Geology.
Now this probably isn’t the most exciting field of study but it is what I decided to get into. Something about how water could just disappear under the ground always intrigued me. Where did it go? I grew up in a rather large city, people were stacked on people. The rich lived up on the higher levels and those with less lived lower. I’d sit outside my grandma’s apartment and ask myself, how did that water get go into the drain, and eventually end pack up in the sink? Eleven years later and I’m a Hydrologist on a dinky transport ship rocketing towards some colony so far outside of Authority control it didn’t yet have a standard name. Water was something most take for granted, but out in the far reaches of space it is perhaps all that matters to a budding colony. 

And that’s how I found myself sitting in this terribly uncomfortable seat in an all terrain Land buggy headed to look at some caves. I checked my wrist communicator. There was another 45 minutes of this drive. The buggy bounced itself along over small fern like plants following what could hardly be called a trail let alone a road. The biom this colony was located was best described as a forest. It rained often and the only colors one could see past the windshield was green and brown. Sometimes I was sure the driver, some risk management major who had introduced himself as Remy, purposefully hit every rock on the road.  We had found a wave to cross through the vacuum of space at near light speed but we couldn’t invent hovercars or at least good shocks. Everything about this colony was took far too seriously. There were these huge walls set up around the main village and farmland, and no one was allowed to go past them without permission. Even though there were no biological threats detected. Nothing out in the thick foliage could eat us. And those who were given the permissions to go out had to wear these god awful body suits. The fabric kept chafing against the fur on my thighs. I do like having a bunch of pockets to put all my things on me. But military style grab is not my thing. Remy didn’t seem to mind it. He looked to be the sort of person that had a military background anyways. The worst part was the “special panties” I had to wear under the suit. Since it was all one piece as it could be vacuum sealed by adding a helmet. This meant it required the help of another person to get it off, so I was wearing a diaper. There was this odd bulk between my legs that merely added to my own uncomfort. I tried to focus my thoughts on how nice it was to have pockets. (Since the dresses and Jeans I was more accustomed to, never had pockets, or if they did they simply weren’t large enough to carry a pocket spectrometer.) 

“Alright, here we are.” stated Remy. 
“Thank, God.” As soon as the buggy came to a stop I opened the door and hopped out happy to stretch. The air was fresh out here. It hit me every time. Growing up in a city, I had never realized just how good air could smell if plants were around. Remy went to the back of the Buggy and gathered up his rifle. I snorted. Remy was a tall Jackal of sorts. His jet black fur matched his own black and green suit well. I’d not known him for very long, but what I did know is that he was discipline oriented and somewhat fond of violence. He was on the colony security team back inside the colony. And no trips outside the walls were ever conducted without a member of said team, despite my protests that spelunking in nearby caves for a secondary clean water source didn’t require muscle. At least he was a hot in his own rough sort of way. He was always wearing this hat that looked like it belonged to an ancient Australian. “You know scans and multiple biologists report there’s nothing carnivorous on this world.” 
“You can never be too careful. Do you see a lot of herbivores around? Why aren’t they over taking the planet? Something is eating them.” He replied, paying me little mind. I got my backpack off of the back and motioned up to my jackal partner. I paid that no mind and confidently strolled out into the brush, checking my wrist communicator to lead the way. I could hear my partner’s footsteps behind me. 
“So, the original planet scans showed lower density planet crust in this area?” I asked. Remy nodded. “If it really is some large aquifer then the colony will have plenty of water to sustain itself. But, that will mean that anything we find in this cave might be linked to the wells that have already been dug, meaning we will need to drive quite far out to tap into a completely different water table.”  I explained. It didn’t make much sense to me why I was supposed to report to Remy of all people. 
“That’s acceptable.” Remy clicked on a light to illuminate the cave in front of us. “It’s imperative that we find another secondary water source, not because the council is afraid that we could run out, but because of the possibility of a toxin being introduced to the current supply.” 
My ears perked up. I knew that the colony was sponsored by a Engentech-alphabet, a major pharmaceutical manufacturer. But I had been under the assumption that the labs were just dissecting leaves in search of new drugs. 
“Just what are we researching in the labs then? You’re talking about something that rarely happens on populated worlds. What could make the water so toxic that you couldn’t use it? That’s some bio-weapon type stuff you’re afraid of. We can literally recycle urine and polluted rain runoff into perfectly drinkable water.”
“It’s just a precaution.” stated Remy in such a way that didn’t have me convinced. 
“People lock their doors, sure. But no one barricades their door unless they know someone’s coming.” 
Remy didn’t respond, and I lead into the cave. All the security around the complex really did have my fur up on end sometimes. Safety was one thing, but this place was run in the most extreme security conscious manner. I could not wait to get my contract finished with and get off the planet. Just needed to find new water, I remind myself. Deeper into the cave we traveled. Water had to have carved this all out at some point. And I was pretty confident we would find some deeper in the cave. Though I just hoped that the cave system we’d come across wasn’t that big. A terrible small crossed my nose. Remy stopped dead in his tracks. 
“Don’t move.” He scanned around the cave with his light. “That’s the smell of dead flesh.” This only made the smell more repulsive to me. Remy moved around the cave in search of the culprit, and soon it was found. A heap of animal bones and flesh was just rotting in a nest built from dead branches and leaves. Remy let out an audible sigh. 
“Ooo, scary. It doesn’t even look like it was eaten. If there was something carnivorous out here, wouldn’t you assume that it would have scavenged this uh… thing?” The dead critter likely stood at about four feet tall and was some cross between a boar and a rhino. Its flesh was made of some foreign hard grey material. But it had a long nose with a flat end like a pig. “Shall we get back to looking for water now?” It was then I noticed something odd in the nest. There was a piece of cloth that was used to pad the den along with the leaves. I knelt down, plugging my nose to get a closer look. “Hey, it found some, coat or something.” A strong hand grabbed my shoulder and tugged me away from the nest. 
“Don’t touch anything. It could have died from some disease, I think it’s best to continue moving.”
“You’re too paranoid. Look, we are almost 155 miles from the colony and this critter has some guys coat it found. That’s a big discovery. It means these animals have huge zones of travel.” 
“Water. You find it.” Commanded Remy in a much more angry tone. “I’ll put it in the report. Just stop poking around the thing.” 
I rolled my eyes. “This is why you’re single.” 
We continued down into the cave again in search of water. The nest was a good sign. It meant that the critter may have set his nest up in hear because of a nearby water source. My suspicions were confirmed to be correct. Just another 20 or so yards into the cave was a small pool of water that disappeared down a hole that was much too small for either of us to crawl through. I squatted down and began to unpack my stuff. 
“So how do you tell if this water is good, anyways?” 
“I placed a marker in the well back in the colony. It’s a harmless microsubstance with an extremely high rate of diffusal so I merely need to test for that substance. If I find it, then we know our wells and this point are connected in some way.” I explain. It took some time for the device to complete running it’s tests. 
“Is that it? You just stick that little rod in the water and we’ll know?” 
I nodded, but Remy began to laugh.
“And you went to school for that?” His laughing rolled into chuckles. “How much are you paid to go around and stick computers into puddles?”
“I’m sure I’m paid more than you!” I promptly retorted. I was a university graduate in a lesser known field of study, and the only reason I took this job where I had to travel over a billion miles from my cozy apartment was due to the lucrative pay. 
“That’s because you’re eye candy.” Remy teased, reaching out to pat my head like I was a pet! I stamped my foot and opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He’d hidden an insult in a compliment. I certainly wanted to somewhat believe that I was cute. But also he was stating my degree meant nothing! I could not shout out how much money I was being paid, as the contract I had signed explicitly stated I wouldn’t get paid if I did that. I shut my mouth and let him have his win. It was probably best to play nice with Remy anyways. My ears flattened in defeat. A beep alerted me to some issue with the sensor. I squatted down to check what was going on. 
“Alright, I’m sorry stop it with the sad ears.” Remy said, reaching down to gently grab the tip of each of the long fluffy headflags. The Jackal held each of my ears and pulled up gently, as to point them back at the sky instead of flat against my head. “You know, when I was in Port Authority security, posture was considered very important. The CO would make you do a couple hundred push ups if you were seen walking about with your ears all droopy. One must always look alert and distinguished after all.” 
I turned around to face Remy and gave him my best puppy dog eyes. “Well, maybe if you think I’m good looking you could help me out of this suit so I can go tinkle.” I was admittedly trying to guilt trip him. I had read the pamphlet on when you were allowed to take off the suit (As the car ride was long and what else was I supposed to do?). Now was not one of those times. I’d been in the suit a while now, and peeing in it sorta spooked me, even if it was designed for me to do just that. Remy did what I expected: He shook his head. 
“No, policy states you’re not taking that off unless we’re in the vehicle or you’re injured and it’s required.” He stated in that monotone policy voice he had. I frowned and flattened my ears. Remy lifted my ears back up. 
“Yeah, whatever, just quite touching my ears.” I complained, batting his hands away. I squatted back down to focus on more work, which was currently just staring at the little sensor until it beeped. I decided now was as good as a time as ever to… relax. A warm feeling overcame my groin and with that out of the way I could actually think again. Remy kept glancing around as if he was on high alert. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was the sort of person who did not sleep at night. The sensor beeped and I picked it up. 
“We done?” asked the Jackal in an almost worried tone. 
“No, turns out that this water is connected to the wells in the colony.” I pack up my things. Remy nodded. “I guess we’ll have to try the next set of caves in the valley.”
“No, we’ll head back to base and start back out tomorrow in a new direction.” He stated curtly. The Jackal began leading towards our buggy. 
“But the original planet scans showed that water would be more easily accessible in the north where we are now.” I protest. Though heading back to the colony and sleeping in a real bed sounded nice. I was not the biggest fan of camping, but I was also not a big fan of prolonging this job. Something about how everyone acted in the colony really didn’t sit well with me. 
“Doesn’t matter. We are headed back.” 
I was sure something was up now. Remy walked at a brick pace. I dedicated most of my attention to following him along and not slipping on the cave floor. 
“Jeez, slow down. What’s got you so spooked?” 
“Nothing spooks me.” Stated the clearly spooked Jackal. 
Remy got into the buggy rather quickly, not bothering to stow his rifle in the back. I took my time stowing away my things carefully in the back. I made a show of stretching outside the buggy. 
Sitting down was a new experience now as I was promptly reminded that I had recently went pee. The diaper did do a pretty good job at not feeling wet. But there was still this warm puffy pad that just groped my groin as I sat. Remy was driving rather quickly. A big bump knocked me out of my thoughts. 
“Remy, seriously. Just slow down.” It was then I saw it. Something darted across the road that wasn’t an animal. “Shit did you see that?” The figure was gone as quick as it appeared. 
“Yes,” replied Remy. “But you did not see it.” The Jackal’s hands were tense. He just gripped the wheel so very tight. “You understand me, Semandi? You didn’t see it, only I did. You were busy taking a nap on the ride home.” 
“Fuck you, that was a person. Why are we driving away so fast? What did he do?” 
I turned to look at Remy, demanding some answers but he just looked like a ghost had come over him. He did not reply, and so I was left to speculate in my own head. 

The ride back didn’t feel nearly as long. Remy had mostly calmed down as we reached the gates. 
“This is the Rover-5 returning, let can we open up those doors?” 
I watched as Remy talked into the comms equipment. Parking the rover inside was rather uneventful. The garage was a large glorified box. It was built into the wall allowing it to act as a sort of gate between the outside and inside of the colony. There were perhaps 6 truck buggies like our’s parked along side of two much larger military style vehicles. I hopped out and had to squint my eyes. The lights were all off inside to conserve energy. Just one or two small lights by the exit doors could be seen. As I was getting my bearings Remy came around the vehicle rather quickly and then pushed me up against the truck. He leaned in close and whispered. “The cameras can’t see us right here. Listen, I’ve got to go report in. You saw nothing. Do you understand me, Sem? You saw nothing out there. Keep your mouth shut and if you really want to know more, then meet me at my place in an hour.” Remy then spun me around more roughly than I would have liked and undid the back of my suit. The Jackal strolled away without a word after that, leaving me both literally and figuratively in the dark. 

(So this is a big set up piece to Sem’s story line. Subsequent pieces will follow each week. Let me know what you enjoyed about it. Not everything will be revolving around this plot. I will also be posting more lightheated stories of Sem’s time in college. Some smut, and perhaps some fetishy stuff like omorashi and the like. Remember the more feedback I get on my art. The more I can improve!)