System of the Damned

  Chapter 17-Roderick

  Inlaws and Implants.

  I must admit that being a werewolf is a pain in the ass, forehead, chest, and thighs, all the places two of my friends shot me with tranquilizer rounds when I had a mild freakout. Just a little one, I mean who wouldn’t freakout finding out that your government broke you. And turned you unwillingly into an ice cube for a decade or three, and that your grandfather was your dad and you’re your dad…no reason to freakout at all. Cue a massive freakout and being turned into a fluffy dartboard. Maestro even nailed me between the eyes, that was still sore.

  Anyway, less bitching and more of what is going on, like Thunder throwing a hammer at me when I woke up. It wasn’t my fault that human babies drank milk, or that she’d asked Albert about it and he’d given her a shot. On a side note, do not try to play with a pregnant woman’s budding breasts. A five foot tall female is the perfect height to uppercut say a ten foot tall werewolf in the junk. Though it’s truly not my fault that she has four of them, luckily the gods of mood swings had her crying and snuggling me after a moment. I think she felt bad for taking it out on me, and the swing went ass over tea kettle with it.

  I also have to mention that I woke up in a house that I didn’t bang my head into the ceiling of. Stormwind and Grek had gotten a home built for Thunder and I, which was really nice, had comfy furniture, and was the only building I could move in without whacking my head into things in town. Yes, town…er well small city? It was the Lo’Kar settlement that was built along one of the big rivers a couple hundred clicks from the Yangtze. All of the doors had two sets of handles, the doors were bigger, and there were two comfy chairs. I sat in mine with Thunder coming down from her latest mood swing and my chest fur damp from tears.

  While I rubbed her back, she looked up at me. “So you’re only twenty three? What season were you born in again?” Sadness gone and curiosity filling her eyes.

  I blinked and shook my head. “No, I’m ninety two or three, and I’m not sure. I’d have to ask Thomas about that.” So that’s why the man had been such a dick over the years.

  She just stared at me. “That means you’re twenty three here. Evans told me that a year here is around four on your home planet. I didn’t know I had married such a young man…”

  My maw hanging open appeared to give her a clue that this wasn't normal for humans, even ones like me. I was trying to come to grips with being not only past middle age, but elderly as hell. Sure the gene mods had perked me back up, but how long would that last? A gentle hand used a finger and poked my maw closed, finally bringing a dash of sense back to my brain. “Young man? I’m old, like really old for a human…” I trailed off as she glared at me rather fiercely. “Thunder…how long to Lo’Kar and Ca’zeze live? And um…how old are you?”

  She drew herself up, and it would have looked rather prim and proper…if she wasn’t sitting on my lap. She twitched her little ears and sniffed, which earned her a slobbery lick from me that went from her neck to the top of her head. We’d gotten to having little fun ways of correcting each other, and I had to cover my face to protect it from a flurry of swats. “I am thirty one summers. I have at least seventy to eighty left. I am not OLD!” She was so cute when she snarled, well cute to me at least.

  I just stared and blinked as I looked at her. “You mean that Ca’zeze and Lo’Kar live for…four hundred human years!?” And yes it came out in a squeaky yip, cause I was old as hell, but my wife was…a hundred and…twenty…four. My math brain was still using a dart for a pacifier.

  She nodded and scratched under my chin as a smile spread across her face. “And you will live just as long, possibly longer. It's the testing I had Albert do, because of your mods and the Cal..Nobu crystal, you will live a very long time husband.” She almost used our term for the mineral.

  There was a very large train wreck that happened in my mind and it apparently took me a little while to get the pileup cleared. When I finally shook my head to clear it, Thunder was sitting in her chair and having tea with her younger brother Squall. Their family tended to name their children after what weather was happening around their birth. Thunder’s name was more “First heavy thunder of summer.” while her brother’s was “Harsh squall of winter.” But unlike summer and winter, they got along.

  Squall was a hunter, his clothing was leathers and furs that murdered my ability to place his scent among them. He was also speaking. “Yes sister, I’ve got the young human down at the lab now. He’s going over all of the files on your husband’s medical past with the doctors. Albert Stein’s team is also there going over things with them.” I tried not to move and gather attention, but I noticed Squall was somewhat chubby? He hadn’t been that way when I’d met him months back, he’d been kinda lean.

  Thunder nodded softly and sipped her tea, eyeing her brother. “You know I worry about all of this, just like your mates worry over you being a hunter. Humans have never had the medical treatments that we have, nor the implants…” They were both speaking their native language, but my translator was still clipped to my ear.

  Her brother trilled softly and gave her a soft smile. “Oh yes I know, sister. Mother is bad enough with fattening me up for winter hunts, but my breeding partners are just as bad. I swear they are trying to make me too heavy to hunt, and that won’t do. I chose to be a hunter, and I’m one of the best we have.” He waved a hand at her. “Like you working your way to the head of the Pulsars.”

  “Yes, well they have every right to worry about you. You’re a male, there are few of you around, and even with as many of you as we have…” She trailed off and growled softly.

  “Mother and your father experimented and made you, because we don’t have enough males to not have issues in another generation? Are you still angry over that, or is it the fact that you’re pregnant? Hormones…or is it the other females asking to breed with your husband?” Squall said and I think he knew I was lucid, because he was smirking.

  Thunder on the other hand was no doubt a deep violet under her fur from blushing, and she was growling. “I am next in line to rule if I don’t prove incompetent, I have a right to claim a husband as my own…even if did have to grow brEASTS!” The last came out in a pulse of sound as I yoinked her out of her chair and into my lap to nuzzle her and murr, taking the flailing slaps she landed on me.

  I paused as I got her into my lap and rubbed her sides and chest out of habit, and then not only remembered her growing breasts, but finding out that she was cold. Then she bit me and I pinched things and she slugged me, and I tickled. Then we both slowly stopped as there was loud trilling and almost chuffing laughter coming from Squall, who was half laughing and half coughing tea from his blowhole. I slowly shifted my hands around and chuckled, starting to laugh, Thunder joining us and snuggling into me. After a moment of getting my arms moved like a teddy bear’s to snuggle, I smiled. “I’m going to have to get used to those being there…and if you’re cold love, put on a shirt.”

  Thunder huffed and looked down at her chest, where she had two breasts in the normal sort of human spots, but also two right under them, and all four of them were fur covered. “I’m going to have to have all of my armor and clothing remade. Albert said that I’d need to keep these things for future children. Stupid human evolutionary fat storage…” She trailed off glaring at her brother, who had started to laugh again, while using a cloth to wipe tea from his head and face. “Shut up, Brother! This isn’t funny!”

  Squall took a moment and then managed to get a mild semblance of calm. “Oh Sister, it is hilarious. You don’t get it though, do you?” He cocked his head to the side. “Lo’Kar women do not naturally produce milk or anything from their own bodies to feed their children, you had the ability. I’m less laughing at you than the fact that our females that try to breed with humans…will have to adapt.” He grinned in a rather evil way.

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  Thunder and I just stared at Squall for a moment before she spoke in a soft tone. “Oh my goddess, you’re right! Mother managed with me by having to make a special mix that father knew of. What are they going to do if they interbreed with humans!?”

  “Grow tits…” I trailed off as my brain caught up with what my mouth had just spat into the air and I blinked as I looked down into the startled eyes of my wife. “Or maybe what your mother did, but I bet part of the mixture that you were fed, was milk of a sort. Possibly donated from a heavily producing Ca’zeze female, but no doubt a milk.”

  “Lo’Kar young…are born with teeth, and so are the Ca’zeze.” Thunder said and looked down at her own chest, then back up to me. “These things are sensitive! The hell with the other females, what am I going to do with our children!?”

  “There’s a way around it if the kid is bitey.” I said softly and nuzzled her, giving Squall side-eye and noticing that he was biting a bit of leather to keep from laughing noticeably. “Human kids usually don’t bite much until they start teething, but if they’ve already got teeth…” I shrugged and looked at her. “We’ll have to see, and I’ll help where I can. There are also pumps you can use for the milk.”

  “Pumps?” She just stared at me. “I’m not feeding our child through a hose. That is not how…”

  “The pumps suck the milk out, you put it into a bottle, and then feed the child with the bottle. Not a damned hose.” My ears flattened out as I looked down at her, letting out a huff. “Honestly it depends on how much you produce…” I trailed off and looked at her chest, then shrugged. “Which aught to be more than enough. Human women only have two after all…”

  “I would rather go into a border dispute with the crabs naked with only a stick than have to learn all of this now!” She growled, then took a few slow deep breaths to calm herself. “But I’m pregnant, there is no changing that now, we’re going to have a child. I will face this as another challenge in life, I have beaten all of the others that have…” She trailed off and hopped off my lap, running for the bathroom.

  I waited a moment and nodded. “She’s not cursing, so she made it to the toilet…” I trailed off as Squall lost it, trilling and doing that odd chuff of laughter that the Lo’Kar did. I waited for him to calm down and huffed, reaching into my thigh pocket and pulling out a pack of pre rolled smokes. “Come on, I’m not going to smoke in the house.” I waved my hand around and Squall got up to follow me to the door.

  Once outside he waited for me to light my smoke before he spoke. “Do you think the other humans would be willing to mate with our females? My sister has spoken of the culture difference between our races, I’m unsure how well your various males and our females will interact.”

  Smoke shot out my nose as I snorted. “Which group, we have several different small groups of our home world’s culture, which is seriously weird to say. But we do, some will love the idea of having sex with alien women, others will dislike the idea of it, some will want to bond and raise the child, others won’t.” I puffed on my smoke and took in a deep breath. “I also haven’t told a soul about stamina, your people…”

  “Can go for a day or two, and before spring you will see me with much lower weight and taking a week from hunting. I have five breeding partners, and it is a male’s duty to please them, which is another cultural thing.” He looked over and well…up at my face, poor guy was only about four foot nine. “I worry about all of your modifications, you and the ones like you are not truly human anymore.”

  I couldn’t help but nod, looking down at him. “I know, I haven't been really human since that first major storm. I will see what I can do about finding willing participants for your gals, I have one in mind that will be interesting to see how things go with this.” I gave Squall a little grin. “It will be a lovely test to see how well your females can mix with the troubled end of our males.”

  Squall’s eyes focused on mine and a puff of hot breath shot from his blowhole to steam the cold outside air. “You mean the other broken male of your special group? The weapons master with the small creature that hates everyone and everything?”

  My grin turned wicked and I nodded. “Him indeed, they will have to find a small group that like what he does and wish to try with him. He’ll want to marry them due to customs like I did with your sister.” I saw his eyes flick to the cross laying against my bare fluffy chest.

  “I have a few of the females that I will send his way, and you will have to check with the other males to see who else is willing to help the Lo’Kar here not fade.” He looked back at the house. “Mother will be coming by here soon to have you both come to the medical labs, your special group is getting implants like we Lo’Kar have.”

  I sighed and finished my smoke, spitting a little flame to puff the roach to ash. “It isn’t something humans have gotten nearly as far with. At most it’s medical implants, but your people are actually linked to a network? I know Adam was wondering if your people or the Ca’zeze had working Ai’s.”

  “We are, that is actually how males like myself keep track of who we can safely breed with among other things. Sadly though, our forefather’s ships didn’t have surviving Ai’s, neither us or the Ca’zeze due to battle damage and…” He trailed off and pointed at the sky. “Damage from entering the scrap yard as your people call it.” He shrugged. “I don’t know much about that, not my field of interest. I do know that we lost most of our advanced military tech, Isaac has helped restore some of it to us.”

  I lit another smoke and raised a brow as I looked down at him. “You still prefer using a spear though, your sister complains about it.”

  A huff of air shot from his blowhole and swirled into fog over his head. “She has no room to complain, she still carries her hammers with her everywhere she goes. I do not carry all of my hunting gear with…”

  “I can smell the metal of your spearhead.” I said it softly and caught him turning violet as he realized that he was busted. “Where do you carry it?”

  His arm snapped out, a flash of metal leaving his coat to stab into an almost crimson colored wooden porch post. The spearhead was about a foot long with serrated edges along its tapered oval length. “I keep it in the sleeve of my coat.” As he spoke, he moved to pull the spearhead from the wood as carefully as he could. The sleeve of his hide coat was hanging open, letting me see the sheathe strapped to his forearm. “I cannot complain, a hunter must always carry it with them. I’m a hunter like my father, and I have six other siblings aside from Thunder.”

  “Cause your guys get around, I guess you really have to…” I trailed off and shrugged, then my ear twitched as I heard the clatter of dishes being gotten out. “I better get back in there, joining me?”

  “By the goddess, no. I have to deal with pregnancy cravings of my breeding partners. I have no wish to see what my hybrid sister is craving.” Squall said and flipped up the light hood of his coat as he stepped out into the darkness and snow.

  ********************

  I won’t go into describing the unholy concoction that Thunder made up to suit her craving, all I will say is that I wasn’t hungry after I smelled it. After she ate it all down and let out a belch that literally shook the walls…I was so damned proud…her mom came by. The best part was that absolutely no one had told her about Thunder growing breasts. Watching an apparently ancient mother staring at her daughter’s chest in stupefied bewilderment for a solid three minutes is epic. Especially when said mother reaches out in that bewilderment and pokes at the new objects on her daughter’s chest, and I didn’t say a word…I was standing to the side recording it all with a helmet cam though.

  The growling pulse that shot from my wife broke her mother’s bewilderment and she stepped back, but her eyes kept flicking to the four fuzzy orbs of distraction. Thunder put her hands on her hips and glared at her mother in a way that told me she’d been spending more time with human women. “Mother, they are very sensitive. Not even my husband is allowed to touch them for the time being…” She trailed off as there was another poke at her orbs of distraction, which she answered with a hard slap of her mother’s hand.

  “Love, this is why humans give them so many nicknames. I prefer orbs of distraction myself, best put on a shirt I think.” I said gently and watched her roll her eyes, which she’d learned from being around humans so much. Instead of a shirt, she put on a short apron made of something like wool, and finally broke the trance her mother was in.

  Stormwind blinked a few times and looked to me and then her daughter and finally back to me once more. “Why does my daughter have those? I know she had nipples and mammaries from her father’s side, but those are…”

  “Tits, breasts, funbags, pillows, orbs of distraction, chesticles, or a few hundred other nicknames that humans have come up with over the millenia. You’ve seen them before, just not four fuzzy ones on Thunder…” I said with a grin and had been pouring a cup of tea as I spoke, catching Thunder’s swatting hand, and putting the cup into it. “Care for a cup as well, Stormwind?”

  Stormwind, basically queen of the Lo’Kar on this world, mother of two, partner in bonding two warring races forever…stared. She was obviously in a mild state of shock and I broke her out of it with a cup of tea and a lick up her face. Thanks to practice with Thunder, I danced my towering ass away from swats and punches and leaned on the counter. “Thank you for the tea, but no licking my face ever again! My husband is the only one allowed to do such thi…”

  “I bet he’d love to know you're as fertile as can be right now, Thunder told me he’s been wanting a second child, maybe even a son. I’m sure Albert could set you up with some..”

  “Don’t you dare!” It was less cute when Stormwind got the whole imperious indignant tone than when Thunder did it, more practiced I guess. “I will not be growing…” Her eyes flicked to her daughter’s chest. “Those things…”

  Thunder smiled evilly. “But mother, what about the females that wish to try breeding with humans? Their children require milk from their mothers, which come from these…” Her hand waved at her chest.

  Stormwind went quiet, and I was so proud of Thunder that she’d calmed enough to not only mess with her mother again, but to leave out things like formula and pumps. Letting her mother’s mind go into the train wreck that was babies born with teeth and sensitive things. I made myself some coffee and managed to take a sip before Stormwind slumped and…was that a whine that came out of her? “We’re doomed…how am I going to talk our females into breeding with humans if they have to…you at least had the parts. Do you know how terrifying it was to even get the mixture from your father’s people? You needed a bit of milk too and we made a formula for you, you were so angry because you were hungry.”

  Thunder pulsed a bit of sound at her mother. “Grandmother got some of them to try and become males…I’m sure growing these will not be a problem…”

  “That went as well as an asteroid impact, most of them went insane. Only one of them actually made it through the change and a year, the rest went insane and died. Her…his…that one’s children are the same as their parent.” Stormwind was grumbling and I just stared as she talked about the lengths they’d gone. “We have a family of ten from that one’s line.”

  I shook my head. “Our people did that years ago, flipped genders with genetic therapy and all of that. I know during our la