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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/micktalian on 2026-04-01 21:14:38+00:00.
Part 168 Understanding communication (Part 1) (Part 167)
Humanity, as a species, had long pondered what a Canis lupus familiaris would say if it could speak. The same could be said about plenty of other domestic and nondomesticated animals as well. There have been countless experiments where humans have tried to teach other sentient Earth life to communicate in an intelligible manner. Other scientists sought to learn how animals communicate as means of understanding them on their terms. As pattern recognition programs and self-improving algorithms improved through the 21st and 22nd centuries CE, humanity got closer and closer to understanding other Earthly species. A few teams even found limited success in the creation of a simple translation program specific to certain Orca pods and one extended family group of Beluga whales. However, it wasn't until relatively recently that humanity finally got a look into the minds of their earliest companions.
Dogs have been subjected to cybernetic just the same as their human masters. Lost limbs were replaced with prosthetics, failing organs supplanted with machines, and debilitating injuries reduced to minor impediments. Though it was relatively rare, some dogs were even augmented specifically with the intent of turning them into weapons. Those immoral experiments always ended in disaster when the cyborg canines inevitably turned on their masters. While the sapient mind of a Homo sapien can adapt to and intentionally interact with extensive mods through a neurological synchronization chip, Canis lupus familiaris and most other Earthly species simply aren't intelligent enough. That is part of why experiments involving both animals and neuro-syncs are extremely rare. Professor Mikhail T River actually agreed to participate in one such experiment a week before his near-fatal injury almost four years ago.
Mik, along with a dozen other pet owners, agreed to the installation of experimental neuro-syncs in both themselves as their companion animals. Thirteen humans, eleven dogs, six cats, and three parrots were involved. A half billion Martian bit-dollars were spent on the development and creation of the thirty-three unique brain-computers with specifically matched entangled-photon communication devices. While the results were neither inconsistent nor quite what anyone expected, it was the first time in history that a human could communicate with an animal on mutual terms. Half of the pets couldn't figure out how to use their new found abilities and some of the humans couldn't interpret the messages they received. It didn't matter that the experiment as a whole was deemed a failure. The results for Mik, Terry, and Bitey were good enough to be considered a genuine success.
“Yeah, Terry-girl.” Mik paused his pull up at the top of the motion and glanced down at his silent canine companion before completing the rep. “We'll see Bitey soon. An’ Spookie, too.”
“Lazy traveling.” The Cane Corso's translation collar struggled to contextualize her barely audible whine. “No moving.”
“Yah can run on a treadmill if yah want. Yah wanna go on a run, baby-girl?”
“No.” The sassy tone of Terry’s sharp single-bark didn't really need translation and caused a few of the other people in DS-1’s exercise room to chuckle. “Not faster.”
“Nah, yah’re right. That won't make us go no faster.” Mik rolled his eyes as if he was talking to a very young yet equally indignant child while performing one last pull up and dropping down off the bar. “But burnin’ off some energy might make yah feel better. Come on, girl. Lemme get yah set up on a treadmill.”
“No.” That negative response was contextualized from a long whine accompanied by the massive dog flopping on her side then rolling belly up. “Pack-father, rub stomach.”
“I think she just wanted you to scratch her belly, Mik.” Marzima had been doing pull ups alongside Mik when he began speaking to his dog seemingly without prompt. “A childhood friend of mine had a jartygon who would do the same thing. If she and I were playing, that big, old feline would whine until my friend gave it attention.”
“Nah, Terry’s… Uh…” Though the Martian professor wasn't above admitting his canine companion had tricked him, there was a much more complex conversation happening through the pair’s entangled neuro-syncs that no one else could hear. “Dogs ain't really smart enough to understand the concept o’ travel if they can't see ‘r feel the movement. In Terry’s mind, she's basically just walkin’ on into one place, waitin’ a while, then walkin’ right into another. The whole ‘travelin’ thousands o’ lightyears’ thing ain’t never crossed ‘er mind. She's just confused an’ upset that runnin’ won't make travel times faster.”
“How did you get all of that from those few words?” Zikazoma blurted out her question while standing next to the squat rack Chuxima was using.
“Your brain computers, right?” Tens was still hanging from the pull up bar next to the one Mik had dismounted when he spoke but quickly dropped off as he continued. “If I remember right, this weenuk, his dog, and his little angry bird can all talk to each other through their weird cybernetics. And speaking of… That arm of yours really is cheating when it comes to exercise. There's no way you could keep up with me on pull ups without it.”
“I mean, yah ain't wrong!” The Martian professor had a very particular sparkle in his one biological eye as he stopped petting his dog for a moment, grabbed his cybernetic left arm at the shoulder joint, made a very specific set of movements, then detached the mechanical limb. “I may be ‘bout eight kilos lighter without this… But… Yah know…”
“You put that back right now!” Marzima fell off the pull up bar and gagged when she watched the man she was pursuing detached his arm. “Don't ever do that again!”
“That's so gross!” Unlike Marz, Chu spoke a noticeable giggle in her deep voice.
“Shit…” Mik couldn't stop the diabolical chuckle that escaped his lips as he begrudgingly reattached his mechanical limbs. “I shoulda had Jimmy-John do ‘is party trick for y'all back when we were on Alabaster.”
“Can he take his own head off?” Tens's question was immediately met by a chorus of groans from the Qui’ztars. “What?!? You all know that would be funny!”
“Human sense of humor…” Zika's scoff was supported by the expressions of both Marz and Chu. “But back to my question! Does your cybernetic technology really allow you and Terry to… What exactly?”
“Honestly… It's kinda hard to explain…” As the bearded, burly professor returned to petting his dog, he momentarily allowed his eyes to fall out of focus while staring at the oversized canine. “Lemme put it like this. Me, Terry, an’ Bitey all got the ability to intentionally send each other messages. It's an active thing we gotta think ‘bout to do. But ain't really words… More like images, thoughts, an’ feelin's. Like, uh… She sent a mental image o’ Bitey an’ a sorta lonely feelin’. They've been sendin’ stuff back an’ forth since Bitey stayed on Newport Station when we left. Lil’ asshole's been sometimes sendin’ me shit he knows'll piss me off. He's actually smart enough to send me stuff that makes sense without needin’ to decipher it. He's just a lil’ shithead ‘bout it. The stuff Terry sends me, on the other hand… Well… I ain't got much experience with kids but I'm assumin’ it's like talkin’ to a toddler. Lotta guess work an’ fillin’ in the blanks. An’ before y'all ask, this ain't a common thing. We did one round o’ experiments at ChaosU, then an Earth school ripped us off a year later. I only know o’ four other people that got the same kinda thing goin’ on.”
“I was going to ask if anyone else was stupid enough to link their brain to an animal.” Tens's sarcastic quip was just as benevolent as the funny face he made towards the unbothered dog. “But I'm not going to lie, that does sound a lot like talking with my Penidon friends I'm bonded with. It's like thinking their thoughts for a split second. A very strange sensation.”
“Exactly! But with a baby who barely understands how the world works.” Mik’s sudden wide-eyed smile implied he was pleasantly surprised that his Nishnabe friend had experienced a similar form of interspecies communication. “Shit, niiji! Now yah got me wantin’ to bond with one o’ ‘em lobsters! It'd be great to hear a coherent adult in my head for once!”
“That would definitely be a first for you.”
“You're one to talk, Tensebwse!” Marz countered while still trying to rub the image of Mik removing his arm from her mind. “How you were able to get a Penidon to bond with you is beyond me. I hadn't even heard of them living on interspecies worlds before I went to Shkegpewen.”
“They're telepathic, right Tensebwse?” Chu had just finished her final squat for the set and was moving over so Zika could take over the rack machine.
“Yeah, their antennae can interpret the EM patterns in brains and kind of manipulate them a little bit.” Tens had no idea how strange that concept was considering he had grown up with the sapiens to land lobsters and been bonded with one specific individual since he was a ...
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