Yori and Janage don't argue over lunch.

This is another fragment from another story in my files. The world is approximately post-industrial Fantasy, about early twentieth century technology level and dispersion, with some schizo-tech areas closer to late twenty first century.

Yory was busy getting lunch put together.  Then came the knock at the door.  She put down the sandwich she was assembling and went to the door, wiping her hands on her apron.  At the door was one of the last people she expected to see.

Yory just stood there looking for a moment.  Janace was road dirty, but otherwise virtually unchanged by the ten years it had been.  Finally Yory’s mind got back into gear, sort of.

“Come in.”

Yory turned and walked away leaving the door open.

Janace took her shawl off and gave it a shake, then stepped in and closed the door.  She sat down on the bench and removed her boots.  Leaving her things in the front hall, she followed her nose to the kitchen.  She knew she was unexpected, and had not parted on the best of terms, but had not expected so cool a reception.

Yory kept a clean house, and Janace was too much the good guest to wantonly dirty a place.  But she still felt that she was trailing road grime.  Janace sat in the chair at the table closest to where Yory was working.

“Hello Yory.  How have you been?”

Yory was busy assembling a new sandwich.  At that moment a boy came blustering through the side door.  Stopping only long enough in the mudroom to remove his muddy boots, then bee lined for the food.  Yory stopped him with a look.

“Go back out and tell your father that we have company.”

“I want something to eat.”

“Fine.  After you tell your father that we have company.”

The boy looked ready to argue, but instead grabbed a piece of fruit and all but ran back out the door, stepping into his boots almost without breaking stride.

Yory continued to make lunch.  In silence.

Janace tried to start the conversation again.

“I’m fine, Yory.  Thanks for asking.  Sure, lunch will be fine. Let me wash up and I will give you a hand.”

At that Janace stood, went to the sink and washed her hands.  She then pulled a bag from her belt and dumped the fruit from it into the sink and washed them.  Yory set a bowl by the sink, and Janace put the fruit into it and set it on the table with the other stuff.

Yory then handed her the other bowl of fruit and a plate with a brick of cheese and a knife.  Last was a container of fruit juice.  Yory brought the plate of sandwiches and bowls of soup.  All the place settings were already there.

They sat, and Yory selected some fruit and cheese, said grace for herself.  She then just started in, paying little heed to Janace.

For her part, Janace was getting a bit flustered at this behavior.  But a quick glance at Yory psionically brought a sharp rebuff.  But it did finally provoke a reaction.

“You could have picked a better time, and let us know that you were coming to visit, Janace.”

As if on cue, a baby in another room began crying and fussing, having just woke up.  Yory put down her half eaten sandwich and left after the baby.

Janace was sitting politely when the boy came back in, grabbed a sandwich and a hand full of fruit and left again.  She was watching his progress toward the orchard through the window, when a little girl and a toddler of unknown sex came into the room.  Both were carrying toys, which were dropped when the food was spotted.  They got half way to the table when they spotted Janace.

They were about to turn and flee when a heavy set of boots tramped on the porch outside.  The sound of much mud being kicked off continued for a short time, then the door opened and Carl came into the mudroom.

“Whose horse is out…”

He stopped upon seeing Janace sitting at the table.  He took a moment, and then turned to removing his boots and overalls.

His daughters, as soon as the overalls were hung, both ran onto his outstretched arms as he greeted them.  They told him they loved him as he carried them to wash their hands in the sink, and then set them on the bench against the wall.  They scrambled to their places and sat down.  Carl sat in his chair at the head of the table and helped his older daughter say grace.

Janace bowed her head for this.

Once the prayer was done, the kids attacked the fruit and sandwich on their plates.

Carl helped himself to one of the larger sandwiches, and alternated between it and his stew.  Janace followed his lead.

After finishing half a sandwich, he felt fortified enough to deal with Janace.

“So, what brings you to our home, Janace?”

“So solicitous.  I’m fine, thank you.  (Bad guy) is back.  Or someone using the same methods.”

Carl was unmoved by this.  Janace continued.

“I was attacked by one of his beasts a few days ago.  If he can find me, he can find you and the others.  I thought you should be warned.”  She took a bite and after swallowing, “This is a good sandwich.”

Yory entered the room, a sated infant on her shoulder clutching at a burp rag.  She sat down to her food, around the corner from Carl, and began again at her own lunch.

Carl reached across the table and briefly took her hand.

Carl finished his second sandwich before speaking more.

“If (bad guy) is back, what is that to us?  We retired 12 years ago.”

“He’s going to want revenge on those who stopped him 15 years ago.”  Janace was finishing her stew, and ready to go after the fruit she had brought with her.

Yory and Carl glanced at each other, dubious.

Janace snapped at this.  “Why don’t you want to believe me, or take me seriously?”

Carl looked again at Yory, who just shrugged and kept eating.  He grunted a sigh.

“Walk with me, Janace.”

He got up and got his boots from the mudroom, and took them to the front entry, and put them on.  Janace put hers on, and they went out.  He then untied her horse from the hitching post, and led it around the house to the trough in front of the barn, and tied it there while Janace loosened the saddle.  Carl then led Janace to the orchard.

They were several trees into it when Carl finished the second fruit, and spoke again.

“Janace, we saw him dead.  Jochquin pulled his sword out of him.  Magic users are hard to kill, and I know you don’t lie.  But I do find it hard to believe he’s back.  Especially with his amulet broken up.”

“I don’t think it is him.  But somebody is following his pattern.”

“Yory and I can handle anything that comes.  But we aren’t going looking for trouble anymore.”

“I didn’t expect you would.”

They walked for a while before Janace spoke again.  “Is your thinking that I would try to drag you off on some crusade why the two of you are treating me so coldly?”

“No.  The truth there is that you are a chaos maker.  Always causing trouble and never solving it.  Yory and I decided a long time ago that while we value you as a friend, we are not going to allow you to cause anymore trouble for us, or our children.”

Janace thought about this, and liked it as much at having a drink thrown in her face, thought it hurt worse than any drink ever did.

The fruit trees were in bud, but not yet blossoms.  They walked out of the orchard, and started along the fence line between the stockyard and the garden.  The garden was sectioned with a few bits still fallow, most of it showing small buds.  The stockyard was populated by several horses and a small population of cattle, and other interspersed stock animals.

As she looked over the farm, Janace found little to fault.

“You have done well here.  Looks like a good place to raise children.  How would you defend it from a Monster?”

Carl smiled, and whistled loud.

Within a few moments five large hounds were bounding over the fields toward them, with several smaller ones in pursuit.  To Janace’s initial surprise, they seamed to run down the row, or across them, and never hit a plant in their travel.  They even jumped the irrigation ditch as they came.  The pack stopped short at seeing Janace with Carl, and was unsure what to do.

Carl knelt and called the leader.  He came and buried his head in Carl's hands, then carefully padded over and sniffed Janace.

Janace had never felt very intimidated by animals, but was ever cautious about them, especially in obvious packs.  After the hound was content, he wondered back to Carl, putting his head under Carl’s hand.  The rest of the pack alternately sniffed and ignored Janace and began to disperse.  One of the puppies started back across the garden, when one of the adults started after it, and chased it off the field.

“I taught the older ones to respect the furrows, and they are slowly teaching the pups to do the same.”

He dismissed the hounds, and they went bounding into the stockyard, and began chasing around.

Janace watched them.  “Impressive hounds.”

“They are enough to trouble anyone that tries to trespass.  Anything they can’t handle, they can slow down enough to allow a weapon to be brought to bear.”

She had noticed weapons of some sort on virtually every wall, above toddler reach.  “I figured them to be at least partially decoration, as well as functional.”

They finished the circuit, and were back at the hedge separating the farm from the back yard.

Janace looked at her watch and the sun.  Then stopped and looked at Carl.

“You can and will do as you want.  I just came by to warn you.  Something is brewing.  I don’t know what or how, but it is.  Watch yourself.  I would hate to think something happened to you because of my inaction.”

“I will consider that.  Please don’t be a stranger.  Just leave your troubles at the road.”

They walked around to the barn and Janace’s horse.  It had cleared the grass it could reach and was trying to get at more.

Janace watched for a moment.  Then turned to Carl and asked about lodging in town.  Carl told her the best places to go.  And where the best watering holes were.

Janace gathered her horse, and walked it to the front gate where she tightened the saddle again.

Carl went with, and watched her ride down the road.

Yory joined him there, the girls chasing around the yard with puppies as big as they were.

part 8

After drying off, he went out to the terminals, and started doing some other searches in the programs. He sat on the chair, leaving the stool to Tanya, and typed in ‘pheromone.’ Of the thousands of commands, he found several dozen relating. Most of them in the maintenance programs, rather than the transformational one. He scanned and tried to digest this, while keeping it to himself.

Tanya brought a cup of water over to him, and started her own research. “The thing I can’t figure is the reason why. Why do these changes to us? What’s the motive?”

“I haven’t thought much about that yet. I have been trying to figure out the what’s and how’s.”

“Form follows function is an old design maxim. If I knew what they intended our function to be, then I could better understand our form.”

They spent part of the day working at the monitors, mostly just sitting and reading, and sharing things. They discovered that their skeletons had been changed for greater durability, and strength, while lightening them some. Also their muscles as well. Their senses had been worked over. Their eyes especially, but all of them.

Each of them had preexisting medical conditions taken care of. His benign cancer had been removed. Her near-sightedness corrected. The maintenance program seemed to say that any biological planned obsolesce had been eradicated, thought her fertility would go the course of any female. As a result they seemed practically immortal. Then he checked on the capacities of the repair/healing and correction/immunity systems. He decided he would have to try it to see.

About lunchtime, they both got up.

To test something, he went over to the build-out wall, and climbed it, digging in with his talons and claws. Then taking a deep breath, he let go and threw himself backward off. He later remembered hearing Tanya shriek at this. The bonk on his head knocked him out for a bit.

Jim came too with some warm, wet towels covering him, and two under his head. He had a splitting headache. He wiggled his toes and fingers and then put his hands to his head. His hair was wet, as was the towel under it. He probed and found a tender spot, and felt the flesh give some.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. How many fingers do you see?” Tanya came into view over top of him, and held up three fingers.

“Three.” He licked his dry mouth. And put his hands down. “How long?”

“Just long enough to get the towels, and cover you, and a little longer. Do you feel nausea, or vertigo?”

Jim considered. “No.” He started to sit up, and felt his back complain a bit as the soft tissue stretched and the hard tissue bulged against the bruising beginning to form. Then his stomach signaled a willingness to start nausea. Jim braced himself on his arms, without sitting full up.

“Was there much blood? Or should I look?”

Tanya knelt beside him. “Actually, no, there wasn’t. I bet they closed the wound up in record time. I got back with the towels, and while the bleeding had not stopped, the opening was visibly closing. I think you have a concussion. You did fall most of two stories, to land flat. Now lay still. I think they gave us some fruit juice. If so I will make some and be right back.”

Jim watched her scurry away, walking, and then turned his head to look up and spread his wings as he lay there. They did not ache appreciably, but the right joint did some, and Jim figured he landed on that side first. Tanya stepped around his wing, and knelt, with water. There was no juice.

“No know you are walking, without any support?”

Tanya helped him carefully sit up, his stomach warned, but did nothing. He sipped the water.

“Yes. It’s similar to walking in high heels. But the wings and tail still are hard to consciously think about, so I try not to. From all the blood you let out, you are going to need a lot of water, and a good meal. Lets get you up and over to the table.”

He curled his feet around under his body, and Tanya got his right arm across her shoulder, and grabbed his left wing at its root.

“Let me know if this hurts.” Tanya pulled his weight onto her shoulder and he got a grasp of how strong and balanced she was. But they still toppled into the wall, and he braced against it before hitting it. She put him in the chair at the table, and brought the other one over. He drained his cup dry and another as she made them sandwiches.

Tanya had always had fresh food with her, and she and Leslie had competed informally over diet, with Leslie being nearly vegetarian eating only fish meat, while Tanya rotated through just about every kind available. Now Tanya showed her culinary skills in making them both large sandwiches quickly.

Part 7, Morning of Day Two.

This picks up right where the last one left off.

He looked at her, and smelt her. She did not have the towel wrapped around her, so was effectively naked under the fur, as he was. Again he had to use all his self-control not to come on to her. Briefly he wondered why not. Just as quick he told himself she was his coworker, not someone to have a dalliance with.

“We need to talk. About a bunch of things.” Jim left the chair for her, as he started to move the groceries from the table to the cabinets and fridge.

She sat down, and watched. “I think I heard them come in not long before dawn. But I’m not sure. I looked it over in the dark, before I started my morning workout.”

Jim looked up at the skylight, and realized that it showed an early dawn hue.

“We seem to have better balance already.” Tanya watched him shift his weight from the table to the counter, without moving his feet, as he put the food away.

“What would you like for breakfast, steak or eggs?” Jim held up the bulk package of meat and motioned at the dozen eggs. On cue, his stomach growled.

Tanya tilted her head toward the weights. “Lets go a few rounds over there, then come back and have both.”

They carefully moved to the weights, as he followed this time. Leering all the way, except when he paused to look over at the tubes and the equipment. Then he stopped.

“Where are the tubes?” Jim carefully stepped over to the rack of equipment that attached to the stasis tubes, and he balanced at its end.

Tanya had kept going. “I noticed that too. They took the tubes and all the support hardware, but left the computers and monitors. I also noticed that there was a slight odor in the room when I woke. My best guess is we got gassed to keep us asleep while they worked.” She was to the weights.

He pushed against the corner of the rack and turned it, watching its cords to be sure not to foul them. Then he staggered over to the rack from his tube and pulled it around, so that both racks were inline, and side by side. Then he staggered most of the way to the weight setup, crawling the last ways.

Tanya had him go through the same routine she did. As she coached him, she explained this was a variant on a routine she did every other week, to see how she was progressing. They covered every station on the frame. Then the barbell. This was especially hard for him, as she stood above his head, and she smelled good.

One thing he noticed was she did not change the weights from his test lifting to hers. When he called her on this, she explained that he should be stronger, but she had been doing this for years, and knew the techniques and was this strong. In time, if he kept this up, he would be proportionally stronger than her, and probably should be quickly considering what they had found in the program.

They were both sweaty and sore from exertion when she called it good. Then she gathered his blanket and pillow, and they went back to make breakfast. Jim noticed that she smelled the blanket as she carried it, and lingered for him to go first.

Tanya then went in to shower as Jim cooked their food. He found the scents to be delicious, and wished that he had some spices, which he named, while looking at the camera that was stationed in the upper corner of the wall, looking down on this area. He also wished for an apron. She brought him a towel to wipe his hands with, and the dish soap when she came back. She did not smell so heavy, and had a hint of soap on her. Her hair was damp, and wrapped in a towel. They ate breakfast of steak and eggs, with some toast and sautéed vegetables. As she cleaned up what little he had not, he went and showered and cleaned himself. He noticed that the pile of dirty towels was gone, and fresh ones had been put in their place. He also was able to mostly stand without support. He still slipped on the slick surface.

Part 6: Jim and Tanya

As elsewhere, I am posting smaller chunks, to keep this easier to read. Also it is still somewhat disjointed having been written closer to stream of consciousness, and not yet really edited.

“The company must have had a program running parallel to ours, and feeding it our progress. That is the only way I can think of for them to have done this to us.”

The light from the skylights had long since dimmed by the time we stopped exploring the programs that evening. We had concluded that whoever had done this had access to our work. I also found it increasingly hard to concentrate on anything but Tanya, the longer we sat there. We noticed that the locker room lights had shut off on a timer. When we finally got up, I left the chair there and pushed Tanya on the rolling stool over to the table. She got up and took herself into the restroom, and I got a drink of water. Until the lights from the restroom triggered, the warehouse was nearly dark, yet I could see clearly.

Using the stool for a brace I went back across the room to the rubber pad and picked a spot to lie down. I then did my best to relax. I listened to Tanya wash her hands and leave the restroom, then settle on the mattress. I listened to her breathing from across the room, as my mind cataloged all that I had learned this day. Heightened senses, changed physiology, wings and tail, a male and a female. I shortly crossed to the restroom and back myself, and then succumbed to sleep, at least partially from exhaustion. My stomach grumbling was the last thing I remember.

The scent of female perspiration woke me up; it was coupled with the sound of effort. I opened my eyes, and turned my head to see Tanya sitting at the far end of the frame, using a part of it she had not explained, doing leg exercises. She had a considerable part of the stack going up and down in rhythm, extending her legs at her knees, pushing the padded bar up and lowering it down again.

I watched her for a moment, before realizing I needed to get up quickly. Without thinking about it, I was half way across the room before loosing my balance and catching himself, then crawled the rest of the way to the toilet. After that, as I washed my hands, I noticed that we had had visitors during the night. A tooth brush and toothpaste were on the counter, with an unopened second brush next to it, which I opened and used. As I brushed my teeth, the door behind me was a presence looming over my shoulder.

Finished with my teeth, I staggered across to the locked door, and noticed some fresh scratch marks on it and in the frame around it, spaced for Tanya’s hands. This was a larger than normal single door, like would be on a corridor. It did not have a doorknob or push plate, just a deadbolt lock. After considering this, I went out the domestic side and found some food was on the table.

Tanya came shuffling along the wall.

“Was I that scary? I never had anyone run out on me before.”

Part 5 of Jim and Tanya become furries.

We spent some time going through the files on her terminal. When my knees had complained I had gone over and retrieved a chair from the table and using it as a walker had brought it back. I then confirmed that my terminal had all the same general information, and a lot of the same specific information as hers did. We decided that there was too much information to process in one sitting.

Tanya had let her hair down, and was sitting on that towel. I got up and used the chair for a walker and went around to her.

“Time for a rest and tour, Tanya.”

Pushing her on the stool again, I wheeled her over to the table and showed her all I had previously discovered. She stood up both to stretch, and to not be dependent on the stool. At the sink, Tanya and I each had several cups of water, and like I had previously she wretched the first one out then was able to hold the rest down.

Tanya took a long look at the sleeping arrangements. I jokingly suggested using the tubes, but she did not like that at all. In more serious tone I volunteered to take one of the blankets and pillows to the far end of the room and sleep there.

Our next concern was food. But with nothing to do I showed Tanya to the far end of the room, taking one of the blankets and a pillow with me. I led. We leaned against the wall as we walked, but out feet were a bit tender when we got there.

I started to point things out, but Tanya already understood the equipment just looking at it. She went to a gym regularly and was able to coach me on it over the next while. But at this point she just pointed out what the various stations were. Then she hobbled over to the end of the frame to two horizontal handles at about elbow height.

Tanya jumped slightly to get her arms straight and her body over the handles. She bent her knees and bent her arms and extended them again, doing several of these in quick succession. As her muscles in her back flexed with her shoulders the towel that had been wrapped around her fell to the floor. Tanya put her feet down then reached up to a pull up bar above her head, and did several of these. She stopped and switched from an underhand grip to an overhand one without touching the floor and did a few more. She put her feet down and stood there balancing against the frame for a moment. As she stood there, she felt the muscles in her arms, shoulders, and down her side and back.

“What’s got your attention,” I asked.

“Before, those were always the hard exercises. Now I hardly feel them, and felt I could continue for some time. Also the tissues themselves feel denser, less give. Not just the armor plate, but the muscle underneath.” Tanya probed a bit more, feeling the line where her arm muscles interlaced with her wing muscles on her side.

I found it hard to not just watch her and actually listen to what she was saying as she moved around demonstrating the various stations, and working the muscles in her body. Suddenly she stopped and moved for the wall and bracing against it she headed back along the wall. I recognized this as that she had a mental breakthrough and needed to record or act on it. I leered at her as she went along ahead of me.

I stopped leering as I guessed that by the change in her movements she was feeling the same call that had just hit me. She passed the counter and table and went straight through the door into the far end of the built area. I was about three steps behind her.

To the right was just a wall, to the left was a pair of sinks, and some industrial bathroom stalls. Tanya had gone into the first one. I skipped one and went in and used the third. Without realizing, I let out a large sigh from release of the built up pressure. We both giggling for a bit from this then settled back down as our bodies drained. Shortly we stood at the sinks, washing our hands.

There were no towels here, so we went to where we knew there had been. The lockers were past the stalls. We opened all of them up and after the towels we found some janitorial supplies, and bulk soap. I wondered whether Tanya was put out for not finding any feminine supplies, hair care supplies, or even tooth brushes. Gentility kept me from asking.

Opposite the door we had entered was a large door with no handle, only a deadbolt lock. For whatever reason, we ignored it for now.

Tanya led out and back to the table, where the stool had been left, and claimed it. I had to stagger a few steps, and then go on all fours to get to the chair I had left by her station. She quickly opened and explored the actual code of the program for the nanites. She would pause at certain sections to keep track of where she was then would continue on. Finally she found the section she was looking for. She split the window in half, and left the top static as she scrolled through the bottom. I read the remarks paragraph for this section, mumbling as I went.

I read it again, parsing it. “Change the muscle structure to a more durable form… using this chemical formula… increase strength… contraction time… reflex action… healing… interesting.”

I read the code, and reread it. “Carl and Leslie cannot have written this. Well, not the chemistry of it. It’s way outside of their fields. And here. Last I heard, that idea was only theory. Changing the base element of a tissue, to increase the capacities of it. Adaptive evolution selected for certain things. There must be a subroutine or another program that has the nanites working with the bodies automatic functions to keep things in balance and good health.”