Author: Gatekat and Karl Wolfemann
Rating: PG-13
Codes: Furry, Het, Violence, People as Pets
Summary: An anthro world of many races is invaded by a robotic race, but once the big cities and military bases are out of the way, destruction seems to be secondary in their intentions.
Notes: Inspired by Property Of .net/s/5463870/1/Property_Of by Hydraling110 .net/u/881575/hydraling110
Pets of Mechs 1: Plucked from Home
Shelly sighed as she took her seat in the common area at the shelter. She'd spent the last four hours searching the area, trying to find any information about the parents of the Alsatian pup she'd found after evacuating campus. The little girl was sitting next to her, her arms wrapped around her knees, trying her best to look like the last week of searching didn't have her on the verge of tears. Shelly reached down to stroke her hair lightly, scratching her ears and looking down at her.
"It's okay, Brin, we'll look for your folks tonight at dinner, then we'll move on to another shelter," the Vixen explained. "We'll let them know where we're going, so they'll be able to find us if they come here after we go. Okay, honey?" She smiled faintly.
"Okay," the pup nodded, only to whimper and raise her hackles as an alarm rang through shelter and other people began to shout, run and grab what weapons they had.
"Oak Street shelter, Brin," Shelly told her quickly, pulling her to her feet and starting to run towards the back door of the shelter, letting her know their destination in case they got separated in the inevitable chaos. As they ran for the rear entrance, the building shook with the impacts outside it. The crowd pressed in close around her, half of them trying madly to escape, the others trying to buy them enough time to get away before making their own way out. There was a scream just outside, and the wall split open, a massive, metallic spider-leg crashing through it and ripping an entrance into the building.
"Run!" Shelly ordered Brin, grabbing an older Wolf between them and the door and throwing him to the floor to make a path for Brin to escape. The pup didn't question her, dropping to all fours and bolting beneath the giant spider-mech outside. Shelly moved to follow, but the Wolf she'd pitched to the floor grabbed her ankle and tripped her up.
The next thing she was aware of was the sudden vertigo of being lifted high in the air by a metallic tentacle holding her just shy of too tightly to breath. Two others her age, a tabby feline tom and a Mouse female, were soon within her vision.
"Shelly!" She woke up in the stinking cell that she'd been stuffed into with about a dozen others, the Tabby who'd been captured with her shaking her shoulder.
"Buh?" She blinked sleepily, trying to place herself after being dragged so roughly out of the nightmare that she'd been reliving.
"You were dreaming about it again," Marcus said. "Really starting to piss off some of the others," he said apologetically. "Johnny's trying to sleep and..."
"And everybody needs to get their sleep, without me whimpering too loud," she nodded. "Sorry," she told them, sitting up in the little spot of the cell that had been 'marked out' for her. "How's Cindy doing?" She asked.
"Sleeping," Johnny said gruffly, the wolf trying to settle back in next to the she-wolf he'd been sticking close to for the entire month since they'd all been captured. "Trying to keep it that way."
"Right," Shelly nodded, leaning into the comfort offered by the tabby.
"Water?" he offered to fetch some.
"Only if you're already heading over there, Mark," Shelly smiled faintly at him. "I'm not trying to be any trouble," she joked weakly, trying to be comfortable with the nude tabby touching her shoulder. At least it was easier than it had been the first couple of days, before everybody gotten suitably desensitized that they weren't getting turned on completely at random. "How're you holding up?"
"Pretty well," he smiled weakly in return. "Be right back," he said before slipping away with feline grace with her bowl to fill it along with his own before coming back. "At least they give us nearly unlimited water. I know it's not much help, but after you've survived getting lost in the winter mountains for two weeks, this ain't that bad. We've got enough food, plenty of clean water, it's warm enough and there's company. Not anything like what I was expecting."
"Well, I'd been expecting some sort of War of the Worlds shit after they blew LA and New York, so I guess I have to agree with you," she chuckled grimly. "I just wish I knew where we were going, or what they were going to do with us. I mean... not much better if we're just going to be stuffed in a cattle car back home instead of used as takeout." She took her bowl from him, lifting it to her lips and awkwardly lapping some of the water out of it. "Just hope they stop while there's still something of home left, whatever they've got in mind."
"I wouldn't count on it by the way it's gone so far," Marcus said grimly, lapping at his own water. "But for as long as we've been in here, I think we can count on not getting home anyway. Wherever we're going is a long way off, and I think it's a safe bet that we couldn't control a ship of theirs even if we managed to commandeer one."
"I know, I just hope... I hope there's something left, you know? I like to think that Brin'll find her folks, for example." She finished her water, setting the bowl down and leaning back against Marcus lightly. "Like to think it hasn't all just been some big cosmic joke. Thousands of years all wiped out in less than one."
"Yeah, same here," he murmured, leaning into her a bit so their weights balanced. "Why do you think they're only taking young adults? They've had plenty of opportunities, but they seem to avoid taking kids or middle aged or up."
"Not the little ones, at least, as far as I've seen," she agreed. "It didn't seem to want to catch Brin, anyway. Slave labor, maybe?" She suggested, closing her eyes and just enjoying contact with another person for a little while, trying to ignore the specifics of their situation. "Don't want to take anybody who'll take too long to be able to work well, or anybody who you can't be sure will last long enough to be worth the investment. Seems a little weird they'd want us as labor, if they've got the robots and stuff, but it's the most likely idea I can think of."
"Novelties back on the homeworld?" he tossed out. "Pets maybe. To them, we probably aren't alive in the way they think of it, or at least people."
"Uhm ... yeah, how many animals do you see that build skyscrapers and wear clothes?" She pointed out. "It's kinda obvious that we're not just animals, ought to be at least. I mean ... maybe they don't have 'have to talk and build a fire' type rules, but clothes, firearms, cars, and buildings are pretty big signs that we're not housepets."
"They're robots," he pointed out dryly. "Just saying, they might not think anything organic could be a person, just like I doubt any of us thinks of robots as people."
"So you think they're the ones really running things out here?" Shelly asked him. "Not just a remote crew or something like that?"
"Until proven otherwise, that's what I'm assuming," he nodded. "Gotta start somewhere with facts."
"Guess so," she nodded. "So... what did you do before everything went to Hell?" She asked him quietly.
That earned a low, not-quite-amused chuckle. "Computer programmer, though that just paid the bills so I could spend time traveling and camping around the world. You?"
"Well, you've just gotten the biggest trip of your life, I guess," she chuckled. "Me, I was one of the future fry cooks of America," she joked. "Art major, mostly painting, some sculpture and stuff... I was actually setting up a gallery showing for the weekend everything blew up. Stayed as long as I could, in case my folks..." Her voice caught, and she wrapped her arms around herself a bit more. "They lived in Chicago," she explained briefly. "They were supposed to be on their way out of town to come see the show when the ships showed up."
"I'm sorry," he reached over to rub her arm. "I think somehow I'm one of the lucky ones, not to have any close kin or lovers. Missing friends and coworkers, but nothing more."
He was about to continue when the door to the room they were in opened, admitting one of the mechs, a vaguely humanoid thing with a second, slender pair of arms coming out of it's chest area. It was flanked by four spider-like ones not unlike those who had captured everyone, only smaller and with far less armor.
Metal boxes with small holes cut along the upper half were put down and the side opened.
"Cat carrier," Marcus muttered. "Looks like a damn pet carrier."
"You were the one saying that might be what they had in mind," she pointed out, watching them warily to see just how forceful they seemed inclined to be.
"Four to a box," the humanoid one ordered in a grating, mechanical voice. "In," he pointed to the boxes.
"No point pissing them off yet," Marcus murmured as he stood, offering her a hand up.
"Keep an eye on Johnny and Cindy. No telling what they'll do," she warned him, taking the hand up, looking to see if anybody seemed to be planning on making any trouble.
He nodded, watching the wolves as he lead Shelly to the box on the far right. Cindy was backing up, pressed against the far wall with her tail tucked tightly between her legs, her ears flat and all her rich gray and black fur spiked. Johnny wasn't much better as he'd put himself between her and the mechs, his fur spiked as well and teeth barred with a deep, rumbling growl.
"I've got to try and keep him from getting them both hurt," Shelly apologized to Marcus, starting to move towards the wolves, not sure if she was going to be stopped or allowed to continue towards them, her own tail tucked between her legs and posture and manner shifting to present as submissive a posture as she could.
She was given until the others were in their boxes, which was long enough to reach the pair and find herself under Johnny's protection, pushed behind the larger male and next to Cindy.
"Johnny," she said warningly, trying to get through to him, "they're only going to be rougher on all of us if you try to fight them! Please, try to calm down and help me calm Cindy down too!"
That got his attention and he looked over his shoulder at the frightened she-wolf. "Won't be separated," he growled at Shelly.
"We're all going in the same box," she insisted, pointed towards the only one open. "Not separated. Now, would you please help me calm her down?"
He grudgingly turned around, taking Cindy's hand and tugging her forward.
"We're going together," he told her. "Come on, don't want them to hurt you trying to get you into the box with me."
The she-wolf whined, shaking and reeking of fear, but when he took a step backwards, she was more afraid of being left behind than she was of the box. She began to move easier when Shelly moved behind her and gently pressed her forward.
The spider-mech used a foreleg to push them towards the box a little more, applying pressure to Shelly's butt in a calculated understanding of her center of balance relative to her method of movement. It was only a moment later and they were closed in a box with Marcus, then picked up with some care apparent to keep the box level.
"We should probably sit down," Shelly offered, staying close to Cindy, squeezing the hand that Johnny wasn't gripping. "If they wanted to hurt us," she offered, 'they wouldn't have let us try to get you guys in here peacefully."
"Yeah, if they were going to hurt us, they've had plenty of opportunities and no reason to fix the damage they did cause," Marcus added from his corner. "Whatever they want, they want us in reasonable shape for."
"Narrows things down a little, but not much," Johnny muttered gruffly, pressing against Cindy. "Thanks for talking me out of that, don't need to go busting my teeth on these tin cans just yet."
"No problem," Shelly smiled slightly, taking in the scene the two of them made. It was sadly sweet... if she ever had the chance to get back to some paints, maybe she'd be able to capture it. "Did you guys hear what we were talking about, for reasons they might want us?"
"I did," Johnny nodded slightly. "Don't know what's worse, the idea they'll want to put us to work, or the idea we're supposed to be trophies for people who didn't even catch us."
"Probably won't be a question for long," Marcus said, staring out one of the holes. "We're leaving the ship, and it's a big metal world out there."
Shelly looked out herself, turning to see the world that would be likely to be her home from now on. Marcus wasn't joking; it was metal, and what buildings she could make out seemed sized for robots much larger than those with them. Vehicles drove on roads two lanes wide in each direction. Robots of many shapes, sizes and colors walked on raised sidewalks on the sides of the road.
"There's a parrot on that one's shoulder," she pointed excitedly at the deep blue avian sitting on a robot's shoulder with a fine chain linking a band on its leg to the robot it was sitting on.
"Yeah, but it's not an animal. Looks like I was right about pets," Marcus said with a resigned, sick tone. It was one thing to think you knew what was coming. It was another entirely to see it.
"They'd better not be planning on chaining me on somebody's shoulder," Johnny growled lowly.
"Johnny, try and keep the 'pissed off' reserved for if they try separating you two," Shelly suggested. "It'll be more likely to get you both treated well, and kept together."
"And how do you figure that one?" He asked her irritably.
"It looks like Marcus was right about them wanting us as pets or something," she pointed out. "So think about it from that end. What would you do if you had a snarly, irritable pet who tended to snap at you? You'd either punish it or..." She trailed off, not wanting to say the other possible outcome. Johnny seemed to get the point, his ears going flat as he leaned back against the side of the box.
"Yeah," he muttered, a slight tremble raising his fur. "I wonder how expensive we'll be, being from off-world and all."
"I'm not seeing many, so I'd think expensive," Marcus murmured as the outside world disappeared from view, the spider-robot taking them inside a building. Part of a much larger gray and dark green mech came into view and the pair made noises at each other for a bit.
"Sounds like a whale mated a modem," Marcus muttered, trying to get a better view of the new robot.
"Try to pick up as much as you can, it'll probably be good to be able to at least try understanding them," Shelly offered, craning her own head around to get the best look she could of their surroundings.
"Here's hoping they talk to us as much as my mom talked to her pet cat," Marcus murmured, listening as best he could while he joined the canines in looking around. Not that there was much to see. The room was lined with cages maybe twice the size of the box they were in, all open on the front. A few had people in them, all singly, but most were empty.
"Crap," he and Shelly both whispered, thinking at the same time of the fight they'd just helped to keep from happening, and the odds that it had just been put off for a little while.
The two wolves got increasingly edgy as the conversation above them seemed to wind down and the box was put on a table and opened. It tipped forward slightly, not quite enough to send them tumbling, but enough to make it very clear they were expected to come out and do so quickly.
Marcus was the first, making something of a lunge past the three canines and rolling before coming to his feet several lengths away and looking around quickly.
Shelly was out next, trying to make a slightly more dignified exit, with mixed luck at doing so and keeping to her feet. The two wolves were next, practically sliding out of the box rather than tumbling. The box was closed and taken away, before the spider-mech left them to the attentions of the store's massive owner.
It made more of their mechanical language/noise as it reached for Marcus, who fluffed up but remained silent and went fairly limp in its grip. After a quick examination and injection, he was put down and it reached for Shelly.
Her own tail was fully puffed out, her ears flat as she cringed back reflexively.
"Marcus?" She called out. "Are you okay?" She took a step back, fighting the urge to try and flee. Where would she go?
"Fine," he called back. "Just relax and it won't hurt much."
"Okay," she nodded slightly, trying to relax and letting the big mech pick her up. She couldn't help trembling, but she tried to keep it to a minimum as she was lifted up for her examination. She was turned this way and that, her body pinned and spread out for examination that didn't seem to involve much touch, then an injection in her upper leg and she was put down next to Markus.
It reached for Cindy next. Johnny stepped between them, only to be picked up instead, quickly examined and injected, and put down. When Cindy was picked up next, while Johnny was still disoriented, she was trembling and whining pitifully.
"God is that getting irritating," Shelly whispered to herself as the she-wolf was examined, injected, but not set down. Instead the robot reached out with his second hand and grabbed Johnny before walking over to the wall of cages and put them in a large one together.
It then turned and walked back, only to scan the table top, then the room.
Shelly looked around, realizing then that Marcus had taken off for... somewhere. Who knew how he'd gotten off the table; it was almost a one-story drop to the floor, or would be back home at any rate. The mech suddenly turned and reached down, picking Marcus up... Shelly wasn't sure whether to be surprised or not that he hadn't been making his way towards the exit. She wasn't surprised that he didn't squirm once captured though.
Then she spotted the triumphant grin on his face as he was carefully caged in the mech's hands and taken to his solitary cage on the wall. Though she couldn't see what was going on, she guessed that he was being secured with more care for his willingness to jump than the wolves.
She was the next one to be picked up and lifted to a solitary cage of her own. When it was closed and secured, she moved to the door, trying to look around and get a feel for what was around her, and where she was in relation to the others in the grid five tall and a dozen long.
"Marcus? Did you find something?" She called out, watching as the robot left, the door sliding closed behind him.
"Just that we aren't punished for innocent wondering," his chuckle came back from her left and above. "I'd hazard that I'm the first who looked down and considered it a doable jump."
"Well, I know I didn't think it was one," she admitted. "Anybody else here speak English?" She asked. "Might be nice to know who the neighbors are..."
"A little," a meek female voice greeted from several cages right and further up. "I am Arai Miku from Japan. I have been in cage for six and three light-dark cycles."
"Yeah," a light male voice came from the right and below. "No idea how long the day-night cycles are, but they keep us in here for ten of them, then take us out the front door. I'm Tanner by the way. And that mech isn't at all fond of us talking when it's here."
"Good to know," she agreed. "So this is the quarantine area for new arrivals?" She guessed.
"Quarantine and medical holding," a male below her responded. "You get stuck back here if you get injured too."
"Anything that they're likely to do to us?" She asked. "Not sure what the rules are yet, except for not talking while the mech's around."
"We get handled every day, though it doesn't seem to do anything," Tanner said. "Like socializing a feral pet at the shelter. Seven food packets are put in each day and it checks the water. You know how to use the facilities and all?"
"We learned that on the ship here," she explained. "Right along with 'don't be anti-social,' and 'don't try putting things together.' By the way, my name's Shelly."
"What's your breed?" the unnamed male below her asked. "Had one pair come back a while ago from a breeding facility. Or that's what they called it. The robots made it really nice to be there with food and stuff from home, but used a lot of drugs on them too."
"What kinda drugs?" Johnny blurted out.
"I'm a Vixen," Shelly explained. "And that was Johnny. He and Cindy were the two wolves who made trouble for the mech moving them into the cages. They're kind of a pack, since they were both caught in the same trip."
"Who's the cat, then?" Tanner asked.
"I'm Marcus."
"Stuff that makes you horny," the unnamed male answered Johnny. "They're trying to get pairs to make babies."
"That's Rick, by the way," Tanner supplied. "He..." he fell silent as the door cycled open.
All attention focused on the robot who walked in, went to the other side of the room and opened a cabinet-like thing. With three flat objects pulled from it, reminiscent of notepads, he left.
"You were saying?" Marcus prompted after a moment to make sure they weren't about to be walked in on next.
"His amusement in life seems to be tormenting new arrivals," Tanner completed his sentence. "Got sent back here cause he got the crap beat out of himself out front."
"Which probably means not knowing enough to keep your mouth shut?" Shelly guessed. "Steer clear of Johnny and Cindy then. She really isn't handling any of this well... how's she doing, Johnny?" She called out.
"I-I'm starting to calm down, I think," Cindy responded. "At least they're not going to eat us."
"Nah," Tanner assured her. "Don't know exactly what they want, but this is definitely more pet shop than meat factory. They aren't trying to fatten us up, that's for sure."
"Just hope you get picked up by nice mechs," Rick commented. "If we're pets ... you've read the news, I'm sure. Pit fights and abuse and all that."
"I'm more worried about getting puppy-milled," Shelly shuddered at the very thought. "I used to work with one of the rescue groups back home, and that is not something I want to get caught in. While we're in here, are we left in the same pen all the time?"
"Yap," Rick answered. "Unless you're physically aggressive towards others, then you're in a separate cage, or sent away. And not aggressive like I am, but regularly hurting others or stealing food."
"Well, unless there's anything else we should know about now, we should probably work on settling into these cages, since we'll be here for a while," Marcus suggested. "It's been a pretty weird couple of weeks for trying to sleep."
"Yeah," Shelly agreed, really looking around her cage. "Lots more soft stuff here at least."