A Story of Larceny, Intrigue and Inflation by Loquacious Jango

Eckelson Kwillit peered out over the blighted landscape of Mihjarr. A smog choked sky was fed by the towering smokestacks and processing facilities that dotted the landscape like an artificial forest. They ran night and day, pulling vast mineral deposits deep from beneath the planet's surface. Any vegetation and animal life had disappeared long ago, swallowed up by the oceans of dust and sand that coated this world like a blanket of death. Still, as far as industrial worlds went, Mihjarr was one of the nicer ones, despite that being an exceedingly low bar. The air was still breathable at any rate. The majority of the factories and facilities on this desolate rock were entirely automated, at most boasting a skeleton crew of technicians or surveyors. Nobody came to a planet like this unless they were getting paid, which was certainly the case with Eckelson.

Life out in the big scary galaxy was difficult for everyone, especially a nomadic race like his. The bat-like Kyroptians were relative newcomers to the galactic stage, and with that came the prejudice and distrust associated with being the new kid on the block. Everyone had their own reason for shying away from "Those space gypsies from Hylagos" when it came to business. They were just trying to con you, some would say, or they were looking to steal something, or sell you something that they had pulled out of a ship's engine while it was still running. Nobody was tripping over themselves to offer legal work to a Kyroptian.
Thankfully, Kwillit specialized in the decidedly illegal.

If Eckes carried business cards, they would have proudly carried his name under the title of "Retrieval Expert" even though he knew it was little more than an elaborate way of saying thief-for-hire, with a bit of sabotage thrown in if you were willing to pay for it. Kwillit was well aware of the negative stereotype he was perpetuating about his people every time he lifted some precious hunk of jewelry out of the private safe of Baroness Who-ever, but what could be done? The pay was excellent, it was fun as hell and in a galaxy this morally bankrupt, there was always another job around the corner.

The call had come in a week ago. Apparently, an item of great importance had been discovered on Mihjarr. So important, in fact, that the "Legitimate Businessman" who had hired Eckelson was willing to pay an impressive fee for its recovery.
"All you need to know is that it's on Mihjarr. It's small and very precious and you won't be the only one after it."
The client in question was a Pavolian with deep pockets and a severe napoleon complex by the name of Opal. Eckes had worked with him before and personally couldn't stand the swishy little twerp, but his jobs were more often than not fruitful, (Or at least, exciting) and so far their business relationship hadn't involved any attempts on his life, which was more than he could say for some people.
"I'm the only one with the exact co-ordinates, so that will give you a leg up on the competition. I'm having them sent to you now." He dismissively scratched his shiny, purple scales. "Honestly, I don't know why I pay you so much when I'm the one doing all the work for you. Ah well, Bring it back here in one piece and the advance I've already had wired into your account will seem paltry compared to what is to come"
Eckes twitched his large, pointed ears in annoyance. "Hold up a tick. You said other people are after this thing too. Exactly how high are my chances of getting shot at?"
Opal's feathery tail fanned out in annoyance, filling the viewscreen over which they were conducting this conversation "If this were easy, I'd be sending a trained monkey. Considering the risk, I decided to move a step or two up the ladder. Of course, if you don't think you can do it-"
"Oh bugger off" Eckes sneered. "You'll get your precious whatzit and I'll get my fee"
"Glad to hear it" Opal shot back "Just follow your locator and look for a blue cylinder. I'm sure a discerning eye like yours can pick it out"

So here the young Kyroptian was, clambering through one of the many towering industrial complexes that lay scattered across this world, following a small blipping icon that led him higher and higher into the upper reaches of the processing plant. Eckelson had taken to the rafters and buttresses of this facility fairly quickly; in order to provide himself with both a bird's eye view of the massive, churning machinery below and some concealment should he run across one of the other parties that shared his goal. It wasn't hard to stay hidden; there was no artificial light here. What little illumination existed was provided by hastily constructed skylights that provided a few pools of sunlight, usually directed at one of the nastier pieces of machinery that someone might be at risk of falling into.
Eckelson's caution paid off within minutes, as he heard a shot ring out from somewhere below. Hugging himself to one of the wide support beams, Kwillit cracked open his mouth and let out a wide burst of sound waves, which reverberated off of the factory walls and returned to his ears. He closed his eyes, painting a brief mental picture with the knowledge that the organic radar had given him. There appeared to be a small platoon of well-armoured individuals a few yards away and below him, clumsily making their way through the same chugging machinery that Kwillit was skirting above.
Another shot rang out, setting Eckelson's dull grey fur on edge. They certainly weren't shooting at him, he'd know if they were. But gunfire was never a welcome addition to his environment and he could only wonder who was letting off pot shots below, and why.  He swiveled his ears towards the group in attempt to eavesdrop.

"Would you quit that?" One berated the other
"I thought I saw something movin' around on the catwalks" the trigger-happy one replied.
"You're too damn jumpy with that thing, Redding" A third voice added. Eckelson then heard the metallic sound and accompanying hum of a rifle being primed. The third voice spoke again, quieter this time "Hold up, I saw it too this time."

Eckes diverted his attention away from the band of what where probably mercenaries and towards the catwalk, just in time to catch a slim, shadowy figure slip out of sight and through a maintenance hatch to the next floor. He grimaced. The guns for hire down below boasted considerably more firepower than he did, and a straight fight with anybody, including the mysterious third party, was rarely option A for the slippery Kyroptian. A thin, lengthy scar that ran across his furry snout was a reminder that direct combat never ended well for him.
  
It was time to quicken pace. He took a quick glance below to ensure that nobody was looking in his direction before leaping from one support pillar to the next. As his feet left the narrow support strut of the girder, Kwillit's wings finally flared out. Of the six fingers on each hand, three of them were elongated and slender, a thin, leathery hide stretched between them and his armpits. The extra surface area afforded a few seconds of hang time, making the 15 foot jump considerably easier.
Kyroptians were well known for being one of the few sapient species that had maintained the ability to fly, albeit it was more along the lines of gliding. Evolution had seen fit to rob them of their previous avian prowess, leaving the species capable of short, swooping flights when the situation called for it. Eckelson usually kept them folded tightly along his forearms, but deployed them when necessary.

One of the mercs paused as a flitting shadow passed across him and his squad. He peered upwards into the columns of light provided by the above skylights, struggling to see what had cast it. So far he'd been subject to half-visible creatures lurking in the shadows, strange noises and now shadows of indeterminate origin. Maybe this place was haunted. He double checked his rifle in an attempt to comfort himself, and then examined his PDA, the small blip onscreen revealing that their destination was closer than ever.
"Alright boys" he grunted, hefting his weapon and attempting to coax a metallic, authoritative sound out of it. "We aren't far now. Double time it, I want to be out of here in under an hour."
The members of his squad nodded their assent.

Eckelson had lucked out with the discovery of a shortcut, namely a hole in the ceiling that lead directly to the next floor of the tower. He paused, examining the ragged edges of the aperture he was clambering through. It looked jagged and fresh, as though a hefty hunk of shrapnel had punched its way straight through a day or so ago. Surfacing onto the next floor, the Kyroptian to a quick look around the small supply room he had entered. There was another hole in the far wall, aligning perfectly with the crater he had just discovered, a beam of orange sunlight streaming in through the hole. Eckelson gently made his way to the door and opened it a silently as possible, only to find a larger room, packed with numerous computer banks that hummed away, regardless of the fact that several of them had been destroyed by numerous hunks of misshapen metal that seemed to have smashed through the side of the tower at high velocity. The large window on the far right of the room had been smashed completely; sand from outside already piling up as the desert sought to reclaim this small section of colonization that had been exposed to it. Eckelson picked his way through the destroyed terminal hub, wondering what had obliterated it so thoroughly. A meteor swarm maybe?

His questions were answered seconds later as he rounded a sparking computer tower and his eyes fell on a compact blue and white spacecraft, lying smack dab in the middle of the room with a crumpled, wounded hull that looked as though it hadn't completely survived atmospheric re-entry. As far as Eckes could figure, it was a lifeboat of some sort, from an Ibycai ship judging by what was left of the markings on the side. Someone had obviously jettisoned this thing at the nearest planet they could find, and it looked as though it hadn't quite made the trip to planetside in one piece. Kwillit suspected that the automatic re-entry protocols were the only reason this thing hadn't exploded completely while passing through Mihjarr's corrosive upper atmosphere, or ended up a smoldering crater where this entire industrial tower currently stood.

The increasingly rapid beeping of Eckelson's locator had given way to a long, steady whine, indicating that he was standing right on top of his prize. Switching the device off before it gave him a headache, Eckes ran a hand over the closed door of the escape pod, sealed tight and without a clear method of opening it from the outside. Eckelson smirked; he wouldn't be a very good thief if a locked door presented a serious obstacle for him. He stuck a small metal disk to the side of the hull, right next to the seam of the airlock where the locking mechanism would most likely be located. Eckes worked with an efficiency born of experience, typing a few commands into a thin personal computer and cutting through a few subroutines that the small remote transmitter had given him access to.  The entry tool flashed green and the door clicked, sliding open with little fanfare.

Eckes picked his way in to the pod. The interior carried the definite ornate, stylized look of the Ibycai. Even their escape pods had to look like lounges. The sliding faux-wooden doors leading the cockpit hung open at an odd angle, revealing a plush but vacant seat. From the looks of things, no one but the precious cargo had been inside this thing when it was launched. A clump of thick cables and wires hung from an open compartment in the ceiling, sparking dangerously. Kwillit took care to avoid them as he maneuvered his way into the cockpit, searching for his prize.

Eckelson glanced down at pilot's chair and almost chuckled. A small, ornate cylinder lay right in the center of the seat, wrapped in a blanket like a newborn baby. He plucked the artifact from its nest, turning it over in his hands. It was a deep sapphire in colour, and covered in elaborate, decorative inscriptions. A barely noticeable seam that ran around the circumference marked it as a container of some sort. Whatever this thing carried, somebody had gone through an awful lot of trouble to ensure that it wouldn't fall into anyone else's hands.
The romantic in Eckelson imagined some Ibycain scientist, or maybe a military official running through a burning frigate as an armed ship full of pirates tore it to pieces under heavy fire. In order to ensure that his precious cargo remained unclaimed, he had loaded it carefully onto an escape shuttle and fired it at the nearest planet, hoping that it would survive long enough to be recovered. Then again, maybe it was an object of simple sentimental value that a wrathful spouse had randomly jettisoned in an attempt to get revenge on her wealthy but unloving significant other. However it had come to be here, it belonged to Eckelson now, and shortly after, to his client. He carefully zipped it up in one of the numerous pockets that festooned his tactical vest and exited the space craft.

Eckelson glanced over at the large, shattered window, which seemed to be the most obvious exit point. Just as he began to unfurl his wings, the telltale whine of a rusted door hinge caused him to sink into a crouch, bolting for cover behind a wrecked computer bank. With another burst of echolocation, he could make out a single, slender individual entering the room. They were short, but very thin, almost serpentine in appearance, if it wasn't for the stubby pair of arms and legs. The way the trespasser moved, Eckelson guessed female. He kept an ear out, listening intently as she made her way to the escape pod, mumbling something about the arid environment and her skin. He cocked his head in confusion when she audibly expressed relief about not being a cactus this time.

Who the hell was this woman?

Not feeling a pressing urge to find out, Eckelson began to creep back towards the window, only too eager to leave. His exit was rather violently interrupted as the door on the other side of the room burst open, four well-armed and very unpleasant looking mercenaries piling in. Eckes blanched, fumbling at the tiny blaster he kept strapped to his hip. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, the only viable piece of cover right between the shuttle containing cactus lady, and the hired goons. Deciding that a single girl with hopefully minimal weaponry was preferable to a quartet of trigger happy killers, Eckelson leapt over the sparking console and crouched down low, bolts already thudding into his makeshift bunker. Another burst of sound revealed that the girl had crouched inside of the escape pod, hefting a small, narrow weapon of her own as the mercs started to fan out and advance on his position. Kwillit realized that he had seconds to act before he was overtaken. He fired a few random shots at his attackers, not expecting to hit anything. He carried a firearm as a deterrent mostly, for when things got particularly hairy. In truth, he couldn't remember hitting anything or anyone with the simple little semi-automatic, nor did he ever want to. But it seemed that nobody else in the room shared his pacifistic qualities, as the cactus enthusiast leaned out of cover for a second and fired a shot over Kwillit's head at one of the approaching mercenaries. It struck him under the arm, but there was no flare of impact. It looked as though Eckelson's fellow treasure hunter was carrying a dart launcher of some kind. Great, just what he needed, some crazy bint firing poison at him as well as a bunch of high school dropouts trying to blow his head off.

From behind cover, the panicked Kyroptian heard the voice of the merc who had gotten tagged sound out as the gunfire paused. His thick accent seemed to mark him as an Austician.
"Guys…I think that Kyro twerp got me. I…do I look kind of-" he paused and gave out loud belch as a hissing noise filled the air.
"Tannin, what…what's happening to you?" another voice sounded out.
"I dunno!" Tannin responded, panic rising in his voice. "It's my gut I'm-"
He paused mid-sentence and started to hyper ventilate.
"Hell, Tannin. You're blowing up!" the first voice, another Austician, exclaimed.
"Help me!" Tannin cried, his voice oddly muffled, as though he were speaking behind full cheeks. "Guys, I can't move! Get me behind cover! Roll me! Roll-" The rest of his pleas were cut off as they degenerated into gagged mumblings.
"What the hell did you do to him you crazy bastard!" a third voice yelled.
Behind him, Kwilit heard the girl in the escape pod giggle.

Deciding that he had had quite enough of this insanity, Eckes grabbed at a smoke grenade on his belt and pulled the pin, not even bothering to throw it and instead letting it fall at his feet. With a WHOOSH, the small egg shaped capsule vented its payload, filling the area with thick grey smoke, rendering everybody in the room blind. The mercs grunted and blaster fire penetrated the obscuring veil. Eckelson had numerous devices that were designed to restrict visibility, from low-tech concealing agents like this one, to EMP grenades and remote transmitters designed to lower a building's solar shutters. All of these gadgets had a similar goal: to give the bloke who didn't need his eyes to see an advantage.
The Kyroptian let out continuous sonic bursts, expertly navigating the room and making his way to the stairs on the far side. His echolocation clearly revealed two of the hired goons picking their way through the steadily diminishing fog while the third hung behind, crouching next to what looked like a large, slightly twitching sphere. To his dismay, Eckelson could also hear the girl with the dart gun had left her cover, and was headed for the exact same stairwell as he was.
Eckelson broke into a dead sprint, closing the distance between him and escape.
"The roof" he muttered "Gotta get to the roof" He wasn't far from the top and if he could reach high ground, then he could make a quick flight to his ship, crossing the several klicks of open terrain in a matter of minutes.

Relying almost entirely on his large ears at this point, Kwillit heard the light footsteps of his female pursuer and shortly behind her, the thudding tromp of the pair of mercs. He fired another shot, hoping to scare off his pursuers. The bolt pinged off of the metal staircase and ricocheted, resulting in a cry of pain from down below.
"My leg!" he heard the other Austician cry. "Bitch got me in the leg!"
"That wasn't me!" the female voice cried out. "That was him!"
"She's the one with the dart gun!" Eckes panted, wondering why he was letting himself get drawn into this bizarre conversation. "Sorry about your pal, I swear, I've never hit anything with this bloody thing before!"

As Eckelson continued to flee, he dimly wondered if whatever could fit inside that cylinder was possibly worth this much trouble. He considered opening it just to find out. Maybe it was a datastick, containing the schematics to some miraculous new piece of technology, or maybe it contained an ancient piece of jewelry, like a necklace of unfathomable value that the Kyroptian could keep and fence for ten times his client's price. Or maybe it was a sealed thermos filled with a kind of awful new biological weapon that would reduce him to a gibbering pie of jelly upon seconds of being exposed to it. That was always a possibility, in which case he should just keep the damn thing closed and stop asking so many damn questions that could stand in the way of him and his paycheque. Things had gone far enough south as it was and he didn't need to add doubt to the equation at the moment.

Finally, a mere single flight of steps above him, Eckes could see the door with the inviting words "Rooftop Access" printed across them. He half leapt, half flapped his way up the last few steps, barreling his way into a wide, open circular room lined with benches. The space was fairly well illuminated by the wrap around window that circled the perimeter. Eckelson's steps faltered as he slowed down, catching his breath and trying to get some of the soreness out of his burning thighs. He snapped upright as the girl entered the room behind him, flattening herself to the wall next to the door. His back has to her as she raised her weapon, aimed briefly and fired.

Eckelson heard the hiss and bang of the dart as it left the gun. He sent out a curtain of sound, painting a panoramic picture of the environment as time seemed to slow down around him.
Kyroptians were primarily insectivores, happy to dine on the finest bugs they could lay their hand on. Back in the day, their species took to the sky, nimbly outmaneuvering and consuming flying creatures that were a tenth of their size. If there was one good thing that Eckelson's instincts still held on to, it was the innate ability to intercept airborne objects. In a single fluid motion, Eckes twisted out of the way of the moving projectile and with one hand, plucked it out of the air as it passed through the space his head shoulder had been a moment ago.
Eckes smiled, twirling the dart between his fingers as he leveled his own weapon at his would be assailant's head.

The girl gawked in surprise and Kwillit finally had good look at her. She looked amphibious, with smooth skin and a pair of gills that were kept hydrated by a small tank of water on her back, which fed into a twin pair of what looked like aquatic respirators clamped on either side of her head. Eckes could see that she had one dart left in her bizarre projectile weapon pointed directly at his chest.
A pause drifted between them. She spoke first.

"Cute trick" the girl said, her previous astonishment having given way to a look of slightly amused determination in her beady white eyes. "But I know you have what I came here for. You were obviously in that shuttle before me and you're kitted out like a person who takes things that aren't his for a living"
"Maybe I just like shuttles" Eckes shot back. "And please don't point that thing at me. Try to shoot me again and all you'll do is give me plenty of incentive to put a bolt in your chest" he stared straight into her eyes, praying that she wouldn't call his bluff.
"That was pretty slick of you, but I have a feeling you got lucky." She smirked. "And you can stop trying to threaten me. You said yourself that you've never hit anything with that piece before. If you were a killer, you'd have done it by now"
"Try me" Kwillit snarled.
"Don't have to" the girl beamed "He'll do that for me"
She crouched out of sight as the last mercenary mounted the steps and caught up with the duo, breathing heavily through a mouth full of pointed teeth. What wasn't covered up by heavy armour revealed a layer of dull green scales and a hefty bulk. Wordlessly, he raised his rifle and fired at Eckes.

Eckelson dove out of the way as automatic blaster fire erupted all around him, one shot grazing his calf. He stumbled, collapsing to his knees as his entire leg seized up in pain. He had dropped his weapon; there was no cover and nowhere to run. The reptilian grunt roared and charged at him, hefting his gun and looking ready beat the quivering Kyroptian to death with it.

Behind the two, the girl lazily raised her own weapon and pulled the trigger, pegging the enraged goon directly in his left buttock. He didn't seem to notice, until a sudden belch caused him to falter in his step. Eckelson was on his back, scooting away from the drugged mercenary as he continued to advance on him. He finally found cover behind the benches that lined the room, but could only watch out of morbid curiosity at what was happening to his attacker.
The man's entire body was growing thicker as a hissing sound filled the air. First his thighs started rubbing together, and then his already considerable gut bloated up. It grew large and larger as the thickness spread to arms, making them rise away from his pear shaped torso. The merc's gun dropped to the floor as his fingers became too thick to hold it, his hands quickly becoming rounded ends to his sausage-shaped arms, studded with five dome-shaped digits. He was still moving towards Kwillit, but at a much slower pace, as if he was underwater. The mercenary's armour buckled and the straps gave way, the protective gear sliding off of his almost spherical body and clattering the floor. The swelling over took his legs, forcing them into a spread eagle and mobility failed him entirely. He tripped over his own distended bulk and fell forward in comically slow motion, bouncing off the ground and lazily drifting through the air like the oversized balloon that he was. By the time he reached Kwillit, the formerly fearsome hired gun had been reduced to a large, scaly sphere, nothing left of his arms and legs but a few barely visible stubby fingers and toes. His face had also bloated up, swollen cheeks the size of baseballs were half buried in his own expanded torso, rendering speech impossible. Only a simple grey undershirt and an overstretched pair of boxers protected the reptilian blimp now. His wide eyes gazed pathetically into Eckelson's own, causing the thief to wince. In disgust, he struck at the bloated sphere, sending him toppling end over end across the room towards the girl. She cackled and batted him back towards Kwillit, who once again backhanded the poor man towards her in a bizarre game of volleyball.

"Blimey, are you enjoying this?" Eckelson realized.
"I'm sure he doesn't mind" She replied, smacking the makeshift beachball back towards Kwillit who let it come to a rest as he huddled up behind a bench. The balloon wriggled meekly, attempting to escape.
"This is sick" he finally stated. "Who the bleeding hell are you? How did you get involved?"
"Lorraine. Just Lorraine" She said from behind her own spot of cover "The IGPD are paying good money for what you're carrying. And you are?"
"Not at liberty to discuss my clients" Eckelson shot back, groaning. She was a bounty hunter, just what he needed. He was slowly making his way to the ladder at the far end of the room. If he could keep her talking, and thinking that he was still armed, then maybe he could even work out a distraction and make it out of here in one piece, with his wiry physique intact. "I don't really make a habit of exposing my identity to the cops"

"Eckelson Kwillit" he heard Lorraine recite, realizing that she had just called up his police profile. "Oh my, you've got quite the record. No arrests though. And no picture. Just a name and a reputation You are good aren't you?"
Below, Kwillit could hear the boots of the last two mercenaries making their way upstairs, one of them limping from the bolt he had put in their leg. He just had to buy a few more seconds…
"Tell you what, I'm a fair minded individual and the way I see it, you owe me one. You toss over what I came for, and I'll let you go" She offered.
"I think they might take opposition to that" Eckes called out.
The bounty hunter turned her head in the direction of the footsteps, giving Eckes a window to sprint for the ladder and salvation.

Lorry hurriedly reloaded, fumbling with her blimping darts as Kwillit started to clamber up the ladder and to the hatch that led to the roof. Now things were going bad for her. Her payload was getting away and two very angry, very armed individuals were charging up the stairs behind her.

Eckelson paused just as he was about to open the hatch to freedom. The way things looked, that bounty hunter was going to be shot to pieces if he didn't do something. He knew he shouldn't care, but a part of him didn't want to see anyone die on his behalf, and she Had probably saved him with those ridiculous darts of hers. The thief glanced at one of the grenades on his belt and rolled his eyes.

Lorraine looked up as she heard Kwillit's voice from the open trapdoor.
"Shut your eyes and cover your ears, luv!" A second later, a small black object dropped through the hatchway as it slammed shut, rolling towards the center of the room. She complied just as the two mercenaries entered the room, breezing right past her. As if on cue, the flashbang detonated, completely blinding the pair. Lorraine used the opening to slip past them down the stairs and to freedom. That thief was an interesting one, but as far as she was concerned, they were even. Next time they met, it was fair game.

Kwilit locked the hatch behind him, knowing it wouldn't hold those two for long. He looked out over the sun-bleached dunes and the cluster of towers surrounding him, rising out of the sand like the ribs of some long dead behemoth. There was a strong current in the air, and he'd half to be careful to ensure he wasn't blown off course. Eckes lowered the tinted goggles he wore on his brow over his eyes and flared out his wings. The gust behind him grew stronger, almost taking him off of his feet. He glanced behind himself at the source of the wind and his blood ran cold.

A mile high wall of airborne dust loomed before Eckelson, like a colossal glacier headed straight for him. It was a sandstorm; almost hurricane force winds that picked up on the bare landscape of planets like Mihjarr and charged along the across the surface of the planet like freight trains.
How had he not have noticed that? Things had been so hectic inside, he hadn't even bothered to look out the other window to see the enroaching tempest.
  If he stayed in the open, Eckes would probably be blown right off the rooftop. If he went back inside, he'd be riddled with holes by the two men who wanted him dead. And if he tried to fly for it, the storm would overtake him in under a minute and the winds would assuredly bash him to pieces against the forest of towers that stood between him and his ship.
Unless…

Eckelson looked down at the dart that was still clasped in his fist. He would break every bone in his body if he tried to fly in that storm, unless he was pretty heavily cushioned when it happened. Whatever the option, he had seconds to act.
"God, this is the worst idea I've ever had" he muttered. Kwillit gripped the needle tightly, then stabbed it into his thigh, pumping himself full of the compound.
At first, nothing happened. Then he felt a bubbling sensation in his gut and a telltale belch escaped his lips. A massive headrush hit him next, followed by a tingling sensation across his body as that same hissing sound reached his ears. Kwillit felt the inside of his thighs touch each other as his arms became harder to bend. The sand in the air started to thicken as a dull roar reached his ears.
"C'mon, C'mon" he urged.
The bubbling intensified and his normally taught stomach started to expand, sticking straight out as it billowed full of gas. His backside joined in, both cheeks swelling outwards and stretching the seat of his pants. His legs were now completely stiff and his arms stuck out at odd angles, bloating heavily but outpaced by his massive midsection. Kwillit's vest stubbornly hung on to his expanding form, the elastic straps digging into his shoulders and waist as it rode up his expanding belly, a wide, furry midriff revealing itself. Even his bony, elongated fingers expanded slightly as they fanned out, stretching his leathery wings out along either side of the sphere he was rapidly becoming as his back rounded out, rendering everything from his neck to his knees a solid ball. Eckes waddled unevenly towards the edge of the building, wincing slightly through expanded cheeks that were pressing in to his gaseous chest. The transformation was almost complete as his legs thickened into cones and finally blended in seamlessly with his lower hemisphere, his bare, clawed feet following suit, lifting off of the ground as his body shifted support onto his distended crotch. Eckelson was now completely spherical, save his half buried head and his wings, which stretched along his circumference, dividing his front and back half like the flights on the galaxy's least aerodynamic throwing dart.

The wind caught Kwillit's round form and he rolled forward, teetering on the edge of the rooftop. He started to panic again. It was a solid twenty story drop and he had never felt so helpless. All he could do was look around and twitch his wings slightly. Then, he felt a jerk and his belly left the ground entirely, the wind taking him up like a kite. He bobbed and darted through the air as the dull roar grew to a howl and the heavy dust completely blocked out his visibility. Even his echolocation was fuzzy from all the sand in the air. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

A dark, tall shape loomed out of the obscuring fog, hurling towards Eckes at a speed that something that big had no right travelling at. Then he realized it wasn't headed for him. He was headed for it. Eckelson closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he collided with the side of the processing tower at a good 60 mph, except his whole body acted as an airbag. He let out an "OOMPH!" and the impact rattled his teeth, but no broken bones and not even all that pain. He hung there for a split second, the powerful winds plastering him to the side of the facility when suddenly another gust caught him, carrying him in the exact opposite direction where he slammed right into another tower. He was airborne again a second later and headed straight for a third, like a massive game of buoyant pinball. Eckes struggled to keep his bearings through the storm and adjusted his wings like a rudder, trying to keep himself within a relatively small playing field, ricocheting between eight or nine towers. His thoughts were jarred by another collision, but he struggled to maintain focus through the chaos, reassured by the small weight in his vest pocket. With any luck, this would pass in about thirty minutes or so and he'd finally come to a rest on the ground and hopefully deflate within the hour, at which point he could get back to his ship and get off this damn rock.

At least, he thought he would deflate.
This was temporary, right?
"Oh, hell" he thought. Somehow, that simple factor had completely slipped his mind while he was formulating his genius plan.
Suddenly the weight in his pocket felt a whole lot heavier.
"Damn" he grunted as he bounced off another tower. "This had better have been worth it"