A howl of terror woke Maple up with a start\. His first thought was that they were under attack\. Then he saw Decro still in bed, screaming in his sleep\. He got out of bed with a groan and went over to Decro’s bed\.

“Hey\. Decro\. Wake up\.” He pushed the other wolf’s shoulder, shaking him forcefully\.

The white wolf fought back, throwing violent punches in the air\. Maple wrestled him, holding down his arms to the bed\.

“You’re dreaming again\. Wake up\!”

Using his forearm to pin Decro’s wrists down, the red wolf grabbed the water bottle on the bedside shelf and dumped its contents over the sleeping wolf\. Decro awoke with a gasp, choking on water that had entered his lungs\. There were tears in his eyes as he scrambled into a sitting position\.

“Huh? Wha? Buhh?”

The wolf looked around in panic, calming down quickly as he saw he was in the soldiers’ bunk\. There were 12 bunk beds, all vacant save for the ones the two wolves had slept in\. The whirring of the ceiling fan was deafening in the dead silence of the room\.

“Another nightmare?”

“Want to talk about it?”

“I…” He paused\. “I dreamt of them again\.”

“Your section mates?”

“Yeah\. We were in the jungle, running away from a pack of converted Stiggans\. There was a bunker up ahead, but they were gaining on us\. Then… then…”

He took a deep breath\.

“I reached the bunker first, but the door slammed behind me\. My squad was banging on the door, calling my name, screaming to let them in\. Their terrified faces were looking at me through the glass panel in the door\. I was trying to open the door but it wouldn’t open\. I shouted back that it was stuck, but they couldn’t hear me\.

“The Stiggans caught up\. I couldn’t do anything\. I just watched through the window as the cables came out from the Stiggans’ mouths, pierced their bodies, and injected them with nanites\. They laid there for a few minutes, then their converted bodies got up and stared at me\. Then they started speaking\. ‘Decro, let us in\.’ ‘How could you betray us?’ ‘Make things right\. Open the door and join us\.’”

Decro choked back tears\.

“I was scared\. I took a step back and bumped into someone\. I turned around and saw my sergeant standing behind me\. His eyes were these red orbs of light\. His face was half\-fur, half\-metal plates\. Then he grabbed me\. I felt cold\. He must’ve injected me with nanites\. I could feel myself losing control of my body, losing my mind\. Then you woke me up\.”

“Hey, it’s alright\. It was just a dream\.”

“But I feel guilty\.”

“What happened was not your fault\. You did your best\.”

“But maybe things would’ve turned out differently if I tried harder to protect them\. Maybe I could’ve—”

“Look, you couldn’t have done anything\. We’re just patrol soldiers on a planetary outpost\. The last thing we’re prepared for is a full\-on onslaught from invading aliens\.”

“Just one more week, alright? A rescue ship will come to pick us up\. We’ll be out of this living nightmare\. We can go home\.”

“But… what if we don’t survive? We’ve tried to contact the other stations\. Everyone is either dead or converted, except for us—”

“We’ve survived this long somehow\. One more week should be no problem\.”

“Our rations are running out, though\. It won’t last the week\.”

“That just means we need one last supply run, and then we can hole up in this outpost until rescue comes\.”

Maple got off the bed and made for the door\.

“You’re going now?” Decro asked\.

“Yeah\. Might as well get it done and over with\.”

“Let me come with—”

“No\!” Maple snapped, then regretted it\. “I mean, it’s okay\. I got this\. Besides, it’ll be easier to remain undetected if it’s just me\.”

“Stay here\. I’ll need you here to take care of things at the outpost\. And if any survivors radio in, or the rescue ship somehow makes it here earlier, at least you’ll be here to receive comms\. Got it?”

Decro nodded reluctantly\.

“You got this, alright? Just one more week, and then we’ll be home\.”

Maple went through his morning routine before donning his combat suit\. He put on the helmet, ensuring the seal was airtight before turning on the oxygen flow\. After that, he stepped into the airlock\. The inner doors closed behind him and the air was pumped out of the chamber\. With a whir, the airlock began matching the atmosphere outside\.

The outpost was one of the largest on the planet\. Built to support a battalion of over 1200 soldiers and 100 service staff, the entire complex housed a barracks, a cookhouse, an indoor parade square, rooms for combat training, an admin office, and even a lab for scientists to research the flora and fauna on the planet\. All of that was built into a giant 7\-storey building with an airtight reinforced steel hull\. An oxygen generator maintained the living conditions within the complex\.

With a warning siren, the airlock doors began to open\. Maple got his gun ready in case of hostile creatures\. Since the invasion, converted beasts had been attacking their outpost, damaging the outer walls\. Some sections of the base had already been compromised, forcing them to seal the doors to these sections\.

Thankfully, there were no monsters outside\. Maple stepped out into the harsh environment of the planet Zoria\. The dull grey\-purple soil formed the precipitous terrain comprising steep mountains and sharp cliffs\. The outpost was built on a plateau in the highlands, where the air was too thin for life\.

As Maple carefully made his way down the slope, he took a deep breath and sighed\. It was suffocating in the outpost\. Each empty bed once belonged to a fallen comrade\. The noisy bunks were suddenly a welcome sight when the alternative was heavy silence\. At least there was no sign of that outside the outpost\.

If they rationed out the food, they could’ve eaten light for the next 4 days, then skip meals until rescue came\. However, if the evacuation ship was delayed, foraging for food in their famished state would be asking for trouble\. Truth be told, though, he needed to step away from Decro—the other wolf’s trauma was starting to get to Maple\.

He found Decro a few months ago after receiving an SOS from another outpost\. The rest of Decro’s platoon had been attacked during a jungle patrol, and he was the only one who escaped\. When he got back to his outpost, the other 2 platoons were gone too\.

Maple had rescued him and brought him back to his own outpost\. While the companionship was great, he was not psychologically equipped to deal with a trauma survivor\. Still though, some company was better than none, and on a planet where there were no other survivors, Maple would take all the social interaction he could get\.

The worst of the slopes was over, giving way to the winding valleys of the planet\. Here, the air was richer in compounds that supported life, allowing the planet’s flora and fauna to thrive\. However, it still wasn’t the type of air that Maple could breathe, making the suit mandatory still\.

The red wolf was surrounded by an alien forest\. Orb\-like plants formed waist\-high clusters, releasing spores of various colours through their porous skin\. Long strands of orange leaves formed droopy shrubs, resembling wet mops scattered on the ground\. There were only a few trees around, each one with a thin trunk that ended in a puff\-like structure, almost like giant dandelions\.

Maple trudged through the forest, looking out for a specific type of tree\. It bore orange fruits which had a surprisingly savoury taste\. It went great with rice\. After minutes of trekking, he found a cluster of trees with the fruit\. But he still needed to be cautious\.

He grabbed a handle off his belt and pressed a button along its body\. With an electrifying buzz, a glowing energy blade formed at the top of the handle\. The wolf used the dagger to slice through the fruit, revealing its strangely robotic insides\. Gears and mechanical parts whirred about in the fruity exterior\. Robotic tendrils waved about, worming their way out of the opening\. This plant had already been converted\.

With his dagger, the wolf hacked off the bark of the tree\. Beneath the outer layer was a shiny metal trunk\. More gears were turning in their mechanisms, and clear tubes distributed fluorescent blue liquid throughout the plant\. It was as if the conversion had turned the plant into a mechanical imitation of itself\.

Maple gritted his teeth\. Everything was fine just a few months ago, then they encountered their first “converted”\. It was a Norvid, a canine\-like creature native to this planet\. They grew to large sizes: even on all fours, they were taller than a person\. However, this one was mechanical, almost as if someone had created a robotic version of it\. At first, everyone suspected it was a drone sent to spy on them and it was destroyed\.

Then, a few weeks later, another converted creature was discovered\. This time, it was a Poffia, an avian species\. It attacked a soldier, biting into his neck\. By the time they brought the soldier back to camp, half his body had already been converted\. They quickly discovered that self\-replicating nanites were causing this\.

Some other alien colony must’ve been responsible for this\. It was an efficient way to invade a planet\. Drop a payload of nanites, have them convert the inhabitants, then make them fight the remaining people\. All they’d have to do is to swoop in a few months later and take over the planet with no casualties\.

Maple looked at the fruit\. The remains of the juicy fruit were dripping over the wriggling metal worms\. If this tree had already been converted, it was likely that the whole cluster was already tainted\. He could find another cluster of trees and try again, but it was probably a bad idea\. If a fruit wasn’t converted yet but was already infected by nanites, then eating it would just spell doom for them\.

He should just head back\. They didn’t need the food, anyway\. Maple turned around, only to see a crouched Norvid, ready to pounce\. Instincts took over and the wolf rolled to the side\. Just in time, as the beast crashed into the trees where Maple once stood\.

Norvids were normally non\-hostile, so this one must’ve been converted, despite its normal appearances\. Maple hastily swapped out his dagger for his energy gun and fired a few shots\. He missed all of them\.

But there was no time for another shot; the beast was already charging towards him\. Maple glimpsed its fiery\-red eyes and vicious snarl just as he leapt to the side\. Too close; the Norvid’s claws barely grazed the wolf’s combat suit\. But the opportunity allowed Maple to get a good shot at the creature\. He fired 3 shots, leaving scorching marks on the beast’s hide\. The fur had been burnt away, revealing the damaged metal beneath\.

The beast didn’t feel pain\. With a screeching roar, it spun around\. Its tail—a long, whip\-like appendage—sliced through the air, hitting the wolf square in his chest before he could react\. Maple barely had time to register the impact before he was sailing through the air, crashing into a tree\.

His vision was spinning, but he managed to unload another few rounds at the Norvid\. It didn’t seem to affect the beast as it charged towards him\. The wolf needed to think of another way\. Pushing through the pain, he dropped the gun and reached for his dagger again\. He dodged the Norvid at the last moment and plunged his dagger into the beast’s side\. The blade met resistance as it tore through the beast’s metal hide\. Sparks flew as it carved a deep gash in its side\. This time, the Norvid screeched in pain as its internal systems short\-circuited\. Maple pressed the advantage, darting in with a series of rapid strikes\. Each slash of the energy dagger cut deeper, tearing through metal and circuitry with brutal efficiency\.

But the Norvid wasn’t done yet\. It turned his head and snapped at Maple before he could pull away\. His arm got caught in the beast’s sharp teeth as it bit down hard\. Maple screamed\. The beast leapt backwards, trying to tear his arm off\. The wolf fought the pain in his arm, twisting it until he could pry himself free\. He staggered back, clutching his arm\. The sleeve of his combat suit had been torn open, exposing his bare fur that was now stained with blood\.

He picked up the dropped dagger with his uninjured hand and gripped it tightly\. The beast glared at him, and Maple watched its every movement\. Then it charged\. The wolf waited for the beast to come close, then swung his dagger\. He slashed through thin air\. The Norvid was feigning; it had jumped to the left before charging towards Maple from the side\.

It caught the wolf off\-guard\. The beast pounced on Maple, pinning him down with its heavy weight on his chest\. There’s a cracking sound, and a sharp pain in his ribs\.

He struggled against the beast, but his strength was no match for the beast’s weight\. He looked around for his dropped dagger\. It was off to the side, but thankfully still within reach\. As he stretched out his arm, a sharp pain shot through his side\.

He had to endure\.

Clenching his jaw, he reached for the dagger and grabbed it\. He plunged the blade deep into the paw that was pinning him down, slashing cleanly through the beast’s wrist\.

The beast stumbled, and Maple quickly pushed the amputated paw off him and got up\. His chest ached, numbed by the adrenaline coursing through his body\. Maple needed to end this fast\. Once the beast charged at him again, he steeled his body\.

The wolf dropped to the ground as the Norvid pounced\. With the underside of the beast exposed, Maple thrust the dagger upward into its torso\. There’s a tearing sound as pure energy ate through the metal hull and robotic mechanisms\. With a piercing roar, the beast landed on Maple and snapped its teeth at him\. The wolf moved his head away in time, but it was too close for comfort\.

Metal tendrils emerged from the Norvid’s back, lunging towards the trapped wolf\. They stabbed at Maple’s body, piercing his combat suit and skin\. Ignoring the electric charge he could feel from the tendrils, the wolf gripped his blade tighter still\. Putting all his strength into his shoulder, he forced his arm deeper into the beast, twisting and digging the dagger inside\. He could hear the crackle of electricity and the gushing of internal fluids\.

Maple’s vision flashed with each surge of electricity through his body\. The Norvid was still fighting back through its tendrils as it tried to pry itself off the wolf’s blade\. Maple grabbed the beast’s pelt with his injured arm and held on, refusing to let the creature go\. The beast was thrashing about desperately, but Maple knew it was on its last legs\. He endured the pain in his wounded arm, slashing through every bit of the robotic beast that he could reach\. Letting out its last cry, the beast collapsed on top of him\.

Groaning, Maple extracted his arm from inside the corpse\. With a great heave, Maple pushed the beast up and got out from under it\. He ripped the tendrils off his body, revealing circular wounds where their metal probes had pierced his flesh\.

He finally had a chance to catch his breath as he surveyed the situation\. The beast was dead, and its internal fluids were leaking everywhere\. The red wolf, in comparison, was relatively unscathed\. Thankfully, the cracking earlier was of his armour plates rather than his ribs\. His dominant arm was drenched in robot\-Norvid fluid\. The other one was bleeding\.

Maple examined the gash left by the teeth and the holes in his skin\.

If the Norvid had infected him with its nanites…

He gingerly pressed the sides of a wound\. It didn’t look infected, but then again, these were microscopic nanites\. If he were infected, he wouldn’t know until it was too late\. And Decro… Decro probably wouldn’t want him in the outpost if he found out there was even a possibility of him being infected\.

No\. He was fine\. He just needed to hide all the evidence of the encounter\. He plucked some leaves and began scrubbing the blood off his fur and suit\. Once he was cleaned and patched up, he would head back to the outpost and pretend nothing had happened\.

Maple grunted as he finally reached the peak of the outpost’s plateau\. As he sat down to catch his breath, he took stock of his situation\. There were no traces of blood or machine fluid on his combat suit\. The tear was patched up with plant fibres acting as thread, leaving it looking like a crease in the suit\. As long as Decro didn’t look too closely, he wouldn’t notice it\.

As for the wounds, Maple hoped he hadn't been infected with nanites\. Surely not\. After all, he didn’t feel infected\. What did being infected feel like, anyway? It was best not to think about it\. Worrying wouldn’t do him any good\. If he really was infected, he’d deal with it when it happens\. If it were any source of comfort, the conversion process would take about 2 to 3 days\. He’d know by the time the rescue ship arrives\. But for now, he couldn’t let Decro find out\. Not until he knew for sure\.

He got to his feet and headed towards the outpost\. He put his arm against the scanner and the airlock door opened with a beep\. As the door closed and the airlock filled with air, Maple took the time to plan his next move\. Over the past few days, Decro had been spending the day in the recreation area, reading books from the mini\-library there\. If the white wolf was busy reading, Maple would have enough time to hide the evidence\. He would de\-suit as fast as possible, then hide it before Decro could find it\. The wounds would have to be dressed, but he couldn’t use bandages\. That would’ve been too obvious\. Surgical glue would conceal it better\.

The warning siren sounded, and the inner doors of the airlock opened\. As Maple took off his helmet, he came face to face with a phaser rifle pointed at him, held by a person in a heavily armoured combat suit\.

“Decro? What are you—”

“Hands up in the air\.” Decro’s voice was unmistakable\.

“Hey… I… What’s all this about?”

“You’ve been infected, haven’t you?”

Decro kept the rifle pointed at him\. Maple fought the rising fear in his chest\. The armour was imposing; reinforced metal plates were connected to highly articulated joints that allowed for agile movement despite the heavy armour\. The featureless visor glared at him with unspoken threats\.

“Calm down\. You’re just overreacting\. You’ve been on edge the past few months and—look\. Let me help—”

He took a step forward\.

Decro fired a warning shot at the ceiling\. The red wolf dropped his helmet and raised his hands\.

“You’re… you’re not going to shoot me, are you? I’m your friend\. I saved you from—”

“If you’ve been infected, you’re no longer the wolf that saved me\.”

“I’m not infected\!”

“Your suit is torn\.”

How did he know? Maple thought he had done a good job in concealing the tears\.

“It was torn weeks ago\.”

“These are not\.”

With his rifle, Decro pointed at Maple’s arm and chest, where the beast had pierced his suit and skin\.

“You’re being paranoid\. I’m not infected\. You’ll see\! Just let me in, give it a day\. I’ll still be me, and we can put this all behind us\.”

Maple could feel his heart beating fervently in his chest\. He was only a trigger\-happy shot away from collapsing dead on the ground\. Decro was crazy\. Silence hung in the air like a thick, suffocating vapour\.

He considered tackling Decro\. He could body\-slam the other wolf, grab the rifle while he was stunned, then point it back at him\. Then maybe he could make the wolf see reason\. But equipped with the heavy combat suit, Decro would barely feel a thing, much less be stunned\. The mechanical grip of the suit would make it impossible to pry the rifle free\.

Maple took a sharp breath\. He was really stuck\.

“You can’t wait here all day to watch if I turn\.”

Decro didn’t reply, but Maple could tell he was thinking\.

“I’ll escort you to the VitScan for a full scan\.”

“This is totally unnecess—”

“Or I can shoot you in the skull and be done with it\.”

Still keeping the rifle pointed at Maple, Decro stepped to the side to allow him to pass\. He pointed the rifle at the red wolf’s back and pushed him forward, forcing him to lead the way\. They went down the steel\-panelled corridors into the medical wing of the outpost\.

“You turned on the power here? We were trying to save—”

“We can turn it off once you prove you’re uninfected\.”

Decro pushed him into an operating theatre, and the automatic door slid close behind them\. The white wall panels and strip lighting made everything feel bitingly sterile\. Four steps led down to the middle of the room where an operating table stood\. A SurgiTech—a robotic surgery machine—was mounted on the ceiling above the operating table\. On its circular base were mechanical arms with medical tools mounted at their ends\. Desks surrounded the lower platform, allowing medical staff to look down at the patient\. Each desk also had a touchscreen control panel, allowing the operator to manipulate the medical tools\.

While Decro took his place behind the largest desk, Maple took the steps down to the centre of the room\. Thick glass walls descended around him, forming an airtight chamber that allowed for sterilisation\.

“Take off your combat suit\.”

Maple’s thoughts were racing\. Without the suit, Decro would immediately spot the wounds\. He could claim that the gash on his arm was caused by brushing against a sharp plant, but the circular wounds would be harder to explain away\.

Decro raised his rifle and pointed it at the red wolf\.

Maple tapped the panel on his suit’s forearm, releasing the sealing mechanism on the spine\. He pulled the open flaps on the back of the suit, peeling it off him\.

“What’s that?”

The red blood on his fur was damning\.

“It’s not what it looks like\. I can explain—”

There was a deafening bang\. Cracks and a scorch mark indicated where the glass had intercepted the shot aimed at Maple’s head\.

The red wolf was almost in tears\. “Fuck\! You could’ve killed me\!”

“You were hiding this from me\.”

“Just… just do the fucking scan\. You’ll fucking see\.”

“Get on the table then\.”

Maple shakily took off the suit, leaving him naked and exposed\. As he laid on the operating table, he closed his eyes and held back tears\. He was trembling terribly\.

The armoured wolf tapped on the control panel, releasing a mist into the operating chamber\. It smelled like a strong antiseptic, sterilising the entire space\. A mechanical arm descended from the ceiling and pointed a dome\-shaped bioscanner at his head\. It let out 3 short beeps and shone a blue\-purple beam over him\. Maple took a deep breath and closed his eyes as the beam moved down his neck\.

Fuck\. He was too close to getting a hole punched through his skull\.

The scanner moved down to his chest\.

At least if he were infected, he’d know after the scan\.

Lower torso and arms\.

Was he infected? Did he even want to know?

Waist\. He shifted his hips\.

If he were infected… well… then it wouldn’t matter if Decro killed him\. Either way, he would be as good as dead\.

Being infected was probably worse\. He saw the others screaming in agony as the nanites took over\. As much as he hated to admit it, dying by Decro’s hand would probably be better\.

“Scan completed,” a computerised voice announced\. “Processing results\.”

His fate would be sealed in a few moments\.

“No nanites detected\.”

Maple’s heart leapt, and he opened his eyes\. “See? I told you—”

A multitude of mechanical tendrils burst out of the base of the SurgiTech\.

“What the fuck?\!”

The tendrils grabbed his arms and legs, pinning him to the table\.

“Decro\! Help me\!”

The armoured wolf continued watching\.

“You’re responsible for this, aren’t you? Fuck\! Let me go\!”

He struggled, but his strength was no match for steel tendrils\.

Another tendril wrapped around his waist\. The coils restrained him on the table while they tugged his arms and legs into a spreadeagle position\. His tail was pulled taut, causing Maple to yelp in pain\. A robotic arm descended from the ceiling, pointing a surgical laser at him\.

A laser that could cut through skin and bones\.

“I’m not infected\! Decro\! Get me out\!”

The laser turned on, shining a brilliant blue spot on the table above Maple’s left shoulder\. There was a beep, then the laser grew stronger\.

Another beep, and the laser grew stronger still\.

Beep\. Maple could feel the heat radiate from the laser\.

Beep\. There was a sizzling sound\.

Beep\. Beep\. Beep\. Beep\.

The laser was leaving a scorch mark on the reinforced metal table\. Then it began moving down, leaving a deep gouge in its path\.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck\.”

There was a searing pain as it cut into his upper arm\. It cut through his skin and flesh with sickening ease, cauterising the exposed tissue before it could bleed out\. Maple felt like he could puke; as the laser ate through his muscles, he could feel a burning sensation\. The pain would last for a moment before the laser fried all his nerve endings, leaving a numb feeling in its wake\. In his agony, he barely registered more robotic arms lowering from the ceiling\. Three more lasers joined the assault, aimed at his remaining arm, legs, and tail\.

“No, please—argh\!”

One laser turned on, slicing through his other arm\. Coherent thoughts were drowned out by primal emotions coursing through his mutilated body\. Despite his desperate writhing, the computerised lasers kept a steady aim at the joint, making a revoltingly clean cut\. The third laser cut into his upper thigh, cleaving off his right leg as it carved down to his crotch\. The fourth laser did the same on the other side\.

Maple’s screams tore through his body, ripping through his vocal cords until they were aching and burning\. The pain was one thing, but the unadulterated terror from being permanently disfigured added to the irrepressible agony\.

The tension in his left side disappeared as his arm was amputated\. Then his other limbs were sliced off in the same way\. Maple was a squirming mess of tears and amputated limbs\. Robotic arms lowered circular metal plates with clamps on their rims\. They pressed the plates against his limb stumps and tightened the clamps into his flesh\.

Drill arms inserted screws into the middle of the plate, drilling through the metal and into Maple’s exposed bones\. They had put permanent caps over his stumps\.

But the surgical onslaught was not over yet\. With the wolf now half as light as he used to be, the tendrils lifted him up with ease\. A laser arm angled itself below his dangling body\. With a swift slice, his tail was liberated from him\. The tendrils lowered Maple back onto the table, and the robotic arms retreated to the ceiling\.

Maple managed a feeble whimper\. The tendrils hovered over him menacingly\. Through his tears, they looked like a pit of serpents with shiny scales slithering past each other in their twisted dance\.

There was the sound of hydraulic pistons as the glass walls of his prison lifted\. Decro was coming down to his table\.

“Decro… help…”

The suit of armour stared at him blankly\.

“You… you let this happen, didn’t you?”

Decro’s featureless visor was cold and unresponsive\.

With a hiss, the visor lifted, revealing—

There was nobody inside the suit\. The individual torso plates opened, exposing the empty chamber within\.

How was the suit moving without its pilot? These suits can’t be controlled remotely\.

It had spoken with Decro’s voice\.

The white wolf had been infected while in the combat suit\. As the nanites spread through his body, it merged organic tissue and mechanical parts into a single entity\. Then it used Decro’s mind to formulate this trap for him\!

How dare the nanites turned his friend against him like this\!

But there was no time to worry about Decro\. Maple was in a peril of his own\. Mechanical tendrils emerged from the combat suit and picked up the red wolf\.

Maple waved his limb\-nubs helplessly\. There was nothing he could do as the suit pulled him into itself\. A phallic probe was mounted at the base of the suit’s crotch, waiting for its new passenger\.

The suit lowered Maple onto the probe, violating the wolf’s rear tunnel\. The wolf winced\. His muscles clenched instinctively\. squeezing around the metallic intruder\.

Fuck, fuck, fuck\.

Maple tightened his jaw\. This was humiliating\. The nubs of his limbs were directed into the arms and legs of the combat suit\. More tendrils attached themselves to the end of the limb\-caps, restraining him in place\. Sharp spikes pierced his back, digging into his spine\.

The wolf was blinded for a moment\. Then images flashed through his mind, as if he were going through memories he never had\. He saw the military base\. He saw Decro’s squad getting converted, just as Decro had described\. Almost like he was there himself\. Then he saw himself training at a military base, except this wasn’t the one he was posted to\. There was a school\. Teenagers having lunch at a cafeteria\. Going out to a shopping mall with friends\. These weren’t his friends, but it felt like they were\.

He was going through Decro’s memories\.

The spinal connection was somehow giving him access to Decro’s mind\. The white wolf was somewhere in this suit\. Or at least, his memories were\. Maple fought back, trying to separate his thoughts from Decro’s\. He ran through his own memories\.

An electric current ran through the anal probe, interrupting his train of thoughts\. His mind was flooded with new memories\. Decro’s memories\.

Personal memories started playing\. Decro’s first kiss\. Decro’s first sexual encounter\. Maple felt dirty going through his friend’s intimate secrets\. There was a charming doberman\. They were both topless in the bedroom, with Decro caressing his athletic body\. Pecs\. Sides\. Thighs\. Maple felt the warmth of his body\.

Their bodies were pressed together\. Lips locked in a passionate kiss\.

The tip of Maple’s canid member emerged from his sheath\.

Oh fuck, not like this\.

He was lying on the bed while the doberman crouched over him\. Unzipped Decro’s pants\. With skillful licks and passionate sucks, he fellated the wolf\. One hand coaxing the wolf’s nuts, the other fingering his rear\.

Maple clenched his tunnel, feeling the anal probe inside\.

They were fucking\. The scented candles\. The linen bed sheets\. He could feel the doberman’s muscles squeeze around his cock\.

Through the mirage, Maple watched as metal plates closed around his member, forming a phallic extension of his armoured body\.

Maple screamed, breaking free of the illusion\. He couldn’t succumb to this\. He wouldn’t\!

“Decro… I know you’re still there\. You need to fight this\.”

The suit’s torso plates closed shut around his abs and chest\. Steel mechanisms interlocked beneath the plates, sealing it shut\. Only Maple’s face was still exposed, but that mercy was short\-lived\. As the canine\-shaped helmet lowered, the wolf saw a dildo mounted where the mouth was\.

“We can still win\. We can—grrk\!”

He choked on the dildo as it was forced into his maw and thrust to the back of his throat\. The helmet was locked in place, sealing him inside\.

With a gasp, Maple woke up\. He was in his bunk, still in his underwear\. Decro was sitting at his bedside\.

“Another nightmare?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah…” Maple caught his breath\.

“It’s okay\. It’ll be okay\. They’ll be here in about an hour\.”

“The rescue ship?”

“Duh\.” Decro chuckled\.

“That’s… good\.”

“Got your shit packed?”

“Yeah\. All in a duffle bag\. You?”

Maple sighed in relief\. “Now we just have to wait\.”

“Well… I was thinking…”

“With the worst over, I’ve had the time and space to relax, take a breather\. That’s when I realised it’s been so long since I’ve gotten… physical\.”

Decro took his shirt off\.

“What are you getting at?”

The white wolf put his hand on Maple’s chest\. A light squeeze\. Maple looked into the other wolf’s eyes\. He never realised how striking he looked with his slim muscles and combed\-back fur\.

“You know you want this\.”

Decro tugged on Maple’s underwear, pulling it off\.

“Turn over and kneel\.”

The red wolf complied, exposing his rear in submission\.

“Good boy\.” Decro ruffled his head fur\. With gentle movements, he got into position behind Maple\.

Maple gasped\. He could feel Decro press the tip of his erect rod against his tight pucker\.

“Relax\. Let me in\.”

He relaxed\. There was a stretching sensation as Decro pushed in\. It was girthy\. Cold\. Metallic\. Like a metal probe\.

The illusion wavered\. Maple found himself on his hands and knees in the operating room, trapped in an armoured combat suit\.

What was happening?

“You’re so tight,” Decro gasped\. The air in the bunk was steamy\.

The red wolf pushed his hips back, rocking in time with the wolf’s thrusts\. He tensed his muscles, squeezing the wolf’s solid member as it filled him\. It felt good\.

Maple instinctively reached for his own cock and began pumping\.

“Oh fuck, that feels good\. Keep going\.”

Wait\. How was Decro feeling the sensations on his own dick?

“Don’t think about it\. Just let me in\.”

“Just… let you in?”

The pleasure was making it hard to think\. With Decro fucking him in the ass while he jacked off his own cock, his mind was in a blissful haze\.

“Yes\. Let me in\. Be one with me\.”

Maple broke free and found himself back in the lab\. He was still stuck in the suit of armour\.

He needed to break free\.

He dug his armoured fingers between the chest plates and pulled\.

“Argh\!” His voice came out robotic and distorted\.

The pain felt like he was digging into his own body\. Were the nanites merging him with the suit?

“Don’t fight it,” he spoke again, but this time his voice sounded like Decro’s\.

“Just give in\.”

His hand reached down to his robotic dick and began jacking it off\. Was he doing it? Was Decro doing it? The difference was blurry\.

He needed to stop\. He couldn’t give in\. He needed to save Maple—no, wait\. He needed to save himself\.

He bucked his hips as a wave of ecstasy pulsed through his body\. Just a bit more, and he could get his much\-needed orgasm\.

“Maple, hang on\!” Decro’s words came out through his mouth again, but this time, it sounded more like him\. It felt like him\.

He remembered being Decro\. Growing up as Decro\. Finding love as Decro\. Meeting Maple as Decro\. Meeting himself\.

The thoughts clouded in his mind\. He was confused\. All he could do was stroke and squeeze the armour plating around his dick\.

“Merge with me\.” The voice sounded more fierce\. His voice\.

Each pump felt like he was jacking off his own member\.

His member? Decro’s member? Maple’s member? Was there a difference?

He just needs to give in…

His hardness was throbbing with need\.

Stop holding back\. Embrace the orgasm\.

“I… I’m going to…”

He shot his load\. Pure euphoria surged through his body, frying every last thought in his mind and replacing it with a carnal and blissful static\. The static faded into white\. Everything faded into nothing\.

Still holding its erect cock in its hands, the combat suit stood up shakily\. Then its legs gave way and it collapsed to the ground, unable to move\.

“P\-2395 to Outpost Aleph\. Requesting permission to land\. Over\.”

“Outpost Aleph to P\-2395\. Permission granted\. Over,” came the response through the radio\.

“P\-2395 to Outpost Aleph\. Roger that\. Over\.”

The spacecraft hovered over the outpost for a few minutes\.

“P\-2395 to Outpost Aleph\. Are you opening the hangar? Over\.”

There was a buzz of static\.

“Outpost Aleph to P\-2395\. Opening now\. Over\.”

The heavy roof of the outpost groaned as the steel plates began moving\. The plates overlapped as they tucked themselves in at the sides, revealing the landing pad within\.

“P\-2395 to Outpost Aleph\. Thank you\. Commencing landing\. Standby for boarding\. Over\.”

The spacecraft angled its thrusters, lowering itself gently onto the landing pad\. Then its engine turned off, and the rear hatch door opened\.

“P\-2395 to Outpost Aleph\. You may now board the ship\. Over\.”

A cheetah stood at the top of the ramp, looking around for the stranded soldiers\. The hangar was eerily silent and dark\. All the lights had been turned off, probably to conserve their remaining power\. The only source of light was from the opening in the roof, casting shadows on the edge of the hangar\. It felt like the ship was in the middle of a spotlight\.

“Are you guys here?”

Funny\. He expected the soldiers to be more enthusiastic about going home\. He waited\.

There was the sound of heavy, metallic footsteps, and a figure emerged from the darkness\.

“Decro, right? Or is that Maple?”

The figure was clad in a heavily armoured combat suit\.

“Oh\. You didn’t have to suit up for this\.”

The person in the combat suit continued walking towards him\. The cheetah frowned\.

“And where’s the other guy?” He broke the awkward silence\. “I thought there were two of you?”

The cheetah felt a twisting sensation in his gut and turned to the pilot\.

“Something’s wrong\. Close the hatch door and—”

“Everything is fine\. Maple is getting ready\. He will be here soon\.” The person in the suit of armour finally spoke\.

The cheetah turned back to face the person\.

“O…okay\. Then you must be Decro, right?”

Phew\. It was a false alarm\. His nerves were getting to him\. After all the stories he had heard about this planet, he didn’t want to stay here for long\. The fact that there were survivors in the first place was a miracle\.

Decro ascended the ramp at an unhurried pace\.

“Hey, uh, is your friend going to take long? We should leave soon, before—”

The armoured soldier punched the cheetah in the chest\. The feline gasped and fell\. There was a piercing pain in his chest\. He looked down and saw a metal tendril in his chest\. It snaked all the way back to the soldier’s arm\.

Screams could’ve been heard from the ship, if there were anyone else around to hear it\. Then silence\. After a few minutes, the ship’s hatch closed, and the ship took to the skies\.