“So, about that water…”
Daniel tapped his fingers on the top of the toolset, currently feeling very uncomfortable.
After Bugsy had sparked a massive amount of noise in the main cave, the bug-horses had apparently held some kind of meeting amongst themselves. It seemed important, lasting for at least half-an-hour and it involved every one of the strange creatures. Judging from the way that the five ones who had taken his voltameter were leading the meeting, he assumed that they were the ones in charge. However, what was strange was the way that Bugsy acted.
The annoying one had dominated the meeting, pacing up and down while chattering confidently towards the others. Daniel had noticed that while Bugsy seemed to be disliked by the other leaders, not one bug-horse had interrupted his speech. Then they had reached some form of agreement, and all attention had turned to him.
So, now he was currently sitting in a small side-cave with no water, but instead with four of the bug-horses who were watching him closely from a few metres away.
He’d already come to the conclusion that they were all female, although admittedly there was a large chance that he was getting it completely wrong. All he had to go off without resorting to the impolite checking of genitals was body shapes and sizes, as well as the smaller muzzles.
They were sitting on their rumps with their forelegs resting between their outstretched hind ones, much like a dog would do. The four wore no armour and weren’t trying to vivisect him, so Daniel gathered that they were likely just normal bug-horses. Still, the way they were constantly watching him was unnerving, it was if they were waiting for him to do something that they weren’t particularly looking forward to.
Daniel sighed, he just wished that Boris hadn’t returned to the entrance so soon, so far he was the only bug-horse that was both easy to trust and pleasant to be around.
“So,” he tried, more for his benefit than the four that he was addressing. “Are you four guarding me? I bet that’s what that crazy one told you to do, right? Make sure that I don’t try to escape or anything?”
The four didn’t reply at first, staring at him with identical blue eyes. Then the one on the far left mumbled out what sounded like a nervous chatter, glancing towards her fellows before shakily raising a fore hoof in the air.
He raised his eyebrow when he noticed a crack in the black shell, previously concealed by the limb. It was sealed with a strange kind of green covering, but it seemed to still be a recent injury. With no clue what the creatures wanted and a rising curiosity about the cause of the injury, he gestured with his hand towards the one raising her hoof.
“Come on,” he tried to coax. “I won’t hurt you , I just want a peek at that cut.”
The indicated creature lowered her ears but left her spot, cautiously advancing forwards while the others diverted their gazes. As she got closer he could hear her muttering to herself, seemingly repeating the same string of words over and over again. Her eyes were down and her movement shaky, the creature not looking at him while she stopped with a bowed head.
Daniel began to panic when she sighed and started to turn around, fearing a repeat of the earlier incident. Quickly placing a hand on the creature’s head, he looked her in the startled eyes, waggled a finger, and gave her a no-nonsense look.
“No, none of that. Not again.”
“Please be quick, please be quick…”
Cypher was severely regretting her choice to volunteer for the harem, as well as the one to raise her hoof when the creature had asked some kind of question. Slowly trotting forwards, she shuddered at the thought of what it would be like, her mind conjuring up all sorts of images about how strange alien-gods copulate.
‘The extra-energy better be worth it,’ she thought to herself as she came to a stop in front of the being who was apparently a mighty god, according to the scholars. Already every single changeling had been promised a share of the energy the creature emitted while sleeping, but the Scholar Switcher had declared that all who served in the holy harem would be able to keep all that they earned. As an ordinary drone, she had joined the other volunteers in the hopes that the promise was genuine.
Turning around slowly, Cypher shut her eyes and tried to block out all knowledge of what she was about to do.
“Grrugh, guragha.”
She froze when something was placed on her head, Cypher glancing up to see what was wrong. The creature was shaking one of his fingers at her, growling forcefully before it became softer. Listening with befuddlement at the continuing alien dialogue, she found a curious stare being directed to below her left foreleg.
“O-oh, you’re looking at this?” she questioned, refacing the creature and slowly sitting back down. Raising her foreleg, she watched while a finger was extended towards the wound that the nurses had sealed. “Yeah, I got that during the landing, against a rock. It’s fine now, the nurses know a lot about medical stuff.” She didn’t know why she was explaining it as if he could understand her, but it seemed to relax him and the finger was withdrawn. Hesitantly, she tapped her fore hooves together and returned her thinking to the current predicament. “So… how do you… is there… I mean…”
In response to the stammering, the hand on her head started to rub, Cypher feeling her muscles relax at the soothing motion. “Oh, that’s… amazing. Right there, near the left side.”
“Cypher,” one of the other drones asked. “What’s it like?”
Rotating her head to look behind her, she could see that the others were facing the opposite direction. “It’s nothing bad or embarrassing, he’s just… rubbing my head. It’s actually really nice.” At that, the other three risked a glance at what they had assumed was a lewd activity. Curiously they watched as the rub continued, Cypher smiling before lying down beside the creature.
“So he hasn’t made any moves?”
“No,” she murmured back. “I think he doesn’t even know why we’re here, that scholar was probably just wrong about what he said.”
“So he’s not some god?”
Cypher groaned when a finger scratched behind her left ear, struggling to reply coherently. “I don’t know about that, but I swear that this massage must be better than any afterlife.”
That prompted movement for the other three, the drones moving forwards with curiosity and a little anticipation. The realisation that the new creature was seemingly not out to use the harem in the traditional sense helped their confidence, the three sitting down in a circle while they watched the head rub continue. Then, Cypher felt the rub stop, and upon looking up she found that the creature was glancing around at all of the other drones.
“He looks worried,” one of the others noticed. “Is it something we did?”
“Maybe he doesn’t like being surrounded,” another pointed out while moving back slightly.
Cypher thought for a second, before getting an idea. “I know,” she said as she raised a hoof. “Lower your heads, flick your ears and then slowly lean in. He can’t speak but surely he’ll get what that means.”
They did as instructed, the creature quickly cluing in and starting to rub the three alternatively with his other hand. Cypher sighed once again when her own rub and scratch resumed, stretching out her limbs and pushing up against the side of a large leg. Almost as a bonus was the small trickle of affection, not full love, that seemed to radiate from the creature she was leaning against.
‘Maybe this harem duty won’t be so bad after all,’ she realised, closing her eyes and resting her head on her forelegs in absolute bliss.
Pillar had paused at the entrance to the small cave that had been set aside for the creature to stay in. Moans and exclamations of pleasure indicated that the four harem volunteers had been put to use, but what was really surprising was that he could hear all four at once!
‘What is he, some kind of ravenous sex god?’ Personally, he’d have been happy with one, but four was just mindboggling. The creature which he had begrudgingly begun to name as ‘Mr Growls’, thanks to Burrow, had honestly not appeared to be at all interested in changelings to require a personal harem. He suspected that old Switcher was madder than first thought, although he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the scholar was playing them all for fools.
It was this doubt that had warranted the visit, Pillar having vowed to make some progress in terms of communication. Having noticed that the being was constantly using gestures to help explain itself, he had put a plan together. Unfortunately, said plan needed him to talk to the creature, and that meant interrupting whatever carnal acts were being explored in the small cave.
‘Chin up,’ he reminded himself, adjusting his helmet so it was on firmly.‘You went through military school, it can’t possibly be worse than some of those parties.’
His resolve steeled, Pillar took a deep breath, knocked on the side of the cave, then entered with dire expectations.
The cave was dimly lit by two globs of glowing phlegm attached to the walls, the weaker light indicating that it had been placed by a malnourished changeling was not much of a surprise given their current conditions.
What was a surprise however was the scene playing out in the middle of the cave. Pillar blinked before tilting his head, wondering just what was with the creature and being able to enthral changelings with the simplest things.
Mr Growls was covered with the four female drones assigned to harem-duty, all four nuzzling the creature affectionately while they all allowed themselves to be petted like some kind of animal. One was even sprawled out in the creature’s lap, eyes unfocused while she received an obviously pleasant belly rub.
‘By the Queen,’ he thought while staring at the scene. ‘He hasn’t even removed his clothing and he’s got them completely under his power!’ The drones didn’t even notice that he had entered, too caught up with enjoying the pampering. Mr Growls did; however, and the drones were quickly left without roaming hands when both were enthusiastically held out towards him.
‘Great, what now?’ Pillar wondered, trotting forwards in preparation for an ambush of some kind while Mr Growls tried to speak.
“Boris! Finally, can you please get these ladies off of me? I know that you blokes don’t have any hands at all, but my fingers can only take so much.” The armoured bug-horse seemed to be hesitant, but still he approached. The four creatures who had enslaved him for massages first looked up grumpily and then saw Boris. The resulting scramble to get off him took only a few short seconds, even the one who had claimed his lap bolted up without complaint.
And she was the one who had threatened him with her fangs when he had tried to get her to leave it earlier.
“Wow mate, you’ve got some authority around here.” Boris stared blankly at him before glancing towards the other bug-horses, a short and unusually sharp burst of chattering sending them hurrying out of the cave. Daniel was slightly sad to see them go, secretly he had enjoyed the way they had fawned over him so. Even if they were alien bug-horses, they were still female alien bug-horses.
The four gone, Boris continued to advance before stopping a metre away, sitting down on his rump and raising his foreleg in the air. Moving a foreleg in the air, Boris pointed to himself before uttering a slow chatter.
“Czbet cizer. Czbet. Cizer.”
Realising what was going on, or so he thought, Daniel returned the gesture. “Australian. Austra. Lian.”
Boris smiled slightly and nodded, evidently having gotten what he was after. Daniel was also pleased, and beckoned his friend to come closer. The smile dropped from Boris’ face, but he still got up and moved forwards cautiously.
“Chzzert? Cz-“
Boris’ speech stopped when Daniel’s hand reached out to rub him on the back, the bug-horse freezing in place. “Something wrong?” Daniel inquired, looking down at the blank face. “You seem a little off.”
“Chzzezt!”
His hand stopped at the cheery-sounding chatter, Daniel looking up to find a second armoured bug-horse entering the cave. This one was waving a foreleg in the air, and going off the voice it was not the female one from before. The smile and general attitude towards him was exactly like Boris, but so far he’d only seen three of the armoured soldiers and if that wasn’t the female then…
“Oh shit,” he said, glancing down at the bug-horse he was patting and receiving a glare in response. “You’re not Boris, you’re that grumpy one.”
“Sergeant Pillar. Sergeant. Pillar.”
Pillar finished his introduction, hoping that it would lead to a much-needed breakthrough. It was the simplest way he could think of, and thankfully it looked like it had paid off. In return, the creature raised his own frontal limb and touched his chest. “Grawbigrin. Grawbig. Rin.”
Even though it was still all gibberish to him, Pillar nodded his head and tried an encouraging smile. Mr Growls, or ‘Grawbigrin’ apparently, had understood his attempt and replied.
‘Good, maybe he’ll be able to make himself useful in other matters.’
Mr Growls was beaming a wide smile, before he made a motion with his hand. Understanding it as a gesture to come closer, Pillar raised an eye and slowly stood up. While he was confident that the creature would cause no harm, it always paid to be cautious. Moving forwards in the most unthreatening manner he could, Pillar made sure to keep a close eye on him.
“Yes?” he asked. “What is-“
Without warning, Mr Growls leaned forwards and touched him. Pillar went completely still, able to feel the fleshy digits pat him on the lower back where his light armour ended. The creature growled, seemingly in confusion, the pats slowing down. Pillar didn’t respond, he didn’t know how to react to what had just happened.
Then, salvation.
“Hey, I’m back!”
The patting completely stopped at the sound of Burrow’s voice and the hand remained still. Pillar looked up at Mr Growl’s face and realised what had happened, a realisation that was at the same time comforting and slightly insulting.
‘Don’t tell me… he thought I was Burrow the entire time?’
While he could understand how a non-changeling could get two changelings mixed up, he was still a little miffed that he had been compared to Burrow of all changelings. The soft-hearted soldier wasn’t exactly the ideal warrior, so he found himself glaring at the creature.
Mr Growls met his eyes, growled out what Pillar assumed was an apology, then removed his hand.
“It’s fine,” he replied. “Just don’t make that mistake again.”
“Sergeant?”
Pillar turned and trotted past Burrow, the newly-arrived soldier visually confused. “It’s nothing,” he told his subordinate. “You’re in charge of him, try and get him to communicate so we can understand him. I’ve had enough for now.”
With that, he left Burrow and the creature alone in the cave, happy for the two friends to suffer each other’s presences.
“What was all that about?”
Burrow tilted his head at the departing Pillar, before facing his friend. Mr Growls muttered in response, drumming his fingers on the chest he had sitting by his side and shrugging. He appeared to be less enthusiastic than the situation would warrant, Burrow wondering if Pillar had done something to upset him. He did take note that there was no harem in sight, but he doubted it was that.
Trotting forwards, he frowned when Mr Growls didn’t reach out to give him the usual ear scratch. “You okay there?” Burrow gave one of the hands a nudge with his muzzle, before sitting on his rump and taking off his helmet. “Look, Pillar’s cold, but from the sounds of it he was trying to help you out. If he said anything… wait, is that it?” Burrow tilted his head. “Did you think that he was me, and you’re embarrassed that you mixed us up?”
Mr Growls looked at him but didn’t answer, Burrow trying to think of a way to visually ask the question. Getting an idea, he made a show of replacing his helmet and then taking it off again while pointing to himself. Mr Growls still stared at him with confusion, so the idea was abandoned almost as soon as it had begun. “Never mind, I guess it doesn’t really matter now anyway.”
On the plus side, Mr Growls was relaxed and beginning to smile, evidently also thankful that the mix-up had been resolved. Then, he seemed to brighten, Burrow watching while a hand went down to the side of a hind leg. The clothing that Mr Growls wore on his bottom half had small little holes up near the waist, seeming to be storage compartments of some kind. A hand entered one, rummaged around, and then was withdraw with a strange item held in the fingers.
Burrow stared in awe at the shiny blue rope-thing, the material like nothing he had ever seen. On each end of it was some kind of white plastic bit, a multitude of tiny coloured pieces sitting within the transparent end-pieces. His eyes could make out some form of writing in black ink, but it was so tiny that he was certain that whoever had wrote it must have had an impossible amount of patience.
Mr Growls nodded towards the cable, Burrow grinning up at him with a nod. “It’s amazing! What is it?” In reply, Mr Growls smiled back before taking the cable and twisting it into a circle, tying the two ends together. With the flexible ring in his hands, he slowly moved it towards Burrow’s head.
‘It’s a gift!’ Burrow realised, his smile growing wider. As such, he allowed Mr Growls to place the object over his ears to rest around his neck. Burrow examined it once Mr Growls had leaned back, the shiny blue thingy resting securely thanks to the way the knot had been done.
“Thank you so much,” he acknowledged while looking back up. “Now we won’t have any problem with mistaking Pillar for me again, right?”
Mr Growls growled twice before reaching out a hand, Burrow continuing to smile at the head pat he received. Focusing back on the chest sitting on the floor, he wondered what other treasures might be hidden within.
“Hey, do you mind showing me some more things?” He pointed a hoof towards the chest, Mr Growls glancing towards it. “I promise to not run off with it like the scholars did.”
Watching Mr Growls reach out towards the box, Burrow expected him to pass over a single object for examination. Instead, when the clasps were unclipped and the lid opened, the entire chest was placed down between them.
He was elated at the show of trust, Burrow immediately peering into the container to see what secrets it held.
It was mind-boggling.
There were strange tools like the one Mr Growls had brandished at their first meeting, all held in two see-through cases and arranged via size. There were items with ends that seemed to be for gripping things, a roll of some kind of black material, devices with grooves, another smaller box that looked like the gift that had been given to the scholars, and many other strange implements. He glanced up, Mr Growls waving his hand towards the box.
“You want to let me touch them?” he asked with hope, moving his hoof towards the chest and watching for a reaction.
Another nod signalled the confirmation, Burrow eagerly going right for the item that stood out. Lifting it out, he examined the solid metal design, the two jaw-like clamps, and the strange tails coming out the other end. With his hooves, he pressed on the tails and watched as the jaws at the other end clamped shut.
“Wow,” he murmured, wondering what it was for. A hand gestured to him, the fingers curling up repeatedly. Guessing the meaning of the movements, Burrow passed the item back over to see what Mr Growls wanted with it.
Growling slowing, as if trying to explain what he was doing while showing, Mr Growls took the tool and activated the tails with his hand. The jaws at the end closed and then he twisted, Burrow completely lost as to what he was doing.
“Uh… that’s pretty good,” he tried, Mr Growls murmuring happily before patting him on the head again. The tool was returned to the chest, Mr Growls rummaging through and pulling out bits and pieces while offering what Burrow assumed was names. Then, Mr Growls paused, staring at his hands when he pulled out a small black rectangle.
All of a sudden, Mr Growls was speaking to himself with excitement and waving the rectangle around. Burrow tried to get a better look, and upon noticing this Mr Growls held it down and flipped it open.
Burrow recognised what seemed to be bits of white parchment all contained as small sheets in the rectangle. It was like the ‘books’ that the scholars had stashed away back in the hive, except only a few pages had writing on them. He was ashamed to admit that he couldn’t read or write at all, only the scholars and infiltrators bothering to learn equestrian and other languages. Still, in this case it didn’t matter considering the unknown origin, but he soon understood why Mr Growls was so excited.
One of the long, thin, and blue cylinders was taken out of a storage flap on the front of the clothing covering Mr Growl’s upper body, Burrow watching while it was brought down towards a blank page. Then, he heard a click as a finger was pressed down on the end, and Mr Growls began to move it around on the paper with an excited gleam in his eyes.
“You’re…” Burrow mumbled, his eyes widening when he realised that Mr Growls was in the middle of drawing something. “Drawing! Why didn’t we think of that earlier?”
He got no reply, Mr Growls focused on his task. Waiting patiently, Burrow tried to imagine of what wondrous secrets would be conveyed via the pages. Finally, his friend appeared to be finished, Mr Growls showing him the page. On it was a picture of what he assumed was Mr Growls, a tall container like a pony cup, and a drop of what he assumed was water.
“Oh,” it all finally clicked, the prior incident with Switcher making a bit more sense. “You don’t want a harem, you just want a drink?”
‘Finally!’ Daniel was halfway between kicking himself and jumping for joy, Boris nodding his head and passing back the notebook. ‘How could I have forgotten to just draw it? These guys seem smart enough to figure it out.’
Smart enough indeed, the bug-horse before him gesturing with a hoof towards the exit of the mini-cave he had been put in. Boris seemed excited to go, evidently he had also figured out the significance of their new communication method.
“So I’m not a prisoner?” Daniel asked, more out of habit than anything. He was starting to doubt his initial assumption that he’d been placed in the side cave under confinement, but the previous presence of the four bug-horses was still confusing. Following Boris as the creature trotted out merrily, he looked around the main cave to see what was going on.
Most of the bug-horses were asleep, huddled up into groups on the rocky floor in a likely attempt to beat the chill. He was thankful for his own ample fat supply and, although damp, his basic items of clothing. Still judging from Boris’ cheery attitude he doubted the cold weather was as bad on the bug-horses as it appeared, the creature he guessed he could class as a ‘friend’ leading him around groups towards the corridor that led to the cave mouth.
Occasionally a set of blue-eyes would focus on him and examine with curiosity, but not a single one even tried to engage him in conversation. So far all communication had been out of some misunderstanding, and at times he felt like the creatures were truly scared of him. It was understandable, given his growing suspicion that it was he that was somehow the alien, but it put him on edge.
Frighted creatures made for unpredictable and possibly dangerous creatures; something that his own species demonstrated rather well.
The relief was that Boris seemed to be working hard on getting him to fit in, and already they were letting him stay in their caves. The other bug-horses that had interacted with him had either treated him with distrust, curiosity, or in that one disturbing case a touch of over-familiarity.
“I’d think this was a dream,” he muttered to himself after going back through the last few hours. “Except this place makes far too much sense for that.”
He followed Boris into the corridor and noted the curious lack of chattering from him, the normally chatty guy seemingly focused on his own thoughts. The helmet and armour was still on, Boris adjusting the headgear while they approached the mouth of the cave proper. Drawing closer, a figure looking outside became apparent, the armour and helmet marking it as one of the three soldiers.
Judging by the way the bug-horse smirked when it turned and saw them, he had little doubt as to who it was.
“Well, well, well,” Aphid smiled, looking towards them as they neared. “If it isn’t Burrow and his favourite pet, come up to visit me on lonely guard-duty.” Burrow didn’t like the way she batted her eyes at him, and then looked at an uncomfortable Mr Growls to lick her fangs. “You two here to offer me some company? Help me warm up from this miserable cold?” His shock at her words must have been apparent, Aphid letting out a laugh after her teasing.
Burrowed shuddered at the thought of what she had jokingly implied, thankful that Mr Growls couldn’t understand the words and therefore meaning. Still, the biped was watching Aphid warily, likely having picked up on her intention to cause yet more trouble.
“That’s sick,” he countered, shaking his head at her suggestion. “Even as a joke.”
“Who said it was a joke?” Aphid shot back slyly, Burrow not rising to the bait. "Nice necklace by the way, it matches your eyes."
“We’re going out to find some water, or at least get some more snow failing that,” he explained rather harshly while moving past her. “We’ll try to be back in an hour.” He hissed at the end, Aphid hitting a nerve.
“Hey, Burrow.” He paused, turning around to find her looking at him with flattened ears while she scuffed a hoof. “Look, sorry if I was a bit over the line, it’s cold and I’m bored-“
“I get it,” he accepted with a sigh. “Just… could you drop it down a notch, at least until we all get a little settled with this situation?”
“Fine, I’ll try and keep from saying anything too raunchy.”
“Thanks.” He turned back to exit the cave, the snowfall currently very light with a full moon lighting the night.
“One thing though.” He looked back, Aphid sitting down to remove her helmet. “Before you two leave, he has to pay the toll.”
Burrow rolled his eyes at her demands, Mr Growls looking towards him with a questioning gaze. “Go ahead,” he instructed, miming an ear scratch as best as he could before pointing to the awaiting Aphid.
Mr Growls was obviously hesitant, but still got the message.
“Ah, that’s the stuff,” Aphid groaned happily, rolling her head around. It lasted a few seconds before Mr Growls pulled his hand away, Aphid grudgingly replacing her helmet before waving them onwards. “Little light,” she muttered before standing back up. “Well, just make sure you bring him back in one piece. He can’t feed changelings if he’s dead, or failing that at least bring back that chest of his so the scholars can loot it.”
“Thanks Aphid,” Burrow shook his head and resumed his trotting. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
His hooves hit the snow, Burrow wincing at the cold before reminding himself that movement would help warm himself up. At least the winds had died down, and the strong moonlight piercing through the normally grey sky almost gave the wasteland they were in a picture of calm beauty. Glancing behind him to make sure that Mr Growls was following, Burrow noticed that the cold seemed to be affecting him even less.
‘He must be used to the cold,’ Burrow though while trotting through the snow. ‘That would explain the fat.’
Focusing back on the task ahead of him, Burrow searched for any trace of a water source. He’d heard that some drones had found a frozen river not far from the cave, but none of them had been able to crack the ice. Given that information, their best bet would be finding a natural spring that was hopefully not frozen solid.
A scraping sound behind him caused him to stop and turn his head, Burrow watching while Mr Growls carved an arrow pointing back to the cave using one of the pointed metal objects. “You don’t need to worry about that,” he informed while his friend stood up. “Changelings have a mental link to other changelings, even without a nearby Queen. I can still tell where the cave is because f everyone inside.”
Mr Growls obviously failed to pick up the meaning he was trying to convey, pointing to the arrow he have made before pointing back to the cave.
“Yeah, I guess that works too,” Burrow chuckled lightly while continuing on.
They travelled through the snow for what Burrow guessed to be an hour, almost every pile of rocks and snowy mound warranting investigation. Their search yielded no results however, the barren land almost proving to be completely inhospitable.
Until, that is, they finally found what they were searching for.
Burrow spotted it first, the glinting of the moonlight twinkling off a particular spot in the snow. “Hey, over here!” He waited for Mr Growls to walk over from his own searching of a snow bank, before heading over to the area with the biped in tow.
Drawing closer, he tried to puzzle out the scene before them.
There was a small lake, likely fed by some underground source, but it was frozen over at the top. Curiously, around the useless water source grew a small number of bushes laden down with some kind of shimmering fruit. Long-gone remains of dead trees were fallen around the area, Burrow trotting up to investigate one of the frozen trunks. Tapping it with his hoof, he frowned when the first wood they had discovered proved to be unusable for any sort of fire.
Moving onto the berry bushes, he peered at the fruit resting upon the branches. It was oval-shaped, multi-coloured, and shimmered like glittering gems. He was so focused on the prettiness of them that he didn’t react while Mr Growls joined him, the biped poking the fruit with a curious finger.
“Look at them,” Burrow whispered. “They’re like little jewels.” Glancing around, he could see that most of the bushes seemed to be very young, some even just sprouting from the ground. “How can these plants grow out here?”
Mr Growls grunted before standing back up, pointing towards the lake with a finger. “Grunga.”
Trotting over, Burrow tapped the ice with his hoof before shaking his head. “It’s no good, it’s frozen over too hard. We’ll have to just settle with snow I’m afraid, the scholars were finding a way to boil more of it rather than… Mr Growls?”
“Graw rag raw!”
Burrow watched while his friend stooped down, bent his knees, and wrapped his arms around a massive rock. The boulder was nearly the size of a changeling, Mr Growls visibly straining to lift it.
“Are you-“ Burrow began, before Mr Growls shouted, stood up with the rock in his arms, and then ran at the lake while continuing to yell at the top of his lungs.
“Be a man!”
With the bellowed battle cry, Daniel found a urge of strength to lift up the boulder.
Those years spent carrying Universal Power Supplies with lead batteries up and down stairs had paid off.
Charging towards the lake while the shocked Boris looked on, he improvised the next line.
“Going to bust open this fuck-ing lake!”
With that, he reached the edge of the frozen surface of the lake and threw the rock while swinging to the side. It travelled less than two meters, crashing down onto the surface of the ice while Daniel fell to the snow.
It was enough.
The ice cracked asunder, the boulder shattering the long-frozen surface and sinking down in a spray of ice-cold water. With a face-full of snow, Daniel looked behind him see that his hasty plan had been met with success. Standing up in triumph, he raised his fists to the sky and roared with elation.
“Raaaagh!”
His arms hurt but his pride had never been better, seeing the simple accomplishment as a feat of herculean strength at the current time. Calming down slightly he turned to give a thumbs up to the open-mouthed bug-horse staring at him.
“Look,” he continued to celebrate while pointing at the now-free water. “Bloody Bonza mate! Now we have all the water we need!” Daniel pointed to the lake and laughed. “Never underestimate the power of a human with a rock!”
The situation may have been getting to him.
Walking over to the defeated lake, he bent down, sniffed the water, and then scooped a drink up with a cupped hand. Taking a small sip, he found that it was crystal-clear and amazingly fresh, the relief at having finally achieved a drink more than making up for subjecting his hand to the icy water. Beside him while he continued to drink, Boris trotted up and tried the water for himself, the bug-horse just lapping the water straight up. The quality proved to be just as acceptable for Boris, the creature drinking deeply before removing his head with a satisfied sigh.
Judging from the excited chattering and hoof gesturing that came afterwards, Daniel guessed that that Boris was very pleased with their new water source.
“It’s good,” he replied with a nod, standing back up and walking back to his dropped tool set. “But stuff walking for an hour just to get a drink.”
He rummaged around, trying to find a sizable container in which to carry some of the water back in. Unfortunately there was nothing that was suited for it, Boris watching on with curious eyes. Rubbing his eyes and looking around the surrounding area, Daniel paused when he spotted a hollow log about as long as his arm with almost twice the width. Glancing back to his tool set and seeing the soft case of boot cd’s and the box of asset labels, he got a very stupid idea.
But a stupid idea that was just stupid enough to work.
‘What in Tartarus is he doing?’
Burrow watched on while Mr Growls shoved a silver circle with a strange red, green, blue, and yellow symbol on the non-shiny side into the log that had just been picked up and washed out. The biped jammed it in tight, shiny side pointing out with the circle filling up one end completely. Then, Mr Growls went for a white box in his chest, pulling off shiny squares with alien writing on them and sticking them around the circle to seal up any gaps with the log. Next up was the hole in the middle of the circle, Mr Growls covering it completely before putting the construction materials back in his strange chest before holding the log out towards him with pride.
“What… what’s it for?” Burrow asked, tilting his head in confusion. Mr Growls in response then pointed to the lake before he stood up again, walking over and gently placing the log in. Removing it, he waited for a few moments before grinning like a fool. Burrow trotted over to see what had him so happy when he realised it.
The log wasn’t leaking any water.
“That’s genius,” he breathed, craning his head to see that the makeshift bottom was indeed staying sealed. “There’s enough water in there to get everyone a drink!”
Mr Growls nodded, pleased with himself. He set the log down and ambled over towards the berry bushes, Burrow following to see what he was doing.
His friend stared at the bushes for a moment, thinking hard. Then, the hands went to work on the clothing on his top half, buttons being undone to allow Mr Growls to slip it off. Burrow looked over the pale skin, the chest dotted with hairs, and most surprising were the two teats mounted up high on the torso.
‘Wow,’ he wondered, not even wanting to think about why his apparently male friend had teats he swore only pony mares and other female milk-making mammals had. ‘That’s… different.’
Mr Growls didn’t even notice the attention, hastily picking berries and using the removed clothing as a makeshift sack to load them up. Burrow shook his head and moved over to help, the two quickly stripping one bush completely of fruit. It was a sizable haul, although judging from his size Burrow was fairly confident that Mr Growls required a lot of physical food.
“Can you even eat them?” he inquired, but the question was ignored while Mr Growls picked up the log under one hand, stuffed the berry-sack into the item-chest, and gestured back towards the direction they had come. Burrow let it go and instead moved out front to guide them, focusing on returning them to safety with their haul.
“Guess we’ll just find out later, then."
Aphid’s ears picked up the sound of something approaching, so she removed her head from her forelegs and looked out of the cave. The weather had improved greatly, the light snow-fall enabling her to see clearly outside.
It was Burrow and the creature he had named as Mr Growls, both talking away to each other while they drew closer. It was funny, watching them both converse without actually understanding what the other was saying, but secretly she was impressed that Burrow could so easily make friends with such a creature. He was probably one of the softest soldiers she had known, but she couldn’t really fault him for trying to be nice to everything he encountered.
Cricking her neck, she stood up and waited for them to enter. She raised an eye at the fact that Mr Growls was wearing nothing on his top half, and was for some reason carrying a large log under one arm.
“Aphid,” Burrow greeted, shaking off the light dusting of snow before stepping into the cave. “You’re still on duty?”
“Pillar’s working on something with the scholars,” she explained, watching while the two stepped past her. “Did you find water?”
Burrow nodded, before tapping Mr Growls on the leg and pointing at Aphid. “We sure did, show her.”
Aphid took a step back when the log was lowered towards her, but she quickly realised that the water was sitting inside of it. Somehow, the two had managed to find some and stopped up a log to transport it back.
“Wow,” she murmured, sitting down and taking off her helmet. Holding it out upside down, she waited for Mr Growls to pour some of the refreshing liquid into it before taking a sip. Eyes widening, she took a number of long gulps before lowing the helmet and wiping her mouth with a foreleg. “Where did you find that stuff? It’s some of the best water I’ve tasted.”
“Mr Growls broke a lake open,” Burrow informed with a nod. “He also took some of these weird berries that were growing around it, near all of these dead trees. It was strange, it was like the berry bushes were just beginning to grow for some reason.” His voice lowered in volume.
“Also, we really don’t want to fight him, he lifted up a rock as big as me and was even able to throw it.”
They both glanced at Mr Growls, the biped focused on holding what Aphid assumed was one of the berries that had been found. The shiny fruit was touched to Mr Growl’s lips, before he used a finger-claw to slice into the fruit and dab a bit of the deep-purple juice onto his arm.
“What’s he doing?”
“I don’t know,” Burrow answered. “Hang on, I’ll ask.”
Aphid rolled her eyes at that. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s going to work.”
Burrow ignored her and instead looked up towards Mr Growls, pointing a hoof at the berry and then at the spot of juice. “Why did you do that?”
Mr Growls set the log he was holding down in reply, reaching into his bottom clothing to withdraw a small black rectangle and a cylinder. Her interest peaked when he started to move the cylinder around on what proved to be paper.
“We figured it out,” Burrow explained. “We can draw to try and explain more difficult things. Come and see.”
Aphid couldn't resist, her interest rising as she trotted over beside him. Mr Growls was soon finished in his task, holding out the rectangle to show them.
On the paper was a drawing of what was a skull and crossbones, as well as a crude depiction of a berry with a large cross through it.
“Oh,” she realised, nodding her head. “He’s checking it to see if its poisonous.”
“I don’t see how,” Burrow murmured.
“Well, we don’t eat solid food usually,” Aphid pointed out. “Maybe there’s a way to tell?”
Both nodded towards Mr Growls, the biped placing the paper-rectangle in his clothing before gesturing down towards the log of water.
“Main cave,” Burrow answered with a pointed leg. Mr Growls shrugged and picked the log back up, Aphid left behind while the two moved deeper into the cave. “See you later, Aphid.”
“That’s right,” she called back. “You will, you’re taking over for me soon.”
Burrow groaned, but turned his head around. “Fine, I’ll be back in few minutes. Just let me help Mr Growls out first.”
She didn’t answer, focusing on the biped while he began to talk with Burrow again.
She already had an idea of how she was going to spend her time off.
“So, they’re okay for you to eat?”
Mr Growls touched the berry to his tongue, before pulling it away and settling back down to wait again. Burrow shook his head, he could understand the desire to make sure that it was poison-free but the entire process of seemingly testing every variable was taking ages.
Standing in the small cave that had been set aside for Mr Growls by the scholars, Burrow watched while his friend sat on the ground with his arms around his naked torso. Mr Growls was only inconvenienced by the cold judging from the small amount of attention paid to it compared to the berries, so there was no immediate danger.
It had been worth it, however. While Mr Growls had at first been hesitant at sharing the water they had gathered, the log was currently sitting in the main cave and had almost been emptied already as everyone had taken the chance for a refreshing drink. What Mr Growls had lost as a personal water supply was returned in the form of gratitude from the drones and nurses, already a group of drones had gone to get more water from the discovered lake.
“Well,” Burrow said while making to leave. “It’s my turn to guard the entrance again. I’ll be back in a few hours.” He put his helmet on and pointed to the exit, Mr Growls nodding his head in understanding. Finally the berry was introduced to its doom, evidently the poison tests coming up clean as it disappeared into Mr Growl’s mouth.
Burrow shook his head with a light chuckle, turning to trot out of the side cave. ‘Well, at least he seems to be happy.’
Daniel was not very happy at all.
“These berries taste terrible,” he muttered to himself after Boris had left. “Far too sweet.”
Still, overly sweet berries or not, nourishment was nourishment. The makeshift ‘can I eat this?’ test had deemed the berries safe to consume, although that was relying on his memory of the test being accurate.
“Blasting my guts is the last thing I need,” he grumbled to himself, eating another three berries before bundling the rest up in his shirt. He intended to share them with Boris when the bug-horse returned from guard duty, so far he hadn’t seen him eat a single thing.
‘And he did help me find them,’ Daniel reasoned, settling back and giving his arms another rub. ‘Bloody cold, shame that wood was too damp to use.’
Then, with a hushed chattering at the end of the cave, his focus on the cold was broken.
Four of the bug-horses, the ones he suspected from before, slinked into the room after glancing around behind them. Judging from the way they headed straight for him with obvious anticipation on their faces, he could guess as to what was coming next.
True to his expectations they didn’t even slow at his shirtless form, instead he was buffeted on all sides by the four. One instantly flopped down into his lap and rolled over with her hind legs crossed, forelegs bunched up with an obvious demand.
“Really, again?” he questioned with a sigh, being met with giggling chatter in return. With nothing else to do he gave her what she wanted and rubbed her belly, the creature in his lap closing her eyes with a blissful grin. A head nudging his other hand made another demand known, so a second bug-horse received an ear scratch. The third and fourth rested up against him while waiting their turns, Daniel glaring at one when she prodded his right nipple.
She got the message, bowing her head and sheepishly withdrawing the hoof with a nervous chattering.
Time past as he rotated paying each one certain attention, able to identify them by their favourite treatments alone.
There was the one that liked belly rubs, the one that particularly enjoyed ear scratches, one that preferred him to kneed along her spine, and the last and most unnerving one that wanted him to constantly work the soft-spots on the bottom of her hooves with his fingers.
‘Well,’ he thought to himself. ‘At least if I never make it back home or… whatever I am, at least I’ve got a guaranteed job as one of those massage people.’ Glancing down at the bug-horse in his lap, humming to herself as he patted her stomach, he had a follow-up thought. ‘Just… if there is a god then please don’t make this a ‘happy ending’ type scenario. I can only take so much.’
Evidently, God either didn’t exist in the current lands or was a massive prick, as it was at that moment that one of the soldiers trotted in to gaze at him unimpressed. It wasn’t Boris, and it wasn’t even the grumpy one. No.
It was the worst of the bunch, the female.
Even though he couldn’t understand her speech, the mocking tone was more than enough for him to reach a conclusion.
She was here to cause trouble.
Aphid shook her head at the scene, the four drones apparently assigned to harem duty busy with instead trotting all over Mr Growls like they owned him. There were head rubs, ear scratches, one was even lying on her back in his lap with her tongue out while a hand stroked her belly. In short, it was rather disappointing compared to her goal of observing some really weird stuff between changeling and… whatever he was.
He noticed her and his movements slowed, Aphid giving him an unamused look. “Seriously? That crazy scholar gives you a harem and you spend your time doing this?”
At her words the drones looked towards her, caught red-hoofed like a nymph sneaking into the love stores.
“And you four,” she continued, trotting up closer. “I seem to recall you all telling the others of how horrible harem duty was, forced to ‘submit to the whims of his ravenous appetite’ while in reality you’re just getting him to do this to you.”
“It’s not our fault,” the drone in Mr Growl’s lap protested. “He doesn’t even seem to want to do anything more. Look at this,” the drone uncrossed her hind legs, Mr Growls immediately averting his eyes away to the side. “See? Talk about modest.”
Aphid rolled her eyes, able to see where they were coming from. Still, she had come all this way…
“It doesn’t matter,” she dismissed, removing her helmet and armour to dump them on the floor. Mr Growls didn’t seem too pleased with that, his eyes never leaving her. “As a superior, I order you to vacate that lap.”
The drone stared at her, placing her forelegs protectively over the hand on her stomach. “And just what am I supposed to do?”
“You can start by acting like you’re in a harem,” Aphid stated dryly, stopping just before Mr Growls and staring down at the drone. Then, she thought of an idea and smiled. “For starters, you’ve had your fun. Why don’t you start working on those shoulders of his?”
The drone made to protest but stopped before uttering a word. With a groan she left the lap and stood up, Aphid smirking at the worker while she jumped up and began to rub Mr Growl’s shoulders as ordered, much to his confusion. Quickly, so as to minimise any protest, Aphid darted in and claimed his lap as hers, spreading out on her stomach while the other drones watched on unamused.
“You, Mr Growls,” she addressed with a lazy wave of her foreleg and a flexing of her wings. “Start with the wings muscles, then the neck, then the shoulders.” She moved each part as she said them to ensure that he understood. “If you’re good, then I’ll even let you work on my rump for a few minutes.” In truth, her rump was incredibly sore from sitting on the cold ground near the entrance, so it wasn’t likely that any bad behaviour on his part could rule that chance out.
“Stupid soldiers,” she heard a drone mutter, before a hand began to rub the area between her wings as she had asked and Aphid closed her eyes in blissful relaxation.
Let them dislike her for taking their spot, it was totally worth it.
“Hmm… why’d you stop?”
Aphid woke up from her nap to find that a stationary hand was draped over her rump, the side cave silent save for heavy breathing. Shifting in her comfortable spot, she raised her head to look around. The drones were all around them, in true changeling fashion they had huddled up in a group with Mr Growls in the centre. Aphid brushed away a foreleg from the thigh she had been laying her head on and looked up towards the creature she was resting on.
Mr Growls was out like a light, his weird chest rising and falling steadily while he slept. Realising that she could recognise the feeling of the love trickling in steadily, she struggled with the decision to inform the scholars like she had been ordered to or to just remain in her spot and gorge on it while enjoying the warm body heat.
Grunting, she regretfully rose from her spot and stumbled off, stepping over a drone lying by the creature’s feet. “The things I sacrifice for the hive,” she grumbled, moving into the main cave and looking around. Most of the drones were asleep, so she headed straight for the third tunnel. It lead to the cave that the scholars had claimed for themselves, Aphid poking her head inside to deliver the news.
She rolled her eyes when she found that they were also asleep, the higher-ups all in a group on the floor with the dismantled yellow object sitting on a flat rock with wires everywhere. Trotting over, she focused on one and gave Transfusion a sharp kick in the side.
He spluttered awake, the other scholars stirring along with him. Irritated eyes stared at her, Aphid meeting them with a judging gaze.
“Foods up,” she informed, before trotting back out to try and get a good spot in the line.
“Oh no…”
Burrow rushed over to the tunnel leading to Mr Growls’ cave, the volume surprisingly muted given the amount of drones all in one place. A line had been formed that filed into the cave holding his friend, a line that was far too short for his liking. As he watched, a changeling exited the tunnel with a happy grin on his face, another then trotting in to presumably feed on the sleeping creature within.
“Hey, back of the line,” a drone interjected when Burrow tried to push past to check on Mr Growls. Food was often the one factor that trumped rank and class. “Even if you’re a soldier, you’re here last.”
“He’s right,” another drone chimed in with a stamp of her hoof. “We get to eat something first!”
“Shh,” a third, closer to the side cave itself, whispered. “You’ll wake him.”
‘This isn’t right,’ Burrow worried. ‘He’s not just a food source.’ However, there was nothing he could do but go to the back of the line, hungry drones watching him all the way.
Waiting, the line grew shorter and shorter, before it all hit a snag.
“There’s no more!” a frantic drone announced while galloping out of the cave. “The love’s stopped!”
The news caused a disappointed murmuring to start amongst the seven that had yet to receive any energy, frowns on their faces as they slowly made their way back to their spots around the cave. Burrow was more concerned about the well-being of Mr Growls, but he was beaten to the tunnel by Aphid.
“Relax,” she reassured, causing the crowd of drones to stop and look at her. “I’ve got a solution, the love will return shortly.” With that, she ducked into the cave, Burrow making to follow but was blocked by the seven drones racing back to their spots in line.
All he could do was wait and worry, before a minute later Aphid emerged from the cave. She was licking her fangs with a content smile on her face, Burrow’s unease rising when she spotted him and sauntered over.
“The love is back on,” she informed, the first drone in line eagerly heading into the cave. He didn’t join the line this time, his concerns faded at Aphids announcement. However, her grin didn’t help matters much.
He watched Aphid draw up to stand alongside, the fellow soldier silent for a few moments while she continued to run her tongue over her teeth and fangs. The smacking noises she made send shivers down his spine, a minute passing before she casually looked at him.
“So,” Aphid started nonchalantly. “Did you know that your friend is most likely a meat-eater given those teeth?”