The move
#1 of Transition Stories
I know this is reaaally, reeeaaally long, so I've broken it up into to parts to ease the tension! lol, this is something I had been thinking about for a long time, but was keeping myself from doing because I wanted to finish my current writing projects I am working on! (Obviously, that didn't work out, because here it is. I was very disturbed by it and had to write this, cause I was continual thinking on it and adding to it in my mind! T_T)
Authors notes: This story is set on Earth and the humans are actually furrs. There are no humans existing like we are, because those (us) are all furrs to begin with. There are feral animals too, both wild and domesticated. Just thought I'd clear that up in case there were questions. Oh, and the reference to hands and stuff (I know that's not mainly used, it's always paw or something) but that's because there are no human-humans, only fur-humans, and so that's what that stuff is called regularly here.
[Hope I haven't utterly confused you and you haven't even gotten to the story yet XD]
Enjoy!
1)The move
"Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy!", the young teen cooed.
Panting heavily from chasing after the ball, the husky barked happily in reply to his owner and wagged his tail furiously to show her just who this good boy was. Enerva, known to her friends as Ene, had owned this husky ever since he was a pup. They grew up together, and were practically the same age (at least from his dog years to her human ones).
Ene and her family were a Doberman breed and so she had the characteristic marks that came with it. The dabs of brown eyebrow like spots on her forehead, and the splash of brown from her muzzle down across her belly and inner appendages. It would drive the boys wild when her stub of a tail would wag like mad when she was amused. She didn't mind being born with a short tail either, and she also thought it was cute. Ene, like most of her family, liked to be active, and had a pretty shaply body. Some of her favorite hobbies, like swimming and running kept her physique well defined. She enjoyed having tone to her body, but never considered to go in such excess that they would be bulging out like an overstuffed toy. Muscles were nice, but she didn't want to be that toned. Nevertheless, her body was quite appealing. She wasn't thin, but more on the lines of slender, and you could see the definition in her abs, etching them out individually. And her legs were long and beautiful, the calves curving out lusciously.
Being eighteen, her breasts were well developed too, though not excessively large, around a C-cup. She was aware of the attention she got after hitting puberty, but paid little attention as she was enjoying her adolescent years. Instead of ogling at the boys and showing off her body to attract a mate, she went out with friends and played vigorously, especially in soccer. Though she still did buy clothes that brought out her attributes nicely, just not specifically to catch a males eye.
Her hound, besides being the same age figuratively, was in great shape too. He still had a comfortable amount of fat on his body, as his master did, but not to excess. His muscles, even though they were mostly covered up by his vast amount of fur, were nicely defined too, as he would accompany Ene whenever she went out, especially if it was running.
For them (and her family would agree) running was all they ever did sometimes. It was so invigorating, feeling the rush of adrenaline in their systems, pushing their bodies as they raced each other from one block to the next.
People adored her husky, he was so beautiful. His gray fur stood out from his white belly, tracing the telltale patterns of his breed around his figure. He even looked similar to Ene, what with his 'eyebrow' marks and all. It was mainly the color and configuration of their bodies that separated them from each other besides their gender. While he was gray and white, standing on four paws, she was black and brown, standing on two. But they loved each other and were the best of friends, despite their differences. Which is why they both enjoyed going to the park on Saturdays.
"Tab, go get it!", Ene cried as she heaved the ball across the fresh mowed lawn, landing in the pond with a 'plop!' as Tab splashed after it, his head bobbing in the clear water. He was definitely the type of dog that enjoyed water. A lot.
"Tab, c'mere! Bring me the ball Tab!"
Once he claimed the buoyant tennis ball from the water, he ran over to Ene and dropped the ball at her feet, tail wagging lazily behind him, as the water dragged it's progression down a bit. Realizing this, he suddenly shook his whole body, soaking Ene with a spray of doggy water.
"Eurgh, Tab! Hahaha, this is not the type of shower I prefer!" she cried. "At least it's the summer, we don't have to worry about catching pneumonia." Tab 'roof-ed' happily in reply to his cooling off, following Ene home after their exciting day in the park.
Unknown to them, the summer would get much more exciting than this, not only for them, but for everyone else as well....
"Hey Enerva, glad you got back already, we're all packed up and ready to go."
Enerva couldn't help but lay her ears back a bit.
"Is it okay if me and Tab take a quick shower before we leave?"
Her mom smiled knowingly to her daughter. "Yes, that's fine, I'll just make sure everything else is taken care of before we go while your in there."
Ene started up the stairs with Tab following behind, when her mom called up to her.
"Oh, Ene!"
"Yes?"
"Can you knock on your brothers door when you're done? He's just twiddling the time away until we leave, and I told him I'd let him know when we're going a little early. We'll leave half an hour after your done, that should be enough time until your dad gets back."
"Okay mom."
She hopped up the rest of the steps as her mom flitted around downstairs double-checking everything was done, and nothing important was forgotten. Of course she would never forget about the move, it was a very big thing for everyone. Literally.
Unfortunately after decades and decades of abuse, Earth could no longer take it and began to deteriorate at a much more rapid rate than usual, making it hard to repair itself quickly enough. During the last fifty years or so, after regular space travel and small colonization of other planets, the scientists and government began large scale preparation to move the people of Earth to her sister planet, Mars.
It was very difficult in the beginning to bring the planet back to it's once prehistoric state of life-thriving abilities, but with much research and trial-and-error, they finally made it work. At first, only government assigned workers moved there, to test it out, though the public knew little of what results came about after such drastic change. But soon enough, they started moving large groups out, city by city, combining smaller ones, so there would be less trips. They thought it unwise to try and move everyone at the same time, fearing something bad would have a greater chance of happening than if they went in small groups.
By the time it was Ene's city who moved out, almost half the population was gone. Most would be moved to Mars, though some had gone to other colinized planets such as the Moon, as Mars would be way overpopulated being around half the size of Earth (And that the moon already had a very large living base there for almost a century now).
No one communicated from the other planets to Earth after moving, at least personally, besides with the government. The public knew that their loved ones were safe and they were adapting well, as there were no problems with the set up of the planet they revived. No major problems had turned up, and it was going well as the population slowly shifted from the dying planet, far from help.
As she latched the door, she peeled her wet clothes off, landing with a squelch on the tile floor. Opening the door to the shower stall, she crooked her finger at Tab, and he bounded in after her. The warm water felt nice against her chilled skin, flowing through her fur, etching little streams on her body as the gravity of her planet pulled it down to the drain.
"Tab, you're gonna get a good bath so no one can complain about you smelling on the ship!" Tab wagged his water soaked tail, enjoying the warmth of the water as much as his master.
Ene was glad they were able to spend one more time outside to play together before going to their strange new home. Mars. That would be their planet now.
Tears burned down her face as she thought about it. She didn't care about leaving most of her stuff behind. That wasn't important to her, even though they were able to take one large box each (which she took full advantage of). It wasn't her friends either, who wouldn't be going to the same planet. Bugs were still getting worked out and the satellites powered up and adjusted for them to communicate with one another. It was just because she had been here all her life, all eighteen years of if, and now she had to leave.
It was true their planet was dying, but from where she was, you couldn't tell. The beauty was still clinging there, and she took soo many pictures before leaving in case she ever forgot what it would look like after it was gone. The devastation had yet to reach their side of the world, still unblemished by the fate that would soon enough come. So many people had died, many of those who were too stubborn to leave, and some who were just unlucky and were in a black zone. (These are areas where the devastation and decay of the planet hit, but it was an area of which there was no prediction for it).
She cried for those people and for her sad, beautiful planet. But there was nothing they could do. Nothing in their power could help planet Earth now, and all they could do was save themselves.
Tab startled her from her little world inside her mind of thinking when he licked her arm, whining as if he sensed her pain. "I-it's okay Tab, it's alright."
She hurriedly regained her composition and rinsed both of them off, checking that neither had any suds clinging to themselves. After a vigorous towel rub, she and Tab trotted over to her brother's door.
"Nick? Nick!", she called as she tapped the door with her knuckle. "We're leaving soon, okay?" She opened the door as she heard no protest in response and saw him nod his head.
Nick was a few years older than her and a bit bigger in size, though his looks were similar, besides being manly looks. Wiping sleep from his eyes, he asked,"When are we going?"
"In thirty minutes.
Do you have everything together?"
"Oh, yeah." he replied as he threw in a handful of things hurriedly into his box.
She was sure he fell asleep in the middle of packing, after he too had one last outdoor jaunt with his pals before they left. Ene watched as he stumbled around in his sleep-dazedness while double-checking he had forgotton nothing, before taping the box shut. They both followed him downstairs and waited on the couch as he packed away his belongings with the others in the van. Nick plopped himself beside his sister and they all fell asleep as they waited for their parents to come in.
"Bargh! Barararagh!" Tab woofed, startling the two beside him awake.
"Oh, is it time to go?", Nick asked as Enerva yawned widely from her sleep.
"Yes it is, you two sleepy heads better get in, we don't want to be late!", their dad replied to them.
The drive to the shuttle was too short for them to fall asleep again and the two siblings couldn't wait to get on board, merely to have a longer sleep time. It took a considerable less time to get to Mars from Earth than it used to (which was once about seven months, is now two weeks) thanks to the Japanese technological advances. This gave them plenty of time to get adjusted to the new gravitational pull, which would slowly be configured on the way. Still, many Earthlings would have liked to stay on Earth if it were possible. But it was too late for that, they could only look to the future now.
Soon enough ever last box was packed and all weight bearing paw pads on board the shuttle. It was a very large shuttle, twice the size of a regular one, though still a bit crowded even though there was elbow space and walking room still. Much like a mini-Tokyo, in the streets when everyone is walking at the same time, yet they still have enough living space.
The ride there was uneventful and the little family spent their time playing games and what not to entertain themselves. There still wasn't much more than that to do on board because of the little space they had, even though there were individual cabins for each family. These were very small and somewhat cramped, comparative in size to cabins on a small boat. For the most part, the occupants would mainly sleep and take care of business in their cabins and spend time with each other outside in the large hallway-like strip running down the shuttle. They were glad it was only two weeks, so at least there would be no worries of being utterly bored and run out of things to do. As they departed, clerks would give the head of house a booklet with personal instructions, including the place they would reside from now on.
Their home was similar to the one they had been living in, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room. Though the rooms themselves were a bit smaller, but not substantially so. They had an adequate front and backyard, enough to enjoy the outdoors anyway. the front was half the size of the back, but no one really uses that one more than the other anyways. So far, nothing to complain about.
From flipping through the book they found on the dining room table, there were obviously other structures besides housing here already. Schools, stores, restaurants even, so at least they didn't have to worry about that. No one was really in the mood to go anywhere right now, being their first day. Besides possibly planet sickness, they all kind of missed Earth, and knowing it would be gone soon didn't help these feelings.
After their first week of settling in, they were scheduled for a medical check up to see how they were doing. It was mandatory for every new occupant to make sure everything was going smoothly with the move, even though it was nearly complete by now. Enerva had yet to meet up with any familiar faces, though that would be difficult as none of them had really wandered too far from their new home yet to see many of the others so far.
The news was the second big change in Ene's life when their test results came in. Her mom and Nick had transition sickness. Now, they had showed no signs before (though with this, there really aren't any signs until the bitter end, even though it can be detected with a checkup) but their bodies were unable to take the change from the two planets and their cells were confused as what to do in this new environment. Near their fourth week, they complained of being very woozy then they began to decompose as their bodies fought themselves to death. Being very strong, they both knew they could hold on for an unbearable amount of time, but knowing there was no cure for this and not wanting to see their family suffer, they wept goodbyes to each other before requesting to be put down.
That was a very traumatic experience for Ene and she suffered depression for at least a month, though only openly showing it the first week, before realizing how much it hurt her dad to see her this way. They struggled together past this great boulder in their lives, keeping up with their regular activities to get them going back on the right foot.
It was until two weeks later that everthing broke apart once again. Ene was sick now. Her father couldn't believe it. He made them do test after test to confirm, telling them, yelling at them that they were wrong. His daughter, his only living child, could not possibly have the same sickness, surely not! Not after that long!! Wouldn't it have come up sooner? Wouldn't they have known, couldn't they tell the first time they checked it? He was begging in the end, pleading for his daughters life. But he knew. He knew he couldn't do anything. Nothing. He could do nothing to save his precious daughter. The only thing he had left. They gave her at most, a year to live, but when she went into a coma, they shortened it to two months.
He was devastated. He couldn't even play with her one more time, never again. Never. He read her one of the books she brought with her, her favorite, The velveteen rabbit, before kissing her on the head, tucking her in before he left, tears blazing down his cheeks.
They found him two days later, hanging from a branch in a secluded part of the woods, dead. He left no note, and had no belongings with him apart from the minimal amount of clothes he wore every day. He left them at their house, thinking his daughter might need them, but then reminding himself she really wouldn't and would see him soon most likely, as he closed the door behind him, a length of thick rope in one hand.
Oh, the irony of it all, they thought. How horrible it was, such realization of the cruelty that can be in life, when suddenly, Ene woke up! She fought the sickness and survived. The sole survivor of her family, though she didn't know that. Not yet. Ene didn't have the sickness as bad as her mother or brother, so she was able to overcome it as her body righted itself.
Tab waited by her side the entire time, only leaving to relieve himself outside, under a bush. He was a considerate dog, and as he couldn't clean up after himself, he did the next best thing. Her father wasn't cruel and didn't feel the need to take Tab with him when he left, feeling he should get to live his life if he wanted before he joined the rest of his family. Ene had that much when she came back two months later, exactly the time they predicted she had left to live on this strange new world, now like what was once her own.