Piece for NaridTheNighthunter! Somehow my brain has latched onto the icea of Sci-Fi themed weight gain ever since the Rogue AI piece I did for Fen. And I picture Narid the Wyvern in a similar predicament. Except this time tasked with the duty of handling a colony of caloric space slimes on the desk of his vessel. When any kind of shooting or de-atomizing doesn"t do the trick. There is only one other option, digestion.
Narid wrote an absolutely excellent story to accompany this piece. And I implore you not only to read it but also to check out more of his work, it soars across a high bar. Please enjoy!
A few months ago I spotted a job advert that caught my attention: "See the stars, and get paid doing it! New crew members needed for interstellar freighter fleet. Yearly salary of 230,000 federal units GUARANTEED for high-risk work. Enlist today!" Being in a bit of a financial slump, and keen to take a break from plane-jumping to get between worlds, I filled in an enlistment form and was hired and assigned to a freighter a couple days later! There was a lot of small-print in the contract and their background-checking was rather lacking, but given the risks involved I was expecting that sort of bureaucracy to begin with. The first 3 months went by pretty swimmingly, our crew was small but efficient, and it turned out having gyrokinetic abilities was a big help on a spacecraft. Seems a disclaimer in the contract however was that our experience of "seeing new worlds" was limited to seeing them from orbit, as most of the worlds we visited had orbital stockpile facilities where we docked our freighter and loaded or unloaded supplies, we never once got to land on the surface of any planet. My contract was bound to a minimum term of 1 year, however, so I"d just have to make do with seeing differently-coloured and patterned spheres instead of alien mountains and oceans, but the sights of those planets along with numerous stars and nebulae - plus the company of the crew - made that acceptable.
Things took a bit of a turn around the 3rd week of the 4th month into my term, however. We were tasked with transporting a shipment of some fancy metal with a long, complicated name that was only being mined from a small planetoid in the dolmarae system. Problem was, however, the sanctioned freighter route to this site passed through a vast asteroid belt. The asteroids themselves were no issue, the ship had shields and energy weapons designed for such objects. The issue was that a species of copper-based, gelatinous, microcellular monocultures (commonly referred to as "slimes") occupied the belt, and had an appetite for the copper ore embedded in the rocks. Flying a giant hunk of metal filled with copper wiring and circuitry presented a bit of a hazard, so we had to dock at an orbital shipyard to get our freighter outfitted with a specialized containment system, capable of extracting any slimes that breached the hull and containing them within a pair of reinforced tanks (larger vessels were permitted to house additional tanks, but ours was only a humble Class-C freighter and its systems could only accommodate a two-tank system). Containment was preferred over destruction, as it was an extremophilic organism that could withstand intense heat, freezing, radiation, and vacuum. Additionally, the company found that harvesting the copper from the slimes was more economic than investing in mining equipment, as the organisms were found be quite efficient at refining the ore and stockpiling the metal within itself, as well as integrating it into its own cells, meaning that a single tank full of slime could yield up to 50 kilograms" worth of refined copper metal for a fraction of the cost for industrial extraction. The manual also mentioned there was a backup system for if the tanks filled up before we made it to the Delmarae-B34 depot, but I never got a good look at that part. I kept getting pulled away into other duties and eventually forgot to read the rest of that chapter, all I"d gotten to see was a diagram of what looked like some modified hazmat suit.
Turned out, however, I"d get to know that part of the system quite intimately, in the end. After three days of passing through the belt - which was estimated to be a 12-day trek too hazardous to risk F.T.L. travel - both containment tanks were at maximum capacity, and the slimes were still invading and damaging our systems. It was mostly redundant systems and diagnostics arrays, but if they ever started to chow down on the life-support systems... Needless to say, our captain wasn"t willing to take any risks and gathered us all in the mess to draw straws. I didn"t know what it was for, and I was too embarrassed to let them know I hadn"t done my homework, so I played along believing I had a slim chance of being picked.... boy did karma cash out on me that day. After drawing the short straw, I rushed back to my quarters and brought up the manual for the containment system, and saw what I"d skimmed over last time: the emergency tank... was a living one; in this case: me.
The backup system was comprised of a set of containment suits, equipped with full life-support and a specialized helmet equipped with an interface for the extraction pipes. The system had a small buffer tank, and every time it filled I would have to connect my helmet to the system and... gulp down what it had collected. I shuddered at the thought, having to swallow those things down and hold them inside me, my own metabolism serving as a passive disposal process. The fact the suit was comprised of a flexible nanofibre-weave capable of accommodating up to 5 times its initial volume told me these slimes would have some rather altering effects on my figure, especially since the manual mentions the suit has no system for food intake, and the slimes are apparently both nutrient- and calorie-rich. The extraction buffer would be able to filter out the toxic elemental copper present in the organisms, leaving the remainder of the organism safe for digestion as it was comprised of non-toxic copper-based organic compounds. I wouldn"t need to remove this suit for as long as I would be required to wear it, from the moment I slipped it on I would effectively be a mobile, self-contained slime-tank for up to a month, or however long it took my body to digest the damn things completely. Extraction was only possible for the primary tanks, but too risky for organic containment due to the slimes" cells mingling with my own.
I took a deep breath and swallowed my pride - the last normal thing I"d be swallowing for the next couple of days - and went into the changing rooms to slip on one of the suits. There was a stack of 6 suits, one for each crew member both to accommodate our distinct anatomies and in case we needed that many "tanks". I grabbed the one with my name on it and stripped off my uniform and undergarments before sliding the strange, half-metal half-latex material over my scales; the manual recommended the wearer to have on nothing but the suit, as at full capacity it"d be the only thing still fitting... After donning the helmet - which fit my face snugly and contained a mouthpiece that sealed around my maw - I came out from the changing rooms 15 minutes later to the sight of my crew-mates staring at me, wearing mixed expressions of amusement, sympathy, and... jealousy? That last one was only present on a couple of the crew who I knew had some "interesting" interests, but they weren"t too open about them so I doubt they
d jump at any offer I made to switch places with them.
My first assignment as slime-tank #3 came barely an hour later. I had been given new, quarantined quarters adjacent to the collection area, to ensure a fast response. Most of my other duties had been suspended and reassigned to the remaining crew, but I was assured I"d be kept busy enough with my new "temporary position". Upon hearing the beeping alarm and seeing the small glowing icon on my suit"s HUD (which was fully connected to the ship"s entertainment system, to keep me happy during my off-duty periods when I had nothing to do but lie on the bed of my new quarters - I closed the Starflix window I had open and walked into the next room. I stepped up to the collection buffer - a smaller tank behind a glass pane with a small extendable hose at its base and a manual release lever in case the AR interface bugged out - and after entering my passcode into into the GUI projected onto my visor, heard a small "click" as the hose was unlocked, and then a louder click as a pair of restraints secured themselves around my ankles, no doubt a safety measure to keep any fight-or-flight instincts from potentially damaging the equipment. Letting out a sigh, I pulled out the hose and connected it to the port on my helmet. After flipping the lever to securely seal the interface between my helmet and the hose, I tapped the virtual button to begin the transfer. Small servos activated inside my helmet, and I let out an involuntary yelp as I felt several rubber-padded prongs slide between my jaws and pry them open, before a collapsible internal hose slid over my tongue and the progs released, only for a torus-shaped rubber air-sack to then inflate within the muzzle of the helmet and hold my maw shut around the tube. A pump whirred to life and I felt a rush of air through the tube followed by by a wet gurgling sound, the tube turning cold just as the amber-coloured slime started gushing out into my waiting maw. The facial restraints forced me to gulp down mouthful after mouthful of what felt like cold jelly, and tasted... actually surprisingly sweet, a bit fruity in nature and not too unappetizing when you push your mind past the reality of what you were ingesting. A couple minutes later (though it felt like an eternity), the pump switched off and all the restraints released, the helmet"s internal tube collapsing back into a rubber ring within the mouthpiece. I flicked the lever on the external hose connector, and the flexible pipe auto-retracted back into its housing.
I groaned, my stomach feeling heavy like I"d just eaten a full buffet dinner and dessert, my midriff visibly bloating against my suit and writhing gently as the gelatinous collection of single-celled alien organisms moved about of their own accord, as if settling into their new dwelling. I waddled back to my quarters and laid down on my bed, huffing and massaging my gut while bringing my streaming app back up on my visor. The exertion from digesting the slimes now writhing about in my gut soon caused me to doze off, however, and I didn"t wake up until a few hours later when the alarm went off yet again. When I woke I felt a bit less sluggish, but definitely not the same. Looking down at myself, I could see my gut was still partially distended, but the mass looked more distributed somehow. I curiously reached down and grabbed at my midriff, and instead of the tautness I had experienced before, I found a bit of squish. My breathing quickened, and I hurriedly activated my new suit"s self-diagnostic subroutine. According to the readout, I hadn"t actually gained any extra adipose yet, instead the slimes had simply progressed through my digestive system and been absorbed into my tissues, collecting in much the same pattern as fat where - according to the manual - it would slowly break down into actual fat over the course of the next several weeks. The beeping alarm changed in pitch and pulled my attention again. Growling, I walked back into the amber-lit collection chamber and repeated the same process as before: login, connect, activate, gulp gulp gulp, disconnect, waddle back to bed, doze off.
This repeated every 3-8 hours or so, each time I woke up bigger and heavier, feeling sluggish and half-awake. After only 2 days I was at least three times my original size, carrying a sagging, wobbling gut supported by a pair of trunk-like thighs and a gelatinous rump that could easily fill a double-seater couch. The suit clung to my figure, thankfully still holding to its advertised nature of "adaptive size". The readout on my visor and on the small screen at my left thigh, I was at 68% of the total capacity this system was designed to handle before risking the safety and mobility of the "tanker". We still had 7 more days to go, and the slimes were still numerous and unrelenting. I half-grinned as I waddled toward the buffer to collect my fill, knowing that by this time in 2 days I should no longer need to keep up this chore, and would simply be required to hold and digest the slimes while another of the crew would step in to take over the job of "collecting". As I mounted the hose and started gulping down a fresh load of slime, I couldn"t help but wonder: Which one of the crew would draw the short straw next....?
Narid wrote an absolutely excellent story to accompany this piece. And I implore you not only to read it but also to check out more of his work, it soars across a high bar. Please enjoy!
A few months ago I spotted a job advert that caught my attention: "See the stars, and get paid doing it! New crew members needed for interstellar freighter fleet. Yearly salary of 230,000 federal units GUARANTEED for high-risk work. Enlist today!" Being in a bit of a financial slump, and keen to take a break from plane-jumping to get between worlds, I filled in an enlistment form and was hired and assigned to a freighter a couple days later! There was a lot of small-print in the contract and their background-checking was rather lacking, but given the risks involved I was expecting that sort of bureaucracy to begin with. The first 3 months went by pretty swimmingly, our crew was small but efficient, and it turned out having gyrokinetic abilities was a big help on a spacecraft. Seems a disclaimer in the contract however was that our experience of "seeing new worlds" was limited to seeing them from orbit, as most of the worlds we visited had orbital stockpile facilities where we docked our freighter and loaded or unloaded supplies, we never once got to land on the surface of any planet. My contract was bound to a minimum term of 1 year, however, so I"d just have to make do with seeing differently-coloured and patterned spheres instead of alien mountains and oceans, but the sights of those planets along with numerous stars and nebulae - plus the company of the crew - made that acceptable.
Things took a bit of a turn around the 3rd week of the 4th month into my term, however. We were tasked with transporting a shipment of some fancy metal with a long, complicated name that was only being mined from a small planetoid in the dolmarae system. Problem was, however, the sanctioned freighter route to this site passed through a vast asteroid belt. The asteroids themselves were no issue, the ship had shields and energy weapons designed for such objects. The issue was that a species of copper-based, gelatinous, microcellular monocultures (commonly referred to as "slimes") occupied the belt, and had an appetite for the copper ore embedded in the rocks. Flying a giant hunk of metal filled with copper wiring and circuitry presented a bit of a hazard, so we had to dock at an orbital shipyard to get our freighter outfitted with a specialized containment system, capable of extracting any slimes that breached the hull and containing them within a pair of reinforced tanks (larger vessels were permitted to house additional tanks, but ours was only a humble Class-C freighter and its systems could only accommodate a two-tank system). Containment was preferred over destruction, as it was an extremophilic organism that could withstand intense heat, freezing, radiation, and vacuum. Additionally, the company found that harvesting the copper from the slimes was more economic than investing in mining equipment, as the organisms were found be quite efficient at refining the ore and stockpiling the metal within itself, as well as integrating it into its own cells, meaning that a single tank full of slime could yield up to 50 kilograms" worth of refined copper metal for a fraction of the cost for industrial extraction. The manual also mentioned there was a backup system for if the tanks filled up before we made it to the Delmarae-B34 depot, but I never got a good look at that part. I kept getting pulled away into other duties and eventually forgot to read the rest of that chapter, all I"d gotten to see was a diagram of what looked like some modified hazmat suit.
Turned out, however, I"d get to know that part of the system quite intimately, in the end. After three days of passing through the belt - which was estimated to be a 12-day trek too hazardous to risk F.T.L. travel - both containment tanks were at maximum capacity, and the slimes were still invading and damaging our systems. It was mostly redundant systems and diagnostics arrays, but if they ever started to chow down on the life-support systems... Needless to say, our captain wasn"t willing to take any risks and gathered us all in the mess to draw straws. I didn"t know what it was for, and I was too embarrassed to let them know I hadn"t done my homework, so I played along believing I had a slim chance of being picked.... boy did karma cash out on me that day. After drawing the short straw, I rushed back to my quarters and brought up the manual for the containment system, and saw what I"d skimmed over last time: the emergency tank... was a living one; in this case: me.
The backup system was comprised of a set of containment suits, equipped with full life-support and a specialized helmet equipped with an interface for the extraction pipes. The system had a small buffer tank, and every time it filled I would have to connect my helmet to the system and... gulp down what it had collected. I shuddered at the thought, having to swallow those things down and hold them inside me, my own metabolism serving as a passive disposal process. The fact the suit was comprised of a flexible nanofibre-weave capable of accommodating up to 5 times its initial volume told me these slimes would have some rather altering effects on my figure, especially since the manual mentions the suit has no system for food intake, and the slimes are apparently both nutrient- and calorie-rich. The extraction buffer would be able to filter out the toxic elemental copper present in the organisms, leaving the remainder of the organism safe for digestion as it was comprised of non-toxic copper-based organic compounds. I wouldn"t need to remove this suit for as long as I would be required to wear it, from the moment I slipped it on I would effectively be a mobile, self-contained slime-tank for up to a month, or however long it took my body to digest the damn things completely. Extraction was only possible for the primary tanks, but too risky for organic containment due to the slimes" cells mingling with my own.
I took a deep breath and swallowed my pride - the last normal thing I"d be swallowing for the next couple of days - and went into the changing rooms to slip on one of the suits. There was a stack of 6 suits, one for each crew member both to accommodate our distinct anatomies and in case we needed that many "tanks". I grabbed the one with my name on it and stripped off my uniform and undergarments before sliding the strange, half-metal half-latex material over my scales; the manual recommended the wearer to have on nothing but the suit, as at full capacity it"d be the only thing still fitting... After donning the helmet - which fit my face snugly and contained a mouthpiece that sealed around my maw - I came out from the changing rooms 15 minutes later to the sight of my crew-mates staring at me, wearing mixed expressions of amusement, sympathy, and... jealousy? That last one was only present on a couple of the crew who I knew had some "interesting" interests, but they weren"t too open about them so I doubt they
d jump at any offer I made to switch places with them.
My first assignment as slime-tank #3 came barely an hour later. I had been given new, quarantined quarters adjacent to the collection area, to ensure a fast response. Most of my other duties had been suspended and reassigned to the remaining crew, but I was assured I"d be kept busy enough with my new "temporary position". Upon hearing the beeping alarm and seeing the small glowing icon on my suit"s HUD (which was fully connected to the ship"s entertainment system, to keep me happy during my off-duty periods when I had nothing to do but lie on the bed of my new quarters - I closed the Starflix window I had open and walked into the next room. I stepped up to the collection buffer - a smaller tank behind a glass pane with a small extendable hose at its base and a manual release lever in case the AR interface bugged out - and after entering my passcode into into the GUI projected onto my visor, heard a small "click" as the hose was unlocked, and then a louder click as a pair of restraints secured themselves around my ankles, no doubt a safety measure to keep any fight-or-flight instincts from potentially damaging the equipment. Letting out a sigh, I pulled out the hose and connected it to the port on my helmet. After flipping the lever to securely seal the interface between my helmet and the hose, I tapped the virtual button to begin the transfer. Small servos activated inside my helmet, and I let out an involuntary yelp as I felt several rubber-padded prongs slide between my jaws and pry them open, before a collapsible internal hose slid over my tongue and the progs released, only for a torus-shaped rubber air-sack to then inflate within the muzzle of the helmet and hold my maw shut around the tube. A pump whirred to life and I felt a rush of air through the tube followed by by a wet gurgling sound, the tube turning cold just as the amber-coloured slime started gushing out into my waiting maw. The facial restraints forced me to gulp down mouthful after mouthful of what felt like cold jelly, and tasted... actually surprisingly sweet, a bit fruity in nature and not too unappetizing when you push your mind past the reality of what you were ingesting. A couple minutes later (though it felt like an eternity), the pump switched off and all the restraints released, the helmet"s internal tube collapsing back into a rubber ring within the mouthpiece. I flicked the lever on the external hose connector, and the flexible pipe auto-retracted back into its housing.
I groaned, my stomach feeling heavy like I"d just eaten a full buffet dinner and dessert, my midriff visibly bloating against my suit and writhing gently as the gelatinous collection of single-celled alien organisms moved about of their own accord, as if settling into their new dwelling. I waddled back to my quarters and laid down on my bed, huffing and massaging my gut while bringing my streaming app back up on my visor. The exertion from digesting the slimes now writhing about in my gut soon caused me to doze off, however, and I didn"t wake up until a few hours later when the alarm went off yet again. When I woke I felt a bit less sluggish, but definitely not the same. Looking down at myself, I could see my gut was still partially distended, but the mass looked more distributed somehow. I curiously reached down and grabbed at my midriff, and instead of the tautness I had experienced before, I found a bit of squish. My breathing quickened, and I hurriedly activated my new suit"s self-diagnostic subroutine. According to the readout, I hadn"t actually gained any extra adipose yet, instead the slimes had simply progressed through my digestive system and been absorbed into my tissues, collecting in much the same pattern as fat where - according to the manual - it would slowly break down into actual fat over the course of the next several weeks. The beeping alarm changed in pitch and pulled my attention again. Growling, I walked back into the amber-lit collection chamber and repeated the same process as before: login, connect, activate, gulp gulp gulp, disconnect, waddle back to bed, doze off.
This repeated every 3-8 hours or so, each time I woke up bigger and heavier, feeling sluggish and half-awake. After only 2 days I was at least three times my original size, carrying a sagging, wobbling gut supported by a pair of trunk-like thighs and a gelatinous rump that could easily fill a double-seater couch. The suit clung to my figure, thankfully still holding to its advertised nature of "adaptive size". The readout on my visor and on the small screen at my left thigh, I was at 68% of the total capacity this system was designed to handle before risking the safety and mobility of the "tanker". We still had 7 more days to go, and the slimes were still numerous and unrelenting. I half-grinned as I waddled toward the buffer to collect my fill, knowing that by this time in 2 days I should no longer need to keep up this chore, and would simply be required to hold and digest the slimes while another of the crew would step in to take over the job of "collecting". As I mounted the hose and started gulping down a fresh load of slime, I couldn"t help but wonder: Which one of the crew would draw the short straw next....?
Category All / Fat Furs
Species Wyvern
Gender Male
Size 2156 x 1709px
File Size 3.21 MB
This is a neat idea man. And the story is really good as well. 😊 What's next? A suit malfunction that not only fattens up the wearer a little, but makes them really hungry as well? Or a ray gun that'll fatten up someone with each shot? Oooooor... How about fat obsessed aliens that infiltrate the spaceship and infects those inside with a "poison" bite or sting that makes them fatten up. They'd probably even feed the hungry astronauts
Or the aliens can have those ray guns I mentioned. Anyway, like I said, this looks so good. 😊
I could imagine one of the suits having a malfunction, going past its limits making the wearer burst out of them. Either on the brink of immobility or already immobile, the wearer would have to endure all the slime as the safety protocols in the suits are now gone, all until someone finds them!
So many ideas! If anything I'd encourage you to try your hand yourself at drawing those!
How I love this, just the idea of the suit paired with the weight gain makes me feel envious of such a situation wish it was me there
Looking at your icon. Somehow I'm not surprised you would be into suit-related stuff. Glad you dig it, Salem 😉
I LOVE this idea. The art is gorgeous too! I could picture a series of these artworks paired with short little sci-fi snippets.
Woo!! It makes me happy to hear you would envision that. It makes me want to do more of them haha
Well that's one way to come back with a load of VERY well rounded crew members. ^.==.^
Something tells me this space freighter has the Fyreworks logo somewhere on it 😉
Lovely coloring and shading here! Despite everything being mostly orange, there's a lot of standout details ^^
I'm happy it captivated you for a bit for you to notice. Thank you, Groudan <3
Loving the idea! I guess Narid will be greeting the next "storage tank" with a wide grin as they will be next in line for a filling. At least they will not be alone with being the big one!
Thank you, Championer! I think you're accurate with your assumption that eventually most ''tanks'' end up enjoying their experience haha
And thus, Monte took it upon himself to fix that issue 😉
So, who's going to tell them the asteroid field was completely avoidable the entire time? Great piece and great story too.
Whos to say the pilot didn't intentionally fly into it just for thie ensemble to happen!
Knowing both of you, this magnificent scene was the natural consequence of you putting your thoughts and skills together to make the perfect symphony
Luke, the piece is absolutely brilliant! It has that uncanny sci-fi vibe given by the unfamiliar illumination. The kind that you would have to use if your space freighter were going though some trouble. And you did it so convincingly!! I wouldn't even know what kind of references to look for!! And then (not happy with displaying your painting prowess) you then filled with all sorts of details and visual eye-candy? The displays of the tanks, the slightly faded numbers on the walls, the suit... THE SUIT!!! Truly an absolute delight of an illustration!!
Narid, the story is RIVETTING!! Makes me wish there was a whole book dedicated to the intricacies of space faring furs!! I didn't know you were a writer!! And a formidable one, at that!! I enjoy your style. It is very fact-of-the-matter: you say the things that need saying, and the rest can be left for the reader to fill in the gaps! Truly! The way you narrate these events made me question at some point... "Heck, maybe I should volunteer as Tank #4!!"
MARVELOUS JOB, YOU TWO!!
Luke, the piece is absolutely brilliant! It has that uncanny sci-fi vibe given by the unfamiliar illumination. The kind that you would have to use if your space freighter were going though some trouble. And you did it so convincingly!! I wouldn't even know what kind of references to look for!! And then (not happy with displaying your painting prowess) you then filled with all sorts of details and visual eye-candy? The displays of the tanks, the slightly faded numbers on the walls, the suit... THE SUIT!!! Truly an absolute delight of an illustration!!
Narid, the story is RIVETTING!! Makes me wish there was a whole book dedicated to the intricacies of space faring furs!! I didn't know you were a writer!! And a formidable one, at that!! I enjoy your style. It is very fact-of-the-matter: you say the things that need saying, and the rest can be left for the reader to fill in the gaps! Truly! The way you narrate these events made me question at some point... "Heck, maybe I should volunteer as Tank #4!!"
MARVELOUS JOB, YOU TWO!!
EEEEEE, thanks Tzin! I'm really glad you liked the story, it was a rare brain-gem for me ^^
I look forward to writing more stuff like this in the future ^^
I look forward to writing more stuff like this in the future ^^
Tzin out here turning on the hot shower in the form of a very beautifully worded comment. Thank you so much <3
A fun little story, wonder who will end up next to pull the short straw. Hopefully one of the ones that secretly wanted it xD
Haha. If you were on that ship perhaps you can find a way to rig it!
A great piece of work, and the accompanying story really helped to expand it. :) Thanks for sharing this with us!
And thank YOU for your comment! It means a lot you like it <3
Okay, so it took just 2 days for him to reach this point, and he will reach full capacity in 2 more days. This means it takes 4 days for one of these "tanks" to reach max capacity. When tank 3 reaches his max, there will be 5 more days of travel through the slime field, which means, when they are through the slimes, they will have one more "tank" at max capacity and another with a days worth of slime (Maybe 30%). So at least half of the crew will become emergency slime storage with 2 of them being barely mobile. (Lucky bastards)
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