Werewolves On Planet Koira 4

The existence of werewolves is not as big of a problem as one might think, but there are measures taken for public safety. Anyone suspected of lycanthropy is subjected to testing. If a person tests positive, they are required to lock up in a secure facility every full moon. Some Wolves, as they like to call themselves, never even change to wolf form, while some change, but remain docile and gentile. Still, some wolves are violent and dangerous. Unfortunately, detection is entirely circumstantial. Unexplained hair growth and odd behavior during full moons are really the only symptoms to go by. The cause of lycanthropy is not known, so hypothetically anyone, anywhere can become a werewolf. 

- A Modern Primer on Lycanthropy, B. Dalton, 2549

“Captain’s log: We are approaching our destination, the fourth planet in the Koira system. In the interest of finding out more about lycanthropy, a voluntary mission was launched three years ago. A crew made mostly of wolves set course for a planet with eight moons. Due to the rotation of the planet and the orbit of all eight moons, every night is a full moon. The goal of the mission is to test whether or not lycanthropy is tied to Luna, or if other moons affect the condition. Sadly, the ship was lost without explanation. Our mission, is to find the lost ship, and rescue any survivors,” Captain Clayton speaks into a data pad on his desk, presses the end log button, and walks out of his office onto the bridge.

“Crewman Yates, make your approach and prepare for landing. Careful, steady,” Captain Clayton settles into his chair on the center of the bridge. Blinking light panels echo at stations behind him. Crew dressed in blue, black, white, and red tunics scramble behind him. A view screen in the front of the bridge shows the planet below, while two crew members in red sit at stations between. “All crew, brace for landing, in three, two, one…and down.”

A group of five crew members, including captain Clayton and crewman Yates, make their way to the airlock, and step onto a lush planet. A blue shirted crew member, Crewman Bilkes, drives a rover out of a cargo bay. The six crew members drive off, away from the ship, following a radar signal.

“Do you think that could be them, that blip on the radar?” Captain Clayton asks.

“Possibly, or it could be some space junk. We should reach the source in about twenty minutes, so I guess we’ll find out when we get there” Bilkes responds.

As the crew approaches the radar source, they find a ship much like their own, only smaller. The ship appears to be undamaged. Glimmering silver plating all over the pill shaped hull. Equipment scattered intentionally around the ship, even a few tents pitched.

“Peculiar,” Luitenant Yasso, a black shirted officer says, “They arrived. But there’s no biological signs of their presence. No bodies, no, nothing.”

“Let’s take a look inside,” Clayton says, “Yates, Bilkes, stand guard with the rover.”

Clayton, Yasso, and two other crew members climb a ladder up to the ships hatch, and find themselves in a dark corridor. They grab their multi tools from their holsters and trigger their flashlights to reveal red stains on the walls and ground.

“My God, is that blood? Oh geez, it looks like some of the crew wolfed out, “Clayton trips over something. He flashes his light down to see the shredded remains of a crew member’s torso,” ok, everyone out, and back to the ship. We need to figure out our next steps before going onward”. Clayton exits the hatch, followed by the blue shirted crewman Holson, and the Lieutenant Yasso. Another blue shirted crew member, ensign Shulz, starts to ascend the ladder, but screams before they can fully exit the hatch. The bottom half of his body drops to the planets surface, while the top is pulled back into the ship. 

“Weapons! Now!” Clayton yells. The remaining crew members switch their multi tools to rifle mode. Almost as if on queue, a huge, grey werewolf jumps from the hatch and begins to charge towards the crew, but falls and transforms into a middle aged man with a pot belly and a bald head. The man wears nothing but a ragged pair of shorts.

“Don’t shoot, please, don’t shoot,” the man raises their hands in the air.

“Detain that man, and let’s bring him back to our ship.” Clayton yells.

Back at the ship, the man sits in the brig. A doctor checks his vitals while two armed guards stand ready to shoot the man if he wolves out and attacks. Clayton enters the room.

“So, what happened, why did you kill our crew member?”

“I, I didn’t mean to. I couldn’t control myself. This planet, this mission, it wasn’t a good idea. The eight moons, well. They intensify lycanthropy.”

“What do you remember?”

“Everything. I may not have been in control, but I remember everything.” 

“So tell me, what happened.”

“We landed, everything was going ok. We set up some equipment outside. At nightfall, the non wolf crew locked us up as a safety precaution, but we all wolfed out like never before. There was a double full moon that night, two of the moons at once. All of us wolves went bersurk. Our strength grew like never before. Even those of us who never wolf out, or those of us who are usually docile, we went full on wild. The forcefields on our cages would be fine holding a few of us, but there were twenty of us. We kept throwing ourselves at the forcefield over and over again, until finally it gave way. After that, well, there was no hope for any of the non wolf crew. We hunted them all down and, yeah. You saw the blood marks in the corridor.” 

“My god, that’s terrible,” Clayton says, “Are all the wolves still in the ship?”

“Yes, I think so. We all went ferrel and started chewing and ripping everything. This includes the electrical. That’s why the power was off. And without the power, there was no light. With no light, it was essentially dark the entire time. We never changed back, our wolf selves thought it was night all the time. On a planet that has a full moon at all times.”

“My God!” Clayton pushes a button on the wall, “All senior staff, report to the conference room, immediately” Clayton feels something against his legs. He looks down to see a black, short haired cat, “Who are you, little fella, who brought you along?”

Early the next morning at sunrise, Clayton, Yates, Bilkes, Yasso, and three security officers take a rover back to the werewolves ship, along with a trailer full of lights, cutting equipment, and heavy weaponry. As soon as they get to the ship, the security officers set up the lights, and ready the cutting equipment. The goal is to light the ship up as much as they can, and possibly restore power. If they can accomplish this, the wolves will change back to human, at least if their prisoner’s story bears truth. As one of the security officers cuts a hole into the underside of the vessel, they hear a growl. They poke their head into the hole and look around, but see nothing. Suddenly, they scream, and their headless body falls from the ship. 

“Contact! We’ve got contact! Ready weapons! Try not to kill anyone, but for God’s sake, don’t hesitate to use deadly force if you absolutely need to” Clayton yells.

The remaining crew all aim their weapons at the ship. A wolf leaps out of the hole, holding the head of the security officer in its jaws. He sees the crew members, drops the head from its mouth, and charges. Clayton clinches his weapon. Just as he’s about to pull the trigger, the wolf changes back into a man. 

“What, what the hell happened?” the wolf turned man asks, covering their naked self.

“You’ve been a wolf for quite some time. We’re here to bring you back home to Earth.”

The crew lures out ten other wolves without anymore casualties. They find several bodies, seven human, two wolves. The crew compliment upon take off was twenty five, so four crew remain to be found, all presumed to be werewolves. The crew establishes a safe zone in engineering, and is able to restore power to the rest of the ship. Three naked men come out of various hiding spaces, dazed and fuzzy.

“We’ve got one left, assuming they’re still on the ship, sir” Yates reports.

“I suppose it could be possible they wandered off. Have we checked everywhere on the ship?” Clayton asks.

“I think so. I’ve gotten lights to turn on all over the ship. Everything seems to be lit up,” Yates answers.

“We’ve got about three hours of daylight left, we’ll continue searching for two more, and then return back to our ship. We don’t want to be transferring our crew of this ship at night,” Clayton feels something on his foot. He looks down to see the same cat he saw on his ship, “Hey buddy, how did you get all the way over here?”

The cat meows, and runs off and down a corridor..

“Someone want to catch that cat? We can’t just leave it here,” Clayton says. 

Yates chases the cat, almost catching it several times, when suddenly he finds an area of the ship that’s still dark. He steps backwards, as he sees a pair of yellow eyes charging towards him. He trips backwards, and breaks his leg. 

“Help! Help!” he screams, “I found the last wolf! Help!” but no one hears. He cries as he braces for his inevitable demise. He feels soft fur brushing up against his arm. He looks down to see the cat brushing up against him. 

“Get out of here, can’t you see we’re in danger?!” Yates yells at the cat. “Wait, I think I, did you just say something?”

The cat approaches the wolf and purrs; the wolf closes its mouth, tilts its head, and looks on with curiosity. The cat rubs against the wolf and says “Time for you to calm down. Time for you to go home.” The wolf turns into a man again, and the cat jumps into the man’s arms. 

“Wait, what. What just happened?” the wolf turned man asks.

“Cats have the power to calm down werewolves. This is why some wolves don’t even change during their mandatory lockdown. Every single one of them have a cat.”

“But, they don’t have the cats with them during their lockdown.”

“Oh, they do. We find a way to our wolf humans, they might not see us. We might even be on the other side of a wall, but we’re with them. We purr, we talk to them. This is how we keep them calm.”

“So, cats can talk? Who knew?”

“Yes, every cat can talk telepathically. We’re just very particular about who we talk to. After all, we have to remain mysterious to our humans. Though, I suppose you’ll be spreading the news as soon as you get back to Earth.”

The wolf turned man helps Yates back to the rest of the crew and the cat follows behind. Yates tells Clayton about the new discovery.

“That’s amazing if it’s true,” Clayton says.

“It’s true,” the cat telepathically tells Clayton, while jumping into the arms of the last wolf, “by the way wolf, you’re my human now,’

“I, ok, sure. I guess I have a cat.” The werewolf says.

“Wait, you don’t belong to anyone on the ship?” Clayton asks.

“No, I’m what you call a stray, but really we’re all just free agents. We go where we’re needed. We heard about this mission, and I was selected to sneak aboard.”

When the crew returns to Earth, they relay the cat’s story to their superiors. Studies happen, and soon everyone suspected of lycanthropy is issued a cat. Stray cats are treated with reverence and with respect by the general population from that moment forward. Meanwhile, the amount of wolf attacks during full moons drops to almost zero. Soon, mandatory lockdown of wolves is not even required, as long as they keep their cat around at all times during full moons.