Gryphonics- Chapter 5

As you would expect, sleep didn't come easy. The combination of rough mattress and uncertainty that plagued my thoughts made me an insomniac tonight. I sat up on the lumpy mattress and combed my talon through the tufts of feathers that replaced my hair. My mind once again began to swarm with questions that intuition could never answer. I rested my talon-like hands on my head and was mildly surprised to when they frictionlessly slid off my beak. I look a deep breath through my nostrils at its base before returning it back out the same way.

I stuck a hand out and flexed my three talon-like fingers once or twice, still getting used to having one less finger as I turned my head around and looked over my wings and tail again. I subconsciously pruned a few feathers that were roughed up here and there from my attempt to sleep. It seemed counterproductive when I collapsed against the rough mattress again, ruffling the feathers up again.

I huffed and shifted around on the bed to make myself comfortable, feeling my wings brush against the cool concrete walls. I shivered at the touch, causing them to fold in close to my back. I felt my tail flick, momentarily surprised on the maneuverability of such a limb before I settled back down into a fairly depressed state.

All-in-all, I was surprised at the relative calm at which I was taking my new physical form. I know a few people would be probably freaking out about being turned into a mutant gryphon-like thing. I will not say that it didn't scare me quite a bit, but not nearly as much as the situation that I was in. I thought back to what the doctor had said, "I will die if tell you..." seemed to echo around in my head. I clicked my beak worriedly, this was not looking good.

I spent the next few minutes sitting up on the rough mattress rubbing my talon across my beak in thought before being momentarily distracted by the sudden change in lighting; the bright white fluorescent was replaced by the dull red glow of military-esque night lighting. I sighed and took a look once again at my now vibrant orange hands, the red light morphing my talon's color. I drummed my fingers against my palm before looking around towards my tail.

My tail twitched as soon as I made eye contact with it, flicking gingerly from side to side. I moved it around onto my lap where I grabbed and twisted it nervously. I found it to be an odd sensation as my scaly talons ruffled my fur on this spinal extension. I loosed my grip on my tail, where it immediately slapped against the cinder block wall as a result of my anxiety. The impact of fur-on-concrete forcing a quiet hiss of pain to escape my beak as my tail darted to another, more safe area. I leaned back against the wall, trying once again to quell my mind's eternal questioning.

My train of thought was once again derailed by a pounding on the door, the loud metal clanging reverberating in my ears in a painful stabbing of incommunicable noise. I resisted the urge to cry out in pain, as the door opened once again.

A familiar beaked face poked around the corner, "See you up..." said the doctor's voice as he quietly shut the door behind him and walked under the light, his feathers on his head glowing a bright red as he sat down next to me on the cot.

He placed the black bag that he had brought next to him on the bed, keeping it closed for now as I scooted over. He sat on the bed, hearing the old springs groan and crackle under the increased stress. He sighed, a hint of exhaustion in it before he turned to me, "Commander want to... what word again you use… to look over?" He pondered in thought for a moment before I opened my beak.

"Evaluate?" I asked, trying to fill in the word that he was looking for.

"Yes, I think is word I should use..." He nodded before continuing, "He want to see... State investment."

'Investment?' I thought as I cocked my head at the doctor. He stuck a talon-like hand between his neck and adjusted the collar of his shirt nervously in response. I blinked, this could not be good.

"Yes, the base commander would like see you. He is okay person. He very the nice." He said, looking over to the wall over the sink nervously before quickly shaking his head to say otherwise. Something tells me that he got caught whispering that into my ear a few of what I can only assume to be hours back. I had no idea what punishment he had received, but from what I could tell, it wasn't just exactly an earful. I cocked my head curiously.

The doctor did a double take of the door before gently extended a wing, wincing in pain simultaneously. I instantly noticed the damage, his wing looked like it had been to hell. Several holes were evident in the pattern where feathers were missing. My eyes also able to faintly make out the bruising that was evident in boot print patterns wherever there was damage. He painfully closed his wing back up, which, despite the severity, hid the damage remarkably well. He shook his head again for emphasis. I nodded in acknowledgement and shifted uneasily on the springs, now my turn to be nervous. The doctor patted me on the shoulder, my wing jumping in response to his touch and the loud smack that his talon gave on my uniform.

He opened his bag before turning to me and smiling a bit, as if to calm me. It was mildly successful and I did manage to relax a bit. He reached in and took out what appeared to be an old stethoscope and laid it gently around his neck. Its age by yellow silicon rubber and the variety of scratches across the metallic parts, especially around the metallic handle. "Was grandfather's," He said, noticing my curiosity,"He got it during battle before he do doctor. One of the few relic from past...." He lazily rested it on around his neck, picking up the cup and looking it over in his talon.

"Everything got story, my friend. Even if it small." He replied in a nostalgic tone as he held it close to his chest before walking over to me and untucked my shirt. He pulled it up and placed the stethoscope against my feathery torso. "You feel ill?" He asked as he moved it around on my chest, listening for irregularities.

"No," I replied as he continued to examine my body, putting the stethoscope away before taking out another instrument. He pushed my eyelids open and gave my highly sensitive eyes a look over with what appeared to be an ophthalmoscope of some sort. It gave off a very bright and piercing blue light and I blinked repeatedly in pain, my head trying to break contact with it. The doctor's grip was amazing though, keeping my head straight for the seconds it took to give my retinas a one over despite my size and possible strength. He frustratingly flicked his tail as he continued to fight my reflexes, forcing a "sorry" to escape my beak. The doctor smiled and politely brushed it off as he put the instrument away.

The doctor placed the ophthalmoscope in his bag before quickly turning around again. "May I?" He asked, gesturing to my wings. I extended one before he gingerly took the wing in his talon. He uttered something in an awed tone as he stretched them to their full span. I felt them twitch in annoyance and protest as he looked them over, hearing him mutter in an awed statement of some sort as he continued pulling them to their full length. I was also shocked as I saw them, each wing an incredible length that seemed to surpass my height by several fold. "You have good span, plenty of room. We show you how to use them properly." Shocked, I opened my beak for him to clarify, but he was quick on the answer.  "Later..." he replied as he waived his hand, forcing me to fall silent. He let my wing go, where it curled up tightly against my back.

He kindly smiled again before giving me a once over and reached into his bag again. The rest of the exam was fairly straight forward not so different from a regular doctor's visit, although I had a few shots of what the doctor told me were vaccines. He patted me on the shoulder when he pushed the plunger a final time and stood up before asking me to do so. I stood up and looked down at the doctor, mildly surprised at how tall I was now. He looked up back after finishing packing up his stuff. "You are in good health," He said as the bag's zipper closed. He then muttered something that I couldn't understand before saying goodbye and leaving me alone once again in the room.

I sat down in the bed and leaned against the cinder-block wall, feeling my wings squish against it uncomfortably, forcing them to twitch against their confinement. I sighed and stretched out along the bed, looking for a moderately comfortable position. Finding a hopeful spot, I closed my eyes, sleep seemed like a stretch but I felt so exhausted that I closed my eyes and just hoped for the best.

----

The sound of poorly made hinges scraped against my ears as the door came a rest in a loud bang against the concrete cinder-block walls. I awoke with a start of course, just in time for the guard to bore into my eyes. He screamed incomprehensible gibberish, breathing like a rhinoceros as he was abruptly stopped as I covered my ears. I blinked, confused, the guard bared harder into me.

It was easy to tell that the guard was infuriated, his crazed gibbering smashing against my sensitive hearing. He screeched and moved his hand to his night stick, its glossy black paint reflecting off the now fluorescent white light. That got my attention.

I scampered back in alarm against the concrete wall, throwing the bed sheets off the bed and into a rumpled heap on the floor as he approached, flinching as he towered over me. I raised a hand in self dense as he swung the baton. It was futile though, the aluminum surface stung the fleshy part of my face and the base of my beak, my head was wrenched to the side, my beak against the wall as the salt in the wounds. I squawked in pain while quickly sliding onto the mattress, ruffling the feathers on my back and wings.

I shook my head and moaned picked myself up, turning just in time to hear a deafening squawk and see the nightstick slam into my face again. The blow forced me against the bed, the guard smirked, mocking me in Virayatian. My plea to stop was answered by a raised nightstick, and a crushing blow to my side. I curled up in a ball as the metal rod repeatedly stung my flesh, my vision started to darken with every blow.

A surprised voice suddenly filled the small room, catching the guard's attention, stopping him. I looked toward the source of the nose, noting its familiarity. There stood the doctor, an enraged look on his face as the guard patted the nightstick against his leg. He holstered it and stormed over to the doctor, his ears folded in anger. He shoved the doctor, who retaliated equally and yelled hoarsely at the soldier. I had no idea what the confrontation was about but it was both long and loud and my ears paid the price for it as they throbbed with every word. The guard sighed, muttered what I could only assume to be "screw this!" and stormed out, muttering the whole way.

The doctor looked down at the concrete floor and muttered under his breath before walking over to me. "You OK?" He said as he looked over my face.

"Yeah..." I said wincing a bit as he rubbed a forming welt. I sighed, my mind trying to conjure up reasons for the guard's unexplained behavior. I shook my head, forcing the doctor's hands away from my face.

The doctor sighed and shook his head as well, still looking me over. "You still good..." He stood up and smiled as best as he could, "Just few blue-blacks, I watch you for next few hours. It not big deal." He shiftily darted his eyes and leaned in, putting the base of his beak close to my ear, "You please listen to guard. You no speak Virayatian, must guess what they want, they not care if you no speak Virayatian... As you are finding out just now."

I groaned and huffed, shaking my head in disgust. The doctor shrugged as he turned towards the door, signaling me to follow. I sat on the bed, leaving me dumbfounded as he rounded the corner. "The commander send me here to say he want see you." he said, his voice echoing off the walls.

I took a swing that the guard overheard that and decided to give me that tidbit a little early. I rubbed my head, and shook it one last time, quieting that dull ringing that was beaten into my ears. These people must be morons.

I exited the cell and into the hallway, seeing my detention cell was only one of six that rested in this particular area, all identical in layout and materials to the one I was in. "This way," Said the doctor as he led me toward a heavy steel door, it's red colored light flashing blue as the door unlocked. A series of loud clanks and the loud resonated throughout the hallway, almost deafening grinding of the door's wheels as they squeaked along their rusted rails. "You get use to it," He said, noticing my clutching my ears and agonized expression spread across it, "everything here fall apart soon."

We stepped through the door and walked to a corner, being careful for exposed pieces of re-bar that could slice a paw. To fill in the silence and possibly calm me, the doctor slowed beside me and began talking about the facility. He told me that it was built at the dawn of the last Virayatian war 54 years ago, and it looked like it had only a day's worth of maintenance since. "Last time this facility keep the steel beasts, 'Tanks' as you call them, but we find this place the lonely to be more better for research..." He explained as he continued to escort me down the hall, wiring that occasionally sparked lighting particular areas brighter than the work lights setup. "We only set here for month. Still very damage..."

'Damaged' was the understatement of the century. The word that described the whole facility was better suited by 'shambles'. The concrete was cracked or in some cases generally missing as steel girders and rusted re-bar hung dangerously into the hallway. "Our project need safe place. This base can use, so we use." He said while guiding me past the windows of a hangar. I looked out on the large room, scientific and computer equipment strewn about the floor hooked up in a discombobulation of wires as researchers scurried about. "It still technically deactivate and follow rule of Shanesh-Arawrak Accords signed 50 year ago."

The sound of grinding could be heard as a trio of engineers finished cutting a piece of exposed re-bar in a shower of sparks and deafening grinding. The doctor nodded to acknowledge their existence as the engineers almost did the same in response, stopping just short of finishing their gestures to gawk at my size. Nervous and not wanting attention, I walked on, hearing the nervous whispering of the trio slowly fade into the background as we approached a series of lifts. "The commander is up," He told me while pressing the button on the elevator panel.

I had expected that when the elevator's door slid apart that I would see something similar to what I had been seeing. Images of an old, tired elevator filled my mind, worn from use and elements. However, this elevator was quite the opposite with high gloss, fresh wood paneling, clean stainless steel, and computerized controls that signaled a modern elevator. "Our most new thing," The doctor said, pressing the button on the inside control panel, "Old one kill two when it drop."

I grumbled nervously as the doors closed quietly and a few seconds later opened just as to an incredible sight. A long hallway stretched before me laid out in highly polished marble and wood paneling, glass lamps glowing in their yellow incandescent color as we leisurely walked its length, the cold marble floor giving my paws a tingly feeling with every step. "You can guess who live here..." The doctor mused quietly as we passed several stainless steel doors towards the end of the hall. There at the end were two ornate French doors, covered in a beautiful patterning etched into the frosted glass of what I could only assume to me mythological creatures of some sort, their eyes shimmered in the blues, greens and reds of precious stones.

Flanking the door were two guards, standing at a near perfect attention stance. Each one held a bullpup rifle in their hands, looking similar to an old British L64, albeit more crudely designed. Their uniforms were similar to mine, with a digitized camouflage pattern, only blue and black rather than my white and black that stretched across a thick layer of body armor and ceramic plates, encasing them with protection while simultaneously bulking them up and making them appear much bigger than they actually appear. Judging by the voluminous amounts ammunition that hung noiselessly and motionlessly from the bandoleers on their chests, I say they're having some issues maintaining order.

Despite their motionless stances, their eyes still bored into mine. I flinched, the small movement almost invisible but they did notice enough for smirks to creep across their faces. The scientist nodded respectfully and nervously to them. The soldiers stared back as equally hard to him as they did to me, smirks still visible as one lightly flicked his tail in superiority. The doctor nearly melted under the stress, his tail, wings and ears all drooping slightly as he slowly rocked from side to side on his paws. The guards' smirks turned into genuine small grins as one respectfully knocked on the door and a small awkward silence filled the corridor.

A deafening grinding sound filled the hallway as the door's locks disengaged, the general lack of maintenance reverberating against the marble. I winced at the noise and clutched my catlike ears in pain, earning a look of pity from the doctor and superiority from the guards. When the cacophony of noise exited from my head I looked toward the large, poorly lit room.

It was at first only an orange point of light that I saw in the room, a thin white line of smoke rising lazily from its burning end. The end burned brightly as he took a breath, illuminating some of his beak before I saw a flash of yellow scales of a talon has the figure removed the cylinder from his beak. I padded into the room, the texture changing from cool marble to warm carpet felt great on my paws as I followed the doctor's lead to a lone patch of light from a lone canister in the ceiling.

Silhouetted from behind by a source of light was another gryphon-like character. He wasn't tall, roughly five foot ten, but the lighting and aura around him make me feel like the small one in the room. It was first his beak, long and slender that stuck into the almost invisible thin sliver of light nearby, immaculate and polished, similar to the feathers on his face as the light grew softer and larger. His feathers were well groomed and glistened, contrasting the doctor's somewhat ragged appearance.

To me standing in the light, the ghostly reflection of his ghostly brown eyes was a constant reminder of his demeanor. I heard his voice making its slow orbit around me, my tail ducking in between my legs as my heart rate started to climb again. I shuffled my paws slightly as he exchanged words with the good doctor. It wasn't going well from what I could tell.

Though the words were not understandable, I could judge tone fairly well. Their volleying started out pretty small with singular questions, the commander's voice rough and barking, extorting the answers out of the doctor's mind. As time wore on though, the tones grew more divisive, louder until they reach a deafening volume. I hissed which turned into a low screech as another round of arguing ignited my ears again. I heard a snort of disgust followed by a pleading retort coming from the doctor.

I suddenly felt a hand grab my shoulder and before I could react, I felt his knee rapidly rise into my gut, knocking the wind out of me as I fell off balance. Disoriented and before I could recover I felt his scaly hands connect with the back of my head. He twisted my arm and forced my head sideways as he pushed me down hard onto his desk. I loudly ricocheted off the polished wood with enough force that every object on their jumped a few millimeters from their original position. I slumped to the floor, gasping for breath as the first bits of pain rolled in.

I was seeing double for a second as my vision slowly realigned and the dull yelling of the commander became clearer, followed by the soft sounds of his pads against the marble floor. I guess he had left.

I heard the digital sound of a computer as the room became flooded by the warm yellow glow of compact fluorescent lights. I looked up to the doctor as he leaned over and offered me his talon, which I took and was pulled to my paws. I swayed a little as I got steady noticing the doctor trembling as he turned and headed toward the door. "What's wrong," I asked, placing a hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

He shrugged it off, "Nothing." He said as he exited the room, leaving me thoroughly unconvinced, "The commander wish you to follow me." He said as he exited the room, taking me down the hall toward the elevator, which we rode in total silence. Exiting, the doctor looked around and walked toward one end of the hall towards a giant lift at the end.

There was a loud grinding sound as gears inside the shaft moved the old lift inside. "Where to now?" I asked nervously, hearing the grinding of the lift's wheels grow increasingly louder as it neared. I shook my head to clear the noise as the doors slowly opened.

We both stepped inside as the good doctor hit the button. "Surface," he said over the loud grinding of the door closing, "But after that also I not know..."