Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or any of its characters, they all belong to Disney. Rated M for sexual themes.

Chapter 10

Once they'd left the predators on the other habitable planet they didn't leave the system immediately, but returned to the original planet. They'd left behind survey teams to do a complete ground search to make absolutely sure that there wasn't anyone left behind. A secondary mission was to check all the areas where plants had regrown and collect any plant or animal specimens previously missed. These if found would be added to the new constructed garden with the help of the prey species.

"Captain, the last of the survey teams is aboard and their report is available."

"Thank you," Judy said acknowledging the crewman. "I'd like to address the entire crew."

"Ready ma'am."

"We are going to enter the Lesser Magellanic Cloud at the point we would have if we hadn't deviated from our original course. Then immediately we'll come out of FTL to survey a few of the nearby yellow dwarf stars. I know none of these will be my planet's star, but will give us more practice working together as a combined crew. I must compliment the entire crew on their performance so far and in this solar system in particular. Thank you all."

Judy sat back in 'The Chair' and smiled to herself. She'd been wrong – life actually did imitate art. She actually was the Captain of a starship and had all the responsibilities that went with it. If it weren't for Nick and everyone else helping her, she probably be in over her head. And it was an 'on the job' learning experience to boot, but she thought was doing fairly well all things considered.

"Catherine, set course, and when everything is ready, please take us to FTP."

"Yes, ma'am."

A minute later is ship vanished.

Joan was delighted to be one of the first scientists to examine the new species. The ship's AI was doing almost all of the examinations since there were over 15,000 of them. If she and the other doctors were to treat them they'd need hands on experience. Eshu, the first of the new species she and Judy had met, had become her official assistant. It was getting near the end of the day and Joan was about to leave when Eshu stopped her. She got out her computer pad which doubled as her translator.

"Joan, would it be possible to see your garden?"

It had been the first time that he'd asked anything of her and he'd been very helpful.

"I don't see why not," she said and smiled. "No one said you weren't allowed."

"Joan, you are a predator."

"Why would you think so?"

"I've seen your teeth and some of them are pointed."

"Actually you would think of humans as both predator and prey."

He cocked his head.

"How?"

"We eat both plants and meat of animals."

"Judy and Nick call themselves animals, but I wouldn't. To humans an animal would be something alive, but is not self aware. You must have had something like that on your planet before the asteroid strike."

"There were, but our predators said we tasted better."

"That's just horrible!" she said and impulsively hugged him.

He returned it she felt his hands explore her back and then come to rest on her butt.

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

"When I first hugged you you were soft and you are very stiff. Is there a problem?"

"Well, when human females and males hug they don't touch where you are touching me unless they are lovers."

"Untranslatable," the computer reported.

"Computer, there is no translation for lovers?"

"Correct."

"How about husband?"

"No."

"Married?"

"No."

"Boyfriend?"

"No."

"Eshu, humans usually mate with only one other human exclusively."

His eyebrows went up and he released her.

"We mated with which ever female the predators told us to. Some males only job was just to mate with females."

"Was that your job?"

"How did you guess?"

"It was the way you said it."

He smiled.

"I'm a good breeder. My offspring were always healthy and females produced many young when they gave birth."

"And you did that all day?"

He laughed.

"No, I could only mate with four or five a day if necessary. Most days it was only one or two. The rest of the time I was allowed to do what I wanted. I was allowed to study and eventually I became a doctor for the prey."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't ask before and now you have."

She rested her head on his chest and then hugged him again. He returned it and hands end up where they were before. But now she did care. She held him for quite a while. Then she took his hand and led him to the shuttle.

"I have to make a stop before we go to my garden."

"OK."

"I need to check on the animals at the school," she said and squeezed his hand. "Since you're a doctor maybe you could help me."

"I shall."

"We have children from most of the species on the Zootopia II. We'll go to the nursery first since Judy's children are usually there and I always check on them since they are hybrids."

"Their parents are different species?"

"Yes, Judy is a Rabbit and Nick is a Fox."

"Fox?"

"Foxes are a type of predator."

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Here's the nursery," she said and entered ahead of him.

"Hi Joan," the teacher said. "Here to check on …"

She thought she'd met most of species on the ship. It was nude. He, now that she had a closer look, looked a bit like Judy, grey fur, short mussel, shorter ears, same height, and a longer tail. One of the human children ran up to him and held out his arms. Eshu squatted down and studied the child.

"It is human."

"He is human."

Eshu lifted the child into his arms and he giggled.

"Oh. Apparently at this age they haven't any external sexual characteristics that I can see. Of course, since humans wear coverings making more difficult. Our females have nipples from birth whereas males don't. Also, we can smell the difference."

Some of the other children of difference races came over to see and touch the new person. Then he noticed several red furred children about a foot tall and obviously predators.

"Those are Judy's children."

"They don't look like her."

"They look more like their father."

"And they have many sharp teeth."

"Just like their father," Nick said coming through the door with his bunny.

Eshu came to his feet in one fluid motion and faced the new predator. This was obviously the children's father – the same red fur, body plan, and mussel full of sharp teeth.

"I am Eshu," he said looking at predator. "So you are a Fox and Judy's mate."

The word mate was in English.

"Yes."

Eshu turned to the Rabbit.

"Why would you choose a mate who isn't of your own species?"

Nick was about say something and Judy put a hand on his arm.

"If I were to touch one of our predators like that I would have been killed instantly."

Judy opened her mouth and then closed it. She could only stare at him. Then Eshu felt a tug on his fur and looked down to see one Judy's children. He bent over, picked it up, and put the child in the crook of his arm. He stroked it lightly.

"I'm a doctor and know a lot about our children. When I was younger a predator child, a bit older than this one, got out of its room and found me. It bit my leg and I could do nothing. When its father came along looking for it and saw what it was doing, he laughed. I could still do nothing and it went on for five minutes. In the end its father pulled him off my leg without opening its jaws and it had a great many small sharp teeth. And I could still do nothing until they left the room. Fortunately I'm a doctor and quickly treated it. Luckily, I didn't get an infection. As you may know a predator's mouth is usually quite unsanitary. "

He handed the child to Judy.

"Eshu, why don't we go and check on the animals."

"OK," he said and looked at Nick. "Nice meeting you Nick and seeing you again Judy."

Joan thought about what had Eshu said as they were checking the animals and she touched his arm.

"Eshu, why did you say all those things?"

"Maybe because Nick was the first predator species I've met here," he said now embarrassed. "It all just came out."

She hugged him with same results. But this time she laughed and padded his butt too.

"You first," she said and stood aside.

"This is designed much like ours," he said looking around. "And you have animals too! All of ours must have died off after the asteroid hit."

"They did a final survey of your world before we left and they may have found something. We can look at the report after we eat."

"Good," he said as they walked to her house. "Also, I would like you to teach me human anatomy."

"And you'll teach me … what is you species name?"

"Animal."

"And your predator species?"

"People."

That was the way her computer translated it. Joan turned to him and put her head against his chest. The she hugged him again.

"Your predators were the ones who were animals!" she exclaimed.

"They just didn't care or even want to."

"Come on. Let's go to my house and get something to eat and talk about other things."

When they approached her house he caught their scent and then he heard and saw them.

"I assume these are animals from your world."

"Yes," she said wondering how to explain this. "Humans keep pets."

"Untranslatable," the computer reported.

"Some humans keep animals as companions."

"To our predators all other animals were food and hunted for sport."

"Most of our pets are predators."

"And these are predators."

"Yes."

"And don't try to harm you."

"No," she said and opened the gate. "Let me show you."

She closed it and sat on the ground. One of the female cheetahs walk over, licked her face, and lay in her lap. She scratched and petted the big cat and it began to purr.

"This is a sound they make when they are contented."

She played with all three while he watched in amazement. He could see their teeth and claws and she actually let one of them lie on top of her and lick her throat! They even chewed on her fingers and there was no blood! She eventually came out and he examined her. She didn't have scratch or bite mark that broke the skin. How could a predator be so gentle? It was simply impossible! She saw the shocked expression on his face and smiled.

"They're my friends. Come on. I'm hungry."

Judy crawled in bed with her Fox and he pulled her into his arms. Purple eyes met green ones and she sighed.

"OK, tell old Nick what's wrong," he said giving her a little squeeze.

She giggled and then after a few moments looked serious.

"Eshu."

"I thought so."

"Nick, what must it have been like for them!" she cried and her face hardened. "To know you could be killed and then eaten for just touching a predator. I mean Zootopia wasn't perfect, but we got along … mostly."

"Think of what our world would have been like," he said and looked at his bunny. "You would have just been food for me and lived you entire life in fear."

"Or think of it in reverse where the prey were in charge and had some way of controlling the predators."

They stared at each other for a long moment. Then her Fox smiled.

"But you and I got along better than most," he said and winked.

"Humans have a saying 'Love Conquers All'."

"Well, it conquered me."

Judy poked her Fox in the side and giggled.

"Even our relationship hasn't been perfect," she said and he looked shocked, but then smiled. "We've had a few arguments and I've been annoyed with you a few times."

"But when we first met I was a …"

"Jerk," Judy supplied and looked at him.

Nick sighed.

"Fluff, you're 100% correct."

"I wish I had the carrot pen."

They both laughed.

"I am sorry."

"I know."

"I could make it up to you."

"Really. How?"

He rolled her onto her back and then hovered over her.

"Ya horny old Fox!" she said and swatted him lightly. "Maybe I'm not in the mood." But she smiled and gave him a wink. "Have you thought of that?"

"Well, maybe I'm not either!"

She could see that he was lying and reaching down she gave his erection a squeeze. Nick sucked in a breath and she giggled.

"Judy!"

Her Fox was a wonderful lover and he'd been her first and only one. She suspected there had been a least a few vixens in his past since he obviously hadn't been a virgin the first time they'd made love. It had surprised her how easily they fit together that first time. In the back of her mind she been afraid he might accidentally hurt her, but other than small pain that first time which was only natural he had been quite gentle. Of course, now that their neural networks had changed them making then almost the same size her Fox had been a bit more adventurous in his love making which they both enjoyed. And there was the added benefit since the neural network repaired any damage to her body each time they made love she was a virgin. She suspected her Fox enjoyed that almost as much as she did. She too had to be more careful she suspected the changes made to her body had made actually stronger than him. Of course, she never tell him that and burse his sensitive male ego. She smiled to herself.

She pulled him forward and he gently entered her. She wrapped her legs around his hips and he breached a barrier that he had many times before. Judy bit her lip and then cried out as delicate sensitive flesh tore. He stopped for a moment and she looked into his green eyes. Then he smiled down at her and he leaned down and kissed her tenderly. She returned it and urged him on. As always when they made love time mattered not. There was only occasional moan, kiss, and the pleasure they gave to each other. She began to feel him swell inside her and then his mouth was on hers again. The kiss only ended when they ran out of breath. Then he licked her throat and she leaned her head back. Later she felt his jaws squeezing her throat until she gasped and then he tensed. A moment later she cried out and felt his warmth spreading inside her. He released her and then she felt his full weight. She held him until he relaxed and then he stared down at her.

"So you weren't in mood," Judy said and smirked.

He smiled and blushed a bit.

"I wonder how many times we've made love."

Judy reached over and picked up her pad. She touched a few keys and smiled.

"1,287 times plus one," she said tapping the final key.

She watched Nick's eyes get big and he snatched the pad from her. He looked at it and all it said was 'Got you!'

"It's called a hustle sweetheart!" she said and giggled.

He pounced on her.

"Help, I'm being attacked by a wild Fox!"

He pinned her to the bed.

"I've got you now!"

"Now that you have me, what are you will do with me?"

"Actually you still have me."

She blushed and he gave her a fox's grin.

Joan finished setting the table and looked over at Eshu who was playing with one of the cheetahs. He'd asked her to let him try to interact with one of the feline predators. Since they had no problem with Judy, Nick or any of the other alien species she thought they'd give it a try. She chose one of the females and put her in a harness just in case. She went to him like anyone else and there hadn't been any problems.

"This is amazing!" he said excitedly as he scratched behind the predator's ear. "She's so docile!"

"I hand raised them," she said and brought over a bowl of raw chicken. "Oh! You don't mind, do you?"

"I've seen predators eat before."

She winced and then sighed.

"Sorry."

"It's fine. Our predators are long gone."

Then she hugged him again and he returned it.

"Come on let's eat."

He sat at her table and she put large bowl of stir fried vegetables and rice on the table. She sat across from him and started to fill her plate.

"I consulted the AI and all these plants are eatable for your species."

He filled his plate and tried a piece of each vegetable.

"Some of these I've had before, but not cooked like this. I do like how they taste together."

"Try a little of this," she said and handed him the bottle. "It's called soy sauce and it's salty."

He put a few drops on his next bite and his eyebrows went up. Then he liberally sprinkled some on the rest of his food. Joan smiled and noticed him looking at her plate.

"Don't you eat meat?"

"I do, but …"

"You won't offend me. Please eat what you like."

She got up, got a bowl from the refrigerator, and put it in the microwave. A minute later she returned and put the chicken on her plate. He smiled and squeezed her hand.

After dinner they went for a walk and sat to watch the 'moon' rise and look at the 'stars.'

"This is the night sky from where I live on Earth."

"The stars are so close. All we see is one group of stars and sometimes both, but not individual stars except the one our planet orbited."

He laid back and put his hands behind his head. Joan snuggled up him and put her head on his arm. The air had cooled a bit, but he was warm and they both soon fell asleep. When she woke the 'sun' was just coming up. She felt his warmth and his arms around her. One of his hands was on her belly and other cupped a breast. He was still asleep and she shook him. He took a deep breath and squeezed her.

"Time to wake up," she said and shook him again.

"Can't we stay like this for a while?"

"We could."

"I do like the feel of your body against mine. It's a new experience for me."

"You never slept with a female?"

"It was not allowed. Males and females were kept separate at night so they wouldn't mate and they were watched during the day. Of course, as a doctor I was allowed to treat both males and females under supervision."

"And when you mated with them?"

"That was under supervision too."

"The things they did to your people are…"

"I think I need to stop telling you things like this since it only seems to upset you."

"Let's go back to my house and have breakfast."

He stood and helped her up.

Two days later the Zootopia II dropped out of FTL into the first solar system with a yellow dwarf star closest to the point they'd entered the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. It was a typical solar system with twelve planets, several asteroid belts, and an Oort cloud. Eight of the planets were gas giants of various sizes which some had rings and all had a multitude of moons and rocks circling them. Of the other four the three inner planets were simply great rocks in space and none of them in the 'Goldilocks Zone.' The fourth orbit was far beyond the gas giants almost in the Oort cloud. The survey lasted only a day and only lasted that long so they could chase down an asteroid in the Oort cloud to replenish the starship with water and various metals.

The next system was only five light years away. Their starship entered FTL and less than five second later appeared in the new system. This system proved to be a bit more interesting. It had 14 planets of which seven were gas giants, but unlike the other system one of the gas giants was the innermost planet orbiting the star at only 10 million miles with a moon which was a the size of a planet. The next two were rocky worlds which were too hot for liquid water. The fourth and fifth worlds were both rocky worlds in 'Goldilocks Zone' and in orbit of their center of gravity.

"Captain, we have only found planets like this only three times in the past," the Explorer said excitedly. "This is the first time the two planets have been able to support life! There isn't any electromagnetic emissions from either world."

"Is there life?"

"Yes, Captain. It should be extremely interesting to see how life developed on each world and how they are related to each other."

"Catherine, can we safely go into orbit?"

"Yes, we will be in orbit of both planets in six hours."

The starship orbited the center of gravity of the two worlds, but far enough away that they orbited both worlds simultaneously. The planets were 900,000 miles from each other and both were green with vegetation. Large oceans covered both worlds and each had large land masses. Each world was a bit larger than Earth, but had a similar gravity. There were no moons or asteroids orbiting either world and they would have been unnecessary. The pull of gravity from each world created the necessary tides in the oceans for the other world which had helped life develop. Neither if the worlds were exactly spheres either, but somewhat egg shaped with the narrow end pointed toward their shared center of gravity. The humans began calling the planet with the larger landmass Castor and the other Pollux after the Gemini twins from Greek mythology.

Hundreds of probes were launched and were doing the most detailed possible scan of each world. Dozens of survey teams were being readied to land on each world once the surveys were complete.

"Captain, there is a wrecked starship on Pollux!"

Leader Lax looked up at the visible excited Rabbit and sighed.

"Go on I'll take the rest of your shift."

"Thank you Leader Lax the ship is yours. Commander, Catherine, Sofia please join me."

"I've contacted Joan, James and the Colonel Brown," Catherine said, "and we'll be meeting them in landing bay 32. Also, I've contacted the school and several of the teachers have volunteered to take care of the kits and children."

Judy winced since in the heat of the moment they'd totally slipped her mind. She looked over a Nick and he too had forgotten. She contacted the school and both she and Nick spoke to their children promised to call each day they were gone. Her Fox put an arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder.

They were first to arrive and were met by one of the marine who led them to the Colonel.

"Ma'am."

"We meet again," she said and held out a hand.

He took it and shook it firmly. Judy returned his grip and smiled.

"You won't need to get into you armor until we go into orbit of the planet."

A hint of a smile crossed the Colonel face as everyone looked relieved. The next to arrive was James who took Catherine in his arms and kissed her. Then several technicians and engineers arrived, saluted their Captain, and hurried to one of the drop ships. The last to arrive was Joan with Eshu who eyed the new Fox.

"Eshu you know Nick, Judy, and their daughter Sofia," Joan said.

"You have a human daughter?"

"We adopted Sofia."

"Untranslatable," the computer reported.

"We made her and her two siblings part of our family formally," Judy said.

"My parents were killed in an accident and Judy and the Explorers rescued us. We had no one left and Judy and Nick took us in even though she was pregnant at the time. I have no idea where we would have ended up if they hadn't done that for us."

"You were very lucky to be found by them."

He held out a hand and human girl took it and he pulled her into a hug. Joan expected a scream, but all she heard was a giggle.

"I love you fur," she said as she ran her hands through it. "It's even thicker than Nick's. Are you and Joan friends?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm a doctor and we've been working together in my garden. I've been teaching her about my people."

"Nice to meet you."

"This is James and Catherine."

"Another Fox," he said and scented her. "Your scent is almost the same as Nick's. Are you related?"

"This body was created from Nick's DNA," she said in Eshu's language. "Originally I was self aware computer program."

"And you speak my language."

"I downloaded it into my neural network."

He stepped closer extending a hand and she took it. After the shake he began to examine her hand manipulating the fingers and joints. Since they were speaking in Eshu's language only Judy knew what they were saying and the others hadn't had the presence of mind to take out there pads to translate. So by the time they did the pair had walked off. James looked at Joan shrugged and then follow them. Nick looked at his bunny and raised an eyebrow.

"He just wants examine her body."

Judy and Sofia gigged at the expression on Nick's face.

"And she agreed?"

"He is a doctor. Come on we need to get aboard."

The flight to the planet Pollux took just over a day and the landing of the drop ship was uneventful with Judy acting as pilot and Catherine as her copilot. The other two drop ships set down beside them a minute later. They'd landed within easy walking distance of the wreck and after the fun of getting into their armor they stepped on the planet with the marines in the lead. When Judy stepped foot onto the grass she surveyed the new land like any good farmer's daughter would. Then she squatted, plunged her hand in the ground, and pulled up a clump of dirt. She ran it through her gauntleted hands and the armor analyzed it feeding the results directly into her neural network. She stood and then noticed that everyone looking at her. She smiled and opened a communications channel.

"This would make good farmland."

"You can take the Rabbit off the farm, but can't take the farm out of the Rabbit," Nick said and everyone laughed.

"True," she said and punching her Fox in the shoulder staggering him back a couple of steps. "Sorry!"

"I'm glad I was wearing armor!" Nick said and patted his bunny's shoulder.

"I don't think Mom knows her own strength," Sofia said.

The walk to the downed ship was again uneventful, but when Castor rose it dominated the sky and they stopped to watch it.

"Eventually these planets will become tidally locked to each other," Catherine said and saw several uncomprehending faces. "They will in time only show the same face to each other as they rotate around their center of gravity."

"I knew that!" Nick said and then everyone continued to the ship with a few smiling and others shaking their heads. "Really."

Judy gave her Fox a swat on the behind to get him moving.

When they could see the ship it was obvious that it had been there a very long time. The ship was still sealed and the marines had to cut their way in through one of the hatches. The ship was quickly secured and no bodies were found. Then the technicians and engineers entered.

"Apparently some of crew survived," Judy said. "Catherine, can you tell how long it's been here?"

Two Explorer came out and scanned the hull of the ship in several places.

"This hull metal was cast 307 years ago give or take a month," she said. "We may be able to tell when this ship arrived here if the computers or at least their storage media can be accessed. That may take time since we'd need to get these computers working and then interpret the data. Hopefully there will be a dictionary or a first contact package."

"Could the descendants of the original crew still be here somewhere on this planet?" Nick asked and looked around as if they were being watched. "How many people could that ship hold?"

Colonel Brown contacted several of his men who escorted them inside. When they entered it was necessary for everyone to stoop and as they were lead through the ship they heard the sound of helmet scraping the ceiling. After five minutes they entered what was obviously the crew quarters. The individual space allotted for each of the crew was small.

"Nick, these are about Rabbit sized," she said and touched the small bed. "How tall were you when we met?"

He indicated his height with his hand.

"I'd say about four feet," one of the marines said.

"And you came up to my collar," Nick said and hugged his bunny their armor clanking, "and not much has changed. Remember our first hug under the bridge?"

The marines chuckled and Judy blushed.

"How about 3 1/2 feet for Captain Wilde."

"The ship doesn't look to badly damaged," Judy said, "at least on the inside."

"Do you think we go hunting for them?" Nick asked.

"Yes," she said. "Please take us back to the Colonel."

One of the drop ships was moved to landing site and the other two when on search. This was augmented by the probes in orbit and now the Zootopia II itself which was now brought into orbit of Pollux. They had been searching for a day when Catherine came to wake Judy.

"Judy," Catherine said and she sat up. "We found refined metal about 200 miles east."

"Whose flying the …," she said and thumped herself on the forehead, "of course, you are."

Catherine smiled. Judy dressed and joined her on the flight deck. Nick was seated in the engineer's station looking a bit nervous. The drop ship gave a little shudder and Nick jumped. Judy and Catherine laughed.

"Stop that!"

They both giggled and took their stations. The flight took only took 30 minutes and own sensors soon picked up the metal. Judy smiled as she saw the hills honeycombed with dug out burrows and he cultivated fields that ran off into the distance behind them. She landed the drop ship near a river that ran at their base. The noise brought out the inhabitants – they were Rabbits. The second drop ship behind them five minutes later.

"Tell everyone to stay in the ships," Judy said and smiled. "I'm going out there alone."

Several objections were raised, but she overruled them. The first of the Rabbits had reached the plain where the drop ships rested as the rear hatch opened. Judy stepped out without her armor and dropped to all fours. She hopped toward the gathering crowd.

"Who are you?" the doe asked in old Rabbit language.

"I'm Judith Laverne Wilde."

"Why are you so large?"

"That is a long story."