DISCLAIMER: The following story is a fictional group of random thought particles from the recesses of my mind. Setting of the series are based of the works of Lurking Dragon's Rejuve Universe, in accordance with his writer's guide. This random stream of semi-conscious thought depicts a play spanking of a rejuve boy. If this or a fictional story set there offends carefully cultured sensibilities, or you have yet to reached the rank of major in what you think is society, then please recycle these electrons to save bandwidth sooner than possible.
Editorial help provided by Timmythewiz
—Rogue (who's existence has yet to be disproved)
New Beginnings
Friday, 17th of August 2773
Part 2 of Pint-Sized Engineer
“Thank you, for taking care of that Phillip, Oh got to go, he's waking up,” Rodger became aware his wife's voice followed by the distinctive sound of a comm unit closing. He realized he must be laying down, and as he slowly opened his eyes, everything looked further away than expected and much bigger. He though it must be that trick when your eyes aren't focused properly so he closed his eyes and tried again. No change; strange. “Melanie...” his voice was strangely high pitched.
“I'm here Darling, no don't sit up Honey, get your bearings first, and yes this is Renewal's sick bay, and yes you have been rejuvenated,” she answered before he could ask.
Rodger's memories started to sort themselves out, then he suddenly remembered why he was here, that fireball, “Karlara?!” he inquired urgently.
“She'll be fine, thanks in no small part to you, just some nano-treatments to fix the minor damage to her lungs, and to regrow her fur, she did not need to rejuvenate. She will probably want to see you in a couple of days, once her fur regrows, you know how Jalaxians are about appearances.”
“Glad to hear she'll be alright,” Rodger said has relaxed back into the medical bed, looking at the silver 'M' on the back of his to small hands, denoting his status as a Medicalos, “How young?”
“Well while Karlara only needed nano treatments from her exposure, because of you shielding her with that tarp and your body, you had extensive 3rd degree burns to both your skin and your lungs. While they were able to get you to the full unit here in sick bay, where Dr Brin made your second rejuve, and he did manage to bring it right down to the minimum limit, it was needed as you hit the century problem with the first, and the emergency rejuve ran a little long. I'm afraid to tell you are now my 8 year old son.”
Rodger did not know how to respond, other than to be glad he was alive. So he took the offered hand mirror and gave his new face a good look over. Of course, at the same time it was a old familiar face he had when he was a kindern, but memories blur a little. The rejuve had of course removed the sun bleached tips it his short light brown hair, It will probably be back by the end of next summer, and restored some baby fat to his face adding some softness to his baby blues. He stared into them, Some people say you could tell a rejuve from a kindern even without the silver markings, just by looking into his eyes, I can't really tell, perhaps I wasn't old enough yet, or perhaps it is bunk.
Then Dr Brin walked into the room, “Ah good to see your awake Com... sorry Master Murphie, just a few last checks before you mother can take you home." Rodger let out a sigh as former colleague did his quick check up, begin 8 again is gonna take some getting use to.
After Rodger was discharged and dressed in some loose fitting standard boys' rejuve clothes, his wife, come mother, and he had the V.I.P. section of space elevator car to themselves, with Rodger on her lap, Melanie took advantage of the couple of hours it will take for the car to reach the socket in Maiuchi to help orientate her former husband, to his new life as her son. “First lets get what I know of what caused your new status out of the way first.”
“Were we attacked?”
“No Rodger it does not seam to be the case, to the best of our knowledge at the moment. Admiral Robinson will give me a fuller report when the investigation is finished, but the preliminary accounts have it that an unidentified extraterrestrial craft came into the system too close, and too fast, to Renewal, resulting in it crashing into the docking area. That's all that I can tell you honey, and that much is only because you were injured in it, remember your clearance got revoked due to the fact you are a minor now.”
“This will take some getting use to Mel...I mean Mom.”
“This is your first rejuve isn't it honey?”
“Yes Mom, and a lot sooner than I expected.”
“Well then I'm sure you already know this but I'm going to go over it anyway, so you know how I, your now parent, see things. While rejuves have access to all there adult memories, the fact you are in a child's body means there are portions of your brain that not fully developed yet, and part of this is related to complex and long term decision making, other parts that have to do with emotional controls, so that you are in all meaningful ways a child who knows better. Those decisions that you can no longer reliably make I will take up responsibility for making, this means you will have to ask me for advice and permission, just like a kindern of your bio-age, the upside of this is, as a Medicalos any such requests, when reasonable, will be granted: even in favor of those of a non Medicalos. There are two exceptions to this preference, one there of which is not currently an issue on Shinho, so I'll ignore that one for now, but the other, well this is the part I had wanted to talk with you about, in regards to our own children, but now I have tell about you instead. Your Medicalos privileges, are contingent on your good behavior, as we are a Egalitariarchal Traditionalist household.”
Rodger began to feel anxious for reasons he could not quite comprehend, Egalitariarchal Traditionalists, unlike the Patriarchal or Matriarchal Traditionalists hold that both genders are equally important as parents, and neither gender should have more say than the others, he interrupted his mother's explanation, his worry evident in his voice, “Why don't you be a Matriarchal Traditionalist instead Mom!”
Melanie hugged her new son to her tightly, “Don't worry Honey. It does not mean that I'll be looking for a Father for you; you are the only male in my heart. I do intended to be a signal parent, and I'm sure that the Matriarchal Traditionalists, will be more than happy to help me raise you, but I think that there are to many of them that have, in reaction to the Patriarchal Traditionalists, taken things too far the other way, and I do not want you deferring to women just because they are female. While I do think a male influence is as important for children as well my own, but an 'Uncle' would suffice, especial since you are a rejuve, not a kindern. But just remember, I'm the mom,” she said with a wink. “Interrupting an adult who is telling you something like this is something you should not do, but I'm going to put it down to a demonstration of how rejuvenation has affected your decisions, as the old you would not even have thought that I had someone in mind for the role of my husband other than you after you grow back up.”
“I take it that the down-side you were warning me about, is being a Medicalos, is not going to protect me from any naughtiness that I hould know better about?”
“That's right Honey, and what's more as a rejuve you automatically meant to know better, well after we finish this talk that is, but once we finishthat shiny 'M' of yours will not protect your backside if you are naughty. While I expect you to enjoy your Medicalos privileges, I also expect you to be courteous about using them. I work with enough pompous asses that are not courteous with the rank they have been given by the people, not to want my son emulate them.” Rodger nodded understanding.
Just then their was chime at the door followed by a Jalaxian marine stepping through. “Excuse me Governor, but you wanted to know when the security work was finished at your home, they have signaled their completion.”
“Thank you, Major Beerbohm, your timing is perfect, I was just telling Rodger about changes he will have to know about. Now would be a good time to discuss security, with him present,” Melanie gestured for the head of her security detachment to have a seat.
“Thank you Governor. I was just coming to inform you I have had word that the upgrades to your home are completed. As per your request that you wanted it to look like a home, not a fortress. So the grounds surveillance gear and the gatehouse are both secure and complete, they were designed to be very discrete. Also a force dome has been installed but will not be activated unless we have word of a specific threat. As for Master Rodger, I have a young promising marine, that I think would do well on his protection detail. Assuming, of course, that he meets with your approval, Governor.”
“I'll meet him tomorrow, Major, but I'm sure if you are recommending him, that he will be suitable.”
Rodger jaw dropped, “I've never needed my own detail before!”
“Governor, if I may, I'll answer that.”
“If you would, Major.”
“Master Rodger, prior to this you were an adult, and a commissioned officer. As such you were capable of dealing with the threat level to yourself without additional assistance, beyond normal starbase security. But you are an 8 year old rejuve now, and one who has not even started muscle reconditioning. With the loss of muscle memory, all your self-defense training is now little more than theoretical, in addition tho the rather abrupt shift in your leverage. So as a minor are you less capable of handling any such threat, and as a young minor the threat level has increased, as you have gone from the spouse of the Governor, to being her son. As such you are a much more valuable target. Shinho might be a small peaceful colony, but, it also trading port, one that deals with races that we barely know. Races that we barely knew existed before the colony was founded. Anyway I'm sure you will like the Gunny.”
“It still sucks,” Rodger conceded with a huff. Being a rejuve is going to take some getting use to.
The rest of the trip down space elevator was rather uneventful, as Rodger's wife come mother, kept him entertained playing holo-chess. Rodger found his game had suffered a little, Melanie's deviousness use to match fairly evenly with his ability to keep track of all the pieces easily, but now he was having trouble seeing her traps coming until it was too late. When they arrived at the Maiuchi Socket, one of the Major's team had the hovercar ready for them and drove them down the mountain to the residential neighborhoods. The Murphies, hadn't spent too much time in their house, as they had found the Governor's residence much more convenient until now. But they had planned ahead for having children of their own, though they were not sure if it was going to be this cycle, as they had both been so busy with work. So while they were in a kindern rated neighborhood, they were right on the edge of the Rejuve neighborhood, so it was non issue of having a rejuve in their home. Rodger just had to be careful which direction he went to play. While it wouldn't really be an issue for a medicalos to wander around a kindern neighborhood unescorted, it was frowned on.
Melanie started to get an infectious air of excitement as she lead Rodger up to the door. She paused to make sure Rodger was there, ready to enter, before she thumbed open the lock sensor. The door slid open reveling in the hallway a banner that read 'Happy Birthday Rodger'. Rodgers eye's lit up while the back of his mind wondered why was such a little thing getting such a strong response.
“Happy birthday, Honey,” Melanie wished her new son as she lead into the living room.
Rodger eyes were instantly drawn to piled a mound of brightly wrapped presents piled on the large coffee table in the middle of the room, and let go of the maternal hand and raced over the pile, reaching out for them.
With a repressed giggle, Melanie, warned him “Uh uh. Not quite so fast Honey.”
Roger hand stop just before the pile and look over his sholder at her as she took a seat on the couch. His look begged to know why.
“Come over here first, Honey. There just one small thing that needs to be taken care of before presents”
Rodger hurried over to to her, “What, Mommy?”
“Oh just the small matter of you birthday spanking,” she said quickly and she reached out and up ended him over her lap, “to get finished before you can open your presents.” Then, before he could react, she gave him a swat that was light enough not to hurt, but hard enough to definitely be felt. “One,” she intoned still with a giggle just barely kept out of her voice, before she hand a second much like the first. “Two”
Rodger began to squirm and giggle as she counted upwards to eight, as if the swats were transmitting his new mother's mirth. Until after a she intoned the eighth playful swat, she added “And one to grow on!” She let the last one to carry the barest hint of sting. Which Rodger hammed up an “Owwie." Then she pulled him in to a hug.
“Ok, my rascal, off you go, dig into them”
Rodger leaped of her lap and was tearing into the first present, lickity-split, until he was holding a bright blue safety helmet in his hand, thinking to him self, now that got to go with something else! Before grabbing the next present he could reach. He tore in only to find, the navy blue with red trim and white sailor style twin penneted collar (also red trimmed), sailor suit uniform that belonged to Maiuchi Rejuve Elementary. He looked inquisitively over his shoulder holding it up, not expecting clothing among birthday presents, Christmas I would have understood, but not on my birthday?
“Oh Honey, it was a rush order even getting you a new wardrobe delivered in time from Rejuves-R-Us, once we knew your size so that it would be ready when I brought you home. There would not have been time to have someone pack away the clothes, so I had them simply wrap them along with your other gifts, but look on the bright side as a Medicalos, you don't also need a set of the shorts with the removable seats that are also officially a part of the uniform.”
“But those are for pennies”
“They're for any rejuvenated boys who's parents want him to wear them, or for boys who's teachers have to spank them so often that they request the convenience,” she teased with a wink, “why don't you see what else you got.”
Rodger set aside his new school uniform, and proceeded to unwrap the rest of the presents. Mixed in the foundations of his new wardrobe, was safety elbow and kneepads that match the helmet, which made him frown a bit when he found them, the helmet made him think the might be a bike in the garage or something, but the pads would be over kill on a bike. He also found a few holo-games, a cool Lego construction set. He also found a holo-decorator. If you haven't had the pleasure of using one, you set it down in the middle of the room, and it will scan the room, then let holographically choose things like wall colors or papers, and furniture from it's build in catalog, and display them like it would look like in to room, lighting conditions and all, no more guessing if the thing would go or not before you buy. This one had obviously been preset with a budget and age appropriate selections loaded, but with this Rodger can make his bedroom, well, his. But as grand a gift as that was, it was not the crowning glory. For hidden at the bottom of the gift pile was something the put the lie to the his thought that his mother was mollycoddling him with the pads. It was his very own hoverboard! A Volintaras his age would consider himself very lucky to have one, a Penny wouldn't even dream of one. This was better then a bike, as outside of Maiuchi, Shinho had very few roads, hoverboard can cross the undeveloped terrain much better than a bike. What more this board had thrusters! Even if a Volintaras had a hoverboard, it definitely would not have thrusters at his age! Rodger got up and give his mother a big hug.
“Thank you Mommy! You're the best!”
“You're welcome Honey,” she said, before adding, “Go put your things in your room while I get dinner ready.”
Rodger cheerfully complied.
Later that evening after dinner with birthday cake, and being bathed by his wife turned mother, he was dressed in Dr Denton sleeper playing around with the holo-decorator. When the gatehouse intercom buzzer went off, shortly there after his mother called to him.
“Rodger, come down here, it appears we have company.”
Rodger provisionally saved the settings and made his way downstairs. When he got to the hallway, before he could ask who it was, His mother was opening the door. He was surprised to see it was Prime Minster Felixian, pushing Karlara in a one of those temporary issue wheel chairs. She was wearing a small axillary oxygen mask, and her fur was reduced to singed tufts. She definitely seen better days. Though she carried a warped present on her lap.
“Sorry to bother you today Melanie, but Karlara insisted on it when she heard Rodger had been rejuvenated. I know today meant to be just family, but she was quite insistent that it had to be today.”
“That's all right Farlar, after what they went thought together I'm sure tradition can be bent a little. Please won't you both come in?”
“Thank you but we will not be staying long, as Karalara needs to get home to rest so the nanites can have time to fix her lungs.”
Karlara took in a breath to speak but had what she planned to say cut off by a coughing fit.
“Are you all right there, Karlara?” Melanie inquired with concern.
More carefully Karalar answered with a small voice “Yes Governor Murphie, it just the nanites make me feeling like I have the biggest hairball ever. Ah there you are Commander!”
“Just Rodger now, Karlara, my commission was suspended with the rejuve. Glad you will be all right. And good evening Prime Minister” Rodger added belatedly.
Farlar nodded acknowledgment so as not to cut off his daughter who was preparing to continue.
“Ok, Rodger it is then. I understand because of the rejuve, today is now your birthday?”
“Yes, I'm now 8 again.”
“Well, I brought you a birthday present.” she said as she held out thepackage that had been resting in her lap. As Rodger took the package it was light despite it's size, “Go on open it up.” she encouraged.
Rodger tore open the wrapping, and opened the box, inside there was a plushie about the size of his torso. It was obviously meant to be a stylized Jalaxian, with a spotted fur pattern, and and almost mane like head hair.
“It is a Lazuli, It traditional for some your age to have one, he meant to guard your sleep.” she began to explain, but was caught short by another coughing fit.
“You can tell him the story another time, Karlara, we really must be getting home now. Thank you for indulging Karlara with the visit today Melanie.”
“Think nothing of it, after what these two went though together. Now don't either of you be strangers, you are welcome to visit any time.” Karlara saved her throat and simply waved her goodbyes, which Rodger returned.
After their visitors had left Melanie declared it was time for Rodger to be in bed. As she tucked him into bed with the Lazuli plushie, she remarked, “Well that saves us one thing we don't need try to squeeze in your busy day tomorrow. Was that sweet of her, she saved us having to take you teddy bear shopping tomorrow.”
Rodger merely squeezed the plushie to his chest, and made a tired nod of agreement, as he quickly feel asleep as it has been a tiring day, and drifted off into dreams of what his new life had in store for him.
