by Brian Clark
Dog Got Your Tongue
Book 1 of the Folician Chronicles
Copyright 2015 Brian Clark
Published by Brian Clark at Smashwords
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Definitions and Characters
About Brian Clark
Other books by Brian Clark
Connect with Brian Clark
Acknowledgements
There are a large number of people who have encouraged me to get this story published. I have posted stories on both Literotica.com and Wattpad.com. Many of my readers from those two sites have been incredibly helpful in getting me to this point. For the moment I am going to mention them by username and not their real names. I do wish that I could list everyone who has encouraged me but that would be a book all by itself.
Some of the readers are, no particular order, Bearslady, Payenbant, Dogmen21, Silveress (my evil nemesis), Flamedk, Kagenesti, and Fayelcrow. All of the people listed here have helped with editing, offering plot suggestions, and reviewing the book. Though I only listed a few of my readers and helpers my hat is off to everyone else who read my stories. Without seeing the number of reads and votes I might not have made it this far so again many thanks.
As far as the actual story my main concern was to have fun writing it. There are more bad jokes than you can shake a stick at. Many of my readers had a great deal of fun as they were egging me on by groaning in agony. I hope many more enjoy my stories and bad jokes as well as characters who are as real as I can make them.
Prologue
Ray had gone out to the farm with his boss though normally Ray stayed and worked with the small pets. He had a heart condition that didn’t lend itself to working with large animals since more than a bit of strain could cause problems. Ray did love horses and some of the other large animals but knew that he simply couldn’t work with them due to his heart. In this case it was essentially to hold Simon’s, the senior Vet’s, coat and hand him instruments he needed.
One of the prize horses of the Windham’s had managed to lacerate a knee and they had been planning to breed her. It had taken several hours of intensive work to get the laceration sutured and make sure that the joint hadn’t been damaged. They were finally done and while Simon was talking to the Windhams Ray took the various items to the van and put them away. By the time he was done with that Simon was still talking and he decided to take a short walk around.
It might sound odd but the smell of well groomed horses and horse farms brought back memories from when he was young. They hadn’t owned horses but his father had worked at a stable as the senior stable hand and he had grown up with the scent. About time Ray left home for college his parents had saved enough money to purchase a small ranch. He had been there several times and it was a nice place.
As he was thinking about his family he walked behind a barn and leaned against a fence. In the field were a group of foals gallivanting around and he was enjoying watching them. When he felt a twinge from his chest he glanced at his watch and took his meds since it was time.
He was so frustrated with his cardiac problem since he had to take the meds to survive. Ray had seen the best cardio-thoracic surgeons and all had said that short of a heart transplant nothing could be done. If he did get a transplant he would have to quit being a vet due to the other meds he would be on. It would reduce his body’s immune response and he would have a greater chance of getting an infection. That would be bad for the new heart and could cause even more problems.
As he was looking out over the fields he started feeling dizzy and staggered. Ray tried to reach for the pocket where his meds were. Before he could even grasp the bottle he felt a darkness fold over him. As everything went dark he had to wonder if this was going to be the end. Early on the doctors had told him that every day he lived beyond his teens was a miracle. It looked like the miracle had run out and it was time to see what was next.
*Relax Rayfuso Johnson and I will take care of you.* The voice was soft and warm in his mind.
~~~
Eventually Simon finished talking to the Windham’s and went to look for Ray. Since the young man didn’t, well couldn’t, do much with the large animals Simon hadn’t said anything after he loaded the equipment and started wandering. Ray had worked for Simon since he had graduated from college and they had talked a fair amount. He knew that Ray had grown up around animals and enjoyed working with them. This gave him some time to be around the large animals without having to worry about his heart condition.
“Well I will talk to you later Marge and check on your mare in three days. Have a good one.” After shaking hands with her he took a moment to ensure everything had been packed up into the company vehicle. Once that was done he called for Ray that he was ready to leave. When he didn’t respond Simon wasn’t worried since it was a fair sized horse farm. After a few minutes of calling and wandering around he frowned since he had expected Ray to respond at some point. “Well shoot, he must have wandered a bit further than expected.”
He pulled out his cell and gave Ray a call and the phone went straight to voicemail after informing him the phone was not available. That was normal and didn’t worry him too much. He left a voicemail and then tried both sending a text and calling again. Since he still hadn’t gotten a response he was starting to get concerned. Normally he wouldn’t worry except Ray had the heart condition and that could have cause him to pass out.
Simon hurried over to Marge who was talking to one of her hands. “Marge my junior vet isn’t responding to his name or phone. He has a medical problem that might have caused him to pass out. Can you send your available hands out to start looking for him?”
Marge glanced at him and gave him a decisive nod. “You don’t even need to ask Simon. Give me a bit of time to get my hands here and we will help you look.” She turned to the hand she had been talking to and he was already on the radio calling for everyone to meet at the main barn. She gave him a few more orders as well.
Since she was taking care of that Simon called 911 just in case it was a problem with Ray’s heart. He was definitely starting to become concerned about Ray. It wasn’t fear as of yet but definitely concerned.
~~~
Simon had finally been forced to go back to the office several hours later. The search had shown he had gone behind a barn and then the scent trail had been lost. The officers, farm hands, and volunteers were still searching and he was now classified as a missing person with a probable medical condition.
When he arrived back at the office he called the staff in and updated them on what was going on. He had called earlier to let them know that Ray had gone missing and now was officially classified as a missing person. It was going to hit everyone hard since all of them liked the young man. Many of the customers liked his comfortable and easy to talk to attitude.
; That hadn’t been fun in any way and had definitely put a damper on what had been a good day. It might be chicken of him but he was glad he wasn’t going to be the one to have to tell his family. The police had told him they would take care of that. Simon had a feeling that they would be calling him though and he wasn’t looking forward to that. “I am going to head home and wait for his parents to call.”
Chapter 1
“Doctor we are losing him. His heart rate is spiking and his blood pressure is dropping.” That caused a fractional pause before the doctor started yelling out orders. This was most definitely not what they had expected when they brought him in.
Ray was currently lying on a treatment bed though he didn’t know it since he was still unconscious from being brought in. When he had been brought in all of his medications had been removed from his system as was normal. They had been tagged as potentially hazardous by the computers which had caused the current crisis.
The Doctor hurried over and activated her HUD screen and ran through the initial scans but they didn’t show anything vastly abnormal. Yes there had been a few indicators of some medical issue but nothing like this since the medications had concealed the problem. Once his heart started reacting to the loss of the medications additional scans had been started. With the detailed scans they showed an opening in his heart and it looked like it had been controlled by the medications removed. “Damn it the scans hadn’t shown that.”
“Is the IV started? Start pushing…” She started calling out medications that would stabilize him for the moment. While her team was working on him she tapped away on a virtual console. She started a very detailed scan of his heart and set the results to feed directly to her HUD. While that was happening she pulled up another VR screen and started entering commands.
It only took about two minutes for both the scan to process and the results to be fed to the second screen. Once the results were displayed on the HUD she started entering commands via her virtual keyboard.
Moments later a syringe was ejected from a dispenser located next to the bed. Just looking at the syringe the contents appeared to be a rather thick viscous gray solution. Additionally the solution seemed to be moving inside the thick syringe.
“Doctor for the moment he appears to be stabilized. His heart rate is coming down and his blood pressure is coming up. The oxygen perfusion is climbing as well.” One of the medical assistants looked up with concern in her amber eyes.
“Good, I just need to verify the treatment before administering it.” As she was talking she placed a drop from the tip of the needle onto a sensor pad. The computer took a few moments to run diagnostics on the sample and showed green. She turned and connected the syringe to a port on the IV and slowly injected it. Once it was in she disconnected it and tossed the syringe into a disposal unit.
“I am going to check in with the Captain. Keep Ray under constant supervision. I want updates every fifteen minutes for the first two hours and then every half hour thereafter.” She walked into her office and settled in her chair and pulled the hat and mask off. “Grr I hate these things.” After scratching behind one ear she sat up and verified her HUD was showing his status before contacting the Captain.
“Good morning Ma’am. We managed to get him stabilized and I have administered a treatment that should resolve his heart condition.” She scratched her ear again and mentally grumbled. She had sweated due to the stress and was going to need a shower and some food. “I am monitoring him and will examine him in several hours once the treatment has had a chance to start working.”
The Captain sighed and scratched her chin lightly. “This was not expected or needed. Any idea what happened?” It was something they were going to have to look further into to help prevent something like this in the future.
The doctor tilted her head to the side as she contemplated the question. “I do have a few ideas but I will need to talk to the Chief Engineer. I will see about that this afternoon if possible.” She had a feeling it was related to the medications hiding the cause of his problems.
“Keep me updated on his status but just send messages to me. No need to call unless there is a problem. As far as talking to the Chief Engineer once you are done I will have her send a report to me. I want one from you as well.” They talked briefly for a few more moments before the Captain disconnected the call.
After a good stretch the doctor stood up and walked out of her office. “I am going to my rooms to shower and get something to eat. Keep me updated please and as long as he is stable I will be back in about two hours.” Yes the HUD would let her know but she preferred a hand on approach to medicine.
Both assistants had stripped their gowns off and were in their medical uniforms which were red. The only difference with the doctor’s uniform was the gold on her sleeves. “Yes Ma’am and see you later.” One said.
~~~
She walked into her quarters and was met by her assistant. “Good morning Ma’am and were you able to save the young man?” She moved over to the doctor and helped her remove the doctor’s coat and hung it up. “Shall I get you something to drink and eat Ma’am?” She already knew the answer but it was part of their routine.
The Doctor’s assistant knew everything the doctor dealt with on a daily basis. It allowed her to best serve her needs without anything being mentioned. It also allowed the doctor to concentrate on her work and not worry about the minor details such as cleaning, laundry, and other day to day activities.
“Please and I am going to take a quick shower since I sweated a fair amount this morning.” She walked into her bedroom and then to the bathroom. After removing her uniform she stepped into the shower and smiled as the water flowed over her body. She wouldn’t be in there long but it was enough time for her assistant to get food for the two of them.
While her mistress was showering she set the table and started a fresh pot of the doctor’s favorite tea. After a check to ensure everything was perfect she walked into the bathroom just as her mistress stepped out of the shower. “This evening I will give you a good massage before you go to bed.” She wrapped a toweling robe around the doctor and ran a quick brush through her hair. “The table is ready.”
“Thank you and I really don’t know what I would do without you.” She leaned forward and gave her a light kiss and hug. “The day you picked me is a day I will never forget.” When her assistant returned the hug and kiss the doctor had to smile in satisfaction and relax. She was so helpful and unobtrusive. The Doctor couldn’t even think of the number of times she had turned to ask her to do something and it had been done. That was one reason she made a point of paying a great deal of attention to her.
She wrinkled her nose at her. “Not nearly as well as you do with me.” The doctor was one of the best mistresses she had ever worked for. If she had her say she would never leave her service and that was definitely saying something. Most assistants moved from mistress to mistress for years before they settled down. It was simply who and what they were.
The doctor laughed at her comment and lightly stroked her assistant’s cheek before linking arms and leading her out to the living area. “Now that smells good and you are simply too good for me.” She settled down at the table and while she ate she reviewed the notes from when Ray had been brought in. It was an interesting case and she was going to have to find out why they hadn’t picked up the heart problem.
Her assistant settled down across from her and ate as well while her mistress reviewed her notes on the man. “So when will he be out of medical and will I get to meet him?” She gave the doctor a sly look only to get an eye roll from her. “I think it would be interesting to meet him and he is probably going to be scared. It would help me to see if an assistant might be good for him.”
The doctor leaned back and narrowed her eyes as she was thinking and slowly nodded. “That is actually a very good idea. Just having his condition resolved is likely to cause stress. To have someone there for him while he recovers would be very hel
pful.” She gave her assistant a brilliant smile. “Once we are done we can go and see him. I am keeping him asleep for a while till I am sure his condition is resolved.”
Her assistant almost melted at the smile and returned it. “I will go and get ready while you finish eating.” She stood and walked into the other room and took a few moments to check her hair and makeup before verifying her uniform was still looking good. For that she had to smile slightly since the uniform was fitted as well as wrinkle and stain proof. It was a habit and not one she planned on getting rid of though.
Once she was ready she walked out and gathered up the dishes and put them in the recycler. After helping the doctor back into her medical jacket she verified that she was looking her best and then stepped aside. “Lead on Ma’am and show me to this pretty young man.”
The doctor rolled her eyes since her assistant had no interest in males. “Hedonist, if I didn’t know better I would be a bit worried.” She walked out the door and back to medical. When she walked in her staff smiled at her and her assistant.
All knew her and liked her since she always had time to talk to them. It didn’t matter what it was about she would make the time when possible. Even though she was the doctor’s assistant she seemed to have adopted the medical department. It was another part of taking care of her mistress and it showed.
~~~
In medical while the doctor examined the man her assistant Still Waters, Aqua for humans, chatted with the staff that was in the room. She did have a medical background since she had worked extensively with clients who were connected to the medical profession. In this case, aboard the ship, her job was to gather reports from the junior assistants as she looked after the emotional morale of the crew.
Aqua was the doctor’s assistant but part of that was she kept tabs on the state of the crew. Aqua reported issues she or the other assistants couldn’t resolve or needed a medical touch. Much of the time it was just a case of having someone pay attention to a person’s wants, desires, and problems. She provided massages and some personal grooming as well. Aqua did draw the line at sexual activity since the doctor was her lover and she didn’t need to look anywhere else.