Port Eden: Feral Inspection

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Dr. Luke Giatros let out a low sigh as he stepped into the glass elevator. It was fairly large, not nearly the size of the service elevators they had directly underneath the island (as opposed to this one, which went up alongside a sheer, undersea cliff on the side of the island), but large enough to comfortably hold about 25 people at a time. At the moment, however, it was just him and three others, which made him feel dwarfed by the size of the lift. Once he was inside, the doors slid shut and, with a lurch, the elevator began to rise.

Luke slid on his reading glasses and put his bag of medical supplies on the ground as he pulled out a clipboard and began inspecting it, not even bothering to look up at the incredible ocean view surrounding the glass tube as the elevator assended. According to his papers, he was going to do something he always dreaded: Feral Inspection. He hated feral inspections, for many reasons: Hunters never treated him with respect, there was no real medical station in the port, forcing him to make due with whatever he could cram into his medical bag, most ferals responded to his activities by trying to claw and/or bite his fingers off...

But the reason he hated it most was based solely on principle: There were plenty of beasts already in Eden that were happy to be there and, although he really hated to use the term, 'breeding' them was hardly an issue at all. However, these hunters still insisted on making a living by venturing out and capturing ferals instead. If there were few beasts living in Eden, he would've begrudgenly accepted their actions, but as it stood, he saw what they did to be entirely unnecessary, especially since there had hardly been a single feral he inspected that was happy about the turn of events. The fact that his own son ran off to become a hunter was just the final kicker in all of it, solidifying his distaste for the whole thing.

However, there was nothing he could really do about it. He was the premire veterinarian in Eden, and thus was the man that was always called up when a new shipment of ferals arrived. If the papers were accurate, which they usually were, five were comming in today. It looked like it would be an average checkup for all of them... Except for one. According to the report, he was apparently suffering from a concussion and a broken jaw. Must've gotten in a fight with one of the hunters or something.

Suddenly, the elevator came to a stop, and a second set of doors slid open behind them. The three other men stepped out first, while Luke took the rear as he put away the clipboard and grabbed his bag of supplies. He walked out into a massive, open-aired dome, the smells of the ocean blowing around under it's massive marble ceiling. The dome was situated on the end of a long boardwalk that went along the south cove of the island. A short distance away from the elevator dome was Port Eden, where all imports - ferals included - were brought in.

With another sigh, Luke made his way towards the port town to begin feral inspection.

[DB]

Meanwhile, a certain 'feral' tenrec was now waking up to his new surroundings, slightly disoriented by the greatly differing scenery than he was used to. The sound of the gulls in the air, the salty scent of the sea... it was distantly familiar, from a time long, long ago, before the coup... A family trip to the beach... building sandcastles... running from the waves and laughing... burying dad up to his nostrils in sand... and laughing some more...

...

But what was he doing out by the ocean now? He certainly didn't remember coming out this way... than again, he didn't remember much over the last few days in general. It was like a hazy patchwork of memories, fading in and out of each other in broken fragments.

He remembered, vaguely, a disaster overcoming Greenpine, something of Lance, coming to a place called Knothole where the Princess resided, and than.... it just got more confusing from there, as dim memories aside it was hard for him to tell which actually happened, which was a hallucination, and which was a dream.

Or a nightmare.

He had a terrible nightmare recently, being caught by a ferocious robot and being taken to Robotropolis...

Dash shuddered, inadvertently causing a wave of pain to travel through his face. Ah yes. He forgot about that. At some point, his jaw got broken. He was a bit hazy on the details, but he was pretty sure Lance was to blame.

Finally actually opening his eyes, he looked around carefully, trying not to aggravate his jaw more than necessary.

He seemed to be... laying on the floor of a cage? Someone beside him in another cage was pacing, and seemed to be rather angry...

... Wait, a cage?

He sat up suddenly, wincing and grabbing at his jaw as the sudden movement caused it to protest again.

"... Whare yam ah?"

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Walking into Port Eden, Dr. Luke paid very little attention to the people around him. It wasn't particularly busy, being so early in the morning probably having something to do with it. However, the port never had a very high population to begin with; most people prefered to live down in the city, while the town consisted mainly of hunters, farmers, and whoever offered goods and services to them. Needless to say, Luke was not fond of about a third of the population, hence his loathing of going to the port.

The doctor made his way towards one of the piers, where a medium-sized ship named the S.S. Motari was already docked. According to the transcripts, this was the ship bringing in the ferals today. Looking around, he tried to find a place to set up the medical equpiment he brought, but the only thing even he found was a simple wooden table... One that looked like it had been previously used to clean fish and wasn't washed off afterwards, no less. Slightly perterbed, he began to search for someone to address his problem to, eventually settling for a heavy-set man on the ship.

"Um... Hello! Excuse me!" Luke called out. The man on board seemed to notice, looked down at the doctor, and grunted in reply.

"... Whatdya want?"

"Er... I'm here to inspect the ferals you captured, but this dock is ill-suited at the moment for me to do so. I require a sterile table, a private tent for modesty, a---"

The doctor was cut off by the man letting out a huge, mocking, barrel-laugh.

"Ha! You're kiddin', right? Why would anyone go through all that trouble for a buncha dirty animals?"

"Hey! They are not a bunch of dirty animals!" Luke retorted, quickly becoming rialed up, "Just because you people hunt them down for your own profit doesn't mean they don't deserve a proper medical ejaculation!... Erm... Evacuation!... ... ... Evaluation."

Cue Luke promptly facepalming himself over his vocabulary screw-up.

"Hee, hee... Hey, David! Getta load of this guy!" the man shouted to apparently someone else on the ship, "He's readin' us hunters the riot act because we didn't give him a camping tent!"

"Privacy tent..." the doctor corrected, although it undoubtedly fell on deaf ears.

There was another, more high-pitched voice that let out a laugh at the other man's comment.

"What? He wants a tent? Man, if he's that desperate for some alone time with a feral, he should just buy one and take it home with him!"

"Look, my work here is important!" Luke insisted, either ignoring or not realizing the second man's implied inuendo, "I need to make sure the ferals are in full health and are not going to bring any foreign diseases into Eden! Now, are you going to help me or not?"

The first man turned back to the doctor.

"Okay, honestly? We ain't got a tent or a... whatever table ya want. We're just a bunch of hunters, whatdya expect? That little wooden plank there? Yeah, ya gonna have to make due with that."

Looking back over at the dirty table, Luke just let out a frustrated sigh.

"Very well... Can you please bring out the ferals so I can look at them? Preferably, I'd like to inspect the one with the broken jaw first."

"Hey, ya think you can order us around like that, doc? You're gettin' 'em in the order we give 'em to you! Yo, Dave! Go below deck and start tossing a few of 'em freaks up here, would ya?"

Not even waiting to hear 'David's' reply, Luke just walked over and began to clean off the wooden table as best he could.

I hate hunters...

[DB]

Dash leaned back onto the bars of the cage, slowly looking around the area he was being held in, his eyes beginning to adjust to the low light. There were a couple of cages besides his and his neighbor's, all of them filled with obviously disgruntled folk. His neighbor continued to pace, though in the dark and with his eyes not entirely adjusted, Dash couldn't make out exactly who or what his neighbor was.

From what he could tell, he was in a dark place that smelt a bit like wet moldy wood and salt water, and he could hear gulls along with what sounded like waves splashing up against... wherever this was. Also, the ground seemed to be shifting slightly.

... A boat? It seemed the most logical explanation.

Of course, logic than asks,

How the HELL DID I GET ON A BOAT?!

Turning again to his neighbor...

"'Ey!... whare are 'ee?"

[Leda]

In the next pen, a non-too-pleased looking jackal snarled without looking at his neighbor. "We're wherever these bloody overlanders have hauled us!!" the mobian snarled. Without warning, he began repeatedly ramming into the door end of his enclosure.

[SHM 128 III]

If the jackal's outburst was not enough of an answer for the tenrec, it would soon be elaborated on as a lanky man walked down some stairs into the room. He was wearing what looked slightly like modern-day cowboy gear, complete with the hat, but despite whatever "cool" factor it was supposed to have, it simply didn't look good on him, almost comically so. However, it was very unlikely that anyone would have the nerve to point this out to him, as he clearly had a rifle strapped to his back and a machette hanging from his side.

"Okay, boys, the pleasure cruise is over!" he announced, spitting on the floor as he did so, "Welcome to Eden: The last place you'll ever be... Whether you like it or not."

He slammed his hand down on top of one of the cages, causing the feral inside, a young frog, to let out a surprised yelp. Chuckling a bit in amusment at the animal's fright, he turned towards the stairs and began to shout up.

"Yo, Mikey! Get your fat butt down here and help me carry this slimeball up!"

"Yeah, yeah... I'm commin'!" came a voice from above, followed by the sounds of heavy footsteps, "It's not like they can't wait another five minutes!"

@luke@

While the hunters were busy bringing their 'cargo' up, Luke spent his time putting his equipment togeter on the table. Trying to clean it off proved to be a fruitless effort, so he simply took out a huge bedsheet and spread it out on top. He then set his medical bag down on the table and took out various medical equipment: Stethoscope, otoscope, ophthalmoscope, blood pressure cuff, multiple thermometers, tongue depressers, cotton swabs... And a whole bunch of needles, both for blood test and vaccination purposes. With everything set up, he took out a pair of latex gloves and put them on. He might not have had everything he requested, but he was finally ready to begin feral inspection.

... Although, he sometimes wondered if he was ever truely ready for them.

[DB]

"Ovahlanners?" The tenrec grimaced (followed by a wince. He really needed to stop moving his face).

Overlanders... that's something he vaguely remembered, but that was also one of those things he'd hoped had just been a nightmare... tall shadowy figures coming out of nowhere as he tried to find his way home... Desperately trying to escape in the dark...

A nightmare.

He sunk into the corner of the pen. A real nightmare.

It wasn't... that he was speciest, (well maybe a lil), but something about Overlanders bothered him quite a bit. Actually, it was probably a number of things. Like how tall they were, and how weird their faces were with their ears sticking out of funny spots on their heads, and that they had no fur except on the very top, and... the general opinion of Overlanders in most mobian societies didn't help either. Untrustworthy, frightening race of people...

And when a member of said race suddenly appeared, the tenrec nearly jumped in place, his spines bristling out so quickly it was like a firework explosion. Except... well, with less actual exploding.

Thankfully, it wasn't him that the overlanders seemed to be interested in, but some poor hapless amphibian.

... Of course, it'd probably be a matter of time before it was on him.

... What was it the Overlander said?

"Welcome to Eden: The last place you'll ever be... Whether you like it or not."

The pit in the tenrec's stomach grew (though it was already quite deep. For a moment the thought passed him that he didn't remember when he last ate) as he considered that statement. What was meant by that? Why was this the last place he was going to be?? Were... were they going to KILL him?!

In panic Dash turned to the jackal, ignoring the protest his broken bones were giving him. Jaw pain be damned, he needed answers.
"Whash goin awn?! Whash hee mean??"

[Leda]

The mobian in the neighboring cage paused from his brutal protest and snorted in the tenrec's direction. "All I know is that I was minding my own damn business when these beasts showed up in some sort of truck and started shooting at me!!" The jackal's already snarling lips curled further at the bitter memories. "Not a word to me, about anything! Just bursting out of the trees, and the hunt was on!" Without warning, he slammed a furious fist into the bars of his cage. Sadly, they didn't budge. "If only I'd had a few more seconds...!"

[SHM 128 III]

Soon, a much heavier hunter came thundering down the stairs. It was the same one that Luke had been conversing with before.

"Heh, whatsa matter, you can't lift this dinky cage by yourself?"

'Mike' walked over and proceed to show off his muscle by hefting the cage up all by himself. However, the ammount of force he used to achieve this feat resulted in the hapless frog inside bouncing around his enclosed space, frequently banging his head against the bars of the cage. This caused his smaller buddy to immediately take notice.

"Hey! Hey! Watch what you're doin', you big oaf!" he hollered, quickly grabbing the other end of the cage and holding it even, "We're not gonna get paid for haulin' a carcass in!"

With the caged frog now behing held evenly between the two of them, the duo began to carry it up the stairs.

@luke@

Meanwhile, was simply waiting around for the hunters to return with the first feral. They were sure taking their sweet time, but then again, they were probably being slow just to spite him...

[DB]

Well, talks of carcasses weren't putting his mind at ease any.

Except maybe at the very least that they didn't want them dead... at least, not yet.

... not yet.

And, with that, his mind spiraled even farther out of control.

What were they going to do?? What if... what if...

He bristled more, more than he may of previously thought he even -could-, his eyes wide with terror.

What if they're going to eat us.

Of course, under normal conditions, this would be a completely ridiculous notion, even to him. However, these were not normal conditions and for all the rumors he'd heard of overlanders... maybe it was possible. Maybe it was entirely possible. It certainly seemed possible at the moment. And Dash being a prey species wasn't helping him work this out, either.

"... thay'rs gonna eat ush", wide-eyed-rec managed to squeak.

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Luke watched as the two hunters finally came up on deck and carried the caged feral down to the dock. They slammed the cage down on the covered table with enough force to knock a few syringes off, causing the doctor to stumble back in surprise and the frog inside to yelp again.

"We caught this little sucker not far from Mercia," David boasted, "he kept running around, begging for his fox friend to get us off him... Heh, never stood a chance. Well, knock yourself out doc."

And with that, the duo went back onto the ship to grab another feral while the doctor sighed and began the inspection. Soon, the hunters returned with another cage. And another. Luke, in turn, continued to inspect the ferals inside, giving all of them his seal of approval. However, as he did so, he tried his hardest to sound comforting while knowing how horrified the poor animals must've been.

And then there was the jackal.

Oh merciful heaven, the jackal. Luke was seriously afraid he was going to lose his face while inspecting him. Thankfully, he was not attacked at all (the fact that the hunters stayed with him for that one might've helped) and the jackal was sent on his way with the rest of them. All that left was one more... Persumably, the one with the concussions and the broken jaw, which he had requested first.

Why did he get the feeling they saved him for last on purpose?

[DB]

Meanwhile, down below, the said tenrec was doing his best impression of a hedgehog. Meaning, that is, he was curled into a ball.

A ball of TERROR.

And spines.

But mostly terror.

... and spines.

The fact that the overlanders kept coming down, taking one of his neighbors off, and then the neighbors didn't return... His mind was going places it shouldn't.

And, despite jaw pain, he was mummbling to himself.

"...Thaygonnaeatmethaygonnaeatme..."

[SHM 128 III]

Sure enough, the hunters came back down one last time and made a beeline for Dash's cage.

"Well, all that's left are the damaged goods..." Dave observed as he grabbed one end of the cage, "We better not get paid less for the defect."

"Hey, money is money," Mike retorted as he picked up his end, "even if it's a little less than we want, it's sure as heck better than nothin'."

And with that, the duo carried Dash off the ship and into the light of day.

@luke@

Seeing the last cage being brought out was a moment of relief for Luke. His job here was almost finished. As the hunters set the caged tenrec down on the table, the doctor handed them a form.

"All the other ferals checked out with clean records, pending their blood and DNA tests that I'll have to do once I get back," Luke explained, "I cannot determine how much the last one will be worth until I treat his injuries, but you can go collect your bounties on the rest of them and I will get back to you on this one in a day or so."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Dave replied sarcasticly as he snatched the form out of Luke's hands, "it's been a pleasure doing business with you, doctor."

With a shared laugh, the two hunters walked off into the port to claim their prize, leaving Luke alone with the last caged feral. With yet another frustrated sigh, he turned his attention back to the tenrec and began to carefully unlock the cage.

[DB]

The entire time, Dash had remained curled up- even when the two brutes were manhandling the cage. That is, until he heard the distinctive sound of the cage being unlocked. Peeking through his fingers (he had his face covered), he saw the overlander opening the door... He also saw the table, which, by now, the fishguts had leaked through the blanket, giving the appearence that something had been slaughtered there (well, something had, that being fish, but he certainly didn't know that).

This... this did not help. This did not help at all.

"DOHNTEATMEH
ITASHTHORRIFFLE"

This was followed by clutching his jaw. Owchie.

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Luke practically stumbled back from the outburst within the cage. Now, he was used to all sorts of reactions from the ferals he inspected. He saw some cower in fear in the back of the cage, some walk out in forlorn acceptance, and even had a few that would immediately leap for his face, fangs and claws bared, the second they had some semblance of freedom (he learned to open the cages slowly after that happened a few times). Suddenly breaking down and screaming at the top of their lungs not to eat them, however... that was a new one. After a moment's pause, the doctor let out a chuckle and peered into the cage, smiling warmly at the terrified tenrec inside.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," he reassured, "my name is Dr. Lucas Giatros, and I'm here to help you. I understand that you have a broken jaw?"

[DB]

Ah yes. A broken jaw. That WAS what he was cradling at the moment, wasn't it?

And yet... the tenrec's eyes wandered back to the table.

"... you... buht..."

He winced more as he tried to speak. Shouting really hadn't been kind to his injury.

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Luke noticed the tenrec's eyes dart down to the table. Looking down at the now-soaked-with-fish-guts bedsheet himself, he quickly figured out what must've led the poor, confused feral to his conclusion that he was going to be eaten.

"Oh... Don't mind that," Luke explained, "Whoever used this table last must've used it to clean some fish."

He lifted the sheet to show the small chunks of fish scales and fins that were lying underneath.

"I had requested a clean table, but apparently it was either lost or ignored... Probably the latter..."

He then laid the sheet back down and turned back to Dash.

"I promise I won't harm you. About the sharpest thing I even have here is a couple of needles. I am just going to do a basic medical examination and see how badly injured your jaw is."

He held out his hand to the tenrec.

"Do you trust me?"

[DB]

Dash eyed the hand skeptically as he tenderly rubbed at his jaw (which, by the way, didn't help).

"... Whare am ah?"

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Luke withdrew his hand and sighed. How was he going to explain this?

"You are at Port Eden, gateway to the underwater city of Eden. Many of us humans live down there, and we usually keep beasts either as pets or as servants. For beasts that are born and raised down there, they are usually perfectly content with the way things are, and both humans and beasts hold a certain amount of respect for each other, but..."

The doctor shook his head sadly.

"Unfortunately, the demand for beasts has led to the rise of 'hunters': Men who earn a living by going out and capturing ferals like you to bring back here and sell as beasts. I personally despise the profession, but that has not stopped it from booming, damning our race to even more hatred by the feral world. If there is any good I can see from it, it's that we have not been discovered by Robotnik yet, allowing the ferals captured to at least live a life where they do not have to struggle for survival, but still... I do not think it's right."

Pause.

"Sorry... I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

[DB]

Dash stared blankly at Luke. At first, what he said didn't make any sense. Beasts? What b-

...

Oh no he didn't.

The tenrec's spines puffed up.

"I ahm not a beasfh."

The rest of what Luke said was mostly overshadowed by that. Whoopsie.

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Luke was a bit taken aback by the tenrec's angry response. What did he do wrong? He was trying to be as polite to the beast as...

... Oh, right. The word 'beast' always seemed to strike a nerve with ferals for some reason. Well, so much for setting off on the right foot.

"Oh... Forgive me," Luke apoligized, "in Eden, we use the term 'beast' to describe all non-humans. It's meant to be a simple title and nothing more, but I've noticed that most fer... newcommers," he corrected, figuring that if 'beast' was bad, then 'feral' probably wasn't a safe bet, either, "seem to be offended by it. Again, my apoligies."

There was another pause as Luke thought things over to himself.

"But tell me: If the term 'beast' is considered offensive by you outsiders, what do you call yourselves? It would be in my best interests to know so I won't make that mistake again."

[DB]

Dash eyed the human, crossing his arms.

"... Mobthians." He paused, wincing again, "... or anthropsth if you wanna be more tethical."

Wiiince. Okay, maybe less crossed arms and back to rubbing his jaw. All this talking really, really wasn't working out for him. He continued to eye the human, this time taking time to notice the lack of blood on his coat and the presence of a bag of what seemed to be medical tools... okay, so maybe he was telling the truth. It still didn't put him that much at ease but... he needed some help with this jaw.

With a frown (and another a wince) he made his way out, continuing to eye Luke the entire time.

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

"Ah, I see. I will keep that in mind for the future."

It was a little hard to tell due to his slured speech, but Luke was pretty sure the tenrec had said 'Mobians' and 'Anthropes'. Even better, the bea... anthrope slowly came out of the cage and onto the table. It appeared as though he had earned his trust after all.

"Thank you," Luke began as he put on his stethoscope, "this should not take long, although depending on how bad your jaw is, I may have to bring you back to my office in order to fix it."

He then put the stethoscope against Dash's chest and began to listen. Well, at least his heart beat was normal... Sort of. It was beating very rapidly, but that was to be expected considering the circumstances. Either way, it wasn't irregular at least, so it was a good start.

[DB]

Uncomfortable, uncomfortable silence. And fidgeting. And slight anxiety 'froing.

"... waiht... whash gonna happen nesht?"

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Luke put the stethoscope away and began to examine Dash's ears with the otoscope.

"Depends on what the DNA tests say. Purebreeds are much more valued as pets, while ones with mixed genetics have a much greater chance of simply being let go. If they decide to keep you, then you are sent to a training facility to be... Hmm... I suppose 'broken in' is the best term I can think of. My advice would be to simply go along with it. They award good behavior and punish bad behavior, so it would probably be better for you in the long run to simply play along. Afterwards, they auction off those who make it out of the facility at the market. Those that are born and raised here do not mind it at all, but I can only imagine what it must feel like to newcommers..."

[DB]

The tenrec's expression was one of horror.

"Thash... thash MADNESSH! Y.... youh cahn'd do that to peefle!"

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Luke sighed and screamed "Madness? This... Is... EDEN!" while kicking Dash into the water picked up one of the syringes.

"I know... I don't like it either. The ones who've always lived here are fine with it, and I have no complaints about that, but forcing fer... Mobians away from their homes is just not right. But what can I do? I'm just a doctor. All that I can do is make sure that the anthropes that are here are living healthy, comfortable lives... even if they don't want to be."

He began to dab some rubbing alchohol on Dash's arm.

"Anyway... You may feel a couple of tight pinches... I'm giving you a few vaccines and drawing a sample of your blood for testing purposes."

[DB]

"... uh..."
The tenrec bristled a bit, than looked the human over one more time.

"... no."

BOLT.

Honestly, if Luke thought he was going to stick around after being told he was basically about to go into slavery? Nuh uh.

[SHM 128 III]

@luke@

Luke didn't even get a chance to respond before Dash was half-way down the pier. So much for taking the honest approach...

The doctor felt as though he should be doing something, like chasing after him. Yet, all he could do was stand there. Perhaps it was because, quiet honestly, he couldn't blame him for reacting that way. He was a little sad that his kindess was 'repaid' this way, but still... telling someone nicely that they were going to become slaves was still telling them they were going to become slaves.

Either way, he found himself hoping that the tenrec would somehow get away, even though it he was quite certain that it wouldn't be the case.

[dcbishigirl]

"Its getting away!!" A deep voice rumbled as one of the hunters spotted Dash. The one that called out grabbed their lasso and swung it overhead before HURLING it at the escaping tenrec.

They had good aim, as the rope fell, the hunter pulled tight when it reached around his midsection and PULLED HIM BACK HARD.