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Starfall: Chapter 10: Farmhand: Part Two

Smiling a little, Steven exits the barn. ‘She’ll do fine, though this task may be a bit bellow her pride and skill level. Hmm, who should I grab though? Charlie got along well with Usako.’

Walking the short distance from the beige metal barn to the Bio-Morph enclosure, he rubs his chin.

‘Looks like all thirty-two of our adults and ten cubs are up and about right now.’ Doing a quick head-count as he comes to the edge of the chain link wall of the dome. Stopping next to the security door that’s the only way in and out of the trapezoid shaped dome.

He smiles a bit as he spots Balto and Anna sitting together and eating. ‘They seem to be doing well.’ Steven tenses, ready to get into the dome upon spotting Elsa, the white wolfess with cobalt blue markings along her back, in one corner of the yard.

Only to relax since he doesn’t see Charlie anywhere near her. ‘Good.’

Scratching it off the checklist, he does a visual check on the rest of the pack’s condition. ‘No one’s limping, favoring an arm, they all seem to be eating and drinking normally. Maybe I should wait for a bit, they seem to be a bit late in their breakfast feeding though.’ Eyeing the few Bio-Morphs dashing into the food-dispenser end of the ‘feeding and control module’ as it tries to auto close and lock, only for it swing wide open.

‘They’re lucky it’s programmed to not close when there’s a Bio-Morph inside.’

Bark! [No.]

Steven jumps a bit, distracted by the late Bio-Morphs, looking over at the inner door to see Charlie and Pippin lightly going at each other. ‘ They’re most likely excited to see me and wanting something.’

Pippin glares at her brother. [We’re not allowed to work those giant metal machines, and the only thing in the barn we’re used for is pushing that giant stone around in circles to make that powder. You said it would be housework, and not this.] Keeping her ears up and tail still.

‘Dammit bro, if it wasn’t for the fact the entire pack is out right now….’

Returning her glare with slightly folded back ears, causing pippin to flinch, which in turn makes Charlie sneer. [Doesn’t matter ‘Pippin’. That’s where they have Usako today, and that’s where you’ll be today.]

“Now, now, both of you will be let out today so don’t fight. Sadly I only need one of you personally. The other can be with the rest of the pack at the slaughter-house finishing up this month’s shipment.” Steven’s tone of voice, similar to that of how someone would talk to a pet dog, draws both Charlie’s and Pippin’s attention.

Charlie looks at his sister then to Steven. ‘At times like this I wish I could talk human. Does he know how demeaning it is to be talked down like that?’ He puts on the ‘dopey-ish’ doggo look, taught to him by Balto, in how to act towards their ‘owners’.

The moment he hears his sister try to walk away, Charlie steps in front of her, and gently grabs her shoulder’s.

Turning her around, he guides Pippin to the inner door, much to her protest.

“Oh! So that’s why you two are here. You want your sister to go instead of you Charlie. That’s fine, the rest of the pack needs to get used to Usako as she’ll be helping around here for the foreseeable future.” Steven smiles at the two of them.

Charlie barks a nonsense noise as Pippin turns her head to glare daggers at her brother.

Rolling her shoulders to get out of Charlie’s grasp, Pippin growls sub audibly back at her brother. Stopping once she reaches the inner door. ‘You will owe me big time bro. This is much worse than housework, I’d rather be on the killing floor of the slaughter house or out in the fields rather than doing this.’

‘Sigh, why do you have to be so hot headed sis. I remember when you were nicer, before Mark pulled his stunt of removing your collar.’ Charlie fights the instinctual urge as the pack Alpha Male to ‘punish’ her for her aggressiveness to him as he watches her walk up to the inner door.

Walking over to the pole mounted control box, set about a yard away from the outer door. Steven opens the box and pulls down the lever labeled ‘inner’, watching as the door in front of Pippin slowly swings open, into the security gateway, by giant stepper motors buried under it.

Waiting for Pippin to walk past the inner door, he pushes the lever back into place once she passes the threshold, closing the inner door behind her many times faster than it opened. Steven repeats the process with the outer door, closing the control box once it too shuts securely.

Pippin watches as Steven walks up to her while she stands just outside the outer door. ‘Sigh, here it comes.’ Forcing her ears to stay still, and up, along with her tail.

Putting his hand on Pippin’s head, Steven gently rubs her ears, then her muzzle. “Who’s a good girl, Pippin.” Using a finger to lift her lips, he takes a quick look at her teeth and gums.

‘They look healthy, that’s good.’ Letting Pippin’s lip go, he rubs her muzzle, then pats her head.

“Who’s ready for a good workout?” Steven smiles and gives Pippin the puppy dog tone of voice.

Pippin stops herself from rolling her eyes, as she lets out a happy sounding bark. ‘One of these days I wish you’d understand, like your brother did. I’m not an animal…’

Smiling at Pippin’s positive reaction, Steven whistle’s sharply as he walks towards the beige barn, Pippin following a step after.

-

Usako looks up from examining the labels for the bags, making eye contact with Pippin as she and Steven enter.

“Did you fill all the holes with wheat Usako?” Steven walks up to the grinding stones and whistles again, his finger pointing at the nearest bar.

‘Yea, yea. I know what to do.’ Looking away from Usako, Pippin moves over to where Steven’s pointing, grabbing a hold of the bar.

“Yea I did. These are tacky looking labels by the way.” Stepping off the stool, Usako joins Steven and Pippin next to the grinding wheel. Holding Pippin’s attention, Steven makes a circular motion with his hand in front of her.

‘Says the one who’s not going to do all the hard work today… You owe me bro.’ Letting out a bark, just to let Steven know she understands. Pippin digs her feet and claws into the concrete as much as she can, pushing against the bar using her leg muscles, nearly going perpendicular to the floor.

Due to well oiled bearings, the top stone gives way silently, with only the sound of it grinding the wheat up filling the barn.

“Is she, able to do this?” Usako, nods to Pippin as she’s straining herself. Her laying flat on her head while huffing loudly out of her nose. Only able to glance at Steven before the turning of the millstone prevents it.

“Yea, it just takes a rotation or two to get the flour into all the grooves on the stones. So as it grinds it, it in turn acts as lubricant making the whole thing easier to push. This work is rough on everyone, but, she seems to be handling it fine.” Steven smiles at Usako, the shift in the pitch and tone of the grinding noise draws Usako’s attention back to Pippin.

Who starts to stand back up into a more normal posture with her ears forward, looking less strained than before.

Usako tilts an ear as Pippin returns her gaze with an annoyed glare when the rotation brings her back around. ‘Huh, Steven’s right, her ears are up, she’s not huffing anymore, though I can still see the strain in her leg muscles though her fur. Maybe if she wasn’t treated like a slave, some proper cardio and leg exercises would allow her to do this without much effort.’

Tapping Usako’s shoulder, Steven points to the bins. “Keep an eye on them, you should’ve put just enough into the grinder to fill them up, when they’re full switch them out with empty ones. Then we’ll have Pippin pause while you rill the holes again with wheat.” He pauses.

“Oh I forgot to introduce you, this is Pippin, Charlie’s younger sister, of about five or so minutes.”

Usako nods to Steven. ‘Explains how the were acting last night.’ Then Idly walks around the millstone, unintentionally keeping pace with Pippin while keeping an eye on the bins.

Switching them out when needed. Steven only whistles for Pippin to stop as Usako replaces the fourth one.

Letting go of the bar, Pippin slips to her knee’s panting with one hand flat on the ground. Only to Glare at Usako as she passes by at a leisurely pace carrying a cup of wheat in one hand and dragging the step stool with the other. ‘All because she can talk like a human.’

Hearing Steven’s footsteps, Pippin looks over at him. She has to fight to hold her ears up upon seeing his smile.

“Good girl Pippin. Here, have a drink, you earned it.” Kneeling, Steven places an aluminum bowl half filled with water on the floor in front of Pippin.

Accustomed to this, she picks it up and starts lapping at the water eagerly. ‘Sigh, at least you give me water more often than your sister.’

Feeling Usako staring at her, Pippin glares right back, trying to non-verbally tell Usako what she’s thinking. ‘Don’t you dare.’

Usako can’t help folding her ears back while twitching her tail just a bit in annoyance upon seeing Pippin drink out of a bowl. ‘By Karma Steven why? She’s thinks and feels like you and you’re treating her like a pet lizard.’ About to open her mouth to say as much, Usako catches Pippins glare that wanders between her and the bowl.

Figuratively biting her tongue, Usako keeps quiet.

Filling the millstone with more wheat, Usako sighs to herself. ‘Why? Why is it you don’t’ want me to do anything? Steven seems reasonable enough, I’m sure I can get him to understand that you shouldn’t be treated like this.’

With the last hole filled, Usako steps back and as soon as she and the step stool are out of the way, Steven whistles with the same hand gesture as earlier.

‘Sigh, you didn’t have to rush refilling this torture device, then again, you aren’t doing the hard labor, are you Usako?’ Letting out a huff through her nose in response to the whistle, Pippin pulls herself up by the bar.

Gripping it like before, she puts her feet and legs into the initial push to get the millstone moving again, feeling her leg muscles burn and ache in protest so soon after the previous session.

Gently tapping Usako on the shoulder, Steven points to the table where the full bins are. ‘Well, at least she’s not just going to be standing around watching me break my back pushing this like she’s better than I am.’

“Okay Usako, I’m going to show you how to package up the flour.” Steven waits for Usako to pull the step stool up to the table and climb up, so she can reach.

“Real simple, you take a bag.” Steven pulls one off the pile. “Slap this sticker on the front, the other sticker on the back.” Continuing the demonstration he applies them. “Open the bag, then place it on the scale. You then scoop in flour till it weighs ‘about’ two pounds before tying it off with some of that cord.” Tying off the top of the bag slow enough so Usako will see how to.

“I’ll then put them in boxes and stack the boxes.” He points to the nearby stack of cardboard boxes and an empty pallet.

Looking up to Steven, Usako nods once. “It sounds simple enough.” Picking up one of the bags, Usako follows Steven’s instructions to the letter. ‘Sigh, no way around it, it feels like I’m back working the part-time job I had when I was younger right out of high-school.

Her tail slowly drooping as she fills each bag.

‘Heh, not such a good deal now is it?’ Pippin holds in a smirk as she circles around the millstone to the point she can see the two. Watching Usako’s ear’s join in with her tail drooping lower with each bag filled.

Only for Pippin’s step falter for a split second later as a muscle in her leg twinges. ‘Great, going to be sore tomorrow, and not in a good way.’

Sighing, Usako forces her tail and ears back up as she waits for Steven to box up enough filled bags, so she can fill some more. ‘Maybe I should’ve been more specific in what I would like to do to earn my keep. This is boring as…’ Her tail poofs at the loud ringtone from Steven’s phone.

Steven places the last box for the row of boxes that marks the half-way point for the pallet, pulling the phone out of his pocket, he frowns at the screen. Pressing accept, he puts it against his ear.

“Hello, wh…” Steven’s eyes go wide.

Usako stops bagging and tilts an ear towards Steven. ‘Is that, a synthetic voice on the other end?’

As Pippin stops pushing the millstone, slumping against it in exhaustion. ‘Is that a human on the other end? Never heard them sound like that before.’

Slowly, Steven lowers the phone while hitting disconnect button on the screen. Turning around, he sits down on the stack of boxes before running his hand slowly through his hair.

Glancing at Pippin for a moment to see if she’ll do anything, Usako walks over to Steven. “Something wrong Steven?”

‘You could say that, sigh. Chalk one up for sis, being a citizen just bit me in the ass like she said. Still, I agreed to it.’ Frowning down at Usako, Steven nods.

“Yea, that was an automated message, notifying me that I’ve been activated. I’m to remain where I’m at to be picked up by military transport to be taken to the nearest base. Didn’t say what the vehicle will be though.”

Pippin approaches upon hearing it, panting, but with her ears up and eyes wide in surprise and fear.

‘Steven’s going away? That means Angela’s going to be solely in charge of us! SHIT!’ She lets out a small whine, which draws Usako’s attention for a moment.

‘Yea I don’t need to know Ancient Lupine to know the meaning of that kind of whine. I don’t like this either Pippin.’

Folding her ears back, Usako flicks her tail once and looks back to Steven. “You just lost your brother and parents Steven. Can’t you do a bereavement deferment? If your army works any way similar to mine, that is.”

Shaking his head, Steven sighs. “Nope. The only exception in our system is if you’re ‘not able of body’, meaning you’re seriously sick or otherwise incapacitated with no possibility of recovery.”

Curiously, he glances down at his phone and thumbs to the news headlines. ‘Why would they activate citizens… Oh. Fuck.’

Holding out the phone, Usako looks at it as Pippin walks over to curiously to see it as well. “I guess, this is why they’re doing this.”

[China breaks Antarctica non-aggression pact, shipping in troops. Claiming risk of attack by western powers for the mineral rich area of the southernmost continent.]

Looking between the phone and Steven, Usako flicks an ear. “Wait, what’s China and why would that do this?”

Pippin lowers her ears as she looks at Steven. ‘China is one of those country thing’s dad told me and Charlie about.’

Steven reaches over to pat Pippin on the head. Folding her ears back slightly, Pippin moves out of the way of his hand. “If I had to guess Usako, it’s because of the destruction of ‘The Vector’. A supply chain’s been built up via these resource ships over several years, bringing in rare minerals and such. There’s now about an eight-month gap in delivery, and I think China thinks the western powers will try to make up for it, by seizing deposits in Antarctica.”

Lowering his hand, Steven watches as Usako’s tail and ears droop.

“So they’re shipping you off to Antarctica to counter this? Because you’re a citizen and agreed to be a soldier when needed?” Climbing up the boxes, Usako takes a seat next to Steven.

Moving to sit cross-legged on the floor, Pippin winces. ‘Yea, I’m ‘really’ going to be sore tomorrow because of this…’

Frowning slightly at Pippin, Steven sighs. “Okay Pippin, I guess you don’t want pets.” Looking back down to his phone, Steven brings up the Bio-Morph control system and makes some changes.

‘Yea this should work.’ With a final touch the registration screen appears.

Looking back to Usako, he nods. “That’s about the gist of it, they beef up their side, we beef up ours. Then all but the fanatic soldiers hope neither side blinks. Anyway, touch the phone’s screen please.”

Tilting her head a bit, Usako looks at the phone, then back to Steven. “Registering my paw prints? For what?”

Steven holds the phone a bit closer to Usako. “I’m making you an admin to the Bio-Morph account, no you can’t remove your own collar without the system flagging it and causing the police to show up. What this will do is allow you to do things I normally do with it, while providing an anchor to Sis’s rash decisions. She lets her mood dictate how she treats them.”

Tilting her head a bit. “Why me? Can’t you have Frank do it?”

Shaking his head a bit. “I have no one else I can trust to do it. Frank won’t get here in time for me to register him, combine that with the fact you and sis don’t see eye to eye means you’re the best choice for lack of a better option.” Steven smiles a little.

‘It’s more that I have no other choice, I don’t want to return to and find them injured or dead due to her decisions.’

Looking up at Steven’s smile, before glancing to Pippin, who’s looking back at her, ears forward with a completely still tail. ‘I guess for their sake, considering neither Steven nor Angela know Bio-Morphs are intelligent.’

“Okay.” Usako nods. Placing her thumb on the screen, followed by two of her fingers in turn, the phone beeps each time it records each Usako’s fingerprints.

“This is the first time I’ve registered a fingerprint and it only had to read it once. Not to mention using the screen rather than a tiny sensor.”

After touching a few more buttons, Steven hands Usako the phone. “The whole screen’s a fingerprint sensor, and has been for years.”

“Neat.” Usako looks over the phone a bit before Steven shows her how to bring up the Administration program for the Bio-Morphs.

Pippin blinks and looks in the direction of the larger of the two doors. ‘What’s that noise?’ Flicking her ears, she stands, only to falter back to the floor. ‘Ow ow. Cramp.’

The whine she lets out draws both Usako’s and Steven’s attention as Usako’s ears swivel in the direction of the door.

“Sigh, I guess this work was a bit much for you Pippin. Should’ve grabbed Charlie despite him wanting you to go instead.” Slipping off of the boxes he takes a few steps towards her.

“Wait, Steven, I think she hears that noise too.” Stopping mid step, Steven glances back at Usako.

“I don’t hear anything?”

Forcing the phone into one of the tiny pockets of her pants, Usako slips off the pallet of boxes and heads over to the doorway not blocked by a fan. “It kinda sounds like a helicopter, but higher pitched? Not to mention more constant, it has no air chopping sound a normal one has.” Usako and Pippin fold their ears down flat against their heads as the noise gets even louder for them.

Steven sighs, rubs his hand though his hair and walks over to the door. “Okay, now I hear it, must be my ride. I was expecting them to send a bus, but a v-twenty-five osprey is kinda neat to be honest. Uses an engine based of the same principle as those kinetic shield things and looks like it came out of an old sci-fi movie.”

Stepping aside, Usako lets Steven out.

The nearly deafening noise slams into Usako as she follows Steven out of the Barn, while Pippin stays next to the doorway.

‘So that’s a v-twenty-five osprey?’ Covering her eyes with a paw, She looks up into the sky as it comes in for a vertical landing. ‘It looks like someone took a V-twenty-two osprey and stuck glowing orange engines where the turbo-props used to be. Not to mention the smaller looking ones bolted onto the tail-fins.’

At the sound of a whine piercing the noise of the craft’s engine’s, Usako looks behind herself and sees Pippin cowering.

‘That thing is too noisy! Why is it in the air? It looks too big to be in the air. I don’t like this…’ Pippin’s tail tucks between her legs, ready to bolt back into the barn to find a place to hide. Only to freeze in place upon feeling a small hand on her shoulder.

“Pippin it’s fine, it’s just a weird airplane.” Giving a small smile to her, Usako shields her eyes from another dust cloud kicked up by the Osprey.

‘I wonder how hard it is to fly? Ospreys are notorious for being finicky.’

Usako squeezes Pippin’s shoulder a little harder. They both cover their eyes and turn their heads away from the torrent of air as the craft lands a moment later. Fitting itself into an open spot just big enough for it between the barns and the fence of the neighboring field, smack dab in the middle of the road.

The side opens as the noise and wind coming from the glowing orange engines subside, but only just a bit.

Steven looks back at Usako and Pippin, then turns and heads for the officer in full uniform stepping out of the aircraft.

“Steven Mercer, citizen number Z583B2-41?” He pulls out a pen like object and opens it into a tablet in a single flick of the wrist.

“Yea that’s, me, I got your automated message. Bit fancy for just collecting us draftees to be honest. Why’s that?”

The uniformed officer nods once.

“Place your thumb here and sign. Please be quick though, we have ten other farms to pick up a lot more people from.” He holds out the tablet for Steven, who does as asked.

Rolling the tablet back up and pocketing it, he politely salutes Steven. “Thank you for choosing to uphold your citizenry duty of serving your country Private Mercer.” Pausing for a moment to look over at Pippin and Usako, he steps aside to let Steven in.

“To answer your question private. The chincs dropped a quarter of a million troops onto their antarctic research bases. We’re scrambling to match that number before they decide to take a nice stroll over to ours, otherwise it would’ve informed you to go to your nearest bus depot to be picked up.”

Grabbing one of the handles aside the opening on the osprey, Steven hefts himself up into the osprey. “So it’s a bit more serious than the news suggests.”

The officer following suit climbs in. “A bit above my pay grade to judge Private… Will your Bio-Morphs be fine? We can delay a couple of minutes for you to put them back into their cage across the street.”

Looking out of the vehicle, Steven gives a small smile to Usako, which she returns with a head tilt, then looks over to the officer. “No, Pippin will keep an eye on Trinity and vise versa till my sister comes to pick them up. I’m sure she got the ‘your family has been drafted’ message already and is on her way.”

“Good! Now get strapped in, It’ll be a bumpy ride as we grab everyone else today.” The officer slams the side of the osprey shut with one hand from within the vehicle, while making a circle motion in the air with the other. A moment later the engines rev up.

The full power and sound of the engine’s forcing Usako to turn and cover her head with one hand, while the other keeps a hold of Pippin who’s cowering on the ground.

It and the roar passes quickly as the osprey lifts off the ground, only to shoot high into the sky. ‘Oh that must’ve pulled more than a few G’s taking off that quickly and at that angle…’ Hazarding a glance after it takes off, Usako watches it quickly shrink into the sky.

Letting go of Pippin, Usako looks her over as she stands slowly, lifting her tail from between her legs. Her ears though still lay folded back against her head in worry. “So, I guess it’s just you and me till Angela gets here Pippin?”

Pippin nods. ‘Yea, lets just hope her older brother leaving didn’t put her in a bad mood.’

Smiling in return, Usako flicks her tail while heading back into the barn and out of the strengthening sunlight.

As Pippin follows, the glint of Steven’s phone draws her attention. Barely fitting into the pocket of the pant’s Usako is ‘borrowing’ from Angela’s wardrobe when she was nine years old.

Her ear flicks, the sight dredging up an old, bitter-sweet memory.

-

“Hey, Pips.”

Hearing Mark’s voice, her tail wags. [Mark!]

Looking down at the worn out cloth on the picnic table, half-way worked into a new pillow stuffed with grasses and left over hay. ‘I’ll finish this later.’

Wiping her hands on her fur, she heads on over to the chain-link wall of the enclosure’s trapezoid shaped dome.

Only to catch sight of the plastic and glass rectangle that her father says is a ‘phone’.

Mark holds it up for her to see. “No need to worry anymore.” Nodding to the gate “Come on, I’ll let you out, I want to show you something.”

[Okay.] Putting extra cheer into her voice, Pippin follows with a smile. ‘I wonder what he wants to show me.’ Only to stop in front of the inner door, folding her ears back while looking at Mark.

‘Doesn’t he know? If I go any further, this collar will shock me.’

“Just a minute Pips.” Looking down, Mark holds the phone in both hands, tapping the screen with his thumbs.

“Alright, I’ll get the doors now.” Going over to the control box, he pulls both levers, opening both doors.

Eyes glued to the now open doors, Pippin inches forward, tepidly stepping over the threshold of the first door. ‘No shock?’

Moving quicker, she goes through the second doorway, turns and tilts her head in the direction of Mark.

“This is mom’s phone Pip’s I just turned off the geo-fencing on your collar.” Closing the distance between her and him, Mark brings her into a hug. Pippin’s head at just the right height to lay on Mark’s shoulder.

Letting out a sigh, Pippin pushes her nose into the crook of Mark’s neck and breaths in, only to stop a moment later as she hears a loud beep, a click, then a light thud.

‘My neck feels… lighter?’ Reaching up, the moment her hand touches thin, but bare fur, Pippin jumps back in shock, letting go of Mark.

Looking around wildly, she spots the deactivated and opened collar on the ground. A thousand scenarios run through her mind, all based off of what her father says happens to Bio-Morphs who escape.

Her view of the collar’s blocked a moment later as Mark steps in front of her, then gently takes her muzzle in his hand. He brings it up to his face and plants a kiss on her lips.

Those worries seem a lot more distant now.

-

‘Those were the best couple of hours of my life. I tasted freedom, until the ‘police’ showed up with Mark’s parents.’ Pippin flicks an ear.

‘Usako is smaller than I am, I can just overpower her, take the phone and free myself and the others from these collars and this life. Mark tried to free me and failed, he would’ve wanted me to be free…’

Ears forward, Pippin reaches out, slowly, only to yank her arm back to her side the instant she notices Usako turning around to face Pippin.

Lowering her ears to their resting position, Usako puts on a half smile and nods to the barn. “Well, you can do whatever you want Pippin. I’m not going to make you work, not after seeing how you struggled to do it yourself earlier. That mill looks like it’s a four mammal job, at least, and even then it seems like harsh work.” Turning back around, she heads over to the fan blowing air out the other doorway of the barn.

Flipping it around, Usako sits down on the floor with its air stream blowing over her. ‘Why did I have to crash in such a warm climate?’

‘Um, okay, that was close…’ Tilting her head, Pippin looks around, spots the foot stool Usako used and pulls it into the air stream as well before sitting down on it. Laying her head in her hands, she just stares off into the distance.

‘If she had any idea I was about to steal from her, Usako isn’t showing it. Sigh, that was stupid, Here she is, willing to treat me well, and I was about to steal that phone from her.’

“I know you can’t speak Pippin, but you can nod yes or no. So does Steven treat you well?”

Turning her head to look over at Usako, Pippin’s tail twitches at the question. ‘Does Steven treat me well? Aside from treating me like dad says someone would treat a pet, I guess, he isn’t too bad. He could stop using his hands to open my mouth each morning to check my teeth though, they taste terrible.’

Pippin nods once and Usako smiles.

Glancing at the other door of the barn, Usako lowers her ears slightly. ‘Outside treating them like slaves I bet.’ Turning her attention back to Pippin.

“What about Angela though?”

The frown and the laying back of Pippin’s ears has Usako raising her hand. “Yea, that’s a pretty solid no, she doesn’t treat you well. I don’t need to imagine how Angela does treat you and the others based on how she’s been treating me. I mean Steven did say she’s impulsive and did give me access to his control account to counter her rash actions.”

A truck engine’s roar, one Usako knows is from the other vehicle owned by both Steven and Angela cuts off any further conversation.

Standing, Usako makes her way over to the door, and before she even reaches it. The engine’s roar ceases, and a frowning Angela’s standing in the door frame looking at her and Pippin.

“Of course Steven would leave you two here, all alone. The Bio-Morph my now dead brother foolishly thought was intelligent, and our ‘guest’ who nearly cost me the use of my arm. On top of that, Steven wanting to be a citizen to help his country has bitten him in the ass. Now I have to supervise you two rather than the rest of the pack.”

Glaring at Pippin, Angela takes out her phone. Making sure Pippin can see it. “Pippin, millstone, now.”

Staring back with her ears flat, Pippin huffs. ‘Oh fucking great, Angela’s angry.’ Stiffly standing, she limps over to one of the bars. Grunting in pain, her stiff, and sore muscles protest in being used again so soon.

Turning her attention over to Usako, Angela kicks the foot-stool over to her. “Steven, who I hope won’t be sent back home as a popsicle, seemed to have forgoten there’s such an invention called a foot-stool. Use it to stack the boxes or you can go help Pippin push the millstone.”

Stepping back to avoid the foot-stool falling over onto her, Usako folds her ears back. Baring her teeth back at Angela. “I understand you’re angry but, by Karma, you don’t have to fucking take it out on me or Pippin!”

Reaching down, Usako lifts the foot-stool back onto it’s feet.

“Says the ‘bitch’ who nearly took my arm simply because I laid a hand on your shoulder and you didn’t want me to.” Angela holds up her phone. ‘If she talks back to me again I’ll sh…’ Narrowing her eyes as she sees what’s half stuffed into Usako’s pocket.

‘Dammit, tell me he didn’t.’

Usako holds Steven’s phone up, raising her ears and smirking, just a little.

“Steven gave me access to the Bio-Morph control program before he left, and told me to keep an eye on your impulsiveness.”

Angela’s eye just barely twitches. ‘He did what?! Wait, unless. Yea that idea will work. You’re going to get yours for what you did to me you little bitch.’

Slowly lowering her phone and pocketing it, Angel sighs, figuratively backing away as her body language loses its aggressive edge.

“Fine. Usako, in exchange though for me not using the motivator function on the phone as intended. You’ll stack the boxes as I bag them today. We ‘do’ have to get this done before tomorrow so it can be shipped out with or without your help.” Putting her hands on her hips, Angela narrows her eyes. Staring Usako down.

Lowering Steven’s phone, then pushing it as far as it can into the pocket of her borrowed pants, Usako raises her ears a bit. Her tail though lashes back and forth wildly.

“In other words, I defy Frank’s medical advice and do some heavy lifting, or you’ll shock me to do it anyway?”

Tapping her foot, Angela smirks. “Yea, and the day is only going to get hotter, so make up your mind now. I won’t tolerate a free-loader on ‘my’ farm.”

‘Okay, step one, tire Usako out.’

Glancing over at Pippin, who’s panting and straining while pushing the millstone, Usako looks back at Angela.

“Fine.”

Grabbing the handle of the foot-stool, Usako drags it over to the pallet bellow where the next box will go.

Seeing her do this, Angela smirks and gets to work bagging, then keeping the millstone filled with wheat.

Grabbing a full and sealed box, Usako carefully climbs the step-ladder with the box in both arms. ‘Well, at least she isn’t throwing the boxes at me. I don’t know how she’s lifting these damn things so easily though. I think they weigh more than the black boxes I pulled earlier.’

Placing it next to the rest of the boxes on this row, Usako takes a moment to glance over to Pippin to see how she’s doing while panting in the heat.

‘At least Angela allows her have some water like Steven does, I’d just wish she gave Pippin more of a break.’ Looking past the one and a quarter pallets stacked at the remaining bag of wheat.

‘Almost done at least.’ Sighing, Usako grabs another box, trying to ignore the throbbing in her injured arm.

Walking over to the last bag of wheat, Angela hefts it up with both arms, dragging it over to the millstone. ‘Pippin seems like she’s at her physical limit, maybe I should have her work in the fields more often to build up some stamina if she’s worn out by such a simple job.’

Glancing over to Usako climbing the step ladder while holding the box, Angela smiles. ‘And ‘Usako’ looks down right exhausted.’

Erasing her smile, she whistles to get their attention.

“Don’t be quitting now, we’re almost done, then you both of you can have the rest of the day off.” Pippin and Usako look over to Angela, surprise written across their muzzles.

Clapping her hands to get rid of some flour dust off of them. “What? Nothing else needs to be done right now. The rest of the pack’s handling the slaughterhouse. An extra Bio-Morph or two over there won’t make a difference in production. Besides, the both of you look so worn out.” She puts on a sincere face for effect, making sure to look at Usako.

Grunting loudly as Usako shoves a box into its place at muzzle level while standing on the step-stool. ‘I guess Angela has a point, I think, though to be honest I don’t know how many they need to run something like that.’

Leaning against the stacked boxes as she pants a few times. “About time… You may have to call Frank though, my arm’s throbbing. Like when the stick was in it.”

“We’ll see Usako.” Angela goes about filling up the holes in the millstone, deftly maneuvering around the bars and Pippin, before tossing the empty wheat bag to the side.

Pippin barely pays attention to Angela’s antics while moving around her. ‘Thank god… I don’t think… I don’t think I can feel my legs anymore.’ Glancing over to Usako while lulling her tongue out. ‘She doesn’t seem in any…’ Pippin stops panting and sniffs the air. ‘Is Usako bleeding? I smell blood coming from her.’

Noticing something smelling amiss, Usako Folds her ears back then sniffs her bandaged arm. ‘Great, it smells like I must’ve opened my wound.’

Glancing over to Angela, she then glares at the few remaining boxes, before sighing. ‘Not like Angela is going to call Frank to be honest. Still, I am surprised she’ll let us go after this.’

Favoring her uninjured arm, Usako moves the remaining boxes, one by one over to the pallet, stacking them.

Clapping her hands together, Angela nods to both of them. “Okay. Good we’re done here for the day. Just a bit after noon to boot. Usako, you can head next door, I’ll bring you some food later for lunch.”

Looking over to Pippin, Angela whistles. “Heel Pippin!” Smiling mentally upon hearing Usako let out a small huff, then seeing her relax.

‘Alright, now for the next part of ‘get brother’s phone back’.’

Passing by each other, Usako makes eye contact with Pippin. ‘I feel about as exhausted as Pippin looks.’

Pippin glances down, spotting the blood on Usako’s bandage. ‘I hope she gets that injury looked at, it doesn’t look good.’

Looking up at Angela’s face after coming to an unsteady stop next to her. The shit eating grin on Angela’s face as she pulls out her phone causes her to tilt her head.

Eyes widening, Pippin turns to bark out to Usako, only for Angela to beat her to it by pressing the ‘activate shock’ button.

Falling to her knee’s, Usako then onto the concrete floor of the barn, muzzle first, as all voluntary muscle control’s robbed from her. The momentum sending Steven’s phone sliding out of the tiny pocket and clattering to the floor next to her.

‘Oh for fuck’s sake!… I should’ve expected this!’

Laughing a little, Angela saunters over to Usako with a smile, and kneels next to her. “That little shock, is for nearly costing me my arm, whatever you are.” Picking up Steven’s phone, she loads up the control program and has it scan her fingerprint.

Only to deeply frown.

[Error! Settings locked by primary property owner ‘Steven Mercer’. You do not have the privileges to change this setting. If you have reached this message in error, please contact your local Bio-Morph registry branch at…]

Sneering down at the helpless Usako, Angela pockets the phone. ‘God dammit, Steven must’ve expected this, or just me getting a hold of his phone.’

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she frowns.

“I was just going to shock you, so could take my brother’s phone back. Removing you from admin control. I mean, what was he thinking giving it to you? He just met you! Except he seems to have flexed his legal muscle, Steven inherited primary ownership of this place because he’s the eldest son, and mom and dad liked that he became a citizen. So he locked the settings down after granting you administrator access.”

Roughly using her foot, she shoves it under Usako, rolling her over.

‘Heh, a bloody nose and I didn’t even have to hit her.’

Regaining just enough control, Usako stares daggers at Angela. ‘Steven did what?’

“There’s just one tiny problem with what my brother did.” Angela glances back over to Pippin.

Pippin returns Angela’s stare with her ears flat back and tail in-between her legs out of fright. ‘Please don’t shock me!’

Dusting off her foot and knees, the smile returns to Angela’s face. “Pippin. Pick up ‘Trinity’” Pointing down at Usako.

Looking at Usako, Pippin glances back at Angela ‘I can barely walk…’

Sensing Pippin’s hesitation, Angela raises her phone in her other hand, lighting up the screen with a thumb.

Yelping, Pippin limps over, then lifts Usako like you would a child. A hand holding her head, one arm under her upper back and the other in the crook of her knees.

“Prob… lem?” Forcing her head to move to keep Angela in sight Usako expends more effort that she’d like to speak.

Angela marches past the two and into the mid-day Texas summer sun outside before pointing to the ground next to her. “HEEL PIPPIN.” Angela’s loud voice forcing Pippin to comply, limping outside to stand next to Angela.

Not even taking a moment to glance down at Usako.

Pocketing her own phone, Angela smiles at the two of them. “Yup!” Popping the P at the end.

“The name he attached to the new admin account is Usako Chasofito, a ‘nobody’ as far as any official record’s concerned, believe me, I checked last night on the computer.” She pauses. “However.” Reaching over, and ignoring Pippin’s personal space, Angela flicks Usako’s Bio-Morph collar with a thumb and fore-finger.

Pippin winces at the sight. ‘What the hell did you do to piss Angela off so badly?’

“You ‘do’ match a Bio-Morph, that we, the Mercer’s, recently found and adopted. A strange runt of an arctic fox breed named ‘Trinity’.” Pointing to the fully empty enclosed Bio-Morph cage, she gazes down authoritatively at Pippin.

“Pippin, carry her inside.” Half walking and half jogging as she speaks, Angela heads for the control panel, flipping the levers to open the doors once she reaches it.

Pippin lowers her ears as her tail stays between her legs as she follows Angela until she has to veer to the side to enter the now open doors. The moment she steps inside the trapezoid dome of the pen. Angela closes the two doors, the metal on metal sound causes Pippin to wince.

“You… Can’t….” Another shock rolls through Usako’s body, and Pippin due to her carrying Usako.

Pippin falls to her knees whining loudly. ‘I should’ve let her go once I stepped inside the pen…’

“I can, and just did. ‘Trinity’. You’re a Bio-Morph now, which means no talking. I’ve set the collar to shock you even at the slightest attempt to speak.” Smiling, Angela leans against the control panel watching the two.

“YOU FU…. AGGH” The collar delivers a heavier shock, due to disobedience. Sending both Usako and Pippin to the ground twitching.

“Bio-Morphs! Don’t! Talk! Now rest up ‘Trinity’, tomorrow you’ll work as the rest of the pack.” Letting go of the control panel, Angela turns and walks back for the farm’s truck.

‘I’ll get you for this Angela, you’ll wish I had taken your arm.’ Panting rapidly for about a minute, then as some muscle control returns to her, she weakly crawls off of Pippin.

Watching her move before trying to roll over onto her hands and knee’s, Pippin sighs. ‘So much for trying to keep her in line so Angela doesn’t treat us badly.’

–

Later that night.

–

Plopping down onto the recliner and wiping her brow, the soft cushions force a contented sigh from her lips. ‘God damn bitch’s ejection seat was heavy, but it’s in the back of the truck to be disposed of tomorrow. Along with the rest of her craft and shit. Sigh, once I find where she crashed that is.’

Her tired eyes fall upon the two silver colored, and highly reflective ‘black boxes’ her brother and ‘Usako’ pulled from the crashed ‘spaceship’ sitting on the coffee table.

Drumming her fingers on the armrest, Angela lets out a deep frustrated sigh. “Why the fuck not. Wonder what’s on them since those air-plane crash shows make them seem so interesting.”

Sitting up, Angela pulls one of them closer to the edge of the coffee table. Turning it over, she runs her hands over a panel with counter sunk latches covered in epoxy. ‘Well, they would have to open them somehow.’

One trip to the kitchen for a utility knife and several minutes later, Angela pops open the panel, letting it fall to the floor.

‘That’s it?’ Rubbing her fingers against the flat black surface, she pauses at a raised bump in the center. ‘Huh?’

Picking it open with a fingernail, she stares at the absolutely tiny connector port. ‘Looks kinda like the UCP connector on my phone but… No, I think it’s the one on Grandpa’s old tablet after Mom and Dad found it.’

Smiling a little, Angela leans back into the chair. ‘That was a fun weekend. Dad getting it to work, then he, Mark, Steven, and I, taking turns on the game's that were on it.’

Standing as her smile fades to a look of determination, Angela goes to rummage through the drawers of the computer desk. Then a few places in her parent’s bedroom, finally followed by a container she drags up from the basement marked ‘Electronics’.

‘There it is!’ Pulling out the decades old stiff and sticky cable connected to a disintegrating plastic adapter with faded ‘USB-C to UCP’ lettering printed on it. Putting it next to the computer, she drags the black box she opened over.

‘Please work… Otherwise, it’s going to bug me about what’s on this to no end until I find a way to do this.’ Picking up the power brick cracked along the seam of the plastic shell, Angela plugs it into a nearby outlet. In accordance with the directions printed on the adapter before inserting the UCP into the computer. Waiting for a moment as the computer plays the ‘new device’ found tone multiple times in a row.

[Universal Computer Port to USB-C converter successfully installed. NOTE: All drives connected will use the legacy ‘/dev/sdx’ schema and may not be compatible with all programs.]

Dismissing the notification box, Angela plugs in the USB-C end into the black box, wiping a bit of the plastic goop that was the cable strain relief onto her work shorts afterwards.

Another short tone and the new drive connected tool-tip pops up in the corner of the screen just for a second or two.

‘Lets see if I remember the lessons from my high school computer class…’ Opening up Windows explorer, Angela navigates through the multiple warning screens. All to keep people out of the over century old file system schema. She eventually finds the ‘/dev/sda’ entry once through them.

Double-clicking on it, Windows explorer mounts it and opens it up into a new window.

‘Are these video files? They look like video files to Windows 2100 if the icon on them is correct. Never seen a video file ending with ‘avi’ before though.’ Right clicking on one, Angela then clicks open.

Loading the built-in media player, Windows without her input starts playing the file. ‘No audio?’ Sitting back a little in the computer chair, Angela watches the playback of the inside of the cockpit for the first fifteen-minute segment of Usako’s mission.

‘If it wasn’t for what she almost did to my arm, it would be comical seeing her in a space suit like that.’

Usako goes through her pre-flight check, multiple times before this file ends. Angela opens the next video file, this one shows the same time period but from the external camera’s point of view.

She bursts out laughing when the camera pans a bit to get a better view of the rear of the craft. “Oh god, a bunny in a space suit! It’s so cute it’s damn silly.”

Snickering, and giggling a bit after a few minutes she lets the video continue to its end. ‘Okay, okay calm down. Let’s see what’s on the next set of video’s with a later time stamp.’

Right clicking, Angela opens it only to sigh. ‘And we’re back to the bitch in the cockpit.’ Leaning back in the computer char, she holds her head in one hand while tapping the arm rest with the other. All the while Usako separates the craft from the space station and flies it out to a safe distance to test the engines.

‘The movies made our first FTL attempt a lot more interesting and a lot less boring.’

Sitting up, Angela grabs the mouse. Using it to seek through the video, and into the next one, only to come to a stop once the craft enters FTL space.

‘Is that?.’ Letting go of the mouse, the video plays at the normal speed. ‘It’s a resource runner, but how did it…’ Angela’s train of thought dies the moment Usako’s craft is close enough to have the registration of the resource runner legible.

With one hand on the mouse, Angela backs the video up, then plays it again, repeating this step over and over. As if it would show something different if she just tried again.

Slowly the fingernails of her other hand dig into the computer chair as tears flow freely down her cheeks.