"It's time," he said.
Wordlessly, I unstrapped from the chair and followed him into the small airlock behind our seats. The airlock was already colder than the cockpit, though still filled with air. We locked our helmets into place, closed our face shields, powered up our oxygen tanks and prepared to open the airlock to the lab in the back of the shuttle.
Pressing the button did nothing. No countdown to open. No voice over the intercom telling us to stay calm.
The message would've been futile. I was not calm. I tapped the red button three or four times, hoping it had malfunctioned or something. Behind me, Gunnar tapped the red button to re-enter the cockpit. Instead of sliding open and returning our access to the shuttle's controls, the doors remained shut.
"This is bad," Gunnar said. "It feels like we're drifting off course."
"We're not drifting." When we entered the airlock, the ship had shaken, almost like we'd hit something. The shuttle had sensors everywhere to alert us to incoming asteroids or space junk, but no alarms had gone off. Whatever had shaken us had been triggered by the resealing of the airlock. Someone back on earth, either my father or Dr. Bunting, knew exactly what was happening to us.
I wasn't taking any chances. While we still had breathable air, I removed my flight suit and folded it neatly.
"What are you doing?" Gunnar asked.
The room had bench seats that folded up when they weren't in use. I tucked my suit behind one, hoping it would hold if we lost semi-gravity. I didn't know what to do with my helmet, so I lowered it to cover my crotch. "Remember when I said to do what I do?"
He nodded.
"Trust me. You're going to need your flight suit."
He unzipped his suit, still glaring at me like I'd lost my mind.
After a beat, I stripped out of my compression wear, too, standing only in my stretchy boxer briefs. I doubted they would stretch enough for my wolf, but Gunnar looked scandalized enough.
I turned my back on him in the six-by-six space. Two full-sized wolves could fit, but it would be tight.
"Whatever happens, remember we're friends, all right?"
"I wouldn't go that far," he said. "What do you think is going to happen?"
We both felt it at the same time, the strange sensation of leaving our stable atmosphere. The shuttle shifted a few degrees my way, and Gunnar stumbled into my arms.
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I don't feel so well. I think I'm gonna throw up." He fell to his knees.
The sense of disequilibrium hit me, too, but I didn't fear it this time. "Relax and let it happen," I said.
I thought I said the words aloud, but the change came over me so quickly. One moment, I stood in the airlock. The next, I was on all fours, tail wagging at my delicious smelling mate. In my wolf form, I was certain Gunnar belonged to me.
He sat back on his haunches, his human face contorted in anguish. The change started at his hands, his fingers cracking and popping in agonizing slow motion.
"Let it happen."I nosed his hand, and his eyes snapped open. Instead of their usual hazel, they were now gold. I saw my reflection there, my golden eyes matching his.
"What is this? What are you?"
"We. This is what we are."I didn't know if Bunting had done something to us, or if we had always been predisposed to turn into wolves.
Gunnar shuddered, and suddenly, a wolf stood in his place, shaking his fur. He dropped down on all fours and crawled to me, butting his head under my chin.
"Alpha. Mate. Mine. Claim."
He was handling his first transition a lot better than I had. At least we still had breathable air and didn't need the helmets."Not so fast,"I said."We need to switch back to being humans with opposable thumbs, and then we need to find a way out of the airlock."
"What about the experiments?"
"Experiments be damned. Those fuckers will have to send up two more astronauts."
"Will they be wolves like us?"He nosed at my neck."Are they all wolves like us?"
