The discovery of a Light Gem was a godsend to an upstart business venture like Graisse Colonial Development. In the short term though, it was nothing but chaotic.
Three seperate governments had made announcements declaring Graisse to be a protected archeological site before the company could scrap their plans to turn the planet into a mining colony, and before they could even assemble a small army of surveyors and support staff to rebuild their original settlement independent settlers and factions had arrived on Graisse to stake a claim. Things were moving so fast that the company didn't have time to officially designate staffing for leadership of the rapidly growing settlement, leaving the original surveying team to deal with the fallout.
The fiery Eva took the unenviable task of organizing the colony's security and self-defense, deputizing some of the original residents and a handful of independent settlers to keep the rest of the frenzied arrivals in line. Not an easy task by any means, of course. The Light Gem was what made headlines, and the frenzy around it was so great that within a day Eva had to deal with mobs surrounding the Survey HQ that had been turned into an impromptu governing body.
"No one is seeing the Light Gem!" she shouted at the crowd, ears pressed flat against her red hair. "Strict orders from GCD!" Stepping inside as the gathered populace grew restless, the sliding polysteel door slammed down, cutting off the sound from outside. Mumbling curses under her breath, she strode down the hallway to meet the deputies escorting the only civilians allowed inside the HQ; a team of Epican researchers hastily rushed to the scene to document the discovery. Outside of the gray-haired austere human male leading them, they were a curious mix of alien races, all relatively young too. Students maybe? That would explain the air of nervous excitement they had.
"Alright, we're going to escort you guys to the Gem," Eva announced, waving to get their attention. "We set up a secure shielding platform so you can get close without danger, but any tampering and we'll have to throw you out."
"I don't suppose," the lead scientist asked cautiously, adjusting his glasses. "You'd let us meet with the explorer who found the gem? Their insight would be most-"
"I'm afraid not," Eva interrupted. "He's still suffering from a severe case of exposure and requested privacy." There was an audible groan of frustration from the group at this announcement, but the lead scientist merely nodded his head politely.
"Understood, given the circumstances. Lead the way."
Eva did so, leading the scientist and his group of researchers to the Gem, not aware that the group was now a member short.
---
If I get through this, Koty decided, I'm never going to complain about the size of my backside ever again.
Staring morosely at his reflection, he tried again to tug the t-shirt down over his round belly, inhaling deeply to suck in his gut as much as possible Pulling it as far as he could, he stared for a moment before it slowly slipped up again. Letting out his breath in a long sigh, the shirt finished rolling up, exposing his belly button and resting comfortably a few inches above it. This shirt used to be baggy, but after ballooning to twice his old weight over the last few days, it wasn't baggy anymore. It made it all the more miraculous that his sweatpants still fit, but while they used to be loose enough to hide his sizeable posterior...well...
Koty turned his hips, his skintight sweatpants creaking as he caught a good look at his shelf of a backside, looking even more like a shelf then usual with the very top of his cheeks exposed. Thighs touching halfway down, hips flaring out on either side to make most chairs a tight squeeze, he felt like even more of a girl then usual, not helped his chest starting to get puffy from excess blubber as well.
"Why couldn't I have found a rock..." Koty moaned. "Or a tree. I'd have been happy to find a tree."
The fat felid was knocked out of his self-pity however when something rattled in the vent overhead. Glancing around cautiously, he let out a shriek as the ceiling suddenly collapsed and something crashed to the floor.
"Whoops, haha, guess that was the wrong way to go!"
Koty stared in disbelief as someone extracted herself from the rubble, dusting off her grayish wetsuit-like outfit. At first he thought it was some sort of especially clumsy special ops soldier, but then he saw the familiar looking helmet and heard the whoosh of a rebreather; a selanian, one of a sharklike aquatic species that required containment suits to stay hydrated.
"Wh-who the heck are you?" Koty demanded. "And why are you in the ceiling?"
"Well how else do you sneak around to find someone?" the selanian said as though this fact was obvious. "Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to know where the intrepid explorer who found that gem is, do you?"
"Er..."
The selanian clapped her hands together. "Oh, it's you! I should have known considering your...never mind that then, we need to talk! Oh, this is going to be exciting!" Before Koty could react, the overeager alien had grabbed him by the arm and all but threw him onto the hospital bed, taking a chair of her own and plopping it down in front of her before activating a recording device. "Right, this is Gunna of house Chosam, performing an interview with the cutey who discovered the Light Gem. Let's begin!"
Koty had half a mind to call for help and get the girl thrown out at this point, but...maybe it'd be better to just get this over with.
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