuzz visible. There was still a bandage around my head with a lump just over one eye. I left that alone and carefully slid my forepaws out of the bed until I was able to stand on them on the floor. I still felt a bit weak but otherwise my balance felt normal.

I chuckled a bit when I realized that being a chakat now felt more normal to me than being a human did just a very few days ago. My hind legs were next and other than being a bit stiff I felt reasonably well for what I had gone through. Continued urgent messages from my backside forced me to head for the bathroom in spite of a desire to see what type of computer system I was given to work with.

No matter what species I was, the relief I felt after emptying out seemed to be a universal thing. I eyed the huge shower and fur dryer but decided against using them since I didn’t know if taking a shower was a good idea yet. Sandy found me hard at work at the computer when shi returned.

“Find out anything yet, Cali?”

“Yup. Their system is connected to the net and I’m inside already. I’m in through the back door and I’m looking at the system logs at the moment. It’s too early to tell much yet though. I do know one thing, these guys aren’t professional killers or terrorists.”

“How in the world did you figure that out?”

“Think about things for a moment, Sandy. A professional would have searched the area where the shuttle crashed to make sure they found our remains even if it was in little bits. They didn’t search at all did they?”

“No, they just assumed that we couldn’t have survived.”

“And when we got to the PTV back at the hotel I asked you if you’d locked it the night before, right?”

“Sure and I told you that I did.”

“A pro would never have bothered to look inside the PTV. The tip off for me was the lock buttons were up not down. Someone looked around inside then forgot to lock the doors again. A pro would have known that the bomb on a full hydrogen tank wouldn’t leave much behind. A pro wouldn’t have needed to look in the PTV at all because whatever was in there wasn’t going to exist after the bomb went off. I think they were trying to take whatever they felt might have been of value. And then there was the stench of that cheap cologne. No professional would ever leave that kind of evidence behind if his or her victims had the sense of smell that we do.”

“So these guys are amateurs?”

“Yup, and they make mistakes that are going to hang them eventually. They’re just not thinking things through.”

Sandy looked at me for a few moments. “What aren’t you telling me about yourself, Cali?”

“Well, in my time long ago I was quite a reader of mystery stories. Things like Sherlock Holms, Hercule Poirot and other characters were very entertaining. I has stacks and stacks of books. Sadly, there isn’t much ofthat old literature that made it thru the war intact. There are a few books and old videos but it seems to be a forgotten genre.”

“So that explains how you figured all of this out! I was wondering how you seemed to know so much about this kind of stuff. Looks like I’ve acquired yet another expert for the agency doesn’t it?”

I hugged hir tightly. “Then this means that I get double the pay?”

“Nope. You got me. Isn’t that enough?”

“That’s more than enough, Sandy.” I gave hir a deep passionate kiss and hugged hir even tighter. “Let’s see if we can put a halt to this nightmare. I have some serious living to do!” I returned to the computer with a vastly renewed interest in solving the mystery.

A bit more poking around revealed that a few of the transaction logs for the plant’s pollution control systems had been edited. Since the system did periodic backups I checked the appropriate backup files. The communications logs also turned up some interesting information too. I downloaded copies of all of the files to my computer then dumped out of the connection to the computer at the plant.

The next stop was the computer at Sandstorm Consulting. I had discovered the back door installed by the agency that set up the system just before we left Chakona and used it to gain access without alerting any of the office staff. Another check of the communications logs yielded some additional information. I saved local copies of the files then logged out of the system. Sandy was watching over my shoulder as I worked.

“So? Spill it! What did you find?”

I picked up the first batch of sheets from the printer containing the communications records from the plant. “See here? This is a message from your Terran office in Melbourne to the plant. It was sent just after the update went into your system that we were coming here to visit the plant. And see this?”

Shi nodded. “That’s the email from the office to the plant telling them that we were still alive after the shuttle crash.”

“Were you able to get the actual messages?”

“No, those were erased but like I said, these guys aren’t pros. They forgot to alter the com system logs. The one thing they did do was to alter the transaction logs for the monitoring system to not report the changes they made to the system. The changes forced the shut down of the air scrubbers causing the pollution to be released. I discovered that by looking at the backup files. There were significant differences in the files. That’s what tipped me off to the problem.”

“Names, we need names!”

I handed Sandy another sheet of paper. “There they are. But we don’t have enough proof to put them away. They can claim someone else tampered with the files.”

“So what do we do about it?”

I grabbed a piece of paper and jotted a few lines down then handed the sheet to Sandy. Shi read it then looked at me. “Are you sure you want to do this, Cali?”

“It’s the only way, Sandy. Go ahead and do it now.”

Almost an hour later a message arrived at the manufacturing plant computer. I was logged on and managed to grab a copy of the message before it got erased by the two users that received it. I handed to printout to Sandy. The message read…

“To all Sandwalker Employees:

Schedule change: Arriving back in Amistad in another day. Have discovered critical information in the Darvos project. Expect to have the job completed in twelve hours. Currently awaiting verification of information to proceed to conclusion. — Sandwalker.”

Below the text of our fake message was…:

“Take them out NOW. Critical we are not discovered or base of operations will be compromised. No survivors and NO SCREWUPS this time. Debbie Q.”

It came from Sandy’s Melbourne office and was clearly addressed to two of the human maintenance staff at the plant. The names were the same ones I had uncovered earlier.

“THAT BITCH! That’s Deborah Quentin. I hired her three months ago just before I came back here. When I get my paws on her I’ll…”

I snatched the sheet out of hir hands. “You’ll do nothing of the kind, Sandy. Let the humans back there deal with her. We have some other trouble headed our way at the moment, remember?”

“All right. But why my office and not somewhere else?”

“Think about it for a moment. You have a huge network that spans at least twelve planets in several star systems. Just your private communications system is worth being able to use for some people like the Humans First movement. Your staff must send thousands of messages a day. Just a few messages buried in all that traffic would be hard to check unless you knew something was going on like we did.”

“What do they mean by base of operations?”

“What kind of value would that plant have to a group like Humans First, Sandy?”

“I see. That plant has tons of cargo going in and out every day. The Darvosan customs service just can’t paw thru every lump of ore so they rely on scans to detect hidden contraband materials. The problem is that some of the materials that plant needs will shield the scans. They could smuggle almost anything into Darvos in a shipment like that.”

“That’s right, Sandy, and the plant owns a considerable distribution network of its own too. If someone got control of that they could ship contraband supplies all over the planet and even to other worlds almost undetected!”

“No wonder there’s an offer on the table to buy the plant if the current owners can’t fix the problem. I’ll bet if the government digs deep enough we’ll find the Humans First movement in control of that dummy company!”

“Now you see why I had you send that message, Sandy. I think we’re going to have some company.”

“I agree.”

In the center of what can only be described as a three-ring media circus Sandy and I were moved to what we were told was a secure house in the outskirts of Darvosa.

Several hours after the last of the media left the area there was a small explosion that blew the front door to the house inward. As the dust cleared two large men stepped into the room.

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty! Where are you, you big freaks? Wanna come out and play?”

Over the smell of smoke the odor of cheap cologne drifted my way. I stepped into the doorway from one of the adjoining rooms.

“So it was you that planted the bomb on the PTV. You left your cologne all over that thing. I remember the stench. Can’t you afford something better than that swill or maybe Debbie isn’t paying you enough to afford it?”

His eyes went wide when I mentioned the name. “Yes, Brad. We know all about you. The evidence has already gone to the authorities. You’re just digging the hole deeper doing this. Give it up.”

Another man stepped into the room. “Come ON man. We gotta get this job done and get outta here NOW! We need to get this place on fire and make it look like these two died in the blaze.”

Sandy stepped into the room now. “Yup. Old Garret here was at the crash site too. I remember both voices. Chakats have pretty good hearing you know.”

“Yeah, it was us that shot the ship down and planted the bomb on the PTV. So what! You bitches are history.” Brad pulled an old Terran revolver from his jacket and fired at Sandy as shi tried to dive for cover. The bullet hit hir in the upper torso then shi crumpled in a heap on the floor.

In an instant the rage I felt inside at the shooting of my mate was overwhelming. In what to me felt like less than a heartbeat I had knocked Garret unconscious and trapped Brad on the floor with the gun knocked out of his hand. He froze in terror as my hand paw pressed down on his throat heavy enough to make his breathing difficult. My claws were gliding out and in, pricking at the tender skin on his neck. It was all I could do to restrain myself from raking my claws across his throat ending the life of this miserable piece of human shit.

“CALI! DON’T!” I froze as I looked over to see Sandy clutching at the wound. “Think, Cali! THINK about what you’re doing!”

I stayed still flexing my claws in and out watching the terror build in the eyes of the man whose life I held under my paw. After a few more seconds I retracted my claws and raked my rough paw pads across the man’s throat leaving some deep scratch marks.

“Remember this HUMAN!” I roared inches from his terrified face. “You owe your life to a CHAKAT!”

He started to try to get up and I rammed the heel of my hand into his forehead knocking him out. “Nice to know some of my old tricks still work.”

At that moment the authorities came running into the room. “Took you long enough! Did you get all of that?”

Windstar, a tiger striped chakat from the local police department, walked over and put hir arm around my shoulders. “We got everything. That was a master stroke of genius you had to trade the news about your release for the networks recording equipment and cameras. When they learned what the stakes were they tripped all over each other to help.”

I looked down at the two humans lying on the floor. “I almost killed this one, I came so close, Windstar. Why didn’t you come in sooner and stop me? How did you know that I wouldn’t kill him?”

“We didn’t. I suspected that you wouldn’t though. Good work. Umm… why did you do that at the end?”

“For someone like him the worst thing possible is having his life spared by one of the ‘freaks’ he was so intent on destroying. It will haunt him for the rest of his life.”

“I can guarantee it will be a nice long life in a prison somewhere taken care of by the very people they wanted to hurt the most. Imagine those two having to rely on chakats and morphs for their survival.”

“Kind of poetic in a bizarre way isn’t it?”

I watched while Sandy was loaded onto a gurney for transport to the hospital to have hir wound treated. I stayed with hir as much as they would let me for the first few days. Fortunately the bullet had missed hir heart damaging just the muscle tissue in hir upper abdomen.

Epilogue - - - - -

Sandy was in the hospital for about a week while the wound healed enough for hir to return home. Viv arranged for the rental of another shuttle to take us all home. This time the trip went without incident as we returned to the spaceport in Amistad.

The media coverage of our return surprised me completely. To hear the press talk about what we had done you would have thought we fought off an alien invasion just by ourselves. Fortunately for us, things calmed down as the trail of the two saboteurs started a week later. A lawyer sent from Terra to defend them argued that they could never get a fair trial on Darvos and demanded the pair be extradited to Terra for trial. If a jury were to be selected on Darvos the rules started that the members represent a cross-section of the population of the planet by percentage. That meant it would be a jury composed mostly of chakats, other taurs and morphs with maybe one or two humans. Being quite aware of how that would look to the other planets, the judicial system was forced to grant the extradition request.

When the prisoners and their lawyer mysteriously disappeared on the trip to Terra the firestorm of protest created a huge debate. Many suggested that Professor Oceanwalker’s process be used as an opportunity for others to have a taste of what being chakat or other species was like, sort of let the punishment fit the crime. I had to inwardly admit that it seemed much more reasonable to me than for the offender to spend years of wasted time in a prison somewhere.

Sandy and I were relaxing in the living room after we stuffed ourselves with another huge pan full of my homemade lasagna.

“So is this whole mess really over, Cali?”

“It will never be over. Since Humans First got on Darvos, they can do it again. We’ll need to be more diligent about the people coming to this world too. Darvos could have been a stepping off point for Humans First to a lot of other worlds including Chakona.”

Shi snuggled up beside me and gave me a very nice lick-kiss. “So what are you going to do now, Cali? Are you going to stay around or are you going to go out and see what you’ve missed all these years?”

“Well, if a certain chakat that I’ve grown very close to will still have me I was thinking of staying around.”

Sandy got a look of sadness on hir face. “So you’re going to live with Redmane are you?”

“No silly. I only took hir up on hir offer of help when I went into rut and you were still hurting from the wound. Besides, your emotions are giving you away, love. You’re so excited that you’re going to split wide open.”

“Can’t I hide anything from you?”

“No, not any more, Sandy.” I wrapped my tail around hirs.

A big smile spread across hir muzzle. “When did you learn to do that?”

“You were right about one thing. Red is a marvelous teacher! Now I think I’m going to need your help. You see, I’ll be coming into heat in a little while.”

Shi pulled me close and nearly hugged the stuffing out of me. “I know I can help with that!”

“I’m ready, Sandy. I’m ready to take the next step.”

“But you’ve already experienced…”

“I meant I want to have a cub. Sandy. I’m a chakat now with a wonderful mate. I can think of nothing more important than raising a cub with you.”

“But don’t you want to go back to Terra? What about your visa? You’ve only got a 60 day visitors permit.”

“There’s nothing left for me on Terra. The few friends I had I can invite for a visit some time or I can go to see them on one of your trips. As for the visa, I’ve accepted the government’s generous offer of permanent resident status. It seems I’m a citizen of Chakona now.”

“Come on, my love, I think we can make a proper chakat out of you tonight.” Shi pulled at my arm until I followed hir into the bedroom then closed the door behind us.
 
 
 

 
 
A Sandstorm and Calico Adventure: The Beginning  © 2004 by Robert Arnold