Work The Problem

Ned was just starting to doze in front of the television when he heard the commotion from his garage. He'd had a long day of running around a factory floor and trying to explain the effects of gruesome eye injury to various workers who thought that protective eyewear was merely a suggestion. At the end of the day, he was frazzled. He stopped by the gym to work off some frustration, which helped calm him. Ned hadn't even made anything for dinner yet and he was already feeling like he should just head to bed.

The clattering of metal on concrete jolted him out of his sleepiness. He had played left tackle in his college years and was still spryer on his feet than the average middle-aged man. The sound had barely begun to die away when he was at the door to the garage and turning on the light.

The garage was chilly; the area had seen a cold snap recently that made Ned yearn for summer. The space also had one window across from the door, and it was slightly ajar. As Ned flicked on the overhead light, he saw a smaller-than-average form dart back from the window and take refuge behind the his car.

Ned groaned. There had been a few break-ins recently that had been chalked up to neighborhood kids. He figured that somebody had forced the window open and then dropped something while searching for something to steal. His quicker-than-expected arrival must have interrupted the intruder from making an escape.

"I got a gun," he growled, trying to sound like Clint Eastwood. Another bit of Western movie dialogue came to him. "I don't want to kill you, and you don't want to be dead." He hoped the bluff would work; he was going to feel pretty damned stupid if he was found in the morning with a bullet in his head.

There was no sound at first in the garage, but then Ned heard the faintest sniffle. He instantly felt like garbage. It was probably some scared little kid who'd been put up to it by his peers.

Ned walked slowly forward and began to move around the car. It was even colder than he expected in the garage, and he could feel the chill through his tee shirt. At least he was wearing sweatpants. It would look really bad to the police to be confronting a kid while wearing only tighty-whities. He heard another sniffle, louder this time.

He held up his hands and tried to make his voice as gentle as possible. "Okay, look kid. I'm not mad, and I'm not gonna hurt you. You just scared me, is all. Tell you what, come on inside and we'll call your folks."

He heard a very faint voice, "No, you can't." The voice was high-pitched and feminine. Right now, it also sounded resigned and hopeless.

Ned moved even more slowly now. "Why not? Did they..." He stopped as a horrifying thought came to him. "Did your parents hurt you? Did you run away?" His voice hardened. "I can help you. We can talk to the police, there's good people who can help you."

He edged his head around the corner of the car. There was a small dark shape huddled against the rear tire. It was in the shadow cast by the overhead light and he couldn't make out any real details. Whoever it was, they were small. They couldn't have been more than four feet high.

"Okay, now," he said in a soothing tone. "No worries, okay? Whatever's wrong, we can fix it. That's my job, after all."

There was another sniffle. "It is?"

By now Ned was sure that the speaker was female. He hoped this wasn't a case of sexual abuse by some asshole father. Time to be cheerful, he thought. "Yep, it sure is! I'm the safety officer for Arcor Aerospace. I make sure that everyone's safe, and right now that includes you."

The huddled form didn't move. "No, you can't fix this."

"You'd be surprised. Now come on inside. I'm freezing my ass off out here."

He saw the figure's shadowed head move and look at him. He caught the glint from a pair of huge, almond-shaped eyes. Eyes that were much larger than any human's. Just as he was about to take a step back in surprise, Ned got another shock. A pair of long ears unfolded from the back of the figure's head and rose up.

The intruder stood and walked towards Ned. She was wearing a blue tattered raincoat with some sort of black tracksuit under it. The tracksuit was also ripped and torn. Through the gaps in her clothing, Ned could see a light gray fur that covered her skin. She had a scrape on one cheek and little cut over her opposite eye. Her face was coated with the same gray fur as her body. She had a pink snub nose and whiskers.

She was a goddamn four-foot-tall humanoid rabbit. The furry newcomer reached Ned and glared up into his dazed face. Her huge blue eyes were red-rimmed and watering.

"Can you fix this?" she asked, in a quavering but defiant voice.

Ned almost freaked out right there, but then his training kicked in. Work the problem, don't guess, don't get emotional, just work the problem...

He took a deep breath. "Okay, I obviously have a lot of questions. But first things first. It really is cold out here, so let's get you inside and get you some food. You must be hungry."

His sudden brisk energy must have surprised her, because she took a step back. "Okay." She didn't sound that trusting.

Ned held up his hands "I understand, you've clearly been chased by somebody or something. You're worried that I'm going to call the cops or the government. But I like to have all of the facts before I do anything. So we'll go slowly. Let's get you fed and talk about what happened to you and we'll both figure out what to do from there. Okay?"

She slumped, and her ears fell down behind her head again. "I...okay. I just don't want to be hurt."

"Not gonna happen. Not while I'm around."

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Priority one was water. His guest drank about four full glasses of water before she said she'd had enough. Priority two was clothes. Ned found an old tee shirt of his as well as a sweatshirt that had shrunk in the wash. He had handed her the clothes and let her change in the bathroom. She'd emerged with both of his shirts on and with her old ripped clothes in a plastic bag. The tee shirt was ridiculously big on her, and hung down past the bottom edge of the sweatshirt. But now that she was dressed in warm and un-ripped clothes she seemed to be more relaxed. She'd also found a Band-Aid to put over the cut above her eye.

Ned was itching to take a look at her old clothes to see if he could figure anything out from them. But he figured that would appear really creepy, and his number one mantra right now was 'Don't Be A Creep'. Besides, he was sure that she would tell him her story in due course.

He kept trying to figure it out. Was she an alien? Probably not, she was too close to an earthly species to be from somewhere else. Maybe she was the runaway creation of some crazy genetic engineer?

"So what's your name?" he said as he bustled about his kitchen.

The rabbit sat at his kitchen table and looked around at her surroundings. It wasn't a look of wonder, it was more like...puzzlement.

"Holly," she said. "Holly Arnbock."

"Pleased to meet you, Holly. I'm Ned Chiang." He was thinking of making a salad, but decided that hot food would probably be more comforting. Ned took out some frozen peas and carrots and began heating those on the stove while he cut up some potatoes. He paused mid-slicing.

"Um, I'm assuming you're okay with eating vegetables. What about potatoes?"

"What are those?"

He held a piece of one out to her, and she took it curiously. Her hand was really more like a paw, but her fingers were surprisingly dextrous. Ned felt a little tingle in his gut when his skin made contact with her hand. Holly's fur was incredibly soft, and he had to resist the urge to reach out and stroke her head.

Stop that, he told himself. Don't Be A Creep, remember?

Holly sniffed at the piece of potato and gave it an experimental lick. She made a sour face.

He gave a little laugh. "Yeah, they taste a lot better when they're cooked. Tell you what, I'll make some and leave them on the side for you to try."

"Okay. Thank you for all of this."

"It's no problem, really." Ned tossed the potatoes in a little olive oil and set them in the oven to roast. He poured a couple glasses of water and sat at the table across from her.

He slid one glass to her and she looked down. "You're wondering what I am," she said.

Ned smiled. "It had crossed my mind. But you were hurt and traumatized, and I figured the last thing you needed was a barrage of questions. I figured that you would tell me in due course."

"I'm a human," she said, and her face twisted in frustration. "But that doesn't mean here what it means where I'm from. We call ourselves human, just like you do. But we all look like this." Holly grabbed one of her ears. "And not like...that." She pointed at Ned's face.

"The place you're from, everybody looks like a rabbit?" He was beginning to get a suspicion of what had happened.

Holly nodded as she drank her water. "Yes. Just like you all look like hairless monkeys."

"I guess I asked for that," he replied with a smile. "So what happened?"

Holly took a deep breath and fidgeted her fingers on the edge of the table. She was clearly still upset about it. "Two days ago, I was going for a run. It was raining and there was a thunderstorm warning on the radio. But I wasn't going to let a stupid bit of weather keep me from getting some exercise."

"So I was running alongside a field near my town, and the rain was coming down pretty good. I didn't hear any rumble of thunder or anything, but suddenly there was a huge crashing noise beside me and I was thrown to one side. I lay there in shock for a bit. I could see where the lightning bolt had struck, there was a little scorch mark on the ground about five feet from me. I stood up and was just beginning to feel lucky when the second bolt hit me."

She took another gulp of her water. Ned could see the little ripples in it from her trembling. "It was...it was the worst pain I've ever felt. It was like all of my nerves were stuck in boiling oil. I couldn't scream. I couldn't even breathe. And then suddenly I could breathe again, and I screamed."

Holly's eyes began to tremble and become wet. "I looked around, and I was in this fenced yard of some sort, and there was a house a little ways from me. I saw lights in the house come on, and saw one of your kind come to the door. I was staring at him, and him at me, for a few seconds. Then there was a growl and I saw a big furry shape running at me. It had a lot of teeth. I ran from it, jumped right over the fence, and kept running."

She sniffled and ran one sleeve across her nose. "I was scared, I must have been delerious from the pain. I sure as hell wasn't thinking straight. I've been sneaking around for two days, a couple of people may have caught sight of me. I know I heard one of them yell. I drank some water from a puddle when I got thirsty enough. And it got cold tonight, so cold. I saw that your window was a little open, so I pushed it in some more and came inside. I just wanted a place to sleep out of the wind." Holly seemed to shrink into herself, and she buried her face in her arms on the table.

Ned wanted to get up and hug her, but that might be too forward. He settled for reaching forward and patting one of her paws. "It's okay. You're safe now. Let's get some food in you."

It turned out that she loved oven-roasted potatoes. Ned had some as well and enjoyed watching Holly wolf down (or should that be rabbit down?) her first meal in days.

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It also turned out Holly liked chamomile tea. Ned figured that it should be safer than green tea or coffee. He knew a lot of animals couldn't handle caffeine, but he couldn't remember if that included rabbits.

Ned made himself a mug as well and they retired to the living room. She sat on the carpet and he decided to do the same. He caught her staring at him while drinking her tea, and she looked away suddenly.

"Well," he began, "I think I have some idea of what happened. Keep in mind, a lot of this is hand-waving. I think you're from another Earth, from another timeline than this one. In your timeline, apes didn't evolve into an intelligent species but rabbits did. You mentioned monkeys, so I'm assuming you have them in your world."

Holly nodded. "Yes, I've seen them in zoos. And the bigger apes as well. But how did I get here?"

He rubbed one eyebrow. "That's the big question, isn't it? A lightning strike alone wouldn't do it. That would just electrocute you. No, the lighting must be a symptom and not the cause. I'll have to do some reading on it. I'm not a science guy, I'm more of an engineer."

Holly scooted closer and gave him a pleading look. Ned became very aware of how bottomless her blue eyes were. "But why do I understand you? You should be speaking...ape-ish, not English."

"That I also don't know. It must be some effect of whatever pulled you here."

Holly finished her tea, and stared down into the empty mug as she thought. "What do we do now? Should we...call somebody?"

Ned's work had brought him into contact with a great many governmental types. None of those interactions made him particularly hopeful when it came to expecting effective action out of bureaucrats. "Not yet," he said aloud. "We won't be able to take it back once we go public."

"I like that you say 'we'." She smiled, and it was the first time Ned had seen her look happy. He felt another little flutter in his gut at the sight, and resolved that one of his goals was to make Holly smile a whole lot more.

"You're my guest, Holly. I'm responsible for you."

"I guess I lucked out in my choice of garages, then." She looked around the living room. "You live alone?" The idea seemed foreign to her.

"I do. I was married a while back, but she thought I spent too much time at my job. So now it's just me."

"Amazing," she muttered, then shot him a panicked look. "I don't mean your partner leaving! I mean, for my people we would have at least four of us living in a space this big. We don't usually live by ourselves."

Ned couldn't resist, he had to ask. "Were you...attached to anybody?" He winced as he said it. Holly was just beginning to relax, and now he had just gone and poked at a possible sore spot.

"No, I guess I was too attached to my job, same as you." She smiled at him, and his heart fluttered again.

"What did you do, if you don't mind my asking?"

Holly shrugged. "I worked in a bank, mostly on mortgages and things like that." She stretched her arms over her head. "I must finally be getting warmed up. This sweatshirt is too hot." She pulled the garment off over her head. "Thanks for the loan of it, though."

"You're welcome," said Ned in a bit of a daze. Now that Holly was just wearing a tee shirt he could see more of her body's shape. Two small swells at her chest area confirmed that she had breasts, which puzzled him a little bit. The logical part of his brain wondered if that made sense. Where were the nipples located on a rabbit?

He realized he'd been staring fixedly at her chest, and hurriedly looked away. But Holly's eyes were amused rather than angry. "I look pretty weird to you, I suppose," she said as she stretched out one leg. It was slim and he could see wiry muscles shifting underneath her gray fur. This was a woman who liked to run, for sure. Her legs were digitigrade, like the hind legs of a cat or dog. Holly twiddled her toes on the outstretched foot. They had white fur at the tips, as opposed to the uniform gray that she had everywhere else.

"No," he spluttered. It seemed like the room didn't have enough oxygen. "You look amazing. I'm just...damn it, I'm sorry I was staring. It was really rude and creepy."

She smiled again. "It's okay, I'm curious as well. I've been staring at you non-stop since you invited me in."

"You have?"

Holly laughed, and as much as Ned wanted to keep seeing her smile he wanted to keep hearing her laugh even more. She leaned against the sofa. "I'm finally feeling relaxed enough to sleep, I think."

Ned leaned forward and took her mug from her hand. "Sure, let me show you where the bedroom is."

"Certainly," she drawled. The drawl didn't sound like it was entirely from sleepiness. She stood suddenly and looked around. "Through there, I'm guessing." She turned and Ned saw a little bump in her tee shirt right where her tailbone would be. It must be her tail. He wondered how soft it would feel. Once again the room seemed to have a dearth of usable air.

Holly stretched her arms up again, which made her tee shirt ride up. Ned caught just a glimpse of a pair of buttocks that would make any supermodel jealous. He coughed and stood as well, then tottered off to his kitchen sink. He was very grateful for the cover provided by his baggy sweatpants. The sight of Holly's magnificent ass had given him an erection that could drive a nail into wood.

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The king-size mattress in his bedroom was the only bit of frivolous spending that Ned had allowed himself in the years since his divorce. He liked to have space to stretch out while he slept. Holly regarded it with some amazement.

"I know you ape guys are larger than my kind, but this is even bigger than I would have expected."

"Well not all our beds are this big. I just...like having large bed. Anyway, the bathroom is through there if you need it. There's a water glass here as well. If you need anything, don't be afraid to wake me up." Ned began to walk out of the bedroom.

"Where are you going?" asked Holly. Her voice was soft and hesitant.

Ned pointed back towards the living room. "I'm sleeping on the couch. Don't worry, it's a lot more comfy than it looks. I've slept out there plenty of times."

Holly looked down at the bed. "My people usually sleep together. Would you mind...staying here?"

Ned knew that this was a Bad Idea. But she looked sad, so he nodded. "Sure, if you're okay with it."

Holly smiled and then abruptly hugged him. Her head barely came up to his chest as her long furry ears tickled the sides of his face. He smelled a little bit of pleasant body odor from her, but nothing else. Ned returned her hug and tried to control his breathing. He felt the strong muscles in her back under his hands and hoped that his raging boner wasn't too obvious.

She pulled away. "Thanks. It will make me feel safer, you know?"

Ned didn't trust himself to speak, and only nodded. Holly's instincts were to hide and to seek comfort in others. It fit with her rabbity origins. She pulled back the sheets and slid in, and he began to slide in next to her. His logical mind kept saying, Keep space between you, asshole.

Holly looked back at him. "Why wear those?" She pointed at his sweatpants.

"Um...to keep warm?"

"Those will be far too hot. Take them off." Suddenly she sounded a lot less hesitant.

The logical part of Ned's brain that knew this was a Bad Idea suddenly went into overdrive. It told him that he was supposed to be helping this poor girl, not taking advantage of her. But the horny part of Ned's brain said Sure, Why Not? Horny won out, of course.

Ned nodded again and slipped his sweatpants off. At least he still had briefs on, although his erection was now painfully obvious. It could have been his imagination, but it seemed like Holly's pupils got larger at the sight.

"That's better," she said aloud. "Please get the light, would you?"

"Um, sure," Ned mumbled, and turned off the light. He slid into bed and felt a warm and furry presence settle into his side. He put one arm around her shoulder in what he hoped was a comradely manner. Somehow, he was able to drift off to sleep.

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