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More from Charrio
Lost Dog on Chakona (Revised)
Part One
Written By, Charrio (Charles Uriarte)
Dedicated to Seth Triggs, a wonderful writer and artist.
Thank you so much for the support and inspiration.
The planet Proxis, fifth orbiting a yellow star named Celphi-Alpha, starting point to the Humans who call the system space. They evolved here alone in the belief they were the only advanced race. Struggling through time and cultural evolution onward to space and beyond. Along the way they made the race of constructs known as Skupples. A small animal/human hybrid made originally to be designer pets, living toys and promoted with many shows and ads. As wars broke out they modified the now common Skupple from a pet to the battlefield. Making Canids, a larger more aggressive construct, kept from full humanoid form, to keep it from looking too human much the way Skupples were kept. Canids and Skupples had become a symbiotic species to Humans after many generations but always under the guidance of Man. Centuries past and Humans aided by constructs colonized several moons and another planet they named Furegon, after the numerous anthro species native to it. It was here in orbit around the greenish blue world that the Human space corps were launching a new vessel hoping to take that next step into faster than light travel. Its here our story begins.
**************************************************
"Starting pre-launch check." Tiggs informed Station command, clicking a few buttons on his control held in his paw. The mini readouts listing all ship's status reports, "Sir, my section reports green!" Tiggs says turning to Jimson his Human counterpart. Jimson stood five feet,, ten inches, wearing a science core engineer deck suit dark grey in color marked with several glowing patches indicating rank and division of science. Tiggs was a Skupple small in height at two feet, three inches but large in intelligence and love for his human partner.
Born in a litter of four to a flight commander, Tiggs was destined to join the Space Corps. Most Skupples tended to follow in the parent's footpaws. Tiggs was reddish brown in fur color and striped by black on the back and haunches. "Start the secondary systems checks. Copper give me a review of flight path." Jimson ordered and turned to his own command console on his chair.
Tiggs walked off down the bridge, passing several crew mates and their Skupple companions. He had two brothers on the ship, both looking much like him. The Bridge was small and cramped with Control consoles, chair stations and the main monitors for the captain. In the center was the starcharts where Jimson was reviewing the flight path. Indeed, Tiggs was rather special in being assigned the Captain as his counterpart. They had both gone through the academy together, as all new recruits are assigned a Skupple companion making them a permanent duo. Living and working the same jobs at times, the two grew very close as the years went by. Jimson was just as much a brother to him as any of his litter mates.
The Skupple completed his tasks, checking in with other crew and making sure all was ready for the launch. The vessel which Tiggs was helping get ready was the "Pending Gateway," an experimental ship intended to test the first StarDrive, a prototype Sub Space engine.
It had taken Quantum Artificial Intelligences years to come up with a prototype possessing a survivability ratio Humans deemed acceptable. The main problem with subspace travel—in theory—was that you were ripping yourself from normal space. Time flows at a constant here in normal space unless one is in a large gravity well. In subspace, time has a varying effect and needs to be compensated using Subspace fields. If you had miscalculated, you could end up a thousand or maybe even a million years difference.
It was vital that all systems were functioning at peak capacity; even the ship's AI was a new generation. Quantum AIs were a marvel of Skupple and Human science. Each made of energy instead of programmed hardware, they could be held on almost any device that could support the charge they called a soul. As AIs were beings of programmed energy, like a static charge or electric engram, this made them incredibly versatile and most had no idea how they actually worked. Quantum Artificial Intelligences were actually something much much deeper. Beings of logic and living between realms on a different level of existence, A QAI was actually an Alien intelligence which no Human had any idea about. —But more on this at a later time.—
Following several rounds of additional pre launch checks Tiggs and Jimson were at the command chair, its several small holo screens operating in unison showing the ship’s many sensor readouts. Tiggs was seated at his Skupple command chair, built above and suspended on the ceiling with several other Skupple crew, all busy making sure the task was ready and done. Launch was only an hour away and time was sailing by. Soon the crew was on stand by the feelings of excitement could be felt almost palpably so.
"You are all go for launch, Pending Gateway. Fly safe guys." Relayed command over the ships comms, making everyone of the 37 crew cheer and start launch procedure. The ship released its clamps from the station and drifts slowly away, once at a safer distance starts its engines and plots a course away from the station and Planet.
**********************************
Jimson: "Initiating StarDrive in 10." he said over the comms, making sure everyone was seated and ready for the jump.
No one had any idea what to really expect; this was the first trial run of the experimental drive. They were to use it for a total of ten seconds to see how far the distance was traveled, leaving a buoy and plot the return course and engage completing the mission.
Copper: "8 seconds till drive engaged," spoke the ship’s Quantum A.I. with it's digital voice which always had a synthetic quality.
Tiggs: Taking a look over the flashing readouts, "All systems are checking green Sir."
Copper: "Powering up drive polarity cells, 4 seconds till engaged."
Everyone held their breath as the ships air was charged with energy from the drives core, making the fur and hair on everyone stand up and bodies tingle. The ship’s exterior field generators lit up and sprung to life. A subspace field began to form, enveloping the ship. Then, the fields held and pushed the ship forward at unknown speeds. The ship's crew were in null time—not feeling anything or seeing more than a white light while in the new space.
No one had any idea what to expect, and the computers and ship’s AI were in charge using the sensors and calculations to see them through. Traveling through Subspace was a first for Humans in their exploration of space, leaving the current universe and time line. The Subspace field generators kept the ship safe and in its own time frame. Without such devices and additional precautions they could slip ahead countless years and space would drift accordingly making them appear anywhere as galaxies drifted.
The Humans sending their first ship into subspace had no idea that many other races and ships were also adding traffic. Traveling along, the ship’s fields bumped along the side of another larger vessel’s; the larger vessel’s crew annoyed flared their fields to bump back. This caused the fields on the Human ship—its creators never conceiving encountering other vessels in transit—to buckle and collapse.
The ship was thrown out of subspace and hurled at incredible speeds to the nearest gravity well, which happened to be a yellow dwarf star. The crew, now thrown back into normal space had little time to steady the tumbling ship as it was flung toward the 4th planet of the alien star. The Captain and Tiggs managed to stabilize the ship and bring it into a controlled crash.
Looking up into the night’s sky a pair of small yellow eyes watches as a ball of fire streaks across making a terrible roaring boom. Fur all bristled and puffed out she mews and races across the sandy beach terrified of the incoming ball of fire. Coming close enough to see the outer hull red from entry and flaming as small conduits and exposed cables burn.
Inside the crew were engaging crash procedures as they impacted. Tiggs was strapped in and Jimson was making sure a helmsman was secure when the ship hit ground. Tiggs blacked out on impact and only awoke to the constant droning of the alerts. The bridge was illuminated with emergency lighting and seemed to be mostly intact—an incredible feat of engineering. The lights were flashing and following a direction; Copper was apparently offline or incapable of responding in normal fashion.
Looking around and taking a whiff, Tiggs could smell the fumes leaking inside the bridge and could tell the air was getting worse by the second. Running over to Jimson who was barely alive, his breathing was shallow and had lacerations all over his face and arms bleeding badly. Using an emergency stim, Tiggs gets Jimson to open his eyes; they quickly became blank and glassy. Crying and following his training Tiggs follows the emergency lights to the airlock, Copper was still active he thought, but comms were out.
The Skupple hit the security panel and taking a emergency pack along with a environmental shield, and flipped open a manual input to the ships computer. The display was online, and blinked the ready light, allowing Tiggs to use his data comm and connects allowing Copper to leap. Being a collection of pure energy, keeping his data alive was just a matter of allowing the device to make the connection. Copper moved from the comparatively huge space of the ship to a much smaller home, hopefully, he thought for a minimal time.
Next the small spacefarer entered the emergency hatch, sealing it. The gases filling the rest of the ship were sealed off in this small pocket with the other door leading out into this alien world. This afforded several moments to converse with Copper and try to find out what happened.
Tiggs: "Copper Status." Tiggs barked upset and emotional, he was trained for missions and the dangers of space travel, but not for military combat or extended hardships. Just losing his Human partner who had trained and lived with him for over a decade was hitting him hard, along with the loss of the other crew.
Copper: "Accessing ship’s records..." The AI was a deal slower after being shunted into a mobile device.
Tiggs put the Data comm down and waited, wiping his teary eyes and checking himself over in the dim yellow emergency lights in the airlock.
Copper: "The ship is leaking coolant and the power reactor is offline, safety mode engaged. The sensors are currently offline and according to records we are in unknown space," Copper informed him in a matter-of-fact way. A.I.s were not a very emotional thing.
Copper: "Furthermore our sensors, before going offline detected many unknown vessels and satellites orbiting the planet. We are in alien territory; there is no record of attack, we were kicked out of subspace." Copper added listing the events as they happened.
The Skupple was crying still and barely able to speak. "Are there any other survivors, can you do a lifescan from the pad?" Tiggs asked hoping.
Copper: "Scanning range will be limited, but should cover the vessel. Beginning scan, it will take a moment," Copper said before initiating and the blue laser light which was just for visual effect went across the room and across Tigg's face tormented in grief.
Tiggs could only think about Jimson and how close they were, being assigned at the academy and their career through the science core. Tiggs and Jimson were specialists in Delclonic drive designs, the current speedster among human vessels. They were also well versed in subspace field mechanics, as far as Human science was able to know at the time.
Sitting there lost in thought, Tiggs had to be signaled for Copper to get his attention. He didn't even notice when Copper had scanned him and mentioned his emotional state. A direct laser in the face was the direct action Copper had to take to get his mind back to task, this was just a harmless beam of light, yet still blinding.
Tiggs: "Report." He said sniffling and rubbing his eyes.
Copper: "I have finished my sweep and am unable to register any further lifesigns. I believe the coolant leak has extinguished them." Copper said coldly as an AI usually does when talking about life.
Tiggs couldn't take it he howled and balled up crying. His nerves were breaking—he was trained for a crash landing but not alone. Never had he been trained to be the only survivor, and certainly never trained without Jimson at his side making anything more tolerable. Tiggs, a Skupple born from labs and bred to be a constant human companion was feeling a sense of loss only someone who has been mated or married for decades can feel. He was lost in his mind, grieving and sobbing his loss. He was seriously considering just staying until the air ran out and quitting.
"Commander TIGGS! Respond! I repeat, COMMANDER TIGGS RESPOND!" Copper was demanding Tigg's attention even though he was crying out his grief. It took several moments of requests until finally Copper emitted a high frequency shriek alarm.
Tiggs, pulled from his own misery was startled to see his Data comm flashing a radiation warning with a command to evacuate. He didn't think about it and just hit the open sequence on the door, he didn't really care either one fate was just longer. The door made the sounds of gasses equalizing and glided open to the side. The air was cool and warm; the smells of life, seas, grasses, and animals flooded in. Tiggs was instantly alert, and distracted from his grief as the world was exposed before him.
Before him was a jungle shore with trees and grasses leading to the ocean behind; the sun was down and the sky was shining with its two moons completely alien to Tiggs.
"We must evacuate!" Copper chimed, alerting Tiggs to move.
Tiggs grabbed his survival pack and the Environmental shield, the shield was nothing more than a light forcefield which would make an environment pleasant to the user, capable of projecting a field ten meters and considered a wonderful device. Stepping out onto the sandy shore and exiting to a safe distance, the view of the wreck was impressive. The ship had hit the water and skipped, driving itself into the sandy dunes and woody seashore. Light fires quickly went out with the moist wood refusing to keep a flame.
Copper: "It appears the ships secondary drive core has had a rupture, Emergency beacon is inactive. I've been trying to reroute the commands but I belive the radiation is making extensive circuits fail." Copper began his report.
Tiggs sat here listening to the state of the ship and the wild space around him, His survival pack was full of useful things. None of it could take him home or return his lost friends though, so he just dropped a lightball and waited. He put Copper on the task of locking down the ship in case aliens arrived investigating.
Copper: "Ship is now in security mode, any functioning defenses are now active. I will have to disconnect from the memory core fully to completely engage." Copper warned him.
Tiggs: "Do it." He said with surety, this was part of normal training. One doesn't leave a advanced ship to be plundered.
Copper: "Security Active, my connection has been cut, operating at 5% capacity" Copper said in a much more weakened tone.
Tiggs watched as all the lights and power visibly displayed was extinguished. He was in the dark now alone with only a lightball giving off heat and a pale yellow glow in a simulated fire’s glow. He placed his Data comm in his pocket and put Copper to standby mode saving power.
The Skupple sat there alone in the sand and began to howl out his loss and grief, though his cries and sorrow didn't go unnoticed. A pare of small yellow eyes were watching him; they had been for some time now. They had been watching when the door glided open and when the small morph came out and now watched as he expressed his grief rocking back and forth howling to the sky.
Touched and feeling the aching sadness from afar the little Chakat moved closer, hir fur was a charcoal black and hir steps light. As shi came closer hir paw stepped on a fallen leaf making a crunching rustle—Tiggs was too far in sorrow to notice. Coming closer and mewing softly, the Chakat was actually feeling the pain at this range and began to cry in the pain and ache.
Tiggs was crying out his sorrow when he heard a mewling cry. Barely able to see through his tears, he looked behind to his right and saw the Alien. Standing at four feet, eight inches, the alien was larger, feline in scent and partial body. Being a Chakat, hir human like torso and arms made hir one of the strangest things Tiggs had ever seen. He could see however that shi was in pain; hir face was wet with tears and seemed to be in a definitely non aggressive posture. Scared and startled, Tiggs whirled around and bared his teeth growling, his hackles raised and taking a defensive stance.
Tiggs had absolutely no intention of harming or fighting but was doing his best to show otherwise in a fearful display. The small Chakat yelped and cried before bounding off into the bush silently, making only a snap or rustle as shi gained distance.
Alerted to the fact he was not alone anymore, and not sure what was coming after such an alien form showed up, he grabbed his pack and searched out the laser welder. The laser welder was a light arms multi tool with which one could cut metals, weld, heat a surface and in emergency become a light laser. Not the best choice, but when stuck it gives the user a sense of security. Tiggs extinguished the light ball and hid, his nerves close to breaking and scared even more so by such an alien world. Who knows what evil or insane enemies lurk here, he had seem many many movies and science fiction stories and every sound and shadow was just another chance for them to get him.
It didn't take long for them to find him; unknown to Tiggs the planet's alien ships were scanning the wrecked craft and the hidden lifeform below from high altitude. Noting the increasing degradation of the coolant and growing radiation spike. Dropping down with frightening speed the ship and its partner descended above the wreck, one shielding the vessel with a faintly glowing field projected off the ship.
Tiggs was scared so badly he defecated and sprayed his alarm scent. Copper however was feeling something akin to a fly touching a web as it walked by. Powering up and scanning as one would look about, Copper felt and touched the alien ship's computers. Reading the banks as one reads an open book and unnoticed Copper gathered info. The ships crews saw a minor spike in background energy readings but assumed it was the radiation spike. As they had never encountered a AI like Copper—a collection of energy—not programming, he slipped in like a fly on the wall.
Seeing the data readouts Copper saw that Aliens were well aware of Tiggs and his makeshift weapon. They had his hiding place on several monitors, zooming in on what was in his hand and the gear they could see on their sensors. Copper could only watch as Tiggs shook and held his position afraid to move as the ships sent down crew in shuttles. Landing near the crashed vessel but out of the danger of radiation, they fanned out directly toward Tiggs, lights and what looked like weapons in their paws and hands.
These aliens were mostly like the alien he saw earlier, animal bodies with a humanoid torso almost just added like an addition to some feral beast to make it some new creature. Not to be taken he grabbed his survival bag and began to retreat. Copper was able to cause a computer error the ship had no idea how to fix since it was being altered at an amazing speed, Copper was just buzzing a form of communication between energy beings like it, but the ships sensors were blacked out for a moment as they corrected.
This made Tiggs’ exact location lock break, and Copper chimed in silent mode to him to run. Tiggs didn't need any nudging to go, he was off like a blur, just passing through an alien searchlight to dive into the deep cover and foliage. He was in an alien land with possible hostile forces trying to capture the ship. Copper buzzed and relayed standard procedure for such a case. Ships and weapons were NOT to be captured, they were to be destroyed or disabled permanently so the enemy couldn't recover them. Copper had to repeat the orders a few times making them flash on the com till Tiggs gave the final order.
The aliens around the ship got an emergency signal and ran for cover, the alien ships above both engaged some shielding which wrapped the ships in a electric blue aura and the waters and sands below pushed away parting gently as the fields were expanded to the ship below. The ship that had brought Tiggs and held the bodies of his lost crew detonated. The blast was impressive considering the power core and weapons batteries were offline. The alien vessels were rocked by the blast, maxing out the radiation shielding, and the crew were down flat with the blast. The explosion was only a few hundred meters but continued to burn as the reactor core was without any containment or coolant. It gave off a massive heat, warming the area and marking the finality of the fact Tiggs was stuck here.
Jumping at a soft mew nearby, Tiggs turned around raising his laser to bear. The action was all the notice the being watching him needed, the aggressive act of pointing a possible weapon. Looking at the sound the last thing Tiggs saw at the moment was the black furred Chakat he had seen before, hir yellow eyes were locked with his as he was zapped from the side. Blinding pain and numbness were to follow as he hit the sandy ground and blacked out.
Copper had linked with the ships computers and felt the ache of some form of electrical charge hitting Tiggs. Instinctively, as if to retreat from the pain, Copper leaped from Tiggs’ Data comm and aboard the vessel and began his own type of recon.
Tiggs had no feeling or awareness at this point; he was out cold, over stressed and spent as the stunner had hit an easy mark. Gently lifted up by a pair of strong arms clothed in a worn lab coat, Tiggs was taken and moved away from the searching aliens. The small Chakat followed the man who carried Tiggs’ still form, his fur dirty and eyes looking aged in the past few hours more than he had in his entire life.
Time slipped by and Tiggs fell into a deep sleep, his body more tired than he knew, and he had terrible dreams. Dreams of monsters attacking and killing his friends—his dreams were so disturbing that he began to bark and growl in a sleeping fit. He was not alone however; a paw gently cooled his forehead with a wet cloth. The wet sensation and the touch broke through and calmed him letting him sleep easier.
Purring softly and taking a good strong read, smelling and searching him with hir talents, shi sighs and a small smile crosses her muzzle. Softly getting up and quietly padding off, shi leaves the room. It was an empty one except for the bedding, a sink and toilet, a light recessed in the ceiling gave off a yellow/white light dimly as it was in low mode. Closing the the door it makes an audible click and hiss as it locks tight.
Just outside the room, the black furred Chakat meets up with the man who carried him in.
Blackout: "Doctor, do you think he will be okay?" the smaller Chakat asked, concerned.
Dr. Devller: "He should be fine, he's very much in shock tho. I scanned the hairs left on my coat, we have a very interesting find here Blacky," the doctor said with mild excitement.
The two were part of a science team working in secret, gathering biological data and breaking it down genetically They had been there for years hidden, taking samples of the sea life and surrounding isles. The goal here was simple to catalog and identify all avaliable species, breaking down their genetics and finding what was useful. Many new drugs and medical improvements were made this way, not to mention quite a few illegal constructs and improvements.
Dr. Devller and his team had been breaking many laws but were hidden thanks to the ships’ cloaking fields and counter measures. Even Blackout, his assistant was engineered to be a defense; shi had the very unique ability to block scans or empathic probes or telepathy. Shi was also given a few empathic abilities of her own, letting her probe while shi was hidden.
The two walked on down the hall passing a few lab techs, discussing their new find. It would seem they had a new species and one artificially made at that.
"Do you think we can use him?" Shi asked hoping they could, if they couldn't most subjects were terminated. One of the many cruel mission rules that any non useful intelligent being be destroyed in case of escape or betrayal of the project.
Dr. Devller: Rubbing his bearded chin in thought, "I think we may, I've noticed several genetic markers when I glanced his genome scans. He seems to be designed as a slave race," he said as a cold matter of fact.
Blackout nodded and sighed; shi knew well of slave races, her own Chakat race being a construct who came about after a time of slavery of morphs before freedoms and rights were freely given. Saying nothing but noting the sad fact in her growing likes for the little alien.
Dr Devller: Stopping and looking directly at Blackout, "I think he may be of Human design as well, not of any labs work I know about though." He said a little confused as he was familiar with most known companies or labs techniques and flare for style.
The team here on Chakona were working Illegally for a large research corporation who used illegal methods to push their profits and limits of knowledge. The team had been here for little over a year working undiscovered and even now as the ships above scanned for Tiggs in the last known quadrants their scanners passed over the hidden vessel in the sandy seabed, buried with stealth systems finely tuned and the scanners never saw a thing.
Copper was having a wonderful time in the ship's computers and was freely on both ships as they communicated, simply riding the energy about. He was learning a lot his enjoyment was epic as he discovered they were on a planet called Chakona and that the crews had no idea where Tiggs was. Copper could not feel the Data comm at the moment but felt no need to worry as he was exploring.
Tiggs moaned and woke, the room dimly lit from above, looking around at the empty room with only a sink and a toilet. His body ached and he whimpered as he knew he was captured, the room smelled of chemical cleaners and of aliens. The scent of Man, the scent of Humans and some animal. Feline, he'd smelled them before but different, mixed, a hybrid.
Tiggs whined again his mind clicking, he was captured by Humans who made animal constructs. He was sure confused, there were no other humans to his knowledge who had constructs like the ones he smelled and saw briefly. The only Human colonies he knew about were Proxis, Euquine moon base and Furegon. Euquine was briefly settled but abandoned once they found out about the nightmares.
Tiggs leaned into the corner and whimpered, checking his suit to find everything gone—his pockets had been emptied and his Data comm missing. He had no idea what was going on or who had captured him, and what the strange alien constructs were, he could only whimper and wait for their next move.
End Part One.
To Be Continued.
Story and Tiggs ©
charrio
Editing huge thanks to
sethtriggs
Chakat Universe Created by,
goldfur
Additional Skupple Info,
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11571160/
Skupple AD,
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11767981/
Blackout and Doctor Devller
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11791904/
Part One
Written By, Charrio (Charles Uriarte)
Dedicated to Seth Triggs, a wonderful writer and artist.
Thank you so much for the support and inspiration.
The planet Proxis, fifth orbiting a yellow star named Celphi-Alpha, starting point to the Humans who call the system space. They evolved here alone in the belief they were the only advanced race. Struggling through time and cultural evolution onward to space and beyond. Along the way they made the race of constructs known as Skupples. A small animal/human hybrid made originally to be designer pets, living toys and promoted with many shows and ads. As wars broke out they modified the now common Skupple from a pet to the battlefield. Making Canids, a larger more aggressive construct, kept from full humanoid form, to keep it from looking too human much the way Skupples were kept. Canids and Skupples had become a symbiotic species to Humans after many generations but always under the guidance of Man. Centuries past and Humans aided by constructs colonized several moons and another planet they named Furegon, after the numerous anthro species native to it. It was here in orbit around the greenish blue world that the Human space corps were launching a new vessel hoping to take that next step into faster than light travel. Its here our story begins.
**************************************************
"Starting pre-launch check." Tiggs informed Station command, clicking a few buttons on his control held in his paw. The mini readouts listing all ship's status reports, "Sir, my section reports green!" Tiggs says turning to Jimson his Human counterpart. Jimson stood five feet,, ten inches, wearing a science core engineer deck suit dark grey in color marked with several glowing patches indicating rank and division of science. Tiggs was a Skupple small in height at two feet, three inches but large in intelligence and love for his human partner.
Born in a litter of four to a flight commander, Tiggs was destined to join the Space Corps. Most Skupples tended to follow in the parent's footpaws. Tiggs was reddish brown in fur color and striped by black on the back and haunches. "Start the secondary systems checks. Copper give me a review of flight path." Jimson ordered and turned to his own command console on his chair.
Tiggs walked off down the bridge, passing several crew mates and their Skupple companions. He had two brothers on the ship, both looking much like him. The Bridge was small and cramped with Control consoles, chair stations and the main monitors for the captain. In the center was the starcharts where Jimson was reviewing the flight path. Indeed, Tiggs was rather special in being assigned the Captain as his counterpart. They had both gone through the academy together, as all new recruits are assigned a Skupple companion making them a permanent duo. Living and working the same jobs at times, the two grew very close as the years went by. Jimson was just as much a brother to him as any of his litter mates.
The Skupple completed his tasks, checking in with other crew and making sure all was ready for the launch. The vessel which Tiggs was helping get ready was the "Pending Gateway," an experimental ship intended to test the first StarDrive, a prototype Sub Space engine.
It had taken Quantum Artificial Intelligences years to come up with a prototype possessing a survivability ratio Humans deemed acceptable. The main problem with subspace travel—in theory—was that you were ripping yourself from normal space. Time flows at a constant here in normal space unless one is in a large gravity well. In subspace, time has a varying effect and needs to be compensated using Subspace fields. If you had miscalculated, you could end up a thousand or maybe even a million years difference.
It was vital that all systems were functioning at peak capacity; even the ship's AI was a new generation. Quantum AIs were a marvel of Skupple and Human science. Each made of energy instead of programmed hardware, they could be held on almost any device that could support the charge they called a soul. As AIs were beings of programmed energy, like a static charge or electric engram, this made them incredibly versatile and most had no idea how they actually worked. Quantum Artificial Intelligences were actually something much much deeper. Beings of logic and living between realms on a different level of existence, A QAI was actually an Alien intelligence which no Human had any idea about. —But more on this at a later time.—
Following several rounds of additional pre launch checks Tiggs and Jimson were at the command chair, its several small holo screens operating in unison showing the ship’s many sensor readouts. Tiggs was seated at his Skupple command chair, built above and suspended on the ceiling with several other Skupple crew, all busy making sure the task was ready and done. Launch was only an hour away and time was sailing by. Soon the crew was on stand by the feelings of excitement could be felt almost palpably so.
"You are all go for launch, Pending Gateway. Fly safe guys." Relayed command over the ships comms, making everyone of the 37 crew cheer and start launch procedure. The ship released its clamps from the station and drifts slowly away, once at a safer distance starts its engines and plots a course away from the station and Planet.
**********************************
Jimson: "Initiating StarDrive in 10." he said over the comms, making sure everyone was seated and ready for the jump.
No one had any idea what to really expect; this was the first trial run of the experimental drive. They were to use it for a total of ten seconds to see how far the distance was traveled, leaving a buoy and plot the return course and engage completing the mission.
Copper: "8 seconds till drive engaged," spoke the ship’s Quantum A.I. with it's digital voice which always had a synthetic quality.
Tiggs: Taking a look over the flashing readouts, "All systems are checking green Sir."
Copper: "Powering up drive polarity cells, 4 seconds till engaged."
Everyone held their breath as the ships air was charged with energy from the drives core, making the fur and hair on everyone stand up and bodies tingle. The ship’s exterior field generators lit up and sprung to life. A subspace field began to form, enveloping the ship. Then, the fields held and pushed the ship forward at unknown speeds. The ship's crew were in null time—not feeling anything or seeing more than a white light while in the new space.
No one had any idea what to expect, and the computers and ship’s AI were in charge using the sensors and calculations to see them through. Traveling through Subspace was a first for Humans in their exploration of space, leaving the current universe and time line. The Subspace field generators kept the ship safe and in its own time frame. Without such devices and additional precautions they could slip ahead countless years and space would drift accordingly making them appear anywhere as galaxies drifted.
The Humans sending their first ship into subspace had no idea that many other races and ships were also adding traffic. Traveling along, the ship’s fields bumped along the side of another larger vessel’s; the larger vessel’s crew annoyed flared their fields to bump back. This caused the fields on the Human ship—its creators never conceiving encountering other vessels in transit—to buckle and collapse.
The ship was thrown out of subspace and hurled at incredible speeds to the nearest gravity well, which happened to be a yellow dwarf star. The crew, now thrown back into normal space had little time to steady the tumbling ship as it was flung toward the 4th planet of the alien star. The Captain and Tiggs managed to stabilize the ship and bring it into a controlled crash.
Looking up into the night’s sky a pair of small yellow eyes watches as a ball of fire streaks across making a terrible roaring boom. Fur all bristled and puffed out she mews and races across the sandy beach terrified of the incoming ball of fire. Coming close enough to see the outer hull red from entry and flaming as small conduits and exposed cables burn.
Inside the crew were engaging crash procedures as they impacted. Tiggs was strapped in and Jimson was making sure a helmsman was secure when the ship hit ground. Tiggs blacked out on impact and only awoke to the constant droning of the alerts. The bridge was illuminated with emergency lighting and seemed to be mostly intact—an incredible feat of engineering. The lights were flashing and following a direction; Copper was apparently offline or incapable of responding in normal fashion.
Looking around and taking a whiff, Tiggs could smell the fumes leaking inside the bridge and could tell the air was getting worse by the second. Running over to Jimson who was barely alive, his breathing was shallow and had lacerations all over his face and arms bleeding badly. Using an emergency stim, Tiggs gets Jimson to open his eyes; they quickly became blank and glassy. Crying and following his training Tiggs follows the emergency lights to the airlock, Copper was still active he thought, but comms were out.
The Skupple hit the security panel and taking a emergency pack along with a environmental shield, and flipped open a manual input to the ships computer. The display was online, and blinked the ready light, allowing Tiggs to use his data comm and connects allowing Copper to leap. Being a collection of pure energy, keeping his data alive was just a matter of allowing the device to make the connection. Copper moved from the comparatively huge space of the ship to a much smaller home, hopefully, he thought for a minimal time.
Next the small spacefarer entered the emergency hatch, sealing it. The gases filling the rest of the ship were sealed off in this small pocket with the other door leading out into this alien world. This afforded several moments to converse with Copper and try to find out what happened.
Tiggs: "Copper Status." Tiggs barked upset and emotional, he was trained for missions and the dangers of space travel, but not for military combat or extended hardships. Just losing his Human partner who had trained and lived with him for over a decade was hitting him hard, along with the loss of the other crew.
Copper: "Accessing ship’s records..." The AI was a deal slower after being shunted into a mobile device.
Tiggs put the Data comm down and waited, wiping his teary eyes and checking himself over in the dim yellow emergency lights in the airlock.
Copper: "The ship is leaking coolant and the power reactor is offline, safety mode engaged. The sensors are currently offline and according to records we are in unknown space," Copper informed him in a matter-of-fact way. A.I.s were not a very emotional thing.
Copper: "Furthermore our sensors, before going offline detected many unknown vessels and satellites orbiting the planet. We are in alien territory; there is no record of attack, we were kicked out of subspace." Copper added listing the events as they happened.
The Skupple was crying still and barely able to speak. "Are there any other survivors, can you do a lifescan from the pad?" Tiggs asked hoping.
Copper: "Scanning range will be limited, but should cover the vessel. Beginning scan, it will take a moment," Copper said before initiating and the blue laser light which was just for visual effect went across the room and across Tigg's face tormented in grief.
Tiggs could only think about Jimson and how close they were, being assigned at the academy and their career through the science core. Tiggs and Jimson were specialists in Delclonic drive designs, the current speedster among human vessels. They were also well versed in subspace field mechanics, as far as Human science was able to know at the time.
Sitting there lost in thought, Tiggs had to be signaled for Copper to get his attention. He didn't even notice when Copper had scanned him and mentioned his emotional state. A direct laser in the face was the direct action Copper had to take to get his mind back to task, this was just a harmless beam of light, yet still blinding.
Tiggs: "Report." He said sniffling and rubbing his eyes.
Copper: "I have finished my sweep and am unable to register any further lifesigns. I believe the coolant leak has extinguished them." Copper said coldly as an AI usually does when talking about life.
Tiggs couldn't take it he howled and balled up crying. His nerves were breaking—he was trained for a crash landing but not alone. Never had he been trained to be the only survivor, and certainly never trained without Jimson at his side making anything more tolerable. Tiggs, a Skupple born from labs and bred to be a constant human companion was feeling a sense of loss only someone who has been mated or married for decades can feel. He was lost in his mind, grieving and sobbing his loss. He was seriously considering just staying until the air ran out and quitting.
"Commander TIGGS! Respond! I repeat, COMMANDER TIGGS RESPOND!" Copper was demanding Tigg's attention even though he was crying out his grief. It took several moments of requests until finally Copper emitted a high frequency shriek alarm.
Tiggs, pulled from his own misery was startled to see his Data comm flashing a radiation warning with a command to evacuate. He didn't think about it and just hit the open sequence on the door, he didn't really care either one fate was just longer. The door made the sounds of gasses equalizing and glided open to the side. The air was cool and warm; the smells of life, seas, grasses, and animals flooded in. Tiggs was instantly alert, and distracted from his grief as the world was exposed before him.
Before him was a jungle shore with trees and grasses leading to the ocean behind; the sun was down and the sky was shining with its two moons completely alien to Tiggs.
"We must evacuate!" Copper chimed, alerting Tiggs to move.
Tiggs grabbed his survival pack and the Environmental shield, the shield was nothing more than a light forcefield which would make an environment pleasant to the user, capable of projecting a field ten meters and considered a wonderful device. Stepping out onto the sandy shore and exiting to a safe distance, the view of the wreck was impressive. The ship had hit the water and skipped, driving itself into the sandy dunes and woody seashore. Light fires quickly went out with the moist wood refusing to keep a flame.
Copper: "It appears the ships secondary drive core has had a rupture, Emergency beacon is inactive. I've been trying to reroute the commands but I belive the radiation is making extensive circuits fail." Copper began his report.
Tiggs sat here listening to the state of the ship and the wild space around him, His survival pack was full of useful things. None of it could take him home or return his lost friends though, so he just dropped a lightball and waited. He put Copper on the task of locking down the ship in case aliens arrived investigating.
Copper: "Ship is now in security mode, any functioning defenses are now active. I will have to disconnect from the memory core fully to completely engage." Copper warned him.
Tiggs: "Do it." He said with surety, this was part of normal training. One doesn't leave a advanced ship to be plundered.
Copper: "Security Active, my connection has been cut, operating at 5% capacity" Copper said in a much more weakened tone.
Tiggs watched as all the lights and power visibly displayed was extinguished. He was in the dark now alone with only a lightball giving off heat and a pale yellow glow in a simulated fire’s glow. He placed his Data comm in his pocket and put Copper to standby mode saving power.
The Skupple sat there alone in the sand and began to howl out his loss and grief, though his cries and sorrow didn't go unnoticed. A pare of small yellow eyes were watching him; they had been for some time now. They had been watching when the door glided open and when the small morph came out and now watched as he expressed his grief rocking back and forth howling to the sky.
Touched and feeling the aching sadness from afar the little Chakat moved closer, hir fur was a charcoal black and hir steps light. As shi came closer hir paw stepped on a fallen leaf making a crunching rustle—Tiggs was too far in sorrow to notice. Coming closer and mewing softly, the Chakat was actually feeling the pain at this range and began to cry in the pain and ache.
Tiggs was crying out his sorrow when he heard a mewling cry. Barely able to see through his tears, he looked behind to his right and saw the Alien. Standing at four feet, eight inches, the alien was larger, feline in scent and partial body. Being a Chakat, hir human like torso and arms made hir one of the strangest things Tiggs had ever seen. He could see however that shi was in pain; hir face was wet with tears and seemed to be in a definitely non aggressive posture. Scared and startled, Tiggs whirled around and bared his teeth growling, his hackles raised and taking a defensive stance.
Tiggs had absolutely no intention of harming or fighting but was doing his best to show otherwise in a fearful display. The small Chakat yelped and cried before bounding off into the bush silently, making only a snap or rustle as shi gained distance.
Alerted to the fact he was not alone anymore, and not sure what was coming after such an alien form showed up, he grabbed his pack and searched out the laser welder. The laser welder was a light arms multi tool with which one could cut metals, weld, heat a surface and in emergency become a light laser. Not the best choice, but when stuck it gives the user a sense of security. Tiggs extinguished the light ball and hid, his nerves close to breaking and scared even more so by such an alien world. Who knows what evil or insane enemies lurk here, he had seem many many movies and science fiction stories and every sound and shadow was just another chance for them to get him.
It didn't take long for them to find him; unknown to Tiggs the planet's alien ships were scanning the wrecked craft and the hidden lifeform below from high altitude. Noting the increasing degradation of the coolant and growing radiation spike. Dropping down with frightening speed the ship and its partner descended above the wreck, one shielding the vessel with a faintly glowing field projected off the ship.
Tiggs was scared so badly he defecated and sprayed his alarm scent. Copper however was feeling something akin to a fly touching a web as it walked by. Powering up and scanning as one would look about, Copper felt and touched the alien ship's computers. Reading the banks as one reads an open book and unnoticed Copper gathered info. The ships crews saw a minor spike in background energy readings but assumed it was the radiation spike. As they had never encountered a AI like Copper—a collection of energy—not programming, he slipped in like a fly on the wall.
Seeing the data readouts Copper saw that Aliens were well aware of Tiggs and his makeshift weapon. They had his hiding place on several monitors, zooming in on what was in his hand and the gear they could see on their sensors. Copper could only watch as Tiggs shook and held his position afraid to move as the ships sent down crew in shuttles. Landing near the crashed vessel but out of the danger of radiation, they fanned out directly toward Tiggs, lights and what looked like weapons in their paws and hands.
These aliens were mostly like the alien he saw earlier, animal bodies with a humanoid torso almost just added like an addition to some feral beast to make it some new creature. Not to be taken he grabbed his survival bag and began to retreat. Copper was able to cause a computer error the ship had no idea how to fix since it was being altered at an amazing speed, Copper was just buzzing a form of communication between energy beings like it, but the ships sensors were blacked out for a moment as they corrected.
This made Tiggs’ exact location lock break, and Copper chimed in silent mode to him to run. Tiggs didn't need any nudging to go, he was off like a blur, just passing through an alien searchlight to dive into the deep cover and foliage. He was in an alien land with possible hostile forces trying to capture the ship. Copper buzzed and relayed standard procedure for such a case. Ships and weapons were NOT to be captured, they were to be destroyed or disabled permanently so the enemy couldn't recover them. Copper had to repeat the orders a few times making them flash on the com till Tiggs gave the final order.
The aliens around the ship got an emergency signal and ran for cover, the alien ships above both engaged some shielding which wrapped the ships in a electric blue aura and the waters and sands below pushed away parting gently as the fields were expanded to the ship below. The ship that had brought Tiggs and held the bodies of his lost crew detonated. The blast was impressive considering the power core and weapons batteries were offline. The alien vessels were rocked by the blast, maxing out the radiation shielding, and the crew were down flat with the blast. The explosion was only a few hundred meters but continued to burn as the reactor core was without any containment or coolant. It gave off a massive heat, warming the area and marking the finality of the fact Tiggs was stuck here.
Jumping at a soft mew nearby, Tiggs turned around raising his laser to bear. The action was all the notice the being watching him needed, the aggressive act of pointing a possible weapon. Looking at the sound the last thing Tiggs saw at the moment was the black furred Chakat he had seen before, hir yellow eyes were locked with his as he was zapped from the side. Blinding pain and numbness were to follow as he hit the sandy ground and blacked out.
Copper had linked with the ships computers and felt the ache of some form of electrical charge hitting Tiggs. Instinctively, as if to retreat from the pain, Copper leaped from Tiggs’ Data comm and aboard the vessel and began his own type of recon.
Tiggs had no feeling or awareness at this point; he was out cold, over stressed and spent as the stunner had hit an easy mark. Gently lifted up by a pair of strong arms clothed in a worn lab coat, Tiggs was taken and moved away from the searching aliens. The small Chakat followed the man who carried Tiggs’ still form, his fur dirty and eyes looking aged in the past few hours more than he had in his entire life.
Time slipped by and Tiggs fell into a deep sleep, his body more tired than he knew, and he had terrible dreams. Dreams of monsters attacking and killing his friends—his dreams were so disturbing that he began to bark and growl in a sleeping fit. He was not alone however; a paw gently cooled his forehead with a wet cloth. The wet sensation and the touch broke through and calmed him letting him sleep easier.
Purring softly and taking a good strong read, smelling and searching him with hir talents, shi sighs and a small smile crosses her muzzle. Softly getting up and quietly padding off, shi leaves the room. It was an empty one except for the bedding, a sink and toilet, a light recessed in the ceiling gave off a yellow/white light dimly as it was in low mode. Closing the the door it makes an audible click and hiss as it locks tight.
Just outside the room, the black furred Chakat meets up with the man who carried him in.
Blackout: "Doctor, do you think he will be okay?" the smaller Chakat asked, concerned.
Dr. Devller: "He should be fine, he's very much in shock tho. I scanned the hairs left on my coat, we have a very interesting find here Blacky," the doctor said with mild excitement.
The two were part of a science team working in secret, gathering biological data and breaking it down genetically They had been there for years hidden, taking samples of the sea life and surrounding isles. The goal here was simple to catalog and identify all avaliable species, breaking down their genetics and finding what was useful. Many new drugs and medical improvements were made this way, not to mention quite a few illegal constructs and improvements.
Dr. Devller and his team had been breaking many laws but were hidden thanks to the ships’ cloaking fields and counter measures. Even Blackout, his assistant was engineered to be a defense; shi had the very unique ability to block scans or empathic probes or telepathy. Shi was also given a few empathic abilities of her own, letting her probe while shi was hidden.
The two walked on down the hall passing a few lab techs, discussing their new find. It would seem they had a new species and one artificially made at that.
"Do you think we can use him?" Shi asked hoping they could, if they couldn't most subjects were terminated. One of the many cruel mission rules that any non useful intelligent being be destroyed in case of escape or betrayal of the project.
Dr. Devller: Rubbing his bearded chin in thought, "I think we may, I've noticed several genetic markers when I glanced his genome scans. He seems to be designed as a slave race," he said as a cold matter of fact.
Blackout nodded and sighed; shi knew well of slave races, her own Chakat race being a construct who came about after a time of slavery of morphs before freedoms and rights were freely given. Saying nothing but noting the sad fact in her growing likes for the little alien.
Dr Devller: Stopping and looking directly at Blackout, "I think he may be of Human design as well, not of any labs work I know about though." He said a little confused as he was familiar with most known companies or labs techniques and flare for style.
The team here on Chakona were working Illegally for a large research corporation who used illegal methods to push their profits and limits of knowledge. The team had been here for little over a year working undiscovered and even now as the ships above scanned for Tiggs in the last known quadrants their scanners passed over the hidden vessel in the sandy seabed, buried with stealth systems finely tuned and the scanners never saw a thing.
Copper was having a wonderful time in the ship's computers and was freely on both ships as they communicated, simply riding the energy about. He was learning a lot his enjoyment was epic as he discovered they were on a planet called Chakona and that the crews had no idea where Tiggs was. Copper could not feel the Data comm at the moment but felt no need to worry as he was exploring.
Tiggs moaned and woke, the room dimly lit from above, looking around at the empty room with only a sink and a toilet. His body ached and he whimpered as he knew he was captured, the room smelled of chemical cleaners and of aliens. The scent of Man, the scent of Humans and some animal. Feline, he'd smelled them before but different, mixed, a hybrid.
Tiggs whined again his mind clicking, he was captured by Humans who made animal constructs. He was sure confused, there were no other humans to his knowledge who had constructs like the ones he smelled and saw briefly. The only Human colonies he knew about were Proxis, Euquine moon base and Furegon. Euquine was briefly settled but abandoned once they found out about the nightmares.
Tiggs leaned into the corner and whimpered, checking his suit to find everything gone—his pockets had been emptied and his Data comm missing. He had no idea what was going on or who had captured him, and what the strange alien constructs were, he could only whimper and wait for their next move.
End Part One.
To Be Continued.
Story and Tiggs ©
charrioEditing huge thanks to
sethtriggs Chakat Universe Created by,
goldfurAdditional Skupple Info,
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11571160/
Skupple AD,
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11767981/
Blackout and Doctor Devller
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/11791904/
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Canine (Other)
Size 115 x 120px
File Size 4.07 MB
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