'What made you reveal that you've lost your symmetrical fur pattern a while ago?' asked the hostess of the morning show where Minou gave an interview.
The short dress she wore showed the difference in size of her black fur on her lower thighs and her feet.
'It was a very sweet man that convinced me I didn't need it to be attractive and that I could be myself.' she said with a bright smile.
The hostess chuckled. 'That almost sounds like you found a love interest.' she said.
Minou looked at the camera. 'I just might have.' she said and winked.
The next moment in a certain apartment Guy got pummelled with pillows while he kept saying he was innocent.
Even miss Tesha looked suspiciously at him when she brought over the itinerary later. Guy had given up on trying to explain and quietly read it.
'Medical test?' he asked when he read the day's plans.
Miss Tesha nodded. 'To make really sure there are no long term effects on the different species living in close proximity.' she said. 'So far no issues have appeared but we want to keep an eye on everyone for a few years at least. See if there are any changes to the immune system, blood chemistry, hormones, etcetera.'
'And it's at the Administration?' Ara asked.
'Yes, the most convenient place.' miss Tesha said. 'Most contact is there and we have medical personnel from most worlds on the premises.'
Some time later miss Tesha pulled into the driveway to a complex of several buildings four to six storeys high. There was a guard post but she drove right past it.
'They're there in case of emergencies.' she said. 'It isn't really classified what we're doing here.'
She pulled into an underground parking and led everyone to the main building, a wide six storey building with a central flat tower sporting a diversity of antennas. Inside the reception hall she registered everyone and handed out badges.
'As you can see we have personnel from most worlds working here.' she said, gesturing at the myriad of species walking around. 'The most recent addition and first of its kind, a hoofed species you could compare to deer. They were discovered at a dimensional link on Ara's world.'
'So, how does the map look now?' asked Guy.
'Follow me.' said miss Tesha and they went into a large, dimly lit room with several large screens on the back wall and various sections with one or more people working behind their workstations. A three dimensional projection of different coloured spheres in a grid above small globes of each world with lines going up and down between them stood in the middle.
'This is the current map.' said miss Tesha as they approached it. 'You probably have seen it in print, but this is one of the presentations of all known dimensional links on our worlds.' She tapped on a canine's shoulder. 'Charlie, can you show another view?'
'Sure.' he said and turned to the console close to him. 'What you see now are the connections of each link between the worlds.' he said. 'The spheres in the top grid are the dimensional links we know of. Green lines going from world to link and back to another world mean there's no traffic going through, the blue lines with arrows show traffic going in that direction and how far their synchronisation is. If there's something wrong the line would turn red and show the direction of the returning airship.'
He typed a few commands in his console and the world globes were arranged in a wide grid with the link spheres located on them and several lines going from one world to one or more of the others.
'This is the world view where you can see the locations of the links on the globes.' Charlie said. 'You can see how to reach some worlds you need to travel via another one first.'
'What are the yellow lines and spheres?' asked Mami.
'Those are links that aren't active yet.' Charlie said. 'Either because first contact has to be established yet or the worlds are still at the phase of creating a working connection.' He pointed out one link which had lines drawn to a fox dominated world and two yellow globes. 'This is a special one, it seems that link connects between three worlds. They're busy with separating the signals and establishing contact between the worlds.'
'We can choose a representation depending on the situation with this but most people here work with two dimensional views on their workstations.' miss Tesha said. 'Traffic control between dimensions is handled here in cooperation with local traffic control at each world.'
'We're also in the process of linking the various global communication networks together.' said miss Tesha as they left the room. 'You could get online on the grid here and then visit any site on the other worlds. But that will be a while with the different protocols and the amount of bandwidth we can create through the links.'
Miss Tesha continued the tour with a visit to the local server room, which was one node of many spread around the world for redundancy, and a walk around the various departments and training facilities. She ended the tour at the separate medical facility.
'You'll get your examination here, which shouldn't take too long.' she said at the reception hall where a group of nurses waited for them. 'After you're done we'll meet up at the restaurant for lunch.'
'I'm glad you got a male human nurse.' whispered Cani at Guy.
'Why that?' whispered Guy.
'Less chance of another addition to your harem.' whispered Cani and stuck out her tongue quickly.
Guy chuckled. 'I have no plans on adding more people.' he whispered. 'I've got my hands full with you girls already. Literally.'
Mami was the first to return from her examination but she didn't have to wait long before Feli arrived and the rest soon after. Guy was the last to arrive and the girls sniffed at him.
'No, I didn't have any other person, human or otherwise all over me.' he chuckled while the staff at the facility stared at the strange group.
They headed out the door and walked across the green area between the buildings toward the main building and the restaurant there. Miss Tesha had arrived shortly before them and led them along the buffet with all sorts of food and drinks from the various worlds before going to the back where they had a reserved table to themselves.
'Everyone healthy?' she asked.
'They said I had gained a little weight.' Cani said. 'But it's not my fault that Guy's food tastes so good!'
Mami chuckled. 'You're sure it's not all the hours you spend gaming?'
Cani huffed. 'It can't be helped.' she said. 'They often ask for me to play along or do some promotion for a site on the grid.'
'And you, Avia?' asked Ara and chuckled. 'Have you also eaten so much that you can't fly anymore?'
