Work The Problem Ch. 07

Arnold finished one equation and tapped a symbol that looked like a pitchfork. "That's the big unknown variable. The energy barrier between dimensions. We have an idea of both the lower and upper range that this could be, and today's attempt was made assuming the lower value."

"But we can't just pile on more power," added John Dengar. "Right now we're stretching the limits of both our capacitor and superconducting cable technology. If we make 'em much bigger, we won't be able to chill everything sufficiently when carrying such huge currents."

One of the scientists, a Russian nuclear expert named Dimitri, raised a hand. "The terror-birds managed it, though."

Arnold nodded. "And that's what we all need to go over. We have a small amount of video from the lagomorph's dimension that shows the attackers. We know that their energy storage technology must be a lot better than ours since they carried portable beam weapons. Maybe their energy-generation tech is better as well. It's not much, but it's all we've got."

Dimitri persisted. "Are you sure that today's test did nothing at all?"

John shrugged. "Maybe it did? We did see a slight fluctuation that indicated the start of portal formation. But there was nothing visible, so whatever gate we were able to open was microscopic in size."

"We did see a little UV radiation as well," added Arthur. "That also indicates we did open a very small portal. We'll need to do another attempt with more sensors. If we also see a big pulse of microwaves, then we'll know for certain that at least we're making a tiny portal. But you wouldn't be able to fit anything through it. Well, I guess you could fit through some bacteria."

The words made something go click in Grace's head. "The mystery bug!" she yelled, then blushed as she realized that she'd spoken aloud. Every eye in the place turned to her, and Grace managed to control her nervousness as she stood and addressed the general. "Sir, you remember that strange bacterium we found in the soil samples from Holly's world? We're still trying to culture it. That was why we asked for Dr. Harold Gilbreath from Oxford to help us out."

The general crossed his arms. "Yes, I remember the requisition. You still have had no success?"

Shakti now got to her feet as well. The soil expert made it mercifully brief as she detailed her discovery of the mystery bacterium. "My attempts at culturing were a failure," she said without a hint of embarrassment. "And so we hoped that Dr. Gilbreath could help us. He's the world's foremost expert in exotic bacteria."

A corpulent man with a ruddy face stood up. Grace had never met with Harold until he'd arrived in Nevada. He was a refreshingly unassuming and cheerful professor who talked like a coal miner but had a mind like a steel trap.

"We tried the normal growth media, of course," he said. "And we wound up with plenty of bacterial colonies, but none of them were our mystery beastie. So I figured that it must require additional environmental conditions apart from warmth and food in order to grow. We first tried the standard spectrum from infrared up to UV. It does seem to respond better under UV exposure. We've also found that it requires a growth media with iron and a few other trace metals. But what cultures we have are still very small. Not enough to get any real data on them."

Arnold already had his usual thousand-yard-stare as his mind worked through the implications. "You think this mystery bug is a creation of the terror-birds?"

"It must be," said Grace with firmness. Now that they were discussing the details, her earlier nervousness had evaporated. "I never saw any trace of such a bug in any of Holly's tissue samples. But from our soil samples it looked to be everywhere in that area of her world. It doesn't appear to be harmful, it just...sits there, mostly. It certainly can't multiply in living organisms."

John's face had now assumed the same distant gaze as Arnold. "If it responds to UV, then maybe it's only supposed to multiply when a portal opens. We should test it with both UV and microwaves..." He trailed off as he tapped a finger on his chin.

Gossett swept a finger across the standing scientists. "You three, come with me." He jabbed the same finger at Arthur and John. "And you two as well. We've got some tests to do."

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Marlene was by far the tallest person present among the huge crowd of furry forms that filled the grassy bowl of the amphitheater. To keep from blocking anybody's view, she stood at the back wall. Unfortunately, Conrad was on the shorter side even for a lagomorph. She made up for that by letting him ride on her shoulders. Marlene took the opportunity to caress his furry digitgrade feet as Conrad whooped in enthusiasm for the band currently taking the stage.

"This is The Lakerville Quintet!" he yelled. "They're awesome!"

Marlene smiled and patted one of his feet. She'd liked pretty much everything that they'd heard. Her fear was that their hosts would have completely different musical traditions and that everything would sound weird and atonal to her ears. But so far everything had at least sounded like something she would call 'music'.

After a bit of tuning and tweaking, the five rabbit-people on stage began to play. Marlene had to admit that she really liked it. The music itself was vaguely Celtic in tone, but with a almost jazz-like beat to it.

She grinned and bounced along to the music, ignoring the curious stares from the other lagomorphs nearby. Conrad was clearly equally as happy as her, and gave her scalp a nice caress with one paw while he waved the other in the air. That seemed to be a rabbit-person thing; the huge space in front of Marlene was a swaying forest of upraised arms and long ears.

Then she felt something press against the back of her head. Conrad was too busy whooping it up and didn't realize that his excitement was reaching below his belt. Marlene smiled wider and moved her hands higher to grab his dangling ankles. She gently pulled forward and pushed her head back to grind it into his still-clothed crotch.

Marlene felt Conrad shudder, and the paw stroking her head suddenly clutched at her short hair. It was quickly joined by his other paw. She just heard him gasp over the sound of the music as she reached back with one hand to grab his butt and press him even more firmly into the back of her head.

His clothed erection pressed into her skull as she smiled smugly and slowly ground against his crotch. The band onstage want through a pretty lengthy set, and she took full advantage of that to tease her little lover mercilessly. By the time the quintet had taken their bows and left the stage, Conrad's body was nearly vibrating with his desire. He brought his lips down to her ear.

"I need to pee," he said quietly. "And so do you."

"Is that an order?" Marlene asked with a smile.

"More like a suggestion," he replied as he caressed her cheek. "There's a little secluded area along the river that I know of."

"I just bet you do, you horny little bastard." Marlene patted his foot and began strolling for one of the amphitheater's exits with Conrad still perched on her shoulders.

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They easily found Conrad's 'secluded area', a little patch of turf surrounded by high bushes and overhung by many trees. The lagomorph didn't waste any time in pulling her shirt up and reverently kissing her stomach. Marlene leaned her head back against a tree and gave a little shiver as he gently reached up and pulled down her bra. As her breasts were exposed he carefully licked at one nipple.

"No, be rough," she whispered.

His flat teeth scraped against her aureola as he began to nibble on one nipple while squeezing and mashing her other breast with one paw. His other paw began to unbuckle her pants with quick, jerky motions. It was clear Conrad was as ready to go as she was

Marlene whimpered in delight and reached down herself to grab at Conrad's waistband. Her fingers fumbled open his fly and reached in to grasp his rock-hard member. He moaned around her nipple as she gently squeezed him.

She pushed him back and reached down to push down her pants just past her knees. By now she was so horny she didn't want to bother with taking off her boots. Marlene turned away and knelt, then spread her legs as much as she could. Her sex glistened in the dim light as she pressed her chest into the ground and presented herself to Conrad.

"Hard. Fast," she moaned. Her breath was taken away as Conrad stepped forward and speared into her with unerring accuracy. His paws gripped her hips as he began to piston himself inside her.

Marlene clutched at the ground and grunted in ecstasy as he fucked her. His own gasps sounded loud in the little wooded alcove. His pointed cock pressed heavily on her g-spot with each of his forceful thrusts, and the Ranger knew she was going to get off in record time. Just before her own orgasm hit, Conrad pressed into her with one final thrust and began quivering. She felt the warm spurting of his cum inside her, which in turn sent her over the edge. All she could do was press her bottom back against him while he grunted and pulled at her hips like he was trying to drive himself through her. His cock kept spurting thick gobs of his essence, and she could feel it oozing out of her stuffed cunny.

The Ranger reached between her legs to give his crotch a good long fondle as his spurting finally subsided. One of his paws let go of her hip and patted her lower back, and in response she gave his pecker a good hard squeeze with her pelvic muscles before gently pulling off of him.

Marlene managed to turn herself over, even though her pants were still tangled around her legs. Conrad all but collapsed on top of her half-naked body, and she hugged him fiercely to her chest. As she kissed the top of his head she was surprised to hear him sniffle.

"Hey, what's with that?" she asked softly.

"I'm so selfish," he murmured.

Marlene gave the back of his head a gentle scratching. "Are you kidding? You got me off just fine and dandy."

"No, not that. It's horrible, but deep down I kind of hope that your world's portal doesn't open again."

Marlene blinked in surprise, then realized what he was afraid of. "You mean, if it does then I'd have to leave."

"Yeah. I'd miss you, that's all," he said as he returned her hug with equal fervor. His ears were tucked behind his head, a sure sign of his distress.

Marlene laughed. "What makes you think I'm going anywhere?"

He looked up at her with surprise in his big eyes. "Well, even if you wanted to stay you're still in your militia, right? They'll make you go back home."

She leaned down to kiss his nose. "First off, chances are they'll assign us here anyway since we have the most experience."

His ears rose back up. "Really?"

"Yep. And even if they don't I've only got about six months left." She pulled him up so that they were face-to-face and gave him a long, ravishing kiss that made his eyes half-close in bliss. "So the worst case is we have to wait six months before I move back here," she said after she broke the kiss. "Although I may go home after that to get a burger now and then."

Conrad chuckled. "I guess I could allow that." He leaned in and kissed her back, and this time it was a lot more gentle and langorous affair. The lagomorph then broke the kiss with an apologetic expression.

"I really do need to pee now," he said.

Marlene caressed the back of his fuzzy head. "That's fine," she replied, then looked down at herself. Fortunately his emission was oozing into the ground instead of onto her pants, but her crotch was still a gloriously sticky mess. "I gotta clean up anyway."

"Do you need me to get you something?" Conrad asked as he stood and tucked himself back into his pants.

"Nah, I brought some wipes." She grinned up at him. "I had a sneaking feeling I might need some. Ya horndog."

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The general and his trailing gaggle of scientists found a microwave oven in the nearest breakroom. They promptly removed it from its rightful place on the counter and handed a puzzled technician the half-frozen entree from inside it before marching the purloined appliance off to the biolab.

A bit of frenzied and creative engineering resulted in a microwave oven with a UV lamp stuck into it. "This violates about fifty different safety regs, I think," said John Dengar. He regarded the kluged-together monstrosity that now sat on the lab bench and shook his head.

General Gossett snorted. "I don't give a good goddamn right now. Just get on with it."

John shrugged. "Okay, then. Can I have one of the samples?"

Harold brought over a covered petri dish. The white growth medium inside had a few little barely-visible black specks. "This is the most 'pure' sample we have available," he said. "Just be bloody careful with it."

John took the dish with a little bow and set it inside the oven. "I think we should be elsewhere when this thing turns on. I can plug it in with a timer to turn it on and off. We should wait outside while it's on."

It was kind of frustrating to Grace. She wanted to see this thing work. But she realized that getting a faceful of microwaves was probably not the healthiest thing, and so she trouped out of the lab with the others. They waited in the hallway; most of the scientists fidgeted in one way or another, while General Gossett just leaned against the wall with a stoic expression.

"It doesn't make sense," said Arnold. "Why should these bacteria have anything to do with portal formation?"

"It probably doesn't," replied the general with a calm that matched his expression. "But right now I'm grasping at straws."

After an interminable five minutes, they all trouped back into the lab. John peeked around the corner of the lab bench that held their 'incubation chamber'. "It's off," he said, and they all clustered around the oven as he opened the door.

The petri dish inside was absolutely overflowing with black goo.

Harold smacked a fist into his palm. "Bloody brilliant! Now we have enough to do some proper testing! We'll find out what this beastie is, don't you worry."

After a whirlwind couple of hours, however, the little group was still just as puzzled.

The six of them gathered around a work table covered with printouts. Harold sighed and pointed at one of them. "Roight. The mass-spec shows that the iron in the growth media is indeed getting taken up by our mystery bacteria." He moved a finger to the next printout. "But here things get really strange. We ran the standard DNA assays on it and...we had no results. No bloody results at all."

The room was silent for a bit until Arnold spoke up. "Wait, so this thing has no DNA?"

Grace nodded. "I did the usual amino acid assays as well. Nothing, not a bit of it. This thing also has no proteins."

"That's impossible!" said Shakti. Her usually calm face was troubled. "No enzymes? It can't function!"

Harold sighed. "I agree. I'll be buggered if I can see how this damn thing works."

Grace rubbed her forehead. They'd gained a little victory only to run into more mysteries. Somehow this was a form of life that did not use any of the normal metabolic or reproductive mechanisms, but it still reproduced. She growled in irritation.

And then, just like that, the answer dropped into her head. "It's not a lifeform," she said aloud.

They all turned to look at her as Grace laughed. "We all assumed it was, because it looks like bacteria that we're familiar with. But what if it's not? What if it's some kind of nanotechnology?"

"For what purpose?" asked Harold. But his face was thoughtful. "It does not seem to have any other purpose other than to multiply. It's inert to organic beings, so it's not some kind of bioweapon."

Shakti looked similarly thoughtful. "It takes in iron. Maybe it's some kind of mining nanotechnology?"

"But it needs such a unique environment to grow," said John Dengar. "It's clearly designed to multiply right when a portal gets opened. If it's a construct, then it must have some purpose. But what could that be?"

The resulting long silence was broken by Arnold's whisper.

"Resonance."

His dark-skinned face suddenly sported a huge grin as shoved both fists into the air and yelled "Resonance!" They all reared back from him in alarm, then Arnold tore out of the lab with another happy yell of "RESONAAAAANCE!" echoing behind him.

They all stared in surprise at each other for a second, then Arnold's fainter yell came through the lab's open door.

"BRING THE GOO! COME OOOOON!"

General Gossett looked at the shocked faces around him and shrugged. "Meeting adjourned, I guess. Now let's go see what our resident madman has figured out."

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Conrad Underlake hummed as he made his way back from the restroom. The moonlight shone down onto the paved path through the surrounding trees and created abstract shadows. He could hear the distant music from the festival. He smiled as he looked up into the starry expanse overhead. It was a beautifully clear night, and Conrad had a bounce in his step that made him feel like he could jump over the moon.

Marlene was staying. His wonderful warrior-woman was staying for him. He made a solemn promise to himself to do his very best to make her feel happy and loved every day.

His pleased musing was cut short when a larger furred form stepped out of the bushes in front of him and blocked his way. Conrad was pretty sure he was one of the Ecklam city militia he'd seen earlier, but if so he was just wearing street clothes now. "What are you doing?"

Conrad looked around in puzzlement. "I'm...walking?"

The larger lagomorph glowered at him. "Smart ass. I mean what are you doing with that monkey-girl?"

Before Conrad could respond another equally large lagomorph emerged and stood behind him. "I think he's some kinda freak," said the newcomer. "Probably gets off on thinking about getting eaten."

Conrad rolled his eyes. "Come on! She's perfectly nice and no, I don't want her to eat me." He gave a little chuckle. "At least not for food. As for the other way, I have to confess she's eaten me plenty of times." He gave the one in front a friendly little wink as he hoped the joke would defuse things.

His accoster was not amused. "What, your own kind isn't good enough for you?" He thumped Conrad in his chest, shoving him back. The one behind him gave him a push back in the other direction.

Conrad rolled with the push and danced off to the side of them. He faced his two assailants while holding up his paws. "Hey, now, no need for that."

The two larger forms began to move towards him with ominous glowers on their faces. Conrad's heart sank as he saw even more of them emerge from the shrubbery. There were at least six of them, perhaps more. He didn't waste time in trying to plead his case; instead, he turned to run.

He got about two steps when one of them grabbed his foot. Conrad went down hard on his face. His eyes were streaming from the pain in his nose as he rolled over, and his vision was blurry from getting his head smacked into the ground.

The first attacker stood over him, and Conrad could see the others gathering behind him. "Freak," spat the one in the lead. "I think we need to make an example of you." He drew back a foot and made ready to kick at the still half-dazed Conrad.

"HEY!"

The shout made the group of attackers turn just in time to receive PFC Marlene Riley's furious charge.

The one in the lead got an elbow to the face in a huge blow that snapped his head back and sent his furry body flying. The others received similar beat-downs; a few tried to get in attacks of their own, only to have their attacks blocked and responded to with brutal efficiency. The last one standing got in a decent feint and actually landed a kick right into the Ranger's ribs. Marlene gave a grunt as his foot slammed home, and she bent over as the attacker danced back with a hopeful look on his face.