Dr. Justin Foxworth: A Day In The Lab
by Alex Reynard
(most) characters created and owned by Smirkyguy


***


~Chapter One~



Dreams ebbed like tides from the shore, dissolving in the doctor's mind as reality again resumed. But not with the usual sudden harshness of his alarm. Instead, this was a much more pleasant sensation.

The red fox inarticulately moaned. He furrowed his brow. He twitched in the sheets. Something soft and heavy was under the covers, heading for his naked lap. Something fluffy and squirmy. Then a familiar moist nose came poking around his nether regions.

A nonev fox, sniffing and exploring. A slender pink tongue poked out. Crescent-moon fangs feather-lightly traced through his fur.

Justin moaned again, tensing.

Padded paws held herself steady as the vixen explored further. Her tongue dipped deeper into the fragrant warm sheath, like a child reaching into a Christmas stocking for treats.

"Eve?" Justin guessed in a froggy voice. "No: Vixy." Eve had a much shorter muzzle.

Though non-anthro, Vixy was still a clever little canine, with a brain implant that helped her understand spoken language. She knew she'd been recognized. And, as if to reward her master for getting the answer right, she dug in with her delicate snoot, rustling all around his tasty bits. Trying to coax a cock out for some fun. 

Morning was still weighing down heavily on Dr. Foxworth's consciousness, but he managed to guide his hand approximately to his dear pet's head for some ear-skritches. "Good girl... But what time is it? Do I need to be up yet?"

Vixy neither knew nor cared. She could feel a pointed bump extending, and soon she'd get to taste it.

"JERKY!"

The sharp, squeaky shout rattled the Doc somewhat more awake.

Eve the eevee had noticed Daddy was awake, which meant food was imminent! Soon enough, the weight of four little paws plopped onto the bedcovers. "Jerky!" she barked again happily. She started tugging the blankets off.

Vixy's ear twitched towards her companion. Breakfast was nice, but she was in no hurry at the moment. Flavor was just as important as fullness.

Justin's fingers swept slowly back and forth through Vixy's luxurious fur. He took very good care of his pets. He traced the little bare scar encircling Vixy's neck.

She shivered and wiggled into his touch. She liked being played with there. Back in the early days of experimentation with the nanites, several foxes had been purchased/rescued from fur farms to test the nanomachines' capabilities. (Painlessly, of course. Everything was repaired afterwards.) But when the test subjects were let go, one had enjoyed the procedures so much she could not be coaxed to leave. And so she hadn't.

Vixy felt her snout's hot tunnel fill with foxmeat. Her master was small for an anthro, but just the right size for a pet to play with. She happily savored her treat from every side, tail sweeping back and forth in pleasure, tickling Justin's knees.

Eve was frowning. The little nonev pokemon wanted her jerky! Waiting another moment was intolerable! She grunted and tugged and, at the moment of triumph when the blankets finally slipped off the bed, so did she.

THUNK

"RUDE!" she accused the bed.

Justin yawned, long and slow. There was still a thick, dreamy cloud around his mind, despite his pets' attempts at bringing him home from the land of Nod. Plus, his mouth was a desert and his brain was encircled in a mild dehydration headache. "Sophia!" he whined.

A female voice with no visible origin replied, with perfect enunciation. "What can I do for you, Doctor Foxworth?"

"Need coffee," he slurred, still skritching Vixy and enjoying her ministrations. "Not much. Just enough t' get up."

"I anticipated," she said with a lightly-teasing chuckle. "Doctor Michael is nearing the cafeteria. I have started the coffeemaker and will divert his course."

Justin smiled. "You're great, Sophia. Simply wonderful."

"Thank you, Doctor!" she replied, and one could almost hear a blush in her voice.

With that handled, Justin tipped his head back, pressing it down into the pillow, cuddling Vixy close, petting her with both hands in all the spots she liked. He stretched his body out in a long orange line, even splaying his toes. His two tails curled and uncurled on either side of him, symmetrically. Vixy was lapping with careful concentration, making little vocalizations of enjoyment.

Eve's ears rose up from the edge of the bed. "Noooo... Food!" She knew what had to be done. She pounced back onto the bed, padded over to where the action was, and got a firm bite grip on her fellow pet's tailbase. She yanked! If they wouldn't stop this silliness and feed her, she'd separate them physically!

Vixy's ears swiveled back. Her packmate was being greedy; silly thing. Eve tugged insistently, but Vixy ignored her. She had something yummy to enjoy, and was making her master happy to boot.

"Rrrrrr!" growled Eve. She dug in her tiny paws and gave a mighty pull!

It sort of worked.

Vixy clamped down gently on Justin's sheath with her mouth and let herself be deboditated. The nanites holding her neck and spine together let go as she willed. Her body scooted backwards, booping Eve in the face with a pillowy tail.

Startled, Vixy's body tumbled to the floor in a momentary panic, jumped up, then went scurrying around the room in circles with a flurry of clicking clawtips.

Eve ended up tangled in the blankets again.

Vixy went contentedly back to her snack. She was unable to comprehend the science behind why she could survive this separation, or how a neck implant allowed her body to operate semi-autonomously without her brain's guidance. But she knew enough from experience that her body would be fine on its own.

"Did you do that on purpose?" Justin mumbled. As just a head, his foxyfox couldn't reply. She was much easier to hold this way though. He massaged behind her ears with his thumbs.

Vixy tried to gasp in pleasure, but her lungs were elsewhere.

Justin's heartbeat quickened. The pads of his fingers traced the edge of Vixy's separation. A circle of fur, then skin, then a flat plane of living, moving flesh. She was in no danger. The nanites in Vixy's blood could keep her alive indefinitely in this state; needing only an electrical recharge every few decades. Perfectly safe in his capable hands, while the machines he had invented did their job of keeping her alive and happy. He could feel her neck muscles tense and twitch. Feel the rough edge of calcium at her spine. The moist, contracting O of her esophagus. He slipped a finger in.

Vixy wiggled happily.

Like before when she'd explored his sheath, Justin probed inside and could feel the tip of his own cock impaling the throat of his adorable fox! He gasped and petted Vixy encouragingly, asking wordlessly if she could thread it deeper. He felt her throat widen as more of his cock emerged.

Even if her belly and soul called out for breakfast, Eve still couldn't resist watching this part.

Near-nonev grunts and gasps escaped Dr. Foxworth's mouth. Caressing Vixy's fur... The warm little weight of her head held in his palms... His penis wrapped in wet tight throat, with the air brushing at its tip like a feather...

"Nnnngh!!" He stiffened like an ironing board and shot a pearly spray across his thigh.

...Then immediately unclenched and fell back into a bliss so complete he nearly sailed back to dreamland.

As her master deflated in a moaning, satisfied heap, Vixy unhooked herself and wiggled around to seek out his cum with her nimble tongue, not wanting any of the tasty stuff to go to waste.

"...Jerky?" Eve pleaded, now that those two had concluded their fun.

Justin was in a slowly-spiraling haze of afterglow. The bed was like quicksand... He loved his pets so much...

Then he felt something cylindrical and warm insert itself into his hand.

His head jerked to the side.

Mikey had introduced himself to the room and delivered the coffee. The fennec smiled wryly. "Getting a head start on the day, Doc?"


***


There was really nothing to be embarrassed about. Yiffing was as common as breathing around the lab. But Dr. Foxworth still felt his cheeks flush as he shooed his friend and fellow scientist out of the room. Mikey gave both pets a pet as he left.

"...and, thank you," Justin added.

Mikey said 'you're welcome' with a wave of his bionic hand.

Just a small coffee in a metal sports bottle, but it was enough to help Dr. Foxworth get himself vertical and pointed towards the shower. Eve pawed at his ankles and whined, but he reached down to boop her snoot. "You know the routine, little one. Shower first, then breakfast." She bristled a bit, but relented. She slunk off to drink from her bowl. Meanwhile, Vixy's head was dozing and her body was busy trying to climb up the couch.

The Doctor's quarters could be described as 'bare', but the spartan space pleased him nonetheless. It conveyed the same sense of cleanliness as newfallen snow. In the main room there was only a bed, couch, table, nightstand, wall-mounted 70" television screen, and a trio of pet bowls. The bathroom was similarly stark. Sink, shelves, and shower, plus a rectangular toilet with matching bidet. Justin sipped more coffee and stepped inside the shower: a phone-booth-like glass box. The water came on immediately; preset to his preferred temperature. He inwardly thanked Sophia again.

He stood under the spray, letting it soak his tails. Nature called and he answered. Dr. Foxworth always combined showering and urinating to save water. And this morning it meant he got to experience a particularly unique sensation: warm liquid entering his body, warm liquid exiting his body, and warm liquid splashing onto his body. All at the same time. Comforting, if a little disquieting.

He would have preferred cold brew, but if the coffeemakers had just started up, there probably wasn't time to chill the results. He finished the thermos and was now just awake enough to properly soap up and get clean for the brand new day ahead. He stretched and felt his muscles tug and bend beneath his skin. He wondered sometimes if he could actually feel the nanites within his own body, or if that was just a physical illusion.

After he rinsed, the water turned itself off and jets from the ceiling circulated hot air around him.

Stepping out dry, he took a few moments for a quick brushing. "I feel good this morning," he said to himself.

He took a fresh clean lab coat from the shelf and slipped his arms through. No need to wear anything else underneath. In the classic style, he buttoned up the coat's little white disks, all in a column up to his neck. Glancing in the mirror, he looked like the perfect ideal of a scientist!

Out from the bathroom, he was greeted by a near-inconsolable Eve.

"JERKY!!" she pleaded.

"Yes, yes, Eve. Don't worry. I didn't forget." He detoured to the bed to fetch Vixy's noggin, then spent a few moments wrangling her body to pop it back on. The little foxette wriggled to make sure the connection was secure, then wagged her tail and gave her master a "Yap!" of approval.

Justin unzipped a bag of the finest lab-made beef jerky into Eve and Vixy's bowls. The eager eevee started eating before the first strip even touched porcelain. She wagged her beribboned tail and babbled in bliss. Vixy was more calm. She gnawed each piece carefully, like dining on a fresh-caught rabbit.

Justin knelt and gave them both lots of petting and affection. "Good girls! Eat up. Sorry to keep you waiting, Eve. Maybe I'll dismember you a bit later tonight then, hm?"

Her ears perked right up at that. "YES!" she shouted enthusiastically. Daddy was so gentle with his knife!

He smiled and chuckled. He spent a few moments just enjoying their fur and watching them eat. No hurry. There was always plenty to do at the lab, but also plenty of time.

He stood back up and glanced at the flatscreen. Completely average weather and temperature for Kansas in the summer. Looked like it'd be the same for the next few days too. He read the ticker for a few moments. Nothing more exciting going on in this part of the world than baseball scores.

He said goodbye to Eve and Vixy and exited his quarters. The room was one of many along a hallway adjacent to Immortalabs LLC's main entrance. His was closest. He liked feeling at the center of things. Ready for action.

He heard another door opening behind him and turned to see a headless female lucario step into the hall. When the sensors in her implant registered another furson standing there, she was so startled she dashed back inside.

A chuckle. "Good morning, Feldspar," Justin said to the empty hall.

First priority was breakfast. More specifically, additional coffee. One sports bottle was merely an appetizer. Though there was still time enough for the scenic route. He passed through the reception area (empty at this hour, except for Carly), and out the main glass doors.

The sun had barely risen above the treeline. Justin's lab coat fluttered. It was nice to feel the lazy morning breeze brush unhurriedly across his fur. Miles of dense forest surrounded him, with prairie farmland beyond. A rustling green corridor made a path to the main road. No indication that anything else existed in the world.

There was something enjoyable about being located in the middle of nowhere. The quiet was calming, for one. But it was also nice to know he and his colleagues had their own little private space out here. The rest of the planet thought medical nanites were science fiction; something 50 years off in the future. But they'd all know soon. And until then, his humble lab could experiment and refine and play around as much as they wanted, until the little machines were perfect. Even better than perfect. Justin sighed proudly.

Before heading back in, he took another moment to pause and admire his gorgeous matte orange Corvette. A 2015 Stingray Z06. It was parked out front like a massive pet tiger at rest between hunts. Her design was a precision balance of sharp lines and rolling curves. He didn't care that she maxed out at around 140 mph. Speed wasn't everything. What gave him thrills was the massive G forces she could pull. Computer controlled launches meant he was pinned to his seat every time he took off, each turn straining the harness that kept him in his racing seat.

He came closer and slowly ran his paw along the hood. Sun-heated metal warmed his palm. His muscles remembered the feel of her performance. Remembered the satisfying ache in his hands as he'd worked for hours at a time to make her unique; giving her the same care he put into surgery on his organic patients. Installing a rollcage and racing seats. Removing the stock engine to retrofit four electric Tesla motors- one at each wheel- that gave her nigh-supernatural torque and handling. And made her run silent as a shadow. 

He realized his hand was drifting towards the door.

One quick little drive... Just to get his juices flowing...

'No, I can't. Too many things to do today.'

He shut his eyes and sighed. He was a responsible adult. But some toys are so cool, it's hard to resist when they beg to be played with.


***


~Chapter Two~


Back inside, Doctor Foxworth's inner coffee alarm was sounding red alert. Straight to the cafeteria then. He turned left, then right. He passed the gymnasium first. The door hissed open automatically as it sensed him. Inside he caught a glimpse of Roger, pumping iron as if his life depended on it. Past that was the generator room, giving off its comfortingly-constant pulsing hum. Then the four lab rooms, where miracles of the flesh occurred routinely. Then the communal spa. Maria skootched past him with a towel around her neck. He and the otter exchanged a wave as she entered. Finally, the MRI room, and the cafeteria itself. He pushed the bar on one of the double doors and immediately good smells greeted him.

Like every day, the buffet island was a veritable cornucopia of morningtime morsels. A smorgasbord fit for royalty. Doctor Foxworth paid Chef a tremendous amount of money, and never regretted a dime. He could smell bacon, eggs, fresh baked bread, jellies, jams, maple syrup... and most of a coyote.

A 3/4ths-nonev canine body came running up, tail wagging wildly in greeting. A perfectly standard coyote with rusty-gold fur, just, minus the top part. Nothing above the neck but air. Toebeans pawed at his lab coat, almost knocking him over.

"Oof! G-good morning, Stacey!"

Seated at the nearest table, the body's head turned to laugh. Also nonev in appearance, but the mind inside was far from primitive. She was the lab's best computer technician. "Sorry, Doc! She's frisky! And you're looking more awake than normal!"

"Had a cup already," he admitted. "And good morning to you too, Ashley!"

The coyote head grinned. Then she whistled for Stacey to come back so they could reattach and eat. Little claws click-clicked on the tile as the body dutifully returned. Two consciousnesses; one whole. Both with a love for big hot piles of juicy meat! 

The scents of the buffet almost lured Justin in, but good bean juice was his one true love. He threaded past the high-school-style lunch tables towards the bar. Andre was there, hunched over a plate. Chef was standing by as always. 

A bright smile spread across his yellow spotted fur. "Hey hey! How's it going!"

"Good morning, Chef! Trenta-sized cold brew mocha, please. No sugar, no cream."

Chef Florentine nodded, and turned to make the fox's favorite beverage. He had to stifle a giggle though, as Andre had perfectly lip-synced the Doc's order as he'd spoken it. The doc's java preference was widely-known throughout the staff.

After a quick trip to get the rest of his breakfast, the coffee would be ready. At the island, Justin took a plate and nearly drooled at the spread. Scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, croissants, kippers, dozens of breakfast meats, monte cristos, blood pudding, chicken and waffles... It all looked so good!

A skunk glided up to him. "Have these been made with real chocolate, or an imitation?" she asked in a notably Japanese accent.

"Hwa?" Dr. Foxworth was beginning to lose his buzz from earlier. This unfamiliar woman momentarily befuddled him. (Eve hadn't yelled "INTRUDER ALERT!" lately, so she had to be a visitor, right? Maybe someone's family?) He first noticed the mocha latte she held, then the extravagant slice of chocolate cake in her other hand. He pointed behind him at Chef. "If he made it, it's real. And the best you'll ever have, guaranteed."

She stared at the cake as if she'd never seen a slice before. "There are no regulations here on portion control?"

"It's up to you how much you want to eat. Though, that looks like plenty to me." He noticed she had no utensils, and fumbled a fork to her.

She smiled gracefully. "No, thank you. No intention of poisoning myself." And with that she turned and glided away.

This confused Justin even more. He could feel his brain slowing down like a car running out of gas. 'Wanna drink coffee... No! Still have to decide on breakfast first.' He thought two biscuit sandwiches would be easy and good. Just right. They were pleasantly warm on his paws through the foil.

Returning to the bar, he sat down beside a naked gray wolfess who was stabbing patterns into her pancakes with her fork. "Um, did you not sleep well, Andre?"

She turned and let her puffy eyes and bared teeth answer for her.

"Allright then."

She was lithe but buff, fur rumpled in all sorts of odd places. Her tail looked like a chimney brush. "Four hours banging the cocksucking water heaters back into shape yesterday. Then stayed up WAY too goddam late fighting with a washing machine."

Justin blinked. "Fighting... with a washing machine...?"

She did an abrupt violence to her breakfast. "Damn door kept popping open! The latch was so worn down, I had to try four different fucking materials for adding friction. It kept ripping them off! Dickbastard! Finally just grabbed my solder kit and forced it into line." She stuffed a hunk of pancake in her mouth and kept talking. "Though, what do you expect from a five year old machine!? I can only keep all the ancient shit in this place running for so long." She pointed her fork at him. "Why don't you replace more stuff!?"

He nearly stumbled off his stool. "I�m... frugal," he weakly defended, knowing how foolish that sounded with how much of the lab's money he threw at new tech. "If something still works, why waste it? And plus, it keeps you employed, and... occupied..."

She had no good counter to that, so she just glowered.

Dr. Foxworth was very glad when Chef interrupted with his coffee. Andre went back to punishing her meal. One nice thing about her; she was easily distractable.

The slender, laid-back cheetah handed over the big drink with both paws. "Down the hatch, boss."

Justin hefted the mighty mug and felt heaven's own waterfall trickle down into his belly. Cold and powerful! Lip-smacking good! "Mmmmmmm!!" He swore he could feel his neurons firing back up again.

He unwrapped his first sandwich. Egg, bacon and cheese on two little biscuit pillows. Lovely! It filled his mouth with sunshine. So fluffy it was like biting into a cloud.

Chef never got tired of seeing people enjoying what he'd made. He thought maybe other people would enjoy their job more if they could get such immediate positive feedback. He waited patiently for Dr. Foxworth to finish at least a third of his coffee, since he was no good for conversation until then. "Hey Doc, I've been thinking about a little side project."

The fox looked up with a full mouth. "Mm?"

Chef knew he didn't have to be nervous about this. The bossman was cool. But still, he hesitated a little and his tail flicked back and forth. "Would you have any objections if I wanted to, uh, go outside and dig me up a patch for a spice garden? I mean, yeah I can get fresh already! But y'know... What's fresher than walking outside? Snipping off a few leaves and, there you go?"

Justin's tongue was in heaven, so he had to wait a few moments to reply. He swallowed. "No objections at all. That sounds like a great idea."

The cheetah's whiskers bounced. "Heck yeah! I'd been scouting areas anyway, thinkin' about it. Seeing where the light and shade fall; stuff like that. It'd be great to just get outside in my spare hours, have a beer under the afternoon sun, get my paws dirty..."

Andre spoke up. "You might wanna tell Roger first. He'll think moles or terrorists are tryna dig their way in."

Chef blinked. "That's... actually a good idea. Thank you."

The wolfess was unused to kind words and was mildly suspicious. "Yeah. Well. Thanks for making food. It's... passable."

Justin's tails bristled at the outrage. Chef put his heart and soul into his cooking! His meals were all five-star masterpieces!

Chef took it with good humor though. 'Passable' was as much of a compliment as he was likely to get out of the spiky wolf. "Yer welcome. If you want to stab any more of it, the buffet's still full."

"Nah. I-" Her belly cut her off, grumbling loudly. "I binged like a pig on Fritos last night while I was fucking with the washers. Instant I got back to my room, I hit the pillow and was dead till dawn. Had shitty dreams. There was one where this giant dick the size of a train kept hammering on my window! BAM! BAM! BAM! Broke through the fucking wall! I wouldn't have minded that much, but it stank!!"

"I am trying to eat," Justin said, nauseated.

She laughed. "Ha! Sorry to drag my dream dick through your food, Doc!"

A blithely-smiling braixen walked past with a carving knife.

Andre might have been abrasive, but she was definitely adept at fixing things as they came. This included potential catastrophes. "Nope!" She whirled on her stool and yanked the knife away from Linda in a flash.

The braixen stopped, looked down at her paws, then up at the ceiling as if God had taken it. "My toy...?"

Chef checked and saw that, somehow, the door to the kitchen had come un-deadbolted. He didn't bother asking how. Linda sprinkled chaos into all their lives. He waved to get the braixen's attention, then beckoned her close for another lecture about not playing with sharp objects around living people.

She paid very close attention, even though the words went in one ear, through her damaged brain, and out the other.

Andre leaned closer to Dr. Foxworth and hissed, "Why don't you keep her in a cage!?"

"That would be immoral," he replied. "She might be a hopeless case, but at least she's friendly."

"She thinks 'being friendly' means stabbing people!"

He tilted his head. "I thought you liked being stabbed?"

She growled, turned her head, and blushed a little. "Yeah! But there's a time and place!" She went back to her pancakes in a huff.

Chef was placing a harmless plastic butter knife into Linda's hands. "Now, you understand, right? No more going into the kitchen. Go have breakfast. Lots of tasty things to eat. That's safer."

Linda nodded. "Yay! Okay, Food Cat, I will! Hi, Boss Foxy! Hi Mean Dog!" She waved to them both.

Andre snarled. "I could fit you in a trash bag..." she grumbled under her breath.

Justin took another sip. "Don't. She's here because it's important to monitor her. The nanites brought her back from death," he reminded her for emphasis.

Andre flashed a toothy smile. "Could they do it twice?"

Mikey enjoyed his sweet tea while watching Linda attempt to eat an oven mitt.


***


~Chapter Three~


The rest of breakfast went without a hitch. Andre finished quickly and strode off without cleaning anything up, as per usual. Justin enjoyed his egg sandwiches immensely. Some chefs strove to please the gourmet palate; Chef wanted even the most common dishes to taste like angels had made them.

The only other incident of note was that, at one point, the door from the kitchen to the storeroom had opened and a very long headless dragon neck entered. Luna had just woken up and hadn't yet shapeshifted out of her nonev form. "Mmmmmhhhnngh... Chef, would you be sweet and please feed me something? Anything. But raw is preferable." She sounded bleary.

"I'd be happy to!" the cheetah said. Justin watched him slide three thawed chickens down her throat-hole.

After that it was timeabouts for the morning's scheduled staff meeting. Dr. Foxworth waved to Chef and gave friendly nods to the various patients and staff in the cafeteria. He washed his paws in the dreaded unisex restroom attached to the cafeteria, then out and around, up the stairs to the second floor.

It was a straight line to the lounge, just past the morgue. As a fox of science and a fan of internals, Dr. Foxworth had no heebie-jeebies about proximity to dead bodies. Only the occasional pang of hurt that, sometimes when the nearby hospitals brought them their hopeless cases... they really were hopeless. But aside from that, it was just another room, nothing more. (Though there were often jokes among the staff, since the lab's arcade and movie theater were both right across from it. One of Andre's: "This flick sucks so much I'm surprised none of the stiffs have gotten up to come in here and shut it off!")

Staff meetings had previously been held in the office adjacent to the reception area. But that was cramped and stuffy and dull for everyone. In the lounge, meetings might not have been any more exciting, but at least they were comfortable. The sunroof let in warmth, and the wide glass wall had a beautiful view of the treetops. Sometimes staffers would be able to follow the progress of nesting birds, or be distracted by scampering squirrels.

Dr. Foxworth found Roger there already. The lab's chief of security was a rhinoceros of considerable bulk and wariness. He was often earliest to meetings. Today his back was to the door, seemingly fixated on something out the window wall. But no; as Justin observed, Roger was pushing slightly on the glass, giving it small, sharp taps. He never quite trusted that it was really bulletproof.

"Hello, Roger. Good morning," Dr. Foxworth said.

Roger reflexively saluted. "Good morning, sir."

Justin had given up trying to convince him he didn't have to do that. "Anything to report?"

The rhino shook his head pensively. "Nothing concrete. At least not at the moment. I've got a knot in my gut, though. A feeling I can't shake."

Justin thought, but was too polite to say, that this seemed like Roger's default state of being. He patted the rhino on the upper arm, having to reach a bit to accomplish it. "Whatever it is, I have confidence in you to root it out."

"Thank you, sir!"

The fox then headed to the lounge's coffee machine and busied himself constructing a cold brew in his favorite 32oz mug. This was a much less sophisticated machine than in the cafeteria, or what Chef could make, but simple coffee was better than no coffee at all.

He picked a table, sat, and sipped. After a while, the rest of the staff presented themselves.

Andre wasn't late this time, presumably because she had nowhere else to be. The grey-furred wolfess was an exhibitionist: she went around naked as often as possible. Though she sometimes carried a beat-up satchel for her tools. The punishment for calling it a purse? She would dump hot sauce all over your sex toys. Today she plonked herself down opposite from Justin, and drank from a can of cola while staring out the window. Her lips twitched like she was in an imaginary argument with someone. Justin did not provoke her.

Ashley and Stacey were next. Together they walked in, naked as Andre, and waved to everyone. Stacey detached Ashley and set her on the table so she could go lie down on one of the beanbag chairs. The coyote body wallowed around and got cozy. The tale of the two of them was, Ashley was a genius with computers despite her nonev critter appearance. She had developed a pet AI, and donated her body to it. Thus, Stacey was born. The two of them were very happy 'roommates' together. Ashley sniff-sniffed at Justin's coffee.

Mikey was last, which was a little unusual. "Sorry if I held anyone up," he said in his soft voice as he entered. "One of my legs is being a pain." The fennec's circumstances were mysterious, even to the rest of the staff. One look showed he was a quadruple amputee; that was obvious. His limbs were polished metal with polymer joints. But their movement was uncannily perfect. They were either handmade one-of-a-kinds, or he'd stolen them from the future. He walked with the visible trace of a limp over to the table Justin had chosen, and sat down between the fox and Andre.

"Are we ready to begin the meeting?" Sophia's voice rang out. Technically she'd gotten here before everyone else. But then, that was easy when one was omnipresent. The artificial intelligence that monitored Immortallabs LLC was highly advanced, fully sapient, and very friendly. She had a charming voice. No hint of a digital buzz or stutter.

"I'm ready if everyone else is," Dr. Foxworth said, glancing around to check.

Nods from the rest.

Roger came over and sat in the remaining chair. It looked like a toy underneath him. He rested his fire-hydrant arms on the table. Ears up, listening, but waiting his turn to speak.

Justin asked, "Would you like to start us off with your usual report, Sophia?"

"I would be glad to, Doctor Foxworth. The time is 9:10 a.m. The current outside temperature is sixty-one degrees Fahrenheit. There are no known shortages in supplies, or decreases in power output. Chef is planning a Mediterranean variety for today's lunch buffet. Brisket is planned for this evening. It has been smoking for the past eleven hours."

Justin and Ashley both got visibly excited.

Sophia continued, "We are expecting one new client today, by the name of Jackson Waterbuck. He has traveled from Arizona, is staying at the Waterfall Hotel in town, and is expected to arrive at the lab within two hours. Overnight, the only incident of note was a falling tree branch that struck the roof over the gymnasium. No damage was detected, and it has since blown away, but it may be worthwhile to contact a landscaper. It has been several years since the trees were last pruned to prevent electrical interference."

Justin made a mental note.

"There is also one anomalous situation I have been monitoring, but I believe it poses no harm, and its intent will be confirmed shortly."

A raised eyebrow. "What kind of anomalous situation?" Justin asked.

"A furson of unknown identity has been intermittently observing the lab for the past two days."

Ashley barked in alarm.

Roger abruptly slammed his fist against the table. "I THOUGHT so!!!" he bellowed. "I've been on edge all this time! I KNEW something was wrong!" He turned to Doctor Foxworth. "I keep TELLING you this place needs more fortification! At the very least a fence! With barbed wire!!"

Justin looked down at his coffee and sipped. "No," he said simply, but with finality.

Roger nearly screamed. His veins bulged. "But there's an INTRUDER! Sophia said so!"

"Technically, Mister Brax, this furson has made no attempts to trespass," Sophia corrected. "He has attempted to remain hidden, sitting in a tree and observing through binoculars. I have seen him eat five sandwiches, consume two thermoses of liquid, and fall asleep twice, but he has made no move to enter the grounds."

"Then how can you be sure he's not a threat!?" Roger demanded. His highest priority was always the safety of everyone at the lab. The last great war had stuck with him.

"Deduction," Sophia replied. "This furson has not been observing any areas of the lab that would be of strategic entry for a thief. He is too far away to glean any details of our research; ruling out corporate espionage. He appears to be most interested in activities that would indicate, if I am allowed to speculate, that we are 'on the level'."

"Can you be sure of that?" Mikey asked. He was itching at the seam where his right leg attached.

"Not entirely, no. But I have a high percentage of confidence in my hypothesis. And I believe it is further bolstered by the fact that his appearance perfectly coincides with Mr. Waterbuck's first phone call to the lab, where he expressed several times that he was not sure if he believed that we are not a scam."

"He sent someone to check up on us," Dr. Foxworth ventured.

"This is my conclusion, yes," Sophia replied. "And, while I cannot positively identify this furson, if a dark-furred canine male of approximately 30 to 40 years accompanies Mr. Waterbuck on his visit today, or if Mr. Waterbuck can confirm his employment when asked, then our mystery is solved."

Roger remained disgruntled. "Why didn't you tell us about this yesterday?"

"Until now, I was not certain whether he was simply a transient."

Andre had been growing bored this whole time, as nothing in the conversation involved her. She began playing the knife game in between her fingers, heedless of causing dents in the table.

"I still say we need a fence..." Roger groused.

Justin sighed. "If I haven't made it clear enough, I don't want this place to look like a prison. Our clients are often nervous; I don't want the facility itself to make them feel trapped. Or for us to feel that way working here!" Seeing that this did not change the rhino's pout, the fox reconsidered. How could he put this in terms his security chief would respect? Ah! "Think about this, Roger. A fence would attract unnecessary attention. It might actually make us less safe."

An ear twitch. "How?"

Dr. Foxworth invisibly drew the lab perimeter with his hands. "Right now, unless you're flying overhead, the only indication this place exists at all is the turnoff from the main road. Which looks like any other disused driveway leading to... nothing. If we put up a fence, that says there's something here worth keeping people out of. So long as we only give our address to vetted clients, who else would think to break in?"

Roger was as stubborn as they came, but his expression visibly lightened as he appreciated the logic of the idea.

"Mind if I suggest a compromise?" Mikey interjected. Everyone at the table all looked at him. "I see both your points. I'm not too worried about intruders, for exactly the reason Doc just gave: invisibility is the best defense. That said, we do sometimes have wild nonevs come around at night to chew on things and pee. Maybe some invisible fencing? The high-pitched kind?"

Justin nodded. "Good thinking!"

Ashley whined. "I like to run around outside though..."

Sophia reassured her. "I am certain any system we install can be augmented to recognize a signal from your and Stacey's implants."

"Good!" If Ashley had been connected to a body, her tail would have started wagging.

"How about your report next?" Justin asked her, since the business with the fence and the snoop seemed settled.

"Sophia is working great!" Ashley yapped proudly. "Yesterday we did a manual review of her server wiring! I got dusty! There were loose connections, but I fixed them! Then I did a scan! CPU, memory, and disk access usage all under 100% for the past week. All monitoring alerts are okay. No alarm states! No service errors other than what's already in our issue tracker! Yay!"

"Great work!" Justin said, and gave her headpats.

"I feel safe and secure with you taking care of me, Ashley," Sophia said. (Though the comment about getting dusty made her schedule a ventilation filter check.)

The coyote head yipped in pleasure.

Dr. Foxworth looked across the table at the grey wolfess. "Do you have anything to report... erm... Andre?"

Andre was now very engrossed in her knife game, going faster and faster. She had missed quite a few times and her fingers were looking fairly mangled. The healing was trying to keep up with the damage. Her ears swiveled at the sound of her name. She actually had been paying attention to the conversation and replied immediately, "Titanium ingots are getting fucking expensive!!"

Justin flinched back several inches.

She ranted on, teeth bared, knife held in the air mid-stab. "So many things I need for repairs are made out of that stuff! I can't even fabricate my own anymore without it costing way too damn much! It's ridiculous! I had the supplier on the phone yesterday and he wouldn't budge! Fucking dipshit!"

Justin's ears drooped. "Andre, we have the budget for this to not be a problem."

"It's still bullshit!" she howled, and pinned her own hand to the table with her blade for emphasis.

Roger pointed a finger as big as a hot dog bun in her face. "Calm down or I will sling you across the room."

She ignored him. "The price was stable all last year! This is stock market crap going on, I'm sure of it! I've got conduit I need anchored. I've got parts I need to hand-tool. Fuck me if I'm working with high-grade medical technology that needs specific materials and tolerances, right!? Asswipes!!"

Roger clamped his hand around the dome of her head and slung her across the room.

Andre landed near the bean bag chairs. The fall didn't injure her much, but the sudden throw had broken her neck. Thankfully for her, she was chock full of nanites and they went to work without complaint, putting her back together again.

The rest of the staff, also being full of nanites, and also well used to Andre and Roger's tempers clashing, just waited patiently for the wolf to get repaired and rejoin them.

A moment later, Andre stomped back to the table, glaring daggers at Roger. He showed no sign of intimidation. "As I Was Saying Before I Was Interrupted," she hissed, "maybe we could look into a new supplier, that's all."

"That, we can do," Justin said with a sigh. Andre sometimes had to burn her tanks dry to get to the point. "Sophia?"

The AI took a moment to review data. "Most domestic suppliers have had dealings with Andre." This was sufficient enough to explain why she was widening her search. "Ukraine has had a recent upturn in titanium mining, and costs saved may likely outweigh the additional expense of international shipping."

"Great!!" Andre exploded. "Send me phone numbers!"

"They have already been messaged to you," Sophia said. And indeed, a moment later Andre's toolbag gave a muffled beep.

"Hot shit!" Her tail wagged. Then she looked down at her now-healed hand and realized she had no idea where her knife had ended up. She got down on all fours and started sniffing for it.

Doctor Foxworth watched her grey tail circling around like a shark fin. "Any other new busin-"

"FOUND IT!" Andre proclaimed, and returned to her seat.

Mikey made a show of massaging his enormous fennec ears at her outburst. Andre did not get the hint. "I had another idea," he spoke up.

Dr. Foxworth swiveled towards him. "Right! Mikey! I forgot to ask you. Sorry about that."

"I do tend to keep quiet until I'm needed," he said, not offended. In an office full of so many outsized personalities, it was easy and pleasant to remain tucked away in the background.

Justin nodded. "And thank you for the coffee earlier."

"No problem. My idea was-" He stopped and scratched at his leg again. "I'm sorry; does anyone mind if I reposition this?" No one objected, so the fennec began the process of untethering it, trying to do so while continuing to talk. "I know your investors seem like bottomless wells, Justin, but they might not stay that way forever. I've been thinking the lab should maybe consider some side ventures for an independent cash flow."

Andre was paying attention as Dr. Michael spoke. Not to what he was saying, but to the rare sight of the normally-shy fennec taking his pants off in semi-public. If she leaned back in her chair just right, she could see his shorts coming down. It was rude to spy on a co-worker's junk, but she'd never seen it before and was curious.

Justin was instead curious about Mikey's idea. "Allright. I'll concede that. Not that I don't have faith in my investors, and I can't imagine they'd all suddenly back out. But it never hurts to have a Plan B to be sure. Did you have anything in mind?"

Perfectly timed for emphasis, Mikey pulled off his leg and held it up. "...Prosthetics!" The metal gleamed in the sunlight. "You're too flesh-focused, Doc. Our nanites could also be used to simulate much more natural movement than anything else currently available. Not to mention, people like to express themselves. We could offer standard models and custom designs."

Ashley perked up. "Ooh! I could make a website! Make your own leg! Make it pretty!"

Dr. Foxworth smiled. "This all sounds like a solid idea. I happily approve!"

Andre was meanwhile trying to hide her surprise. She'd only gotten a split-second glance, but it was enough to confirm her suspicions that her slender canine co-worker had been born female. Mikey had a pussy down there. Maybe she could coax him into letting her try it out one of these days.

"Andre?"

Startled, she jumped in her seat. "WHAT!?"

Mikey rolled his eyes. "I asked if you'd be willing to help me in the design phase. I can make them move with finesse, but they also have to be incredibly durable as well. And you're our expert in structural integrity."

"Oh! Um." She blushed, and felt a bit guilty for peeking. "Sure. Okay. Thanks, actually."

Mikey nodded. A contented Andre was a quiet Andre.

"What will you need to start?" Foxworth asked Mikey.

He looked up at the ceiling for a moment, mentally inventorying. "Not much we don't already have. The first phase will just be me dreaming up concepts, which, my hours are already quite free-flowing. After that, materials for prototyping..."

"You could buy a bunch of other limbs 'n shit," Andre suggested. "Like, see what the competition's already doing. There's always room for improved performance and efficiency if you look long enough."

Mikey pointed to her. "That is a damn good idea. Sophia? Could you research the top-selling, the most commonly-available, and the most expensive prosthetics currently available? And have that info sent to Andre?"

"I can certainly do that, Mister Amin. The information will be emailed to Miss Walker within the hour."

"Cool!" Andre grinned. "So, Doc, can I get a leg budget?" she asked Justin.

"Yes, of course. I wouldn't make you pay for them out of pocket. Just, don't get too crazy. Don't fill a storeroom. Please."

She made a 'no problemo' face. "I won't need to. After I buy the first few, for most of the rest I'll be able to look at the photos, feel the materials in my mind, turn 'em around, get a sense of 'em. Probably only need to buy five, ten tops."

"Excellent. Anyone else have anything to bring up?" the fox asked.

"I can't think of anything else. Can you?" Mikey returned.

The fox thought a bit, and blanked. "Nope! Except that, if we're having a new client in today, I should go down and get one of the labs ready. Sophia, did they say what procedures they were interested in?"

"All of that information has already been sent to the main lab, Doctor Foxworth."

"Perfect!" He hopped up from his seat. "I'm eager to get started. Meeting adjourned, everyone! Have a great day!"


***


~Chapter Four~


Dr. Foxworth went straight to the staircase, then spiraled around to his destination. Past the Star-Trek-esque sliding doors was a roomy stainless steel space with two cloning machines, two tissue fabricators, many cupboards filled with supplies, and several tall jars full of doctors' office thingies. In the center was an articulated table, jointed like a dentist's chair so that patients could either lie down or be seated. There were drains in the floor to catch the various fluids that came out of people. An LED monitor on the wall. Oh, and a guillotine. That was just for fun.

Justin pulled out his slim, brushed-aluminum personal tablet, knowing that Sophia would have downloaded the client report to it, and read all about Mr. Jackson Lake Waterbuck Jr.

A fellow fox. 55 years of age. 5'9". Obese. Owner of an east coast hamburger franchise, four local banks, one mall, and one children's hospital. (Justin blinked at that last item. Might indicate a kindly nature, or possibly an awful one. Selling greasy food to the little ones, ensuring a steady stream of health problems for his hospital to treat. Profit going both ways.) Mr. Waterbuck had indicated that he was interested in seeing the full range of Immortallabs' nanites. Which meant he was basically a blank canvas upon which Dr. Foxworth could perform his art. Nice. Those types of clients were always preferable to the uptight, nitpicky, micromanaging ones who only wanted their freckles rearranged, or something else similar that barely scratched the surface.

In a location as highly-automated and efficient as Immortallabs LLC, prepping the main lab for a new client took only a few short minutes. The janitors and Sophia had already done most of the work in getting everything sterile and accommodating. There really wasn't much else for Justin to do. He checked that none of the straps on the operating chair were tangled. He patted his pockets. He shuffled from foot to foot. He unfolded the guillotine down from the ceiling a few times, enjoying the smooth mechanical motion and the pleasing 'click' as it locked into place.

"Sophia, what's the time?"

"9:29, Doctor Foxworth."

"How long until the client gets here?"

"Approximately an hour and a half, assuming they are neither late nor early."

The fox made a face. "You'll let me know as soon as they get here?"

"Of course, Doctor Foxworth," Sophia replied, sounding almost teasingly reproachful. As if he really needed to ask.

Justin blanked for a moment. All the other staff were taking care of everything else. "I might as well wander around till then."

He patted his belly. 'Might as well get some more coffee, too,' he added. Breakfast had settled in all nice and cozy. If he went to the cafeteria again, doubtless something would smell so good he'd have to have another bite, and then he might be drowsy later. He nixed that idea. There was coffee in the lounge. "And stairs are good exercise."

So the fox's double tails went whisking up the staircase once again.


***


When he reached the lounge, the door was shut. As soon as he opened it and walked in, he heard a very flustered Mikey shout, "DON'T!! Sorry, I'm, uh, busy!"

Startled, Dr. Foxworth was about to slip back out again.

"Wait! Doc, is that you?"

"Yes. ...How'd you know?"

From behind one of the beanbags, two tan-furred ears rotated. "Your footsteps aren't as heavy as Roger's. Your toeclaws have a lower pitch than Stacey's. Andre breathes heavier. The janitors are on the night shift. Carly is always texting. Plus, I can hear the fabric of your lab coat brush against your naked fur. Come on in and help me with this."

Justin was always eager to help, and the fennec sounded frustrated. Upon venturing closer, he saw that both his colleague's legs were off.

Mikey was steaming, teeth gritted. "I chose the beanbag for easier access, but now I'm sliding around too much. Could you hold me steady while I get my stupid pants off? And you DID close the door behind you, right?"

Justin 'erf!'ed and ran back to do exactly that. "Sophia, could you, um, tell people there's a gas leak or something?"

Her voice replied from the ceiling, "I would prefer not to lie. However, I can warn away anyone who attempts to enter by saying that there is ongoing maintenance inside."

A nod. "Technically true." The fox returned to the beanbag to help Mikey.

With the Doc's paws steady around his slender midsection, the fennec was finally able to slide his shorts down and off. "Unzipping was easy. But I kept scooting down onto my back with no legs to brace me," he grumbled. "I normally do this in bed, but I got irritated."

"I can understand. I wouldn't want my parts working incorrectly either."

Mikey nodded. "There's a twitch. Almost like when you rub Stacey's tummy and her leg starts going. My right thigh keeps popping sideways when I try to walk. Not like a chorus line kick. But just enough to make me worry about falling." Mikey was trying to keep stonefaced, but nevertheless had bright red cheeks as he slid his underwear down. Doc was a professional. He'd seen all this before. Still, it was private.

The secret of Mikey's biological sex wasn't anything scandalous to Dr. Foxworth. If some of his clients wanted to be just a disembodied head, what did it matter if someone else wanted to reconcile a gender disconnect between body and brain? What actually grabbed Justin's interest was the state of Mikey's amputations. On either side of the fennec's hips, bare pelvic bone showed through, surrounded by pink living flesh. A metal socket was installed where the femurs had once been, for the prosthetics to plug into. The nanites retained everything in place, and the seal on the prosthetics kept everything germ-free.

Embarrassed and annoyed, Mikey dug his fingers around in the missing gaps, checking for any abnormalities.

"Mind if I do this beside you?" Justin asked with a gasp. "Bending over and holding you up like this is killing my arms!"

"Oh! Damn, I'm sorry. Sure, go ahead."

Justin sighed in relief and let Mikey slip back down into the plastic fabric. He rubbed his forearms. Then he repositioned, undoing the bottom few buttons of his lab coat for comfort, and scooting his fennec friend over so they could both share the same bag. Justin knelt on one side and got his arms around Mikey's waist. "All good?"

"Should be. And, if I didn't say so before, sincere thanks for helping out."

"Happy to." He adjusted his position to be a bit more comfortable while holding Mikey stable. It felt like he was sitting on a metal rail. Something clicked in his mind. He sproinged up. "I'm sitting on your tail! Why didn't you say something?"

Mikey looked at Doc with dry amusement. "Because I didn't feel anything."

A moment's confusion. "Right! I always forget it's artificial too." He felt silly. "To be fair, it looks pretty real."

Mikey acknowledged that with a nod. "I can pop it off too? To get it out of your way?"

"No, I think I can..." Justin got a paw underneath himself and shooed the furry brush away. "There. Better." He got a grip on Mikey again. "All good?"

"Not really..." the fennec said absently. "I can't feel anything wrong with my pelvic connectors..." He leaned over to grab his right leg. He lifted it up high over his head, trying to let the light in underneath the ball connector. He fussed around inside, even though he'd already done this before and felt nothing-

Then he winced.

"It pinch your finger?" Justin asked.

"No. I'm a fool." He dropped the leg with a clatter and tugged his underwear back on. "I took all this off for nothing. Here-" He picked up the prosthetic again, pointing the open cup towards his friend. "You can't see it, and I missed it before, but there's a string wound around the base of the 'bone'. A damn string was causing all of this!" He scrabbled with his claws. The little saboteur had gotten knotted on quite tightly.

"Can I help?"

"No, I thiiink... Ha!" The fennec's eyes lit up in triumph. "Gotcha, sucker." He held up a long, thin, blue strand, like a hunter displaying his catch. "The loose end got into the connection and was causing rogue inputs. Whenever I took it off to check, it fell back out of sight!"

Justin chuckled. "So where's it from?"

Mikey rubbed it between his fingers. "Thin, like nylon. Probably one of my shirts. Or my jacket maybe."

"At least we found the culprit. The mystery is solved."

Mikey smiled. "And, you showed me how much of a true friend you are."

Justin was a bit flustered at that. "Really? I didn't do that much. I just held you steady. And of course I wouldn't tease you about anything I know you're sensitive about."

Mikey leaned over to retrieve his shorts. "Oh, it's not that," he said nonchalantly. "You came in here for coffee, didn't you? And you forgot all about it because you wanted to help me."

Doctor Foxworth was struck speechless. Impressed at being read so easily, embarrassed at being so predictable, but happy to realize that Mikey was entirely right about his priorities. "Um, thanks."

Though, now that he'd been reminded, his gaze drifted towards the coffeemaker. "So, did you need any more help reassembling yourself, or can I..." 

A chuckle. "Obligation fulfilled. I release you. Though if you want to be doubly helpful, bring me a cup too."

"In a jif!"


***


With the twitch gone from his leg, and there still being time to kill before the client arrived, Mikey suggested they head to Justin's room for some video games. This was met with enthusiastic agreement. So the next hour was spent pummeling each other into giblets. Pulling out spines, shattering ribs, geysering blood, all that jazz. Doctor Foxworth preferred his games as gleefully gory as possible. Mikey was not the best at such genres, preferring quiet puzzlers, but he knew his friend liked them, so he went along as a thank you. Despite being a novice, he was managing to not get completely trounced.

Time flies when you're having lacerations and contusions. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Sophia announced, "Doctor Foxworth, Mr. Waterbuck's Lincoln Continental has arrived."

The fox paused the game and hopped up. "Great!"

"Aw," Mikey whined. He'd actually been starting to get a feel for the controls.

Justin extended his paw in good sportsmanship. "We can always play again another time. I didn't think you liked Mortal Kombat."

Mikey stood up to shake Justin's hand. "I didn't realize either."

A grin. "I'm surprised you didn't choose Jax."

"Ha ha."

The pair got up to stretch and put their controllers away. After a moment though, "Doctor Foxworth..." Sophia sounded hesitant and cautious. "I know you're eager to get to work, but if you'll trust me for a moment, something is unexpected."

Two sets of canine ears perked up.

"Something bad?" Dr. Foxworth asked.

"Uncertain," Sophia replied.

The room went quiet for a moment.

Justin and Michael waited patiently for Sophia to continue, like huddling around a telephone receiver for someone to relay events.

She resumed after a few moments. "For starters, I was correct. The male canine in the tree that I had observed earlier appears to be Mr. Waterbuck's chauffeur. They're checking in with Miss Mikaela now."

A pause.

"They're taking the furthest seats away from her in the waiting room."

Another pause.

"They don't seem to realize that I can hear them."

Mikey blinked. "Was Roger right about them being industrial spies?"

"No, something quite different." Sophia eavesdropped a moment longer. "Doctor Foxworth, there is a change in plans."

"He's got cold feet?" Justin asked.

"No. Your actual client is a minor."

"WHAT!?" he yipped.


***


~Chapter Five~


Having the living space closest to reception was convenient. Dr. Foxworth and Mikey parted ways at the door, and the two-tailed scientist headed straight through the frosted glass doors to where three visitors were huddled.

The waiting area was pleasant and sunny, with more chairs than were ever really needed. Carly the receptionist rabbit was at her post, bringing up an intake form with one hand, checking social media on her mobile with the other, and blowing a gum bubble. She gave her boss a nod in the direction of the clients.

At the far end of the room, two foxes and a coyote conspired by the potted plants. When Dr. Foxworth entered, their ears pricked up. They looked startled and a bit guilty. The vulpines were dressed in clothes that definitely conveyed wealth, while the coyote could have been a hitchhiker they'd picked up. Jeans, boots, a silver chain on his belt, and a much-battered leather motorcycle jacket. The outfit matched well with his dark, cigarette-ash fur. He was also just as lean as his boss was round. Jackson Waterbuck Jr. was short and stout and probably couldn't lean over far enough to see his fine suede boots. His clothes were a riot of colored stripes and gold accents, clearly tailor-made, topped with a sterling white cowboy hat. And then there was the unexpected element: Jackson's 13 year old daughter.

Professional as always, Dr. Foxworth greeted them all with a bright smile. "Good morning! How was the drive over? Any problems?

Mr. Waterbuck popped out of his seat quite nimbly for a basketball-shaped fox. "None at all! Roads around here are a lot smoother than my be-hind anticipated. 'Bout the only hitch was, as soon as we got out t'car we got yelled at by your, eh, 'guard dog' over there."

He pointed to where Eve was perched on a chair directly across from them, eyeing the newcomers suspiciously. She 'rrrrr'ed and fluffed up her tail.

"Impressive set of lungs on her," the coyote added.

"Eve is a very good girl," Justin said proudly, and sent a smile across the room to her.

The little pokemon yapped happily.

"But let's get down to business. You are our client, aren't you..." and here he unexpectedly crouched and held out his paw to, "...Miss Ashleigh Louise Waterbuck?"

The two adult canines looked like they'd just got caught in jailbreak floodlights.

"Aw shiet," said Mr. Waterbuck.

The coyote faceplamed. "We're busted, chief. I'll go get the car heated up."

"You will do no such thing, Gibson!" Ashleigh commanded in her most proper, ladylike voice. She turned back to Dr. Foxworth and took his hand in hers for a courtly shake, meeting his eye contact fearlessly, and smirking like a chess player. "Yes, Mr. Foxworth, I am the client, not Daddy. Pretty smart of you to figure that out. How did you know?"

The vixen before him radiated confidence. But not like a spoiled brat. Rather, like a girl who was used to standing on even terms with adults. It helped that she was tall for her age. Willowy thin like a flower stem. She wore a pearly white knee-length dress, with a broad sun hat and blouse that matched her ocean-blue eyes.

Justin gave her an extra-big smile. She was pretty and bold, and would likely be an absolute joy to vivisect. "I can't take credit for that. My assistant did the detective work."

At that, Sophia spoke up, and switched the nearest TV screen to a transcription of her words. "Thank you, Doctor Foxworth. It was not difficult. You three sat directly beneath one of my sensor clusters and I could hear every word."

The coyote looked straight up, saw the recessed dome, and visibly gulped.

"I had noticed your presence before, Mr. Gibson. Outside the lab. You did admirably well at keeping hidden, but I have 132 megapixel security cameras at every corner, with multiple spectrums of vision."

He looked stricken. "I promise I didn't steal anything but a glance!"

Ashleigh giggled wickedly at seeing her bodyguard so twitchy.

"Accurate," Sophia confirmed. "That is why I did not alert the police or the staff. I assessed you as no threat."

At this, Ashleigh huffed and gave her coyote a squeeze. "He is TOO a threat! That's why we pay him," she said with a toothy smile.

Gibson looked utterly heartwarmed by her defense of him, and skritched behind her ear.

Sophia continued, "While you were not explicit in your whispered conversation, it was still easy to infer that you has been untruthful in your first conversation with us, and that if we expressed hesitance in accepting an underage client, you would bribe us."

Jackson turned an even deeper scarlet at such a blunt accusation. "Now look here, Miss Computer! That's- that's an awful rude way of putting it! I was simply prepared to, uh, offer a substantial investment into this here venture if the good doctor proved willing to bend a few rules."

From across the room, Carly spoke up, "Sure sounds like a bribe to me."

The fat fox sputtered a bit, but was glad to see that Dr. Foxworth wasn't angrily shooing him away.

"You didn't have to lie. You could have just told us your reasons upfront," Justin said.

Mr. Waterbuck scratched nervously under his hat brim. "Yeah, well, some people get touchy about letting kids decide for themselves what they want. And make no mistake; this is Ashleigh's decision! I'm just along for the ride."

Ashleigh folded her arms behind her back and nodded crisply. "Gibson found your advertisement on the dark web-"

"Was looking for bike parts, I swear," he muttered.

"-and gave it to me to crack the cipher. Smart stuff! When I realized what you're all about here, I was interested immediately!"

Jackson gave his daughter's shoulder a pat. "I can't keep this one out of trouble! Whatever's new and dangerous, she's into it. I'll admit I'm reluctant myself, but I might become more interested if Ashleigh gives your procedure her seal of approval. I'm no spring chicken, Mr. Foxworth, but if getting fileted will somehow improve my overall health, I'll consider it. And I wasn't lying about the substantial investment. If you can do what you say, I'd be plumb stupid not to get in on this while it's still small."

"Thank you for your generosity," Justin said. "Normally, for a week of on-call experimentation, we'd be paying you ten thousand."

Jackson made a 'pish tosh' gesture. "I'd be happy to waive that. Hell, I make that much every time I turn around 'n fart."

Ashleigh chortled. She tugged on Dr. Foxworth's sleeve. "So when do you cut me all up?" she chirped, tail wagging.

So eager! Justin's tails wagged too. "Right away if you like! Our main lab's all set up and ready for you. Oh, and, um, it's Doctor Foxworth, actually," he told them.

"My apologies," Ashleigh said with a bow. Her poppa also gave a nod of acknowledgment.

Eve hopped up from her seat and dashed over to stand at attention before the group. "FOLLOW!" she boomed. She swiveled stiffly and marched in the direction of the double doors.

Ashleigh giggled. Jackson shrugged and saluted. Gibson took the intake pad from Carly as be brought up the rear.


***


As the Waterbucks' faithful odd job man, Gibson had filled out his employers' information many times before, and was halfway done by the time they reached the main lab. When the doors 'WOOSH'ed open, the coyote let the foxes 'ooh' and 'ah' at all the shiny stuff. He continued scribbling and checkboxing with a clawtip till the form was done, then he dashed back to Carly to drop it off.

Meanwhile, Ashleigh was darting all around the room like she'd just bought it. Eyes bright, tail a blur, sniffing everywhere. She took off her hat and hung it on a heart monitor for an unobstructed view. "Everything's so shiny and clean! I expected it to smell like chemicals in here!"

"We filter the air in here. More nanotech," Justin explained as he tried to follow along behind her. "Comfort for our clients is a priority, and that includes the olfactory sense. We want the procedure to be as enjoyable as the results."

Ashleigh nodded. "Most hospitals smell like rubbing alcohol and old people pee."

The gleaming room had lots of open space to wander around, and Mr. Waterbuck did so. Hands tucked in his pockets, leaning far over to inspect devices as if he knew what they were. He was not very tech-savvy in how things worked, but he loved fiddling around with new and interesting gadgetry. If it hadn't been for a lucky break in the fast food industry, he might have gone into appliances. He squinted at something that looked like a normal 3D printer. "What's this doohickey, Doc?"

Justin pivoted to look. "Oh, that's just a normal 3D printer."

Jackson chuckled. "I see. Thought it might be some special sci-fi thingerydoo."

"It is slightly more special than normal," he acknowledged. "We looked for the fastest ones money can buy. Medicine requires lots of small, simple, one-time-use plastic implements: tongue depressors, clamps, the little cones that go on the end of otoscopes. Here we print them up on demand, then melt them back down for reuse. It cuts down on waste."

"Smart! Efficient! I like it!"

Ashleigh came over to ask about the two enormous floor-to-ceiling tubes nearby. "And what are these? They almost look like showers."

Justin rested his palm on the glass. "That's where the cloning takes place. With the patient suspended in sterile fluid, the nanobots build them whatever they need. From one single eyeball all the way up to practically a whole new body." He turned to the side, indicating a rectangular control panel with a large cylinder atop it. "And this is where the nanomachines are stored. These buttons let us tell them what to do, and then they do it."

Ashleigh realized that the cylinder was not solid metal after all, but filled up with silvery robot goo. "Cool! It's like a beehive. So, those are going in me? How?"

"Standard injection," Dr. Foxworth said. "Come over here and I'll show you." He placed a paw on her shoulder and guided her to the chair in the center of the room. He was glad to see that she clearly enjoyed the contact. She also hopped right up without an ounce of hesitation.

She grabbed the padded armrests and tried to make the chair spin. Nope. Too heavy. She pouted. But it was very comfortable otherwise, so that was okay. "Just a needle? Like a blood test? Aw. That's boring. I didn't know if you were going to, like, put a caulking gun up my butt and squirt them in? Or if I'd prefer that or not?"

Justin chuckled. "That would work, actually. The intestines are fairly permeable. But directly into the bloodstream is best. Gets them circulating all around quickly."

Ashleigh sat up tall, leaning in close to him. "And they can really do what the ad said? You can really take me apart like a toy? Even cut off my head? Really?" Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

Letting her see there was not a single trace of deception in his reply, he took her paws in his and met her gaze straight-on. "I promise they can. I won't be doing anything to you that I haven't already been through myself. Several times, actually. And my pets. And pretty much everyone else here."

She squeaked and wriggled in anticipation. "Cool! Let's do it!" She grinned vixenishly. "And maybe, if you do a super-good job, we can do the other kind of 'it' afterwards," she teased, tugging the hem of her skirt.

"Ashleigh Louise!!" Mr. Waterbuck shouted, flustered. "It ain't polite to just blurt things out like that to strangers!!"

She rolled her eyes. "DaddEEE!! He's got his WEENER sticking out! I don't think he minds!" She crossed her arms and looked to Dr. Foxworth in an 'Am I right?' kind of way.

The doc was startled, not sure what she meant. Then he noticed he could feel a bit more of a southernly breeze than normal. Looking down, he realized he'd forgotten to button back up after helping Mikey. 'That means I was exposing myself the whole time we were playing video games, and Mikey didn't say a word to warn me!' He made a mental note to prank the fennec in the near future for that. He was about to cover himself, but figured the cat was already out of the bag. He straightened up and tried to look as professional as a man could be with his todger on display. "Well, I... I wouldn't mind a chance to be intimate with you, Ashleigh. Though I didn't want to say anything in front of your father..."

The vixen's sly eyes had noticed a definite arousal aroma coming from the doc. "It'd make him a hypocrite if he objected," she purred.

Now BOTH foxes were flustered and stuttering.

Ashleigh cackled. She loved making guys get all fidgety and embarrassed! She started shimmying out of her blouse. "The patient has to get naked for a medical examination anyway, right? Maybe you and Daddy and Gibson could all spit roast me right here! That'd break the ice!"

Gibson had returned already and was standing quietly at the entrance. The front of his jeans agreed very much with this idea.

"Ummmmmm..." Dr. Foxworth bluescreened. Ashleigh's top was off and her slender young tummy and tiny pink nipples were looking right at him.

Mr. Waterbuck burst out laughing. "That's my little tiger lily!" He ruffled her hair and kissed between her ears. "Know just what you want and come right out and say it. Never a drop of fear in you is there?"

"Nope!" she said proudly.

Jackson knew his daughter was going to effortlessly take over his business someday, or become a full partner in a few years. He started undoing his belt buckle. "What d'ya say, doc? You up for it?"

Dr. Foxworth bit his lip. "Ashleigh is definitely a very captivating young vixen. But I'm not much for orgies. I'd really rather prefer performing the procedure privately." He blinked at accidentally alliterating.

Mr. Waterbuck stopped and began re-tightening his belt. "Aw. That's a shame. I thought maybe we could make an Eiffel tower and have a gentleman's handshake in our new business venture." He winked.

Gibson's tail drooped too. He never passed up a chance to spend time with Ashleigh, clothed or unclothed.

"Sorry to disappoint," Justin said. "But you're welcome to explore our facility. Not many places are off-limits to visitors. We have a sauna, and a cafeteria with the finest foods you've ever tasted. And I'm far from the only one who walks around here without pants."

Mr. Waterbuck looked intrigued. "Well allright then! I think that's a fair compromise." He clapped the other fox on the back. "I've got good instincts, Dr. Foxworth, and you seem on the level! A real straight-shooter! I'm going to leave my darling daughter in your capable hands. I'd say I want her back in one piece, but that'd kinda defeat the purpose of our visit, now wouldn't it?"

A grin. "I can guarantee you I'll keep all the pieces of her happy."

"Good, good. Just be sure that you do. She's got a bite like a rat trap if she gets displeased."

Ashleigh winked and flashed her pearly whites.

Jackson leaned in to nuzzle his daughter and tickle her sides. "You be a good girl now and don't tire the nice man out completely, y'hear?"

She wiggled and giggled. "I promise, Daddy!"

One more kiss for her, and a see-you-later handshake for the Doc. Then Mr. Waterbuck hiked his pants and walked over to his associate. "C'mon then, Mister Gibson. If there's grub or poontang in this place, we're bound to suss it out."

The coyote nodded, then turned to wave at Ashleigh. "Bye! Whistle if you need me!"

"I will!" She blew him a kiss.

The door 'WOOSH'ed closed, leaving the girl and doctor together in private.


***


~Chapter Six~


The sterile room was so quiet, one could hear the rustle of Ashleigh's tail tick-tock brushing the seat of the chair.

Dr. Foxworth turned and gave her a confident smile. He undid his lab coat buttons. "I don't think I need this anymore, do you? You've already had a sneak preview." He slipped his arms out and hung it by the door, walking over to the little vixen in nothing more than fur.

She looked him up and down. They were both slender built, with lighter fur on their tummy area. She bit back a giggle at the doctor's package; nowhere close to Daddy's plump sausage. Cute balls though. She hooked her thumbs in her skirt and panties, dragging them both down over her narrow hips. "I guess I don't need these either."

"Mind if I help?" Justin lifted up her ankles and unlaced her shoes. He popped one off and set it gently on the floor, then joined it with the next. Ashleigh passed her panties down to him. He guided her pretty socked paws through the holes, then folded the petite white garment and sat it beside where she'd discarded her blouse. Her skirt was next. Ashleigh closed her eyes and 'Mmmm'ed as the nice doctor ran his hands up and down her legs. "You're a very lovely young fox, Miss Ashleigh. Your fur reminds me of butterscotch candy."

She giggled. "Thanks! Dad says I'd look good drizzled across a scoop of vanilla ice cream." She wriggled in the chair, arms above her head, stretching her limbs out, getting comfortable. "Is there anything I need to do to get myself ready?"

Doctor Foxworth shook his head. "Not unless you want to close your eyes, in case you're afraid of needles." A syringe full of nanofluid was on the table to the right of the chair. He re-checked it and nodded. "Just 20 milliliters. That's all it takes."

"That's all? I was expecting you to pump a whole bunch in. Like, it'd replace all my blood?" She bravely bared her forearm for him. "And of course I'm not afraid of needles!" she said defiantly. "I'm not afraid of guns or crossbows or mountain climbing or skydiving either!"

"Congratulations!" he said, impressed. He rubbed her arm, looking for a vein beneath her downy fur. "One little poke..." he muttered. And just like that, it was done.

True to her word, Ashleigh did not flinch when the needle went in. She watched the fluid travel down into her arm. "How long does it take?"

Dr. Foxworth walked away only briefly, to toss the used syringe in the recycling melter. "Not more than thirty seconds. Most clients can feel the nanites doing their job. You might experience some flushing, tingling in your nerves, and easier breathing."

Ashleigh took some slow breaths to check that. To her amazement, after a few moments she did feel a change. "Wow... Kinda reminds me of like getting off an airplane. Out of the recirculated stuff into the fresh, y'know?"

Dr. Foxworth placed his palm on her tummy, petting it gently up and down. "Perks you up better than an energy drink, huh? Right now the little robots are getting to work, recycling the molecules in your bloodstream. Ripping apart carbon dioxide and water to recombine into oxygen and sugar, among other things. There's lots of other chemical processes. Basically, they're doing the jobs your heart, lungs, and other organs do, just more directly." He traced a line down her midsection. She wiggled in response. "So... just to be sure, how far are your limits?"

Ashleigh blanked for a moment. "I'm not sure? I mean, I came here knowing you were gonna gut me like a trout," she giggled, "and probly lop my head off?" She pondered a bit. "Maybe don't amputate my limbs? I wanna walk around afterwards and show off. Aside from that, do whatever! I like new experiences!"

He grinned and touched noses to her, then gave her a kiss. "Thanks so much for being so open. You can be my little blank canvas."

"Oooohh..." Ashleigh liked the idea of becoming art.

"The nanobots should be done by now."

Ashleigh looked down at herself. "They're quick! Daddy would approve of the efficiency."

"You shouldn't feel pain anymore. Let me know if this hurts." He took her hand in his and pinched the skin of her palm.

"Ouch! I mean..." She cocked her head in a canine way. "Huh. I said 'ouch' by reflex, but that didn't hurt at all! Like, I felt it? But it wasn't pain?" She watched him roll the skin back and forth, even piercing through! She stared in amazement. It felt like any normal touch that her body was completely okay with.

Justin drew a tear down the back of her hand with a clawtip. It didn't sting. "This is okay too?"

She nodded. Her eyes were glued to the little cut. She'd read the ad over and over, but now she was actually seeing what the nanites could do. It was really happening to her. She almost expected little robots with pincers to walk out of the cut and start doing robot stuff. Instead there was simply a small pink line, like a split seam on a stuffed animal.

Dr. Foxworth was very happy with her reaction. No instinctive revulsion or panic; just pure fascination at seeing her own body do something amazing. This girl was the perfect client. "Ready for your vivisection, dear?"

She startled, looking away from her paw at him. She shivered a little at that word (and missed that her cut began sealing back up soon after), but bravely sat up straight and bared her body to him, wanting to be good clay for her sculptor. "I'm ready."

He nodded. From the table beside her, he picked up a small, sharp scalpel. The overhead light glinted off its tiny curved blade. "Even without that injection, you'd still barely feel this next part. You won't find a better scalpel anywhere else. No matter how perfect an edge looks to the eye, there's always little micro-imperfections in the metal that snag and tear the skin. Our nanobots can be trained to patrol along a knife and hammer those out."

"That's really cool!" Ashleigh marveled.

He smiled and demonstrated on his finger. One flick of the wrist and it was severed almost in half!

She blinked in amazement. "Like anime ninjas!"

Dr. Foxworth chuckled, then waited a moment for his digit to heal. He brushed his palm down Ashleigh's front, over the curve of her sternum, the valley of her abdomen, the dip of her navel, just to the edge of her mons. He saw her shiver pleasantly.

He held the scalpel just above her flesh, between her young budding breasts. Letting her see it. Going slow so this wouldn't be a shock.

Ashleigh could see her eye reflected in the metal. She psyched herself up for this. 'It's not going to hurt. It's not. It's really not. Everything is okay.'

The blade lowered to part her fur and touch her skin. A reflexive twitch. Then Dr. Foxworth began his favorite cut. With barely any effort, the scalpel slipped in like a diver into a pond and began to paint a crimson line.

Ashleigh watched it travel. She no longer needed to breathe but was still holding her breath. Her eyes were wide. She could barely feel the scalpel. Just a pleasant pressure dividing her skin, unzipping her as easily as a jacket. She watched the doctor bisect her bellybutton, then draw in red all the way down to her vulva. She worried for a second he'd cut her clitty in half too, but he stopped just before it.

Dr. Foxworth felt his heart beating faster in excitement. Enjoying Ashleigh's amazement. Feeling her skin unfold as easily as flower petals.

"Now you just reach in and take everything out?" she asked breathlessly.

A small laugh. "Not yet. You have lots more layers beneath your epidermis. You're not a water balloon. Your body has plenty of defenses in the way to protect your vitals, like walls in a castle keep."

Ashleigh nodded, feeling like she should have known that already. She carefully sat up to watch the doctor go back over his cut again several times, deepening it until she could look inside and see yellow fat and bright pink muscle. "The nanites are keeping me from bleeding all over the place?" she guessed.

"Exactly right." He paused in parting her abdominal muscle to skritch behind her ear as a reward. She 'Arf!'ed. "By now they've spread all over, and are using the metals in your blood to replicate. They'll block off your blood vessels so your organs can be removed with a minimum of mess. Who wants arterial spray in their eye? Not me!"

Ashleigh giggled. She watched attentively as he pulled open the incision he'd made and used little clamps to hold it open. The clamps pinched a bit, but caused no more pain than the knife had. Ashleigh could see right inside herself now. "Wowww..." There were all her organs. All her body's mechanisms. Shiny with moisture and much more colorful than she'd imagined. Mostly reds and pinks, but also brown and blue and even green.

"If you have no complaints, let's get rid of these nasty intestines first, hm?" he asked.

"Sure. Okay." They looked like big curvy braids to her, or a mile-long hotdog. The doctor sunk his fingers in and began to carefully, methodically, cut away all the fat, blood vessels and tendons holding them in place. "I thought they'd just, kinda... come out. In school when we learned about the body, I got the impression all the guts just kinda floated around inside, in some kinda liquid."

"Everyone always forgets about the fascia..." Justin said with an eyeroll. His nimble fingers traced along the loops of pink, searching out connective tissue. "It's more like... Have you ever seen a dinosaur skeleton at a museum? The bones aren't just floating there. There's lots of wires and screws holding everything in place."

"I get it!" Ashleigh said happily. She'd expected this process to be exciting and sexy, but she was also learning about anatomy too! "I'm gonna really impress my biology teachers when I get to high school."

"Make sure to give me some credit," he kidded. Reaching deep, he cupped her rectum and clamped it off. Some careful knifework made a circle cut and it popped right off from her anus. He flinched as he began unraveling messy coils into the bio bin on the opposite side of the chair.

Ashleigh wrinkled her nose. "There's poop in there, huh?"

"Yes. I'm not a fan. There's all sorts of things I'd love to do to your beautiful vixen body, but if you wanted anilingus, I'd probably scream and toss you off my lap across the room!"

That got a guffaw out of her. She watched all of her intestines exiting. No pain at all, just kind of a vague, wobbling pressure in that area. When they were all gone, she had a perfect little hollow scooped out. She could see her muscles and a bit of bone. "What's next?"

"What chefs inexplicably call the sweetbreads," Doctor Foxworth replied. He sunk his paws in, squishing around. "That would be the pancreas. But I've also heard the term applied generally to other organs like the gallbladder, thymus, and kidneys. Here's your liver, by the way," he said, pushing a large maroon trapezoid to the front.

"Any onions in there with it?" she kidded.

"Can't see any!" He had to lift the liver out with both hands. She hadn't expected it to be so big!

She watched him dig here and there with his scalpel, removing more fascia as before, to extract various oddly-shaped pieces of her. The kidneys were easy to identify, being kidney-shaped. Other things just looked like blobs. "Oh! Is that my stomach?"

"Right again!"

She liked watching how careful his paws were as they circled the big red beanlike bag. Something about the slow, precise movement was almost hypnotizing. It also made her feel like she was getting pampered at a spa, seeing how he gave her insides the royal treatment.

She watched him lift her stomach up, out, and away. "Um, I had a thought," she said.

He placed her tummy in the bin. "Hm?"

"How come you're not talking into a tape recorder?"

The question confused him. His head tilted canineishly.

"Or, like, weighing my organs on a scale on a chain?"

He understood and chuckled. "I think you're thinking of an autopsy, dear!"

She felt a bit silly. "I guess so. That's the only time in movies I usually see guts coming out."

He nuzzled between her ears. "No need for me to do those things, Ashleigh. That's only for coroners. And you're very much alive!"

She giggled, proving him right. Another question struck her. "Hey! So what ARE you gonna do with all my guttywuts?"

Dr. Foxworth was cleaning up the remaining bits of fascia that held her digestive system in place. "Mulch for the landscaping," he replied.

Her ears flattened. That seemed anticlimactic.

He noticed them droop. "Although... If the idea isn't too much for you, I could also take them down to the cafeteria and see if Chef can make anything out of them."

Ashleigh perked right back up. "That's cool with me!" She pictured people nibbling on her gizzards, making lip-smacking noises, and gave a macabre chuckle. "Hope I'm tasty."

Dr. Foxworth had been meaning to gently ease that very idea into the conversation at some point, and was pleasantly surprised it had come up naturally. "Really? Would it be okay with you if I sampled a bit of you right now?"

All sorts of scary, exciting horror movie images flickered through Ashleigh's mind, like hungry werewolves nosing through a hapless victim's ribcage. "EAT me? Really? Um. Wow! Like, right now? Not even cooking me first? Isn't that cannibalism? Would it be illegal?"

He could see her interest in the idea even as her voice was quavering. Wagging tails don't lie. He smiled reassuringly. "It might be. But who'd tell? Are you going to call the cops and say an evil mad scientist is sampling your savories?"

"I guess not..." she said breathily. She got quiet then, looking to the doctor in anticipation of what he'd do next.

"Thank you so much for being so open and trusting, Ashleigh. I wanted to get some of the less-pleasant organs out of the way- literally- so we could both enjoy playing with some more... intimate parts." He drew her gaze down to the mostly-hollow cavity in her lower body. There were still some structures near the bottom. "Allow me to introduce your bladder and reproductive organs."

They were tucked comfortably in the center of her pelvis, like gifts in a Christmas stocking. "Awesome... They're so pink!"

The doctor's scalpel sought out a little oval orb. Somewhat yellow. No bigger than a cherry tomato. He separated it from the connective tissue and held it up to the light.

"It's like a little golden egg," she marveled.

"Very close! More like an egg full of eggs. It's an ovary." He let her stare a moment longer, then popped it into his muzzle like a grape.

Ashleigh was filled with tantalizing new feelings at seeing an actual part of her own body suddenly disappear. Crushed and chewed by a fellow fox's maw. And such an important part of her too! She had to know, "What's it taste like?" 

Dr. Foxworth carefully finished it off and licked his teeth clean of every last morsel. "Hard to think of anything to compare it with. There's the coppery taste of blood, obviously. Always present in raw meat. Beyond that, it's a spongy texture with almost I... I don't want to be cliche and say it tastes like chicken, but I can't think of anything else." His scalpel skillfully made a second cut. "You have another one. Would you like to try?"

For the first time, Ashleigh shrunk back. She waved her paws. "No thanks! I suppose it doesn't make a lot of sense, but actually eating my own self seems too freaky."

He nodded, respecting her limits. "As you wish." He ate it up too.

"I was going to say, I wouldn't mind maybe holding it. See what it feels like."

The ovary was already mashed to paste. Justin swallowed. "Sorry then. Though, how about something else?" He reached back in, navigating his fingers inside the hollow of her pelvis, and coaxed out a pretty pink blob.

A moment later, Ashleigh was cupping her hands to accept it.

"This is your uterus."

Her eyes were wide. It was surprisingly tiny, and didn't weigh much. Like a jiggly little plum. "My womb..." she said quietly. The place where babies grew. The source of life. She felt a profound tingle shiver up her spine. In that moment, she was completely overwhelmed by what an astonishing, complex machine her own body was.

Justin let her have her quiet moment (the next bit was likely to be a bit less serene). He smiled and enjoyed the sight of a cute filleted young fox, open like a book, admiring her own inner beauty.

He moved his paw slightly towards her, to ask if she was finished.

She reflexively drew back. "Um. I'm not sure I want this to just go in the trash. Could I keep it?"

"You certainly could. The nanites are keeping it alive just like the rest of your tissues. And their electrical charge lasts for approximately twenty years."

That idea squicked her a little. She pictured it pulsing on her nightstand, or whatever wombs did. "Yeah, but then what? I wouldn't want my closet or dresser or wherever I'd put it to stink like dead meat out of the blue in two decades. Could we preserve it instead? Not, like, floating in a jar? Or encased in a cube? Just, so I could hold onto it?"

Doc rolled that around in his mind. "...Mikey was saying something last week about using the nanites for taxidermy. Coating tissues inside and out with a sealant," he muttered. "Have you ever seen that traveling museum exhibit with the preserved cadavers?"

"Yeah! We actually went there on a field trip a coupla years ago. You could see all the nerves 'n blood vessels 'n stuff."

"Talk to Doctor Michael later. He's the fennec with the prosthetic arms and legs. In the meantime, it'll be safe on the table beside you."

Ashleigh nodded, satisfied. She set her womb down with the gentleness of handling a baby hamster. Then she noticed her paws had a bit of body goo on them. Eating herself was too weird, but she supposed getting just a taste was allright. She licked her digits clean. Quite nummy, actually. Maybe she'd order more raw dishes next time her family went out to eat.

"Now for your bladder, little miss. You know I'm not a fan of solid waste, but I actually don't mind pee. It's sterile after all, and less smelly." He reached deftly back inside and cupped the remaining bit of her excretory system. "There's kind of a fun way I like to empty it, if you're interested?"

Ashleigh got a glimmer of what he was planning and grinned. "Sure!"

He honked it like a clown nose.

Ashleigh was suddenly filled with the most incredible need to go to the bathroom she'd ever felt in her life. Like a bolt from the blue. There was no resisting the hydraulic urge, so she allowed herself to go with the flow. She blushed and hid giggles behind her paw as she shot a sparkling clear yellow line across her chair.

Doc was mindful to dodge out of the way and keep his fur clean. The chair was specially treated with hydrophobic rubber pads, so there was no worry in letting her soak it. He watched the stream arc from her pretty pussy. Watched the volume increase when he gave her bladder an extra squeeze. His cocktip poked out, as if to have a look too. (Also, as a doctor he couldn't help take note of its color and odor, noting that she displayed perfectly normal urinary health.)

She was peeing in front of a grownup! Totally embarrassing! And totally sexy! Ashleigh felt her cheeks get warm at how deliciously naughty this was.

Justin kneaded her bladder until the last trickles dripped out, leaving her vulva glistening with dew. He licked his lips. "Mind if I help clean up?"

"Ohmigod, go right ahead!!"

Ashleigh tossed back her head and nearly howled at feeling Doctor Foxworth's long canine tongue dart in and lash across her pussy lips. She clawed at the armrests. She shuddered. The whole situation had been pretty hot already, but she'd been too fascinated with appreciating her biology to focus on her horniness. The sudden cunnilingus was such a mood whiplash it was almost violent. But Ashleigh Louise Waterbuck was no stranger to "sudden" and "intense". Vocabulary failed her, so she grunted out feral sounds of, 'Keep going!'

Salty, meaty, savory and delectable! The vixen's rose was a perfect little lunch. Doctor Foxworth had administered to many female patients in his tenure. He knew quite a few good techniques. He straddled the chair to get in closer, using his thumbs to spread Ashleigh's thighs. His tongue circled slowwwwly around her clitoral hood. In and out of all the folds and crevices. Getting it sparkling clean.

Ashleigh was also no stranger to keeping her voice down even as waves of pleasure cascaded through her body. She and Gibson had been frisky in all sorts of highly-illegal public spots. So her muzzle was set in a howl, but she only allowed tiny, soft gasps to be audible. Her muscles fluttered. Her toes splayed. 'Best doctor's visit ever!!'

Dr. Foxworth slurped and caressed for several minutes. His tongue started getting a bit tired, but he felt duty-bound to bring this operation to completion. He parked his muzzle and stroked his hands up and down Ashleigh's sides, brushing his fingers along her small breasts. He nudged her clitoris with his nosepad, teasing it. He drilled his tongue in deep. He enjoyed every breathy gasp and muted whisper.

Finally, her voice cracked in a squeak like the chime of a bell. Her tail thrashed back and forth. She squoze the doctor's paws as tight as she could. She chewed her bottom lip and stifled her cry of orgasm to a grunted hiss.

Doctor Foxworth unclenched his shoulders and eased back, finally giving his tongue a rest. A dot of leftover pee landed on his nose. He lapped it off. 

Ashleigh was mumbling something indistinct in gratitude. She looked across to him, her smile glowing.

"You look absolutely angelic," he told her.

"...ohmyfuck that was good..." she exhaled.

His voice felt raspy. He called out, "Sophia? Could someone please bring me a coffee?"

"Trenta-sized cold brew mocha?" she asked.

He nodded. "As always." He looked to Ashleigh, still panting and rosy-cheeked. "Would you like something to drink too?"

A deep breath. "Just a water!" she told the voice in the ceiling.


***


~Chapter Seven~


After a brief intermission to wet their muzzles and settle down their amorous heartbeats, the pair of foxes were ready to complete the procedure.

Ashleigh's long pink tongue darted to the bottom of her cup for the last few drops. "Ahhhhh..." Without a stomach, the water just spouted out into her inner canyon. But that was okay. It felt nice and cool, and the nanites sucked some of it up to keep her tissues moistened. "So what's left?"

Justin set his tumbler down and shivered pleasantly as the chilly coffee sloshed in his system. He returned to Ashleigh's side and twirled a finger around in the emptiness of her abdominal cavity. "Not too much, little one. We open up the diaphragm and then it's heart, lungs, and head."

"About that..." she interjected, "I think I definitely wanna try getting chopped. But can we put it back on afterwards? I wanna walk around and show off afterward, of course. I don't want my head to go rolling off my shoulders? And then my body has to run around chasing it?"

"You watch too many cartoons," he teased. "I can easily reattach it after we have a little fun. Or the nanites can transmit nerve impulses wirelessly, like my beloved Vixy. You'd be able to pop it off and back on again as easily as tipping a hat."

Her tail wagged. "Yes! That!" She'd be like a drop-top convertible! "So is Vixy your wife?"

That tripped him up for a moment. "No! Uh, pet, actually. Like Eve. You met her in the lobby?"

That loud eevee; she remembered. "She a fox?"

Dr. Foxworth nodded.

"Reeeeal creative name," Ashleigh teased.

Dr. Foxworth narrowed his eyes at her. "Just for that, young lady, I'm going to send you to the guillotine!"

She giggled. "You were going to anyway!"

He crossed his arms melodramatically. "Yes, but now it will be a punishment for being a little smartmouth."

"Oh, I'm GOOD at that," Ashleigh proudly agreed. She wondered if he'd punish her even more if she kept teasing him. She hoped! "You also indicated you wanted to fuck me later. Are you sure you can? You're awfully little down there." She made a circle with her thumb and pointer finger. "Could you fuck this?" Her grin was enormous.

Justin blushed a little, but wasn't about to lose his cool to her provocations. "I could fuck your arteries," he suggested.

She cracked up. "Wait, seriously?"

"Potentially, yes. The aorta is about the width of my thumb. But personally, I prefer necks. If you'd let me, I'd really like to try out your esophagus."

She kept laughing for a second, then realized he wasn't kidding. Her paws reflexively went to her throat. "For real!? Like, after you cut my head off?"

He nodded, completely earnest. "It's my favorite hole! Just the right size, as you noticed. And very responsive. It can massage the shaft just by asking you to swallow."

Ashleigh's mind was abuzz. This was something she'd never tried before! Never even dreamed was possible! And one thing she loved above all else was an entirely new experience. "So, um, you'd decapitate me? Then I guess my head would be on the table nearby? And I'd get to watch while you stuck it in my throat hole?" The idea was so bonkers bizarre it was making her tingle already.

A gentle orange-furred paw coiled around her neck to gently stroke the fur there. "We could. Though, my first choice is to hold your pretty head in my paws and enter from that side. A reverse blowjob, you could call it."

That image exploded in her mind. Her cute noggin, cradled tight in his paws, being roughly screwed in the throat hole. She'd get to feel his cock grinding on her tongue! She tried to imagine how it'd feel to have his cocktip push past her front teeth and part her lips! "Holy shit, we are SO doing that!!"

His tail wagged in glee. "I just knew you were the perfect client, Ashleigh!" He leaned in and kissed her. "So adventurous," he spoke into her muzzle.

"That's what I'm best at," she whispered back.

He ended the kiss with a skritch behind her ears, which she 'arf!'ed cutely at.

"Cut it off right now!" she begged, eyes sparkling.

"Not just yet, darlingfox. Like I said, we still have to finish your evisceration." He traced a claw along the line of her sternum.

"Are you going to crack my ribs open?" she asked warily. That was something else she'd seen on TV.

"No need to." His paw dipped back inside her incision. "I can go in from below. Snip your diaphragm, then remove your heart and lungs that way. Though that will mean you won't be able to speak for a few moments. Not long," he reassured. "But once we cut through, it's like a balloon popping. The diaphragm makes an airtight seal, so once that's broken, your lungs automatically deflate. And then you can't push air out to vibrate your vocal chords. Not until I place an implant in there that will allow you to."

That all made sense to her, mechanically. "What if I took in a really deep breath and held it?"

He chuckled at her eagerness for a challenge. "You can try and see what happens."

"Then I will!" Ashleigh psyched herself up. She took a few breaths while Doctor Foxworth retrieved his scalpel. "Go for it!"

She watched the gleaming silver descend inside her. She took a final super-huge inhale and clamped down on it with all her might. She tried to keep calm. The nanites continued to prevent her from pain, but she did feel the tickly scraping of the blade moving around down there. She hadn't needed to breathe for a while now, but had been doing so by default without thinking much about it. Now she found inhaling perplexingly easy (not realizing that the diaphragm is aided in pushing on the lungs by the presence of the organs beneath it). Ashleigh felt as full as a basketball.

Then Doc's incision let air past her diaphragm and the pressure in her chest very drastically changed. It was such a bizarre sensation, she reflexively gasped ...and felt half her air escape immediately! She pursed her lips to retain the rest. 'Dammit! I didn't even get to say anything with that!'

Dr. Foxworth tried not to grin too much at the adorable determination on Ashleigh's face. His scalpel went swiftly, efficiently around the interior of her ribcage, having separated the muscle from the major veins and arteries first.

The little vixen fidgeted and tried to keep hold of her remaining puff of air.

"There we go." Dr. Foxworth held up her complete diaphragm in both hands to show it off.

Ashleigh had a thought, and figured it was as good as anything for her last words. "It looks like a bigass ham umbrella!!" She reflexively tried to draw in more breath to laugh at that, then blinked in surprise at how weird it felt to be completely unable to. Her nerves were sending the impulses down, but there was nothing there to respond with. She'd already known vaguely what the diaphragm did, but cartoons always showed lungs pumping in and out on their own.

Dr. Foxworth set the disc of muscle in the bin. "I should have said this beforehand, but just so we can communicate until I get the implant in: one finger for yes, two for no. And wave your hands to get my attention if something's wrong. Allright?"

Ashleigh nodded. Then remembered, and held up a finger.

"Excellent. I'm going to remove your lungs now. Soon you'll be all empty and smooth inside, like a freshly-cleaned room."

She smiled at that image, remembering her bedroom when they'd first moved into the mansion. She laid back and closed her eyes, concentrating on the tactile sensations of the nice doctor leaning in close and reaching far up inside her. She blushed at his legfur rustling hers. She imagined how it would feel with him laying on top of her in bed. He didn't look like he weighed as much as Gibson. Certainly not as much as Daddy! When Daddy was on top, it was almost a breathplay session.

Doctor Foxworth diligently separated the six blood vessels connected to the lungs. Then he reached in so deeply he could have twanged Ashleigh's uvula. He severed the trachea close to where he expected the guillotine would soon make its cut. Then Ashleigh's lungs and esophagus joined the other organs in the bin. He patted her paw for being so brave and agreeable.

"One last organ. A very important one. You were sweet enough to let me try a piece of you a while ago. Would you be allright with letting me have another taste? I know lunch is coming up, and normally I'd choose Chef's food over anything, but the experience of biting into a living heart is a rare treat."

Right away, Ashleigh held up one finger. 'How romantic!' she mouthed.

"Thank you so much, Ashleigh." Doc grinned at her, baring his teeth, reminding her that they were indeed descended from wild canines. He decided to show off his skill. He dipped in close and kept eye contact with her while his knife hand went to work. The heart was normally anchored solid as a rock, but he'd already cleared away much of the fascia while tending to her lungs.

The doctor's eyes were calm and reassuring as he held her gaze. She could feel one hand steadying himself on the seat, wrist tucked against her side, while the other fluttered around inside of her. It was so strange to experience such intense emotion, yet not feel her heartbeat pounding! Ashleigh figured the nanites had sealed it off or something, since one thing she for-sure knew the movies didn't lie about was that the heart could go on thumping for quite a while even after being removed.

The pericardium was tricky. It wrapped around the heart like a protective jacket. Removing it by touch was like peeling a kiwifruit blindfolded. But his fingers knew the way. In moments, just like a magic trick, Dr. Foxworth pulled back his arm and presented a beautiful red ruby. It looked just like some kind of ripe tropical fruit.

Ashleigh reached out, wanting to touch it before he ate it all up.

He placed it into her quivering paws.

Nothing else had awed her as much as this. Her very own heart! And it was surprisingly heavy! Full of her lifeblood. A sloshy little purse. Not pink like a valentine, but a deep, rich red. Brick or burgundy. With a stripe of lighter-colored fat around it and lots of tubes at the top. 'I am holding my own heart. Right in my hands,' she told herself, barely believing it. She knew she'd remember today forever.

Dr. Foxworth let her take her time appreciating it.

When she passed the glistening scarlet jewel back to him, he waited to make sure she was watching. Then he flashed his teeth and sunk them in. An incredible burst of coppery umami flavor hit his tongue! The juices rolled down his chin like a peach.

Ashleigh watched, horrified, fascinated, bewildered, amazed, and horny. Her ticker! He was eating it! Really eating it! It gushed crimson as he bit deep, staining his pristine white fur. The scent hit her nose and her instincts kicked into overdrive. There was plenty of wild nonev fox in Ashleigh's soul too. And foxes are hardwired with impulses of both predator and prey. She shivered in fear, but also salivated at the delicious aroma, and nibbled her bottom lip in lust. 'I'm made of meat. Just like any wild rabbit or deer. I'm food, just like anything else living. And I'm watching him EAT me!' The word "overwhelming" barely covered it.

The heart is made of strong dense muscle over a framework of cartilage, so it is not an easy thing to eat raw. Not to mention that, when enough blood had spilled out of it to allow the pumping motion again, it began throbbing in Justin's grip, still as alive as everything else the nanites had infused. So he lapped up a feast of nummy blood and as many bites as his jaw could stand to chew. Then he sat the rest on the table and placed a cloth over it. Maybe Chef could make it into stew for him later.

He licked his chops and let out a long, satisfied murr. "A gourmet treat, Ashleigh! Thank you again!" He gave her a quick nose nuzzle, then stood back up. "Give me a moment to clean up, then we'll get to the final act!"

She couldn't wait! While Dr. Foxworth went over to the sink, Ashleigh sat up and looked down into herself. Empty as a glove. No breath, no heartbeat. And yet she still felt better than fine. 'I can't hardly convince myself I'm really seeing this...' She guessed it wouldn't be dangerous to explore herself a little. One paw held her incision open while the other poked slowly inside, hesitant like a wary traveler entering an abandoned house. That was apt, because her interior was just as empty. And just as spooky! A chill went up Ashleigh's spine when her paw traced along it from the inside! She could feel the backside of her ribs. Doc had cleaned her out just like a Thanksgiving turkey! Ashleigh felt a flush of yiffiness at the sudden mental image of herself de-furred, golden brown, and crouching on a serving platter. Blissfully letting Daddy and Mommy and Gibson devour her... She thought that was probably beyond the nanites' capabilities. But it couldn't hurt to ask once she got her voice back!

A click in the ceiling snagged her attention. Her triangle ears pivoted.

She looked up to see a large silver rectangle descending slowly. Nearly silent. She could just barely perceive the thrum of electric motors.

Gliding down to meet her was the most technologically-advanced guillotine she'd ever seen.

It was all metal. Austere angles. Well-oiled hinges. Reflections swimming across it as it unfolded towards the floor. The whole thing was so slender, it didn't seem like it would hold her weight. 'One of those new carbon supermetals?' she wondered. Or just some impressive engineering she didn't yet understand? Regardless, it was forebodingly beautiful. She almost wanted one for her room.

The faint sound of sliding metal was capped off by several pleasant synchronous 'click's as everything locked into place. There was now a perfect silver guillotine mere feet in front of her. Past the supports, Ashleigh could see a thin padded plank folding out. That's where she'd be lying down, waiting for the slice.

Doc hadn't given her the okay yet, but Ashleigh could not resist getting up from the chair to take a look. He would've warned her if there was any danger in moving around too soon, right? Her pawpads touched the cold floor. She lifted her leg... then wobbled and swiftly grabbed the chair! Losing so much weight all at once had really fucked with her center of gravity! Being hollow would take some getting used to. Luckily, the guillotine was close enough that she was able to take hold of it for stability after a few hurried steps.

Doctor Foxworth had gotten all the mess out of his fur moments ago, and was now just standing by, hands behind his back, watching his young guest be entranced by the elegant execution toy before her. She shook the supports, nodding when they held steady. She prodded the padding and found it comfy enough. Inspected the lunette: more than enough room to accommodate her slender neck. Then she touched one finger to the perfectly polished surgical steel blade. Every bit as sharp as the lab's scalpels. Her tail frizzed up and she shuddered.

"You can lie down whenever you like."

She jumped and swiveled at the sound of his voice.

He chuckled at her response.

She was flustered for a moment, then composed herself, stamped her foot, and silently said something extremely naughty to him.

He'd actually learned how to read lips in college, but managed to keep a poker face.

Ashleigh lifted her leg over the guillotine bench, lowered herself and sat down. Same rubbery feel as the medical chair. The neckrest was padded for comfort too. The young vix tried to take a deep breath to steady herself, but that was impossible. She was about to turn and lie prone, but the blade was still down, blocking the lunette. She drew a question mark in the air towards the doctor.

"Whoops, my mistake! Sophia, could you raise the blade please?" His laptop controlled it remotely, but this way he could get close to Ashleigh and give her a hug.

"Certainly, Doctor Foxworth," the AI assistant replied.

Ashleigh watched the rhomboid levitate towards the ceiling.

Doc could feel the tension in her shoulders and kneaded them in a soothing massage. He spoke softly into her ear. "Nothing at all to worry about, little one. I've been in this device myself. Several times, actually. It's lots of fun. And, thanks to our friendly little machines, perfectly safe. You should meet Anabelle later: she's just a head all the time. We have a coyote on our staff also named Ashley. She and Stacey spend their whole lives decapitated too."

Ashleigh reached up to hold one of his paws. She smiled to let him know she appreciated the reassurance. Risk was fun, but a new thrill was always scary the first time. Facing that fear, and jumping past it, was a big part of the exhilaration.

When the blade slotted into place at the top of its groove, Ashleigh stared at it for a few more moments, then bravely scooted herself into position to lie down. The sharp steel was now aimed directly at her throat. She settled her head onto the padded cushion. She stretched out her neck, making herself a good target.

Doctor Foxworth stroked along the sides of her head, skritching through her fur as he positioned it for the perfect cut. His fingers combed her hair through the hole and out of the way.

Ashleigh glanced downward. Then she looked up at Dr. Foxworth and mimed a head-falling-off gesture, another question mark, and cupped her hands.

"If you're asking why there's no wicker basket below, don't worry. I'll be there. I won't let you bonk on the floor."

Her lips formed, 'Good to hear!'

Ashleigh relaxed herself, got into a comfortable position on the plank, and looked up towards the blade. No way she was gonna chicken out and close her eyes!

"Ready for the countdown?" he asked. Just as promised, he crouched beside her head with his paws outstretched.

Ashleigh gulped, then held up one finger.

"Three..."

She clutched her frizzy tailtip in both paws for comfort.

"Two..."

The blade looked like a flawless shard of mirror, looming above her.

"One..."

She could feel sweat beading on her forehead, trickling down her temples towards the floor.

Doctor Foxworth enjoyed making her squirm. Her body was twitching in fear, but her eyes were wide and sparkling with excitement. This was a girl who loved racing headlong at new challenges, as if life was a demolition derby. It was wonderful to share this moment with her.

"Sophia, release!"

The blade and Ashleigh were both totally mute as one plummeted like a giant arrowhead towards helpless flesh, and the other let out a voiceless scream of carnival thrillride terror.

Adrenaline made time slow. Ashleigh felt the air pressure on her throatfur change just before the blade plunged through, as effortless as a diver into a pool. No pain, but an electric jolt of sensation. The metal separated meat, nerves, and tendons. Everything below the cut went numb and dark like flicking a switch. Then gravity yanked hard on her headfur, tumbling her backwards. The room spun around and...

"Gotcha!"

Warm, gentle hands caught her with grace and ease. Ashleigh felt rattled and dizzy and overwhelmed and elated.

'I did it! It cut my head right off!!' She could flick her ears and swallow, but not much else. And she couldn't see much at the moment besides the ceiling and the underside of Doctor Foxworth's muzzle. Her body was all gone. She felt helpless, and strangely comforted, at being just a little round head in the doctor's safe, strong paws.

He gave her a kiss on the bridge of her nose. "You are totally adorable like this, Ashleigh. And very sexy," he told her.

She giggled silently. Meeting his gaze, she gave a frisky look over to the guillotine: 'I wanna see!'

Even though he'd been planning to give her the speech implant first, that message came through loud and clear. "Heh. I should have guessed curiosity would be your number one priority." He walked around to the side of the guillotine and held her up for a good view.

Lying on the bench was a serene and motionless vixen cub, sans cranium. Still as a corpse, yet also conveying life. No gushing of blood to spoil the scene. The young fox looked like an art exhibit.

Ashleigh had never seen herself from this angle. 'I look hot,' she had to admit. In a very weird way though, considering her neck stump, and her abdomen looking like an open duffel bag. But this view gave her a new appreciation for herself. Petite feet, fluffy tail, small breasts. Slender sides and long legs. When she was littler, she'd hated being a beanpole because the other kids would tease her. But her height also gave her poise and dignity, and made adults more likely to speak to her as an equal. So she soon grew more self-assured. Right now, she wanted to give her body a great big hug. But of course, lacked any limbs to do so.

"Pretty as a picture," Doc said to her, and nuzzled her cheek. "How about we give you back your voice?"

Ashleigh had just enough neck to bend and accomplish a nodding motion.

"Right over here." He carried her across the lab, to the counter beside the nanofluid tanks. He slid his laptop aside to make room, then placed Ashleigh down with the reverence of a crystal ball.

She shivered. The countertop was COLD! And it made for a discombobulating perspective. She was looking at things from about two feet lower than normal. The doc had opened a clear case that looked a bit like a socket wrench set. Inside were lots of little metal circles and unknown medical doodads. She tried to inch closer for a better view.

Justin had done this enough times he didn't need to measure. He knew at a glance what size implant would fit snugly in Ashleigh's trachea. "This is like a little turbine fan. It draws in air when your nerves send the impulse to exhale. Then you can speak. Let's just get it slotted in..."

Wanting to be polite and cooperative, Ashleigh tried to tip herself over so he'd have access to her neck. Wiggling wasn't enough, but she got the clever idea to open her mouth wide and use her lower jaw as a lever. This worked a little too well. She toppled backwards and nearly rolled off the counter!

"Whoops!" Doctor Foxworth caught her again. "Thanks for the assist, but you can really just relax and let me take over."

Her cheeks flushed at her slipup.

Doc lifted her up and held her upside-down, inspecting her holes. (He briefly pictured a bowling ball.) The main blood vessels were visible: carotid, vertebral, jugulars, etc., as well as a perfect cross-section of her fifth cervical vertebra. He usually preferred to aim right between C4 and C5, but Ashleigh had a dash of giraffe in her, it seemed.

Ashleigh was looking up at the floor. She'd been upside down plenty of times, but this still felt pretty darn fuckynuts. 

Doc talked softly to Ashleigh as he inserted the implant. "Hard to say exactly why I like necks so much. There's the taboo, of course. It's not a hole any society on the planet condones intercourse with. But more than that... there's just something exciting about seeing something no one else ever has. Places even more secret than your private parts. Not even you've seen the inside your own neck before. I get to be the first." His cock twitched.

While she didn't share his kink, she could wrap her brain around it. His thumb pads stroking along her neckmeat. Her fur curling around to tickle the skin where the guillotine had sheared through. Who else in history had ever felt these things? Knowing how special and rare this experience was, that did add to the pleasure. And it was always fun (in a mildly sadistic way) to look at her sheltered and overprotected puffball classmates and know she'd lived things they could never even dream of.

In fact, she knew just what she wanted to ask first when he finished with the implant.

It was a simple installation. The device activated automatically as soon as the nanites said howdy to it. "There we go." Doctor Foxworth rotated Ashleigh around to face him. "Try it out."

Ashleigh could feel something present there, but it wasn't making her gag. It was comfortable enough. She thought she could forget it was there after a while. She tried inhaling, and was quite pleased when there was no gap between the desire and the fans' activation. "Testing? Testing? Oh SWEET! It works!!"

"Never a doubt that it would," Justin said with confidence.

Right away, she asked, "So okay, I'm not looking to be permanently detachable, right? Definitely the full week though! But afterwards, is there any way I can keep a scar?" She gave him a big toothy grin. "Not like a huge big gnarly pirate-type one. Just a little white line. Just enough to feel it under my fur. I wanna be able to rub it in class and get horny!"

Once again he was startled by her boldness. "Uh... Gosh. Yeah, I guess? Normally the nanites do a seamless repair job, but I suppose I could improvise something. Maybe have them reattach everything but the outer epidermis, and leave that to heal naturally?"

An excited nod. "Yeah! I could wear a bandage and a cool ribbon around it! Like in that horror story!"

"I know exactly which one you mean! Sounds like a plan." He set her back down on the counter to get the implant kit closed up and put away.

"Yeek!" she yipped. "Can you put me someplace warmer!?"

He latched the case quickly and snatched her up from the cold marble. "Sorry about that! Raw muscle is sensitive." Then he thought a bit more about what she'd just said. An evil little grin wiggled onto his muzzle. "Warmer, huh?"

He held her out and angled her down, pointed directly at his crotch.

"Does that look like a nice warm place to set you down, do you think?"

Ashleigh gulped. She was looking straight down at the doctor's erect cock, complete with fluffy sheath and foxy balls. Clean fur and red, needy meat. She'd faced thicker monsters before, but still felt a moment of thrilling intimidation at how this one was pointed directly at her like a hunter's arrow. Her mouth watered a little. "Yeah... Th-that looks like a comfy place to sit..."

Doctor Foxworth had been aching for this moment. Bedside manner always took priority over self-gratification, but now it was finally time to indulge in his favorite depravity. He turned Ashleigh muzzle-up and got a good grip under her cheekbones. Her fluffy hair tickled against his stomach.

Ashleigh couldn't see anything behind her. She was totally at his mercy. In that moment, she realized that being bodiless was like the ultimate form of bondage play.

His cock was twitching like a puppy on a leash, ready to be let out to play. Justin drew his glans back and forth across her exposed neckmeat in an X pattern. Teasing his skin with her fur. Feeling the exposed muscle tensing where it was touched.

Ashleigh reflexively gasped when a hot, pointy intruder touched the rim of her cleaved esophagus. Gibson had helped her train away her gag reflex by practicing on a dildo, but the only time she'd ever felt something entering her throat from the opposite direction was when she was throwing up! Not a pleasant comparison! She ordered her brain to relax and let it happen. She couldn't tell if the nanites were helping, but it did seem easier than expected.

Doc had an inch inside, and kept it steady so Ashleigh could get used to it. The esophagus was like a plush, yielding glove of soft rubber. When Ashleigh's little yips and vocalizations went from alarmed to accepting, he pushed in farther. In a little, then back out. Nice and slow.

Soon enough her esophagus gave up being confused and just let the visitor in to stay. Ashleigh curled her tongue, wondering when it'd poke through enough to taste it. She suddenly wondered whether he was gonna knot her! She'd be stuck on him all day! 'Okay, no, that's an exaggeration. It wouldn't be ALL day! But a while though, yeah. I'd be dangling out in front like his belt buckle. Like a piece of jewelry. A cockring!' That thought was so naughty and subby her cheeks got warm. Would he walk around with her stuck to him? Bobbing around on his crotch where everyone could see?

Dr. Foxworth wasn't thinking about anything but the present moment. He was wrapped up in paradise. Warm, tight throat constricted his cock. Squishy, slick comfort. He skritched his clawtips under Ashleigh's jaw, thanking her for this. He closed his eyes and focused everything on touch. Time to hit the limit.

Ashleigh felt a lurch and descended. 'This is it!!'

The time for waiting was over. He needed to pierce all the way through. Up her throat. Gently past the v-shaped ridges of her glottis. They gripped him like two massaging rollers. He shuddered in pleasure, but was still mindful enough to angle himself into her mouth and not her sinuses. That could be very unpleasant (though Linda perplexingly enjoyed it).

The dick in her neck entered her mouth, pushing past her tonsils and back molars. Ashleigh's uvula panicked, as was its job, but she commanded it to shut up and be cool. Then his glans entered and pushed against her tongue. Finally, a taste test! Skin, sweat, musk, and a hint of pee that was always present at the start of a blowjob. 'Not bad!'

God, he could feel the tiny little nubs of her taste buds!! Justin tipped back his head and arched his back. His knot wasn't at full bloom yet. He wanted to hilt her at least once before there was a risk that he wouldn't be able to disengage.

A shiver rippled through Ashleigh's nerves when the fur of his sheath tickled her neckmeat. 'He's all the way in!' She pictured herself spitted like a pig at a luau.

Careful now. He enjoyed the exquisite sensation of sheathing his full length inside her, then eased off just enough. His knot was getting pretty eager already. It wasn't a very big one, but this was her first neckfuck, and he wanted it to be an easy introduction. He cupped one hand around her neck, supporting her jaw, and brought the other up behind her head to stroke soothingly between her ears.

Mmmmm, that was nice. Pleasure of two varieties at once. Ashleigh reciprocated by serpentining her thin, acrobatic tongue around his cocktip.

"Ffffuck that's good!" he barked. "Don't stop! But also, every now and then, could you... swallow?"

Like a good girl, she did.

"OHHHHHNGH!!!" he yelped. Her esophagus clenched around him. Peristalsis muscles kneaded his shaft all the way to the base; treating his dick like a morsel to be sent to the stomach. "Ag-gain?" he requested.

She obliged. It felt pretty good for her too. Each gulp emphasized the thickness of his meat. She wished she could have apologized for making fun of it earlier. Small was good in this case. He slotted quite snugly inside her. Then she blushed again as she imagined herself as his condom.

Dr. Foxworth started to reflexively thrust his hips, then opened his eyes and realized he probably shouldn't have been doing that. He was barefoot on a tile floor. If he got too lost in the moment, he could slip. That would be bad in a LOT of ways. He might fall on top of her and break something. Or several somethings. Or grab for the counter and thwack her poor snoot against the cabinets. "I think it's safer for us to do this sitting down," he said, breath hitching.

Ashleigh was enjoying herself and didn't mind a little risk of pain, but still acknowledged that was a good idea. 'If he drops me, I might go rolling out the door, down the hall and out into the parking lot!' She giggled, and the vibrations made him hunch over and moan.

"Yes. Sit," he hissed. He readjusted his hold on her; mindful of her safety first and foremost. His fingertips met beneath her lower jaw. Cupping her protectively to his crotch, he took small, short, measured steps across the room, back towards the examination chair.

"Wheee!" she managed to articulate with a penis on her tongue. "D'yuh 'hink y' cuhd bawanfe me ah' y'r ewectiom?"

"No, I am not going to balance you on my erection," he scolded her, but also laughed. "Heads are dense. You weigh as much as a decent-sized cantaloupe."

"Don' wa'a bweak ya weewer," she teased.

"That can happen!" he said with a cringe. "We evolved away from baculums, but the blood-engorged corpus cavernosum can get rigid enough to snap and tear. As a doctor, I've seen it. Especially if a partner on top gets too wild. It's all fun and games, then CRUNCH!"

Ashleigh bit her lip. She knew that would likely be traumatic and painful beyond imagination. But it was also pretty effin' hilarious.

Doc made it to the chair in the center of the room. He swung his leg around the footrest and snaked his tail out of the way. He got settled in, exhaling his tension away. "Better. Let's not tempt fate. I don't think you could injure my penis, but I don't want you to fall and hurt yourself either."

"F'hanks!"

He preferred to stand while enjoying a neck, but lying down was the next best thing. He kept Ashleigh stabilized with one paw while he reached back with the other to angle the chair. The Skytron Hercules was a damn good model, though it had an abundance of buttons and it was easy to press the wrong one. 

Ashleigh looked over and saw her body on the chopping block. Just chillin'. She wished she could command it to come over and join the fun.

To her absolute alarm, it started to!

"WUH VHE FUGG!?"

The headless fox sat up and attempted to stand. Since it couldn't see, its legs got tangled on the plank and it nearly toppled over. It then tried again to stand up.

Slowly, Ashleigh realized she was the one making it move. She stared, bug-eyed. She willed her arm to wave to her, and it did.

Doc looked up. "Oh! Did I not tell you about that?"

'About WHAT!?' she nearly yelped. But her neurons suddenly fired and her brain puzzled several things together all at once. The doc had said his pet fox was detachable. And that the nanites could talk to each other wirelessly. 'That must be what's happening now! It just must've taken them a while to warm up.' She'd felt total numbness when her head came off. Since then, she'd had a lot to distract her from the slow return of her background bodily sensations. Just as she could be lying in bed, reading a good book, and forget that her feet and tail existed.

Her throat had gotten so tense it gripped his cock. Then Doc felt it ease as Ashleigh figured everything out. He patted her headfur. "Yup. It's just like all the nerves are still attached. No different from a satellite sending signals to your phone."

'Okay, this is gonna be a fun challenge!!' Ashleigh gawked and tried to operate her domeless self from five feet away, in a mirrored perspective from what she was used to. She raised her right leg, almost fell, but shot out both arms to hug the closest support beam. 'Don't be a dumbass, me! LEFT leg!' Concentrating, she lifted the correct leg this time, and slowly, slowly, rotated it up and over the bench. Her body was now standing free of the guillotine. "I gid igt!!" she shouted.

"Good girl!" Dr. Foxworth praised her. He decided that while she figured out her body, he'd go back to getting the damn chair reclined.

Ashleigh completely stopped noticing she was impaled on a penis. This was like the coolest remote control toy ever! Herself! She splayed her fingers and ran her hands all up and down her body, astonished that she could feel everything just like normal. She tugged on her tail and pinched a nipple. She squeezed her pussy and shivered. 'Okay, come here now!'

Justin tried finding the buttons by touch again, before giving up and just lifting the box into view. "Aha!" The chair's back lowered and the foot-part came up. Nearly soundless.

Daddy would have given that a gold star, Ashleigh thought. 'A clanky workplace keeps everyone irritated. Hurts productivity,' he'd told her once. Thankfully the change in altitude didn't impair her line of sight to her body.

Justin sighed as he finally got comfy. He stretched his legs. Cock still hard as rebar. Ashleigh was perched atop his crotch like a mountaineer at the summit. He fuzzled her cheekfur. "Sorry for that interruption. Thanks for putting up with me."

She laughed. "Ish fun!"

It was also fun for him, seeing her delight at maneuvering her body like a marionette. It was a happy accident he'd forgotten to explain this beforehand. She was loving the surprise of finding it out for herself. He watched her splay her arms out wide like a tightrope artist, taking wobbly, tentative steps on the tile.

If the change in perspective wasn't disorienting enough, she also hadn't gotten used to the change in weight and center of gravity that came with having her giblets evicted. When her body was close enough, Ashleigh risked bending over to make a grab for the footrest. Success! Both paws clutched the squishy padding, and she pulled herself along, hand over hand. Finally she was able to cup her cheeks in her paws and lean in to show off what the guillotine had done. The little vixen felt the strangest wave of emotion. She thought she could suddenly understand the doc's neck kink a lot better. There was definitely something electrifyingly taboo about seeing her sliced meat, exposed spine, and round little blood vessels. All of it just as clean and bloodless as those bodies in the museum. She realized she could make herself reach up and touch it. Gawd, that was weird!! Her fingerpads gliding over bare muscle and bone! She explored her throat and trachea a bit. 'Like a pair of jelly socks!'

Dr. Foxworth whined. "Ashleeeeigh, I think I should let you know, this is getting me painfully aroused right now!"

Oh right! He'd been fucking her a moment ago! 'Still is, actually!' she thought, and playfully nibbled the cock in her mouth.

"Can we get back to business?" he pleaded.

She could hear the neediness in his voice. It made him get all high-pitched! She giggled. Then she remembered their code and held up one finger.

"Good. Thanks. Yes. I'm about to burst here." He tipped his head back and got a firm grip on hers. Slowly, he bucked his hips. He had enough experience, and wrist strength, to hold her more-or-less in place and thrust up into her without throttling her around.

Ashleigh felt him resume his pace, and was reminded of a mechanical bull; feeling it grind to life underneath her thighs. She wanted to be accommodating and give good head. She kept still in his clutch, closing her eyes against the glare of the ceiling lights. She remembered what he'd asked for before and swallowed on his cock.

"Mmmmm! Yes!" That felt amazing! Like a lubed hand in a latex glove giving him a lengthy squeeze. 'Nothing better than a neck...' Having Ashleigh's adorable noggin perched in his palms gave him perfect control. No bulky body to get in the way. No arms to get tired from leaning on. No tail to accidentally roll over onto. And with each swallow, Ashleigh's saliva kept things wet and gliding.

She was starting to get into it too. Ashleigh Waterbuck was tops at being a power bottom. She enjoyed manipulating her lovers' pleasure. She timed her swallows carefully, coinciding with the doctor's thrusts. Her tongue hugged his glans, nuzzled at his slit, and lashed back and forth across his urethral bulge. Sometimes her back teeth gave him gentle, teasing chews. That made him stiffen up and bark! She grinned at all the different ways she could make him react.

Dr. Foxworth had gone beyond words. His teeth were bared and gritted. Breathy, wild grunts escaped from the back of his throat. His ankles and shoulders dug hard into the padding, wrinkling the rubber. His tails were like whips. His thumbs massaged behind Ashleigh's temples, showing gratitude for all she was doing to add to the experience. (He couldn't help mentally contrasting her with other heads he'd enjoyed. Eve was always eager to please. Ashley would talk with her mouth full. Linda was different every time. And Andre was a bit like sticking it in a piranha.)

Clever as a fox, Ashleigh thought of something else she could do. First she took hold of the chair and made her body kneel, not wanting to get distracted and have it fall over like a sack of potatoes. With her left paw, she rubbed slowly along Doc's leg. Sometimes she reached up to brush her paw over his as it held her in place. And since she had a free hand, down it went for some fancy fingerwork. Her clit was plump as a cranberry. 'Mmmmyeah...' The alarming thought struck her out of the blue, of what masturbating might feel like if Doc chopped her vulva in half! 'Right down the middle!' Her fingers sped up their strumming.

Justin wrapped his hand around hers, pressing it gently against the side of her face so they could both feel their connection. He softly squoze her delicate, tapered paw. He could reach over just enough on the other side to play with her velvety ears.

Since it was her throat plugged with cock and not her mouth, Ashleigh was free to use her lips. Doc's cock didn't stay in one spot long enough to give it an inverse kiss, but she could experiment with opening and closing her mouth. She could change the air inside from hot and humid, or let a cool breeze slip in.

"Y-yes! Please, more!" he gasped. He'd tried experimenting once with an ice cube, and the cold was much too intense to be any fun. But this was just right!

She formed an 'o' with her lips and made it bigger and smaller, undulating like a jellyfish. She tried flaring just the corners of her mouth. Then breathing in and out to see if that changed how it felt for him. From his groaning, it totally did! She smiled proudly. 'I've got him wrapped around my little finger!'

"G-getting clo-ose!" he warned. He was racing towards his climax like a runaway firetruck, but still made sure she was tipped back and angled properly to avoid splooshing the wrong hole. If she swallowed his load, it'd just get all over his balls. Messy, but much better than having it accidentally sneeze out of her nose.

Ashleigh's finger swirled in her cunny. She was unhurried with her self-pleasure. She'd already cum once today, and right now she was more concerned with thanking the nice foxdoc for cutting her up so sweetly.

As he held her tight, Justin traced along the edge of her neck with his pinky. He remembered the blade coming down. Making the cut. Envisioned the pink cross-section he'd made. Taking her apart like a mechanic. Turning her parts into toys. Thinking of her dazzling smile as she eagerly let him manipulate her flesh like a clockmaker disassembling a pocketwatch. "Such a g-good g-girl," he praised her.

Ashleigh knew guys were easy to read when they were just about to spoo. They'd breathe real loud, then suddenly hold it in and their whole body would go stiff like a bowstring. When he finally did cum, Doc didn't holler like Daddy sometimes did. More of a moaning exhale.

Doc's mind went white as he detonated.

And then Ashleigh was treated to one of the coolest things she'd ever seen. With her mouth open, Dr. Foxworth's cum shot straight past her lips like a rocket takeoff! Three pearly spurts! None came close to hitting the ceiling, but the first one launched far enough to clear the footrest! She felt pretty damn proud of that!

Doc let go of the rigidity in his muscles. His legs and tail drooped down past the sides of the chair. 'That was a POWERFUL one...' He needed a moment to catch his breath. He couldn't thank Ashleigh in words, but his paws lovingly ruffled her headfur.

She beamed. She'd reduced him to goo! And had a lot of fun in the process! If she was going to spend the upcoming week being detachable, she definitely wanted to try this again. She already had more ideas for next time. Maybe she and Gibson could try ring toss! Maybe she could make Daddy bellow so loud that security guards would show up!

Justin eventually realized he'd successfully kept his knot from getting stuck in the little vix's neck. The weight of her head resting on its flare was a knockout mix of pain and pleasure. His cock kept twitching like a metronome, letting out dribbles of cream.

Ashleigh reviewed its flavor. Kinda sharp. A little more bleach-y than Gibson's. Not watery. B+

Meanwhile, Sophia was acknowledging her employer's prone position and current heartrate. "Will you be needing another coffee, Doctor Foxworth?" she asked.

He was about to reflexively say yes, then reconsidered. "Actually, maybe a Gatorade. I may have dehydrated myself."

Ashleigh grinned devilishly. She was the master of dude-milking! 'I wonder if one day I can make a guy cum so hard his heart stops?'

Groaning, Justin propped himself up to a sitting position. He'd strained his back a bit. He lifted Ashleigh off his lap and gave her a long, slow, grateful kiss.

She 'Mmmmm'ed happily. "Ya liked that?" she teased.

A chuckle. "Yes. Yes. Absolutely yes. You were great. I'd keep you in a beaker in my room next to my bed if I could," he teased right back.

She snickered and gnashed her teeth playfully. "Nah, I like traveling too much. I'd bite off your dongus and escape."

"I'd better return you to your body then. Though... could that wait for a bit? I'm too worn out for another round right now, but would you mind if I just, put you back on? Rest you there for a while?"

"Sure! Go ahead. I'm not in a hurry. Being bodiless is so new! I wanna savor it."

He nodded, brushed her bangs aside, and gave her another kiss on the forehead. He splayed himself out on the padding again and repositioned her over his semi-chub. He slid back in easy, wincing a bit at the post-orgasm sensitivity. Having it nestled back inside that wonderful neck was like slipping into a relaxing hot bath. Immensely satisfying. He turned Ashleigh around to face him this time. He stroked gently back and forth across her muzzle, feeling her whiskertips bounce and tickle his belly.

They spent a few drowsy, placid minutes together like that. Eventually the door opened and footsteps came near.

For the second time that day, Mikey found his boss naked with his dick in a head. "Typical."

Dr. Foxworth outstretched his arm. "Thank you again. You are indispensable to this organization."

A chuckle. Mikey handed him the bottle of neon-red liquid. "It's a break from listening to Andre mutter threats of violence to raw materials."

Ashleigh looked up at him. "Good afternoon, sir!" she said politely.

He nodded respectfully to her. "Good afternoon. If I worked anywhere else, having a severed cub's head say hello to me might seem weird."

She remembered from earlier. "Hey! Are you Doctor Michael? Doctor Foxycock here said I should talk to you about my womb!"

That did make the fennec's eyebrows go up.


***


~Chapter Eight~


After a workout like that, Justin's mind and body were both completely drained. Pleasantly so.

However, he did have just enough energy left to kiss Ashleigh all over and help her plonk her head back on.

That made moving around much easier. Though she still needed to take Mikey by the hand as he led her out of the lab so they could discuss taxidermy. Ashleigh turned back and waved just before exiting. "Bye, Foxdoc! I'm looking forward to a long and productive collaboration with you!" she innuendo'd.

"I'm looking forward to resting a while. Have fun, little vix!"

As soon as the doors swooshed shut, he practically collapsed into the chair padding.

He winced. "Sophia, dim the lights about 50%, please." She did, and he nodded thanks.

That helped. Justin sat up and inspected his fur for fluids. He swiveled around and stood up, taking a few shaky steps. "That girl hit me like a truck. She'll go far in life," he muttered with a fond chuckle.

After cum patrol, he stood by the sink and blanked out for a while. Staring vacantly at the cupboards and tile. His eyes drifted to his laptop.

'Work. Yes. I should do some actual work today. Convince myself I'm earning my paycheck.' He paused. 'Not that establishing relationships with new clients isn't work. But it's fun. I'd do it all day if I could. It doesn't pay the bills though. I should do something that needs doing...' "Hmmm." 'But what can I do that I won't screw up? I'm still groggy.' "Note to self: More coffee." 'So, something necessary, but low-key. And quiet. Definitely quiet.'

He walked back to his Gatorade. After a few swallows, his post-nut brain finally cobbled together an idea. 'I can run sims! That's easy enough!' He looked across the room to his laptop. 'Probably not enough number crunching power... I could go to the computer room and link it up to the main machine.' He shook his head. 'No. That would NOT be quiet. The cooling fans sound like cruise ship propellers. And Ashley will likely be there.' Ashley was an absolute sweetheart, but she was the opposite of quiet.

He smacked his forehead. "No! Think! Why did we replace that big brick with Sophia in the first place?" He called out to her. "Sophia, can you route some simulations from my laptop to the main computer and have it do the heavywork of running evolutionary permutations?"

"I am absolutely capable of doing that, Doctor Foxworth," she replied, sounding a little puzzled that he'd even need to ask.

He rolled his eyes. "My apologies. I meant, WILL you please do that for me, so I don't have to go down there and plug in manually?"

A very brief pause, that might have been out of embarrassment. "...Yes, Doctor Foxworth."

"You're the best, Sophia."

He retrieved his laptop and clapped it shut. He was about to sit back down in the lab chair, when he looked around at the large, spartan space and thought, if he was routing the work anyway, why not just go back to his own room and be cozy? He nodded decisively. 'That sounds like a good balance of everything. Work and relaxation, focus and comfort.'

Dr. Foxworth reset the lab chair to its previous configuration. He instructed the guillotine to glide back up into the ceiling, and the cloning printers to begin whipping up a new batch of innards for Ashleigh. He gave a scan around, making sure nothing else was out of place. Didn't seem to be. 'And if I missed anything, Tony will be doing his janitorial rounds after we're all asleep.'

He had one foot out the door before he realized, 'I SHOULD PUT MY CLOTHES BACK ON.'

Instantly back inside.

It wouldn't have been a huge kerfuffle if he'd moseyed about naked, but he was already embarrassed enough about having a brainfart like that without having someone else on the staff notice first (and alert him via giggles and pointing). Mikey had already seen him post-coitus twice today; that was plenty. 

'There!' Back in his sparkling white lab coat, looking pristine and professional. He didn't need to tell Sophia where he was going; her sensors would know. Just a quick walk down the hall to his quarters and he could start getting some work done.

...after a quick detour to the cafeteria for more coffee. Of course.

Because of this decision, he made it to the drink dispensers just in time to be in earshot when Ashleigh looked up from her lunch and saw her father entering the room.

The little foxette jumped up from her seat and went sprinting right over. Still wobbly, so she crashed into several tables along the way.

Mr. Waterbuck was back at the cafeteria for a snack after inspecting the facilities. Even if he didn't know what he was looking at, whenever he was in a new place he liked to stroll around, squinting at things and nodding authoritatively. Roger had given him a full lab tour. They'd ended up at the armory and spent most of their time there, ogling the hardware and talking about Guy Stuff.

Now here came his darling daughter. Naked as a jaybird, which was not at all uncommon, but with a cavernous gash in her front! Emptied out like a steer carcass!

She stopped in front of him and held her sides open like a trenchcoat flasher. "Daddy, look! I'm a PURSE!!" she said with tail-wagging glee.

"SWEET JESUS!!!" yelped Mr. Waterbuck.


***

With trenta-sized mug in hand, Dr. Foxworth escaped from the loud exclamations coming from the cafeteria and made it to his room. Nothing else happened along the way besides a brief hello to Luna; out and about in her anthro form.

His quarters were a blessed reprieve. Calm and orderly. Vixy was curled up on the bed like an adorable fur donut, snoozing. He couldn't spot Eve. Maybe she was off somewhere scouting for intruders.

"Sophia, turn on noise cancellation." Even better. Footsteps in the hallway vanished. The ventilation's exhale became a whisper.

His eyes darted to the bed, but he knew if he let himself settle down there he'd be in napland before too long. Instead he perched on the couch. He opened his laptop on the glass table in front of him.

Justin slurped his coffee and delved into the software.

And so began the longest chunk of his day. The simulations applied the closest approximation of real-world conditions to a model nanite, or a swarm of them. When Justin came up with a 'What if?', Sophia would send the scenario to the lab's hulking central processor and it would run thousands or millions of tests, collecting data on each and graphing the results. 

Unlike Sophia, the lab's original main machine was an unsentient calculator, capable only of executing commands. So, while it did the bulk of the work, it was up to Dr. Foxworth to come up with questions to feed it. The nanobots were his beloved creation, but for the sake of their progression, he had to get as sadistic as possible in dreaming up ways to torture them to death. How much stomach acid would damage them? Were they truly immune to oxidization? What about a lightning strike? What about deep ocean water pressure? Some of these ideas were cartoonishly unlikely to ever happen in real life. But the point was to know the limits. Then those limits could be compensated for, or pushed past, in the next iteration. It was also very useful to know what the nanites could survive that the mortal body couldn't. In a catastrophe, his machines could hopefully keep a fatally-wounded furson conscious long enough to send a help signal, administer first aid, or in the worst case scenario, protect vital systems from decay long enough for a rescue team to perform a successful resuscitation. Several of his clients, friends, and even Eve, had come to him in conditions that most would have considered fatal.

After an hour or so, the silence had gotten loud enough to be distracting. Vixy's barely-audible snores were now loud as a vacuum cleaner. The hum of the laptop was the buzz of a hive. Justin asked Sophia to put on some music instead. His usual modern alternative rock station was just the right background noise. He smirked at how counterintuitive it was that sometimes you had to add a distraction to keep focus. It seemed that if the brain wasn't given something else to fiddle with while trying to pay attention to a job, it'd find one anyway.

More simulations. How long can a furson function if they've forgotten to charge their nanites? How much of their original body needs to be present to compensate for nanite loss of function? How long can someone stay conscious if loss of power renders them immobile and the remaining functional nanites are forced to cluster together in the brain? How much of a factor is body type? Species? Age? Obesity? Amputation? Can a furson have too MANY nanites in them? Will the little robos 'bump into each other' if there's an overabundant concentration? Justin knew that literally everything had a scale between 'too little' and 'too much'. Finding those zones was critical. Clients could be warned about them beforehand, or the nanites themselves could sound the alarm. Preventing a disaster was always better than cleaning one up. 'And, better that a few billion sims die in horrifying, ghastly ways than one live furson.' (He was struck with the random absurd image of the digital people he massacred in these tests, and in his favorite video games, all getting together in some Tron world to complain about him behind his back.)

Time passed. Quite a lot. When one mug was empty, Sophia had Carly ferry him another one. Doctor Foxworth's eyes stayed glued to his screen. Due to his own hyper-focus, and snacking on Ashleigh earlier, he completely forgot about lunch.

Vixy got up at one point, rubbed against her master's legs, and wandered off to her den outside by the north wall, to sleep even more. Justin's mind barely registered her. He reached down to pet where she had been twenty seconds ago.

The lab computer could graph data, but it was only so good at recognizing patterns. There was a certain ineffable instinct the organic mind possessed that could make connections no logical machine would consider. Little gut hunches that were ridiculous, impossible, unscientific ...but still worth checking out, just to be sure. And as the nanites' inventor, Dr. Foxworth had an especially-intimate understanding of their construction. He'd learned to trust when his eyes scanned columns of numbers, and everything SEEMED to add up, but his feelings insisted they didn't. Sometimes it was baseless worry. Other times, his subconscious had spotted an incongruity between Point A, point K, and point V, that his conscious mind had walked right past.

He was just starting to jot down ideas for testing the effect that different diets might have on long-term environmental impact in the bloodstream when his door opened abruptly.

His head jerked up from the laptop at the sudden sound. He expected it to be Vixy or Eve returning, as normally they were the only ones with unrestricted access. So he was befuddled when, after a few moments of seeing nothing but an empty doorframe, Maria entered instead.

She came toddling in on her webbed otter feet. "I'm SO sorry for bothering you, Doctor! Especially in your private bedroom! I didn't see you at lunch, and then I tried to wait to talk to you in the lab, or in the hall, but then, well..."

Dr. Foxworth forgot his sims entirely. He stood up, instantly concerned. "Maria, are you feeling allright?" he asked, knowing damn well the answer already.

"I'm fine," she said reflexively. "I mean, no, not really. But it's not all that bad. I just-"

She was visibly struggling just to cross the room towards him. Moving like someone whose feet had fallen asleep. 'Or whose ALS returned unexpectedly. She must have been using the wall as a crutch all the way here. No wonder Sophia let her in without any announcement!' These thoughts flashed through his head in less than a second. He was already heading over to help her.

She jerked her arm away from his reach. "I can do it myself! I'm just a little unsteady is all!"

Justin held up his hands, knowing full well that Maria could get very defensive when her symptoms got bad. Modesty and dignity were important to her. So when her condition robbed her of motor control, she'd stubbornly hold on to what little she had left for as long as she could. Still, he followed directly behind, tensed to catch her if she fell.

Like Ashley, Maria was feral: the shape of a nonev but the mind of a fully-sapient woman. Her body was that of a normal river otter, with chocolatey-brown fur. She stood about thigh-height to most people in the lab, and was only a smidge taller than the side of Dr. Foxworth's couch. Which she determinedly wobbled her way towards, using her tail like a tripod several times.

As her body had gone almost completely numb, she misjudged her attempt to sit down neatly and instead collapsed against the cushions. Anthro as her mind was, she did squeak and chirp like a nonev otter when she was happy, or in this case, flustered and annoyed.

Justin sat down beside her, and this time didn't take no for an answer in helping her get settled in properly.

She huffed and puffed in irritation, but did shoot him a quick, thankful glance. She fussily smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress. Unlike others in the lab, Maria always wore clothing. Today's outfit was a sapphire blue dress with printed bluebonnets. She preferred floral print whenever possible. "I can't say I'm sorry enough for barging in on you like this. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything important-"

Dr. Foxworth held up a paw to cut her off. "There is nothing more important to me than taking care of my patients. I'm guessing your symptoms came back earlier than expected?"

She folded her paws in her lap. "I guess I didn't hide it very well."

"No," Dr. Foxworth agreed bluntly, but with an understanding smile. "Sophia, why did you open my door without asking for my authorization first?"

The AI assistant deciphered his tone: this was not a reprimand, but a request for plainly-stated specifics. "Patient Maria Rose was displaying advanced symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. I judged her condition to be serious enough to default to your prior instruction that authorization is unneeded in emergency situations."

Maria's head sunk lower towards her lap. "Even the computer could tell..."

Dr. Foxworth took her paw in his for a comforting squeeze (and a surreptitious pulse check). "I keep telling you, you don't need to be embarrassed about this. You're not bothering me."

She shut her eyes tightly. "It's just so FRUSTRATING that we have to keep doing this! It's ridiculous! I'm barely into my thirties and this damned disease has me hobbling around like I'm ninety! It's a vicious joke. Your machines are so miraculous, and yet the disease keeps getting the upper hand!"

Quietly but firmly, he reminded her, "You're still alive."

She took a deep breath, tamping her anger down. "Yes. I know. Don't ever think I'm not grateful. Still..." She looked to her side. "I can't even feel you holding my hand right now. That's just... wrong."

He nodded. "Nature's not perfect. So it's up to us to make things better," he said brightly, trying to coax a smile out of her.

A little one did peek through, briefly. "I sometimes try to cheer myself up by believing God gave me extra years for being good to others. Karma. I'd like to believe so, at least. But then my sour side asks, 'then why'd he give you ALS in the first place?' But... maybe that makes sense too. Maybe I was born broken so that you can fix me. And, through what we'll learn from that, maybe someone else, someday, won't need to be."

"That's a very pretty thought, Maria."

"Thank you, Doctor," she said, blushing at his compliment. "Anyway, yes, you were right. I tried denying it, but my symptoms invited themselves over without warning. I didn't want it to be true. You saw me heading to the sauna this morning? I told myself, 'I'm just tingling all over because I'm cold. Yes, that's it'." She sighed bitterly at what a foolish lie that had been. "It's much sooner than normal this time. I was worried that... maybe this might mean a permanent change. What if my bodies start deteriorating faster than you can clone new ones?"

He could see that the idea had its claws set deep in her. Her golden-colored eyes were huge with worry. "Stop. We can't establish a pattern from just one incident. And I've already told you, sometimes fluctuations happen. Biology is messy and random and unpredictable. Remember a few months ago when you went four weeks without symptoms and thought you were spontaneously cured?"

She did remember, and chuckled bashfully. "Heh."

He gave her a cocky grin. "Your worries aren't anywhere near as good at diagnosing you as I am," he said with bravado.

This got a wider smile, which he was glad to see.

"So let's get to it."

She nodded. Knowing the procedure, she sat up as straight as she could and stretched her neck. His gentle paws cupped around her throat. Above the line of separation she could perfectly feel his fur intermingling with her own. Below, there was nothing but a faraway, jittery tingle. It was always unsettling, that split in her sensations.

With practiced ease, Doctor Foxworth popped off her head. He inspected the body-side view of her spine. A layman might not have noticed anything out of the ordinary, but he knew exactly what to look for, and there it was. The spinal cord inside her vertebrae was shriveled and stiff. Which meant the nerves radiating out from it had become demyelinated. They had lost their protective coating, becoming raw and damaged. Maria was lucky she had the "tame" variant of ALS that shut down her peripheral nerves first. The more vicious version would have stolen her life before she was out of her twenties. Unfortunately, she was also saddled with a rare mutation that targeted her sensory nerves as well as her motor neurons, hence the numbness.

There was no cure. The disease was in her DNA, and neither he nor the nanites could change that. He simply had to clone her a new body every few weeks. Nothing he could do made them last any longer. Her head wasn't immune; he'd had to manually reroute all its 'wiring' via nanites. With all the different nerve types in and around a furson's cranium, and all the different signals they carried, it had been an utterly exhausting task. It kept his nanites working constantly right at the edge of their capacity. Maria's head was like an overclocked PC. Doing the same for her body wasn't currently possible. Constant replacement was the next best option. Even if she hadn't been proficient in the field of security data, and thus a big help to Sophia, Dr. Foxworth would have let her stay indefinitely at the lab. She relied on him to keep her alive; he kept her under observation as an ongoing experiment. 'A living example of the extreme condition sims I was just running,' he realized.

Doc plopped her noggin back onto her neck for the time being. "This body won't even last till tomorrow, I'm sorry to say. And, bad timing on top of bad timing: the cloning printers are currently busy with Ashleigh's organs, just in case she changes her mind and wants to leave early."

Maria looked horrified. "Ashley's leaving us!? Why would she do that!?" She could spend hours with her coyote colleague speaking the same language when it came to computers.

Justin winced and laughed. "No! Sorry! ASHLEIGH, not Ashley. Our latest client. I gave her the ol' unzip earlier this afternoon."

"Oh! Don't scare me like that!" She wanted to playfully bite Dr. Foxworth, but her body was currently not so hot at leaning over without slumping.

Justin steered them back on-topic. "So, yeah. Unfortunately, since I wasn't expecting to make another you for a few more days, and because we have a new client-"

"You don't have a new body for me ready!?" she squeaked. She envisioned herself as an immobile paperweight, stuck at the bar with Anabelle. Then she remembered, "Wait. This means I'm spiderbound for a while, right?"

"Looks like it," he agreed.

Before their cloning solution, Dr. Foxworth had tried her on a series of robot bodies. The one that offered her the greatest freedom of movement was a multi-legged platform that resembled a crab or spider. It wasn't elegant, but it worked. And sometimes it was fun to scuttle up behind people and say 'BOO!'

Maria huffed. "I wouldn't mind it so much, but it runs out of power so quickly. I'm scared of getting stranded."

"Sophia would spot you and let someone know," he reassured her. "And I'm working on the power issue. But there's the weight of your head to carry, the processing unit, eight limbs to articulate, etcetera. And if the battery's any bigger, the weight will just drain it faster." He had an odd thought. "...Maybe I could have an auxiliary pack dangling along behind it on a rollerskate?"

"It's still where it was before? On the charging station in the main lab?" she asked.

He nodded absently.

She started hoisting herself up off the couch. "Then I'll just-"

"You will not!!" Justin said with alarm once he realized what she intended. "You barely made it two doors down! I am not going to let you drag yourself all the way down the hall to the lab!"

She narrowed her eyes and frizzed up her whiskers, yet also looked a bit relieved he'd stopped her. "I could have. I just don't want to feel like a burden on you."

"You're not!" he said again, trying to reassure her while also feeling exasperated. He stood up. "Look, I've been sitting here for hours and my legs are all cramped up. I could use the stretch. And thankfully, you're easy to carry." Anticipating her protest, he reached down and scooped her up.

She looked away, turning scarlet. "Doctor! You don't really have to..."

"But I've decided I'm going to, and that's final. Sophia, can you get the door for me? My arms are full of otter."

"Certainly, Doctor Foxworth."

Even though her body was on full blackout, Maria felt something on a much deeper level at being cradled so safely in his arms.


***


~Chapter Nine~


Back in the lab, Justin laid Maria down gently on the counter beside the charging station. He placed his paws beneath her chin and again detached her head. He couldn't prevent a bit of arousal whenever he did this, though, to be respectful to her, he didn't let it show.

"Like changing a lightbulb?" she joked.

"Almost. Except we keep the bulb and swap the socket." He aligned her with the connecting ports on the spiderbody and slid her down.

Two little clicks and she was in control. It had been a while, so she took a moment to wiggle each leg and clamp the claws. 'Nothing like a real body,' she thought. She couldn't feel anything with it, and wasn't entirely controlling it either. A tiny computer processed how and where to move. It felt like she was riding on top of an RC car and her brainstem could send it directions. She 'stood up' and disengaged herself from the charger.

"Everything still works okay?" Dr. Foxworth asked.

The claws didn't move as smoothly as her hands, but they did make the motions she asked them to. "Close enough."

"Good. Didn't want this to let you down too."

She smiled at him for that.

"Can you get down from there okay?"

"I'll try." She told the spiderbody she wanted to get off the counter. Its sensors calculated the distance to the edge, the distance to the floor, and the frictionlessness of the marble countertop. It then darted forward and made a flealike hop. It kept Maria perfectly level the whole time, and landed with an impact precisely calculated for minimum jarring, but was still a bit terrifying nonetheless.

"Like riding a bicycle?" Justin asked.

"More like a headless horse," Maria said shakily.

While the otter got her bearings, Dr. Foxworth lifted her body from the counter. He sighed, muttering under his breath, "Another one for the incinerator..."

He hadn't meant to be overheard, but she still caught the irritation in his voice. "I'm sorry if you'd rather... do science to them, or whatever you're planning."

"What I'm planning-" he started to say, before realizing it would be awkward to have a conversation while holding her cadaver. He set it down on the reclining chair for the moment. "-is to find a way to recycle them, so the cloning printers don't have to make a whole new body from scratch every time."

"Oh." She looked chagrined. "That does make more sense than what I thought you'd be doing with them." She blinked. "Actually, I'm not sure WHAT I thought you'd be doing with them. Maybe sending them down to the cafeteria to have Chef-" She gagged and could not finish the thought.

Dr. Foxworth chuckled, contrasting her with Ashleigh. "Nothing like that," he assured her. "I know we discussed this a while ago, but it sounds like we didn't really make our reasons clear to each other. To be honest, I always assumed you wanted your excess bodies cremated because it was a Lutheran thing."

She was happily surprised he'd correctly remembered her faith. "No, the church believes the mortal flesh is unimportant when you're finished with it. I just... It sounds childish to say it out loud, but I wanted to know they were destroyed so I wouldn't have to worry about... gross things happening to them."

He blushed. "I can absolutely promise you, neither me nor anyone else would ever have sex with any part of you without your permission."

Now she blushed too. "I wasn't even thinking of that!! Oh, ick! I just meant either eating them or doing mad science experiments! Putting electricity in them to make them hop, or whatever."

"Okay. Whew! I'm glad to hear you thought more of me than that!"

She squinted sideways at him. "I'm perfectly aware you and most of the rest of the loonies do lewd things on the regular. I try not to begrudge it. Everyone's always been polite to me around here. Never had anyone not take 'no' for an answer."

"I wouldn't tolerate that kind of environment," he said without hesitation. "You're right that I allow a lot of proclivities. I'd be a hypocrite not to. I think letting things like that be free and open actually helps keep away predatory behavior."

She couldn't argue with that. Even with seeing random penises every other day, this was the breeziest workplace she'd ever been in. But this topic was making her fidgety and fluttery, so she changed it to one slightly less quease-inducing. "Getting back to my bodies... I suppose I can deal with the thought of you 'recycling' them. I can't deny it would benefit me. And, from a clinical perspective, I can see how just burning them up would seem wasteful to you."

"I appreciate you reconsidering. But you don't have to if it really does make you uncomfortable. Like I said, I'm not there yet. I can't just put them in the cloning slurry. Every cell would need to have their nucleus torn open and the chromosomes stripped to prevent DNA cross-contamination. And the nanites can't work THAT small yet." He chewed his lip in mild irritation. "...If I knew more about CRISPR I could engineer a bacterial swarm to denature the corpses, no sweat."

That thought squicked her pretty intensely. Still, she tried to keep professional. "Um, ever think of hiring a geneticist on the staff?"

"I could," he admitted, "I'd just rather learn how to do it myself." A shrug and a grin.

"Same impulse that makes little boys buy chemistry sets and model kits," she mused.

He did not disagree. "Would you be allright with me doing some light experimentation on them from now on? You know I usually give them a very brief postmortem look-see to document your condition. But I could also be doing so much more."

She arched an eyebrow.

"I promise: nothing Frankenstein. Just basic tests to determine possible methods of reusing tissue. Or maybe even rebuilding it if I happen to stumble onto something new."

She debated with herself for a moment longer, then nodded. "On the condition that I don't have to see any of it, and you don't tell me anything about it. Then okay. Unless there's a breakthrough, naturally."

"Cross my heart," he promised.

"And one more thing!" She brought the spiderbody closer so she could give his ankle a poke for emphasis. "Only one at a time! I can barely bring myself to say it, but nothing makes my skin crawl more than the thought of you stockpiling my old bodies in the morgue! Piles of them! All headless and-" she shuddered. "I've had nightmares about that. About them all waking up and coming to FIND me..."

Justin immediately picked her up so they could share eye contact. "I understand. I don't blame you one bit for feeling creeped-out by that, because that is an incredibly creepy thought! I'm so sorry you've had nightmares. Especially if my behavior contributed to them in any way."

She nibbled her lip. "Your behavior? Oh Doctor, no. Not at all. Just my..." She trailed off, then looked thoughtful. Then looked revolted. "Could we not talk about this in the same room as THAT?"

He'd actually forgotten that her corpse was lounging in the lab chair behind them. "Sorry! Did you want me to, um, give you a lift somewhere?" he offered. "Battery won't run down as quick if I carry you."

That was true. "We can go back to your room. I don't mind. You seemed to be working on something there. I don't want to keep you away from it for long."

"Nothing to worry about." He tucked her under his arm and headed for the door (feeling a bit flustered, wondering if she'd intended anything more by, 'we can go back to your room').

She glanced back and realized she'd left something behind. "And get my nice blue dress off that thing!!" she hollered.

Dr. Foxworth reacted like she'd popped a balloon behind his ear. He nearly fumbled her, but managed to keep his grip. He looked around for a place to deposit her and sat her on the table to the side of the chair. He reached down to the dress, then stopped. "I can put you somewhere else first if you don't want to see me see you naked."

She opened her mouth to respond to that. But then went completely quiet. Her whiskers drooped.

Her reflexive first reaction had been a prudish one. That made her feel childish, as he was her doctor and he'd seen her without her clothes plenty of times before. Slowly a deeper realization came to her mind. 'Would he actually be seeing ME naked?'

She was silent for so long he started to worry. "Maria?"

"My apologies, Doctor. I just got lost in thought." She looked up to him and said firmly, "No, I don't mind."

The way she'd said that felt like she had meant a lot more than simply giving him permission. Justin waited a moment, then began undressing the headless otter on the chair, curious if Maria would elaborate.

She didn't at first. She chewed the thought over in her mind. She made herself watch without flinching away as Dr. Foxworth respectfully slid her bluebonnet dress up over her previous body's shoulders. She looked back and forth between the garment and her own naked fur. And then at her kindhearted doctor.

Justin folded the fabric and set it to the side. "Sophia, can you have this washed and returned to Maria's quarters?"

"Certainly, Doctor Foxworth."

Maria looked at the tidy blue square, then back at the deteriorating flesh she had been attached to a moment ago. She nodded to herself. "You can pick me up again."

He did so, and they left the room together.


***


Maria tried to hold her tongue until they were back in his room, but the thought bumped around in her mind until she had to let it out. "I haven't really been able to put this into words before now. Not very well at least. But I think... That's not really my body, is it?"

He looked down. "How do you mean?"

"It's a copy. Of a copy. Of a copy," she elaborated. "I guess this actually does tie back to my faith, because the Bible holds as an ideal, "your body is a temple". But does that even apply, if my birth body is dead and gone? Are the ones you make for me really anything more than prosthetics?"

They reached his door and Sophia helpfully opened it. Dr. Foxworth sat back down on the couch and placed Maria beside him. "This reminds me of the Ship Of Theseus."

She nodded. "Exactly! And even though that's a paradox without an answer, I think I just gave myself one."

"Hm?"

She gazed off to an unfocused point. "A moment ago in the lab, I said "my dress" and "that thing". Completely without hesitation. MY dress. That THING. I showed more possessiveness to my bluebonnets. I think my inner self already knows how I feel."

He placed a paw on the back of her neck.

"I'm in the minority around here being fully clothed all the time. I'd prefer to not be seen naked. It's inappropriate. Except, I watched you taking my dress off just now, entirely exposed to you and... I felt nothing shameful. Like watching someone change a store mannequin's outfit." She turned to look up at him. "That stopped being me as soon as I was done with it, didn't it? I'M me. My soul is me. And my body is just... the misbehaving transportation I have to put up with."

A quiet laugh. "I think I might feel the same way, without even realizing it," he said. "I've gotten into the mindset of seeing flesh and bone and blood the way a mechanic looks at engines and wiper fluid. I can't say we agree on faiths, but we can agree that our 'selves' are more than just-" he pinched the skin of his arm, "-this."

Maria nodded. She opened her mouth to say more, but then decided she didn't really need to. They'd pretty much covered it. She scuttled closer and rested her claw on his leg. Not the most intimate of touches, but this was what she had to work with, so she made it work.

They sat for several moments in pleasant, close silence.

Doctor Foxworth eventually glanced to his laptop. "So... did you want to stay here or do you have anywhere else to be? I don't mind the company. I was just running a bunch of nanite simulations."

She took a look at his screen. That actually did sound interesting. And a pleasant way to spend some time together. "I wouldn't want to get in the way."

"You wouldn't be," he said with certainty. "If you don't mind, I could honestly use someone to springboard some ideas off of."

"Well... If you're sure I'm not bothering you, Doctor..."

"Very sure."


***


The next few hours passed for them in companionable calm. Justin asked Sophia to resume the music, and let Maria choose. The otterette was in the mood for 80s synthpop. She selected a station that was more laid-back than loud.

She and Dr. Foxworth didn't talk much. They bantered on genetics. There were questions and suggestions about the nanite sims. But beyond that, it was pleasant enough to simply enjoy one another's company. 

Their minds were talkative though. Maria thought about Doctor Foxworth. He was a very generous man. Intelligent. Even-tempered. Maybe a little too open in some of his 'adult' activities. And yet, when she'd been lying on her deathbed almost a year ago, sending out P.I.s to hunt down any microscopic chance at a few more moments of time, they had found him. And he had delivered on every promise he'd ever made to her. She would have felt a debt to him regardless for saving her life. But more than that, she had never known him to be dishonest. Not once. That spoke to his character. She didn't feel ready to articulate these feelings yet. But someday, hopefully.

Doctor Foxworth thought about Maria. His mind was better at calculation than emotion, and he wasn't entirely sure if he was misinterpreting her behavior as being more than friendly. 'I wouldn't mind though, if it was.' Despite the considerable difference in their sizes, her mind stood toe to toe with him. He liked how she never let fear stop her, and always strove to be her best self. 'But would she really want me? I'm immersed in my work all the time. And I do really like... variety'. He flushed, knowing that actually meant a variety of partners and necks. Still, it wasn't a secret. She already knew. 'So maybe she's accepted that about me already?' Possibly. One thing he knew for sure was that Maria spoke her mind when she knew what she wanted. For now, he would wait.

Meanwhile, Sophia was picking up on plenty that her two organic colleagues weren't saying aloud. It was as plain as the dopamine level upticks the spiderbody registered every time the otter looked at the fox. Sophia was well aware of the basic psychology of sentient organics. And so, without telling them, she covertly switched the radio station to a quickly-curated playlist of her own. Songs that were rated to increase affectionate emotional states.

After track seven, they were sitting closer. By track sixteen, he had his arm around her.

If AIs had lips, Sophia's would have been set in a playful smirk.

***

~Chapter Ten~


The numbers in front of Doctor Foxworth's face started melting into little blurs of light. He blinked hard, rubbed his eyes, then yawned and stretched his arms up high over his shoulders.

"You've been at this a while," Maria noted.

"Yes. It just caught up to me all of a sudden. Now that I'm aware of my body again, my knees ache and I'm hungry as a Cacodemon. How long has it been? Lunch has gotta be soon, surely." He looked up at the clock. Then his expression went blank. "...I am very unobservant."

Maria tried to hold back giggles. Lunch had been six hours ago. "Look on the bright side. Your tummyclock woke you out of your daze just in time for dinner."

He made a 'that's true' murmur. Then he stood up and strrrrretched. He rubbed up and down his legs with his palms. "Better get over there then. Would you want to join me?"

She was about to agree just to spend more time together, then remembered what she was currently attached to. "Hmm. Maybe not. I literally don't have the stomach for it."

A chuckle. "You can still chew."

"That's true. But it's wasteful. Chef makes such good food, I feel bad if I just goosh it up for him to toss out."

"We have a compost heap," Justin replied helpfully.

The otter stuck her tongue out. "I'd rather not think of that. Really, I don't even feel hungry. Actually, I'm-" Her sentence was interrupted by a wide-mouthed yawn. "-feeling tired!"

He nodded, understanding. "Screens full of statistics aren't very exciting. Shall I walk you to your quarters then?" He extended his arm.

"I can walk," she politely declined. "Thank you sincerely for offering. But if I'm stuck like this, it is nice to feel as independent as I can."

She reengaged the battery, having turned it off to save power, and commanded the spiderbody to hop down from the couch. Dr. Foxworth sped past and got the door for her. Sophia could have, but he enjoyed being helpful.

Just a short walk. Two doors down. Maria stopped at the entrance and looked up. "When do you think my new body will be ready?"

Justin winced. "A full set of anthro organs will take about 24 hours. So, a couple of days at the earliest?"

"Mmm." Annoying, but she'd endured longer as a cyborg. "I'm sure if you could get it done faster, you would. See you in the morning?"

"See you in the morning." He picked her up long enough for them to nuzzle noses and tickle each other with their whiskers.


***


Doc gave Maria a parting wave as she scuttled through the door. He would have liked to spend more time with her, but his stomach was practically dragging him towards the cafeteria. And when the aromas coming from it made their way to his nostrils, his nose got him in a chokehold to assist his stomach.

'Slow smoked brisket! Oh boy!' That was the predominant odor, but quite a few more were present. Even before Dr. Foxworth was halfway down the hall he was sure Chef had laid out an especially big feast tonight. Word had probably gotten around that they had a potential investor visiting the premises, so the cheetah had laid out an extra-impressive spread. 'Wouldn't surprise me,' Justin thought. 'Chef keeps his ears open.'

As soon as he walked through the doors, heavenly smells and loud, cheerful conversations nearly knocked him off his feet. The buffet island looked stuffed to bursting. From the entrance he could spot a pyramid of hamburgers. And was that barbecue ribs? Or wings? Maybe both!?

Chef had really drawn a crowd. It looked like everyone was here. Mikey and Mr. Waterbuck were sitting closest to the doors. They had two tables pushed together with a junkyard's worth of partially-disassembled prosthetics spread across them. Not hard to tell what they'd been collaborating on. Andre and Gibson were chowing down nearby. Further ahead, Linda was eating a plateful of sketty without using her hands. Ashley and Stacey were reunited so they could enjoy wolfing down (or coyoteing down) a slathered hill of brisket slices. Tony, Roger, and Carly were in line while Shade and Luna filled their plates. Luna had manifested a semitransparent illusory head above her severed neck, as she often did out of politeness' sake when newcomers were visiting. Feldspar was sitting tensely by herself at the far end of one of the tables, either waiting for Chef to finish making her slurry, or for Shade to help with her funnel. That strange skunk woman was by herself too, looking like she was observing as much as eating. At the bar, Chef was downing a chili dog while chatting with Ashleigh, Anabelle, and Olivia. To Justin's left, Eve and Vixy were sharing mealtime with all the other lab pets. (All, except the ill-tempered feral vulpix Passion, who had her bowl as far away as possible, eating with her back to the wall, glaring and growling like she expected a stiletto ambush at any moment.)

Food was a high priority, but an even higher one was heading over to show his beloved pets some affection. As Dr. Foxworth walked by Mikey and Mr. Waterbuck, he overheard a snippet of their conversation.

The pile of arms had been pushed aside to make room for their plates. Mikey was nibbling carefully at a modest stack of ribs. Not a drop of sauce had spilled on his fur. Jackson had already emptied one plate, with another piled sky-high on standby. The fennec eyed the meat mountain, mostly disgusted but a little impressed. "...the difference is Chef's ingredients and expertise. I don't have any idea what goes into the burgers your places sell."

Jackson looked wounded. "Aw, our stuff ain't that bad. Ashleigh eats it and she's skinny as a whip!" He elbowed the smaller fox. "C'mon down and try us out sometime! You bet your ass I can gitcha coupons!"

Dr. Foxworth didn't see whether Mikey resisted this temptation or not. He headed towards the nonev area and knelt down to give Eve and Vixy some skritches. "Are my beasties being sweet? Are the numnums good today?"

"NEW JERKY! YUM!" Eve exploded. She had so much barbecue sauce on her fur she looked like she'd been doing cannonballs into her bowl.

Vixy continued eating with dainty, unhurried bites. But she did arch her shoulders up to meet her master's hand and made high-pitched happy fox noises.

Justin smiled warmly. Happy to see them happy, and proud that they were keeping up their duties of herding the other lab pets, such as Roger's box turtle and Olivia's bunny, to the cafeteria at mealtimes. He was also glad to see that Eve had continued to not eat said bunny. There'd been a close call with a pair of pet mice a year ago. He gave his little ones headpats, then stood up. "Enjoy, girls. Daddy's going to go get fed too."

Heading back towards the line, he passed by Andre and Mr. Gibson. For some reason, they'd both pushed their plates aside and were now arm-wrestling. Even though it meant risking the brisket running out, he lingered long enough to eavesdrop. Partly to maintain a civil atmosphere in his lab; partly to see who'd win. Thankfully, they didn't seem enraged. More like flirt-fighting.

Their teeth were bared in mirrored canine snarls, but their narrowed eyes had the excited spark of two furs who each liked rough and tumble play as much as the other. Despite being a coyote and a wolf respectively, both of them were fairly similar in height and fur color. Gibson was taller with a more wiry build, while Andre had a workman's buffness. Neither were wearing a lot of clothes at the moment.

Gibson grinned suavely, hiding the strain in his muscles with a good poker face. "Which one should I snap first, babe? Your ulna or your radius?"

Andre's expression was like a runaway train on fire. "How about I drive your little pencil arm through this table six inches into the foundation!?"

"You'd just have to patch the hole then, dollface."

"RRRRRRGH!!!"

Gibson was not intimidated in the slightest. He knew from experience when someone genuinely wanted him dead, and when they were just huffing and puffing. "Now, now. I don't get paid the big bucks to bodyguard for no reason."

A claw tapped Dr. Foxworth's shoulder. He turned and Luna motioned for him to let her skootch by. He did so. The smoke-colored dragoness gave him a courtly nod of thanks, then sat down beside Gibson and Andre to enjoy her bloody rare dinner and the free entertainment.

Doc watched the taut muscles in the canines' forearms quiver like bowstrings. He was surprised when, out of the blue, Andre's strength suddenly ran out and Gibson pinned her wrist to the table with a WHAMM.

"REMATCH!!" screeched Andre instantly, startling pretty much everyone in the room. She reached for a knife but wasn't wearing pants. "Cheating sonofabitch! How'd you do that!? I lift fuckin' drainage pipes!!"

Gibson took her volume in stride. He massaged his hand. "I get in fights," he replied simply.

Dr. Foxworth noted that Andre hadn't immediately socked Mr. Gibson in the jaw after losing. 'She must really like him.'

Their contest seemed settled enough that he could finally devote himself to dinner. And Luna was more than capable of handling the wolf and 'yote if they got any rowdier. The dragoness' magic compressed her twenty foot height and twelve ton weight into a more manageable size (and kept the floor and furniture from turning to powder beneath her). Meaning that nothing short of an ICBM could perturb her.

At the buffet island, Tony (who happened to be a tiger) moved up and started piling up his plate. Shade the weavile was still choosing. Dr. Foxworth got in line behind Carly and Roger.

The rhinoceros' massive, battle-scarred head blocked the light and cast a shadow over the rabbit. He was built like a tank and she was built like a tulip. Her skirt hem kept brushing against his leg and he swiveled around. "Why are you wiggling so much!?"

Carly nearly screamed and dropped her phone. "OMG MR. BRAX I'M SORRY DON'T KILL ME!"

He rolled his eyes, exasperated. "For the last time, I am not going to kill you! You're a receptionist, not a marauder. I just asked a simple question."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" the lop-eared bunny squeaked. "You're very imposing, sir."

Roger couldn't argue with that. He noticed she was shifting foot to foot. "Do you have to pee or something?"

"Yes!"

This perplexed him. His voice boomed even when he tried to speak in an amiable tone. "There is a bathroom literally ten feet over there. Why don't you use it!?"

Her eyes widened. "But that's... The Dreaded Unisex Restroom! I don't dare go in there!!"

Roger looked pained. "Miss Mikaela, you haven't been with us long, have you? Do you even know why it's called that?"

Carly was about to reply, because surely... She came up empty. "Um. No, actually?"

"It's the one Miss Walker uses most frequently."

"Andre? You mean she, like," Carly cringed, "pees all over the place?"

Roger made a sound of disgust. "Hardly. Not that gross. But she is a mechanic. And she goes in there to wipe the machine grease off. THAT is what ends up all over. Even I have a hard time getting that damn gunk off me, and I don't have fur."

Carly looked relieved and a little foolish. "That's not so bad. Allright. I was thinking there were roving rape gangs, or a giant hole in the floor, or a loose pipe that'd shoot shitwater at-"

Dr. Foxworth grimaced. "I plan to eat soon," he interjected.

"Oh! Hey, Doc! Didn't see you there. Hold my place in line, wouldja? I'mma go tinkle in the dreaded unisex restroom." She flashed him a giggle and bounced off.

Roger sighed. "Can't Sophia do what she does?" he deadpanned.

"Carly is very good at her job," Dr. Foxworth defended. "Also, the line's moved."

Roger turned and realized the buffet was unattended, ripe for plunder. He stampeded directly to the ribs.

Dr. Foxworth followed. He had a brief terror that maybe all the food was gone and there'd be nothing left but crumbs. Thankfully, no. A few items had dwindled, but Chef had laid out nearly enough food to feed an army. Doc made a beeline for the brisket. Two kinds! Stringy corned beef swimming in cabbage and carrots, or strips cut directly from a glaze-encrusted slab. Doc piled several of these onto two buns with a modest dollop of BBQ sauce for each.

In addition, there were burgers, ribs, battered cod, spaghetti, and hand-rolled meatballs. Also an abundance of sides: sweet rolls, okra, collard greens, carrot coins, steamed broccoli, butter-drenched brussels sprouts, deep fried mushrooms, mac and cheese, baked beans, stuffing (cornbread and traditional), mashed potatoes, broasted potatoes, baked potatoes, sweet potato chips, onion rings as big as bracelets, and an absolute haystack of golden french fries. Plus the usual rainbow of condiments, sauces, and sandwich fixin's. Doctor Foxworth's salivary glands activated. The temptation to eat himself immobile was difficult to resist.

A voice called out, "Don't worry if any of the main entrees are getting low! I used an entire cow tonight!" Chef waved to him with a big, proud grin.

"I can tell! You've really outdone yourself!" Dr. Foxworth called back. He hadn't known until that moment where he was going to sit, but a seat was open at the bar and he'd been meaning to talk with Chef anyway. Serendipitous.

After his plate was piled just high enough that his stomach had a chance at handling it, he swung by the coffee machine to fill another mug. Before sitting down, a sudden sharp WHACK made his ears rotate.

Several other people were looking too. The sound had come from where the wolf, coyote and dragon were sitting, and it wasn't hard to guess what had just happened. From Gibson's pop-eyed expression, Luna's placid but amused smile, and the position of her paw atop his, it was clear that he'd challenged her to another round of arm wrestling and she'd beaten him as easily as blinking.

"I told you so," the dragoness said, and sipped her honey tea.

Andre poked Gibson in the shoulder. "HA ha!"

Far from the puffing rage she'd shown at losing, Gibson was so impressed with Luna's strength that his tail was wagging. "How in the SHIT!? That was AMAZING!"

"You have not met a dragon before, I presume? This form conceals my true size and strength. I held back to avoid shattering your bones." She bared her chest and patted her abdomen. "My scales are like chain mail. You would do more damage to the iron hull of an ocean liner."

Gibson grinned hugely. "Now that's a challenge!" He balled up a fist and pointed to her abs. "You mind if I try?"

This one's adventurousness bemused her. Luna sat her cup down and turned towards him. "By all means."

The coyote licked his teeth. He flexed his fingers, then re-clenched them. He drew back his arm like a pinball plunger.

Andre leered over his shoulder, knowing exactly what would happen. She'd watched Luna compact a water heater with her bare hands once.

Gibson unleashed a swift right hook that had left other fursons coughing blood onto asphalt. This time, his fist connected with titanium. His mouth opened in a very tall '0'. His scream was more of a noiseless exhale.

Luna smiled pleasantly at him.

Shade had been enjoying some close time with Feldspar. She was the security guard in charge of cafeteria watch, so now she was strolling over, looking annoyed. "Allright, kiddies. Enough's enough outta this table. Am I going to need to send anyone to detention?"

"We're only playing," Luna said angelically as she went back to her tea.

Gibson dared to look down at his hand, which was throbbing with aftershocks of agony. And yes, three of his knuckles were bleeding. "Yeah, we're all fine here. Havin' a great time," he gasped out.

Shade waggled her finger at the three of them. "Just be quiet. Or quietER if that's all you can manage. Some of us are trying to eat dinner like we're normal, okay?" She rolled her eyes and went back to reassure her perpetually-twitchy lucario.

Andre reached over and grabbed Gibson's wrist. "Oh you fucking baby; lemme fix that." She started bandaging his hand with napkins.

"Thanks, lollipop."

"I just hate seeing things get broken due to stupidity!" she barked harshly. And yet her paws were quite gentle in their repair work.

Dr. Foxworth exhaled. "Hopefully that's the end of the circus acts and I can finally sit down and enjoy my meal." He stiffened up after saying that, looking in both directions to make sure no ironically-timed calamity was about to come barreling into him. When nothing did, he headed to the bar, settled down onto the cushy stool, and let himself relax.

"Good evening to ya, Foxdoc," Ashleigh said merrily. "Where've you been all day? I'm doing fine! Chef was giving me tips on how to walk with all my stuff missing. And Olivia was just saying how you're gonna make her a whole new body! That's so future-y!"

'Looks like it's not going to be a quiet dinner,' Justin noted. But maybe that wasn't so bad. "I was off doing computer work. Time got away from me. So, you're having fun?"

"Uh huh!" the vix yipped, eyes bright and tail wagging. "This place is great! It's fulla weirdos! And there's a movie theater and games! I can't believe I get to stay here a whole week!"

Anabelle chuckled at the little fox's motormouth. She was perched atop The Jar on the countertop, sipping at a white port lemonade. 

Olivia was seated to Ashleigh's right, still currently a short and pudgy star-nosed mole. She was about to join in, when another sneeze started creeping up on her. Panicking, she fumbled for her nasal spray and took a hit. 'dontsneezedontsneezedontsneezedontsneeze!' She was still unused to friendly conversation, and was paranoid about keeping up a good impression. Her goshdarn dander allergy was NOT helping. Especially with the cafeteria so packed! "I've, uh," she gulped and stuttered, "b-been telling Ashleigh about all the cool stuff we have here," she said to Dr. Foxworth, hoping to convey that she was still boundlessly grateful he was letting her stay at the lab too.

He nodded in appreciation. "Maybe you can become our official tour guide someday." he gently teased.

Olivia hunkered down in her seat and pretended to become very interested in her salad. "Oh no! I couldn't! I just... there's no way... I'd never... I mean..." she descended into muttering. Mortified by the idea, but elated he thought she could ever be capable of it.

Chef was lining up clean glasses in anticipation of late evening beverages. His spotty yellow tail twitched as he remembered something he'd meant to say earlier. "Hey, Ash! Before I forget, if you want somewhere to practice moving your groove, there's a runner's track just outside. Right behind the building."

"Thanks! I'll remember that," Ashleigh said gratefully.

Chef gave her a big friendly smile. He was in a perfect position to tutor her on her new condition. For him, it was permanent. A ravenous cancer had brought him to the lab years ago. Dr. Foxworth had saved his life by clearing out nearly everything from the neck down. No organs, no genitals. Just a hole big enough to view his pelvis through. Chef usually wore an apron in front so it wouldn't disturb his customers' appetites.

Dr. Foxworth tried a few french fries first, then finally dug into his brisket sandwich. 'Oh my goodness!!!' All other senses faded. The taste was phenomenal! The bourbon peach glaze made it as sweet as beef could be. The sauce added complementary flavors of pepper and molasses. Hours of cooking resulted in a texture so soft, chewing was barely necessary. Dr. Foxworth was moaning without even realizing it.

Chef chuckled. Whipping up recipes was fun, but being able to create such helplessly overjoyed smiles was the real pleasure of his work.

Before Dr. Foxworth showed up, Ashleigh had gotten so deep in conversation she'd been neglecting her corned beef. She took another forkful. Lukewarm now, but still yummy. Her tail swished back and forth, and bonked into the doctor�s.

He glanced over, was happy to see her enjoying the food too, then cocked his head in confusion. "Wait..." He squinted. "Ashleigh, I removed your digestive system. How are you eating?"

She swiveled on her stool and gave him grin that perfectly conveyed, 'Nothing ever stops me from getting what I want!'. Like a scalper showing off hot watches in his trenchcoat, the cunning little vixen pulled open her chest to show him her solution. "As if I was gonna pass up a meal this good!" 

Doc burst out laughing at her inventiveness. She'd wedged a salad bowl in there!

Ashleigh turned back to her plate and took a bite of green beans. "I might need some help getting it outta there later without making a mess. But it works! I'm very practical-minded," she bragged.

Anabelle chuckled. She had been a bodiless bunnyhead for almost her entire stay at the lab. Since then she'd taught her lop ears to be prehensile. At the moment she was using them to spoon her own dinner into her mouth, where it passed down her throat into the large opaque container she was positioned on top of. It was always there at the bar, for use of headless fursons. "Looks like ya figgered out what The Jar's for all on your own, sugar dimple."

"Is THAT what that is?" Ashleigh asked. "I thought it was just, like, a footstool. But for heads. A headstool." She sniffed and her whiskers twitched. "No wait! That's how YOU'RE eating too! I can't believe I didn't realize that already!"

The bunny laughed. "So caught up in inventin' the wheel y' didn't realize it'd already got made!"

Ashleigh giggled, then had an awful idea. "I'm gonna trick Gibson into drinking outta that!"

Without even looking up, Chef immediately responded, "No you will not."

Dr. Foxworth tried a forkful of the broasted potatoes. The chubby little cubes were crispy, oily, and packed a ton of flavor. "Mmmmm..."

Ashleigh looked Anabelle all over. She'd mostly been chatting with Chef and Olivia, and hadn't taken much notice of the quiet lapine. The bun's eyes were big and golden. She had light brown fur, like maple syrup in milk. Her ears seemed quite talented. Even able to butter a roll! "I like your eye color. Very pretty."

"Thank ya kindly! Between them 'n my accent, I've had people say I'm full of honey!"

"So how come you're just a head?" Ashleigh asked brashly. "Did your body get eaten by ants?"

Anabelle cracked up. (Olivia was revolted by the mental image and almost choked on her soda.) "Nothin' like that, you silly vix! I gave it up 'tentionally. Y'all ever heard of BIID?"

The fox blinked blankly.

"Body Integrity Identity Disorder," the bunny enunciated. "Or at least, that's what they're still callin' it so far as I know. It means yer born with some a' yer parts not ever feeling quite right. Like they're not really yours. Like they ought'nt not be there. Olivia and I actually got a fair bit in common."

The mole nodded at this. She looked down at her flab and fur. "It's not like I hate my body. It's just... it's not the right one."

"Mm-hmm. I feel ya, sister." Anabelle reached out her ear to Olivia for a fistbump, of sorts. Then continued her explanation to Ashleigh. "She ain't a fan of her shape, and I was no fan of my body. It's hard t' convey exactly why. It's not that it was itchy, or anything hurt. It just felt uncomfortable alla time. Foreign. Not really mine."

Ashleigh tried hard to find a point of empathy. "Sometimes I fall asleep with my paw in a weird position. And then when I move again, it feels all weird and tingly."

"I spose that's close enough." Anabelle was happy to see the kid making an effort to listen and understand. "But 'magine everything feeling like that! Always! Your whole life! And people thinkin' you're a fruitcake whenever y'try to describe it." She imitated a doctor's voice. "'You're in perfect health, Miss McFinnegan! I don't know why you keep coming to me. There's nothing wrong with your body.' I know that! But it ain't MY body, ya pigeon-brained lug!"

Ashleigh sniggered at the creative insult. Her Daddy popped out ones like that sometimes.

Anabelle pointed with her ear. "Doc here might've been the first one to ever get where I was comin' from. Or maybe he just wanted to get my head off ASAP, I dunno," she teased.

Dr. Foxworth looked up from his sandwich to blow a raspberry at her.

"She's got a point. You do like necks a helluvalot," Ashleigh pointed out.

"I like helping people even more. So there." He took another bite. "...Though necks are a very close second place." That got some giggles.

Olivia hesitated a bit before speaking, not wanting to interrupt. "And, um, Anabelle, you were the first furson who made ME feel listened to. Everyone else thought I was anorexic, or lying, or taking a fursona too far, or secretly transgender, or gay, or... or... all sorts of other mean things they called me."

Anabelle was pleasantly surprised. "Well gosh, darlin'! I'm glad to've passed that feelin' on then."

Ashleigh looked shocked by what Olivia had said. "Really? Transgenus furs aren't all that uncommon."

Olivia sat up sharply, nose-flanges wiggling, and readjusted her thick glasses. It was still unbelievable to encounter people who didn't think she was some sort of freak. "You really...?"

The vixen nodded. "Of course. We saw a video 'bout it in school." Getting the chance to show off her knowledge to a grownup made her tail wag. "They said it's usually a Pred and Prey thing, or vice versa. But since all furries have buttloads of recessive genes from, like, how we're not really separate species? It makes total sense that sometimes someone would have different interior blueprints than their facade."

Olivia had never been compared to architecture before, and rather liked the metaphor. And especially the idea that her current body was just an outer shell that didn't have to be forever.

Ashleigh took a sip of milk. "You were gonna tell me what you wanted to be, but then dinner was ready?"

"Right, yeah, uh huh," Olivia remembered. She bent over to her backpack on the floor to show Ashleigh a drawing she'd made. With her pudginess, it was a bit difficult.

Anabelle finished her lemonade with a slurp. "The scientists are thinkin' it has to do with brain structures," she said authoritatively. "I've read a bunch about it. Not much else to do when yer a head but sit around 'n browse them internets!" She reached for a sweet potato fry. "As 'pposed to dysphoria or anorexia, which is where ya hate yerself, me 'n Olivia here were born like this. And it's not no mental illness either. Researchers've been finding that BIID patients like me got some unconnected jumper cables in the parietal lobe-"

"Not literally," Dr. Foxworth could not help interjecting.

"-which means I ain't just hallucinatin'. My body never felt like a part of me b'cuz the connections really ain't there! I could move my meat just fine, but it was like a bike I was riding. Or a robot I was ridin' around on top of."

That made Dr. Foxworth flashback to Maria on her spiderbody. And how relieved the otter always felt to have her head set down on a brand new clone that felt comfortable and familiar.

Olivia had found her drawing. "It's just like that for me too! Like I'm stuck in a spacesuit! I could never get my parents to understand that I don't hate moles! I wasn't rejecting them. Mom's really beautiful, actually." She took another snort from her nasal spray. "And yeah, I'm overweight, and I can't see very well, and my allergies ruin my life, and some people freak the heck out when they see my nose..."

"Does look a bit like a sea anemone," Ashleigh acknowledged.

She'd definitely heard that before. "I'd be fine with all that! Really! I'm not just trying to escape from myself. If anything, I think my body's so junky 'cause on some level it's hard for me to take care of it with any enthusiasm..." That was a hard thing to admit. Her voice had dropped down very low. "I'm doing therapy too. I know this new look won't solve everything. But it'll help, I'm sure of it. When I close my eyes and picture myself, it's never this." She indicated her furless paws and short fur. "It's... this." Olivia placed the drawing down on the counter.

Ashleigh leaned over. "Wow! That's super pretty! You're a good artist too!"

Olivia sputtered a bit and hid her face, trying not to reflexively reject compliments like usual.

On the paper was a lovely green birdlady. Kelly green plumage on her head and wings. Light grey body. Dark grey wingtips. Bright red rump and white tailfeathers. Lean legs with taloned feet. Petite diamond-shaped beak.

"A hawk?" Ashleigh guessed.

"A quetzal," Olivia said. "They're a species of trogon, but don't feel bad if you've never heard of those! Even my spellcheck hasn't! They're only in South America. I've had this image in my head of me as my real, true birdself ever since I was way little. I described it one day while I was working with Sophia and she was so nice! She brought up a whole screen full of species and let me browse through until, 'THAT one!!'. I'd never seen a quetzal before, but that was what I'd been flying through my dreams my whole life."

"Wowww..." Ashleigh looked at the drawing reverently. This was as close to magic as she'd ever heard of. "And Foxdoc can really turn you into one?" She suddenly giggled. "Wait, didn't you tell me you did data entry here? Isn't that gonna suck with wings?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. Then held up her hands with their gargantuan tube-shaped digging claws. "As if these don't?"

Ashleigh burst out laughing. "Oh my god! They're like those huge fake neon nails the chicks at the ticket counter always have!! Do you paint 'em?"

More squirming. "No, I can barely hold a brush! I've got this special ergonomic two-part keyboard with buttons as big as strawberries. And there are wing-use keyboards too! Though, I might not have to buy one after all." She looked over to Dr. Foxworth.

It took him a moment to notice; Chef's baked beans were loaded with fatty bacon and a sauce as thick as honey. (He normally avoided gassy foods, but these smelled too good to not take a small portion of, along with the accompanying risk of toots.) "Hm? Right, yes." He pointed to the wings on Olivia's drawing. "Since we'll be building her new body completely from scratch, there's no reason we can't customize it all we want. Most wings are like a humongous hand, with the feathers as fingers-"

"Bats are like that," Ashleigh remembered.

"Good girl!" he replied (unconsciously in the same tone he used for praising Vixy). "I've been messing with the possibility of giving her a hand right here, where the 'thumb' would be. So far the only roadblock is balancing dexterity and grip strength against the low bone weight necessary for flight."

Olivia was so grateful. He was putting in so much work and asking almost nothing in return. "I keep telling you it's okay if I can't fly. Honestly! I'll be happy enough just to look in the mirror and finally see me."

A crisp 'au contraire' nod from the fox. "But I'm still going to try my hardest to give you the best of both worlds. Designing a whole body from the ground up is already such an ambitious task it's almost insane. So why not shoot for the moon? If it works at all, it'll be a medical milestone. Let's see how much more we can do while we're at it. Just for the thrill!"

Olivia was primarily interested in girls, but sometimes made exceptions. And sometimes the sheer mad scientist zeal in the doctor's toothy grin gave her a flutter.

Ashleigh gestured between the mole and the drawing. "So how does she get INTO here?"

"That is a great question," Dr. Foxworth praised her. "When Olivia came to me, not only did I want to help her for her own sake, but I recognized this was a puzzle I didn't know how to solve. That's exciting. I wanted to try right away."

All of Olivia's bashfulness had been replaced by excitement at the idea of her upcoming transition. "That first day, we brainstormed almost 'til midnight!"

Dr. Foxworth remembered asking Sophia for 'another fifteen minutes' five times the following morning. "Her case reminded me of Anabelle's, but this would be far harder. Subtraction is easy. Subtraction plus replacement is definitely not!"

The bunnyhead chuckled. "Glad I could be so accomodatin'. One chop 'n I'm all set!"

Dr. Foxworth booped her nose, then returned to his train of thought. "One of my first ideas was a purely aesthetic change. We'd design Olivia's new body with CG, then map out all the instructions we'd have to give the nanites to shift her tissues into a new configuration. Except, that turned out to be so overcomplicated in practice that it wasn't worth a second thought. Right now the plan is to use the cloning tubes- which copy based on DNA- and sort of trick them, by reading them a sequence that's never previously existed. We'll draw up a quetzal genome from scratch, feed it to the machine, and hopefully it'll print up a body like usual."

Ashleigh lit up. "Oh!! That reminds me of when Gibson and I had to break into this place with a retina scanner! So we went to this guy who makes glass eyes, right? And he painted us up a contact lens to look exactly like the manager guy's eye! And the scanner thought it was a real one and let us in!"

Dr. Foxworth was quite impressed, then a little disturbed. "...Why were you breaking into a place with a retinal security scanner?"

She looked the very ideal of angelic innocence. "Daddy hires us out to his colleagues who want the holes in their systems plugged. We break their shit, then point out what we broke and how. So far we've only been kept out twice!"

Dr. Foxworth made a mental note to himself: 'Run that idea by Roger. If we can be number three, maybe that will help him sleep better.' "But getting back to cloning, I admit I'm no geneticist. I'm trying to give myself the crash course, but we may end up farming that out, or bringing someone in. I don't want Olivia to have to wait forever while I putter around."

She made an 'It's fine! I can be patient' gesture.

He pointed in the air dramatically. "But, you might ask, if we alter her DNA, won't that alter her personality? Yes! Unless we control for that beforehand! The part that's both scarier and easier is, we're going to digitize her brain too! Turn it all into ones and zeros and fit it on a micro SSD."

"No way!" Ashleigh gasped.

"I've done it before," he said simply. "Not only does Vixy have a rudimentary AI implant that allows her body to act semi-autonomously from her head, but..." He leaned closer and whispered, "She's incredibly shy, so don't be obvious about it, but take a look at Feldspar. Over by the buffet."

Ashleigh peeked.

The lucario was in her usual hunched, braced position. (Though not as tightly wound as when she was alone. Shade was still beside her, shoulder to shoulder.) Feldspar had no head at all. Hardly even a neck. Just a tiny periscope-shaped sensor and some wiring.

"She's got an antenna!"

Doc shushed Ashleigh. "Keep your voice softer! But yes. She had a godawful accident with a corn harvester. Turned her head to pulp. I've lost patients who weren't as far gone as her," he said somberly. "Mikey and I sorted out her frontal lobe and hippocampus. He threw some code into the MRI that let it scan at a cellular level; I still don't know how. Then together we whipped up a compact neural net that managed to save her personality and memories." Dr. Foxworth allowed himself a cocky smile. "If we could do that on the fly in a state of panic, I think we'll do just fine with Olivia. We have experience and plenty of time." (He didn't mention it, but Chef had also chosen to be digitized, rather than risk the cancer sneaking its way to his grey matter. The cheetah didn't talk about it much, so Dr. Foxworth kept it confidential. Feldspar's condition was impossible to hide though.)

Ashleigh's mind boggled. A moment ago, she would not have been able to imagine something more impressive than having her organs yeeted and her head yoinked off. Still, it was also kind of frightening. She swiveled on her stool back to Olivia. "You're really okay with this? Everything getting downloaded and put on a chip? What'll happen to your real brain? Won't it just be like," she shuddered, "making a copy of you and then killing off the original?"

Olivia sighed sadly and wished she could convey a fraction of what it was like to spend a lifetime adrift. Never able to look in a mirror and see herself reflected. "It's worth the risk," she said very quietly.

Ashleigh reached out to hold Olivia's furless paw.

The mole girl reflexively flinched. But then she regained control and said 'No!' to her old habits. She accepted the gentle contact and nodded thanks.

Dr. Foxworth patted Ashleigh's shoulder also. "Don't worry; I've read all about the teletransport paradox. If the information is copied while the brain is still awake and aware, we can 'fade' one in as the other fades out, preserving continuity of consciousness."

The young fox made a face like she was pretending to understand what that meant.

Dr. Foxworth whipped up a metaphor. "Think of two joined rooms with dimmer switches. If one is turned off at the exact same rate the other turns on, it'll be as if the light moves from one room to the other, rather than going fully dark, then fully lit."

"That makes sense!" She hugged her tail, proud of getting it.

Olivia had an idea then that would have been unthinkable even a year ago. But she reminded herself she was among friends. And Ashleigh had been incredibly open and accepting so far. "W-would you like to s-see some more of m-my other d-d-drawings?" She bit her lip.

"Okay!" Ashleigh said without hesitation. "More of your new birdy body?"

"Uh huh. And, um, other stuff too? Animals. Cartoon characters. I'm not very good..."

Ashleigh grinned. "I'll be the judge of that! Lemme see!"

Cheeks roasting with embarrassment, but also incredibly relieved and delighted, Olivia leaned over to fetch her sketchbook.


***


~Chapter Eleven~


While the mole and vix became engrossed in art, that freed up Dr. Foxworth to return to his dinner.

"D'ya want me to heat that up again for you?" Chef offered.

A shake of the head. "Thanks very much, but it's tasty nonetheless. I might still have more actually. Not sure." Justin took another chomp of his brisketwich. Hearts and flowers and cherubs danced around his head. Still just as scrumptious!

Chef chuckled, then turned away to check if any of the serving trays were empty at the buffet island.

Dr. Foxworth swallowed quickly. "Sorry! I don't want to stop you from your work, but when you come back, I wanted to talk with you a moment?"

The cheetah's tail made a question mark curl. "Nothing bad I hope?"

"Nothing but good, don't worry. Take your time."

Chef gave a little salute. "You're the boss." He walked out through the double doors and found that yes, several sides and entrees had been buzzsawed down to crumbs. Glancing around the cafeteria, it wasn't hard to guess the culprits by noting which furs were leaned far back, groaning in bliss and rubbing their swollen tummies.

While Chef cleared trays and refilled what he could, Dr. Foxworth polished off his meal. He licked his utensils and fingertips clean too. He even had to stop himself from licking the plate! Oh that barbecue sauce! With sticky paws, Doc got up for a lavatory visit. He checked his lab coat for stains. Great big one down his thigh. Oh well.

Thankfully Andre had not gunked up the dreaded unisex restroom too badly. Or rather, she had kept the gunk localized. One stall and one sink were both nightmarish with black streaks. Maybe she was finally becoming housetrained. Or maybe Tony had cleaned the place top to bottom recently and Andre was starting over, reclaiming her territory.

Justin swerved by the buffet island on his way back to his seat. Tempting... He checked in with his stomach. It gurgled in fullness and begged for mercy. But his tongue didn't give a damn. There were still so many good things left to eat! He debated internally before giving in. 'One cod fillet and a few onion rings can't hurt. And two mushrooms. ...And a brussels sprout.'

When he returned, Ashleigh and Anabelle were both giggling over some big-eyed pink cat character Olivia had drawn. He didn't watch enough TV to recognize it. He tucked into his 2nd dinner. A few bites in and he was glad he was not wearing pants, because he surely would have had to unzip them to make room.

Chef finished up and washed his hands. He poured himself a shot of blackberry brandy. Down the hatch it went. He licked his chops. 'Gotta keep the ol' nanites lubricated.' He did not think they actually needed it, but it was fun to imagine tiny little R2D2s getting shitfaced in his bloodstream. (He also did not need to eat, but an implant allowed him to absorb small amounts of solids and liquids, and to measure the nutritional content of his meals with a mere taste. Very handy.)

The cheetah looked around for anyone likely to approach with an order and didn't see anyone. Free time to talk to the boss. He crossed his arms and leaned on them. "We got urgent business?"

"It's about that spURRRP!" Justin covered his mouth in embarrassment. The girls beside him giggled. "Your food is dangerously irresistible, for one."

A blithe nod. "Natch."

"But this is about that spice garden you wanted to plant. You mentioned it at breakfast?"

The Doc sounded oddly serious about this. "Yeah?"

Dr. Foxworth wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cancel the project."

Chef was genuinely shocked and crestfallen. "What!? Why!?"

The fox kept up his expressionless face a second more, then a little grin crept in. "Because I'm buying you a greenhouse instead."

Chef lit up with relief. "REALLY!? Oh man, that's awesome! Thank you!!"

"You're very welcome! I was thinking about that clearing south of the runner's track. Expand it a little. Dig out the stumps."

Chef nodded. "Yeah, yeah... Not my first choice, lighting-wise, but that won't matter if it's indoors."

Here came the big reveal. Dr. Foxworth nonchalantly rested his head on his hand. "Oh, and the budget is one million dollars."

Chef stared. Then he laughed. Then he got quiet again as he realized the Doc wasn't laughing along. "Wait... you're serious?"

A nod up and down: 'yup'.

"That's... that's crazy!" Chef's eyes bulged. "One little greenhouse won't cost a million bucks!!"

"It won't be a little greenhouse," Doc corrected. "You said you wanted to walk outside and pick some fresh herbs. I thought, why stop there? Why not herbs, fruits, vegetables, everything? Why not a whole top-of-the-line hydroponics garden? 

Chef thought he might faint. He tried to speak and couldn't. After a moment of bluescreening, he snapped out of it and pounced across the bar to hug his employer.

Dr. Foxworth thought his clavicles might snap. "Eeek!"

"Sorry, amigo! I'm just so HAPPY!" One more squeeze and he let go. "When you said greenhouse, I pictured a dinky little toolshed-size thing! This is so generous! I'm kind of in shock!"

Doc shook his head. "Purely practical, amigo. Every day you make enough food to feed a couple dozen people and a dragon. So why not go big? I've even juggled the numbers and realized that, with the reduction in food costs and delivery fees, it'll pay for itself in... about six years, I think?" A smirk. "Plus, obviously, you make such amazing meals for all of us, I want to make you happy so you'll want to stay forever."

"Mission accomplished!" Chef said, still reeling. "A whole hydroponics garden! Wow! With the racks of plants up to the ceiling? The little sprinklers to keep the leaves moist? Hot damn!" He envisioned all the healthy, happy, plump little veggies he'd raise. But then reality came banging on the door. "That's going to be a lot of work to care for all that. And harvest it every morning.... I mean, I can do it! I won't let you down! But, that's kinda why I asked for just a small patch of chives and basil and stuff. Something I could manage between shifts."

"Chef, the budget is a million dollars," Dr. Foxworth reiterated. "We can hire a gardener. Under your supervision, of course. Two if you need them. I'm sure there's enough farmhands around this area, you could have your pick of the litter."

The cheetah nodded. Atchison County was 159% farms. At least. "Okay, yeah. Whew! That's way more doable!" He grinned sheepishly. "Though... do you mind if I still do my original idea on top of all that?"

Now it was Dr. Foxworth's turn to be confused. "The spice patch? Why?"

A shrug. "'Cuz it's fun to have a little spot to dig in the dirt, that's all."

"Oh! Yes, okay then, certainly."

"Maybe I'll do flowers instead. Coupla tulips. Although..." Chef glanced side to side to make sure there were no eavesdroppers. "I'm already explosively grateful about the greenhouse idea, but I've got an extra reason to thank you. See, I was sort of maybe not really kinda thinking about sneaking an extra plant into my spice patch? Like, way in the back? A special plant with seven-pointed leaves...?"

Doc didn't get it for a moment. Then a green lightbulb went on. "Naughty Chef."

"Heh heh."

"Keep it inside and hidden. Deal?"

A huge kittycat grin. "You rock!"


***


While Dr. Foxworth finished his second dinner, he and Chef hashed out the details of the new greenhouse. What, where, when, how long, and how much. Gibson came by to request a round of tequila shots for himself, Andre, and Luna. Roger ordered prune juice and an Alka-Seltzer. Mikey tinkered quietly. Linda got stuck in a vent and Shade had to drag her back out. Ashleigh, Anabelle and Olivia went through the molegirl's whole sketchbook, appreciating and critiquing the wide variety of subjects.

For someone with claws like butter knives, Olivia showed a lot of skill, and the others let her know. Gradually, her nervousness let go of its usual clench. That is, until a sudden sneeze made its way past her nasal spray and she blew a dozen drawings all over the bar like a whoosh of autumn leaves. She was so panic-stricken with the idea they'd all make fun of her, she nearly ran straight out of the cafeteria. But any laughter from the others was good-natured, and they all helped with catching the pages and carefully sorting them out again.

Dr. Foxworth's digestive system had put in a valiant effort at dealing with all of Chef's ambrosia. He was just beginning to consider taking another peek at the buffet remains (just to look, definitely not to have a third helping, definitely not) when a pudgy hand prodded his shoulder. He swiveled around and there was Mr. Waterbuck. "Good evening. Uh, can I help you?" The fellow fox was looking even more spherical than usual, if that was possible.

Jackson leaned in close to Doc's ear and cupped a hand to his muzzle. "Hey there, Sawbones. Jes a quick little thing I wanted to check up on. No disrespect intended, not doubting your work, just tryna quell my own worrydemons."

"What, exactly?"

His voice quivered a little. "When you, um, kitbash a new set of organs fer m'daughter... her ovaries are still gonna be fertile, right?"

Dr. Foxworth wasn't sure why Mr. Waterbuck was asking, but he answered nonetheless. "Of course. Not identical to her originals down to the atom, but functioning exactly the same. Her own DNA and everything."

Jackson lurched back in a huge sigh of relief. "WHEW!" He slapped Doc on the back. "Good to know! Good to know! I figgered as much, but sometimes you just gotta hear something out loud before your mind'll let go of it." He ducked back down for another whisper. "I would very, very much like to be a grandpappy someday, you understand?"

That explained it perfectly. "You have my assurance, Mr. Waterbuck."

At that moment, the mysterious skunkess approached. Her hand floated up to lightly touch Jackson's shoulder. He looked towards her. She winked at him. "And mine."

He was befuddled by what she could possibly mean by that. "M-ma'am? I don't believe I've had the pleasure of an introduction?"

"Itazou," she said, as if that explained everything. "You may meet me again sometime in the future, or not." She had not slowed her stride through the entire encounter, and continued her exit from the cafeteria. Her tail wafted behind her like a pet cloud.

Jackson looked to Justin for clarification.

The other fox shrugged: 'I have no idea either.'

Ashleigh looked up from where Olivia was showing her a lithe bluejay superheroine she'd drawn. "Hey Daddy! Gonna faint again?" she needled.

He wagged a finger at his pup. "You did not make me faint, you little imp. I just got startled for a moment, seeing you all emptied out like a TV store after Black Friday. C'mere, you!" He trapped her in a big bear hug from behind, nuzzling and kissing her ears.

She giggled and yapped. She loved how her dad was so squishy she could practically vanish into him like jumping onto a huge, soft bed.

Everyone 'Awww'ed at the cute daddy-daughter moment. Jackson looked up and saw Chef smiling too. "Five star chow, by the way! Damn near stopped my ticker! Though I guess I'm in the right place if that happens, huh? I just hope I don't wake up with my head on a stick 'n all my giblets across the room!"

Ashleigh realized she'd forgotten to show him she could decapitate herself. THAT was gonna be fun!

Jackson squoze her shoulder. "Looks like you gotcherself a posse, babygirl. Who-all's your friends?"

"Daddy, this is Anabelle and Olivia. And you just said hi to Chef. That's his actual on-his-birth-certificate name!"

"Well I'll be." Jackson gave a nod to Anabelle. "Pleasure to meet you. Or, as much of you as I'm meeting."

The bunnyhead tittered. "Likewise. Texan I'm guessin'? From the accent?"

"Close! Oklahoma! But I got a lot of restaurants there so I travel to and fro. And you? Lemme say... Alabama?"

"Right on the money, honey!"

"Hot damn! What do I win?"

For starters, a coy smile. "Maybe a stroll 'round the grounds some pleasant afternoon?"

"I believe I'd enjoy that." Mr. Waterbuck reflexively extended his hand to shake on it, then felt a bit embarrassed when he realized Anabelle was ill-equipped.

She surprised him by extending an ear, curling it around his paw, and giving it an up-and-down. A foxy smirk from the lop.

"Heh! No shortage of surprises in this place!" Mr. Waterbuck gave her a courtly nod, then turned to the star-nosed mole to his right. He was about to issue more breezy banter, when he stopped cold and his eyebrows went up. "And... Ashleigh said your name was... Olivia?" He adjusted his bolo tie. "You're quite a purty young woman."

As soon as she heard that, the shy mole scowled at the big fox. Her jaw trembled. "Don't make fun of me."

Mr. Waterbuck was genuinely bewildered at such an ice cold response. "I was not!! Whyever would y'think that I was?"

Now she looked dumbfounded too. "Wait, so you... You actually think I'm pretty? For real? No sarcasm?"

He looked her up and down and his tail couldn't hide a wag. "Well, sure!"

Olivia shook her head. She thought of her big ugly hands, coke-bottle glasses, beady eyes, gross love handles, and the explosion at the end of her snout.

All Jackson was seeing was an enormous snuggly ass, a cute pot belly, tiny tail, fur like velvet, and that nose! He stared, mesmerized by the 22 elegant fleshy tentacles radiating from its center. Though he dared not speak them aloud, the sight was filling his imagination with all sorts of Creative Uses.

The vulpine's expression was not hard to read. In fact it was practically glowing neon. Olivia felt a flush of shock and offense at the undoubtedly-lewd thoughts Ashleigh's dad was having about her nose. But then her blush changed temperature. Could a guy really...? Actually...? And what if she...? She cupped her burning cheeks in her hands. "Th-they're very sensitive. I don't think I've ever let anyone actually... touch them."

Mr. Waterbuck's dumbstruck gape curled slowly into an 'I got this in the bag' smirk. "Is that so? Well then, I can certainly respect your wishes, and would not want to be rude and presumptuous, Miss Olivia." He tipped an imaginary hat and bowed to her.

Anabelle tried very hard not to guffaw at how wide-eyed the mole girl got.

Jackson turned back to Ashleigh. "By the way, pumpkin, the robot in the ceiling told me a while ago our rooms're up on the second floor. 4 'n 5."

(Sophia overheard this and was a bit miffed at that description, but stayed tactfully quiet.)

Ashleigh nodded. "Four and Five. I'll remember. Thanks, Pop."

"They put you 'n me in together, but if you wanna sneak out and bunk with Mr Gibson like you usually do, I wouldn't fuss."

Ashleigh was sharp as a tack and realized her sly Daddy was speaking just loud enough to be easily overheard. "But then you'll be all alone! In your bedroom!" she over-enunciated.

"Good gosh, you're right!" he said, as if just realizing it himself. A melodramatic sigh. "I guess I'll manage. I'm sure I'll find some way to keep myself entertained and warm at night around here..." Perfectly timed, he turned and gave Olivia his most devastatingly charming, seal-the-deal smile.

She turned so red she might as well have been a police beacon.

He turned and gave everyone at the bar a toodle-oo wave. "Goodnight y'all!" Then he hollered across the cafeteria. "SEE YA IN THE MORNIN', DOCTOR MIKEY! I THINK I LIKE THE BLATCHFORD'S ARTICULATION BEST!!"

Of course the fennec's radar ears heard that. He turned and was about to reply, when he picked up a prosthetic arm and increased his goodnight wave by a few feet.

Jackson chortled and waddled off.

Once he was gone, Olivia patted her heart. She was stricken stiff and warm as a radiator.

"I'd do it if I were you," Anabelle said with a big wide bucktoothed bunnygrin.

Olivia's head popped up. "WH-WHAT?"

"Sure, sugar! He's a bit of a zeppelin, but I think he's handsome. And it's crystal clear he's got the hots fer ya."

She clutched the sides of her head. "My brain is full of fuck."

Ashleigh swiveled back and forth on her stool, full of mischief. "Dad likes 'em curvy," she purred. "He tells Mom she's 'pleasantly plump', which she totally is." The little vix made an 8-shape in the air.

"Your dad's MARRIED and he's hitting on me!?" Olivia yelped, horrified.

Ashleigh replied completely casually, "Sure. But he's still pretty frisky. They both are. Mom's always having her manicurist Raoul come over. They get into play fights about it and chase each other around the house."

One could practically see the exclamation point appear over Olivia's head.

Ashleigh had not gotten her adventurousness out of nowhere. Half the fun of using her wiles to help out her parents with their various adulteries was tattletaling to the other, getting punished for it, then Mom and Dad would punish each other, and they'd all end up sweaty with sore bottoms. Fun for the whole family!

"Think of it this way," Anabelle added, "Y'ain't gonna have that body for much longer, right? Might as well squeeze some fun out of it before it's gone!"

The shock was wearing off. Olivia was starting to feel fizzy and flattered. She felt like she might be ready to say yes to the idea of getting a little bi-curious for a night. Though she was still not quite able to believe that a handsome, older, Santa-Claus-shaped gentleman could actually find her sexy.

A new thought occurred to dampen her mood. "But... I'm not REALLY a mole... Would Mr. Waterbuck still like me if he knew?"

Ashleigh patted Olivia's knee and said, "I cannot think of a single reason why he wouldn't."

Olivia smiled. And took another puff of her nasal spray.


***


The vixen, the bunnyhead, and the soon-to-be-quetzal were still chatting together when Dr. Foxworth said his goodnights. He passed his dishes and silverware to Chef, and let the cheetah know they could start planning the garden as soon as tomorrow's staff meeting. Chef said he already had ideas.

Dr. Foxworth approached Mikey on his way out, still hunched over a pile of arms. "Would you, um, like any help carrying those over to your cybernetics lab?"

The fennec's ears swiveled, but he kept his eyes on the notes he was inputting on his tablet. "I appreciate the offer, but the tables here are bigger." He swung his arm in an arc, demonstrating the need for a wide, flat space. "Right now, I'm focused less on disassembly than tolerances. As in, what does each model FEEL like, in the joints and materials?" 

Justin nodded. "If we want to make the best here, we have to know what the current best can do?" he guessed.

Mikey pointed his stylus at his colleague: 'precisely'.

"Allright. Don't stay up too late. I just thought I'd offer some help because the benches here aren't the most comfortable."

Mikey reached down to knock-knock on his artificial ass. "Not a concern."

Dr. Foxworth chuckled. "Goodnight then."

"Goodnight." Mikey splayed the fingertips on the nearest hand and began measuring the width of each gap with a set of tiny calipers.


***


~Chapter Twelve~


Exiting the cafeteria, Justin yawned. It wasn't anywhere close to his normal bedtime, but a stuffed tummy full of excellent food can give one the drowsies. He padded down the hall; empty at the moment. He enjoyed the warm wooden wet smell of the sauna as he passed it.

He swung by the lobby. Beyond the glass front doors, the sky had turned the color of plums, with diamond dots of stars. He could just see the fender of his Corvette, now turned bronze in the evening light. He also noticed his receptionist had snuck out a napkin full of fries for covert munching. "Hey, Carly?"

The rabbit looked up from texting. "Mm?"

"Anything else happening today? Anything at all?" he asked, trying to convey a tone of 'I don't know what to do with myself for the rest of the night'.

Proud and eager to show off, she flicked her phone out of sight and had the itinerary up on her main computer in blinding speed. "For tonight? Let's see..." She tapped her buckteeth as she scanned. "Barren as a wasteland. Just the usual shifts for the night crew. As for tomorrow..." She scrolled up and down, murmuring mostly to herself. "Uhhh... No new clients scheduled. Fish market delivery at six a.m. Andre's giving the water tank a chem test. Roger's put in a requisition for an assload of stuff from Force Field Invisible Fencing Solutions..." She gave Doc a shrug. "Looks like nothing else. Besides everyone's normal dailies, I mean."

That didn't solve his open evening, but her diligence earned a thumbs-up. "Excellent work."

She beamed. "Yatta!"

Dr. Foxworth did not know what that meant, so he just nodded.

He turned back to the hallway, still at a loss for how to occupy his idle hands. He considered checking the cloning machines in the main lab, but knew they wouldn't be finished. Still, a status update couldn't hurt. "Sophia? How far along are the cloning printers?"

"Miss Waterbuck has a new pancreas and liver ready. Lungs are in progress. All other organs are queued."

"Sounds good."

Sophia continued, "Also, Doctor Foxworth, I took the initiative to alter their instructions, based on your conversation with Miss Rose earlier."

He blinked. "Oh?"

"Since we have two cloning printers, and since the task for Miss Waterbuck had already initiated, and since she has stated her intent is to not be reintegrated until the end of the week, and since Miss Rose is in immediate need of a replacement body, I set Printer 2 to create a replacement body, while Printer 1 continues on the previous task for Miss Waterbuck."

Dr. Foxworth's jaw dropped. "That's brilliant! Perfectly logical!"

"Thank you, Doctor Foxworth."

"If you had lips, I would kiss you."

"I do not, but you are welcome to kiss my disk drive, if you wish."

He snickered. "Maybe tomorrow." Another thought hit him. "So, um, how is Maria, by the way?"

There were limiters on what information Sophia was allowed to gather about certain residents when in their private quarters, and especially what she was allowed to divulge to others. But Maria had indicated there was nothing she felt needed to be kept secret from Dr. Foxworth. He was her personal physician, after all. "Miss Rose has fallen asleep while reading a paperback novel. All data from the artificial autonomy unit indicate she is maintaining baseline health, and is having pleasant dreams."

A very fond smile spread across Justin's muzzle. "Good. That's very good. Thank you, Sophia."

"You're welcome, Doctor Foxworth."

He headed for his quarters and she opened the door for him.

***

Inside, the lights were dim and cozy. Justin looked at his laptop, still on the coffee table.

Part of his brain insisted he should keep working on sims and be productive. He was almost guilted into it.

Then he stopped himself. "No. I did so many already I missed lunch. I'm allowed to relax." He nodded resolutely. Being one's own boss came with setting one's own hours. Both a blessing and a curse, as it meant his diligence and laziness were always in a tug-of-war, trying to do too much of one or the other. He hoped none of the other staff had noticed that he'd sometimes take a sick day when certain games or consoles launched.

He walked to the couch and plopped down, pointedly scooting the laptop aside. "How though? There's always more video games, I guess."

Eve did not perfectly understand language, but she certainly knew the inflections of 'Daddy needs something to do'. She bounded out from under the bed. "PLAY!"

Well that instantly sealed his decision. Justin leaned down to ruffle her fluffy neckruff. "That's right! I promised earlier to give you some playtime, to apologize for making you wait on breakfast. I almost forgot."

"RUDE!" she reprimanded him.

Vixy had been curled up on top of the bed by the pillows. Her fellow pet's shouts woke her up. Her mouth opened wide in a tongue-curling foxy yawn. She stretched her slender forelegs and splayed her toes.

Justin patted Eve's pert little rump. "And what would you like to play with?" As if he had to ask.

With infinite joy and excitement she shouted, "BIG KNIFE!!!"

He grinned at her adorable enthusiasm. "Then go get it!"

Eve gave a "Vee!" of agreement and dashed off on her stubby little legs.

Dr. Foxworth stood up again, figuring he'd give her an extra treat. While the pudgy pokemon rustled in his bedside drawer, he fetched the jerky pouch.

Vixy looked up and gave a sniff-sniff.

"You're a good girl too," he told her, and tossed her a morsel.

She deftly snapped her jaws around it midair and nom-nommed it all up.

Only one thing could make Eve so excited as to not notice the sounds of jerky, and that was the well-used foot-long machete she carried over to the couch in her mouth. She looked left and right. Daddy had been here a moment ago. "Play?"

"Heads up, Eve!" He called out, and threw a strip to her.

Eyes sparkling at this unexpected blessing from heaven, Eve leapt for the jerky, ended up on the coffee table, skidded straight off, and barely avoided voiding the laptop's warranty. "RUDE!!!" she yelled at the coffee table. But the jerky had landed in her fur, so all was right with the world as she popped back up and pounced on it.

Sitting back down, Dr. Foxworth tidied up the table. She hadn't caused too much chaos to his workspace, as he normally kept clutter to a minimum anyway. Plus, the whetstone had done its other job as a paperweight. He picked it up and ran it along the edge of the machete a few times.

Eve's ears perked up. That scraping sound meant BIG KNIFE fun time was coming soon! She soared around the table, up to the cushions, to nuzzle up to Daddy in anticipation.

"Just a moment, little angel! Let me get it nice and sharp, just how you like it."

"YES!" She wriggled beneath his arm and onto his lap. She splayed herself out, getting ready.

First of all, Justin slid the pink bow off Eve's tail and set it aside. Then he undid her collar. It was connected wirelessly to an implant in her brain, allowing her to speak English via a speaker in front. This also allowed her to speak while decapitated, as she soon would be. A birth defect in her spinal column had left the little 'vee unable to feel pain from the neck down, so there was no need to worry about hurting her when they played games like this. Plus, like Vixy, Eve was loaded head to toe with nanites.

Justin picked up the machete and ran the blade along her back like a giant comb. Eve shivered and made eager little moans. He brushed her all over with the knife, stroking her ears, caressing her cheeks, letting her see her reflection in the shiny clean metal. He whispered to her, "Do you want this? Wanna get alllll cut up, my little snuffie sweetfur?"

"Veeeeeeeee!" she squealed.

"I know you do." He put a paw on the back of her neck to steady her, then traced the knife back and forth over her hiney. Up and down and around. Teasing her till she was nearly vibrating. Parting the fur around her cunny and tailhole. Just barely grazing the skin.

Eve made the cutest little begging noises.

"Allright, darling." Dr. Foxworth snugged the blade up against the base of her tail and pressed his thumb against the other side. With the slightest pressure, the sharp metal took a bite.

"YES!!" Eve shrieked. "CUT MORE!"

Justin had lots of practice with her anatomy, and skillfully guided the machete through the line between her spine and tail. A moment later he was holding up a pretty cinnamon powder puff. He showed it to her and tickled her nose with it. "There's your tail! Look, it's so pretty!"

"Tail!"

He set it beside him on the couch. "Is that enough? Shall we put the machete away now?" he teased.

"NOOOOOOO!!! MORE!!" she begged.

"You're so much fun," he praised her, and kissed between her ears.

Eve rolled over and showed him her cute pink pawpads.

"Feet next? I think we can do that, definitely." He gently gripped her right foreleg, stretched it out, and lined up the machete with her ankle. Gently, he rocked it back and forth against her skin.

Eve watched, enraptured, as the wonderful blade slid effortlessly into her. Oh, it felt so good! On some level she knew that this ought to have hurt a lot, and there should have been blood all over. And yet, there was none. The big knife passed through like sliced baloney. It was magic, pure and simple.

Dr. Foxworth separated one little paw and placed it on her tummy.

Eve leaned her head in just far enough to scratch her own chin.

One by one, her feet came off. Justin was impeccably gentle with his carving. Nice and slow, letting her savor every moment. He enjoyed seeing his cuddly eevee come apart like a 3D puzzle. Seeing her meat, pink as her tail bow. Seeing her tail wagging itself over on the cushion.

Vixy saw the wiggly tuft too, and crept over stealthy as a ninja to steal it.

Soon there were four pudgy wigglin' paws beside Eve. She cooed and rubbed the circles of bare flesh together, captivated by how sensitive they were. She liked how tickly the fur at the edges was too. No paws, no tail, but she still had plenty left for the big knife to taste!

Justin tickled her tummy and gave her Eskimo kisses. He held her right hind leg out and slipped the machete into the crevice between hip and thigh. He began to saw back and forth. Slowly. Very little pressure needed. Vivisecting the little eevee was like cutting warm butter. As if her body knew on a material level that the knife was a friend.

Vixy, meanwhile, had succeeded in her mission. She had Eve's tail for a toy, and was batting it around on the floor. She'd jump up and pounce on it like it was a wild bunny she'd caught. Eve barely noticed. Not even when Vixy gnawed on the fleshy bit at the end.

Eve stretched out, arching her back. She luxuriated in the pleasure of being dismembered. The scrape of the blade against her hip bone always gave her a shiver. Soon there were four furry limb chunks set aside. Fore and hind legs. Now she was just a little brown bean with a head!

Justin pulled her close in a big cuddle. "Two cuts left. Which one first? Your pretty throat, so you can watch from my shoulder? Or straight down the middle?" He traced lines in her fur with his finger.

Eve was too far gone in bliss to think of words to answer with, so she wiggled her booty and hoped that conveyed the answer well enough.

"One bisected eevee it is! Wanna save the neck chop for the crescendo, huh?"

She nodded vigorously. Daddy was so good to her!!

Like before when he'd teased around her booty, Justin drew the machete back and forth across Eve's brown-sugar tummyfur. Making a grid, then diagonals. Watching her shiver with pleasure. Though it wasn't just to make her all cutely squirmy. This was a very precise cut; almost like a billiards shot. He notched the tip of the blade against her sternum, flat side down. He smoothed out her fur and felt around her abdomen. The machete was lined up just right.

With one long, smooth, gliding motion, Dr. Foxworth sunk the blade deep into her belly.

Sparkles exploded in Eve's vision. Pleasure overwhelming! The immense satisfaction of feeling her skin tear and split apart! The cold metal plunging into her hot guts! The air rushing in to touch her insides! Her paws and legs twitched, trying in vain to reach her vulva so she could give herself relief.

Dr. Foxworth nudged his dear pet's stomach out of the way. He guided the blade into the coils of her intestines. Some would be severed, but if he kept it to a minimum, she'd be able to pull her parts back together without surgery. The nanites couldn't create, but they could repair. And the cleaner the cut, the easier it was for them.

Eve could feel the big knife invading her innards, like a slithering snake poking its head around. It reminded her of how sometimes Vixy would join them for a sniff and a taste. Watching her sister's muzzle dipping inside her was amazing. Doubly so seeing the fox tug out loops of intestine like a chew rope. (Eve remembered how Vixy had gotten all chopped up and served to Daddy's friends as a meal once. Her fox sister had looked so proud with her head perched in the center of the table, watching everyone appreciate her delicious-smelling meat. Eve wished so hard that could be her someday!)

There was only one place for the machete to go now. Dr. Foxworth steered it by touch, then cupped his paw around Eve's rump. Once he was sure, he gave one more sudden hard tug.

Eve's mind blanked at the astonishing pleasure of feeling the tip of the knife burst out from her tailhole! The rest of its length followed swiftly behind. The edge cut a line straight up her perineum, then cleaved her little canine spade in two!

Dr. Foxworth jerked upwards on the handle, perfectly completing the cut. His little cutiepie was perfectly split from anus to breastbone! He couldn't resist the exquisite, forbidden squishiness of sinking his hand into the wound and gripping her giblets. So warm!

Little whines and barks came from Eve's collar. She'd regressed totally to a nonev state. Her orgasm was all that existed. Far away, beyond the sizzling fireworks in her brain, she could feel both halves of her vivisected vulva throbbing. She was leaking fragrant fluid all over Daddy's lap.

Dr. Foxworth couldn't resist a taste. He pulled out his hand and licked his fingers clean. All sorts of savory, meaty, juicy flavors mixed together on his tongue.

And now, because Eve was a very good girl, Justin decided it was time for her favorite part. With her laid across his lap, the angle wasn't the best, but he could manage it. He raised the machete up past his shoulder...

Eve's maroon eyes focused just barely enough to recognize the glint off the metal raised high. Even in her far-gone state, nothing could take away what that meant! "VEE!!!" She tipped back her head and stretched her neck as far as she could.

Her ruff always got in the way during this part. Justin encircled her throat with his hand, smoothing down much of the creamy-white fluff. He pictured her neck in cross-section. Felt for the bones. Envisioned a line just between the vertebrae... There.

SWISH, the blade came down!

Metal met fur. Metal passed through meat. Even with a full-arm swing instead of a careful slice, Dr Foxworth hardly nicked the bone. He jerked back at just the right time, so the edge came to rest harmlessly against his coat fabric. Eve's adorable dome popped right off and went rolling backwards onto the soft sofa cushions.

The little pokemon sighed and yipped and babbled in total satisfaction. Getting beheaded was SUPER FUN!!!

Dr. Foxworth lifted her torso and licked clean all the wounds. Tasty! He swirled his tongue around her throat and airway. He slurped her split cunny, still puffy and dripping. He laid her body down gently beside him, and scooped up her head for lots of nuzzles and kisses.

She licked his nose in affectionate gratitude. Her senses were split among a dozen different parts, spread all over the couch (and her tail on the floor, still the prize of Vixy). It was overwhelming in the best way.

Justin had already had two very excellent neckfucks today, and didn't really have the stamina for a third. Still, he was already hard as a cast iron skillet from dispatching his 'vee. Might as well put his dick to good use as a head-holder. He started unbuttoning his lab coat.

Daddy skritched between her ears, then lifted her up and positioned her above his boyplace. Eve knew just what that meant! She readied herself for the feel of his cock entering her throat. The hot meat traveled up her neck, and the tip rested on the back of her tongue. Yay! Now she had something tasty she could suck on.

Justin slumped and spread his arms wide across the back of the couch. He sighed in total satisfaction. He rested his paws on Eve's ears like a set of handlebars, just appreciating her cozy warm tunnel.

A wave of tiredness hit him even though he hadn't cum. He glanced at the clock. 'Too soon for bed...' He petted Eve's cheeks. "Would you mind staying there for a while? Just hanging out? Us chilling together, with you on my cock?"

"Mm-hmm!!" she affirmed with her mouth full.

"My good little butchered baby." He patted her headfur. Then he looked around and gathered up as much of Eve as he could, tucking it away in a tidy pile beside him. She usually had fun wriggling around and reassembling herself for a few hours after playtime.

He couldn't find her tail though. "Where...? Am I sitting on it?" He heard toenails clicking on tile. "Vixy?"

She poked her head out from the bathroom doorway, caught red-handed with the evidence in her mouth.

"Vixy! Give that back!"

The little fox ignored him and turned away. This fuzzy toy was too much fun!

There was no way he had the energy to get up and chase her. "Allright, but bring it back at some point, okay?" He had no idea if she was listening. "And don't eat it!!"

Eve didn't care. She was warming Daddy's boyplace, and all was right with the world. What did a tail matter? Daddy could make a new one anyway, like that time she'd gotten it stuck in a cupboard hinge when she was raiding Chef's storeroom.

He tickled under her chin. "What a good li'l hood ornament you are."

Eevees do not purr, but Eve did murmur contentedly.

From his spot on the couch, Justin had just enough reach with his fingertips to snare a game controller. "Sophia, main screen turn on. And start up Steam."

The TV across from him hummed to life. "Would you like to resume Mortal Kombat 12, Doctor Foxworth?"

He'd played plenty of that earlier with Mikey. Though it was his favorite. "Hmm... Actually, didn't I download a Quake II remaster a while ago?"

"Two weeks and four days."

"I should get around to playing that then."

Sophia obliged, and soon the room was full of retro grunts and thumbstick clicking.


***


Under the mighty thumbs of Justin Foxworth, many Stroggs were defeated that day. In a way, dispatching them was doubly satisfying, not just for the solid old-school gameplay and level design. But also, the game's blood-oozing flesh/machine atrocities were people's worst image of cybernetics. The antithesis of his own work. A nightmare that kept people afraid of real-world life-saving technologies. Blasting them to gibs felt like banishing bad perceptions.

Eve was all snuggly on his cock. Daddy eventually got so relaxed and into the game that his erection went away. But that still meant a warm lap to enjoy, so she didn't mind.

Eventually Vixy got tired of Eve's tail and brought it back like a good sibling. She hopped up on the couch next to the mound of eevee parts. This had been her sister's condition enough times that Vixy had grown to enjoy pawing or nosing the parts around, trying to line them up right so she could watch them fuse back together. Very fascinating, and puzzling why her sister's parts needed help, whereas her own body would come properly trotting up to reaffix her head when she wanted it to. Vixy nudged paws and limbs here and there for a while, amusing herself. It seemed that enjoyment of Lego sets was not limited to anthros.

Dr. Foxworth felt heaviness in his eyelids. He needed to rub them, or stretch, or yawn, more frequently. His reactions slowed.

Eve was snoozing on his lap. A happy little head.

He asked Sophia to lower the game's volume to just this side of audible. An unobtrusive murmur. Better.

He relaxed more and more.

His aim slipped a few times. So he thought taking a short break on the pause menu would give him enough of a rest to continue on.

The short pause become five minutes.

Then ten.

The controller slipped from his fingers, and he began to quietly snore.

Sophia dimmed the lights in the little square room.


***


~Chapter Thirteen~


"DAHRR FASSWUFF NN MUMBLEY VUMBLEBY ISM POACHING!!!"

The voice jolted him out of sleep so violently he choked for a moment on his own saliva. Heavy dreams had made the words indecipherable, but he knew the tone meant trouble. He blinked, trying to clear out the sleep-dirt so he could read the blurs on the monitor across from him. "Sophia? What? Can you say that again? I didn't understand a word of it."

"My apologies, Doctor Foxworth. An emergency vehicle is approaching. Four minutes ago, Amberwell Atchison Hospital contacted the lab about a recently-discovered corpse they thought we might be capable of reviving."

'Oh god, please not another gore mess.' Sometimes the various hospitals in the area misunderstood Immortallabs' abilities. Sometimes they sent over bodies that not even a sorcerer could have done anything with. Or a necromancer for that matter.

'Heh. Neck romancer.' The moments just before or after sleep were fertile breeding ground for odd thoughts.

He moved to stand up, then felt a warm round weight upon him. He carefully repositioned Eve first, then stood up fully. He wavered on his feet and had to grab the couch. 'Whoof. Not steady.' He'd gone from full-on R.E.M. sleep to heightened alertness, and his brain was not happy with that. It was a fight to think clearly. "Okay, okay... Sophia, did they tell us the condition of the corpse?"

The hospital had been terse and unhelpful on the phone to Carly, but had thankfully supplemented their scant spoken info with a follow-up email containing police and EMT reports. Sophia took a few seconds to compile and summarize the information. "The body was discovered by the owners of a cabin on Suncatcher Lake. Returning to their property for a vacation, they found a window ajar and a preteen female canine dead of hypothermia in the basement meat freezer. Police have identified Marilyn Fiona Landing, age eleven."

That name was familiar... Dr. Foxworth stumbled away from the sofa and struggled to think. It was on the news, wasn't it? "The missing girl? Hasn't she been gone for months?"

"Forty-four days since the initial reports," Sophia corrected.

"And she was in a meat freezer!?" he shouted. "I hope they arrested someone!"

"The cabin's owners were questioned at the scene by officers, yes, but had photos of themselves in St. Louis, Missouri for the weeks before and after the disappearance. They were told to remain in the area, but no arrests have been made."

"So..." ugh, this was an awful thought, "someone killed a child and hunted around for an abandoned cabin to drop the body in."

"As only one small window was tampered with, the preliminary conclusion is that the girl may have entered by herself and became trapped. At the bottom of the report, 'Hide and seek gone wrong?' was written in pencil."

"Well, that's the least horrible explanation. Let's hope for it." He took a deep breath. The brain fog was lifting, but not entirely. He started rebuttoning his lab coat to give his hands something to do. "Allright. Frozen. That's better than mutilated. Over a month ago. Not great, but not hopeless either. And she's young. Less volume per surface area means she'd freeze faster. Less chance of damage to the brain. We might actually have a shot at this."

"That is why they called, Doctor Foxworth," Sophia agreed.

"Sorry; talking to myself." He looked in the mirror. Professional enough. "Are they right outside?"

"No, Doctor Foxworth. They called just before sending out the ambulance. According to GPS data, they will arrive in five to ten minutes."

Not much time, but enough. "...What time is it anyway?" he asked, just as he realized he was looking directly at a screen with 12:16 A.M. displayed in gigantic blue digits. "Never mind."

He looked back over his shoulder at the couch. Vixy was all curled up in donut mode beside a mostly-reassembled Eve. The foxette was still floating on the edge of sleep, but had one ear perked in case this was something important. Eve was fully awake now, looking with wide eyes at her Daddy for answers. "You both be good. A new patient's coming in. I might not be back to bed in a few hours, or more."

Eve could hear the covered frantic waver in his voice. She started trying to roll herself closer to her neck so she could follow along and keep him comforted.

"Do you need coffee, Doctor Foxworth?" Sophia asked.

He headed for the door. "Of course. But I'll get it myself. Moving around will help me wake up more. I hope."


***


Out in the hall, he first noticed the dimmed lighting and discomforting quiet. Past midnight. The entire building was asleep, besides a few exceptions on the janitorial crew and some lab techs. He was glad Sophia hadn't blared the emergency alarms: Roger would have fired a hole in the ceiling.

Heading around the corner to the main lab, Justin saw that all the lights were on in the reception area. Carly was standing by the door, phone in hand, watching for the ambulance. 'Admirable dedication.' (Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure when the teenage bun actually slept.)

Coffee was a priority, but the first one was making sure the nanite pump would be ready the instant the body was wheeled in. 'The mobile pump unit is... in the main lab,' he thought. 'No! Wait! We moved it to Lab 4 to save space and for easier access.' He was glad he remembered that. He would have walked right by it and wasted time fruitlessly searching.

Lab 4 was at the corner. He didn't even need to turn on the light when he entered. He had good eyesight in the dark, and the gleam off the canisters was unmistakable. Like two silver beehives on a hand truck. His interrupted sleep-state was still kicking around his brain like a soccer ball, but some things he'd done enough times to be stored in muscle memory. Like glancing at the indicator lights to ensure the tanks had been refilled. Green and green. Perfect. He grabbed the cart and wheeled it out.

Turning the corner, he was startled to see Jackson Waterbuck coming from the opposite direction.

Barefoot in his yellow-and-purple striped jammies, the plumper fox looked equally surprised to see someone else awake at this hour.

As Justin guided the cart towards the reception area, Jackson jogged ahead to get the door for him. "There ya go," he panted.

"Sophia would have done that, but thank you nonetheless. Very considerate."

"I aim to please," was the instant reply. Mr. Waterbuck was an employer who tended to lead from behind a desk, but he was good at it, and a big reason why was his sharp observational skills. He took in Dr. Foxworth's frazzled appearance, the big medical doohickey, the lighting difference between the lab and reception, and Carly's anxious posture. "What's the situation?"

"It's not anything you have to worry about. We just got notified that they're bringing in an emergency case."

Jackson clutched his pajama top in his big paws. "Can I help?"

Dr. Foxworth was about to say this was really no place for a client, but then an idea hit him. Something that would be both helpful and easy. "Yes you can, actually. I'm... barely awake. Can you go down to the cafeteria and get me a trenta-sized cold brew, please? I'll take hot coffee if that's all they have. But toss some ice cubes in it?"

Jackson cocked an eyebrow. "Trenta?"

"Biggest cup you can find."

"Ten-four, good buddy. I was actually headin' on over there anyway, to raid whatever 'friggeraters you got."

A nod. "And I was just about to ask why you're still up."

At that, a salacious smile. "The reason's more'n food, kemosabe. I ran into Mr. Gibson a while back and he looked like a trainwreck in a thunderstorm. Told me, 'That woman Andre wore me clean out!'. Well now! When I heard that, I thought maybe she might have some stamina left over that I could attend to."

Justin's eyes went wide. "Did you...!?" He sniffed, and yes, Mr. Waterbuck had a noticeable musk of lovemaking about him.

A belly-shaking chuckle. "That gal's a box of firecrackers, I can tell you!"

Dr. Foxworth was stunned. Most encounters of an erotic nature with the mechanic wolfess left fursons looking like they'd just crawled off a battlefield. "I'm amazed you're uninjured."

"Who says I ain't?" With a big, proud grin, he pulled up his pajama top to reveal several layered bandages. "She got claws like a wheat thresher! Fun times!" He whomped the other fox on the arm. "I'll get you that coffee, Doc, don't you worry. Back in a skedaddle."

Dr. Foxworth made a mental note that the outwardly-soft-looking Mr. Waterbuck was not to be underestimated.

Carly had been hovering nearby, waiting for a break in the conversation. The black-and-white lop bunny darted in as soon as the roly-poly fox headed off. "Dr. Foxworth?"

He turned. She looked high-strung. "Bad news?"

"No! Not at all, actually. I just wanted to let you know I got a text from Shade. The northeast cameras spotted the ambulance. It'll be here soon. She wants to know if you need her down here."

Envisioning the current scenario as an equation, he tried adding a security guard. Nothing changed in the sum. "Tell her to keep to her regular patrol, but be alert if anything does come up."

"Gotcha." She instantly started typing on her phone. "And... sent."

Dr. Foxworth blinked. "How do you do that so fast?"

"Good predictive text keyboard," she replied. "Oh! I was also gonna ask, do you want me or Sophia to wake up Dr. Amin? Like, so you don't have to handle this on your own?"

"Mikey's experience is more mechanical than medical. But yes, he's competent and levelheaded. He'd have been my first choice." He gave her a 'good thinking' nod.

The bunny bashfully nodded back.

Having another pair of hands on this was definitely a good idea though. But who? He hated having to drag someone out of bed, even if this was an emergency. Did he know offhand if anyone had expertise in frozen patients?

He was about to ask Sophia which lab techs were up and about when a fluffy head nuzzled against his leg. He looked down.

"Vee?"

"Awww." He knelt to give Eve a pet. "You're volunteering, sweetheart? You saw I was worried, didn't you? What a good girl. I'm afraid I don't have a job for you. Unless you've been to med school when I wasn't looking."

Carly had to restrain herself from squealing at the cuteness.

The pokemon's big, dark eyes looked up in an expression of total devotion. Justin petted softly between her ears. "You can stay, so long as you're quiet and don't get in the way, allright?" He indicated she could go sit in one of the chairs on either side of the room.

Eve yapped in agreement and obeyed.

Standing back up, Dr. Foxworth took another look at Carly and had a brainstorm. For the first several months of her employment, he'd kept the young lapine mostly in the dark. Her secretarial skills were exemplary, but he was still wary about potential trade secrets leaking out from a teenager who was constantly on her phone. Yet in all the time that had passed, she'd shown herself to be nothing less than 100% trustworthy. "You asked me- What was it? Last week?- about reading up on some of the lab procedure materials?"

"Yes, Doctor!" She was happily flustered he'd remembered. As she'd put it then, she wanted to be available to help out with more than just data. This would be like taking the written driver's test before going on the road.

"How much have you read?"

"Almost everything you gave me."

He made an 'impressive' noise. Then he pointed at the cart. "What's this?"

"Um? That's the mobile nanomachine pump? Modified from a cardiopulmonary bypass machine?"

"You're drafted."

"WHAT!?" She slapped her paws over her mouth, hoping she hadn't woken up anyone.

Dr. Foxworth gave her his most reassuring smile and patted her on the shoulder. "You were right, I can't do this alone. I'll hook up the machine. All you'll have to do is keep an eye on it. I know you can. You've shown me how good you are with details."

It was not difficult to read Carly's expressions in the next few seconds. Terror at the responsibility. Worry of screwing up. Then a blushing appreciation of how much confidence he was showing in her. Finally, her muzzle tightened with determination. Her eyes met his. "Okay."

"I knew I could count on you. Just, make sure to put your phone away. I don't want photos leaking to the press," he teased.

It was swept out of sight in an eyeblink. She was actually close to heartbroken. "I promise, I'd NEVER-!"

"Only kidding! Don't worry!"

She looked greatly relieved. "What do I need to do?"

"Mostly, just keep a watch over the tubes. They'll be pure silver at first, then..." He trailed off, spotting something in his peripheral vision. Blue light. Getting brighter by the second.

He broke off and ran to the door. Sophia opened it. Carly followed.

After 11PM, it was up to the EMTs' discretion whether they put on the siren. Randy had decided that, since his patient wasn't getting any deader, and since the only ones out on such a rural road this late at night were hopfrogs, his lights and engine were more than enough to scare any woodland neighbors off the road. He'd been beginning to think his GPS was leading him into the middle of nowhere when he finally caught sight of a building at the end of the long, long driveway.

Justin and Carly both stood at the entrance with cold night breezes passing through their fur. They watched silently as flashing blue beacons glided closer. The mile-length path through the woods meant that any visitors could be seen coming from a long way off. It also meant that time slowed to a crawl waiting for them to actually arrive.

The fox and rabbit shielded their eyes as the big boxy vehicle finally cleared the last of the trees and onto the parking lot. It pulled right up to the entrance and cut its lights. Its dark blue paint blended with the night. Most visible was the white stripe, caduceus, and 'EMS' in huge gold letters.

A brown tabby in a thick winter jacket popped out from the driver's side and went straight to the back. Visible plumes of cold air escaped when he opened the doors. He had the stretcher unfolded in seconds. Upon it was their patient. The wheels clickety-clacked against the cement.

Carly gasped. Coming towards her was the worst thing she had ever seen in her life. She was intensely proud to finally be a part of Immortallabs' work, but this would not be an easy introduction. Like she'd done as a little girl, she sandwiched her right ear between her paws and squoze it for comfort. 'That used to be a little girl...' she thought.

It wasn't necessary to have skimmed the reports to know that Marilyn Landing had been found locked inside a meat freezer. Her body had been petrified into the shape of it. Lying on her back, her arms and legs were contorted at painful angles in the air above her. Pushing at nothing. Motionless as wood. Like the most gruesome performance ever of a mime in an invisible box.

'She looks like they pulled her out of a glacier. Like that caveman exhibit. There's no way anyone could ever come back from this. That's crazy. We can't possibly...'

Carly had to force herself not to scream as the body passed a foot in front of her through the open glass doors. The Doc and the EMT were talking, but she couldn't hear a word. She stared. Holy fuck, the kid's fingertips were all bloody from trying to burrow her way out. Splintered clawtips. Dots of black frostbite on swollen digits. Fur all swirled and stiff and matted down. Patches of butcher paper were still glued to her back and thighs. Her muzzle hung open. Her eyes were thankfully shut. Carly watched the EMT guy lower the sides of the stretcher. 'I'll bet she used to be a real cutie. Look at that caramel macchiato fur. A collie? Maybe a sheltie. Pretty ears...' Her thoughts were rambling, dissociated.

The shock of seeing death so close up and real had kept her from noticing something else. Something incomprehensible. "Why is she NAKED!?" she suddenly screamed.

Dr. Foxworth and the EMT both jumped, startled.

"I'm sorry! Oh shit! You guys were talking and I just... I'm sorry!!"

Dr. Foxworth put his hands up in a calming gesture and guided Carly's eyes to his. "It's a common side effect of late-stage hypothermia. If you thought someone did this to her, it's allright; most likely they didn't. It's called 'paradoxical undressing'. When you're very cold, your body tries to hoard all the warm blood at your core, to keep the vital organs safe. But if there's no rescue, that process fails and warm blood comes rushing back to the limbs and extremities. It creates a feeling of burning up. A lot of freezing victims are found like this. It's upsetting, yes. Your reaction is perfectly understandable."

The EMT nodded. "I could not have said that better."

Carly let out a huge 'whoosh' of relief. "Okay! Th-thank you. Sorry again for freaking out! I'm okay now." She straightened up her posture. "What's the plan?"

He gave her a nod of appreciation for being brave. This was definitely a bit much for an 18-year-old to have to deal with all of a sudden. "For starters, I was an idiot in dragging the cart out here instead of the main lab, but reception is open and clean and well-lit, so this'll do. We can't hope to get enough nanites in her to revive the whole body, so we'll have to decapitate her and send as many as we can up the major blood vessels directly into the brain. If we're lucky, what killed her is also what might save her. She looks perfectly preserved." He asked the EMT, "How long has she been out of refrigeration?"

The tabby's nametag read 'RANDALL TANNER'. "From the lake to the hospital's about 25 miles. I drove straight here with the AC on max, but that probably wasn't enough. So, maybe an hour overall? That reminds me..." Now that he was inside the building, he no longer needed the bulky coat that had been keeping him warm in the ambulance. He tossed it onto a chair. Underneath was his regulation work pants and short-sleeved shirt.

Dr. Foxworth blanched. "An hour is not ideal. If her brain thaws, it'll start deteriorating fast. We need to get to work. Mr. Tanner?"

"Just Randy."

"Randy, do you mind sticking around to help?"

A pause to consider. "Ninety-nine nights out of a hundred around here, not a damn thing happens. I'll check in with dispatch to be sure, but yeah, I'm in."

Dr. Foxworth had noticed it was unusual that they'd sent out only one paramedic instead of two. But, after midnight on a weeknight, in an area that was mostly woods and crops... Yeah, that scanned.

"And me?" Carly asked, with a hitch in her voice.

"I won't make you do anything gooshy. For now, until the pumps are hooked up, you can take a seat."

"Right!" She picked a chair and sat down, as resolutely as she could.

The reception area felt eerie even without a dead body in the middle of it. Nothing was visible but darkness beyond the glass doors at either end of the room. In between, just glaring white light and rows of unused chairs, like a phantom audience. Dr. Foxworth looked down at the corpse and walked himself back through his memories. He was not at his peak right now, mentally, but this was not unfamiliar territory. He'd done surgeries lasting from eight p.m. to six a.m. No one in the world was in a better position to pull this poor girl back from the grip of the abyss. 'I just have to focus. What does a frozen body need? Warmth, obviously. She's an ice cube now. Solid. The nanites are going to have a hell of a time tunneling in there. Though, they do produce a lot of heat. Half their functions are thermally-operated.' His eyes popped open. Talk about killing two birds with one stone! "Sophia, tell the nanites to turn off heat recycling!"

"Yes, Doct-"

He waved a hand in the air. "No! Wait! Switching it off entirely would be overkill. She'd be a well-done roast within minutes. Instead, reduce thermoelectric recycling to... Uh..." What percentage would be best?

"I can monitor Miss Landing's internal temperature and adjust heat output continually."

"YES. Start that right now, Sophia. They're going to have to melt their way up the blood vessels."

Randy had seen a hell of a lot on his job. This was his first run out to this place. He'd heard rumors. Every hospital and meat wagon had. But they were obviously ridiculous. Except, now, it seemed like maybe they weren't. He stood back at parade rest, silently thunderstruck.

Dr. Foxworth chewed his lip. He reached out to grasp the body at various points, trying to get a sense of how solidly frozen she was. He winced hard when a slight touch was enough to make her left thumb crack off and ricochet off the stretcher.

With a cat's reflexes, Randy caught it. "That happens. Don't beat yourself up."

"I know. Startled me though."

"There was this story in med school about a frozen guy, and his pecker-"

Carly turned her head and made a heaving noise.

Randy took the hint. "Another time then."

"Her head has to come off, and quick," Dr. Foxworth assessed, getting back to business. He poked at the neck. Hard as a chunk of quartz. "Scalpel wouldn't make a dent. Do you have a bone saw in your truck?" he asked Randy.

The tabby shook his head. "Not standard equipment."

Dr. Foxworth knew they had some here at the lab, but couldn't remember where, which was extremely frustrating. He felt the seconds tick by. He imagined the ice in Marilyn's grey matter dripping.

Then he happened to glance at the row of chairs to his right. And he smiled. "Eve!"

She perked right up like a motor starting.

"Run! Go get Big Knife!!"

That was all she needed to hear. She was off like a bullet. "BIG KNIFE!!!"

Randy watched a brown streak make a beeline to the first room past the reception area, then come zooming triumphantly back with a bigass goddamn machete. "Uhhh..."

Dr. Foxworth reached down to tickle under Eve's chin and take it from her. "Good girl! Goooood girl!"

Eve eagerly rolled onto her back and splayed her legs out.

"Sorry, darling. This is for someone else this time."

She pouted and glared at him. "RUDE!" Then went back to her chair to sulk. She thought she'd won the lottery; two dismemberings in one night!

Dr. Foxworth looked back to Randy and said tactfully, "It would take too long to explain."

"Y'all are weird around here," said Randy.

"Correct," said Dr. Foxworth.

The vulpine physician took a steadying breath and looked down at frozen little Marilyn Landing, age eleven. A slender, pretty muzzle. Big floppy auburn ears with two star-shaped piercings in each: pink and gold.

He felt the pebbly texture of the machete's handle in his grip, and the sheer weight of the carbon steel blade. There were no lewd thoughts in his head about what he had to do next. He had no difficulty keeping a rigid distinction between work and play when he needed to. What worried him was, even though he knew the exact line he had to hit, he'd never chopped through ice-stiff flesh before. If he didn't bring down enough force to make a clean cut, any number of awful things could happen. The spine might shatter, damaging her brainstem. The neck might be so brittle it'd crumble into shrapnel. The blade might get stuck halfway in. Or glance off at an angle and shear her muzzle off.

"Sorry to interrupt, but y'all still want that coffee?"

Dr. Foxworth turned around, and there at the opposite end of the room was a big chubby fox in yellow-and-purple pajamas, holding up a 32oz soda cup.

"AB. SO. LUTE. LY," he enunciated with extreme gratitude.

Mr. Waterbuck chuckled. "Sorry I took a while! Machine gave me some trouble. Different model than what I usually stock." He ambled over. The doctor's white coat had obscured most of the stretcher, and when Jackson got a look at its contents, his jolly expression went instantly to sorrow. "Dear lord Jesus... What happened to this poor girl?"

Randy put his hand up and was about to shoo away this interfering civilian.

Dr. Foxworth gave him a shake of the head: 'It's fine.'

Randy acknowledged with a look of: 'Your place, your rules.' To Mr. Waterbuck he said, "She broke into a lakeside cabin and got herself sarcophagus'd in a meat freezer. We have no idea why yet. We just found her this afternoon."

Staring in horror, Mr. Waterbuck silently brought the coffee over to Dr. Foxworth. It could not have been clearer that he was a parent himself, and was imagining his own daughter succumbing to such a fate. As the cup passed hands, he looked into the doctor's eyes with ironclad sincerity. "I would prefer not to go back to my room and spend the rest of the night trying to get to sleep with an image like this in my mind. I don't understand how you do what you do here, Doc. But if I may assume," he pointed to Marilyn, "she wouldn't be here unless you were trying to snatch her back from the brink. If you can, I would like to help. I have experience acting under pressure. And I know I might not seem it, but on occasion I can shut my mouth and take orders."

Dr. Foxworth felt some of his own pressure lift just from hearing that. In his experience, many people had the will to help, but rarely the temperament to do so effectively. "Those are very admirable qualities," he told Mr. Waterbuck, and reached out his hand for a shake.

"Thank you." The fox's big mitt engulfed the doctor's paw and squeezed like a lemon press.

Dr. Foxworth grimaced. He wasn't sure he had a hand left after that. "I can't think of anything right now, but I know a procedure like this is never simple, and it's always good to have someone who can run and fetch paper towels, or certain tools, or..."

He trailed off.

He found himself staring at Mr. Waterbuck's arm. That big, thick arm. Not just flabby. There was some solid muscle underneath.

Another beautifully crazy idea occurred to him. "Have you ever used a machete!?"

Jackson tilted his head. That was unexpected as hell! "As a matter of fact, I have. Got one under the bar at my summer place. Splittin' coconuts in half for mixed drinks, y'know?"

Dr. Foxworth's face lit up. "Perfect!!!" He pushed the weapon into Jackson's hands.

Randy had seen what the doctor had been psyching himself up to do a moment ago. He swiftly connected the dots. "Are you seriously asking a layman to help you perform brain surgery?"

Dr. Foxworth swiveled towards him with a laser glare. "Every second we waste talking drops the chances we can revive her. Unless you think you have the arm strength to cleave straight through frozen bone in one swing?"

Randy put his paws up. "Allright, allright! Just so long as you're the one liable."

Jackson was no dummy, and had inferred by then why he had been asked about machetes. Though hearing it put so bluntly made him bite his lip to not object. He'd offered to help, goddammit, and he hadn't put any qualifiers on that.

First, Dr. Foxworth took a long, cool, lovely swig of cold brew. OH! Heavenly! He immediately felt his neurons coming back online. Then he clapped his hand to Jackson's shoulder. "I'll help you though this. You have shown me in just one day that you are very good at accepting and adapting to new, strange things. This is just one more. And it will help save a life."

A nod. "Then let's start the show."

"Good to hear." He turned to the seated bunny receptionist. "Carly! Get me the biggest, thickest permanent marker you can find."

She sprung to her feet. "Yes, Doctor!" She nearly tripped over her chair running to her desk.

Dr. Foxworth looked at Marilyn's neck, envisioning the line. He looked back to the machete. The machete he'd used on Eve. The machete that had traveled through Eve's intestines, where all the icky stuff was. "This needs to be cleaned," he realized.

Carly was rustling through drawers but overheard. "I got a bottle of hand sanitizer over here!"

"I got one on my belt," Randy offered.

Dr. Foxworth pointed to the cat. "Yours is closer." He took the machete back from Jackson and held it out.

Randy squirted a blob into his paws and started slicking the blade up and down. "This ain't standard procedure."

"I know," Justin acknowledged. "But it ought to be enough. If it was a live patient, I would never be doing this."

Carly ran back. "Here's the marker! It's red, is that okay? The black one was all dried up."

"Color's irrelevant, so long as it can draw on frozen fur." Dr. Foxworth handed the machete back to Mr. Waterbuck, and took the marker from Carly, uncapping it in the same motion. His mind's eye saw the cervical vertebrae in Marilyn's neck in perfect detail, but his free hand traced along the back of her neck, feeling the bumps, just to be absolutely sure. He drew the line. The marker cooperated perfectly.

Then he pointed to it and told Mr. Waterbuck, "Hit that. Perfectly. In one try."

The plump fox gulped. His grip on the machete wavered, but only for an instant.

"Well, it doesn't actually have to be PERFECTLY perfect. You're aiming for a cartilage disc about a centimeter wide. Too far up or down will hit solid bone. That is very, very not good."

High stakes indeed. Jackson shook his head and exhaled hard. "You're lucky as hell I'm as good at darts as I am at poker."

Everyone stepped back to give him room to swing.

Jackson Waterbuck took a moment to appreciate how very odd the universe was, that all these moments in time had brought him to a place where he needed to pop a kid's cork to save her life. In front of an audience, no less! He raised the long blade high, getting his arm used to its weight. A little lighter than the one at home. Some kinda polymer handle, not wood. Newer model. Felt expensive.

"Ain't no different from a coconut..." he told himself.

He took a deep breath. "BANZAI!!!"

SWOOSH

KER-SMASH

WHAMMMM

The knife dropped, frost fragments showered the room, and the machete cleaved straight through the padding of the stretcher, clanging against the metal frame below and leaving a huge dent.

Jackson winced. "Aw fuck, I'll pay for that."

"HOLY SHITTING POPES, YOU DID IT!" Randy burst out.

They could not have hoped for a better cut. Lying on the stretcher was now two bisected pieces of collie. Some lightningstrike splintering was visible in the bone, but the actual meat looked like a cross section in a medical textbook. Visible were all the various tubes, wide open and ready for nanites.

Dr. Foxworth had a hand over his heart, trying to keep it from beating right out of his chest. "That was phenomenal, Mr. Waterbuck. You can sit down and congratulate yourself."

"Don't mind if I do." He plopped down on a chair that creaked in complaint, and cradled his head in both hands. The machete dropped to the floor with a clatter. "Whoooooo-wee! Thank you, Lord, for helping me not fuck that up!"

Eve did not like to see such disrespect being shown to BIG KNIFE, so she trotted over, picked it up, and carried it back to her room.

Dr. Foxworth nodded to Randy, then to the body. "Okay, so right now, all we can save is her head. The rest will just get in the way. Lab 4 is right outside the reception area, to your left, and the first door around the corner. If I didn't forget to close it, Sophia will open it up for you."

The tabby made like a forklift and got his arms underneath the surprisingly-heavy corpse. "Just... pick it up and drop it there? Won't it melt?"

"Probably. But it's much easier to fix damage below the neck if it does. And even if we can't, there's always the cloning printers." Dr. Foxworth left out the fact that they were already backlogged. He made a mental note that Ashleigh's organs could be delayed a few more days if necessary.

Randy tried not to sound incredulous. "Cloning printers. Allrighty then..." He schlepped the collie off the gurney and grunted hard. EMTs often have to lift unconscious people, sometimes heavier than themselves. But dead weight sucked hardest. And this was ICED dead weight! "Christ, this little girl feels like I'm carryin' a Toyota..."

On hearing that, Jackson hefted himself up. "Y'all want any help with that?"

"I would very much like some help with this, yes." They tangoed a bit, trying to find the best position to get all four of their arms in. "You turn around, I'll walk backwards. I'm used to it. Much obliged, by the way."

They began hauling off the body like three people impersonating a huge lumpy crab. "No problemo, compadre. I own a pediatric hospital, by the by. Y'all wanna thank me? I'll getcha some business cards 'n you can pass 'em around to the various procurement departments in town. You bet your sweet aunt's titties I got deals on surplus! Know anyone who needs a surgical coagulator?"

Randy's eyebrows went up. "Are you fucking kidding!? Ambercare's only got the one! And it's fifteen years old!!"

"I got ten in a warehouse down in Dallas." Jackson flashed a grin of pure concentrated, 'ain't I just the greatest?'.

Meanwhile, Dr Foxworth had pulled on latex gloves and was poking around Marilyn's neck, looking for any signs of degradation. Blessedly, he wasn't seeing any. She'd had the bad luck of dying, but the good luck of doing so in a way that had nearly stopped time for her tissues. He set the head back down; it was still so cold, holding onto it made his fingers hurt. "Carly?"

She was at his side in a hop.

"Get four hoses detached and just hold onto them for now. Like a bouquet. When I tell you to, start handing them over to me one by one."

"Right!" The pump was a microwave-sized trapezoidal box (on wheels, for some reason) with about a dozen long clear tubes snaking out from it. Some went down to the tanks below, others had their tips holstered in little cups that kept them sterile. Carly stared for a bit, then bashfully asked, "...Which ones?"

The sleepiness was still having its way with him. "My apologies. I forgot to tell you, two of each."

"Okay, cool, I thought so. I just wanted to be really, really extra sure first?" A nervous giggle. She inferred that the little red and blue bits of tape indicated which hoses were for arteries and which were for veins. 'Even though blood isn't ever really blue. Skin just makes it look like that.' She'd learned that on Reddit.

On the other side of the machine, Dr. Foxworth flipped the switch to turn it on, then beeped some buttons to get it ready. "I didn't get to finish saying this earlier, but all I need from you is to monitor the tubing for any major changes in vascular contents. When I turn on the flow, you'll see silver at first. That's the nanites going to work. Then there'll be thick dark streaks. The blood will be severely deoxygenated when it comes out. When the black turns to red, that's a good sign. Let me know when that happens."

"I can do that!"

He gave her a thankful smile. "Afterward, I just need you make sure everything stays plugged in and stable. I'll be using clamps, but keep an eye out they don't get jiggled around too much anyway. If an air bubble gets in, that could cause a stroke. If you see one, pinch the tube and tell me right away."

She nodded somberly.

"Aside from that, just note anything that seems obviously weird. If the blood changes color suddenly. If pressure drops and a hose goes limp, or starts backing up. If you see a bone fragment. Things like that. Hopefully it'll all go smooth and you won't have much to report. Although, given how uneven melting can be, we might see little 'blood icebergs' clogging up the tubes. A gentle squeeze should send them on their way."

Carly was momentarily intimidated, but then thought about how much it all sounded like a mobile game. She could imagine the four tubes lined up on her screen, having to watch them for changes, then tap on them to pinpoint problems.

Dr. Foxworth took another slurp of coffee. It felt weird drinking it through a straw from a wobbly plastic cup instead of a sturdy mug, but the most important thing was that the cup was Very Big, with Lots Of Coffee in it. "Hand me the first hose, Carly. Arterial." She did, and he eyed the four main blood vessels. Two carotid, two jugulars. The clamps had been in a little box on the cart that he'd grabbed earlier. And he realized suddenly they wouldn't work. The meat was too solidly frozen to clamp onto. "Damn," he muttered.

Carly's ears raised. "Problems?"

"I just have to think of something else..." 'Hold them manually in place till the flesh thaws? No, obviously not. Surgical glue? That would work, but might risk ripping out the vessels later.' His ear swiveled towards the sound of Randy and Mr. Waterbuck returning.

"...Actually, if it's not too much to ask, d'you mind running off and bringing me a coffee too?" the cat asked.

The fox chuckled. "Shit naw! I'm the gofer tonight. Hot or cold?"

"Hot. Three sugars."

Jackson saluted and turned back towards the cafeteria.

Dr. Foxworth waved to get the paramedic's attention. "Could you check on the bottom of the cart, if there's a box of hose barbs?"

"Sure." Randy jogged over and knelt. He rustled around. "Right here."

"Good!" Dr. Foxworth tipped some out into his palm. They were tiny metal nozzles, shaped a bit like palm trunks, that would keep the tubes from slipping back out. Not perfect, but he could switch to clamps later on. He inserted one into the hose end. As a lucky bonus, the shape of the tip helped him screw it into the frosty artery.

No time to waste plugging all four in first. He reached out to Carly. "Second hose. Also arterial."

She held another red one out to him.

He began inserting it. "Sophia, are the nanites programmed to know where to go and what to do?"

"Yes, Doctor Foxworth."

He nodded. He was confident she'd have been keeping an ear on their conversation and relaying instructions to her fellow machines. "As soon as you start getting data from the nanites, bring it up on every screen. Temperature first, then brain activity once we see any." He grimaced. "...IF we see any." He looked to Randy. "I'll be busy with the pump. You keep an eye on her vitals."

The tabby squinted, befuddled for a moment. "Ummmm... I kinda need an arm or something to check her pulse."

"I meant GCS."

He blinked. "Right! That should've been obvious. I just never worked with just a head before, sorry." 

"Understandable. Very few people have." The Glasgow Coma Scale was a system for assessing consciousness after a traumatic brain injury. Higher numbers correlated to more aware and voluntary responses. The ideal score was a 15. Marilyn currently had a 3; the lowest possible. "Obviously, there's no need to yet. But if we start seeing results, I'll want checks every minute. Tell me if the numbers go up."

Randy nodded. That left him with not much to do in the moment. He suddenly remembered he'd never called dispatch to let them know he'd be staying a while. "Fire farts! I'll be back in a second!" He headed out the glass doors, back to his truck.

The reception area had three TVs. Two behind each row of chairs, and a great big one behind Carly's workstation. All of them flashed to life and numbers began appearing. Most of them were zeroes. The first nanites that had wriggled their way inside reported a core temperature of 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Good. Hopefully that meant her frontal lobe was still nice 'n frosty. "Third hose, Carly. Venous."

"Here you go. The first two look all silver inside, just like you said."

"Mm-hmm." He got another hose barb skroonched into the tip, then jammed it in the meat. He shook his hands afterwards, then blew on them.

The lop bun made a sympathetic noise. "If it's anything like trying to pry apart the nuggets and the fries before you cook a TV dinner, I feel ya."

He blanked for a moment. "I literally can't remember the last time I had one of those. Chef has taken me far away from such things."

Carly shrugged. "They're cheap, they're quick, and the roomies won't eat 'em."

A moment later, all four hoses were secured. Thousands of nanites were marching up the tubes to begin their repairs. Carly began scrutinizing them intently for air bubbles and anomalies. Awful-looking blood started exiting; thick and dark like hot fudge. 

Dr. Foxworth brushed his fingers along the length of the hoses and could easily feel the warmth from the nanites inside. He imagined them shoveling out a path completely blocked with snow. He checked the pump again. Everything was flowing as anticipated. Looking back at the monitors, he saw Marilyn's temperature was at 21 already. Good progress. But at this rate, it was going to be a very long time before there'd be any visible change in her status.

He sighed. "From here on out, we wait."

Jackson came back from the cafeteria with a steaming mug. "I got that machine figgered out this time!" he said victoriously. He stopped and looked all around the room. No Randy. "Where'd that guy go? He run off to piss?"


***


"Electrical activity recorded in the brainstem, Doctor Foxworth," Sophia announced.

His head jerked up. "Wha? Oh, good!" He realized he'd been dozing with his eyes open. Staring at the TV on the far wall and seeing nothing but a blue-white fuzz rectangle. He was seated in one of the lobby's expensive metal-and-glass chairs, and had been sinking lower and lower until he was halfway to horizontal. 'I'm surprised I kept my grip on my coffee.'

Which reminded him: 'More.' He took another long slurp. Maybe just an illusion, but he felt a jolt of renewed energy and stood up.

Randy had pulled up a chair beside the stretcher and was sitting backwards in it. Ironically, he was on his phone killing time, not Carly. The lop bun was still watching the nanite tubes with a hawk's gaze.

Dr. Foxworth leaned in beside her. The blood circulating through the hoses was a nice, healthy, oxygenated red. He vaguely remembered that she'd called out something about that earlier, but he'd been spaced out. He patted her arm. "You are getting a fat bonus in your next paycheck."

She jumped! She'd been concentrating so much on the tubes that she hadn't noticed him approaching. "Really!? Sweet! Um, thank you!"

He pulled a glove back on and commenced prodding Marilyn's meat. Room temperature. Good. That meant he could finally swap out the barbs for the clamps. He flicked off one of the pumps. "Pinch that hose and hold it steady."

Carly gave a nod and did so.

Dr. Foxworth checked the readouts on the TV screen. Their patient's internal temperature was 87 degrees. Better and better.

Randy paused his gem-matching game. "Anything for me to do?"

Doc thought a bit. "Hm. I guess... If you don't mind moving it again, putting Marilyn's body in Lab 4 was just to get it out of the way. It'd keep cool better in the morgue."

The tabby stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Should be thawed and easier now. Y'got any menthol jelly if she's started smellin'?"

"Always," Dr. Foxworth replied. "Should be in plain sight on the lefthand counter. If not, the morgue itself will have some, guaranteed." Any facility that deals with death knows how vital it is to keep on hand several little jars of goop that can be spread under one's nose in case of 'aromas'. "Sophia? Can you show him where it is?"

"Yes, Doctor Foxworth. This way, Mister Tanner."

He was about to ask how, but then a light came on in the hallway leading to Lab 4. He made a 'that's pretty clever' face and headed off. He passed Mr. Waterbuck, who had his arms folded over his big belly, snoozing quietly across two chairs.

Adrenaline makes time slow down, especially when one is watching the clock. There were incremental improvements in Marilyn's numbers as the minutes ticked onward, but nothing that could be called 'life'. Sophia continued to dutifully display all the information from the nanites on the television screens. She and Randy played follow-the-light. Marilyn was much less rigid, and thankfully not stinky yet. Randy was able to get her to the elevator and up to the morgue with a fireman's carry. The back of his work shirt ended up soaked with melted water. Dr. Foxworth gave Carly a break and took up tube-watching duties after all the clamps were in place. Carly was grateful for the reprieve. She went to her desk for some Skittles and passed time arranging them by color and squishing them into discs before eating them. Mr. Waterbuck eventually snorted himself awake and decided to go get a coffee for himself. Plus whatever else he could find in the cafeteria.

Sophia announced electrical activity in the thalamus, then the cerebellum, then the white matter. A major moment was the perfusion of the Circle Of Willis. This was a conjunction of the brain's major blood vessels around the top of the brainstem, similar to a highway cloverleaf. This area was where 90% of aneurysms happened, so Dr. Foxworth was able to relax a little once the nanites made it through and no rupture occurred.

Randy returned after finishing his task and detouring by the restroom to wring out his shirt. He tossed the last of the paper towels in Carly's trash can. (She felt her heart pitter-pat at the sight of his shirt unbuttoned.) He sat back down in his chair and, not expecting much, performed the first Glasgow Scale check. To his surprise, Marilyn's fluffy triangle ears weren't completely limp. He figured that was close enough to the usual method of observing hand movements. Eyes were still closed and unresponsive. Ditto when he snapped his fingers close to the pup's ear. "It's a start though. Enough to upgrade you from a 3 to a 4."

They waited.

They watched the monitors.

They fidgeted.

Jackson came back with some goodies from the vending machine and stood out of the way to watch. Dr. Foxworth helped Randy test Marilyn's responses. Carly thought maybe it would help to sit beside the stretcher, resting her head against Marilyn's with her big soft lop ears as a blanket, cradling her.

"Electrical activity in the frontal lobe, Doctor Foxworth," said Sophia.

That got everyone to sit up a little straighter.

Randy had been updating Marilyn's GSC number every other minute or so, but she still wasn't any better off than braindead. Reflexive twitches weren't the same as consciousness. But the frontal lobe was where the action happened, so maybe it was time to start feeling hope. "Eyelids: nothing. But ears respond to pressure. She's a 6. Still a 1 on verbal responses, though."

Dr. Foxworth nodded. "That's not surprising. She doesn't have any... lungs." The moment the word left his mouth he realized something he'd forgotten. "Dammit! Carly, can you go back to checking the hoses for a moment? I have to run off to the lab!"

Carly sat up, cricked her neck at the odd position she'd been sitting in, and scooted her chair around near the pump.

When he'd given Ashleigh the works earlier, Dr. Foxworth had implanted a tiny fan to allow her to speak. They were kept in a case on the counter. And there were two more of her size in there, he remembered. Marilyn and Ashleigh were close enough to the same age.

He skidded down the hall to the main lab. There was the case. There were the implants. He pocketed both, just to be sure, and hustled back.

After installation in her trachea, he asked Randy to try another GSC.

The tabby hollered at Marilyn's ear, and in response there was the slightest little 'guh' sound.

Randy's eyebrows went way up. "Little girl, you just went from a verbal 1 to a 2, and that makes 7. Two more and you're out of the worst!"

The TV screens now displayed a core internal temperature of 98 degrees and measurable activity in every structure of the brain. Now was the time to bite one's nails. Now, when they were so close, did the seconds stretch into minutes and the minutes take eternity.

Marilyn's eyes opened.

Jackson dropped his donut. "Holy shit..."

Randy waved his paw, but Marilyn's pupils didn't follow it. She blinked though. Not ideal, but better than the half-lidded inertness before.

Dr. Foxworth took over the hoses again, leaving Carly itching to help but not knowing how. She figured humming a soothing lullaby couldn't hurt. Give their patient something calming to come back to.

"Marilyn? Marilyn Landing?" Randy tried again. "Can you fold your ear for me? Can you speak? Can you smile? Anything?" No response, but there was some twitching as if she were trying to.

Sophia spoke up: "Doctor Foxworth, the nanites report brain functions are now comparable to a living furson in a deep cycle of sleep."

"That's a hell of a lot better than dead!!" Randy exclaimed.

"Uhhhhh," said Marilyn. "Uhh. Uhh."

Dr. Foxworth immediately crouched closer. "Marilyn? Can you hear us?" he asked.

Her eyes rotated towards the sound of his voice.

Randy gulped in astonishment. "That's a 9!" Mid-range now. Out of the red, into the yellow, but not quite green.

"You can do it, angel," Carly whispered.

Jackson wiped his paws on his pajama top, then asked with a glance if he could come closer and try to help too.

Dr. Foxworth gave him a nod.

The plump fox checked himself for crumbs and squoze in as daintily as he could. He rested a big warm paw on the back of Marilyn's head and gently rubbed behind her ears with his thumb. The tactile feedback he received was incredible. Death had a feel to it. As if, when the spirit left its shell, some unknown heaviness took its place instead. But even as a severed head, Marilyn felt vastly different now than her body had earlier. A warmth and resiliency to the skin beneath her fur.

"Shff nuh. Wmmmmm," Marilyn said.

Randy tickled her nose. She twitched her muzzle and flared her nostrils in response. "10." He shook his head in astonishment. "I have seen a hell of a lot on this job. Most of the impossible stuff was worse than I'd ever tell. This is... Goddamn, it's good to have one of the impossible things finally be on the positive side."

Dr. Foxworth nodded. He called Marilyn's name a few more times.

"Auwa," she said.

"Was that a word?" Carly asked.

Randy shrugged.

Jackson stroked softly. "Y'just keep fightin', buttercup. Just a little more. You're so close to home."

The young collie's ears were definitely perked up now, rotating at sounds. Though it was unclear if those sounds were registering. Sometimes in sleep, the brain picks up noises that are incorporated into dreams without waking the listener.

"Sophia, blood oxidization is normal now, right? She no longer needs the pump?" Dr. Foxworth asked.

"Blood oxygen levels have been normalized for the past seventeen minutes."

"Oh." That was definitely a yes. He started unclamping hoses. Marilyn tensed as each one released its pinch.

"Can you hear us, Marilyn?" Randy asked, for what felt like the hundredth time.

Her eyes rolled around and fixed directly on him.

His breath caught in his throat. 'Fuck me sideways! She's not just looking at me, she's SEEING me!' He was entirely certain of it. He'd seen coma patients put on very convincing displays of awakeness before, but it was all just illusions of reflex. Mechanical stimulus-response. When someone made deliberate eye-contact, there was a specific but ineffable difference.

"Marilyn?" Dr. Foxworth asked.

Her reactions so far had been swimmy. Slightly delayed. Then suddenly there was a very noticeable change. Marilyn's eyelids opened wide. She blinked against the glaring light above. Her pupils darted all around the room. Her mouth opened in a silent gasp.

Dr. Foxworth leaned over, both arms braced against the stretcher. "Marilyn!? Are you awake? Please, can you let us know if you understand? Wiggle your left ear if you can hear me and understand what I'm saying!"

Her eyes saw him, but her expression was full of fear and distrust. She'd gone from the random grunts and wiggles of a deep dreamer, to someone slammed with the realization that they have no idea where they are or who they're with.

'She understands,' Dr. Foxworth realized, 'but she's not sure if it's safe to cooperate.'

Randy held up his hands like a traffic cop. "Everyone, back off a bit. Give her a second to process this. She's disoriented."

Jackson nodded, gave her a last gentle pat, and stepped back.

Carly clutched her paws to her throat.

Dr. Foxworth could see Marilyn's lips and cheeks tremble. Hear the slight 'whoosh' of her panting hard; not realizing she didn't need to breathe anymore. "Just focus on me for now, Marilyn. You're safe. You're in a hospital." Not precisely true, but close enough. And she likely wouldn't be receptive to a full explanation for quite some time. "The police found you. Do you remember being in a freezer?"

At that word, everything in the young collie's expression conveyed an exclamation point. Her fear went from hazy and uncertain, to very, very focused. THE FREEZER. Other things were indistinct, but she remembered the cold. She remembered it crystal clear.

Randy watched on the TV as a wireframe model of a little girl's brain lit up like a lightning storm. Memories were being accessed. A lot of them, and frantically.

Marilyn's breathing got quicker. Then she blinked very hard and curled her ears, drowning out all sensation.

Dr. Foxworth held up a hand to the others: 'Give her a moment.'

Marilyn opened her eyes. Slowly. Deliberately. She looked around, scanning the environment and the faces she could see. None familiar, but they didn't look threatening either. Her breathing slowed. She stared into the distance for a moment, then her expression conveyed a decision.

She looked directly at Randy, who in his EMT uniform looked the most like a police officer. "Uncle Robin did it! I saw him! That's why I hid!"

The tabby stumbled back like he'd been punched. Nonverbal sounds to full sentences! She'd leapt straight from a 10 to a 13!

"Oh my god!!" Carly shrieked.

Marilyn curled her ears at the high-pitched sound.

The bunny rushed closer to pet the poor girl's cheek comfortingly. "Sorry! Oh geez, that was so loud! Oh I'm sorry! Are you okay? I mean, really?"

Marilyn opened her eyes and gave her a nod. Still rattled, but not panicking. She looked back towards the cop cat. "Did you hear me?"

Randy took a very deep breath. "I did. Not sure I believe it, but I heard every word. Loud and clear."

She growled, thinking he was disbelieving her statement. "I DID see him! I did! He chased me!!"

His throat hitched. "Kid, I don't know your Uncle Robin from Adam. I'll take your word on that. I'm just... You weren't doing too well when we brought you in."

That made her tense up with worry again. She looked around for the fox in the doctor coat. "I'm all numb. I can't feel me."

Dr. Foxworth decided against telling her she was nothing but a decapitated head on a bed. "We had to... prioritize your brain functions. Your body's still frozen, little one." Not precisely a lie. Just leaving out the part where it was in another room. He gave a glance to the others: 'No one tell her yet!'

Nods of understanding.

Marilyn looked away. She couldn't see anything below her snout, and couldn't move her neck enough to look down any further. It dawned on her that maybe she shouldn't try. Maybe she might be in really, really bad shape. They were all acting like they couldn't believe she was awake and talking. 'How long was I in that freezer?'

She'd been sure Uncle Robin wouldn't look there, even if he did manage to find her in the cabin. She'd grabbed a pencil to keep the lid propped open, since she was smart enough to know these things didn't have handles on the inside. But she'd peeked once. It had rolled off the edge. And then there was nothing but darkness and cold and terror for as long as she could remember.

Marilyn looked back to the cat guy. Her eyes weren't completely focused yet, but she could see now he wasn't a cop. He just had a dark blue uniform. It said EMT on it. That was different from a policeman. "You believe me, right? Right?"

From her pleading tone, it was clear to him that getting this message across was her top priority. More important than her own life. He didn't know who the hell this Uncle Robin was, but the state troopers would. And they'd be visiting him soon, he'd make sure of that. "One hundred percent. Cross my heart."

A huge sigh of relief. "Good." Marilyn's eyes closed. Like she'd fulfilled her mission. Like, if she didn't make it through the night after this, she could be okay with that.

The four adults exchanged glances. Awestruck, stunned, nerve-wracked, grateful, and worn-out.

"I think Marilyn deserves some sleep," Dr. Foxworth said. "I think we all do."

Unanimous agreement. Even Marilyn said, "Okay."

He patted her cheek. "You are so brave, little star. There aren't even words to convey it."

The puppygirl was still trembling, still feeling the aftershocks of intense, sustained fear. But she managed a smile at hearing that.


***


Dr. Foxworth made the decision to move Marilyn over to Lab 3, which he knew was smaller and less imposing than the main lab, and not currently scheduled for any procedures. Together they wheeled the stretcher down the hall.

Sophia turned on the light to just above dim. Nightlight level.

Dr. Foxworth could see just fine. He rustled in the cabinets for a bit, then popped a mild, over-the-counter sedative into Marilyn's mouth and told her to let it dissolve on her tongue.

She did so, like a good girl. Then she said she was thirsty.

He didn't want her lying in a puddle after she swallowed, so he fibbed and said she needed an empty stomach for tests in the morning. This happened to be true, just non-correlated.

Marilyn let Jackson continue petting her ears. She liked his smooth-talkin' accent. He told her all about how his own daughter was a patient here, and the two girls were about the same age, so tomorrow she'd have a playmate to help her out and explain things. That sounded good. She'd been in the hospital before when she had croup. For her, the worst part of staying overnight was feeling alone. "What about Mommy and Daddy?" she asked.

Dr. Foxworth and Randy looked at each other. The cat picked up a clear message of: 'Not tonight. She needs to rest.'

"I'm sure they'll be by in the morning," Randy said, "In fact, I think my work here is done. So, if none of you folks need me for anything else, I'll head out in a bit and get on the screecher to dispatch. There's gonna be a lot of people happy to hear you're okay, li'l muffin." 'Confused to heck and back, but happy,' he added internally.

Marilyn looked tired and grateful. The sedative tablet had tasted like cherries and was giving her a gentle fluttery drowsiness already. The state she'd been in for over a month had not been sleep. There had been no pleasant dreams. Just a hollow, endless nothingness that left echoes. Undefinable, but still chilling. Marilyn wanted to forget them by morning. By then, maybe there'd be breakfast. And her parents. And a new friend to meet.

She closed her eyes. Her ears relaxed and gently drooped. It didn't take long.

When Dr. Foxworth was sure she'd drifted off, he lifted her up and placed her on the lab table. He'd wanted to wait till then, out of worry that the movement might make her realize her lack of a body and she'd panic.

Randy rolled away the stretcher. Jackson and Dr. Foxworth both thanked him with hearty handshakes. Carly tossed her arms around him and gave him a big squeeze, saying he'd been wonderful tonight.

He blushed a lot. They exchanged phone numbers.

Then he headed off to tell the hospital and the police all SORTS of interesting things. He anticipated being called several variations of crazy.

Carly looked at Marilyn dozing peacefully. "Oh gosh, I wish I could just sit with her all night and keep her warm."

"She will be fine," Dr. Foxworth assured her. "Sophia will keep the temperature pleasant. And I can see the delay in your blinking. You need sleep just as bad as her. Get to bed. And if you're a little late starting work tomorrow, or want to take the day off, I'll understand."

She had a hug for him too. "You're the best, boss." With a yawn, she headed off to her room.

Jackson spoke up. "We all squared away now?"

Dr. Foxworth put a finger to his lips. He motioned for the fellow fox to join him in the hall. One last check of Marilyn and the equipment, and he closed the door behind him. "I think so. That is..." He bit his lip. "I hate to ask you to do any more. You're probably running on fumes just as much as I am."

A handwave. "Naw. The businessman's life for me. I'm used to all sortsa odd hours. And I don't like to sleep til the job's good and done."

"Welll..." he winced a little. "If you're up for moving Marilyn's body- Yet again!- we could hook it up to the nanite pump and have it chug along all night. Be ready for her by morning."

Jackson gave him a 'no sweat' look. "For her? Y'all don't even have to ask. She deserves to have things go right for her from now on."

They shook on it.


***


What felt like hours later, but was really only several minutes, the door closed behind him and Dr. Foxworth was finally back in his own silent, cozy quarters.

He and Jackson had wheeled the rest of Marilyn down to the main lab. Then he fetched the pump cart from reception and started plugging in hoses all over again. Thankfully, the chilly air in the morgue had kept the collie's body balanced between defrosted and lukewarm. There was a hint of corpse smell, but not too terrible. And the clamps went on with no problem.

By more good luck, Tony the janitor had poked his head into the lab, saw it was occupied, apologized, and was about to leave when Dr. Foxworth said, "Not so fast!" After all, someone needed to keep an eye on the pump hoses. As he explained to the tiger, this would be much easier than what he'd asked of Carly. Without a brain, there was no chance of a stroke. And there was very little urgency overall. Anything the nanites couldn't repair could be replaced. Though, if everything did go well, this would be a nice little cherry on top of a successful night.

Tony said it was fine by him. Keeping watch over a headless kid was far from the strangest thing he'd been asked to do in this place. Plus, "Monitoring's easier than mopping." He got settled in a chair and asked Sophia to turn the radio on. Something country.

And so, despite his perfectionist brain insisting that surely there was one more thing he'd forgotten to do, Doctor Foxworth knew that was just anxiety talking. Everything important was settled. Everything urgent was done.

He fumbled open the buttons on his coat and let it drop to the floor while he was halfway across the room. He yawned and felt a moment of 'I might just pass out right now' lightheadedness. But he made it to the bed without incident. He flopped down, facefirst on the pillow like a plane crash. His eyes closed immediately.

A soft little puffball padded over and snuggled up to his side.

His hand blindly searched and found Eve's head for skritches. "Good girl."

A moment later, poky little paws walked across the bed, right up onto him, and a warm weight settled down on his lower back, head resting against his tail.

"Love you too, Vixy."

An 'erf' of recognition.

"Sophia, dim the lights."

"Yes, Dr. Foxworth."

"You know what to do. Keep tabs on Marilyn's vitals. She should be stable all through the night, but let me know right away if any more cuckoo catastrophes pop up."

"I will, Doctor Foxworth."

He yawned. He nuzzled into the pillow.

'I have a great life. I'm doing what I love. I'm helping people. My team is dependable and fun. I have cuddly pets. And this lab is going to save the world someday. If only just a little at a time.'

His thoughts melted. His breathing eased. His muscles relaxed.

He hoped tomorrow would be just as good as today.




THE END
for now...









***


AUTHOR'S NOTES: I don't normally do this kind of thing. Historically, I've been fuckin' terrible at writing for other people. Not only do I have enough trouble forcing myself to write my own stuff, I always feel weird portraying someone else's characters. Like I'm not doing them justice. However, Smirkyguy came along at a time when I hadn't produced jack shit in an uncomfortably long time, and asked if I could put some words to his world. I initially said no. But then I thought, 'This could be something that forces me out of my slump'. (Like Thaddeus' writing prompts.) Even so, it likely would have never worked out if Smirky hadn't been the heroic ideal of a story commissioner. He gave solid outlines of events while allowing me the creative freedom to flesh them out. He provided character references, area maps, and CGI room renders. He was very specific about what details mattered and what I could invent. He was available damn near 24 hours a day to answer my many, many, many questions. (Pretty much anything in the story that sounds impressively medical came from him. And is actually true! Or as close to true as possible for sci-fi. Seriously, this man has an ENCYCLOPEDIC knowledge of anatomy. I never knew before about the perfusion of the Circle Of Willis!) He even did interview RPs with me so I could get a feel for all the characters' personalities!! Who does that!? (Answer: more people should). And then, on top of all that, he even had the grace to put up with me taking nearly a year to get this bloody thing finished. Hats off to you, Smirky. This was a thrill ride of an experiment, and while I'm not likely to repeat it (So please don't flood my inbox!), I'm very glad I gave it a chance.

Further thanks go out to my pals on Discord who did our usual radio-play-style table read, so I could iron out all the dialogue. And special thanks to Alfador who once again dazzles with his proofreading prowess: a Herculean effort from the Agent 47 of typo-hunters.

Dr. Justin Foxworth, Mikey, Andre, Sophia, Roger, Ashley & Stacey, Chef, Maria, Anabelle, Olivia, Feldspar, Shade, Passion, Tony, Carly, Eve and Vixy all belong to Smirkyguy
Ashleigh, Jackson, and Gibson belong to me
We both kind of jointly came up with Randy
Itazou belongs to DocFlareon
***


"Dr. Justin Foxworth: A Day In The Lab"
Started: 01/23/21 Finished: 09/03/21 Editing finished: 11/11/21