u/Academic-Ad8623

This is definitely not in any way remotely finished, and yes while I know there are some weird issues with the story, I’m still somewhat tasting it myself in regards of wether or not I like how it’s flowing. If you’ve seen my previous art posts in this subreddit, then you should be made aware that this parody “crossover” type of fanfiction revolving around my original universe and balto is where a lot of my fanart takes place. I have currently over 23,000 words worth of drafting notes on this story and my original universe it belongs to. I’ve only recently decided to put it into an actually digestible format for readers to enjoy.

So in other words, enjoy your Steele slop:

16:34 NCT

I stood stoutly with my arms crossed across my chest as I watched starships land and take off. Navarro’s tropical rain tapped across the glass on the orbital traffic control tower while the sounds of radio chatter and people working surrounded me. “Zetrai, sir-” I turn around to the voice of a young intern, his tie loose and a clipboard on his hands. “What could possibly be so important right now?” I ask with a furrowed brow. “Your shipment finally arrived, the physics field emitter, right?” I pause for a moment “Well then, that is important. Move along now, I can take it from here.” “Right, Zetrai, sir.” He says before walking down the tower stairs. That physics field emitter is the final step towards true multiversal travel through bulk cosmology. I look back out the window and watch as a group of workers in ponchos wheels a large crate out from one of the starships and into the warehouse. Now all that’s left is to make a few calls to the other departments in the lab, then I’ll make history.

19:57 NCT

I finish pulling the aircraft inlet plugs from the new starship and toss them into the cargo ramp haphazardly. The X207 Procyon. It’s a neat name, named after the brightest star in the Canis Minor constellation. I close the bay ramp and climb up the cargo bay ladder after checking the final preflight check in my list. Sitting in the pilots chair I adjust the position of the controls to my liking, the fresh smell of new equipment fills the cockpit, but not for long as I lower my IEVA helmet onto my suit ring. Normally I’d leave the helmet off and use the emergency inflatable helmet, but this is a brand new prototype ship, so it’s unpredictable until I get the hang of it. Finally with a few clicks and beeps, I start the vertical takeoff antimatter aerospikes, upping the throttle and guiding her into the air gracefully as I always do. As I pilot the the craft higher and higher into the atmosphere at speeds around fifty times faster than sound, I tape a photo of my wife Fiona to the console for good luck. Apogee kick successful, orbit achieved. I radio into orbital traffic control “ZOK73 to N-OTC, this is X207, orbital velocity achieved, permission to engage experimental flight instruments? Over.” The radio beeps a quindar tone “N-OTC to ZOK73, you are clear to proceed with the maneuver, over.” With confirmation I switch the twin graviton loop arrays to max reactor power, and input the target universe’s identifier into a keypad. It should be a 1920s version of earth, but I don’t know what to expect. I turn the safety switch on a button cover and press it firmly, the ship screams to life as the bridge fills with a blinding white light.

07:26 AKST

The ship burns with a fireball of plasma around it as I guide it through the mesosphere. I’m on my own now, no radio connection to my home universe in 2365, I can manage though. The ship’s engines fire up and I land the ship in a clearing of pine trees, just a reach away from a small town, I presume it’s Nome. I unbuckle my seat harness and stand up, tossing my helmet on the ground with a loud metallic clatter. I strip away my spacesuit down to my LCVG and boots and I hang it on a cabinet handle. I pull a pair of pants out of a locker and pull them over the LCVG, along with a brown jacket with a large white fur ruff on the hood. I walk into the small bath on the ship and look into the mirror, caressing the fur on my face while leaning over the sink. I close my eyes as my body morphs into a more human look through the projection mapping optical camouflage layer under my integumentary armor. I push away from the sink, making my way to the back of the ship. I slide down the ladder, grab a small bag of gold coins from atop a cargo container, and hold a button on the wall. The cargo alarm sounds and the bay door opens to a rush of bitter cold air flowing in. I walk out and reach into my jacket pocket to pull out a pair of aviators, to which I promptly pull them over my face to hide my purple optical implants. With a final glance around at the pine trees, I set off into the cold morning towards the town, slipping the coins into my pocket.

08:11 AKST

People look at me strange, like I don’t belong. I suppose that’s reasonable though, small town, stranger in weird clothes? I’d be weirded out too. I see a gun store on the corner of the street, and I feel as if it would be in my best interest to reward myself for this great achievement. I step in and wave to the clerk “Good mornin’, what can I do you for?” He says while cleaning a shotgun barrel. A Colt 1911 catches my eyes, that’s one of the few historical firearms that went nearly extinct in my home universe. A damn shame it is for that, because it’s beautiful in person. “How much for this one?” I say pointing to the 1911. “$49” He picks it up and hands it to me, I turn it in my hands to look at the engraving on the wood handle, a dog sorts, or maybe a wolf. “Who’s dog is this?” I ask. “He’s not really anyone’s dog, that’s the town hero Balto right there.” He says pointing at the handle. I let out a small chortle “Alright I’ll take it.” I say leaving 3 ounces of gold coins on the counter “I presume you take gold still?” The merchant looks at me and chuckles “Of course we do!” He moves to take out the change of $13.01 but I interrupt him “You can keep the change. Take it as a symbol of my appreciation.” The merchant nods and waves goodbye as I slip the 1911 into the built in holster on the inside of my jacket and walk out. I completely forgot that there’s no background checks or wait periods in the 1920s for purchasing a gun.

09:17 AKST

I sit there on a bench, watching as people walked about doing their day to day business as usual. However in the bustling streets, I would not have expected to hear what I heard next. A loud pained yip and the sound of yelling from an angry man in a nearby alleyway. I won’t deny that my curiosity peaked. I stood up and walked over towards the direction of the sound, holding my hands in my jacket pockets. To my horror and dismay, a man, about 5 foot 10, loomed over an Alaskan malamute, yelling insults and cocking a rifle. The malamute seemed to be pretending to be brave, but I could see the fear in those eyes. “Hey! The fuck are you doing?!” I say jogging up to the man and tapping his shoulder. “Move along, this matter doesn’t involve you stranger.” He mutters. “I believe it does involve me when you’re about to Old Yeller this dog.” He looks at me confused for a second “Who the hell is old yeller?” I pause, Old yeller was made in 1956, he has no clue what that means. “Uh, just forget about it. I want to know why are you trying to hurt this dog?” He looks at the malamute and grumbles “He was my lead dog, but he’s a pretty shitty lead dog considering he abandoned me and almost got me killed. He doesn’t deserve to continue on.” I cringe “How much?” I take out my pouch “Huh? You seriously want this useless mutt?” I scoff “If it means he doesn’t get shot then yes. So I’ll ask you again, how much?” I can see him thinking for a moment before speaking. “60 dollars.” I take out another 3 ounces of gold and set it in the palm of his hand. “There, how’s that?” He puts his rifle on safe and hands me a leash and harness. “His name is Steele. I don’t know what you plan to do with him but I could care less now.” He says before slinging the rifle and trotting off. I look at Steele, “Steele” I say as if tasting the name. The dog looks back at me with what can only be described as a look of skepticism and a hint of relief. “So do I need this, or are you going to come with me?” I say holding up the leash. He seems to slowly nod before reluctantly moving beside me. I will say something seems, off about the dogs in this universe. Either Steele is trained really well or he’s sapient to some extent. I think I’ll experiment with various neural connective resonant frequencies on the way back to the ship.

09:48 AKST

The two of us walk along the path back to my starship, I meanwhile run secondary processes in my head trying to determine how Steele speaks to other dogs, as we walk out of town’s sight, I lock onto Steele’s subaudible vocal signature… So not brainwaves as I had previously assumed. I stop in the middle of a frozen tundra. “Can you say something for me, Steele?” Instead of speaking, Steele lets out a low grumbly wooo. “No- like talk as if you’re speaking to another dog” I say, to which Steele does in fact reply, “What, like this?” He says in a dismissive tone and a snort. “Yes, exactly like that.” I replied. I watched as Steele froze and his face went from a look of annoyance to shock “Wait, what? You can understand me?” “Yes, yes I can.” I said. “Walk with me here, I need to tell you a a few things.” I started walking again and Steele grumbled alongside. “My name is Zetrai Kepler, and for one, I am not a human. It sounds ridiculous but it’s the truth. Let me show you something…” I look back at the town in the distance to check for anyone following before I switched off my human disguise, the pattern rippled across my skin once more revealing my humanoid cyborg batlike figure. I heard Steele make an audible noise that resembled his jaw dropping. “What? What the hell are you? Are you going to eat me?” I roll my eyes “No I’m not going to eat you, I’m what’s known as a Pomelo in my universe. We’re advanced species similar to humans.” Steele gasps, “Wait, wait, you’re not even from this universe?” He asked. “Nope, I’m not. Soon though you’ll find yourself at home in my universe though too.” Steele looked at me with concern “I never agreed to this!” “I didn’t ask if you agreed or not, the fact of the matter is that you’re coming with me whether you like it or not, trust me, you’ll like it anyways.” I could see it in Steele’s eyes that something was just telling him to bolt, but a thread of curiosity kept him from doing so. “…Fine, I’ll go. I’m sure I’ll regret this, but I’ve got nowhere else to go and nothing left here.” I smiled “That’s the spirit.” Soon enough we encroached upon my starship, which laid there on its struts billowing out water vapor from the cryogenic cooling systems.

10:01 AKST

“Holy crap- Is that yours?” Steele says sniffing the air around the starship. “Who else have you seen with a spaceship in Nome?” “Nobody, really.” He replied, looking up at the massive VTOL thrusters. “Exactly.” I take out my personal link cable from my wrist and insert it into a small circular port near the bay door, to which the bay promptly opens with a low hydraulic hum. The ladder is the next challenge, because Steele being a dog, can’t really climb ladders. Without thinking I simply swoop him into my arms, he’s pretty hefty at around 55.157 kilograms, but he’s also quite fluffy surprisingly. “Hey! Put me down you metalhead!” I ignore him and carry him into the bay, lifting him to the second level and setting him down. “Yeah? Well, get used to it rain cloud.” I say dismissively climbing up behind him, using my net connection to the ship I close the bay door as I pull myself up to the main level. Steele is sniffing basically everything in the ship hull when I walk past. I grab my IEVA suit and pull it on after taking off my jacket and pants, throwing them back into the locker. I pick up my helmet and slot it on, sitting down and buckling myself up in the seat. “Should I be wearing a helmet too?” Steele asks whilst sitting beside me. “You’ll be fine.” I say as I engage the startup procedure and begin lifting the ship back into orbit. Once we finally reach orbit, I lean back in my seat. “Well Steele? What do you think of the northern lights from above?” Steele looked out the window and whispered “Their beautiful… Almost like a curtain over Alaska.” I sigh “Take a good look at it, you’re old life and all. I’m not sure when we’ll be back.” The bridge is quiet for a few moments with nothing but the sound of the occasional retrothruster pulse and the ventilation fans whirring. “I’m ready.” Steele says quietly. And with that I punch in the identifier for my universe and push the switch to launch the ship into the bulk.

20:57 NCT

It’s night time now on Navarro, only an hour has passed here in my universe while I was in a different brane. I had to carry Steele back down the ladder to get out of the ship, but this time he bit me, it didn’t really bother me, but he seemed to wince when his teeth hit my integumentary armored chassis. I don’t really blame him for biting me, I wouldn’t want some giant cybernetic alien space bat picking me up either really. The Nava starport is pretty quiet right now, and Steele himself also seems pretty quiet, I think he’s still processing everything. Maybe it’s best to just give him some time. As we walk through the port lounge to the maglev rail car, I make a terrible attempt at small talk. “You’re gonna have to get chipped in y’know- er, get cybernetic implants.” I say, the latter of the sentence comes out weakly as I realize Steele’s not yet aware of 2365 slang. He puffs a bit of air out of his nose almost dismissively, “I’m not going to ruin my body to make you happy…” I watch as Steele limps midway through his sentence “…My last owner did that. Racing was the most thrilling part of my life, but I think my bones would disagree on that.” I jack my personal link connector into a console and the train car arrives. Disconnecting it I sit inside the small 4 seat cabin. I pat the seat next to me but Steele takes a liking to the seat in the far corner across from me. The train takes off towards Nava’s city center. “I’m not talking about ruining your body, I’m talking about a complete reassembly. New vitals. Spit-shine on the old ones. That pain you’re experiencing is arthritis, though it’s probably lessened because of the lower gravity. My top surgeons will completely get rid of the arthritis, make your bones out of steel… well, advanced composites. But still.” I say confidently, but Steele seems to only be more concerned. “…Do I have a choice?” I speak in deadpan “No.” He huffs then speaks softly as if trying to hide vulnerability “…Will it hurt?” I lean forward and grab a glass of champagne from the small cooled cabinet in the side wall, and a I take a swig and swish it around in the glass. “No, it won’t hurt. Modern day anesthesia is far better than what you may have had in 1925, if any at all.” I lean back looking at Steele, who seems to be despondently staring out the window at the passing jungle trees as they faintly glow in the night with their faint bioluminescent fruit.

22:03 NCT

I stand next to Steele who lays on a small gurney. He doesn’t seem to want to talk to me right now, he’s probably pretty pissed off about all this. The smell of disinfectant still lingers in the pre-op room as it used to in the twentieth century, some things just never change. However the lighting on the other hand is a different story, instead of the drab white fluorescent lighting, hospitals now use warm and cozy lighting. If you ask me though, it doesn’t change much of anything. The door slides open as my head of trauma response, Dr. Flenn, walks in. He’s a human, an oddly pale skinned human, you’d almost assume he was a ghost. “Good evening Zett, what’s up with this fellow here? Alaskan Malamute? That’s a pretty rare breed nowadays. I thought you were just testing out the bulk transversal device, not picking up strays.” Flenn says with a slight chortle. He sits at a computer and signs in, looking through the data I sent him while I was on the train. Steele lifts his head up and peeks over at Flenn, but quickly pretends to be disinterested and lays his head back down. “Yeah well, you never really know what other branes are gonna throw at you. You should have everything there on file for times sake. He’s just getting chipped in.” I say casually. “That I do, that I do. Steele… I like that name. Never heard it for a dog, but it’s nicely fitting.” Flenn replies, “Now comes the difficult part, could you hold him Zetrai?” I let out a small sigh and look down at Steele. Flenn wheels over a small cart and pops in a cartridge on the end of 4 tubes coming from the machine on the cart. I walk over towards the side of Steele where the machine and Flenn are sitting, and I kneel down to Steele’s height, blocking his view. Flenn puts on his gloves and pulls the injector tubes over to Steele's neck. I gently stroke the fur on his head and softly recite a poem, Steele growls low at first but eases out of it “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day-” Click, hiss. The injector tubes make that noise as they latch onto Steele like a metal parasite. I feel Steele’s muscles tense up, and he makes a quiet puffing noise from his nose. I remain kneeling and finish reciting the words of the poem until Steele drifts off into a deep sleep. “Rage, rage against the dying of the light…”

26:34 NCT

I sit in the hospital waiting room, it’s only about a half hour from midnight. I feel horrible about forcing Steele into this. But truth be told? I don’t know that he’d survive that long in my universe on his own. Among other implants for his safety, I had Flenn give him STANAG 4569 integumentary soft armoring. I won’t tell Steele about that implant however, I don’t want him walking into firefights knowingly. My wife Fiona called me earlier on the holo, she’s ecstatic that the new version of the bulk transversal drive works, but she misses me. I miss her too, but I’m probably gonna be in the hospital for the next few hours. I don’t want Steele to feel alone in this. Fiona doesn’t know yet, none of my family does. I’m keeping it a surprise that I have a dog now, Fiona thinks I’m here for post flight medical evaluation, not giving the random sled dog I bought a new graphene titanium matrix composite spine. Poor Steele, he’s alone in a world he’s never seen before, trying to comprehend the incomprehensible that surrounds him. All that after losing everything he knew and almost being shot by the one person who he thought cared for him. I pick up a lollipop from a basket on the side table and plop it into my maw with one swift motion, peeling off the wrapper at the same time. It’s gonna be a long night.

04:22 NCT

I look up from my computer cuff and close out the game of chess open on it. “Zetrai, he’s ready.” Flenn says standing in front of the waiting room door holding the unconscious furball in his arms. I stand up and walk over to him, he sets Steele gently into my arms. “If you take good care of him, I’m sure he’ll take good care of you, Zetrai. Just remember to take it slow with him, he’s old and scarred by his past.” Flenn says quietly, whilst brushing a clump of shedded malamute fur off of his scrubs. “I will. Thanks, Flenn.” I walk out and open the front door with my shoulder, the sound of alien fauna chirping and buzzing fills the sky as I walk out into the warm night air. I walk back to my home along the short foot path, Nava remains completely dark except for the small lights lined along the flat cobblestone sidewalk, shining only onto the path. The sky is filled with stars, with Navarro’s dense rings and two moons clearly visible against the blackness of space, with the occasional automated cargo ship flying in and out of the atmosphere. Navarro is my home, my real heaven. I stop at a small shack sized concrete building shaped like a wedge with 2 sliding doors and bunker lights. I scan my computer cuff on the wall and the doors open to an elevator. I step inside and press the button for my home floor, readjusting Steele in my arms to a more secure position. The elevator hums to life and I’m left to my own thoughts in this confined space. I glance down at Steele, I have to admit, he’s quite adorable when he’s conked out in my arms. I can’t quite place my finger on what it is, but holding Steele makes my head feel quieter. It’s as if my mind stopped eating away at itself… As if it stopped calculating everything at once. The elevator comes to a stop with a light thud, as soon as the doors slide open I step out into the long hallway. It’s pretty dark, only the floor is ambiently lit up by small white light strips embedded in the wall. The only sounds I can make out are my older son, Ezekiel, snoring away, and the ventilation ducts running. I walked through the hallway past a few doors and stepped into the large living room connected to the kitchen. Like the hallway it also remains coated in darkness. The Apollo 10 Ascent module however, dangles from the ceiling above the coffee table, hanging by steel cables it remains lit up by dim museum display lights. Display cases holding old NASA space suits along the wall connected to the hallway also remain lit up. My home is like a museum, I guess that’s what happens when you’re a nerd with money. I walked over to the couch and gently laid Steele down onto it, then I took an Egyptian cotton blanket laying on the top of the couch, and promptly tossed it onto Steele, tucking him into a nice little malamute burrito. I plopped down onto the cushion right next to him, looking at the TV mounted above the fireplace, my cyberoptics glowed a dim infrared pulse turning it on as I leaned back, my arm tossed over the back cushion. I scroll through interplanetary channels absentmindedly. A lot of media coverage seems to be going on and on about my company, Novadyne, and how I’m releasing the first commercially available bulk transversal starship gravity drive configuration tomorrow. I should feel proud, but at this point and time I don’t feel anything. I haven’t felt anything fun about inventing new things ever since I was a meathead back in 2115 and created the first antimatter aerospike engines, then after that it was antimatter pair production fusion generators in 2197, and finally the gravity drive itself in 2248. I single-handedly became the most powerful and influential being in my universe, yet it still feels empty. I let out what can only be described as a profoundly annoyed sigh and I lay down on the couch wrapping myself in my wings, with Steele lying a few inches away from my head. For the first time in years I drift off into an uninterrupted sleep.

08:31 NCT

I push myself up from the couch, blinking my eyes rapidly in a daze. I don’t feel exhausted for the first time, it feels unreal. I move my gaze towards the simulated windows on the wall by my armchair in the corner of the room, it casts a low gray glow across the room, as rain falls outside. The cameras projecting to the windows make it feel real with sounds and all. I turn and sit up to look at Steele, who seems to be in a hypnopompic state of consciousness, slightly twitching. I reach my hand over and gently scratch the fur behind his ears. “Good morning ya big furry deadweight.” I say as Steele rouses awake. “Wha- Where am I-? What happened?” Steele says half awake. “Welcome to your new home, you just got out of surgery to get implants.” I say calmly, bringing my paw back and setting it into my lap. Steele grumbles and rolls onto his back kicking the blanket off before dramatically rolling back over off the couch and landing on his paws. I watch with fascination as he does this before speaking up, “Uh, are you hungry perchance?” “Pfft am I hungry… I am a little bit hungry, but I don’t need you, I’ll hunt my own food!” He replies, puffing up his chest. “…And what exactly do you plan on hunting?” I ask, he seems to have this look of realization before grumbling. “Fine. What do you have to eat, let me guess, kibble?” I cross my arms, “I don’t believe in feeding any creature highly processed powdered mystery meat pellets their whole life. I was thinking of Wagyu steak cubes with some scrambled eggs.” Steele’s brain seems to malfunction after a few seconds he replies, “For- For yourself… Right?” I click my tongue and shake my head, “No, for you, doofus.” He pauses again, “You’d better not be lying. I’ll chew up your flying machine seat cushions if you are.” I chuckle, and get up to go start the hibachi grill.

12:34 NCT

It’s around lunch time now, it’s muggy, and it’s wet outside, but the sun is shining and everyone's spirits seem to be at least a little lifted. My whole family must’ve never even noticed I was home in the morning when they left for their daily errands. Atlas and Ezekiel at school, and Fiona going to an ethics meeting. As soon as I think that, I hear the hydraulic door locks slide open as she walks in, her suit jacket draped over her arm. I, in the meantime, have spent the entire morning answering more stupid questions than the average AI assistant back in 2026. As Fiona trots down the hallway and walks in she just freezes and stares, her suit jacket draped over her arm now falls to the floor. She sighs, and picks up her jacket, hanging it up on the wall. “I do not have nearly enough coffee to deal with this situation right now.” She says dismissively. Me and Steele watch as she walks behind the kitchen bar counter and turns on the coffee machine I built, and leans against the counter with her arms folded, “Mind explaining to me who and what this new face is doing in my living room?” She says. I pause for a few moments, and involuntarily speak softly, “He was going to be euthanized. I saved him when I was in the other universe.” I replied. She picks up the fresh shot of espresso and gulps the entire cup before setting it down on the counter. “So? Dogs are put down all the time. It’s just life.” She says calmly. “You don’t understand, he cocked up the serum run of 1925 and was going to be shot prematurely. And I don't mean the lethal injection type of shot unless that injection is lead. I couldn’t stand to watch it, so I bought him.” I reply, looking at Steele. “If it makes any difference, he’s sapient, like us.” I look back at Fiona. She pushes herself off the counter and walks up to me and Steele.

So today, me and a friend of mine have mostly wrapped up our article on why Steele isn’t an evil character, as well as diving deeply into his personality and behavior, along with a few other interesting plot points.