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Message-ID: <33525asstr$1006042205@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: "Throat Wolf" <throat_wolf@hotmail.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} [She-Wolf] Cassandra and Janet  (vore)
Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2001 19:10:05 -0500
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[If anyone other than ASSTR wants to archive this story, or display it on a 
website, please EMAIL ME and ask permission first.  I'll probably say yes.]


			 CASSANDRA AND JANET

			 A She-Wolf Adventure

	       By Throat Wolf <throat_wolf@hotmail.com>


"Are you ready yet?"

"Just a moment, Cassie!"

"I swear, you humans always take so long."  Cassandra, an
attractive brunette with Slavic features, paced outside the
habhut in which her friend was getting ready.

"Some of us aren't natural-born shapeshifters, Cassie."

"That, like most things on this miserable planet, can be fixed,
Janet."

"Noooo thanks, Cassie," the petite blonde said, zipping up her
Persephone Colony jumpsuit as she stepped out of the hut.  "I'm
not ready to experience the rigors of the Wolfen digestive tract
just yet."

"A pity," Cassandra said.  "You would be _most_ delicious."

"So you've said, only a couple hundred times," Janet said.  "If I
ever do decide to throw myself to a Wolfen, you'll be the first
to know."

"I have had the magenetic treatment, you know.  So it is not as
though it would be a permanent change."

"Yes, just three or four years out of my life," Janet said.  "For
a human, that's a lot of time.  Anyway, is the airboat checked
and ready?"

"Absolutely.  What's on our agenda for today, partner?"

"We'll be checking the remote sensor picket today."

"The ones past the Eastern Desert?" Cassandra asked.

"That's the only remote sensor picket we have!" Janice said
cheerfully, tapping the screen of the PDA with their assignment
briefing on it.  "Fly out, run diagnostics, make any necessary
repairs, and our day's finished; we can knock off early."

"But it's five hours each way!" Cassandra protested.  "It'll be
thirdmoon before we're back."

"You have something better to do with your time, wolfie?" Janice
asked, sting taken out of the epithet by her teasing tone.

"I guess not," Cassandra said.  "But I hope they're paying us
overtime for this."

"Just put a few good books on your comp and meet me on the
airfield in fifteen minutes," Janet said.  "Since ths flight's so
long, I might let you get some airtime toward your license."

"Ah, right!  Perhaps I should pack a snack." She paused, looking
speculatively at Janet.  "Hmm . . . on second thought, perhaps
not." With a wink, she turned and dashed off in the loping gait
that characterized Wolfen even in human form, leaving Janet to
chuckle and shake her head in mild amusement.

Of course, there was really no threat implicit in Cassandra's
teasing.  She had always been that way for the four years Janet
had known her, since Janet had been fourteen.  At the time, she
had managed to get into a financial crisis, and had lied about
her age in order to take on a job working with the colony's
Wolfen.  They were always in need of humans willing to help
out--and they paid hazard rates.  She had always been good with
animals, so why not?

Even though Charlene, the colony's main Wolfen broodmother, had
seen right through the age deceit, she had also seen something in
Janet that had caused her to take her on for the job--and a
riskier job than she had bargained for at that: fostering what
the Wolfen called a "longsleeper"--a Wolfen who had not been
enbodied for a long time.

"We try to cycle through Wolfen souls as best we can, to make
sure they all know the new rules we all live by.  But there are
so many of us, and some have stayed within for a very long time,
and these could be potentially dangerous as their original
memories and behavioral tendancies return as they grow up,"
Charlene had explained.  "It was not always as it is now, you
know.  Before we 'came out' as a species in 2050, we . . . much
as I hate to admit it of the race . . . preyed on humans, taking
who we wished, when we wished.  There are some who enjoyed that,
who would still desire the old ways--and others who might not
understand at first.  But if they are raised and taught properly
while still young, before they reawaken to their old selves, we
can usually turn them to our way of thinking."

Janet had nodded, trying to understand this.  "The Wolfen change
isn't permanent anymore, though, is it, thanks to the magenetic
change?  I mean, you could rebirth them as humans until they
learn, then, um, reWolfenize them?" When the Wolfen had revealed
themselves in 2050, as every schoolgirl was now taught, their had
caused a reawakening of interest in magic, and it had not been
long before someone had discovered a magic-genetic, or magenetic,
process that could reprogram Wolfen genetics to allow Wolfen to
rebirth their prey as humans if they wished, instead of Wolfen.

This had neatly solved the problem of geometric progression that
could have converted all humanity to Wolfenity within a few more
decades.  It had also brought about an end to many diseases, such
as cancer--Wolfen-rebirthed humans were disease-free and healthy,
and grew back to maturity in three years, much as reborn Wolfen
did.  It had also created a thriving industry of Wolfen
reparents, for the elderly wealthy (and eventually middle-class)
who wished to be born again in a manner other than religious.

In the end, the Wolfen had been tamed not by threat of violence
(although there had been riots in the 2050s and 60s) but by
bureaucracy--there was so much tape put in place surrounding the
Wolfen ingestion of sentients that it became more practical for
many Wolfen to return to the stomachs of other Wolfen than to try
to survive on their own.  There was still an undercurrent of
anti-Wolfen paranoia on Earth--and the bulk protein supplements
they ate in lieu of living meat were bland enough that some of
them might sooner or later do something they would then regret.

All this changed, of course, with the colonization efforts.  The
powers-that-be realized it was a lot less expensive in terms of
mission payload to send half a dozen Wolfen loaded down with
digested and stored human colonists and a few tons of bulk
protein than to send cryo-capsules full of people.  It might take
some time to get the colonies on their feet, but it could be
done, especially with the Wolfen as birthing engines.  At that
point, the Wolfen on earth saw which way the wind was blowing,
and arranged to leave earth _en masse_ . . . spreading to all the
outlying colonies where they could be better treated.

Janet had been drawn out of her reflections on Wolfen-human
history when Charlene had replied, "No . . . we've found that
Wolfen, even the formerly-human, do not react well to being
humanized.  It's a cruelty to them--even if only for a little
while."

"So . . . then what?  Keep them under heavy guard until they can
be taught?" Janet had asked.

"No," Charlene had said.  "Even as cubs, they can sense when they
aren't trusted.  This makes them trust less in return--and be
even more likely to lash out, to give in to old tendancies.  The
best way is to give them all the attention we can--one to one.
Which is something that humans are actually better at than
Wolfen.  You see, we litter--and when we try to devote all our
attention to all of them, not enough is left to train them
properly in this way."

"So, that means . . ."

". . . I will be dealing personally with those most likely to
cause problems--and selected humans will be raising the ones less
so.  And that includes you."

"Me?" Janet had blinked, a bit startled by this.  It was not at
all what she had been expecting from the job description of
working with Wolfen.  "But I'm only--"

"Fourteen?  I know.  But I've seen your psych-test scores.  You
show a high level of maturity for your age, good maternal
instincts, and no more fear or dislike of Wolfen than is natural
for humans of your age.  And Cassandra--the one I've picked for
you--is really a good one.  She should not require much
guidance--but she will require some.  And that is where you will
come in."

"When can . . . I meet her?" Janet had asked.

"Just a few weeks now," Charlene had said, meaningfully patting
the expanded abdomen of the lower half of her wolfish-centaur
body.

"Oh . . ." Janet said.  "Then my job begins . . ."

". . . just as soon as I've weaned her, yes--a week or two after
that," Charlene had replied.  "But don't think you'll have
nothing to do in the meantime!  You should have just about
finished your 'basic training' by then."

"'Basic training?'" Janet had wondered aloud.

"Wolfen handling classes.  If after having them you still want
the job--then you _will_ be able to handle it."

Janet had nodded.  "Sounds like a deal to me."

The classes had been somewhat unsettling, and had included
complete details of the Wolfen lifecycle, hunting and feeding
habits, and digestive-reproductive system, as well as basic
medical and nutritional care for the young Wolfen.  There had
been a video of what had been euphemistically called "a
Wolfen-human ingestion interaction" that had been uncomfortably
close to a snuff porn flick for Janet's youthful tastes.  And
there had been instruction with the hand-stunner she was issued,
which would be continually locked to her wrist in a powerholster
for just in case her youthful charge acted up.

By the time it was over, Janet had been half-expecting to be
taking care of a monster--but what she had ended up with had been
a cute little hyperactive bundle of puppyish fur who had been a
handful to keep up with the first few months.  Cassandra, or
Cassie as Janet had nicknamed her, had grown to love and respect
her, and it had been reciprocal.  She had only really tried to
eat Janet once, in play that had grown a bit too rough, and had
been truly contrite after waking up from Janet's stun charge.
Since then, especially as her original adult memory had returned
to her, Cassandra had elected to tease Janet about it, referring
to her more than once as a future dinner to which she looked
forward.  But in truth, there was far too much mutual love and
respect there for Cassie to take her unwillingly--an act most
Wolfen now acknowledged as tantamount to rape.  For Janet's part,
she was not sure she liked the idea of being swallowed down into
the stomach of someone else--even her best friend--but had
promised Cassandra that sooner or later, she _might_ consider it.

As a young adult, Cassandra was a truly interesting character.
Despite having over a hundred years of life-memories, it seemed a
Wolfen rebirth truly was a rebirth, and her attitude was of the
teen whose age she now resembled in body.  She made a good friend
to Janet, as well as a perfect partner when the time came to join
Persephone Colony's mechanic-ranger corps.  The corps was mostly
in charge of maintenance on colony systems, from the local to the
outlying, and it made a good job for two free-ranging, slightly
wild teens--most of the time.  Boredom was an occupational
hazard, and it looked like the hazard was going to strike today.

Janet awoke from her reverie as she arrived at the airfield and
made the customary inspection of the airboat they would be taking
out on patrol.  It looked like sort of a cross between a yacht
and an airplane, with a wide open deck foreward and a streamlined
pressurized fuselage that was occupied during speed flights.
Antigravity thrusters kept it in the air, and turbojets propelled
it horizontally, to a maximum speed of just under four hundred
miles per hour.  Airboats were sort of the utility workhorse of
Persephone Colony; smaller, faster scoutships were also used a
great deal.  Janet and Cassandra would probably have used one
today, but they were too close and claustrophobic for a Wolfen to
enjoy--especially Cassandra, as Janet knew from experience.

"Everything in order, I trust?" Cassandra asked from behind her,
as Janet was scrutinizing the onboard computer's logs.

Janet wasn't startled, being well-accustomed to Cassandra's
near-silent approaches.  "Looks like it," she agreed.  "Ready for
a day alone in the stratosphere?"

"Looking forward to it, actually.  It gives me a chance to catch
up on my reading." Cassandra grinned at her.  "My
firstbirthsister's latest just came down the tach."

"Oh, really?  Beam it to me, her stuff's interesting."

Cassandra raised an eyebrow.  "This from someone who compared her
to 'Barbara Cartland crossed with Piers Anthony'?"

"Did I say that?" Janet asked innocently.

"Uh-huh.  Just last week."

"Well, I didn't mean it in a _bad_ way.  Or maybe I did, but it's
still kind of interesting to read these things and see how the
Wolfen mind thinks.  C'mon, beam it over."

Cassandra grinned evilly.  "All right.  But only if we can take
turns reading it aloud the trip out.  I'll let _you_ read the
juicy parts."

Janet rolled her eyes.  "All right, deal.  But let's get a move
on--sooner we get there, sooner we get back."

As the airboat lifted off and the turbine whine increased to a
loud rumble, Cassandra stepped back to the boat's sleeping
quarters and started shedding clothes.  She slipped out of the
coveralls first, then undid the straps keeping her bra in place
and let it drop.  Her panties went next, and finally there was
not a stitch of clothing on her body.

Cassandra came forward to the control cabin, shaking out her hair
so that it fell to her waist.  Janet glanced up, shrugged,
glanced back to the controls.  She knew Cassandra was trying to
shock her--as she always had since she had come into her
adolescent growth.  The Wolfen, observing very few nudity taboos
themselves, tended to be amused by humans' foibles, and their
reactions to those who broke them.  What Janet saw no point in
mentioning was that, since she had raised Cassandra from when she
was very little, Cassandra's preference for nudity had long ago
lost all power to shock her.

Soon giving up on startling Janet, Cassandra let her body expand
outward and grow darker and furrier, trading her human guise for
her more comfortable Wolfen centaurian form.  Shoving aside the
gimbal-mounted human-form-factor co-pilot's seat, she settled
into place at the controls, glancing at the readouts to check
that everything was in full order.  She was not fully pilot-rated
yet, but Janet thought she was getting pretty close to
ready--especially considering that the Wright brothers had not
even been born when she'd last been in the human world.

"Autopilot's set," Janet said, sliding her seat back.

"Good." Cassandra grinned wolfishly, tongue lolling out.  "Now's
the time to stick to your side of that bargain you made."

Janet mock-sighed, and followed her friend back into the living
quarters.


"'and as his strugglings within her ceased, and his spirit
entered into her own, she knew true contentment at last.  It had
been a long, exhausting search, then a soul-searing struggle, but
she had finally found her soulmate, and they would be together
forevermore.  The End.'" Janet tossed the PDA onto one of the
airboat living quarters' fold-down cots, and glanced over at
where Cassandra lay curled up on the ground, listening intently.

Cassandra sighed deeply, happily.  "_God_, I love a happy ending
. . ."

Janet rolled her eyes.  "Wolfen romance novels.  Why is it that
with us, a romantic dinner is supposed to lead to falling in
love, but with you it's exactly the other way around?"

Cassandra propped her chin up with her arms and looked over at
Janet.  "Well, I suppose it's all in the nature of what we
consider love.  What is it to love someone enough to let him
stick bits of himself in you, when instead he could stick the
whole thing?"

Janet snorted.  "That's one way of putting it, I guess."

Cassandra continued, more quietly and a bit dreamily, "Well,
seriously.  It takes a great deal of trust and love for someone
to place himself entirely at your disposal, knowing that for all
practical purposes he will be 'dying' for you, giving you his
body for your nourishment, his spirit to keep and protect and
perhaps raise again.  Asking someone to remother or refather you
is the deepest pledge of love and devotion one can make to a
Wolfen, for it means giving up _everything_ for you." She sighed.
"Human-Wolfen civilization is a mixed bag--we eat sentients much
less often, but at least every time we do, it is for love or
devotion, and not the hunt."

Janet nodded.  This was nothing new, of course--she'd heard it
from the Wolfen class, and even from Cassandra herself a time or
two, but Cassandra never tired of talking about it, and Janet
figured it was good politics to let her.  "Well--I don't think
it'll be long before we hit the New Carpathians--I'd probably
better get ahead and make sure the autopilot's got us on the
right--"

"Did I ever tell you about the man who saved Charlene's life?"
Cassandra asked softly.  Something in her tone stopped Janet
where she was.

"Um . . . no?" Janet said.  She couldn't seem to remember this
tale . . .

"It was in 2052, at the height of the anti-Wolfen riots,"
Cassandra said quietly.

"How would you know--you weren't--"

"She told me, when I was still in her mind," Cassandra continued,
as if she had not been interrupted.  "It had been her misfortune
to be 'outed' while still trying to blend into society.  Oh, how
they turned on her, the people she had thought to be her friends.
Human friendship quickly turns to fear once you find out you've
been living with a 'monster' who could devour you where you
stand.  All Charlene's protests that she would _never_ eat one of
them without permission fell on deaf ears.  She was stoned . . .
bludgeoned.  She managed to escape, to crawl into a dark alley,
an abandoned building, but she was hurt badly, and weakened by
subsisting on protein supplement--even Wolfen regenerative powers
have their limits.

"And then he was there--a man she'd known, a classmate from the
university.  Of all of them, he was the only person not to turn
against her.  He gently bandaged her wounds--but he knew what she
really needed, and he offered it to her the only way he could.  I
am sure he was scared stiff, and had things he would rather have
spent the rest of that human life doing, but . . . he fed himself
to her, and she grew and gained strength and rebirthed him.  Of
course, the story seemed to have a bittersweet ending, for he
wished rebirthing as a human, and so he was . . ."

Janet sensed a "but" somewhere in there, and so asked it.  ". . .
but?"

"But he came back to her, when the colonies were founded . . ."

"Ah." Janet was beginning to sense where this was going.

"He entered her once more, with the other colonists, then helped
build this place when he re-awoke.  He lived a human life,
parented human children, and then returned to Charlene a final
time." Cassandra smiled.  "That man was Jason Berk, your father."

". . . ah." Janet sat there, more or less stunned--she had not
seen _that_ coming.  At least she said quietly.  "I . . . never
knew what happened to him.  Has he been rebirthed yet?"

Cassandra shook her head.  "Not yet."

Janet sat there, trying to find words, her thoughts a confused
muddle.  "Well," she said at last, "when and if he is, I damn
well _will_ foster him."

Cassandra grinned toothsomely.  "If it is in my power, I will see
that you do." Just then, the proximity alarm started sounding
from the cabin, and Cassandra grinned wider.  "And I believe that
would be the New Carpathians coming onto the scope?"

Janet scrambled to her feet.  "Right--I'd better go check our
course.  What do you think, high road or low road?"

"Low road, please?" Cassandra asked.  "I'm willing to spare the
extra time now; I'd like a breeze in my fur and would rather wait
being airsick until the trip _back_, so I can at least enjoy the
outing while I'm there."

"Right!" Janet called back from the cabin.  "Bringing her down to
navigate Sylvania Pass by the land route!" The airboat slowed and
descended.  Cassandra broke the seal on the pressurized door when
they were low enough, and stepped out onto the deck.  Janet
joined her after a while, the airboat's remoteset strapped to her
forearm.

"Ah . . . the mountain air smells so _good_!" Cassandra said.
"Fresh, cold, and clear." She shook herself from head to tail,
and inhaled what seemed to Janet a sufficient amount of air to
inflate a small weather balloon.

"Yep--despite the distance, I love these trips," Janet said.
"Chance to get away and just _breathe_ for a while."

"Why _did_ they put the sensor picket so far away from Colony
Central anyway?" Cassandra asked.  "Such a long way to go to
maintain it."

"We have the tech to make the trips," Janet said.  "It keeps the
powerful EM transmitters a safe distance from habitation,
especially with the mountain range in the way.  And it certainly
cuts down on the amount of graffiti you'll find spraypainted on
dish antennae."

"There is that," Cassandra agreed.  "Ahwell.  I hope I will be
able to hunt the forest when we arrive?"

"Yeah--there should be plenty of grazerbeasts in the
woods--they're not sentient, but they are live meat on the hoof,
which should be better for you than the protein stuff."

Cassandra nodded.  "Then I suppose I might as well relax and
enjoy the trip."

Janet leaned against the fore railing of the deck and tapped the
remote's controls to give the airboat a steering nudge, then
grinned at Cassandra.  "Yeah, you should.  I'm the one who's
going to have to do all the work, anyway."

"Is it my fault I'm not mechanically inclined?" Cassandra asked
with a grin.


Janet turned the last bolt and leaned against the side of the
transmission tower to relax.  There had been a bit more to do
than she had expected, between transceiver boards that had
reached the end of their service life and were screaming for
replacement, and a lightning-struck power generator that needed
servicing.  She had the feeling that someone had not been doing
his full job in the last few monthly inspection rotations, and
made a note in her PDAcomp to that effect.

Janet had worked through the afternoon.  Cassandra had been
sleeping through most of it, after waddling back into the complex
with a distended belly.  Janet didn't begrudge her the nap,
though--she was well aware of the Wolfen metabolism and its
limitations, and was just glad to know that she was there.

Now, as she wiped the sweat off and prepared to go back to the
airboat's cramped sanitary unit for a shower, the commsignal
button on the boat's remote blipped.  Janet tabbed the "receive"
key.  "Yes?"

It was the controller back at Persephone Colony Central.
"Evening, Janet--about done?"

"Yeah . . . just about.  Looks like if I leave within an hour, we
can be back by thirdmoon, get a good night's sleep before
tomorrow's duties."

"You might want to belay that, Janet.  Dopplers report a pretty
big storm building up over Sylvania Pass."

Janet glanced to the west, where the sky was darkening over the
mountains.  "Yeah, I saw that.  Hoping we can get through before
it hits, but if not, no biggie.  We've shot through storms
before."

"This one looks pretty bad, J.  I'd strongly advise staying the
night, at least.  We don't want to lose you."

Janet considered it.  "Would be nice to have a vacation . . . but
there's really just too much work piling up and I'd rather not
work double-shifts the rest of the month if I can help it."

"Do what you think best, J, but check your Dopps before you head
in."

"Will do, control.  Out." Janet stood, stretched to get the kinks
out, and limped back to the airboat to shower the sweat away.

A half hour later, Janet stepped out of the cabin and onto the
deck.  "Hey, lazybones!" she called down to Cassandra.  "Time to
go home!"

Cassandra yawned.  "I will have you know I do not have a lazy
bone in my body," she declared mock-indignantly.  "Just sleepy
ones." She yawned again.

"Well, get over here, sleepyhead, or I'll have to leave you
behind," Janet said, hiding a grin.  "I'm lowering the cargo
elevator for your bloated carcass."

"Now you're getting personal," Cassandra grumped, but got
languidly to her feet and padded over to the airboat, which had
opened a hatch in the bottom and lowered an elevator platform
out.  Cassandra flopped onto it, careful of her big, bushy tail,
and was drawn up into the body of the airboat.

In the cabin, Janet looked nervously at the Doppler radar
display.  Centered west of them, almost directly above Sylvania
Pass, was a large storm with multiple cells, showing up on the
Doppler radar as bright yellows, oranges, and reds.  There seemed
to be one or two of the hook-shaped formations that denoted
tornados, near the center.  "Hey, Cassie . . . come up here and
take a look at this?"

"Hmm?" Cassandra slowly meandered up to the control deck.

"I'm not sure I like the look of the radar here," Janet said,
pointing at the screen.  "I've flown through some bad storms
before, but I don't think any quite like this.  What do you think
. . . risk it, or stay overnight?"

Cassandra squinted sleepily at the screen.  "It doesn't look too
bad to me.  I have confidence in you." She backed out of the
cabin and curled up in the sleeping quarters to continue her
doze.

"All right, then . . . next stop, Colony Central."

Only after she'd lifted the boat into the air and pointed it west
did it occur to Janet that beastform Wolfen did not have the best
color vision.


An hour later, as the airboat crossed the New Carpathians fifty
miles south of Sylvania Pass, they began to run into trouble.
Janet had thought that by sticking to the fringe of the storm,
they could avoid the worst danger and only lose half an hour of
travel time, but she had not counted on the chaotic nature of the
storm.  Before she was even quite aware of it, three new cells
had blossomed up all around them, the winds buffeting them left
and right, up and down.

"What is happening?" Cassandra yelled over the wind's howl,
making her way forward.

"Storm!" Janet yelled back, wrestling with the controls.  "I
think I'm gonna have to set 'er down!"

As the airboat rolled sixty degrees to port, Cassandra grabbed
for handholds in the wall and muttered, "It's a good thing Wolfen
have strong stomachs."

"I think I see a good spot!  Brace yourself!" Janet shoved the
throttle down, and the boat approached the ground, angling for a
narrow valley between two rock crags below.

It was not entirely Janet's fault, what happened next--she had
been distracted enough by the task of steering to forget that
lightning followed the fastest path to the ground, and was
attracted by the highest conductive object in the area.  As the
airboat passed between the two crags, it was struck suddenly and
repeatedly by powerful bolts of lightning, which leaped from it
to the crags to pass into the ground.  Janet was thrown from the
controls, which flickered and died, and the airboat tumbled out
of control to the ground below.


Janet swam groggily back to consciousness, and a beige spot
overhead resolved into Cassandra's human face, looking
concernedly down at her.  "Janet?  Can you hear me?"

"Wha--" Janet tried to prop herself up by an elbow, but Cassandra
pushed her back down.

"Don't try to move, Janet . . . you've been hurt pretty badly."
Cassandra's eyes flicked to the readout of the medical scanner
she was holding, which was the only real light in the compartment
other than the occasional flash of lightning seen through a rent
in the far wall.  Janet could hear the rattle of rain on metal,
and the booms of thunder.

"Wh . . . where are we?  The airboat--?"

"Yes--it crashed," Cassandra said, matter-of-factly.  "It is
lying on its port side, and seems to be bent just about in twain;
I do not believe it will ever fly again.  All the electronics are
blown out--nothing works.  I've set out the emergency beacon, but
I think the storm is too intense for its signal to get through."

Janet sighed.  "I'm sorry--I should have known better than to try
to fly back through that storm.  It was stupid of me."

Cassandra shook her head.  "No, no, don't blame yourself one bit.
If I hadn't been so drowsy, I would have paid more attention to
the radar and seen more what it was like--it doesn't matter now,
anyway."

"Right, right . . ." Janet said.  "We'll argue over blame later."
She paused.  "Why don't I feel anything?  How bad . . . am I?"

"I bandaged you, and dosed you up with painkillers." Cassandra
glanced at the scanner again, then looked at her friend, not
quite managing to hide a frown.  "And . . . well . . ."

"Show me," Janet said.

"I don't think--"

"Damn it, _show_ me, Cassie!" Janet snapped.  Cassandra winced,
but handed the scanner over so Janet could see it.  Janet took it
in her right hand--her left did not seem to be working--squinted
to focus, and paged down the list with her thumb.  "Bruises . . .
lacerations . . . mild concussion . . . broken left arm and leg .
. . contusions and internal bleeding.  Oh, hell.  These are too
much for the nanodoc kit to handle.  At this rate . . . I only
have a few hours.  Can you raise Colony Central on the comlink?"

Cassandra shook her head slowly.  "I tried--can't get through.
Too much static."

Janet sighed.  "Damn them for using old EM transcievers instead
of upgrading to subspace comm.  Well . . . what are our options?"

"I could make Colony Central on my own in a day or so," Cassandra
said.  "Or two days, if I carried you.  The problem is . . ."

"I'd be dead by then.  Right." Janet nodded.  "Maybe if you could
hike out of the storm enough to raise a signal?"

"I doubt I could get that far in time--especially as intense as
the storm is right now," Cassandra said.  "And it could last for
days." She wrung her hands.  "What will we _do_, Janet?"

Janet frowned.  "Don't panic, first off.  Where there's life,
there's hope."

"Which means there's only hope for a few more hours," Cassandra
said.

"I know, I know." There was something niggling at the back of
Janet's mind.  Something Cassandra had said earlier, perhaps?
What had they talked about . . . Wolfen romance novels . . .
Charlene and Janet's father . . . Janet's eyes widened suddenly.

"What is it?" Cassandra asked, concernedly.

"Give me a minute," Janet said.  "I'm not sure about this . . ."
What she was thinking sounded crazy, even to her.  Would it work
. . .?  Probably.  Was there any other way . . .?  It seemed
doubtful.  It was not the way she would ideally have chosen, but
. . .  "Cassie, be a dear and fetch me the flightlog recorder.
It should still work, it's got a titanium casing."

"I'm not a deer, I'm a wolf," Cassie said, but rummaged around
and came up with the specially-protected clipboard-sized
computer/recorder.  "Here it is--but why did you want it?"

"I'm about to make an entry," Janet said cryptically.  "Help me
with this, will you?  It's hard with just one hand--I need to
sync the data from the medical scanner to it as evidence."

"All right." Cassandra manipulated the scanner to copy the data
over.  "Now what?"

"Shush, I'm going to record." Janet cleared her throat, then hit
the "start" tab.  The lower-right corner of the screen flickered
to the monitor picture of her face, and Janet was slightly struck
by how bad she looked--she had a black eye, and the left side of
her face was swelled up.  She wondered if any teeth were loose.
"Flightlog, Janet Berk recording.  I attempted to fly the boat
back through the storm, and subsequently crashed.  I take full
responsibility--shush, Cassandra--for this accident.

"As the attached scan report shows, my condition is bad, and
growing worse.  At this rate, I will probably die before any
chance I might be rescued.  Therefore . . ." She paused.
"Therefore, I am taking the one option left available to me.
Being of sound mind--well, sound as it has ever been, anyway--I
hereby declare my intent to be eaten and rebirthed by my friend
and partner, Cassandra Wolfschild.  Cassie has not coerced or
induced me in any way, nor had I mentioned it to her before, as
you could probably tell by the gasp of shock you just now heard.
I wish there were a witness to confirm that, but there's no
helping some things, and she'll just have to take the heat when
we get back.  This recording should help some, anyway.  All my
possessions are to be placed in trust, administered for me by
Cassandra, until I am able to repossess them.  End entry." Janet
dropped the PDA and lay back in the bed.

Cassandra looked shocked.  "Janet--you can't be serious--"

Janet managed a grin.  "What?  After all this time of teasing me
about it, you don't want to follow through now when it's for
real?  C'mon, I thought you were a better wolfie than that."

"Janet . . . that was teasing, this is for real.  How can
you--how can I--?"

"Cassie, come here," Janet said, trying to ignore her increasing
shortness of breath.  "Listen . . . this is my decision.  I want
to _live_.  There's no other way I can see to do that right now.
And hey . . . if my Dad could do it to save a Wolfen's life, then
I can darned well do it to save my own."

Cassandra sighed.  "I'd hoped you would agree, someday, but . . .
not from being forced to, because you _wanted_ to."

Janet smiled.  "Hey, Cassie . . . you know I've always been
fascinated by you critters, and I _would_ have agreed sooner or
later.  When it came to be a good time, or when I got the nerve
up . . . hey, so the call came a little early, and I'm still a
little freaked by it.  But . . . I'm still sort of looking
forward to it, too.  And--well, Cassie, you're my best friend.
Always have been, since I met you.  There is no Wolfen I would
rather have to be my second mother.  Ever."

"Oh . . ." Cassandra sat there for a moment, looking a little
dazed.  She blinked.  "You . . . really do _mean_ that, don't
you?"

"Of course I do, Cassie.  Have I ever lied to you?"

Cassandra still looked stunned.  "I . . . this is so unexpected."

"I hope you still have room," Janet said with a wry grin.  "That
grazerbeast might have spoiled your appetite."

Cassandra smiled.  "For you . . . there will always be room."

Janet slowly sat up on her makeshift cot.  "Then . . . let's do
this thing."

Cassandra nodded, moving forward to help her up.  "All right,
then," she said, quietly.  "Do you . . . want me to put you to
sleep first?  So you won't feel anything?"

Janet shook her head, then winced.  "No.  I want to experience
everything," she whispered.  "Even if I don't like it--I need to
know what it's like at least once, in case I never do it again."

Cassandra nodded.  "All right, then.  The whole experience." She
paused a moment.  "If anything I do . . . might otherwise offend
you--I apologize in advance." She leaned forward, and before
Janet could say anything, kissed her on the mouth, deeply.

Janet started to protest--she didn't swing that way, and didn't
want a kiss from her best friend at any rate--and then stopped,
as she found she was enjoying it after all.  Experimentally, she
deepened the kiss.  The taste was not what she had expected--it
had a sort of electric tingle.  "Ohh . . ." she moaned, after it
broke off.  "Why did you . . . do that?"

"You've had the classes--you tell me," Cassandra said, winking.

"I feel . . . dizzy, disoriented . . . no pain . . . the Wolfen
charm?" Janet said slowly.

"Time was, I could have almost any dinner I liked with just one
kiss," Cassandra said dreamily.  "One kiss, and he would wander
out into the countryside with me, and then, after I showed him
what I was, he would beg me to let him in.  Such a fun time . . .
and, alas, the very reason they demand witnesses now."

"Cassie?"

"Mmm?"

"Kiss me again."

"All right . . ."

As they kissed, Cassandra ran a sharpened fingernail down Janet's
back, cutting her coveralls open with the precision of a diamond
blade.  It would be easier that way--the splints she had made for
her arm and leg would keep them from coming off over them.  Janet
arched her back at the sensation.  "Oh . . . what are you doing?"

"Getting your clothes free so I can taste you better."

"Oh." Janet helped her as best she could with her limited range
of motion, and it wasn't long before all her clothes littered the
floor.  "I feel like I should be self-conscious, but it just
seems funny now."

"Mmm.  You have a lovely body," Cassandra said.  "You could have
not shaped it better if you were a Wolfen already.  Well, perhaps
a _little_ better."

Janet giggled.  "You'll be having this lovely body yourself in
just a bit.  And I'll be inside of yours . . ."

"So you will . . ." Cassandra laughed.  "You'll like it there--it
will be nice and warm, and a good place to sleep your life away."

Janet smiled.  It was funny--this was not quite how she had
pictured it would be.  There was a bit of a haze over her mind, a
small part of which was observing with a curious sense of
detachment as the rest of it said, "I've always admired your
body--human or wolfen.  And in a little while, I'll be part of
it."

"Yes . . . you will." Cassandra smiled, and then expanded
outward, into her furry wolfen-centaur form.  She hugged Janet to
her, and started licking her face with her great pink Wolfen
tongue.

"Hey, that tickles!" Janet giggled.  "What're you doing that
for?"

"Sampling," Cassandra said between licks.  "You try before you
buy, don't you?"

"You've already bought me, though," Janet pointed out.

"Then the appetizer before the main course." Cassandra continued
to lick her body, languidly.  "Mmm . . . yes, I was right--you
_are_ delicious."

"Well, thank you--I've always taken good care of my body."

Cassandra cuddled Janet against her furry chest.  "Now . . . I
have to ask a very important question."

Janet looked up.  "Hmm?"

"Would you rather go head first . . . or feet first?" Cassandra
winked at her.

Janet thought about this for a moment.  "Head first," she said.
"I want to dive right in."

Cassandra laughed, a deep throaty chuckle that Janet could feel
through her skin where she was snuggled up against her Wolfen
friend.  "Oh, I think you'll go down just a _little_ slower than
that.  We wouldn't want to rush things . . ."

Janet glanced at the splints on her arms and legs.  "Will . . .
those be a problem?"

Cassandra looked where she was looking.  "Oh, no . . . those are
wood and cotton, and I can digest anything organic--even teeth
and bones." She giggled.  "But my firstbirthsister wrote me about
a time when she ate a woman and then burped up two floppy bags of
silicon gel . . ."

For some reason, that seemed like the funniest thing in the world
to Janet right now.  "That's like . . . when you get those little
'do not eat' packets with luggage and vitamin pills!" She
laughed.  "I'm glad I'm one hundred percent natural!"

"You'll always be 'Grade A prime' to me," Cassandra said, licking
her face again.  "Now . . . are you ready?"

Janet nodded slightly, looking up into Cassandra's eyes.  Those
eyes . . . the eyes of her best friend.  They had never looked
quite so oddly calming as they did now . . . the back of Janet's
mind told her that was another effect of the Wolfen charm, but
she mostly did not care.  She whispered, "Yes . . . yes I am."
Cassandra lowered her head to kiss Janet again, the tip of her
wolfen tongue slipping between her lips.  Then she opened her
mouth, widening the kiss, and gently started lowering her jaws
over Janet's head.

Looking up, Janet could see that the inside of Cassandra's mouth
seemed much larger now . . . at least a couple of feet across.
 From the classes, she knew that it was a special magic effect,
related to the Wolfen ability to change their size and mass.  The
spell twisted space so that bigger things fit into smaller
openings, letting the Wolfen eat things as large as people or
even each other.  As her mind drifted, she recalled hearing
stories of Wolfen who swallowed elephants or whales, and wondered
if they were true.  They had always seemed so ridiculous . . .
but then again, ants could carry things many times their own
weight . . .

Cassandra gradually worked her jaw down over Janet's head and
neck, so Janet was now leaning against her tongue.  Janet ran a
hand over its damp, rough surface, smiling at the warmth, then
lowered both arms to her side as the corners of Cassandra's lips
moved down over her shoulders.  Now her tongue slid against
Janet's chest, and slid again, a little harder.  "Ohhh . . ."
Janet moaned as her breasts were so roughly caressed.  "What're
you . . ." She twisted slightly, but could manage no more
movement than that, as Cassandra took more of her into her mouth.

"Didn't I tell you I'd try to make it enjoyable for you?"
Cassandra's voice spoke in her mind.  Cassandra's tongue moved
again, pushing Janet against the roof of her mouth, pulling more
of her body in.  Now the tip of the tongue dallied with Janet's
belly button, then dipped lower.  Janet gasped as Cassandra began
to probe a very intimate place, then gasped again.  She struggled
reflexively, but could not really move where she was--she knew
she was at Cassandra's mercy.  As the strokes continued, Janet
was a bit surprised to realize she was not struggling anymore,
but was now thrusting against the pressure, gasping for air
inbetween.  Slowly a feeling of ecstasy came over her, and the
thrusting and pressure subsided.

"Mmmm . . . that tastes good," Cassandra said, licking again.
Janet moaned slightly, largely spent by the struggling and
thrusting.  She barely noticed when her feet left the ground and
her position changed more from a vertical to a horizontal one, or
when she started sliding forward, her head touching the back of
Cassandra's throat.  She felt the Wolfen's lips and tongue on her
thighs, then her lower legs . . . and then her feet touched
Wolfen teeth, which nipped a bit before passing them on.
Cassandra's jaws swung shut, sealing out all light.

As Cassandra's tongue pushed Janet back, and the slick muscles of
her esophagus began to grip her head and upper chest, the haze
cleared a little, and the realization began to slip fully into
her mind: she had seen the outside world for the last time.
Despite her willingness to be eaten, her will to survive the
consequences of the accident, it was still a little unsettling to
know that she was just about to end up in her best friend's
stomach, to shed her body and live within the Wolfen's mind for a
time.

Perhaps she whimpered a little, or perhaps Cassandra simply
picked up her fear from her mind or body language; whatever the
reason, Janet heard Cassandra's voice soothingly in her mind.
"There, there, Janet, it's going to be all right.  Just relax . .
. it'll be over soon and you'll be with me.  Don't be scared.
This isn't the end of anything, it's just the beginning." That
made her feel a little better--as did the rhythmic slow thumping
of Cassandra's heart, conducted through her throat tissues to
beat against Janet's skin like the bass pulse of a rock concert.

Now Cassandra swallowed again, her tongue pushing Janet further
into her throat.  Her upper chest, with its still-aroused
breasts, was a tight fit, and it began to be harder to breathe;
Janet concentrated on short, shallow breaths, just trying to stay
conscious.  To her surprise and relief, there was no sour or foul
smell rising from Cassandra's stomach.  There was a warm,
inviting smell, like fresh-cut grass, but Janet could not
precisely place what it was.

Another swallow, and Janet was stuffed further down the pipe.
She guessed her head was nearly to the junction between
Cassandra's humanoid and quadrupedal bodies by now, as her knees
were being swallowed.  Janet could feel the greater friction
between the cloth of the splints on her arm and leg as they
rubbed against Cassandra's throat tissues, and felt mild twinges
of pain here and there.  The twinges were very distant, though;
Janet suspected she had many painkillers in her.

Another swallow, and another, and with each one, the hot, slick
muscles around Janet contracted, forcing air out of her lungs
with a gasp, but not feeling too unpleasant otherwise--almost
like a soothing massage, only tighter.  It was taking some time .
. . Janet suspected Cassandra was being more gentle in her
swallowing than she might otherwise have been, due to Janet's
injuries.  She was grateful for the consideration, but it was
becoming harder and harder to breathe, and Janet wished she were
free of it.

And then--she was, or at least her head was.  She could feel that
she was being slowly extruded from the other end, sliding out
into a puddle of something warm and sticky.  Her breasts came out
next, and her abdomen, and the upper parts of her legs, then the
lower parts, and finally her feet pulled free with a slight
sucking noise, and there she was, lying in a depression in what
felt like a warm, wet, sticky pouch that contoured and adhered to
her body.

Janet reached out and felt the walls of it, felt along the slick,
mucous-coated sides which curved up and over her head.  She
touched the smaller sphincter in the back, currently clenched
tight, that led to the rest of the Wolfen's digestive system.
The passage through which she had entered had also clenched, and
she knew there were only a few minutes' worth of air in the tiny
space.  "Oh . . ." she murmured.  It was both reassuring and
scary to know that by the time that air ran out, she would no
longer need to breathe it.

Janet felt her surroundings tilt and swing a bit as Cassandra
moved slowly over to the bedding in the corner and settled down
on it.  Janet touched the stomach wall again, pressed gently--and
felt an answering pressure as Cassandra put her hand there and
rubbed her side.  "I'm really here, Cassie," Janet whispered,
drawing her knees up beneath her.  "I can't believe it--I'm
inside you . . . I really am."

"You really are," Cassandra said softly, her voice vibrating
through the flesh all around Janet.  "And I'm so glad to have you
there.  Thank you so much for . . . yourself.  I promise, I'll
take good care of you."

"What's . . . going to happen to me now?" Janet wondered.

"In just a few moments, you'll go to sleep," Cassandra said
gently.  "Your body and mind will flow into mine, and then I'll
decide what to do with you." As Cassandra spoke, Janet could feel
the puddle she was sitting in start to grow, soaking through the
splint around her leg and moving up toward her waist.  She began
to feel a little drowsy.  "When it's time, I'll drop an egg into
my womb, fertilize it with a little bit of your body, and your
soul will just be sucked right down into it.  You'll grow inside
of me, finally be born, and then spend a few years growing up
enough to where you can let yourself remember who you used to be.
Then you'll be you again, only with a few little adjustments from
stuff you picked up as you were growing back up into you."

"Three whole years, with you as my mommy," Janet murmured, as the
fluid enveloped her chest and Cassandra's voice seemed to recede
farther.

"Three whole years," Cassandra said.  "But we'll talk about that
. . . in a little while.  Good night, Janet."

Janet felt the fluid seeping into her pores, tingling and drawing
her down into sleep.  For a moment, she was scared again--but
only for a moment.  "Good . . . night . . . Cassie . . ." she
murmured, and closed her eyes for the final time.


Cassandra lay there, curled up and dozing, a great smile on her
Wolfen face.  Finally . . . at long last . . . she had eaten her
best friend.  Janet had been truly delicious, in the way that
only a lifetime friend truly could.  Like a well-aged steak, her
flavor had grown and come out through the association, as
Cassandra came to know her smell and taste intimately, so that
every hint of that flavor came out as Janet had passed over her
tongue.

Now her body was collecting Janet's spirit and mind, extracting
and collating the DNA of her genes, the RNA of her memories, and
putting her psyche together again.  In just a little while, she
would wake into Cassandra's mind.  Oh, how she was looking
forward to that.  To be able to talk to Janet, to play with her
there, to have her close all the time . . . and then to birth and
raise her, either as human or Wolfen, whichever she
decided--those were things Cassandra had been looking forward to
ever since her memories first came back.

Cassandra listened lazily to the sound of the rain on the
airboat's hull as she dozed and digested, readying herself for
the foot trek back to Colony Central.  There would be much to do
to prepare, and some people would not be too pleased about what
had happened; she would have to gather her strength for the
ordeals to come.  But Cassandra was not worried--she knew that
she would come through it--and so, in time, would Janet.  Things
would work out just fine.

                             THE END


Author's Notes:

Well, I thought I would never again write another Wolfen story,
but the response my first two gained me from the TSA-talk list
plus a few random ideas I had over the last couple of years
convinced me that there was still another story left to write in
the Wolfen world.  Or perhaps I should say universe.  This tale
completes the thematic trilogy of past, present, and future--and
readers who are paying attention probably recognized at least one
of the characters from bygone tales.

I don't know that I'd say this is the _best_ story I've ever
written; there are parts that are a bit heavy with exposition of
past history and events that would ideally be told instead in
other stories in an anthology set, but I don't have time to
_write_ those stories now.  Nor do I know if I ever would.

Astute readers may notice that the rebirth-and-growth process
takes several years here, whereas Astra's in the original story
took only a few months.  The reason is that it has been
determined to be healthier and more conducive to psychological
stability to take a bit longer--plus, it gives the parent and
child more time together to re-bond.

The antigravity airboat was inspired by the similar craft in
Edgar Rice Burrough's excellent _John Carter of Mars_ adventure
series.

I considered an epilogue with Janet meeting her father (whom
Charlene had bequeathed at birth) within Cassandra's mind, but
decided the story ended well enough without it.  That could be
material for a future sequel, if I or someone else should decide
to write one.


If anyone else wishes to write within the Wolfen universe, please
contact me, throat_wolf@hotmail.com, for permission, describing
what you plan to do, and then let me read over and approve your
story before you post it anywhere.  Admittedly, I can hardly
force you to, but I'd appreciate it if you'd do me the courtesy.


(This story is copyright 2000 by Throat Wolf. Permission is granted
for this one electronic distribution and associated USENET and ASSTR
archival, but not for distribution by any other means, including
CD-ROM.)

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