Little Stars - Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3

The crew gathered around the bridge, sitting in a circle next to the pilots chairs. While they were still floating a little above the ground The backs of them towered above their heads, the two wolves that had been seated there having to carefully work their way down. The first command they’d given the android was to change Andreas into a diaper, the rest of the crew giving him some privacy by allowing him to have it done in the corridor rather than having an audience on the bridge.

Aster was sitting next to Searle and carefully reading through some documentation on a touch screen pad. He’d been silent for the past thirty minutes, even as the rest of the crew had been talking and trying to break the firm ice that the circumstances had built around them.

The second pilot, his own trainers still dry, got up and walked over to Circles, holding out his paw. It shook nervously, the wolf's fur standing on end as his nerves visibly frayed in front of the armadillo.

“He.. hey! I’m Luke”

Circles took the paw and gave it a single shake, his face still feeling numb from the bottle feeding “Hey, name’s Circles. You’re the co-pilot right?”

Luke nodded, noticeably relaxing “Yeah… this is my first space flight though. Was supposed to just be a routine colony mission but…” he sniffled, wiping his nose and shaking his head a little “It’s a bit much to take in, you know?”

With a soft crinkle, Circles squirmed in place “Yeah, tell me about it. Didn’t expect to be wearing diapers and dealing with crazy androids when I woke up”

“Sorry that you ummm… had an accident” Luke's tail went between his legs “I dunno if I want them to make me use that potty though…”

Circles raised an eyebrow “I mean, they’re going to either change your underwear or let you use the bathroom. Either way you’re getting a weird mechanical bathroom experience.”

Luke looked at the ground, his left footpaw pulling up on its toes and twisting as his embarrassment increased “But… it looked really scary” his head turned to face Pytel, the fox staring out the window and ignoring the conversations taking place in the circle “I dunno if… I think I’d prefer to…”

“You’d rather use the diaper?”

The wolf’s eyes went wide and then settled, a blush appearing on his cheeks before he nodded slowly “Uh huh.”

Circles sighed “How old are… were you kid?”

“I’m a cadet, I was nineteen and just got my pilot license. Andreas was my flight school teacher and…”

“And your superior officer.” the now diapered pilot interrupted from across the circle “Careful Luke, he’s a civilian. Remember your training, alright?”

The initial shock of the interruption disappeared from Luke’s face “Yeah but… we need to share what we can…”

Andreas shook his head “Sorry kid, that’s not up to you.” he gave Circles a glare “I’d appreciate it if you found another subject other than our history. Confidential defense stuff, you know?”

The armadillo shook his head “Actually no, I don’t know.” he glared back, his muzzle twisting “You don’t trust me?”

“It’s not a question of trust” Andreas met his gaze, the two locked in eye contact that might have seemed somewhat intimidating if they weren’t in the most babyish underwear in the room “It’s a question of policy. If Aster says I can share something, I will. Until then, you’re gonna wait for his commands. Understood?”

Circles nodded, looking over to the bear who was still heavily focussed on the tablet in front of him. The military was not something he’d had much interaction with outside of occasional engineering work, and he now felt distinctly out of place among the hierarchical structure forming around him.

“Sir, you’re visibly squirming. I’d strongly advise…”

“I can hold it Sloane”

The doctor sighed and shrugged, “Permission to speak freely?”

Aster dropped his tablet to one side, visibly annoyed and turned to face her “Permission granted, what do…”

“You’re basically doing the potty dance. You’re going to wet your trainers just as Circles and Andreas have done. As the ship doctor I’m also, technically, the ship pediatrician. If you don’t use the potty, I’ll order an android to force you to.”

The rest of the crew now had all their eyes on the captain. The bear's expression was stern, focussed on the doctor like he was trying to bore through her skull. She responded in kind, her eye contact never wavering and her body tensing up to stand her ground. The silence in the circle only exacerbated the sense of dread forming among its members, each of them waiting for the explosive result.

“Fine” Aster got to his feet, walking towards the door “I’ll be back shortly. Doctor, please brief the crew on your pediatric expertise and its new importance to our mission.”

She nodded, her face relaxing “Yes sir, thank you sir”

The bear trudged out to the corridor, his order for an android the last thing the crew heard before he disappeared out of view and the door closed behind him.

“Such a child…” Searle shook her head, looking around at the crew “Anyone else need to go potty?”

Everyone shook their heads. Circles and Andreas looked down at their diapers, blushes coming to their faces.

“Right, listen to me. It’s clear from our current situation that we’re all going to have to adjust to the idea of being toddlers for the time being” Searle stood up, her own pink training pants poking out the top of a pair of tight shorts “You’re all likely going to be having different or difficult emotional reactions. For toddlers, that’s entirely normal. Your captain thinks he’s too big a boy to use the potty and would like to use a toilet.” she looked back at the door, making sure he wasn’t back yet “But he isn’t. None of us are, certainly not to the ships AI or the androids”

“That’s absurd,” Andreas said. “We’re in the bodies of children but all our knowledge is clearly still intact. If it wasn’t you’d be a useless doctor.”

Sloane shook her head “I am, at least in terms of being able to actually treat major injuries or ensure your safety. I have no team, and the androids were designed to be my assistants”

Pytel looked up from his crouched position “So… they’re acting this way because… because you programmed them to?”

Sloane visibly tightened up “At first I was confused as to why this was happening. The ship's AI should recognise that we’re the crew, but the androids were never programmed to recognise us as both adults and children simultaneously. Can you imagine a use case where that would be likely to be needed?”

The group looked at each other, a mix of emotions passing over their faces as various realizations shot through their brains.

“So this is your fault!” Andreas pushed himself off the floor enough to float directly in front of her, pointing at the doctor with a fierce look.

“If it makes you feel better, yes.” Searle shook her head “But frankly I doubt anyone in this room would include programming with this kind of contingency.”

A guilty expression began to form on the wolf's face, his diaper crinkling as his tail moved between his legs. He grumbled and sat back down, trying to avoid looking at anyone else.

A loud bang suddenly came from the doorway. Circles pushed himself towards the door first, the rest of the crew jumping up afterwards as the armadillo shouted out.

“Captain! Is that you? Are you alright?”

More noises came from the door, muffled pattering that increased in volume until the door shot open automatically. Aster threw himself past the group, clearly having pushed hard off of a surface somewhere in the corridor, and grabbed onto one of the pilot chairs to spin himself around and back towards the entrance of the bridge.

“Close the door! Now!”

Pytel ran towards the console next to the door and firmly pressed his palm into the emergency door lock, just as an android with a potty still hanging off its chest wheeled into view.

“Captain!” Luke pushed himself close and stopped using the other chair “What happened, are you ok?”

“Dumb robot…” Aster grimaced “Stupid, dumb…”

It was then that everyone noticed the current state of Asters underwear. The training pants around his waist were torn on one side, as though a parent had started to change him and stopped halfway through. The front was visibly still dry, but the bear's thighs were clearly damp and matted.

The captain had had an accident, but not in his training pants.

“Sir, what happened” Sloane shouted, “What did you do?”

Aster pushed himself into a fully upright position, his trainers staying on by virtue only of the low gravity “I asked to use the adult bathroom, it refused to unlock the door” he clenched his fists “So I punched the thing while it was making me a… a potty”

Sloanes face dropped “You did what?! You idiot! How did you think that would…”

“Doctor I would remind you I’m still your superior officer” he pushed himself towards her, stopping himself with his feet only when his muzzle was a few inches from hers “And right now, I’m trying to ensure we can use the facilities”

He held up a small item in his hands “I asked the android to make me a laser cutter. It gave me this.. Thing”

The bright white plastic that was in the palm of his hand was certainly not a mechanical laser cutter. It looked far more like a flashlight or…

“That’s a kids toy!” Luke said “We can’t use that!”

Circles took the item from Aster's hand, the captain not even bothering to correct him on his behavior. The thing was covered in brightly covered buttons, most of them marked with animal heads from Diadem. The armadillo pressed down on a head that looked like a terran cow.

MOOOOOOO

“This is ridiculous” Andreas shook his head “Are the androids just giving us toys now? Can we not even get basic tools?”

Aster tied the sides of his trainers together, getting the stretchy side into a knot that made him look like he was wearing a strange, plastic backed loincloth “Apparently not. They seem to think we’re too young to use them”

“You are” Searle interrupted “Captain, I just explained this to the crew and I know you’re well aware that these androids can’t tell we’re adults inside child bodies”

Aster growled “Would you have preferred I tried nothing?!”

“I’d have preferred you did as little to injure yourself as possible” Searle said, unintimated by the captains outburst “Or the damage our only source of support”

“The androids?! You’re worried about the androids?!” Andreas pushed himself up to the doctor, a snarl on his face “The captain is nearly killed by one and you’re…”

“Oh for goodness sake, grow up” the doctor pushed Andreas away and then gave him a swat on the rear for good measure, sending the diapered pup back towards his seat “It tried to make him somewhere to pee, you’re all being such…well… babies”

The looks of the crew that weren’t already annoyed or growling immediately joined those that had been.

“Not funny, Doctor” Aster pulled himself back up straight, shifting in the low gravity to gain some height on the rest of the crew “We need a plan, not insults”

Sloane just shrugged and pushed herself towards the door “Fine, while you plan, I need the potty”

The crew watched as their doctor reopened the door and looked out to the two androids still waiting for entry. The one Aster had vigorously escaped from was still worse for wear, a potty hanging from its chest as its double tried to repair it with a welding tool. The door closed behind the doctor as she started to talk to the undamaged robot, something Circles assumed was asking for the use of a potty.

“So, what do we do?” the armadillo asked “If we can’t get any tools, and the androids basically have control of the ship, how the hell do we do… anything?”

The crew all looked at each other with solemn faces. They’d been evidently thinking the same thing, including Aster, who’s anger had started to subside.

“The doctor is certainly no help” Luke piped up “Does she think this is all ok? That us being children is fine?”

Andreas nodded “I’d say so. She certainly has no issue just asking to use a potty like a three year old pup”

“Not that you had a chance” Pytel piped up, getting a glare from the wolf pup that might have been intimidating had his diaper not been crinkling the whole time.

Aster turned and pushed himself up to the front of the bridge, looking out over the blackness of space that the Daedelus was slowly working its way through. The bear cubs frustration was evident, the back of his trainers were no longer staying up around his rear and the slight giggles that came from Luke as he moved away from the group. They all stared him down, but the damage was done.

“We’re toddlers, floating in space and years away from our destination” he mused “Assuming our biological clock has been reset, and we’re not stuck at this age, we’ll grow up as if we were children, right?”

No one answered. Aster sighed “I guess we work on that assumption. I don’t see any reason to suspect we’re stuck this way. We still have all our knowledge and expertise, just no way to use it.”

Circles’ tail went between his legs. His expertise? He was just an engineer

“Sir, what about… you know… these?” he pointed at his diaper “I don’t want to be stuck in these until we get to the planet”

Aster chuckled “Potty train, I guess. Maybe the doctor is onto something”

“You can’t be serious!” Pytel shouted at him “It’s terrifying! I don’t want to use another one of those… things!”

“Scared of the potty monster, little foxy?” Andreas jabbed, sticking his tongue out as he did so.

“Not as much as changing your diapers” Pytel threw back, the wolf pup once again blushing a deep red “You’ve not had to sit on the damn thing while it forces you to pee!”

“Come on guys, please don’t…”

“But what about me and Andreas?” Circles piped up “We’re in diapers now, are the androids even going to let us use the potty?”

“Can you even make it?” Pytel’s attitude was unchanged as he stared at his friend “You and Andreas just peed yourself without even trying to use the…”

“Please shut up!”

The crew looked at Luke, his face scrunched up and angry. He looked like he was about to burst into tears. If he’d been able to stamp his foot into the metal grating of the corridor, he’d almost certainly would’ve done so.

“You’re all being so stupid!” he shouted “We’re not babies! We’re not toddlers! We’re big boys! We should be trying to work out what to do!”

“Big boys?” Aster looked round at his pilot “Did you say big boys?”

Luke blushed, the realization that his brain had actually decided to say those words coming to the fore.

“I… I mean we’re adults!”

“That’s not what you said” Pytel responded, a look of worry crossing his face “Captain, didn’t the doctor say there would be emotional effects as well as physical to this change?”

Aster nodded “She briefed me when we woke up and said the same. You just got the same information I did while I was… out”

“Then it’s possible that we are, actually, toddlers then?” Pytel thoughtfully looked at the floor “That while we do still have our knowledge from our adulthood, in all other respects the androids are… well… right?”

Andreas scoffed “I’m still an adult, I can tell you that”

The rest of the crew didn’t even need to correct him on the current state of his underwear before the wolf pup looked down and his blush renewed.

“Perhaps we can get more information by looking around the ship?” Circles suggested “Not everywhere can be closed off to us, and now that the AI is back up and running we can investigate how to get us to the planet faster.”

For the first time since he’d seen him, Circles noticed Aster smile “Not bad kiddo, that’s a good plan”

Circles felt himself get a little hot behind the ears as the word “kiddo” went through them. Whether it was the toddler in him or just the praise in general it was a nice feeling to be called it.

“Where first then?” Pytel said “We know the toilets are off limits, but maybe the lounge or gymnasium are still accessible?”

Aster thought for a second before nodding “Agreed, those two places also seem like the most likely to provide some much needed relaxation. I could use a zero-g workout, to be honest”

Luke breathed out slowly “I can go with Andreas to the lounge, see if there’s anything there? Maybe we can still order some drinks from the androids or play some cards?”

Pytel nodded “Me, Circles and the captain will head to the gym, in that case, we can explore and…”

“I hope you’re not forgetting about me”

Sloanes voice reached them all and immediately made their previously positive expressions fall.

“Doctor, you’ll go with Andreas and Luke. Let us know what the androids can provide us in terms of sustenance beyond what we’ve seen Circles already have to consume”

The armadillo blushed again “Sir, please, I didn’t want to be bottle-fed!”

Sloane chuckled “You did look cute though, I’ve got to say”

“Doctor, please” Aster spoke up before Circles could respond “You all have your task now. Make your way to the gym or lounge. We’ll reconvene here in four hours”