Age of the Orc - 07

Then
12 Nov 2013, Fourth Age
05:08:07

"There was another explosion on site," Zoch said. Bent over the bed, trousers down, buttocks presented. Eevin slid the needle in. She had a line on hormones, nominally supposed to be for Hobbit birth control, but sold in bulk from a supplier on the edge of the Shire and their doses just happened to match the best Matrix DIY hormone therapy sites' instructions. They worked a treat for gender-affirming treatment, at least Zoch and Eevin could see and feel the changes.

If they were caught—well, Mordor Cybernetics was very old-fashioned about some things.

"Is that going to affect your next experiment?" Eevin asked. Then gave Zoch's ass a playful slap. "All done."

"No. We're going to try and send another rat back tonight," the Orc said, pants pulled back up.

The experiment was pretty basic. Two boxes. The test animal would have their information shifted to a week prior. Then they would wander away from the test chamber and into the second box. After the test, they could check the second box and retrieve the test animal. The second box was necessary because if someone else tried to send something back to the same exact place, the two subjects trying to coexist would end up simultaneously not existing. Messily.

They had solved that problem with the two boxes. Now Zoch wasn't sure why the rats kept exploding.

Eevin took off her bra. The Orc's eyes went to the Hobbit's breasts, soft and generous, with big pink nipples and huge areola. A flash of jealousy and desire went through the Orc. She sat on the bed and tapped the spot between her knees. With a grin, Zoch lay down, head settled just under her tits, so that they rested on the Orc's head as Eevin knelt over her lover. Those strong, muscular thighs gripped the Orc's ribs. Her toes played with the buttoned fly. They had to give up the cage, at least while Zoch was at work, though sometimes she liked to lock her lover up for the weekend.

"Any theories?" she said.

The Orc exhaled. Eyes closed. Lost in the sensation of her soft body wrapped around Zoch's own. Almost wishing they could stay like this forever. Except nothing was static, nothing lasted forever, everything changed...

Zoch's eyes went wide.

"Oh," the Orc said, as the realization hit. Just moments before the Hobbit toes began to play with the head of Zoch's cock.

Mr. Boldog attended this experiment. The CEO of Mordor Cybernetics had an air of expectancy about him. The strange, dark eyes fixed on Zoch as the younger Orc carefully pulled the tag from the ear of the white laboratory rat and set it in the test chamber. Zoch ran a finger along the fur of its back to calm it down before shutting the door.

"In all of our previous experiments, we've been using lab animals as we normally have them in the lab environment. Our original efforts to send inanimate objects didn't work—the test materials invariably destabilized at a molecular level and exploded into component atoms, with a release of energy proportional to the mass of the object. What I realize is that the universe finds it difficult to identify inanimate objects as discrete units. They aren't defined sufficiently; there's no way to separate them from the air or objects around them. That was why we switched to animal testing."

There wasn't even a scratch behind the door. The rat had been sedated.

"In the old esoteric texts, there was a hypothesis of fëa, a kind of innate field that defined animate life. While we can't measure a spirit, every living thing has a bioelectric field—and that we can measure, define, isolate for our calculations. Each one is unique," Zoch said. "And it is the field that we're transporting, the living mass goes along with it."

"But the rats are still exploding," Boldog said.

"Are they? Because the results are different than before. We know the rats are sent back because they leave a mess behind. They successfully travel through time then they explode. I think I've figured out why," Zoch said grimly. One hand on the breaker-switch. "Transitioning now."

The switch was thrown. The lights dimmed as the power draw, sufficient to run a small factory, was diverted through the test chamber. A light on the chamber shifted from red to green, and Zoch lifted the switch. With care, the younger Orc opened the test chamber door—and it was empty. Then Zoch opened the door to the adjoining chamber—and a familiar white rat, hungry, scared, and the anasthetic long worn off, scrabbled out.

Zoch held up the ear-tag taken from the rat.

"You see? It wasn't the rats that were exploding. It was the tags. Any inanimate object attached to the living being suffers the same fate as trying to send an inanimate object back in time. It explodes and kills the subject. But we can send subjects back in time—if they're naked."

Boldog smiled.

"Excellent, Zoch. Outstanding work. I knew you would do it," the old Orc beamed. There was something in his manner that went beyond the mere buttering-up of a chief scientist. It was the cold certainty of the fanatic. Of someone who knows.

"How?" Zoch said, their voice coming out as a squeak.

"Walk with me," Boldog said, and led the way, the younger Orc in tow. The CEO of Mordor Cybernetics guided Zoch toward the new construction, the lava tube that was going to be made into the larger reception chamber. The initial prospectus Zoch had worked up had called for sending back larger mammals—dogs, perhaps a sheep or cow.

"Officially, the first archaeological excavations on Mount Doom happened only a hundred years ago," Boldog said, voice conversational as they entered the stone temple. "Animal remains, are what the official reports said. Nothing that raised the alarm of the United Megacorp, which would have seized any artifacts made by Man, Orc, Elf, Dwarf, or...other hands. We let them think that. But the truth is more complex."

Boldog bent down and gestured at a section of the floor. Zoch dropped into a squat and stared at the object half-embedded into the floor.

It was a mummified rat, the fur and most of its skin long worn away. Part of its skull had been replaced with metal, rusty and pitted. Zoch could see the corroded wires along its spine.

"Mordor Cybernetics was built on discoveries like this," Boldog said. "Bits of technology that had not been invented yet. Cybernetic components sent back as part of your future test subjects. That is what lies behind our technological leaps."

Zoch's mouth went dry. Numbly, the younger Orc's brain worked out loud: "The fëa—it doesn't consider clothing or piercings as part of the being itself, but cyberware must count as an integral part of the being."

Boldog smiled wider.

"And now you know, young Zoch, why Mordor Cybernetics has invested so much in your education. I always knew you would overcome the technical hurdles. Because I knew you already had. Now, lad," and Boldog's hand clasped hard on Zoch's shoulder. "Comes the next, most important part of our work. Orc trials. The Age of the Orc is almost within our grasp!"