Disclaimer: I don't own Swat Kats, just my own originals.
Chapter 3: Boredom Central
A/N: Okay, here's where things start to pick up just a little. It might not be fast enough for some of you, but remember, I have a method to my 'madness'. The reason why I'm going so slow with this fic will be revealed very soon. Promise, and enjoy the read ahead.
We went through the usual process after that. We would review many of the old words that I had previously learned to be sure that they were still in my mind and then we would move onto something new. It was a little tougher then, because I would have to struggle with anything new that Furston gave me.
My mouth and throat had to adjust to any new sounds that came with words. That always hurt, since most were sounds needed to be repeated over and over again until I was able to pronounce them correctly. And by then, I had usually made my throat so raw that it felt like it was on fire.
After all, even if I could speak, that didn't mean it was easy for me to accomplish. The creepling mouth and vocal chords just weren't built to speak the kat language. These are made for speaking in croaks and chattering that sound like mindless chattering to a kat's ears. And it was what I would rather be speaking in rather than having my throat getting constantly sore.
But what I thought didn't matter when it came to things like this. My job wasn't to object to anything. It was to learn the material and then hope that I was getting it right. If I was, it was supposed to lead to easier things later on. Though from what I'm going through now, I'm not too certain on that point.
Eventually, after more than an hour of this nonsense, Furston seemed satisfied with what we had done and decided to call it a day. That was perfectly fine with me, since yet again my throat felt like it was lined with sandpaper. And feeling like that meant that all I wanted to do was to drink about a gallon of water and then call it a night.
A gallon of water wasn't what I got, but what Furston gave me was enough to sate my thirst. I drank a little more eagerly than I normally did, but I didn't care. I knew that how I acted didn't matter to Furston. She knew how hard this was for me, so she ignored my drinking habits after the sessions.
One thing that couldn't be ignored was the growling that my stomach had started making not long after I drank my water. It had been several hours since I had last eaten and my hunger was starting to make itself known again. Which meant that it was now time for my evening meal and probably another casual chat with Furston before she left the lab for the night.
"Hungry already, #3?" Furston teased.
"Don't even start," I warned as I handed her my bowl to fill.
Furston just laughed as she took my bowl and headed off towards the far corner of the lab. In that corner, there is a large machine that closely resembles what kats called a 'vending machine.' Its somewhat smaller, has only pale white for color, and has only two options in food instead of the many that a true vending machine has, as well as a stink that sends most kats running. And it is from this marvelous machine, known as a food dispenser, that my meals come from.
"Okay, your choice. We've got raw fish meat or some kind of slop," Furston gagged as she came close enough to catch said stink for herself.
I considered the choices for a moment before answering. Both were constant staples in the creepling diet. I certainly had my share of both during my lifetime and I found that they had their ups and downs. The fish meat offered a bit more of a gamey taste that came from the food being from a fresh kill instead of something from a can. But the slop had a certain texture that could only come from mixing more than one food source together.
"Surprise me," I replied.
Furston rolled her eyes at me and proceeded to choose whatever my dinner would be. I smiled to myself. I knew that Furston preferred it when I just told her what I wanted so that she can just get the food and just get away from what she saw as the reek of the food dispenser as quickly as possible. Perhaps it's just a little bit petty, but this is just my little way of getting back at her for making such a big deal out of these stupid vocabulary lessons.
I spent the time watching Furston try to make a decision on what to feed me. Her nose was scrunched up as she chose to give me the lesser of the twos reeks, the slop, and started to pour some into my bowl. From where I sat, I could smell that tonight's slop was a mixture of some kind of bird meat and grains. It was about a week old, which accounted for the bouquet of what would be my dinner.
That was fine though. The longer slop sits, the better a chance it has for the mixture to settle together. This makes it easier for creeplings to digest. We might be carnivores, but even we can't keep down certain foods if they're too chunky. If that happens, the experience that follows is definitely most unpleasant.
But I decided not to think about that I watched as Furston finished filling the bowls and moved away from the dispenser as quickly as she could. As always, it was one of the funniest things that I saw during my day. And it was also the one time of the day that I had to fight for major control of myself or start laughing as hard as I could.
I knew that if I started laughing, then it might offend Furston and she might withhold my dinner. It hadn't happened before, but I knew the kat well enough that I knew that it was possible. After the day that I had led, I wasn't going to chance anything. So I kept my mouth shut and waited for Furston to reach me.
"How you can eat that is beyond me," she snorted as she handed the bowl to me.
"The feeling is mutual, Furston. You kats eat cooked food and it has no taste," I countered, taking a firm hold on my dish.
"Yes it does. What do you think all the seasoning and spices we put on our food is for?" Furston demanded.
I grinned," I always thought it was because you kats like to put rocks and strange plants in your food. That's what those seasonings and spices are you know."
Furston opened her mouth to say something but then stopped. Instead, she looked at me curiously, as if she was considering something. Probably trying to figure out how I even knew about these things. Spices and cooking wasn't exactly among the list of things that the scientists were trying to teach me.
"Where did you learn that?" Furston asked finally.
"I have my ways," I replied.
"Come on, #3. This isn't something you should joke about. You could get into a lot of trouble if someone finds out you're going outside the program. How did you find out about that?" Furston demanded.
"I prefer to keep a few tricks to myself," I grinned.
This only seemed to irk Furston more, but she eventually caught on that it wouldn't do any good to keep trying to get me to talk. She knew that when I wanted to be, I could be almost as stubborn as Cox could. Once that happened, it was no use trying to get me to do anything else. I would just stick with my decision and leave it at that.
To be honest, I found out about these sorts of things by hacking into one of the lab computers. By watching the scientists so often and by my own trial and errors, I was actually quite adept at finding my way on a computer. Like door locks, I know that there are certain combinations needed in order to make anything work. The trick is just figuring out what that is. Once that was done and a path was cleared, the sky was the limit in what one could do with a computer.
When I went onto a computer, I usually surfed on the information superhighway known as the Internet. From that, I was able to learn about things that weren't possible in the lab and watchful eyes of the scientists. The lessons that they had planned were full of what I considered mundane things that had no real use to me.
On the Internet however, I found things that I had never even heard of before. These caught my interest and opened my mind to new possibilities. Possibilities that further expanded on both my knowledge and my small world. Something that allowed me to remind myself that there really was more to think about than what I've known for myself.
Somehow, I also think that Master might have known of my constant forays across the Internet frontier. There is little that goes on here in the compound that he isn't aware of. If that's the case however, why he hadn't said or done anything to stop my explorations is a bit of a mystery to me. I just know that it allowed me to continue my explorations and learn as much as I could about the outside world.
I suppose that's a bit of a paradox when I think about it enough. If I'm so interested in learning about the outside world, why haven't I tried to escape the lab in order to see it for myself? That is something I have asked myself time and time again and each time I come to the same conclusion.
No matter how interested I was in learning about something, I didn't see enough of a point to make the attempt. Sure I wouldn't have to stay in a cage anymore and I would be able to see the sky again, but there were other things to consider. Like, if I did try to leave the compound to see the outer world, where would I go? It had been a long time since I had been outside my small world and never once had I been on my own.
Even though I am smarter than other creeplings, I would have no idea how to survive on my own. It has been too long since I hunted for the occasional live prey for myself, so I have forgotten how to do that. So unless I had some way of stealing food from someone else, I wouldn't last long on my own.
Nor would I be able to last long against the elements. Unlike the other creeplings, I am kept at a certain weight at all times. It's enough to keep my healthy, but not enough to allow me to build up a layer of protective fat. Without that, if I were in higher altitudes or a cold region, I wouldn't last long then either.
Besides, leaving meant that I would be going against what Master had planned. I knew how much time he had put into this and the work that was involved in making what I am today. I couldn't just make all of that in vain by up and leaving into a situation that might very well end up as a disaster for me.
So all in all, for the time being, it's in my best interests to just explore via the computer screen. Sure it might not be the real thing and I'm stuck in a place where they're constantly hooking me up to machines and sticking needles into me, but it's better than the alternative. One that in my mind, is not something I would want to face if I can help it.
"You're a real pain sometimes, you know that right?" Furston snorted, drawing my thoughts back to the present and the subject of food.
I just croaked a reply as I placed my bowl beside me. The action brought a frown to Furston's face as she watched me. She looked at me sternly and to my dismay, she started the one thing that I dislike about her: her lectures about what was supposed to be my 'proper behavior.'
"You're doing it again, #3. You know you have to speak kat while we're doing this, not creepling. You're never going to learn how to speak properly if you keep that up," she scolded.
I grumbled," Sorry. Just slipped."
"It's the fourth time that you've let yourself slip this week, #3. You need to keep better control over that," Furston said.
I said nothing, deciding instead to just let Furston rant herself out. It was the only way I knew that would get her back to normal again. Well, as close to normal as one could consider a kat who spends her nights making conversation with a talking creepling. But that was really beside the point.
Furston would occasionally let me slide if I went between kat and creepling. She probably understood that is was difficult for me to keep the two straight sometimes. But her understanding could only go so far before she felt that I could do better than I was. She was insistent that I practice keeping a barrier between the two until I was proficient enough to do so without instruction.
I may not have liked this, but I tolerated it since verbal communication was the only thing that Furston really pressured me in. Everything else, she left me alone in because she knew that I would put my best effort forward unless I was trying to annoy someone. And when that happened, she either let me take my own course or scold me for slowing things down by being childish.
Scoldings were going to be the last thing that either of us had on our minds in the coming moments however. From somewhere outside the lab, I caught a whisper of sound that caused me to stiffen as I leaned forward towards the cage door. My ears strained to catch the sound again as Furston looked at me in confusion.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Company," I answered.
Furston only nodded. Around here, there was only one thing that ever caused me to go rigid like this. It was the approach of my brothers and sisters. To me, their approach always spelled trouble of some kind. Maybe not for me directly, but what would somehow involve me in one way or another.
As expected, no sooner had I thought this than a group of seven creeplings came bounding through the entrance. They wasted no time in coming towards us, chattering and complaining the entire time. It wasn't hard for me to pick up the conversation going on among the group as they drew near us. That was because even if they were ignoring, they didn't bother to hide their conversation from me. So I heard everything that they were saying. Which wasn't really of much interest to me, since it was just about the usual things.
"Let me guess, they're ready to go?" Furston replied after a moment.
"Yes," I nodded," They are bored and want to go. They are hungry."
"They're always hungry," Furston muttered.
I just nodded while the other creeplings just hissed at Furston. They had heard her comment as clearly as I did and none of them appreciated it. But it was a completely accurate description, so I didn't see what they were complaining about.
Then it again, it was probably their hunger that was making them so irritable right now. If they weren't hungry, I knew that they might have been a little more tolerant of Furston taking her time. Well, maybe some of the milder ones might have. The others might have voiced the same complaints that they were using now.
But even complaining about being hungry wasn't enough for them to forget their duties. These creeplings, like the rest of our kind, had been assigned a specific task that Master expected them to carry out to the fullest. No mistakes of any kind would be accepted or tolerated.
This group in particular was to guard Furston and escort her everywhere whenever she wasn't in the lab. This was a measure that Master took in order to keep an eye on her and the other scientists, to better keep an eye on his investments. A little paranoid in my opinion, but not too unusual when one considers Master's position.
He was a powerful kat who had a paw in more schemes and happenings than I could ever hope to count. That meant that he had almost unlimited access to vast amounts of resources that allowed him to continue his operations undisturbed. But with so much happening in his life, that also meant that Master had to guard his assets very carefully.
Those assets included the scientists who continuously worked with me. Their job, though the outcome was unclear to me, was to train me and to discover just what I was capable of. And so that was why such securities were taken with both their safety and to be aware of their activities, even when the guards in question were not in the mood to do their job. Like now, as this group was getting restless with having to wait on Furston to leave so they could go eat.
"We'll go as soon as I've checked #3's foot. She was hurt earlier during testing," Furston tried to explain to the other creeplings.
It was a wasted effort if I ever heard one. The other creeplings just scoffed at the kat's words even as she spoke them. It didn't matter to them that I had been hurt. I was of no consequence to the other creeplings. What mattered to them was getting out of here, seeing Furston off to wherever she needed to go, and then getting to the evening feeding before everything was gone.
Just as they didn't care how she felt, Furston didn't care what my brethren had to say either. Despite the glares that the other creeplings were giving her, Furston proceeded with her task. She looked over the bandaged foot that I had presented to her without protest and checked to be sure that everything was in order.
Through it all, I managed to keep a straight face and bite back on the pain that I felt as Furston inspected my foot. I wanted to show the other creeplings that I was capable of being as indifferent as they were when it came to pain, but it wasn't that easy. The muscle where the tag had been was starting to get tender from the electrical shocks and from my having moved around in my cage around it.
So as Furston continued to press her fingertips against the bandaging and the skin beneath, it felt like needles were being stuck deep into my flesh. Feeling like this made me want to yell and screech like I had first done when Fishbreath had started giving me the shocks. But except for a few minor hisses, I managed to hold back the brunt of what I was feeling.
"Looks all right, but you should keep off it for a day or so," Furston said once she finished.
I just nodded once as a scooted back into my cage. Once I was safely inside, Furston closed the door behind me. Out of habit, she locked it like she did every night. We both knew that if I wanted to, I would be able to get out in no time. But tonight, I was in no mood to go traveling. So there was no harm in the action.
"Guess I better get going before these guys decide to eat me instead," Furston sighed as she glanced over her shoulder at the increasingly agitated creeplings," Good night. I'll see you in the morning, #3."
"Good night, Furston," I nodded.
With that, she turned and headed towards the lab entrance. Hot on her tail were the other creeplings, their own croaks and babblings revealing how excited they were to finally be leaving. They were all talking about the meal that would be waiting for them as soon as they finished their job with Furston. An action that I could only shake my head at, since it wasn't all that long ago that I had been thinking just like that.
In a creepling's life, there are few things that hold a great deal of meaning. Foremost is Master, since he's the one that creeplings are bred to obey with our lives. After him comes food and dominance among ourselves. Depending on the situation, either one of these two things can take precedence over the other.
And right now, food was the most important thing on the minds of the other creeplings. Hence their hurry to get out of here and to the feeding area as soon as possible. So they urged Furston to hurry up and leave the lab so that they could do just that. I watched them go in silence before turning to my own food and drink.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that all but one of the creeplings continued to ignore me as Furston was led out of the lab. This one, a young male not long into adulthood from the way he held himself, chose to remain behind while the others left. He remained behind when the others left, watching me intently from his position a few yards from my cage.
At first, I was inclined to just ignore him. Though it wasn't very common, there were those creeplings who found my appearance so bizarre that they just had to stop and stare at me. The staring could go on from anywhere between a few seconds to as long as an hour.
I didn't know if that was how long this particular guest was going to stay or if he would leave sooner. I just know that eventually, I forgot my meal as my curiosity got the better of me and I started to acknowledge his presence. He had earned that much by staying longer than the others had being doing lately. For the last few weeks, they had only been staying behind for a few moments and then heading off for their own business. This one seemed either more curious or just brash at staying for as long as he had.
"What is it?" I asked warily in kat.
I don't know why I did that. It would have been so much easier for me to just talk to him in creepling. That was a language that we could both speak and understand without any trouble at all. But for some reason, I was feeling difficult again and just went with the first impulse that came to mind.
The other creepling just stared at me in surprise before answering. I had the feeling that even if he had known about me, he hadn't really believed all the rumors that are spread about me among the creeplings. If he had, then he wouldn't have been so surprised that I could speak in Master's tongue as well as our own.
When he finally overcame his shock, he sneered and croaked something to me. As I did, I couldn't help but glare at the little brat's audacity and cruelty. A simple translation was that he was asking me how it felt to be a pitiful lab rat instead of a warrior like everyone else. He was making fun of me for being stuck in a cage while he was free to move about as he pleased.
I barely managed to keep myself from snarling at him for that comment. I knew that was just the reaction that he was hoping to get out of me. Well, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. Instead, I just looked at him as calmly as I could and formulated an answer before I responded.
"Where I go and where I don't is my business, not yours. I stay here because this is what Master has ordered and I don't want to disappoint him. Even a youngster like you should be able to understand that," I answered coolly.
He just snickered again at my words and then bounded out the door after the others. I watched him go with a mixture of outrage and growing hurt. I should have known better than to believe that he was actually going to be civil with me. He was just like the others, taunting me for my differences and the fact that I have to stay in a cage while they have the freedom to go where they will.
If I had the nerve to, I would have stood up to this treatment long ago. I would have made it clear to the others that simply because I was different that it gave them no right to treat me like they did. But because my anger towards my brothers and sisters never lasts long, I never have the courage to do that.
So the treatment that I'm an outsider that none of the other creeplings will ever accept again continues as it has for some time. In their eyes, I guess I've become too much of a freak for life to be any other way. I suppose all that they can see is what I've become instead of who I am. It isn't something I relish, but one that I can understand to an extent.
There were times when I saw myself as a freak as well. And with good reason as far as I could see once I consider all the facts. Even though my physical appearance is still generally a creepling's form, I had certain traits that easily helped me to stand out.
Where the other creeplings are shades of deep pink or light purple, I was a deep, irridescent green. It is a shade that covered nearly every inch of my body. The only exceptions were my wing membranes and a growth on my back. Both of these were a jet-black tint that blended completely into the shadows whenever I stood among them.
The wing membranes had been apart of me since the day I was born. They had originally been a deep violet color that almost matched Master's fur. After the change however, they turned to black. Like my skin pigment, that happened because of a reaction that occurred with the chemicals that I was exposed to during the splicing stage.
The growth was a more recent part of my anatomy. It began to form and grow about seven months ago when I was still undergoing genetic alterations. It ran from between my ears, down the length of my spine, and down to the very tip of my tail. It was jagged most of the way down, looking as if someone had badly cut it with a razor. At one time, the scientists had considered removing the growth since it served no function as far as they were concerned.
Master had dismissed that idea after he had seen the growth for himself. He told them to leave it as it was. There was no reason for them to waste time removing something that was doing no harm or obstructing progress. So it was left where it was and further helped to set me apart from everyone around me.
Sometimes, when I'm depressed from looking at myself and the changes in my body and mind, I almost wish that someone else had been chosen for Master's experiments. I wish that someone else had been chosen to undergo the long darkness that I endure for two long years in order to receive the painstakingly slow process of genetic alteration. I wish that someone else could be the freak in the cage while I was the one who was with the crowd, taunting them.
These feelings used to be commonplace for me in the beginning, just after I was wakened from my long dormancy in a glass tube. But as time went on and came to the present, I've mostly gotten over such things. I know that feeling sorry for myself won't change the situation and that it's best to accept things for as they are.
Eventually I just gave up on these pitied thoughts and decided to get some sleep. It was the one way I knew to pass the hours until morning other than busting out of my cage again or thinking about my problems as I had been. And since I either couldn't or wouldn't deal with these other options, sleep seemed the best thing to do.
Besides, being asleep meant that I could dream and in my dreams, being myself was enough. It was the one place that no one expected things from me nor did they find some way to hurt me. Just thing that I needed after a long day like today.
A/N: End chapter. I hope that this cleared up a few questions on how #3 came to be the way she is now. Somewhat vague in many areas still I know, but I plan on going into greater detail in future chapters. I just wanted to let everyone know just why she's different and why the other creeplings treat her like such an outsider.
By the next chapter, I intend to seriously pick up the pace. That means sooner or later, I'm bringing in the Swat Kats. Too me long enough I know, but again, I have a reason for my madness. Until then, thanks for reading and I promise to have the next chapter out real soon. Later.
Chapter 3: Boredom Central
A/N: Okay, here's where things start to pick up just a little. It might not be fast enough for some of you, but remember, I have a method to my 'madness'. The reason why I'm going so slow with this fic will be revealed very soon. Promise, and enjoy the read ahead.
We went through the usual process after that. We would review many of the old words that I had previously learned to be sure that they were still in my mind and then we would move onto something new. It was a little tougher then, because I would have to struggle with anything new that Furston gave me.
My mouth and throat had to adjust to any new sounds that came with words. That always hurt, since most were sounds needed to be repeated over and over again until I was able to pronounce them correctly. And by then, I had usually made my throat so raw that it felt like it was on fire.
After all, even if I could speak, that didn't mean it was easy for me to accomplish. The creepling mouth and vocal chords just weren't built to speak the kat language. These are made for speaking in croaks and chattering that sound like mindless chattering to a kat's ears. And it was what I would rather be speaking in rather than having my throat getting constantly sore.
But what I thought didn't matter when it came to things like this. My job wasn't to object to anything. It was to learn the material and then hope that I was getting it right. If I was, it was supposed to lead to easier things later on. Though from what I'm going through now, I'm not too certain on that point.
Eventually, after more than an hour of this nonsense, Furston seemed satisfied with what we had done and decided to call it a day. That was perfectly fine with me, since yet again my throat felt like it was lined with sandpaper. And feeling like that meant that all I wanted to do was to drink about a gallon of water and then call it a night.
A gallon of water wasn't what I got, but what Furston gave me was enough to sate my thirst. I drank a little more eagerly than I normally did, but I didn't care. I knew that how I acted didn't matter to Furston. She knew how hard this was for me, so she ignored my drinking habits after the sessions.
One thing that couldn't be ignored was the growling that my stomach had started making not long after I drank my water. It had been several hours since I had last eaten and my hunger was starting to make itself known again. Which meant that it was now time for my evening meal and probably another casual chat with Furston before she left the lab for the night.
"Hungry already, #3?" Furston teased.
"Don't even start," I warned as I handed her my bowl to fill.
Furston just laughed as she took my bowl and headed off towards the far corner of the lab. In that corner, there is a large machine that closely resembles what kats called a 'vending machine.' Its somewhat smaller, has only pale white for color, and has only two options in food instead of the many that a true vending machine has, as well as a stink that sends most kats running. And it is from this marvelous machine, known as a food dispenser, that my meals come from.
"Okay, your choice. We've got raw fish meat or some kind of slop," Furston gagged as she came close enough to catch said stink for herself.
I considered the choices for a moment before answering. Both were constant staples in the creepling diet. I certainly had my share of both during my lifetime and I found that they had their ups and downs. The fish meat offered a bit more of a gamey taste that came from the food being from a fresh kill instead of something from a can. But the slop had a certain texture that could only come from mixing more than one food source together.
"Surprise me," I replied.
Furston rolled her eyes at me and proceeded to choose whatever my dinner would be. I smiled to myself. I knew that Furston preferred it when I just told her what I wanted so that she can just get the food and just get away from what she saw as the reek of the food dispenser as quickly as possible. Perhaps it's just a little bit petty, but this is just my little way of getting back at her for making such a big deal out of these stupid vocabulary lessons.
I spent the time watching Furston try to make a decision on what to feed me. Her nose was scrunched up as she chose to give me the lesser of the twos reeks, the slop, and started to pour some into my bowl. From where I sat, I could smell that tonight's slop was a mixture of some kind of bird meat and grains. It was about a week old, which accounted for the bouquet of what would be my dinner.
That was fine though. The longer slop sits, the better a chance it has for the mixture to settle together. This makes it easier for creeplings to digest. We might be carnivores, but even we can't keep down certain foods if they're too chunky. If that happens, the experience that follows is definitely most unpleasant.
But I decided not to think about that I watched as Furston finished filling the bowls and moved away from the dispenser as quickly as she could. As always, it was one of the funniest things that I saw during my day. And it was also the one time of the day that I had to fight for major control of myself or start laughing as hard as I could.
I knew that if I started laughing, then it might offend Furston and she might withhold my dinner. It hadn't happened before, but I knew the kat well enough that I knew that it was possible. After the day that I had led, I wasn't going to chance anything. So I kept my mouth shut and waited for Furston to reach me.
"How you can eat that is beyond me," she snorted as she handed the bowl to me.
"The feeling is mutual, Furston. You kats eat cooked food and it has no taste," I countered, taking a firm hold on my dish.
"Yes it does. What do you think all the seasoning and spices we put on our food is for?" Furston demanded.
I grinned," I always thought it was because you kats like to put rocks and strange plants in your food. That's what those seasonings and spices are you know."
Furston opened her mouth to say something but then stopped. Instead, she looked at me curiously, as if she was considering something. Probably trying to figure out how I even knew about these things. Spices and cooking wasn't exactly among the list of things that the scientists were trying to teach me.
"Where did you learn that?" Furston asked finally.
"I have my ways," I replied.
"Come on, #3. This isn't something you should joke about. You could get into a lot of trouble if someone finds out you're going outside the program. How did you find out about that?" Furston demanded.
"I prefer to keep a few tricks to myself," I grinned.
This only seemed to irk Furston more, but she eventually caught on that it wouldn't do any good to keep trying to get me to talk. She knew that when I wanted to be, I could be almost as stubborn as Cox could. Once that happened, it was no use trying to get me to do anything else. I would just stick with my decision and leave it at that.
To be honest, I found out about these sorts of things by hacking into one of the lab computers. By watching the scientists so often and by my own trial and errors, I was actually quite adept at finding my way on a computer. Like door locks, I know that there are certain combinations needed in order to make anything work. The trick is just figuring out what that is. Once that was done and a path was cleared, the sky was the limit in what one could do with a computer.
When I went onto a computer, I usually surfed on the information superhighway known as the Internet. From that, I was able to learn about things that weren't possible in the lab and watchful eyes of the scientists. The lessons that they had planned were full of what I considered mundane things that had no real use to me.
On the Internet however, I found things that I had never even heard of before. These caught my interest and opened my mind to new possibilities. Possibilities that further expanded on both my knowledge and my small world. Something that allowed me to remind myself that there really was more to think about than what I've known for myself.
Somehow, I also think that Master might have known of my constant forays across the Internet frontier. There is little that goes on here in the compound that he isn't aware of. If that's the case however, why he hadn't said or done anything to stop my explorations is a bit of a mystery to me. I just know that it allowed me to continue my explorations and learn as much as I could about the outside world.
I suppose that's a bit of a paradox when I think about it enough. If I'm so interested in learning about the outside world, why haven't I tried to escape the lab in order to see it for myself? That is something I have asked myself time and time again and each time I come to the same conclusion.
No matter how interested I was in learning about something, I didn't see enough of a point to make the attempt. Sure I wouldn't have to stay in a cage anymore and I would be able to see the sky again, but there were other things to consider. Like, if I did try to leave the compound to see the outer world, where would I go? It had been a long time since I had been outside my small world and never once had I been on my own.
Even though I am smarter than other creeplings, I would have no idea how to survive on my own. It has been too long since I hunted for the occasional live prey for myself, so I have forgotten how to do that. So unless I had some way of stealing food from someone else, I wouldn't last long on my own.
Nor would I be able to last long against the elements. Unlike the other creeplings, I am kept at a certain weight at all times. It's enough to keep my healthy, but not enough to allow me to build up a layer of protective fat. Without that, if I were in higher altitudes or a cold region, I wouldn't last long then either.
Besides, leaving meant that I would be going against what Master had planned. I knew how much time he had put into this and the work that was involved in making what I am today. I couldn't just make all of that in vain by up and leaving into a situation that might very well end up as a disaster for me.
So all in all, for the time being, it's in my best interests to just explore via the computer screen. Sure it might not be the real thing and I'm stuck in a place where they're constantly hooking me up to machines and sticking needles into me, but it's better than the alternative. One that in my mind, is not something I would want to face if I can help it.
"You're a real pain sometimes, you know that right?" Furston snorted, drawing my thoughts back to the present and the subject of food.
I just croaked a reply as I placed my bowl beside me. The action brought a frown to Furston's face as she watched me. She looked at me sternly and to my dismay, she started the one thing that I dislike about her: her lectures about what was supposed to be my 'proper behavior.'
"You're doing it again, #3. You know you have to speak kat while we're doing this, not creepling. You're never going to learn how to speak properly if you keep that up," she scolded.
I grumbled," Sorry. Just slipped."
"It's the fourth time that you've let yourself slip this week, #3. You need to keep better control over that," Furston said.
I said nothing, deciding instead to just let Furston rant herself out. It was the only way I knew that would get her back to normal again. Well, as close to normal as one could consider a kat who spends her nights making conversation with a talking creepling. But that was really beside the point.
Furston would occasionally let me slide if I went between kat and creepling. She probably understood that is was difficult for me to keep the two straight sometimes. But her understanding could only go so far before she felt that I could do better than I was. She was insistent that I practice keeping a barrier between the two until I was proficient enough to do so without instruction.
I may not have liked this, but I tolerated it since verbal communication was the only thing that Furston really pressured me in. Everything else, she left me alone in because she knew that I would put my best effort forward unless I was trying to annoy someone. And when that happened, she either let me take my own course or scold me for slowing things down by being childish.
Scoldings were going to be the last thing that either of us had on our minds in the coming moments however. From somewhere outside the lab, I caught a whisper of sound that caused me to stiffen as I leaned forward towards the cage door. My ears strained to catch the sound again as Furston looked at me in confusion.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Company," I answered.
Furston only nodded. Around here, there was only one thing that ever caused me to go rigid like this. It was the approach of my brothers and sisters. To me, their approach always spelled trouble of some kind. Maybe not for me directly, but what would somehow involve me in one way or another.
As expected, no sooner had I thought this than a group of seven creeplings came bounding through the entrance. They wasted no time in coming towards us, chattering and complaining the entire time. It wasn't hard for me to pick up the conversation going on among the group as they drew near us. That was because even if they were ignoring, they didn't bother to hide their conversation from me. So I heard everything that they were saying. Which wasn't really of much interest to me, since it was just about the usual things.
"Let me guess, they're ready to go?" Furston replied after a moment.
"Yes," I nodded," They are bored and want to go. They are hungry."
"They're always hungry," Furston muttered.
I just nodded while the other creeplings just hissed at Furston. They had heard her comment as clearly as I did and none of them appreciated it. But it was a completely accurate description, so I didn't see what they were complaining about.
Then it again, it was probably their hunger that was making them so irritable right now. If they weren't hungry, I knew that they might have been a little more tolerant of Furston taking her time. Well, maybe some of the milder ones might have. The others might have voiced the same complaints that they were using now.
But even complaining about being hungry wasn't enough for them to forget their duties. These creeplings, like the rest of our kind, had been assigned a specific task that Master expected them to carry out to the fullest. No mistakes of any kind would be accepted or tolerated.
This group in particular was to guard Furston and escort her everywhere whenever she wasn't in the lab. This was a measure that Master took in order to keep an eye on her and the other scientists, to better keep an eye on his investments. A little paranoid in my opinion, but not too unusual when one considers Master's position.
He was a powerful kat who had a paw in more schemes and happenings than I could ever hope to count. That meant that he had almost unlimited access to vast amounts of resources that allowed him to continue his operations undisturbed. But with so much happening in his life, that also meant that Master had to guard his assets very carefully.
Those assets included the scientists who continuously worked with me. Their job, though the outcome was unclear to me, was to train me and to discover just what I was capable of. And so that was why such securities were taken with both their safety and to be aware of their activities, even when the guards in question were not in the mood to do their job. Like now, as this group was getting restless with having to wait on Furston to leave so they could go eat.
"We'll go as soon as I've checked #3's foot. She was hurt earlier during testing," Furston tried to explain to the other creeplings.
It was a wasted effort if I ever heard one. The other creeplings just scoffed at the kat's words even as she spoke them. It didn't matter to them that I had been hurt. I was of no consequence to the other creeplings. What mattered to them was getting out of here, seeing Furston off to wherever she needed to go, and then getting to the evening feeding before everything was gone.
Just as they didn't care how she felt, Furston didn't care what my brethren had to say either. Despite the glares that the other creeplings were giving her, Furston proceeded with her task. She looked over the bandaged foot that I had presented to her without protest and checked to be sure that everything was in order.
Through it all, I managed to keep a straight face and bite back on the pain that I felt as Furston inspected my foot. I wanted to show the other creeplings that I was capable of being as indifferent as they were when it came to pain, but it wasn't that easy. The muscle where the tag had been was starting to get tender from the electrical shocks and from my having moved around in my cage around it.
So as Furston continued to press her fingertips against the bandaging and the skin beneath, it felt like needles were being stuck deep into my flesh. Feeling like this made me want to yell and screech like I had first done when Fishbreath had started giving me the shocks. But except for a few minor hisses, I managed to hold back the brunt of what I was feeling.
"Looks all right, but you should keep off it for a day or so," Furston said once she finished.
I just nodded once as a scooted back into my cage. Once I was safely inside, Furston closed the door behind me. Out of habit, she locked it like she did every night. We both knew that if I wanted to, I would be able to get out in no time. But tonight, I was in no mood to go traveling. So there was no harm in the action.
"Guess I better get going before these guys decide to eat me instead," Furston sighed as she glanced over her shoulder at the increasingly agitated creeplings," Good night. I'll see you in the morning, #3."
"Good night, Furston," I nodded.
With that, she turned and headed towards the lab entrance. Hot on her tail were the other creeplings, their own croaks and babblings revealing how excited they were to finally be leaving. They were all talking about the meal that would be waiting for them as soon as they finished their job with Furston. An action that I could only shake my head at, since it wasn't all that long ago that I had been thinking just like that.
In a creepling's life, there are few things that hold a great deal of meaning. Foremost is Master, since he's the one that creeplings are bred to obey with our lives. After him comes food and dominance among ourselves. Depending on the situation, either one of these two things can take precedence over the other.
And right now, food was the most important thing on the minds of the other creeplings. Hence their hurry to get out of here and to the feeding area as soon as possible. So they urged Furston to hurry up and leave the lab so that they could do just that. I watched them go in silence before turning to my own food and drink.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that all but one of the creeplings continued to ignore me as Furston was led out of the lab. This one, a young male not long into adulthood from the way he held himself, chose to remain behind while the others left. He remained behind when the others left, watching me intently from his position a few yards from my cage.
At first, I was inclined to just ignore him. Though it wasn't very common, there were those creeplings who found my appearance so bizarre that they just had to stop and stare at me. The staring could go on from anywhere between a few seconds to as long as an hour.
I didn't know if that was how long this particular guest was going to stay or if he would leave sooner. I just know that eventually, I forgot my meal as my curiosity got the better of me and I started to acknowledge his presence. He had earned that much by staying longer than the others had being doing lately. For the last few weeks, they had only been staying behind for a few moments and then heading off for their own business. This one seemed either more curious or just brash at staying for as long as he had.
"What is it?" I asked warily in kat.
I don't know why I did that. It would have been so much easier for me to just talk to him in creepling. That was a language that we could both speak and understand without any trouble at all. But for some reason, I was feeling difficult again and just went with the first impulse that came to mind.
The other creepling just stared at me in surprise before answering. I had the feeling that even if he had known about me, he hadn't really believed all the rumors that are spread about me among the creeplings. If he had, then he wouldn't have been so surprised that I could speak in Master's tongue as well as our own.
When he finally overcame his shock, he sneered and croaked something to me. As I did, I couldn't help but glare at the little brat's audacity and cruelty. A simple translation was that he was asking me how it felt to be a pitiful lab rat instead of a warrior like everyone else. He was making fun of me for being stuck in a cage while he was free to move about as he pleased.
I barely managed to keep myself from snarling at him for that comment. I knew that was just the reaction that he was hoping to get out of me. Well, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. Instead, I just looked at him as calmly as I could and formulated an answer before I responded.
"Where I go and where I don't is my business, not yours. I stay here because this is what Master has ordered and I don't want to disappoint him. Even a youngster like you should be able to understand that," I answered coolly.
He just snickered again at my words and then bounded out the door after the others. I watched him go with a mixture of outrage and growing hurt. I should have known better than to believe that he was actually going to be civil with me. He was just like the others, taunting me for my differences and the fact that I have to stay in a cage while they have the freedom to go where they will.
If I had the nerve to, I would have stood up to this treatment long ago. I would have made it clear to the others that simply because I was different that it gave them no right to treat me like they did. But because my anger towards my brothers and sisters never lasts long, I never have the courage to do that.
So the treatment that I'm an outsider that none of the other creeplings will ever accept again continues as it has for some time. In their eyes, I guess I've become too much of a freak for life to be any other way. I suppose all that they can see is what I've become instead of who I am. It isn't something I relish, but one that I can understand to an extent.
There were times when I saw myself as a freak as well. And with good reason as far as I could see once I consider all the facts. Even though my physical appearance is still generally a creepling's form, I had certain traits that easily helped me to stand out.
Where the other creeplings are shades of deep pink or light purple, I was a deep, irridescent green. It is a shade that covered nearly every inch of my body. The only exceptions were my wing membranes and a growth on my back. Both of these were a jet-black tint that blended completely into the shadows whenever I stood among them.
The wing membranes had been apart of me since the day I was born. They had originally been a deep violet color that almost matched Master's fur. After the change however, they turned to black. Like my skin pigment, that happened because of a reaction that occurred with the chemicals that I was exposed to during the splicing stage.
The growth was a more recent part of my anatomy. It began to form and grow about seven months ago when I was still undergoing genetic alterations. It ran from between my ears, down the length of my spine, and down to the very tip of my tail. It was jagged most of the way down, looking as if someone had badly cut it with a razor. At one time, the scientists had considered removing the growth since it served no function as far as they were concerned.
Master had dismissed that idea after he had seen the growth for himself. He told them to leave it as it was. There was no reason for them to waste time removing something that was doing no harm or obstructing progress. So it was left where it was and further helped to set me apart from everyone around me.
Sometimes, when I'm depressed from looking at myself and the changes in my body and mind, I almost wish that someone else had been chosen for Master's experiments. I wish that someone else had been chosen to undergo the long darkness that I endure for two long years in order to receive the painstakingly slow process of genetic alteration. I wish that someone else could be the freak in the cage while I was the one who was with the crowd, taunting them.
These feelings used to be commonplace for me in the beginning, just after I was wakened from my long dormancy in a glass tube. But as time went on and came to the present, I've mostly gotten over such things. I know that feeling sorry for myself won't change the situation and that it's best to accept things for as they are.
Eventually I just gave up on these pitied thoughts and decided to get some sleep. It was the one way I knew to pass the hours until morning other than busting out of my cage again or thinking about my problems as I had been. And since I either couldn't or wouldn't deal with these other options, sleep seemed the best thing to do.
Besides, being asleep meant that I could dream and in my dreams, being myself was enough. It was the one place that no one expected things from me nor did they find some way to hurt me. Just thing that I needed after a long day like today.
A/N: End chapter. I hope that this cleared up a few questions on how #3 came to be the way she is now. Somewhat vague in many areas still I know, but I plan on going into greater detail in future chapters. I just wanted to let everyone know just why she's different and why the other creeplings treat her like such an outsider.
By the next chapter, I intend to seriously pick up the pace. That means sooner or later, I'm bringing in the Swat Kats. Too me long enough I know, but again, I have a reason for my madness. Until then, thanks for reading and I promise to have the next chapter out real soon. Later.