TERRA NOVA EPISODE 22 SPECIAL!

TERRA NOVA
EPISODE 22
EVOLUTION

Ryoko flops down on her bed face up, her mind a blur of activity, “Kara… Cidii… Vaidai… It doesn’t make any sense.” She rolls over to her left and looks at the letter from the human leader on the nightstand. Without saying a word she opens the envelope with a fingernail, the paper unravels as her eyes move across reading the words. She stops on the final line, “I have a gift for you, I know that it is no consolation for Chris’s unexplained absence as of a week ago, it will arrive at 10:00 am on Sunday the 25th…” Her hand folds the letter back up and puts it on the front of her refrigerator with a magnet.
*******
The knock Ryoko had been expecting comes at exactly 10:00, but when she opens the door she finds nothing.
Or perhaps the better term would be nobody, a single large package lies on the ground, but as soon as her newly furred hand reaches it the thing jumps. The string undoes itself and a gray wolf with a collar looks up at her. “Aww…” She picks the animal up and begins hugging it, “Hello little guy, how are you?”
A holo-panel opens up to the side of her, scaring and causing her to scream, the wolf lets out a little yelp as he is suddenly clutched tighter. “Oops… sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you Ryoko.” Jgirl says, her voice emitted from the crystalline square.
“Right… So what do you need?”
The image of Jgirl becomes more serious, “Somebody flew into the life-dome…”
“Flew… into the life-dome?” Ryoko’s ears twitch and her fox tail wraps around her midsection, “Was any permanent damage?”
“No… unless heaven is really whacked, the hole was repaired by a team without much of the city knowing. The incredible thing is… the vessel he and his passenger entered with was a SPACESHIP. I request that you go and find out who he is and where he is from… I have to go and oversee that the spaceship is correctly searched for anything dangerous.”
The panel turns off as the fox-girl fashions a leash around the wolf’s collar, then heads out to the hospital.
*******
The hospital is a flurry of activity as people move every which way; nurses helping doctors treat people who were near the landing zone of the spacecraft. Ryoko stops one and asks which room contains the actual pilots, heading in the direction that he indicates. “Hello… is anybody in there?” the fox-girl asks as she knocks on the door. Hearing a muffled confirmation she enters to find a fox lying down on the bed, “I’m guessing that you are the pilot?”
The gay furred being nods, “Yes, I can’t stay because I have to get moving onto the next station.”
“Hold on… why don’t you start from the beginning so that I can understand what you are talking about?”
“My name is Dixon Dayne, recruit of the slaver ship Gran-Charter.”
“Slaver? As in capturing people and selling them for money Slaver?”
“Unfortunately yes… we did do that, but that isn’t the reason I’m here. I’m trying to warn the stations that are in the way of the things that decimated the mother-ship and slayed all of my friends onboard. We were wondering if yo-”
Ryoko holds up a hand as she is writing these things down, “Which brings me to the next question… How did you get to our city while it is going at warp speeds? And exactly how did you get through the life-dome?”
“I was heading at warp speeds when your city came up on the scanners, it was too late to prevent a collision… but we managed to slow down enough to crash land. But that isn’t the point of what I’m trying to tell you; We have to get to the nearest station or else they’ll fall victim to the next attack group.”
The fox-girl raises an eyebrow, “Stations… you mean there are artificial satellites out in space?”
Dixon sighs, “Yes… and I guess that you have no clue in which the next station is…”
The wolf, which had been sniffing around the hospital bed, moves over to the door and begins wagging his tail. Kara nods and returns her eyes to Dixon’s, “We didn’t even know another culture existed in outer space. Once you are fully healed I think you should go and speak to the human president, he will most probably wish to know about the creatures…” She stands up and closes her notebook, returning it to the leather case strung over her shoulder, “I’ll have somebody check up on your friend every hour… she’s in the trauma center; your crash made something hit her head.” The door closes and Dixon stares out the window…
*******
“Okay… that’s done…” Ryoko looks around at the lights as she walks, their ever-lowering glow signifying that it is getting later and later as of Earth-time. Her left arm raises to her face, the crystal display showing that it is 8:00 pm, “If only the hospital wasn’t all the way across the city…”
“HEY! Ryoko!” Calls a voice from behind, soon enough the red Komodo dragon is walking beside her, “You know it isn’t safe to be out and on the streets this late… you know about the homicide that happened yesterday.”
The fox-girl shrugs, “I think you’ve forgotten who you’re talking to…”
“I know… Just trying to be cautious.”
“Well don’t worry a bit about me, I’ve got a guard now.” She points to the wolf at her side.
“Who’s Cujo?” Jeffron says from a smirk.
“His name is Cair, and he’s a wolf, not a dog.”
A radio roars to life at Jeffron’s side, causing him to pick it up, “Talk to me… another one? Okay… I’ll be right there.”
Ryoko looks at the ground, “We’re in a time of disaster and all they do is kill each other… do you understand these humans at all?”
“I’m not so sure it is a human doing this anymore… there was fur found at the crime scene. Anyways, take care and try not to be on the streets this late.” He rushes off in the direction he had come from.
*******
“I swear this town has problems… don’t you agree?” She says while rubbing Cair’s head. “Then again… you probably don’t even know what I’m talking about, do you?” The wolf whines while looking at the simulated full moon lying right outside the window. “Its okay boy…” she stops and heads off to bed.
While the fox-eared girl sleeps quietly and contently the wolf is disturbed by troubled dreams…
*******
“What am I doing back here?” Chris asks the business-man in front of him, the two are enclosed in a black box of space.
“They have paid more for your services as our… employers… have another mission for you: You must keep the Labrinof safe while she continues to… evolve. If she dies then the entire purpose of our… contract will be gone. You have been given your orders… now go.” The man in the black business suit fades into the darkness surrounding him.
*******
The wolf suddenly jumps up, walking over to Ryoko’s door. A soft silvery-blue light emerges from the bed as he pushes the door open, when he jumps onto the sheets he finds that instead of the teenager that was there before is someone completely different. Instead of the six foot school-girl with fox ears and tail lays a well built, but not overly endowed, seven foot female wolf.
He pokes Ryoko in the middle of the head with a claw, “Hey… wakeup…”
“Five more minutes…” she says before Cair pokes her again, “Okay, okay, I’m up…” Her eyes open and stare at the wolf, “Did you just…”
“Talk… yes I did.”
A minute passes before the thought fully kicks into Ryoko’s head, causing her to scream, “WHAT THE FREAK!?”
“I knew this would be a bad idea… but I couldn’t walk the streets like I normally do…” The dog jumps off the bed and becomes surrounded by a ring of light. Within a second the wolf no longer exists replaced by a familiar face. Ryoko looks at the figure in furred leather armor in front of her, completely unable to speak. “You okay?”
“WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING BACK HERE!?” She finally shouts.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m your bodyguard.”
“Bodyguard? I don’t need a stinking body-guard!” Chris sighs and grabs her shoulders, turning her around to face the mirror on the other side of the room. The female wolf lets out a gasp, “What…”
“You are evolving, I’m here to protect you… Kara.”
“Supposing that what you say is true…” she holds a hand out and touches the glass surface, “what exactly are you protecting me from…?”
“I…” Chris shakes his head, “I have no clue… I was only assigned to protect you. We’ll have to keep up the ruse that I am just a pet wolf, that way if anyone makes a move towards you I can attack them before they do you any harm.”
“I highly doubt that any-”
“Hey, I’m doing this for you, not for me, I’m coming along as your pet no matter what you say.” He becomes wrapped in another ring of light, turning back into a wolf, “Got it?”
“Fine… but you can at least go back to your room…” Kara says, glaring.
“And… That would be the other thing… I’ve lost my room to another person.”
“Great… I guess I can’t put you out onto the streets can I?”
“Nope, but I only have the requirements of a normal house pet!”
*******
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this…” Kara says as she looks out over the beach.
“What are you complaining about? You need to get some sun, plus I haven’t seen the others in such a long time.” Chris says from his animal form.
“You’ve only been gone a week!”
“Feels like a lifetime for me.” He rushes forward, pulling Kara behind him, stopping only when he reaches Fang.
Kara lands face first on the ground in front of Darkkick, “Ow…”
Rob helps her up, “I’m guessing your dog got away from you.”
Chris growls a little bit as Kara dusts herself off, “He isn’t a dog… he’s a wolf.”
Xorea looks at the animal a bit, “You seem familiar…” Chris simply sits down and begins scratching his ear with his right leg, “then again…”
Justa looks out to the part of the ocean the city took with it while the female wolf heads over to the changing rooms. “Should we call her Kara from now on… or continue to call her Ryoko?”
Jgirl flops onto her blanket on the sand, still in her normal clothes, “I dunno… I don’t think she will mind which name we call her.”
Kara comes back from the changing rooms in her bikini, and looks out towards the water. Chris turns his head to look at her then quickly away, his wolf face glowing a bright red visible even from under the fur. The female wolf grins and looks out at the ocean, “Who’s up for a swim…?”
Jeffron nods as she runs off, “Since when did she have wolf ears and tail?”
Xorea sighs, “Remember she’s a creature that evolves constantly… we can’t judge her for what her physical attributes are. She may be something completely different tomorrow.”
*******
“Well… that was fun…” Chris says as he and Kara walk down the street, “But I think you were correct in assuming it was utterly useless…”
“Next time I hope you’ll take my word for it…” She looks at her watch, “4:00… why am I so tired?”
“It was probably because you evolved a bit in your sleep last night.”
Kara lifts up her tail, “Ya think?”
Chris sighs, “We have to get you a new outfit… that’s for sure.”
“Oooo… New clothes?”
“What have I just done…?”
*******
Chris walks through the store, not really looking at anything, the claws on his paws clacking across the tile floor. No matter where he goes he always comes back to the changing room, “Well?”
“I’m still trying to pick one out…”
“Well hurry up… Something doesn’t feel right for some odd reason…” He looks in every direction, “Seeing as no one is here anymore!”
“Just be patient… I’ve almost got a suit on.”
The wolf’s ears twitch at the sound of a gunshot, and he instantly transfers into his human form. He slaps a clip into the pistol in his hands as another shot comes from the opposite side of the store. Raising the weapon to a position where he can easily shoot he begins moving forward, once at the location he turns to the left and to the right. Suddenly the gun is flung from his grip and a claw smashes into his face, sending him flying into a shelf containing pants.
A creature with three arms falls to the ground, the alien armor it is covered in is a blossom of spikes all making its head appear to be just a blob of darkness. It, thinking he is out, begins to move in the direction of the dressing rooms only to be hit in the back by a metal clothes rack, “That hurt you son of a-”
The creature simply turns around and launches itself towards the wolf, its two fists being thrown in punches of incredible force. Chris ducks under a punch, only to have the wall behind him crack from the blow, the thing in front of him chittering in its own language.
“Want to play hard do you?” Chris kicks the thing between the legs, expecting it to double over in pain, only to have a metal clang occur. His hands grab onto the arms, the spikes tearing into his skin, and the wolf proceeds to slam him against the wall, over and over, before finally giving him a good toss into a service counter.
The creature simply stands up and resumes its onslaught, picking up a chair and beginning to beat Chris over the head. The leg comes up next, slamming into his face and causing lacerations, and propels him out the windowed entrance.
The broken glass crunches under the wolf’s bandaged feet as he gets up, bounding forward again he grabs the chair from the creature’s hands and throws the makeshift weapon away before proceeding to foot-sweep the creature.
The alien smashes into his leg with a bladed foot, flipping backward and landing behind the counter. The medium sized creature throws all the other items from there at the wolf before ripping the cash register off of the table.
Chris, who had been dodging the previous objects from there, finally draws his crowbar and bats the register back, causing it to slam into the alien’s head and propel it to the ground. He picks the creature up from off the ground, “Why did you attack me?!”
The creature only chitters again in its alien language before phasing through his hands and disappearing into the ground.
“Great…” the wolf touches a glowing hand to each of his wounds, healing them, “I’m attacked the second day I’m here…” the glowing fades and his ears perk up at the sound of a scream. He runs toward the changing room, but trips just in front of the door.
The wooden panel opens and Chris lands, head-first, between Kara’s breasts. He opens his eyes and looks up to find her staring at him. After a period of awkward silence she falls on the wolf in a hug, “I remembered something!!!”
Chris turns over and begins to claw the ground, trying to get away, “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”
Kara continues to hug him, “I remembered YOU! I remember all the things you had done for me!”
“Can we talk about it later!? Say, when you’re no longer on top of me!?!?”
She gets up, still holding him in a hug as he turns into his animal form, and proceeds out the door, intending to head to her home.
*******
“So what all do you remember?” Chris says as he chomps down on a biscuit.
Kara leans back, the outfit she chose at the store barely covering both upper and lower body, “I just remember that you were there, constantly watching over me…”
“That’s it?”
“Yes… That and that I now know for certain I really am who everyone keeps saying I am…” She returns to a sitting position and begins to stoke the fur that has grown out from under the front of her collar, “I guess this is only the beginning…”
“Well…” Chris returns to human form and jumps to the window sill. Looking out at the simulated full moon while he sits there he begins to speak, “Nobody knows what the beginning is… we just have to keep moving on until our lives end…”
Kara stares at him for a bit before finally giving a true soft smile, “I guess I can agree with that…” She slips inside the door to the bedroom.
Chris continues watching the moon as it slowly sets…