Cal sat in a chair beside Firi and watched her pilot the shuttle. It skimmed through the upper clouds of Protion, travelling so fast! He loved it, sure the Odyssey moved swiftly but it was big and ponderous and you didn’t really notice it when inside or even get a sense of it looking out of a window. It never felt fast but something small like the shuttle zoomed through the sky. Outside clouds whipped past at rapid speeds, the ground was coming into view and the lines of ice and snow rushed past.
They passed over a cluster of Avali tents and mining equipment, it disappeared behind them in a matter of seconds and Cal chirped excitedly, climbing up to lean on the control board and peer down, "How fast are we going?"
"Eight hundred and sixteen kilometres an hour," Firi said after a glance at the holograms before her, "We'll be landing at the colony centre in seven minutes."
"This is so cool," Cal breathed, his excitement making his voice chirp, "I wanna learn how to fly, can you teach me?"
"Selenu is the better pilot," Firi said with a smile as she guided the shuttle lower, the ground seeming to race past faster, "But sure we'll both be happy to teach you if that's what you'd like."
"Yessssss," he chirped excitedly, pressing his nose to the window and watching how they raced into land. The ground flashed past and then there were tents and a few small buildings on a stand of rock rising above the surrounding snow plains. Their speed dropped rapidly but safely inside the shuttle they didn't feel anything as Firi swung them around and brought the ship down to land with a thump on the black and orange landing pad.
“That was so cool,” Cal chirped as he followed his brother Cri and the avali Ki and Firi outside, “Can I try and fly it a bit on the way back?”
Firi laughed, “Maybe, we’ll see.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?” Cri chirped up, “I mean you need weeks or months of training to be a shuttle pilot,” he held up his holo-pad, “It says it all in here.”
“Oooh let me see,” Cal snaffled the pad and peered at the scratchy lines of Avali text, his brow furrowing as he tried to translate the words, “Ugh no I can’t do this and walk.”
“It’s ok Cal,” his brother chirped, taking his hand, “I’ll read it to you later, we gotta focus on our test first.”
“Why is the test centre on the moon and not in orbit anyway?” Cal asked as he looked around the landing pad. It was brilliantly lit by orange lamps that reflected off the snow and the sky was currently clear showing so many stars burning brightly above them. He blinked a bit in the glare, it was very bright and peered curiously at the black and purple Avali who walked across the pad to greet them. He was wearing a long mantle that had lots of tassels that hung down in woven threads to his knees and a visor that was fully opaque to hide his eyes from view.
“Hello everyone, I am Berly and you must be Firi and Ki Trail,” he greeted the avali with a friendly chirp, speaking in Avali through with a slight accent to his words, “So that must make the pair of you Cri and Cal?”
Cal nodded, a little unnerved by how Berly got their names right, he was still getting used to how the Avali just seemed to know and share everything. On one hand it was very much like home, everyone knew who everyone was by scent but the Avali didn’t have that and yet their ways of sharing knowledge meant they seemed to know everything.
“Yes that’s us,” Cri was saying, “Thank you for letting us take the test.”
“No worries, if you’d all follow me,” he started across the launch pad toward one of the tall white and orange buildings, “As for why the test centre is on the surface,” he said, clearly showing how he’d heard them talking as they disembarked, “Usually you’d not be allowed up to the shipyards without having taken the test in the first place, you two are a special case as you are living on the Odyssey. But hopefully after today that will be cleared up.”
“Oh I see,” Cri said, “Well thank you still for letting us try the test, we’ve been preparing for it, it’s very different from anything we have back home.”
“I saw,” the Berly smiled, lifting his visor so he could look down at them all with his dark Avali eyes, “Diplomat Seinu’s series on your home-planet has been releasing for the past week, it’s amazing do you… do you really live like that?”
“Underground?” Cal piped up, “Did you see our village? We saw yesterday's episode showing the village.”
“Yes,” Berly said slowly, pausing outside the building to enter a code on the door panel, “But I meant more like the hiding from predators and everything, we saw what happened to what was she called? Rayen, yes that was it.”
“Oh,” Cal slowed and held onto Cri’s paws tightly, “Yes… predators are a thing, it is a part of the Land and the great balance.”
The door slid open and Berly nodded soberly, “I am glad she is going to be ok, how is she doing?”
“Oh very good,” Firi said as she ushered the two bunnies inside, “Trust me, I made sure to leave them ready for anything, but to see what you’ll have to watch more.”
Berly laughed and followed the others inside, “Well me and my pack are looking forward to tonight's episode! I was hoping we’d get to meet Diplomat Seinu today. Is he not with you?”
“Sadly not,” Ki sighed, “Our brother is on Avalon right now, so what do we have to do for the test?”
“You and Firi get to sit out here with me,” he turned to the two bunnies as he led the way through the complex and into a room full of monitors, “Now as for you two you’ve been studying for this and the exam isn’t that onerous but you do have to pass it to be licenced to live as part of an Avali ship-crew.”
“We’re ready,” Cal stood up tall and smiled out from under the brim of his hat, “We are more than ready!”
Berly smiled and nodded moving to open a door, “Ok well the test chamber is through here, both of you head inside, it’ll be just like you practised, you need to pass four out of the eight possible practical scenarios which we do first then after that the test, head on through, pick a door and head in to start and we’ll see you at the other side.”
Cal turned to look at the Avali and Ki and Firi chirped encouragement at them before he hurried after his brother, he could do this!
Sitting on the windowsill in the dark Seinu watched the world with fascinated interest. With the lights off and the aerogel window adjusted to show him the outside he could see wonders he'd never experienced before. The city itself wasn’t new, the tall white, black and orange majesty of the Illuminate district were old friends. He'd spent the first fifteen years of his life growing up in the nursery tower, the massive spire was one of the most protected buildings in the entire Illuminate. The resources spent keeping Avali nurseries safe, secure and happy were legendary, the Directorate of Hatchery Management had a resource allocation budget that not just equalled but actually dwarfed the military. Then after his accident he’d started spending time in the Illuminate Central Hospital Tower where he was now and as they grew older he had started training in the spiralling purple tower that was the home of the Directorate of International Affairs.
What was so different about his visit this time was the colours, the bright sheen of distant windows and glowing orange beacons designed to stand out to Avali eyes shone like the flames of a thousand suns to Seinu's vampire bunny eyes. Overhead the sky was mostly clouds, thick bands of white and grey but even they shone, sparkling like sheets of brilliant metal as they reflected the trapped lights of the Avali home world. Yesterday it had been one of the rare clear sky days, and the Aurora had danced around like a halo of splendours crowning the gas giant Valaya. The day before had been clear and the night sky had been something else! A backdrop of stars, not just twinkling motes of white but each and every one had been a gleaming drop of colour against a backdrop of blue, purples and green. The night sky was no mere black expanse to Vampire Bunny eyes but a splendid vault full of depth and colour. Seinu had been worried tonight's over-cast sky was going to be a disappointment but as always his bunny body was showing him wonders he had never expected.
The door to his room swished open and he turned to look, it was Doctor Rhaii, the pack-leader of the group of medical specialists responsible for his care. He paused at the darkness and Seinu could see him blinking, even for Avali eyes it was incredibly dark.
"Hello Doctor," Seinu greeted him, "Hospital, lights to standard please."
As he spoke the command the smart AI that ran the hospital brought the ceiling lights up to a warm quiet glow. The sort of illumination level that to an Avali was a bright noon-day glow but to most Aliens would still be dark and dingy.
"Sorry to disturb you Seinu," the doctor said as he closed the door behind him, "But Halyu and Halyan finished their tests and I've finished my review of the data, my sister Doctor Taluni and I are in agreement we think we've isolated the issues you're having."
Seinu sat down on the windowsill, running his claws through his neck ruff as he paid close attention as the doctor came over and took the chair next to the bed, "Do we have a cure?"
"Yes and no," Rhaii took a tablet out of one of the heavy pockets of his long blue jacket and held it out to Seinu, "The cure as it where is to turn off your nanites, let your body adjust back to its natural state then slowly over the next few weeks upgrade and reboot the nanites and let them repair the damage."
Seinu frowned at the screen, turning it this way and that as he tried to understand what he was seeing, "This is the chemical composition of my slime body no? So there is an issue with the nanites and I'll revert back to Avali when we turn them off?"
"Not quite," the older Avali ran a hand through his crest, "See…” he sighed and fiddled with his visor for a moment, removing it so he was looking at Seinu with un-augmented eyes, “Ok this is difficult but, there are a few aspects of your body that have been classified, even from you.”
“What?” Seinu exclaimed sitting up, “How… how do you hide things?”
“By making sure you were never awake when these things came up,” Rhaii said sheepishly, rubbing a hand through his crest again, “But after running our tests we've determined it's one of these secrets that is the source of the system failures."
"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be glad I'm sitting down? Seinu chirped nervously, "What secret may I ask?"
"It pertains to the nature of the procedure we used to save your life as a kit," Rhaii touched the tablet, taking it back and fiddling with it awkwardly for a moment, “There,” he sighed and turned the screen back around so Seinu could see it was now displaying two different sets of identical biological data, "This, it is important and secret but the second set of data you are looking at here is you without taking the nanites into account. The one you thought was your slime is actually the base form of an alien species that was the donor for the original experiment,”
Seinu stared at the data, it was identical, “What.. but… that first lot of data is me! I know it’s me, that’s what I always look like when I am scanned.”
“I know,” Rhaii sighed, “But you need to understand the truth here Seinu, your slime and this peaceful species of slime creatures are the same, you are for all intents and purposes one of them, they are called the Sleriki"
"I know of them,” Seinu whispered, “One of my friends employs one."
"Then he is a very, very lucky person, Sleriki rarely leave their home world, let alone work for people. Anyways… See, originally my experiments were focused on using inert Sleriki slime and Avali medical nanites to try and boost the potency of their healing abilities."
"Inert slime?"
"Yes, Sleriki don't pass waste or shed feathers or any of that, when one gets to a certain size they shed the excess mass, usually as inert slime," Rhaii gestured at the screen, "On their home world this is part of the ecosystem. Plants and animals consume the shed slime in one big natural cycle of life."
Seinu frowned at the screen, "And you used this slime as the basis to synthesise the stuff that saved me?"
"No," Rhaii said firmly, causing Seinu to look up, "I infused actual Sleriki slime with guardian nanites to save your life. My experiments in creating a nanite infused slime were still in their infancy, you were dying, the nanites from the loom were about forty minutes away from turning your brain into lead. So I took some of the raw Sleriki slime I had here, programmed the guardian nanites with "keep you alive" and poured the lot over you and it worked."
Rhaii looked embarrassed as Seinu stared at him in silent shock, "And… and… well, it worked in a way we hadn't been expecting. The nanites fused with the Sleriki slime and converted your body entirely into Sleriki slime whilst also conserving your memories. Our research today indicates the slime I used wasn't inert, there were a few core cells in there," he held up a paw to stop Seinu as he went to talk, "Core cells are something we and even the Sleriki still don't understand properly, they're the cells that make a Sleriki well a Sleriki, their personality, their instincts all of that."
Seinu fell back against the window, staring in shock at the doctor, part of him wanted to scream, or shriek or maybe bite them! This was… this was impossible to process, he tried to speak, to respond with something but the best he could manage was a very bunny-like squeak!
The doctor shrugged sheepishly, "It worked, at no point did you die, but the programming in the nanites plus the Sleriki slime decided the best way to keep you alive was to abandon your corrupted, organically dying Avali body and transfer you wholesale into a Sleriki body."
"I… that… it worked… well no clearly it worked but am i dreaming? This sounds like the plot of a novel or show!"
"No dream," Rhaii chirped, "We tested everything, your memories were intact, what was on the operating table when it was done was a Sleriki but also you. From there it was a case of trial and error to have the nanites form your slime into the shape of an Avali. Halyu then had the nanites stimulate the Sleriki ability to grow fur on the surface and grow feathers instead, we ran into pigmentation issues which is why you woke up grey and black instead of lime and white like your sister."
"I… think I need to lie down," Seinu whispered and dropped to the floor and moving on all fours, wove across the room and face planted into the nest of cushions and blankets he'd made out of his hospital bed, "You're saying all these years…. For what, over a decade, I've been a Sleriki and not just a technologically advanced Avali?"
"You were raised as an Avali, trained as an Avali, bonded with your pack as an Avali, you are an Avali,” The doctor said, “But species wise yes, you're a Sleriki using Avali guardian nanites to change forms. It's very advanced, very classified and we've never tried to replicate it."
Seinu lifted his head, bunny fur poofing out in all directions as his emotions see-sawed, "I've seen the new medical tech, the gel that can be rubbed into wounds to knit them closed… that's me tech?"
"That's the original application we were aiming for, an organic medium manufactured in a medical lab carrying a suspension of Avali nanites. It's based on Sleriki physiology but without the core cells, entirely inert, produced in a machine to carry the nanites. You… you are a medical marvel, very unique but at the end of the day, biologically speaking you're a Sleriki who can change shape thanks to Avali tech."
Seinu pulled one of the pillows over his head and held the sides down, staring into the darkness beneath. He felt the mattress sink a bit as Rhaii moved to sit on it and placed a paw on his tail, gently running his claws through the thick brush of fur, “Are you ok there?”
“No” Seinu chirped, “Darkness helps me calm down… this is a lot to take in. Give me space, please.”
“I understand, why don’t you take a moment, I’ll stay here until you are ready and then we can talk more.”
“Ok,” Seinu murmured, curling more of himself up under the pillows until no light was showing. It was something the bunnies on Babupekkakerok had done, stuffing him in the darkness whenever he got overwhelmed. At first it hadn’t really done anything but now it helped, like a naturally born bunny Seinu had been conditioned to see the darkness as calming, it really did help.
Walking into the first testing chamber Cal looked around with interest. It was a plain white walled room with recessed orange lights. The grey and copper furred Bunny was slowly getting used to Avali's design choice. White and Orange, it was everywhere; though Cal wasn't sure if it was cultural, fashionable or just they didn't care for colour. As best he could tell Avali had awful eyesight, adapted to the muted grey and white colours of Avalon; only bright colours like orange and yellow stood out to them.
Shaking his head Cal looked around and tried to focus, he was here to do the test, to prove to everyone he could live safely in space. He had to pass, he had promised Sher he'd help look after Seinu and he couldn't do that if he was seen as a youngling. It slowly dawned on Cal that the long rectangular room looked a bit like one of the Odyssey's corridors. He'd just worked that out when an alarm went off.
"Decompression alarm," Cal called out, mostly for himself as he leapt into action, running his eyes along the wall, "Emergency locker…." He placed his paws on a section of the wall and pressed, the barely noticeable panel slid in and sideways revealing a storage compartment. The bunny grabbed one of the emergency suits which was little more than a white and orange collar with a breathing tube attached.
"After the alarm sounds there is no guarantee how much time you have," Cal recited to himself as he bit down around the weird nozzle-like breathing tube and pushed the strip of white rubber against his throat. It activated instantly and Cal closed his eyes as the rubber came alive and melted over his fur. It felt weird and icky, like he was being dipped in mud, it crawled over his fur, smothering it all under a seamless layer of weird rubber.
It was as tough as anything, you couldn't break this rubbery layer with anything short of a powered laser, but in reality despite being so tough it was nothing more than a tiny layer of sealed rubber and nanites between his body and the dangers of space. Cal thought it was amazing, the tech in the emergency suit was smart enough to realise Cal didn't have a visor or other augments and deployed screens in front of his eyes on the inside of the rubber covering his head. He could breathe, feel, move freely and now see all whilst being safely held inside the tight rubber cocoon that'd protect his body from the dangers of space.
There was a beep and the far door opened but Cal didn’r rush and took his time to take an emergency harness out of the cupboard and pulled it on. The smart fabric adjusted to his body size and a small joystick deployed from the waist that would allow him to control the built in manoeuvring pack. There was also a belt with a variety of useful tools and a couple of pieces of tech that could interface with the suit. Cal was wise to their tricks (after being taught by both Firi and Ki), opening the door to encourage him to hurry through and not stop to get a utility harness.
The bunny took his time, testing the manoeuvring pack and activating the emergency radio before advancing through the next door. The voice of the radio was an automated message in Berly’s voice asking the crew to check in, as he advanced through the door the bunny used one suited paw to toggle the switch and spoke.
"This is Cal, I'm in sector H,” he read off the wall, glad for all the help Cri had given him in learning the Avali alphabet, “I am in an emergency suit, can I help?"
"Hello Cal," there was a click as the automatic circuit switched to live and Berly spoke, "You are in a corridor with a leak, can you use your emergency kit to find it and seal it?"
"Roger," Cal replied, smiling happily under the suit. He hurried forward and then focussed, he always felt like this one was cheating. The simulation chamber did a good job of simulating the air on a real ship and with his prey senses honed to detect vibrations he could follow escaping air easily. Closing his eyes for a moment Cal stood and felt how the air was flowing and in what direction it was moving, the suit wasn’t quite as sensitive as his bare pawpads would have been but he could still feel it even through the suit rubber.
It felt so good to be doing the practical part of this test, the Avali space licence was a pretty standard but important test all young Avali had to take. It was one of the final tests to become an adult and Cal refused to fail! Without it you couldn’t officially be part of a ship's crew, only a passenger. The whole thing was sort of split into three, the written portion he had barely passed, mainly generic questions about basic tenets of Avali life. Then there was a theoretic competency in Avali writing, reading, maths and some slightly more specific questions at the end that didn’t give any score, but would let the examiner moderating the test get a good idea of your strengths and weaknesses..
Whilst it was a test you could take again Cal really hadn’t wanted to have to wait six months to try again. So as Cal stood there searching for the leak he couldn’t help remember how worried he’d been. You needed a certain score to qualify for the space licence portion of the exam and he’d barely been above that. Still he was here now and doing the physical exam and that was what he was good at, doing stuff!
Following the pressure of the air against his hands he moved through the room and brought his hands down near the floor where there was a minute crack in the fabric of the wall.
“Found you,” he chirped in satisfaction and thumbed a tube of sealant out of his belt. It was awkward to use the tube designed for Avali fingers. But he soon had the cap off and the thick white-grey paste spread along the crack, a small shovel-like tool from his belt used to spread it out. It fizzed as it reacted to something and the flow of air slowed.
“Still another,” Cal murmured and took a moment to follow the air current and found a secondary crack near the door behind him. He smiled at the sneaky placement and took a moment to seal it and after a couple of seconds the light in the ceiling turned green.
"Good job Cal," Berly chirped over the radio, "Pressure is stabilising, but the hatch won't open, you'll have to do it manually."
Cal made his way forward and followed the process Ki had spent a week teaching him to manually check the hatch controls. First he checked the pressure on the other side, both the electronic and manual indicator.
“Hello controller,” Cal chirped in Avali, using the universal title for whoever was leading in an emergency as per the book, “The hatch is showing pressure on the other side, the electronic indicator is down but the manual float is showing a positive atmosphere can you confirm?”
“I can yes,” Berly replied, “Very good Cal, go ahead and open the door.”
Cal chirped an affirmative and started to go through the step by step emergency procedure to manually release the locks, depressurize the hydraulics and winch the door open. It was designed to be done quickly in an emergency but it was more than just a test of mechanical aptitude, it was a test of basic dexterity and strength.
There was a panel of perspex over one of the emergency handles, designed to stop it being triggered by accident. Cal had a tool in his belt that was supposed to be used but he just put his fist through the flimsy sheet of plastic, it was faster and not against the rules.
“Woe,” Berly murmured into the microphone before muting himself and Cal smiled smugly behind the covering of rubber space-suit clinging to his head. His strength always surprised other Avali. If he thought that was impressive he’d love this next bit. Bracing one foot against the door Cal gripped the handle inside the emergency compartment, twisted and pulled. It slid smoothly out of its recess and the door hissed, the locks releasing with a thunk.
It was a weighted handle, designed to test Avali kits with their hollow bones adapted for flying. For Cal it was barely an impediment and then just because he could he ignored the circular crank that was meant to be used to open the door and just pushed firmly with one hand. The door slid open, the crank spinning gently as the mechanism whirred and with the way open the bunny took a look around to check it was safe and proceeded into the next chamber.
"Good job Cal," Berly said over the radio after a moment's silence, "Very good job, I’d hate to piss you off and be on the receiving end of that punch. But very good, you can remove the emergency suit and head through to the exam room now."
"Thanks," Cal chirped as he ordered the suit to retract, he just had to pass the second written exam now. This test was again less of a test you HAD to pass but more for indicating the aptitude you had for your chosen profession, to know what you had to get better at during your work. Since Cri and Cal had expressed a desire to stay on the Odyssey and support Seinu’s work as a Diplomat it was quite varied.
Apparently Selenu wanted them to train as what she called “Generalists” to start with and after that they could branch into Bodyguard. But first they had to prove they were safe and trustworthy and qualified to live in space! No way he was going to fuck this up now, he would join the Odyssey's crew, just one exam to go, he could do it!
Sitting up in bed and hugging a pillow Seinu stared at the doctor, the older Avali had patiently stayed with him whilst he hid in the darkness and he was feeling… a bit better but still kind of rotten inside.
“So… I’m not an Avali who can shapeshift? I’m a Sleriki who can shapeshift?”
“That is correct,” Rhaii said, “I would have waited until tomorrow but we want to start the procedure as soon as possible.”
Seinu stared at his thick furred bunny paws, “This, this is a lot to take in… I wish you’d come earlier whilst Selenu and Chantelle were here but… but oh no no no,” he chirped in anguish, “How are they going to react? I'm not even their brother!”
Rhaii laid a hand on his head, “You are their brother, it doesn’t matter what species you really are, you were raised an Avali, with your pack they aren’t going to shy away from you because you’re really a big slime.”
“But I am a monster,” Seinu whined, he knew he was being pitiful but he couldn’t stop it, his whole foundation and identity had just been yanked out from under him, “I’m the slime monster who ate their actual brother and stole his memories!”
“No,” Rhaii said firmly, “That is not how it works, memory is your identity, the memory transfer was one hundred percent complete, you are yourself, you are Seinu, the kit who went to sleep on the table is the same kit who woke up, just a bit different physiologically.”
“I… I am not, I…” Seinu shuddered as Rhaii rubbed his head feathers, tousling his mohawk. He closed his eyes and tried to take a deep breath but it wasn’t helping, he was tempted to go back under the covers again and hide.
“Shhh,” the older Avali chirped, “We understand this is upsetting news Seinu, but you need to know, to live life to the full you have to understand the basis of yourself,” he tilted Seinu’s head back so he could look him in the eyes, “You are you, no matter the basics, your memories, your life, it is all you.”
“I… but…” Rhaii shook his head and tapped Seinu on the snout and spoke firmly, “None of that now, I will let you ask questions but not wallow in pity or spout nonsense, now I have asked your sisters to come back,” Rhaii said, “They will want to be here and you shouldn’t be alone right now given how you reacted to the news. While we’re out of visiting hours I’ve already sent them a request to come back and they can stay for as long as they want.”
Seinu hesitated, he sort of wanted to see them but he also didn’t, his emotions were yo-yoing back and forth, he didn’t know what to feel or how to react to this news, “I… What do we need to do next?”
“Finally, you asked the correct question We think we have an answer,” Rhaii said, talking slowly and calmly, “After the initial operation we hid your new nature, we ordered your nanites to turn you into an Avali; feathers, ears, the works and you woke up and we went with the story that it was just like a full body augment.”
Seinu nodded and the doctor kept talking, “However you are still a Sleriki, under all of that, a side effect we didn’t anticipate or realise was temperature. Sleriki live in a very warm, humid climate and hibernate for the winter,” he held out the tablet again, “You live as an Avali, in temperatures which would normally kill a Sleriki if they had no environmental support from an EPP.”
Seinu frowned, “Oh, and whenever I went to a hot world I’d set my EPP to keep me at Avali suitable levels.”
“Exactly,” the Doctor said, “All this time you have been operating well below the safe and healthy temperature for your slime. Your nanites have been compensating, keeping you warm and alive and safe but they’ve not only been fighting against the ambient temperature of wherever you are but also your EPP. When you turned into a bunny it all finally got too much for them.”
“I mean, I’m impressed it lasted ten years,” Seinu murmured as he stared at the report on the state of his nanites, “That’s impressive.”
“It is, but then Avali guardian nanites are pretty good and your body can make more of them but it finally got too much for them,” Rhaii shook his head, “The compression to bunny size, plus the bitter temperatures on Babupekkakerok and years of stress made your nanites swing into emergency mode and turn off their higher functions.”
“So what’s the long term solution?”
“First we shut down your nanites which will cause your slime to revert into a Sleriki,” Rhaii said holding up one of their fingers, “Then we reboot and reload your nanites, a whole new tier will be added, essentially a built in EPP designed to keep your slime at the right temperature,” he rubbed Seinu's head fur again, “We’ll also advise you start wearing a Sleriki heat regulator, we can adapt one to sync with your nanites new programming, it will take the pressure off all your nanites and mean you're not relying on one system to regulate temperature.”
“When are we doing this?” Seinu asked.
“Not for a day or so,” Rhaii said, “This is two fold, so you have time to process all of this with your pack and because we are waiting on Doctor Taluni to get back from Tubasinaki.”
“Why is she there?” Seinu frowned and hugged his pillow, still trying to process all of this.
“The issue is you’ll be turning into a species you have no frame of reference for.” Rhaii brushed back Seinu’s head-fur, “They don’t exactly have doctors or a medical institute but we have a few contacts on their home-world who have been happy to give us their slime when we need it for experiments,” he fiddled with his visor and put it back on, “So Taluni has been speaking to them and is bringing you something from them that will be able to teach you about the Sleriki, it’ll be like the mental map your nanites upload when you become a different species. Like the bunny instinct programme you’re running now, but for a Sleriki. It won’t be perfect; ultimately you may have to visit them but it should be enough for your first transformation and the reboot, then you can turn back into an Avali until you have more time to explore your natural instincts,” he shrugged a bit sheepishly, “Taluni will be back soon, once you have that info and have had some time to study it we can proceed with the next step.”
“Great,” Seinu slumped back against his cushions, “And just how am I meant to go back to work after this! Top Avali diplomat is not actually an Avali!?”
“It will make no difference,” Rhaii said, “You are in shock and unbalanced and I am not being unkind but for the past ten years anyone who scans you will have registered an Avali made of slime, all most of them will ever know is you are an avali who had a fancy full body augment.”
He turned the tablet around to show his bio-scan was returning as Augmented Avali, “So no one will know, we aren’t about to broadcast this around the universe and everyone knows you have special Avali augments that let you shapeshift. Nothing will change publicly, you are Seinu Trail, Diplomat, Ambassador, Illuminate SpokesAvali so no moping Seinu.”
Seinu opened his mouth to protest but the doctor tapped his snout sternly, “No moping, we talked about this, I’ll let you be in shock, I’ll let you process all of this but I won’t let you mope about things that are not true,” he tilted his head, his ears twitching, “Now I will leave you with your sisters and be back in the morning once our special guest arrives.”
The door swished open and Selenu and Chantelle hurried in, “Doctor is he ok?” Selenu demanded as she hurried in, “Your message said it is urgent.”
“It is,” Rhaii stood up, “Seinu needs his pack, he can tell you all about it,” he pressed a tablet into Chantelle’s hands, “It’s all in here too, in case he tries to keep anything back. There is nothing to be alarmed about but it is important you all know so you can support him during the next few days.”
The doctor excused himself and Seinu found himself being picked up and held in Selenu’s arms. He closed his eyes and sighed, a part of him wanted to hide under the blankets but another stronger part was so relieved to be surrounded by the scents and presence of his pack.
“It’s a lot to go through,” he chirped, “Sit down and I’ll explain what he just told me, it… it sure is some news.”