The Scout
8599 words

NB. This story is a birthday gift.
It is therefore Copyright © 2012 Dennis M. Falk, All Rights Reserved.
It was written by Allan D. Burrows, however.

Allan D. Burrows
320 Maple Grove Avenue
Mississauga, Ontario
CANADA	L5A 1Y2
(905)277-4459
ac046@torfree.net

Thank you for considering my submission.

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D.M.Falk's Copyright statement

Story issued under a Creative Commons license attribution, BY-NC-SA (any version), and all further rights retained by Dennis M. Falk and Allan D. Burrows.

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	Cheryl sat in a tree, staring across the engine at the park on the other side of the ship. She'd have no time tomorrow for last looks at the cylinder-of-cylinders she'd called home since she was born. She'd awaken early and make her way through the Bridge to the scout ship at zero degrees. By lunch time she'd be launched towards Gliese 581 to find out for sure if Gliese 581 c, d or g were actually habitable. It was essential to know this and soon. The Botany Bay had reached half the speed of light on its way from Earth, but it was braking now. Cheryl looked out past the park to the three great pipes which robots were slowly stripping of fifty years worth of corrosion; the injectors that supplied hydrogen to the ship's fusion engine. She knew that the bussard ram scoop was nearly at its widest to collect enough interstellar hydrogen for the engine. In a few years they'd need to inject hydrogen from the fuel tanks again. She'd helped to service the ship's old LiFTR fission plants and put them online; although strictly speaking it would be years before they'd be needed, by the time they reached Gliese those plants would supply all their power. (Actually she'd wanted practice before she ran the LiFTR plants on her scout ship.) Before the ram scoop collapsed, the crew needed to know that there was at least one world orbiting Gliese where they could disembark. Otherwise, they'd have to change course and make for their back-up target; Gliese 667Cc, light years away in another direction. Without all the fuel that the ram scoop could gather, they'd never manage such a radical turn. 
 
	So Cheryl looked around herself at the greenery, gazed through the leaded, cobalt-blue glass at a matching park on the far side of the ship. She wouldn't see the outside of her scout ship again for two years. In fact, if none of Gliese's three "habitable zone" planets were liveable, she'd never see green plants again. Her long, bushy tail curled in on her tummy at the thought. Cheryl didn't want to die, especially not alone and far from her friends and family. She thought about the old Kepler space telescope, dedicated to planet-hunting. She thought of all the humans who'd looked for planets at the turn of the millennium. They were clever, nearly as clever as the fur-kinds they'd created. They were all gone now, those smooth-skinned apes; doomed by diseases to which their descendent, fur-kind like her, were immune. They could have used the time they had left to cure themselves. Instead they passed on their gifts of intelligence, sentience, language, thumbs to less-evolved creatures so that they could survive. 
 
	"We survived," she murmured. She owed it to those apes to have faith in their research. Gliese 581 g at least would be able to support her, the figures said so, she only had to confirm it.  

#

	The Adelaide separated neatly from the Bridge at sector zero. Two counterweights at sectors 120 and 240 separated at the same time and the Botany Bay sped up just a little. At sector 180, the scout ship Canberra bided its time, but if Cheryl was successful it would never be used. Cheryl started the engines and pulled away from the ship. She was still stable relative to the Botany Bay's spin, that wouldn't do. She was weightless now, which was uncomfortable, but she needed to be stable relative to the star field before she could spin-up her own habitat. She engaged the computer and watched the monitors as the Adelaide pointed her engines into her spin, then fired. Soon the stars were standing still and the Botany Bay was turning under Cheryl, spinning to simulate gravity.  

 	Next she had to get clear of the ram scoop. Passing too near that super-dense magnetic field would cause an electromagnetic pulse that would fry every part of the Adelaide that could conduct electricity, including all of her nerves. Once again the computer turned the Adelaide. Soon her engines were facing the Botany Bay. Cheryl took over, making certain that only the manoeuvring thrusters fired. To shoot fusing plasma and hard radiation at the ship's hull would have been rude to say the least. Ten minutes later she was satisfied with her speed away from the ship and the edge of the ram scoop. She turned the ship around and started the habitat spinning. There was a hint of wobble at first, but the computer fixed the trim in seconds. Soon Cheryl was under normal gravity again, granted with more Coriolis than she was used to. She started checking the ship's systems. Half an hour later the main thrusters fired a one minute burst and stopped the scout ship's outward movement. Cheryl could feel the ship baulk against the push of interstellar hydrogen even at this slow speed, but the Botany Bay was actively braking and started to fall a little behind. She walked to the communications panel and opened a channel.  

	"This is Captain Cheryl Smith commanding scout ship Adelaide to Botany Bay," she sent.  

	"Botany Bay command to Adelaide, your link is solid, full strength signal in real time." 

	"Botany Bay, I read Adelaide clear and ready to accelerate. Do you confirm that?" 

	"Adelaide we confirm, you are clear to accelerate. We copy all of your systems in the green."  

	"I confirm all systems green. I will aim for Gliese now." 

	Again she signalled the computer. The Adelaide turned her engines away from her path. Soon her bow was pointed as Botany Bay's was.  

	"Adelaide, we confirm your aim. Are you ready to accelerate?" 

	"Botany Bay, I am ready to start my main engine. Stand by." 

	Cheryl walked over to the command chair and strapped herself into it. The restraints would do little to protect her if there was an emergency now, but it didn't hurt either, (except that her tail was a bit cramped.) She sealed a helmet to her pressure suit, closed the visor and turned the suit's life support system on. She linked its communication to the ship's system. Then she rested a thumb on a stud in the command chair's arm.  

	"Main engine start in ten, nine, eight..." 

	The timing was hardly critical for engine fire at this point, nor was there any possibility of anything in the way, but the count down was traditional. Cheryl felt rather excited by it. This was It, there'd be no turning back now!  

	"...three, two, one, main engine start!" 

	She pushed the stud. The lights dimmed slightly and a hissing started in the background. Behind her, Cheryl knew, xenon atoms were being shot into the void at near-relativistic speeds. The push was gentle, but the engine could do it for years. It wouldn't get her safely past the ram scoop, though. For that...

	A terrible roar started shaking the very air. Now hydrogen from another tank was being ionized, electrically heated and shot into a repulsor field, where it was compressed until it fused, The resulting helium ions were fired out the rear, parallel to the xenon beam but with much more force. The Adelaide accelerated with a good deal of authority. She pulled away from the Botany Bay quite visibly. 

	Still the fusion engines fired. Ahead, Cheryl saw a field of rippling light. She'd seen videos of the Earth's northern lights, this did rather look like them. 

	"Botany Bay, I... I have visual on the ram scoop. Distance..." 

	She'd seen images of Earth tornadoes, how destructive they were. This looked a lot like one of those, too. But the course plot on the computer monitor was correct. 

	"...distance looks good." 

 	"Adelaide, we confirm, your distance is good." 

	But that tornado of swirling light kept getting closer. 

	"I could have wished for more distance," Cheryl murmured.

	And the closer it got, the bigger it got. 

	"Getting nervous, Captain?" 

	And the bigger it got, the more Cheryl felt a tingling in her toes and fingers and scalp. Against her will, she squeaked. 

	"Your heart beat and breathing are up, Captain. Are you feeling a tingling sensation?" 

	"I feel it!" 

	"Listen to me, Cheryl. That is not the ram scoop you're feeling. You are hyperventilating, you're getting too much oxygen. That's what is causing the tingling, not the ram scoop. Set your suit's life support to automatic, it will add more carbon dioxide and the tingling will go away. Do you understand? Set the suit's life support to automatic. Do that now." 

 	"...Life support..." she gasped. "...automatic... ram scoop could knock it offline..." 

	"Cheryl, listen to me. You are going to pass out soon. You'll be of no use to anybody. Your course is looking good, the odds of your suit going offline are insignificant. Go ahead and set it to automatic now." 

	"...life support to automatic... I have an alarm..." 

	"It's all right, that's just the suit sensing that you're hyperventilating. We copy the alarm, that's all it is. Is the tingling starting to go away now?" 

	"...y-yes..." 

	"Look at your forward monitor, Cheryl. You're passing the outer edge of the ram scoop now. Do you see it?" 

	"I-I confirm... Adelaide is past the ram scoop. Uh... fusion drives to stand by, main engine maintaining full thrust. The computer says my course is correct. Do you confirm?" 

	There was a cough on the other end. "We confirm Adelaide's course is correct, Captain. Are you ready to start the post-burn check-list?" 

 	Cheryl sat and breathed for a few seconds. She blushed furiously at having fooled herself like that. 

	"Botany Bay..." she said. "...sorry," she murmured. 

	"For what?" the voice from the bridge murmured back. 

	Cheryl blushed still harder. "Let's start the check-list," she said. 

#

	For the rest of the day, Cheryl double-checked that the Adelaide's systems were intact after passing the Botany Bay's ram scoops, tested and readied her hibernation tank, tested and linked the Adelaide's systems for remote control and did a morale-booster show for the crew of the Botany Bay. She'd skipped all her meals, drank only sugar water with caffeine, so that her bowels would be empty that night. Finally it was time to climb into the hibernation tank. 

	"Cheryl?" came a voice.

	"Melissa!" she cried! "I'm so glad to hear your voice! Oh..." She giggled. "Do you have a visual link? I'm naked, dear." 

 	"I see. Oh, you're beautiful! Wait..." 

	The main monitor changed from a display of the Adelaide's system status to quarters in the Botany Bay. A young mouse girl jumped into camera view from one side. Grinning broadly, she started tugging her uniform off.

	"Sister..." Cheryl started. "Wait, don't! The bridge crew will be watching!" 

	"They promised me private time," Melissa replied. "I don't care if they lied, sister. It'll be two years before you wake up and more than ten before I can be with you again! My body craves yours already!" 

	"I hope we're private or the bridge crew will be wondering how a squirrel can have a mouse for a sister." 

	Melissa giggled. Naked now, she cupped her breast, offering it to the screen. Cheryl caressed her belly, presenting that to her lover. Melissa stroked her breast, circled slender fingers over her nipple, hugged herself. Her delicate ears turned back and she shuddered. Hot tears dampened her cheek fur.

	“I'm sorry!” she whimpered. “I can't bear this! I need you in my arms!”

	“I will be again, sister. I promise, I will live for you and find us a new home!”

	Melissa looked away, shivering. Cheryl watched her weep, helpless to comfort her. Her own ears lowered, she slipped on a sensor suit and climbed into the hibernation tank. She looked at the tubes that would keep her safe, well and clean. She smiled.

	“Melissa? Sister, watch this! It will please you.”

	The mouse looked up at the screen, her face a study in misery. Cheryl smiled mischievously. She picked up a broad tube from the tank, greased its nozzle with lube. Then she turned her tail to the screen. She made a great show of teasing her rear entrance with the nozzle. Then, moaning loudly, she eased the tube inside herself. A lip caught inside her, a ring gently held it in place. Then she turned and put a leg up on the side of the tank. She picked up another hose, this one on an armature. She greased its nozzle, then teased her slit. Melissa had stopped weeping. She watched with rapt attention as Cheryl pushed the white thing in and out of her hole, deeper and deeper until finally the squirrel's depths had enfolded it completely. Now Cheryl picked up a smaller tube, its nozzle as small as a knitting needle with a knob at the tip and greased that, too. She greased it especially thickly. Again she teased the lips of her slit for a bit, watching Melissa's chest rise and fall quickly, deeply. She pressed the little knob to her pee hole, pressed against it, pressed it in. She sounded herself deeply, moaning, whining as the cannula went into her. At last she squeaked as it pushed home into her bladder. She smiled at Melissa as she slid a small plate up the tubes. She eased her nether lips over it and rubbed them, moaning softly. Finally she picked up a cuff and slipped it around her elbow, pulled off a tab and gasped as something jabbed her arm.

	“I'm ready now. I just have to lie down and push a button and I'll be asleep until just before I enter Gliese's orbit.”

	Melissa's smile faded. “I know,” she said.

	“Don't let yourself be lonely until we're together again. Please, I don't want you to be sad for that long.”

	“I promise.”

	“We will be together again.”

	“I promise.”

	“I love you, Melissa.”

	The mouse mouthed the words back, but couldn't make her voice work. Cheryl smiled one last smile at her, then laid back in the tank on a couch and strapped herself down at ankles, knees, waist, chest, head and finally slipped her arms into restraints, too. She pushed a stud with one finger then, observing another tradition, counted backwards from a hundred. The lid closed on the tank. Cheryl got as far as fifty two.

#

	There was a buzzing, but it might have been her head. She knew that she mustn't open her eyes right away. Keep them closed... oh, where was the ping to let her look? She thought of Melissa, it had just been a moment since she'd put on that show... no, it had been a year and a half, or however long the probe jockeys on the Botany Bay thought they could safely control Adelaide with increasing delay due to distance. That would be six or seven days long by now.

	Cheryl felt more and more awake as she waited. How awake was she at any given moment? Never mind, there was the ping and a little, sharp pain as something pulled out of the crook of her elbow. She opened her eyes. Instruments were displayed in front of her, the most important at the top showing a proper atmosphere outside the tank. She turned to a window, where a pair of tell-tales lay. She pressed her eye to the eyepiece of a plain, optical scintillator; only a few flashes per second, a little high but tolerable. Then she looked carefully at a simple, tubular balloon beside it. The thing hung like a limp penis, barely inflated. The lower half glowed softly green; the upper half glowed a slightly different green. Pressure outside the tank was normal, not low enough to make it inflate or burst, while oxygen and carbon dioxide levels were within breathable limits. So the instruments were probably correct.

	Cheryl unstrapped herself, released a latch and opened the lid. She started out of the tank... oops, all those tubes she'd had so much fun putting into herself, it seemed like just minutes ago. Taking them out was sore work; no, it was much more than minutes ago. She climbed out slowly; her body was built for hibernation, she'd lost only a little muscle tone, but she was still a bit weak and stiff. There was a pinging alarm, something needed attention soon, but it could wait. She leaned against the tank and stretched carefully, working the kinks out of her muscles. Her skin itched all over. She peeled off the body suit and rubbed herself. She needed a brush. Before that, she needed a bath. But before that, something needed attention. No, first of all she needed food!

	Cheryl lurched to the food slot. No need to order her preferences, there was special food waiting for her. It pushed out of a tube like pudding and tasted like her favourite jonagold apples. It was mainly protein and water, electrolytes, vitamins... It helped her wake up.

	She looked at the main display as she ate. It was showing over-all status. There was a problem with the #2 reactor. Why hadn't the probe jockeys done something? She looked at the communications display; time delay of eighteen standard days! They might not have even seen it yet. The flight plan display showed she'd been awakened normally, so whatever was wrong had happened less than thirty six days ago. She brought up the reactor display; a slight misalignment of the fuel rods, slightly blocking the moderator outlet, building to a problem but not serious yet, easy to fix. She took the main engine offline, ordered the rods pulled out, adjusted and re-inserted, waited while ship obeyed, then fired the main engine again. She noticed that the ship was braking now. In four hours she'd need to deploy Mouse 1, a probe that would orbit Gliese 581 c and send back information about it to the Adelaide. Cheryl would analyse it herself, then send the data and her recommendation to Botany Bay. Mouse 2 would deploy to Gliese 581 d a few days later, then Mouse 3 to Gliese 581 g after Adelaide had braked around the sun itself. Mouse 4 and 5 were there in case of a fault in 1, 2 or 3, while Rat 1 and 2 would be deployed if anything peculiar turned up, but the Adelaide itself had enough instruments to do an adequate job if all else failed and Cheryl would use them anyway. She'd have little else to do for the next few months...

	On which, there was another thing to do. She brought up the communications display and opened a simplex voice channel.

	“This is Captain Cheryl Smith, commanding Scout Ship Adelaide. I am awake. I've fixed a small maladjustment in reactor 2. I read my course as correct. Mouse 1 deployment in two hours two minutes. Just time for a bath first...” Cheryl smiled to herself. “I make the time launch plus five ninety point eight... exactly, on my mark... Mark. Adelaide out.”

	She closed the channel. It would be eighteen days before it was heard back on Botany Bay. The data channel, too that sent Adelaide's data back to Botany Bay and the command channel that sent commands the other way were down to simplex. There was no point waiting for acknowledgements for eighteen days before proceeding! The command channel... Cheryl smacked her forehead. Then she set the computer to let her confirm any orders that came through that channel before obeying them.

	Next she opened a locker and dug out her own video camera. She set it in the head, aimed at the shower and linked it to the coms. She opened a video channel back to Botany Bay; she addressed it to Melissa, although she knew the bridge crew would see it, too. She turned on the shower and stepped into it. The water, pumped through filters before it went back to the shower head, was heated so that it only just steamed and provided a curtain that didn't really cover Cheryl's body, just made it a tiny bit harder to see so that Melissa would really have to look! (The life support system would recover the steam.) She let it soak into her fur and expose the curve of her breasts, churring loudly as it loosened more muscles and washed old skin flakes away. She worked the shampoo dispenser and found plenty there, rubbed the cleanser into the fur of her belly, her thighs, her mound. She moaned as she massaged her nether lips. Then she brought her tail up between her legs with a teasing smile and lathered that instead. Ah, but working shampoo over the base of her tail brought her hands up to her rear entrance. She slipped a finger, two, then three into the tight, little hole, rubbed her mound with her other hand... oh dear! She'd been closer than she'd though. She cried out, churred, squeaked as a strong orgasm shook her inside. She resisted slipping anything into her pussy just yet. She worked her other hole instead, pressed her clit mercilessly, trying to make the heat and quivering last.

	When it subsided, she leaned against the wall and brought one leg up. She worked lather into the fur there, exposing her swollen mound to the camera. She knew from experience that a trail of honey was leading down her other thigh before it merged with the water pouring over her. She spent some time massaging her foot, murring at the feeling. She did the same with her other leg, giving Cheryl and the bridge a second helping of her mound. Then she stood straight, giving them a side view as she lathered a long-handled brush and worked cleanser into the fur of her back. She arched herself to do this, emphasizing her breasts and belly. When her upper back was soapy, she turned the brush and her arm to get her lower back. This made her arch differently, emphasizing her pelvis. Her teasing smile returned as she washed her face and scalp hair.

	When her fur was all clean, she abandoned the pretence of bathing. Raising one leg again, she started working her cunny with two fingers, three, then her fist. With her other hand she caressed her breasts, her throat, her side, where ever  it felt good. Mostly she squeezed the skin around her clit, avoiding the sensitive button at first. But as a second orgasm made her squeak, she rubbed her clit in hard, fast circles. Soon yet another orgasm, the strongest yet, shook her and made her cry out. When it passed, she fell back against the wall, her legs spread, letting the camera feast its single lens on her horny nakedness. She smiled and blew it a kiss.

	She turned the water off. (Somewhere, a pump continued to filter it.) She turned on a blower instead and let it dry and fluff her fur. At last she turned to a pair of dry brushes. She chose one with a long handle first. This time her fur hide the outline of her breasts and belly, then her pelvis, as she brushed out the fur of her back, but by now Melissa and the others could imagine what lay under it. She put the brush down and picked up one with a short handle. She started on her face and worked her way down to her feet, avoiding her inner thighs and her mound. Those she brushed out only after seriously grooming. She took her time making the fur sleek over her sensitive parts. Again she teased with her tail. Then she leaned back again and brushed the fur of her mound, moaning and churring as she gently scraped the skin of her nether lips.

	She reversed the brush and slowly pushed the handle into her cunny. Holding the bristled end, she worked it in and out, panting and churring in excitement. A smaller orgasm made her bear down on it. She pulled it out, wet and slick, and pushed it into her rear entrance instead. She worked it in and out for a while, pinching and circling her clit with her other hand. Soon another orgasm overcame her. Immediately she took the long handled brush and pushed it into herself as far as it would go and bore down on it.

	When it passed, she started poking herself with the long handle, slowly pushing it further. Deeper and deeper into her cunny the handle went. Cheryl panted; the feel of that much length inside her seemed orgasm enough; she didn't bear down on the handle, but moaned as more of it went into her. From time to time she pulled it out part-way and made a few thrusts, before pushing slowly and carefully. At last, the brush head was against her mound. She leaned back and caressed the bulge in her stomach that the handle made. She rubbed her clit; very soon she bore down and the brush pushed out of her, hitting the floor with a loud clack!

	Cheryl walked slowly to the camera, paused for a few seconds as it framed her pussy, then knelt so that her face was level with the lens. She was smiling broadly, still panting a little from her last, mighty orgasm.

	“I love you Melissa,” she said. “I miss you very much,” and she closed the channel.

#

	Cheryl munched on apple cubes as she watched the read-out from Mouse 3. She compared it with the readings from Adelaide's telescope and found them close enough. Gliese 581 g was just what those old naked apes had predicted. Sun-locked like d and c, one side was in eternal sunlight and the other eternal darkness. But d was habitable only near the twilight fringe where sunlight fell at an angle, (and as far beyond that as hot winds blew into the night side.) Most of the other side was frozen. The night side of g had a polar ice cap too, but winds from the day side kept much more of it warm enough for liquid water to flow, while carrying away much of the heat from the day side so that only a small patch of desert crowned the equator. And according to Mouse 3, not even that was entirely devoid of life; something like cactus grew there in patches. What troubled Cheryl was the amount of methane, molecular hydrogen and sulphur compounds  in the air. There was enough to indicate animal life. She couldn't detect radio or other emissions from g, but sentient life there might not have evolved that far. Rat 1 would arrive and land on g in less than an hour now. She'd aimed for a likely spot on the twilight fringe of g where something tall and thin hinted at buildings through the thick, obscuring atmosphere.

	But she couldn't wait. Botany Bay was now twenty one and three quarter hours away 
by radio and the ram scoop was starting to fail. They needed a go/no-go decision before it did or the turn for Gliese 667C would be impossible. Cheryl packed the data from the probes and opened a voice channel.

	“This is Captain Cheryl Smith commanding Scout Ship Adelaide reporting,” she began. “You need a decision immediately, so I'll make this brief. Planet g is a paradise, lots of room for settlers and the land looks good for crops. The whole planet seems to be habitable except for an ice cap on the night side and a desert cap on the day side. However, there seem to be animals farting down there, methane and free hydrogen are high. Sulphide levels could be pre-industrial, could be geological. Rat 1 will arrive shortly, but too late to wait for its data. I'll keep you updated.

	“Planet d is habitable around the twilight fringe. There's liquid water there, but most of the planet is either ice cap or desert. Some primitive plants have evolved where they can, nothing a plough can't handle. There should be enough room for initial settlement at least on d. I recommend going there. If there's nobody on planet g after all, Scout Ship Canberra can be turned into an interplanetary shuttle and the ship scavenged for more.

	“Forget about planet c, there's barely a scrap of liquid water moating the equatorial desert crown in one big, circular sea around the twilight fringe. There's primitive plant life, all aquatic. You'd have to irrigate desert soil and fertilize it, too and there's not enough of it to bother with anyway. And the dark side has carbon dioxide snow at the equator, like Mars polar caps.

	“I repeat, my recommendation is to make for planet d. I'll contact the ship as soon as I  know if planet g is uninhabited after all. I'll start sending data momentarily. Please acknowledge when possible. Adelaide out.”

	She closed the voice channel, opened a data channel and started sending what she'd collected. Her tail twitched as she worked. She thought about the ship, all the people who'd be coming to the planet she'd recommended. What if she was wrong? The methane and free hydrogen could both have come from fermentation, if the bacteria there were similar enough. What if the sulphide traces were the result of geological forces, or previously unknown plant biology? If she'd sent Rat 1 instead of Mouse 3, she'd know by now! She'd asked to do so, but Botany Bay never even replied. For that matter, all they'd sent her in the last couple of months were status updates, she learned more about conditions on the ship from Melissa's love notes. And even those were getting sparse... Cheryl's stomach growled at her. She got more apple cubes from the food slot, some bread and peanut butter and a glass of water with mango flavour.

	By the time she'd finished eating, data was coming through from Rat 1. The tall, thin structures it was heading for were not buildings, but a grove of very tall trees, nearly as tall as California red woods. They were isolated in a valley, which is why their range was limited. She wanted to send it closer so that she could see them, but Gliese 581 g was still a full light hour and a bit away. Rat 1 went from decent mode to horizontal flight and started searching for sentient life signs. There were no radio emissions, no lasers bearing optical signals, (no lasers at all that it could find), not even traces of quantum check-summation. Over the next four hours, Rat 1 found herds of wild animals similar to Earth ungulates but nothing to suggest they'd every been herded.  It found oceans, plains and forests, grasses and flowers and shrubs and trees, insects and birds with huge wings, mammals of several kinds and even something resembling a kangaroo, (although it walked upright instead of hopping and its arms had hands.) It did not find so much as a hamlet and all the fires it found had been caused by lightning. There also seemed to be no mountains, (just depressions of various depths), or volcanoes of any sort. When it had covered the entire planet, Rat 1 set down and started listening for geological activity. Cheryl sent orders for it to finish that, then start making a map of the planet.

	Cheryl packed the data from Rat 1 and opened a voice channel.

	“This is Captain Cheryl Smith commanding Scout Ship Adelaide to Earth Ship Botany Bay!” she exclaimed. “Rat 1 reports no signs of sentient life on planet g! If you still can, make for planet g instead of planet d! Please acknowledge when possible. Data follows, Adelaide out!”

#

	“This is Admiral Caesar Jones commanding Earth Ship Botany Bay to Scout Vessel Adelaide. Urgent you hear this message, then shred it. We have your data. We received a voice communication, but it was garbled by interference from the ram scoop and could not be salvaged. Your data shows that planet g is the most habitable. Botany Bay is making for planet g.

	“Captain Smith, this is very important. Botany Bay is failing. We didn't tell you because there was nothing you could do. We have one chance to reach a habitable planet or everybody aboard will die. It has to be the best possible chance as we might need to abandon ship when we get there. We cannot afford to be fussy about whether or not that world already has people on it.

	“You are to order Rat 1 to self-destruct. Do not under any circumstances transmit data from Rat 1. When two-way communication becomes possible again, your official story is that planet g has no sentient life forms. Report nothing to the contrary unless it is coded and sent directly to me. Set course for planet g and determine the nature of any sentient life you find there and ways to destroy it.

	“I'm sorry to have to give you the dirty end of the stick Captain. We Earthlings are in a desperate situation. Earth Ship Botany Bay, out.”

	Cheryl stared agape at the communications panel. This was the third time she'd re-played the message and it got harder to swallow each time. She shook her head. She opened a personal desktop on a side monitor and ran a picture editor. She set it to take a picture, then turned her tail, dropped her trousers and got a clear image of her nethers. She opened a text tool and to that picture she added the words, “Planet g really does have no sentient life forms, you fools!” She packed it as a raw image along with Rat 1's data and opened a data channel to Botany Bay.

#

	Scout Ship Adelaide sat in orbit over the planet. Its habitat wheel spun faster now to simulate the gravity on the surface. Cheryl pulled herself to her feet from the command chair. She felt heavy and sluggish at twice her normal weight, but she was slowly getting used to it. On twentieth century Earth, humans and even their pets had gotten to be improbably fat and they'd managed, (before the anti-capital revolution in the mid twenty first century.) If those naked apes could weigh twice what they should and get along, so could she. Still, she tried to eat less.

	Cheryl picked up a helmet, then climbed to the centre section of the habitat. Coriolis was worst in that part of the ship so she tried to avoid it, but today she needed the elevator at the habitat's hub. She entered and closed the hatch. The elevator spun-down until she was weightless. She sighed at the feeling of freedom from oppressive gravity, then had to resist throwing up from the lack of a “down.” The elevator began to move. Just in time, Cheryl grabbed a handle and was moved along with it. The small cabin moved towards the engine and reactors, stopping half-way and rotating through part of a circle before it pinged its arrival.

	Cheryl opened the hatch. Past a small airlock-cum-corridor was another hatch; the way into Rat 1's tiny cabin. She squirmed her way in. Her pressure suit made the job still harder, but zero gravity helped. She strapped herself into a safety couch. To get a better grip on the hatch, she'd left her helmet hanging in the low gravity. It had drifted a bit from Coriolis, but mostly fallen to just where she needed it now. She pulled it inside and locked it in place over her head. The hatch closed on its own.

	Cheryl pressed a go stud under her thumb in the couch's arm. Rat 1's own computer took over; it released itself from Adelaide and began its decent to the planet. Cheryl had already told it where she wanted to go; the trees she'd first thought might be a city.

	“This is Captain Cheryl Smith, commanding Scout Ship Adelaide, on board Rat 1, to Earth Ship Botany Bay. I am beginning my decent. Over.”

	It would still be three minutes before they'd respond. She half expected some smart alec on the bridge to have perfectly timed a reply, but none came. She winked at a remote camera clipped next to the display. This trip was for morale on the ship. Rat 1 had already tested biological samples from all over the planet. It found exactly two bacteria that might be a threat one day, several insects that could prove annoying and some large herbivores that could be dangerous if provoked. The planet didn't exactly have a food chain so much as a web of what lived on, with or inside what; it simply wasn't a threatening kind of place, very different from Earth. Still, to watch Cheryl actually living on the surface would help the crew get used to the idea that they could live there, too. Since Botany Bay was almost literally falling apart under them now, this would be a great relief and give them hope that they would survive.

	Gravity began to build up on Cheryl again as Rat 1 descended. It dawned on her that getting out of the probe would be much harder than getting in. If she needed to get back to Adelaide quickly, would it even be possible? Oh well, it was too late to think of that now. She started breathing harder as her weight built up. Maybe trying to stay light wasn't as wise after all as trying to get strong.

	“This is Botany Bay to Adelaide, Rat 1. Your signal is strong and clear, Captain. Good luck.”

	Rat 1's reaction engines fired, slowing its descent. Shortly they stopped and the panel pinged touch-down. Cheryl started unstrapping.

	“Rat 1 to Botany Bay, I'm on the surface, preparing to exit the vehicle. Stand by.”

	The Teflon pressure suit helped her to squirm out of the couch. The hatch opened itself again. A ladder deployed from it to the surface. Cheryl pulled the camera off of the display panel and hung it on the hatch door so that it could see her historic first step. Hauling herself onto the ladder was physically painful, however and her left arm nearly cramped from the effort.

	“Botany Bay...” she panted, “if possible everybody should... exercise... build up all your muscles, it'll help here... I'm descending now.”

	She held on for dear life as she slowly climbed down, a step at a time. It took a while to reach the bottom rung.

	“Botany Bay to Rat 1, Captain you seem to be having trouble climbing down. Will you be able to get back into the probe at the end of your trip?”

	“I was... wondering that... myself... Okay, I'm at the bottom rung. Stand by for historic foot print!” Once again, tradition called upon her as she stepped down. “This is one small step for a squirrel... one giant leap for all Earthlings... oh, thank goodness!”

	She took a historic step away from the ladder, (which immediately retracted and the hatch closed, dropping the camera onto wings that hadn't deployed before needed), then fell heavily to her knees and panted. The camera hovered in front of her like a humming bird. She looked up at it as well as her helmet permitted.

	“I need to build up strength to live here,” she panted. “And stamina. But I can do it. I know I can... I can do it. It's not that bad.”

	The probe lowered itself on its landing legs to the dirt. A panel in the side opened and a pallet lifted out with several boxes on it. Once they were on the ground, the pallet lifter retracted and the panel closed again. Rat 1 lifted to ready position, as if anxious to leave. Cheryl looked around at her camp site. A creek flowed out of the forest and through the glade where she knelt.

	“I think I'll set up camp over there, near the water,” she said. “I'll need water, might as well be close.”

	The pallet lifted on built-in fans and flew nearer the creek. Cheryl heaved herself to her feet; the camera rose with her.

	“We copy you on the surface,” came the voice from the ship. “You're looking good.”

	Cheryl rolled her eyes at the delay, “Okay,” she said, “here goes nothing.”

	She unlocked her helmet and removed it. She took a deep breath.

	“Oxygen as predicted, I can breathe this... Oh my!” She smiled. “The perfume from the wild flowers here is heavenly! Oh, there's free water in the air, I can smell it! Name this planet perfume, I never imagined a world could smell so good!” Cheryl's smile became rapturous as she breathed the free air. “This is worth everything!” she cried. Tears came to her eyes. “So beautiful... Earth must have smelt like this once...” At once she looked at the camera, hovering so near her face. She frowned, maybe she shouldn't have mentioned Earth. She tried to smile, sniffed the air and found it easier. “The planet is welcoming me. This is home now.”

#

	Cheryl floated in the creek near her tent. The camera hovered near her, showing off her naked body, the water plastering her fur to her figure. Voices from the ship, turned up so that she could hear her comm-set on the shore, had stopped congratulating her and started making requests. She giggled prettily at her crew mates, promising she'd give them a show later. Showing off was even more fun when the people watching could talk to her!

	“Sister?” came a voice. “I just got off shift! You have a flower in your hair!”

	Cheryl sat up and her bottom touched bottom. “Melissa!” she cried.

	Cheryl stood and slogged through the water to the shore. She sat on the creek bank beside her comm-set. Melissa looked back at her, a mere three minutes ago. She took the camera in her hands and held it under the comm-set's display, as if she held her lover.

	“Oh Melissa, I can't wait to hold you in my arms again!”

	“Oh... you're naked.” The mouse giggled. “I suppose I should expect that. You're so affectionate. I love you for it.”

	“I am who I am, dear sister. Please dear, you must survive and get here, it's so beautiful! We're going to be so happy together!”

	Cheryl giggled and let go of the camera. She started to stroke her body, the way Melissa used to. But too soon she was panting. Her hands went to her lap, but she still smiled. She plucked a few wild flowers and scattered them in her lap. Then she started working on her pussy, squeezing her clit gently between her thumbs, working her lips with her fingers, not putting anything inside herself just yet. Soon she lifted a wet finger to her lips. She licked it slowly. Then she stopped. She sniffed the air around her.

	“Melissa, I smell something strange. It's like... like me, but different. Not another squirrel, except it is... Look there!”

	She pointed. The camera followed her finger. It locked in on an animal peeking through the wild flowers, several metres from the camp. The creature watched her for a minute before it stood... or rather, she stood, stockier and shorter than Cheryl but on two feet and with hands.

	“Hel-low?” she said.

	“Um... hello,” Cheryl replied, hiding her mound in her hands.

	“You give sex to the river?”

	“...I was... sharing my... myself with my mate... You speak English?”

	“We have been studying your transmissions since you got here. Your ship is in trouble. How many settlers are coming?”

	“Uh... thirty thousand, maybe... less...”

	The squirrel smiled. “Not too many. They may come. We will help you settle. We will show you our technologies, they are better than yours, but you will have to live as we live to use them. We are happy, you will be, too.”

	Cheryl blinked. She looked down at Melissa, around at the world, back at the squirrel.

	“Thank you,” she said.

	“Better than trying to destroy us?”

	“You heard that?” Cheryl gasped. “But... you said, since I... oh, came to your solar system... I'm so embarrassed!”

	“Your reply was rude, was it not?”

	“Well they deserved it!”

	The Gliesian squirrel giggled, or laughed, or chuckled, or something but it sounded to Cheryl like a giggle. She came and sat beside Cheryl. (The camera pointed at her once more.)

	“You give sex freely,” she said. “You will be welcome among us!” She reached under Cheryl's hands and rubbed a finger between her still-damp pussy. She sniffed her finger, then licked it. “Different,” she murmured. “Taste me now,” and she opened her legs.

	“She spoke! She speaks English!”

	Cheryl and the Gliesian squirrel looked down at the comm-set. Melissa's face held a stunned expression.

	“Time delay?” the squirrel guessed.

	“About three minutes,” Cheryl replied. “That's... I mean...”

	The squirrel chattered something. “I should have realized,” she added.

	In the corner of the screen, Cheryl noticed her own face reacting in real time. “Camera, two-shot please.” (The image in the corner of the screen pulled back.) “Melissa, sister, this is important. These people are not a threat. I'd already be dead if they were. We're welcome on the planet. Tell the Admiral, there's no need to fight! If you're still there, dear, we are welcome here!”

	“The settler's might still try to destroy us?”

	Cheryl looked away, humiliation creasing her face. “The settlers are the descendants of a single species who gave us sentience, hands, upright posture, everything. We were just animals, they gave us everything. They're all gone now... But they were afraid of anything they didn't understand, they had to fight instinct with their minds or they'd attack anything new. They gave us some of that instinct too, I guess they couldn't help it.”

	“How will they attack?”

	“Foolishly! Your technology is obviously far beyond ours, it would probably look like magic to us! We couldn't hope to...”

	“Oh my! Cheryl, she's going to be fun!” Melissa giggled, smiling and leaning towards the  screen. “Go on, taste her!”

	“...win ...one thing we always understand is sex,” Cheryl said. “That is... Melissa is my mate,” she added, frowning.

	“She likes to watch you having sex with others,” the squirrel replied, “or she would not be your mate.”

	“You must be very wise,” Cheryl said. (She scooted over to cuddle with the squirrel.)

	The squirrel rubbed a finger between the lips of her mound and pressed it to Cheryl's mouth. “We will teach you our wisdom, if you wish,” she said.

	Cheryl licked the squirrel's finger. She smiled. “Different,” she said. “Nice.”

	Cheryl licked the squirrel's finger again. She took it in her mouth and sucked. The squirrel made a churring sound and extended her finger. She put her other hand on Cheryl's breast, her thumb circled Cheryl's nipple. Cheryl began to pant a little. She leaned closer to the squirrel and gently nipped her throat. The squirrel giggled.

	“Different!” she said. “There are things you can teach us!”

	“Those old apes got pretty horny. They were always coming up with something new.”

	“Later I will sorrow for their passing. Not now. Show me more?”

	Cheryl began to lick the squirrel's ear, starting with the outer rim. The squirrel's fur was thinner than hers, she dampened it with her spit and caressed the stiff flesh with her lips. Panting harder, she lowered herself to the squirrel's breast, nuzzled the nipple.

	“No,” the squirrel said. “It must remain clean for my child.”

	“Oh, I'm sorry.”

	“You did not know. Later I will show you. Show me more?”

	Cheryl nodded and went lower still, to the squirrel's tummy. Panting harder still, she looked for a belly button. She found a pouch instead; empty, with more nipples. The squirrel churred as she nuzzled inside it.

	“New to you,” the squirrel said. “You would lick my slit, but you are tired now. Lie down, please. Rest a little.”

	Gratefully, Cheryl lay on her back and panted. The squirrel kept a hand on her breast. Cheryl smiled. “You're keeping an eye on my respiration,” she said.

	The squirrel's expression shifted. “I keep  a hand on your breathing,” she replied.

	“Yes...” Cheryl panted. “It's a saying in English.... sorry...”

	“Do not mind. Are you better now?”

	“A little. I'm still not used to the increased gravity. The world we came from is smaller.”

	“We had guessed that.” The squirrel crawled over Cheryl, her face to the others tail, and squatted down. “I think both our people do this!”

	The squirrel started to lick Cheryl's cunny. She lowered her own to Cheryl's mouth. Cheryl started exploring the Gliesian squirrel's mound with her tongue. The moist flesh was warm and sweet between her lips, Cheryl churred as she licked. She noted each gasp and giggle, paying more attention to those areas. She reached behind the squirrel and scritched the base of her tail. The squirrel did the same  to Cheryl. Her short, powerful tongue lashed Cheryl's clit; Cheryl cried out.

	“Ow! Too soon! Not yet... wait until it comes out...”

	“Too much, too soon,” the squirrel replied. “Your heart beats too fast. We will try again when you are stronger.”

	“...but... but... we...”

	“If you die, it will not look good to the others. You will grow stronger, then we will try again, maybe with Melissa, too.”

	“You want... my mate... too?”

	“We are generous with sex, like you. Watch me instead!” The squirrel turned to the camera and began to finger herself, obviously smiling. “This is how it will be,” she said. “We will welcome you. We will care for you until you are strong enough to care for yourselves. You will join us and learn from us and we will learn from you. Together we will decide what to keep. Enjoy me now, watch me cum!”

#

	Botany Bay was visible above the horizon, like a new moon. It rotated slowly; they didn't dare to stop it, but they couldn't speed it up. Even from orbit it looked bad. A cylinder of cylinders, Cheryl could tell that some were loose, some blown apart. Aurorae still flickered weakly from the ram scoop end, nobody knew just why; the nozzle end still glowed slightly. Lights flew around the ship. One flew towards it from beyond the horizon. Another was approaching her camp. Cheryl sat and watched that light; her tail twitched nervously as it got bigger.

	“You feel all right today, Cheryl?”

	She nodded to her new friend. “I'm fine, Deiran. I'm just nervous, it's been a long time.”

	The Gliesian held a small squirrel to her breast as she snuggled with Cheryl. The Earth squirrel snuggled back and petted the boy's head.

	“Soon,” Deiran said, gently. “Very soon.”

	The light got bigger and turned into a shuttle. The shuttle approached, hovered for a moment and set down. Several people got out; a few used canes, one used crutches. Cheryl ran to the shuttle door and waited until Melissa appeared. She wrapped an arm around the mouse's waist and supported her as she lead them to the tent where she still lived. Melissa managed to get about half way there, then collapsed. Cheryl took the mouse in her arms and carried her to a couch. Deiran followed them inside.

	“You're so strong now...” Melissa panted. “...missed you so... ...oh, hold me!”

	Cheryl snuggled the mouse. “Welcome home, sister,” she said.

	“Rest now,” Deiran added. “You, too will grow strong here . Welcome home.”

 NUMWORDS \*Arabic 8621 words (less the 22 below)
Written by Allan D. Burrows
Happy Birthday and Copyright © 2012 Dennis M. Falk, All Rights Reserved
Allan D. Burrows	The Scout	Page  PAGE 28