The Rovers were slightly puzzled by the Master's sudden departure, but it all became clear when he returned and instructed Shag to ask DJ if he would like to become a Road Rover. "This young dog is courageous, loyal, and true." said the Master. "It is likely that I would have chosen him in a search for new recruits, but since he's here now, let's give him the option." Shag posed the question to DJ who barked and wagged his tail, Shag turned to the Master and gave the "OK" sign with his fingers. The Master smiled "Very well, we'll proceed as soon as he's ready." DJ spent the remainder of that day getting acquainted with his new found friends, and the next morning announced to Shag that despite his still bandaged leg, he was prepared to make the transformation.

In the lab Professor Hubert made some final adjustments to the transdogmafier, then nodded to DJ. DJ stepped into the transdogmafier, Hubert pushed a button and the machine began to make an electric humming noise. A grey mist surrounded DJ. Approximately 10 seconds later the machine went quiet and the mist dispersed. There stood DJ, on two legs, and wearing a Road Rovers uniform.

As a cano-sapien DJ stood almost 6 feet tall and was of average build, comparable in size and stature to Hunter. He remained still for a moment, looked himself over, then stepped from the transdogmafier. Hunter stepped froward "How do you feel?" he asked. DJ looked back at Hunter, still in awe of what had just happened. "Different" he said softly. He moved towards the Rovers. "I uh.... I really don't know what to say, except thank you, for everything you've done for me. You saved my life, if it hadn't been for you I'd have died right there in that field twenty miles west of nowhere, I know it." "It was nothing." said Blitz, full of himself as always "The pleasure was all mine." Exile smacked him in the back of the head. Colleen smiled "You gave us all quite a scare lad." Hunter shook DJ's hand and clapped him on the shoulder. "Welcome to the Road Rovers."

Later in the rec room, the Rovers sat and conversed over coffee and biscuits, learning all they could about their new team mate. DJ gladly answered any questions asked him. Exile was curious "How did you meet your human comrade Keith Stephens?" he asked. DJ sighed, "Well buddy it's a long story really, but in a nutshell I was an unwanted puppy. My mother was young and had become pregnant by accident, my siblings and I were just barely weaned when her owners started giving us away. I was the last one left and they got to the point where they were just plain fed up with me." DJ paused as memories flooded back.

"I was just a little thing yet, but I really thought I'd had it. They crammed me into a dusty old sack, drove me out by the state highway, and just dumped me off. It was at night, cold and rainy. Lucky for me they dropped me just outside a truck stop parking lot and Keith heard me crying as he was gettin' set to get back on the road. He turned me loose and put me up in the cab of his truck. Dried me off and got me warm, got some food down me, then we pulled out and headed down the road. The whole time he was talkin' to me and scratchin' me on the head. I remember him saying "I aint sure what I'm gettin' myself into, but you're staying with me." And I did just that, up until now I've hardly spent a day apart from him."

Hunter just shook his head. "How can people be so cruel?" Colleen too expressed her sympathy to DJ. DJ just smiled, "Don't be sorry" he said, "I'm not. I got myself a home and a master better than any dog has a right to ask for." DJ's face suddenly became solemn. "I didn't ask this yesterday, I was afraid to, but I just can't stand it anymore. Do any of you have any idea what ever became of Keith?" Colleen showed him the newspaper. DJ read the article, then carefully folded the paper and set it on the table, a tear ran down the side of his face. "Are you alright?" Colleen asked, concerned. "I'm ok," answered DJ, "just so relived to know that he's gonna be alright. Ohhhh if I EVER get my paws on that Parvo character I'll..." "PARVO !?!?!?" the other Rovers broke in in unison. DJ was surprised "Yeah, when I was in that warehouse the guy than knocked Keith in the head was talkin' with some woman who said quote: "You've done well, General Parvo will be pleased." "I don't suppose this woman spoke with a Scottish accent?" Colleen asked. "Yeah, how'd you guess? You know these jokers?" "Unfortunately yes." said Hunter, rolling his eyes "Pour yourself another cup of coffee and we'll tell you all about them."

DJ quietly listened as the Rovers told of their run-ins with General Parvo and the Groomer. "That makes sense." he said after they had finished. "Just before I escaped some guy dressed like a vet said something about me making a nasty cano-mutant." "Parvo has done this to many innocent dogs." said Exile, slightly angry. The new Rover was now beginning to see the magnitude of the situation he'd just entered. "Well, you can count on me from here on in, they almost killed my master, dang near turned me into some hybrid monster, I owe them some serious payback."

That day DJ spent a lot of time getting used to his new form. Hunter gave him the tour of Mission Controll and then provided him with a small catalogue to select some civilian clothes. This place, these dogs, this transformation that had taken place was just unreal. It was a lot to absorb at once. He spent most the late afternoon and evening in the rec room conversing with his new found friends. His leg still ached a little but was feeling much better, thanks to some medication Colleen had given him. At dinner time that night Shag's cooking quickly disappeared, everyone was relived that DJ was alright, and DJ himself had worked up quite an appetite the past few days. Shag's recipes sort of combined dog and human food, it was different but DJ was thoroughly enjoying it.

After dinner Exile helped DJ build up his reflexes with a game of ping pong. This was fun, but the new Rover couldn't forget about his human friend, surely by the next day he'd be home. DJ made a mental note to try to reach him in the morning. The Rovers again congregated in the rec room around the big screen tv, Exile noticed DJ was looking tired. "You look like you are in big time need of a good eight hour napski Comrade DJ." "Yea" replied DJ, "I am kinda beat." Exile stood "Better to sleep while you can, who knows what tomorrow may bring. Come, I'll show you to your roomski." DJ again thanked his fellow Rovers for their hospitality and followed Exile down the hall.

The husky led DJ down several hall ways to the sleeping quarters and opened the door of a vacant bedroom. Exile reached in and hit the light switch and DJ looked around. The room was spacious and comfortable. In the center of one wall was a bed and a night stand, on the opposite wall, next to the door, was a desk with a computer console, two view screens and an intercom speaker. Against another wall was a large dresser with a mirror, and on the fourth wall was a door to a bathroom shared with the room next-door. An armchair sat in the corner.

DJ turned to Exile and shook the Russian's hand. "Thank you buddy." he said, "For everything." Exile smiled back. "We're happy to have you with us comrade." Then he turned and headed back towards the rec room.

DJ took a minute to look over his new quarters. On the desk in front of one of the screens was a remote control, DJ pushed a red button in the top corner of the remote and the screen came to life. "TV, cool." He channel surfed for a minute, then shut the set off and placed the remote on the night stand. The bathroom looked typical except that next to the shower was another, slightly smaller stall with a glass door and vents in two of the sides. Curious, DJ stepped into the compartment and pushed a metallic button, warm air began to blast out of the vents. DJ couldn't help but laugh. A dryer, of course. How else would you quickly dry your fur after showering? Whoever designed RRMC had thought of everything.

Back in his bedroom DJ stripped out of his uniform, clothes were another new thing for him and would take a good deal of getting used to. He removed his collar and set it on the nightstand, next to it he put his old pet collar which he'd been carrying in his pocket all day. And what a day it had been. Laying down in his bed DJ relished the feeling of comfort, this sure beat sleeping on pine needles. He lay awake for a minute, reflecting on his experience. Then remembering what Exile had said "You never know what tomorrow may bring.", he reached over and shut off the small lamp on the nightstand.

DJ was startled awake by the sound of somebody knocking on his door. Light was flooding the room, let in through the small window above the bed. He looked at the clock, 7:45, he'd forgotten to set the alarm. "DJ you up?" came Hunter's voice from the other side of the door. "I am now." DJ replied in a groggy voice. "Oops, sorry bro. Just wanted to let you know breakfast will be ready in about twenty minutes." "A'right, thanks." said DJ as he pulled himself out of bed. Keith had always taken a quick shower in the morning to help wake himself up, maybe the same would work for dogs.

DJ showered and dried himself, now for those pesky clothes. He was working himself into his Road Rovers jump suit when Hunter knocked again. "Breakfast is on, are you decent?" "Tryin' my dangdest to get that way." answered DJ as he struggled to thread his tail through the hole in the seat of his uniform. "I'm seriously considering having myself bobbed." Hunter chuckled, remembering his own problems when he was just getting started as a Rover. "You'll get used to it." he said with a laugh. "I'll have them save you something."

In the kitchen the Rovers were just finishing breakfast when DJ arrived, Shag handed him a plate. "Thanks Bud." said DJ with a smile, and sat down at the counter. While he was eating he looked through the morning paper, a headline caught his eye. "Another truck stolen by mysterious highway bandits." As DJ skimmed the article Exile noticed a change in his facial expression. "Something wrongski?" "Uhh.., er.. no, everything's ok." DJ stammered. But everything was not ok, the newspaper told him that the stolen truck was loaded with electrical equipment, just like Keith's. And what about those boxes from those other trucks which bore the same label as those Keith was carrying? He had a gut feeling that Parvo's operation was a lot bigger than he had thought, but he was nervous about saying anything to the other Rovers before he'd figured out the details. The last thing he wanted was to make a fool of himself. DJ quickly finished eating, there was something he needed to attend to, something that had been bothering him for days now. It was time to call Keith.

Keith Stephens sat in the recliner in his living room, he was sick. Nothing wrong physically, but everywhere he looked he saw things that reminded him of DJ. The vacant rug near the fireplace which was the favorite napping spot of his four legged friend. His pickup truck sitting in the driveway, a towel draped over the seat to catch DJ's shed fur. Pictures of his pet on the walls and tables. And perhaps the most painful of all, the photo hanging above the fire place. A photo depicting not Keith and DJ the dog, but one of Keith and his best friend Darryl Jonston.

Darryl and Keith had met in high-school and after graduation had taken a brief college course in diesel mechanics. The two attended the same truck driving school, learning to wrestle the huge eighteen wheeled monsters over the highways. Upon completing the training courses and receiving their class A licenses they were hired by the same trucking outfit, R. Daniels Transportation Services. The first few months of work had been heaven for the two friends, they were often assigned loads to the same destinations, and drove their trucks down the road in convoy. \par

Keith stood and walked to the fireplace. He examined the picture. There they were, Darryl and Keith posing in front Darryl's rig, a seasoned Peterbilt 377 coupled to a fifty-three foot box trailer. The two young men were grinning and clowning as most twenty year olds do, given a chance. Keith smiled briefly, remembering the day the picture was taken. Approximately one month after the picture was taken Darryl was killed by a drunk driver while on his way home. Keith and Darryl lived with the risks associated with driving big rigs, accepting them as part of the job. However Darryl did not die at the wheel of the old 377, but in his car. The intoxicated driver survived the wreck and was convicted of felony DWI and vehicular manslaughter. He was sentenced to six years in prison, not nearly enough as far as Keith was concerned. Keith stayed with R. Daniels, building himself a reputation as one of the best drivers in the business, despite his young age. These memories were made more painful by the loss of DJ. When Keith found the dog as an abandoned puppy he decided to tip his hat to his deceased friend by giving the pup his name. He took the initials from the name Darryl Jonston and named the puppy DJ.

Keith returned to his chair and tried to think about something, ANYTHING besides his dog, it was no use. Against his will, Keith's mind took him back to the night he and DJ had met for the first time.... It had been three years since Darryl's death when Keith pulled in to fuel at McDevit's, a truck stop along state route 99. It was a cold and rainy night, Keith filled the diesel tanks on his Kenworth W-900. After paying the fuel bill and pulling his truck over into the parking lot he entered the small store/restaurant for a cup of coffee, there he was met by his friend Dave Marley. Dave invited Keith to join him for dinner. After dinner and some pleasant conversation Dave and Keith bid each other farewell and headed for their rigs.

Keith was parked in the far corner of the lot and on the way to his truck he thought he heard something. "Naw... must be my imagination playing tricks on me." he thought. There, he heard it again. A sort of a whimper, it reminded Keith of a....... puppy?!? The truck driver left the pavement and followed the sound a few yards out into an open field. He couldn't see a thing in the weeds. He turned back towards his truck, intent on getting his flashlight when he heard the sound again, from right at his feet! He crouched and groped around in the wet weeds, then he touched it, a small burlap sack, and it was moving. Keith was startled and relived at once, another few inches and he'd have stepped on the pup. Keith picked up the squirming sack and again headed for the truck. Once there he took his knife and made quick work of the twine binding it shut. Opening the sack revealed a tiny brown and black puppy, probably only about 8 weeks old. Keith shook his head in disbelief and climbed into his cab with the pup cradled in his hand.

With the sopping wet puppy still in his hand Keith fired up the Kenworth's engine. He then set the poor animal on the floor in front of the passenger seat while he fished around in the sleeper. All he could find was an old towel, it would have to do. He wrapped the puppy in the towel and set him back down, this time in the passenger seat. He adjusted all the vents to point at the passenger side of the cab and turned the heater on full. Leaving the engine idling and heater running Keith ran back into the store and bought a pint of milk. Returning to the truck he poured some milk into the metal cup that went with his thermos bottle. Now was time for a little trick his dad had taught him.

He again exited the truck, reached under the cab, and placed the cup on the engine exhaust pipe that ran to one of the twin stacks. The scorching hot exhaust pipe warmed the milk in less than a minute, he retrieved the cup and once again climbed into the Kenworth's cab. He lifted the pup onto his lap and held the cup of warm milk to the animal's nose. The puppy quickly made the milk disappear. Keith again set him in the passenger seat. "There you are little fella. Who could have done this to you? Well no matter, I aint sure what I'm lettin' myself in for, but you're gonna stay with me." Keith then glanced at the dash clock, if he didn't get moving now he'd be late. "We're on company time little buddy, let's hit the road.

Keith's memories were interrupted by his phone ringing. He stood and walked over to the impatiently ringing device. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm commin'." He picked up the phone. "Hello." A young male's voice came from the other end. "Keith, you're not going to believe this, but this is DJ." Keith was not happy with what he heard, somebody was playing a sick joke on him. "Look buddy, I don't know who you are, or what your game is, but you're not fooling anybody." He paused to see what the response might be. "Keith, it's really DJ, I'm a Road Rover now." "Oh sure," Keith responded angrily, "and Abe Lincoln is running for re-election." With that he slammed the receiver down. "Ugh, I need some air." He grabbed his coat off the hook and headed out the door.

"Oh sure, and Abe Lincoln is running for re-election. CLICK!" DJ slowly hung up his end of the phone. He couldn't blame Keith for reacting the way he did. Last time the pair had seen each other DJ was an average dog. The Road Rovers were such an elite crime fighting operation it would be hard for anyone to believe that their pet had been chosen. Heck, DJ still had a hard time believing it himself. Well, seeing is believing. He would have to go home and show Keith.

DJ sought out Hunter and told him about his brief conversation with his master. "I hate to ask you this, but do you have any wheels I could borrow for a few days? Just so I can go and prove to him that it IS me and that I'm alright." Hunter really felt for DJ, he knew his friendship with Keith meant a lot. "I can do better than that bro. I'll fly you there in the Cloud Rover, cut a couple days worth of travel down to a couple hours." DJ hadn't expected this. "I couldn't ask you to do that." he said. Hunter smiled "It's the least I can do, besides we might need you to help us kick tail before a couple days." Little did Hunter know how right he was, at that minute Exile entered the room. "The Master wants us all in the briefing room PDR." "Don't you mean PDQ?" Hunter asked, amused. The husky shrugged. "Whatever, he wants us there right nowski." Hunter looked at DJ. "I guess travel plans are on hold for a while, let's go see what the deal is."

"Our informants tell us that Parvo is building and stockpiling new high tech weapons." The Master began in a grave tone "These weapons can be installed in strategic locations and fired remotely using sophisticated electronic technology. If Parvo is allowed to proceed with this plan it could spell disaster. Production seems to be on such a grand scale that the only way to stop it is to destroy the source, you must locate and shut down Parvo's secret factory." Colleen raised her hand "Master, do we know what general area of the country these weapons are coming from? Or even what country for that matter?" The Master shook his head. "How are we supposed to locate it then?" huffed Blitz "Not even I can magically sniff out a secret weapons plant when given the whole world to search." Colleen and Exile simultaneously smacked Blitz in the back of the head, Blitz growled. Suddenly it all made sense to DJ, he nervously spoke up. "I uh... I think I can be of help sir."

Everybody turned to DJ. "Well, it's just a hunch....." he began slowly. "Go ahead," the Master encouraged "nobody else here has anything better to start off with." "Ok" said DJ "You said these weapons Parvo's turning out use high tech electronics, correct?" The Master nodded "Yes." "Well on the night we were hijacked, Keith was hauling a full load of electrical supplies, and I'm dang sure they've been snatching more loads of the same stuff. I was pawing through a newspaper earlier and read that other truckers had been held up the same way." "What does this have to do with electronic weapons, diesel dog?" Demanded Blitz impatiently. Hunter and the others glared at him. DJ took a deep breath "I was just coming to that."

"You see, when I was penned up in that warehouse or stockroom or whatever it was I was surrounded by boxes, all with the same labels as the ones Keith's truck was loaded with." DJ then looked at Blitz and spoke quickly, "I know what you're gonna say, "How would I know?" I know because I watched the workers load Keith's truck and after I was caught I had plenty of time on my paws to stare at boxes. Not really my first choice of visual enrichment but hey, prisoners can't be choosers. Anyway, just before I got away they unloaded another truck load of boxes with the SAME kinds of labels. Now this is the interesting part, they were unloading lots of stuff, but nothing was being shipped away, all the semis I heard leave were empty." Blitz jumped in again "The trucks you HEARD pull away?!?! If you never saw them how could you possibly know weather or not they were loaded?!?!" DJ rolled his eyes "Look Blitz, I can give you a detailed explanation of the sounds heavy industrial truck engines make under different loads, but that will have to wait for another time. I've spent my entire life around trucks, I know these things. Please, just trust me."

DJ looked at the Master who nodded "Continue." DJ took a moment to organize his thoughts, then proceeded. "Master, you say they're turning these weapons out faster than a hen on steroids turns out eggs, if that place was just a turn around point, to switch trucks or whatever, they'd be hauling stuff out as fast as they hauled it in, in order to keep the manufacturing department supplied. I may be barking up the wrong tree, but I think they're assembling those weapons right there, no storage, no attempts to disguise the stolen goods, just in the front door and out the back. I didn't really have time to take the grand tour, but there was a lot more to that place than I had the displeasure of seeing."

The Master thought this over. "If all the trucks left empty, how would they transport the finished weapons out?" "There were a lot of small delivery trucks parked in the yard, my guess is they load those up and they fan out, hauling the weapons where ever Parvo wants them. You said they were stationed in strategic locations and triggered remotely." The Master nodded. "A very interesting theory, it may well be worth investigating. Do you remember exactly where this was?" DJ nodded "If you can take me back to where you found me I'm sure I can back track." "Very well." said the Master "It's a long shot, but it's as good a place to start as any. Rovers your mission is to investigate this facility." Hunter stood first. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's hit the road, Rovers!"

DJ was nervous as the Air Rover lifted off and set a course for southern Oregon, this was his first mission as a Road Rover, how would he do? Would he be a help or a hindrance? In his hand he held the leather collar he'd worn every day for the past few years, he removed his pet tag and slid it onto the ring behind his Road Rovers tag on his red uniform collar. Exile was curious "Why for you do this?" DJ got a far away look in his eye. "Sentimental value." He said finally. "I was still just a pup when I started wearing this tag, and I just don't feel the same without it. Keith is the only family I've got, and this way I can have part of him with me all the time." He noticed he was kind of getting the cold shoulder from Blitz, but the others offered friendly encouragement. DJ shook his head "I'm not gonna lie to y'all, I'm a little scared, this time last week I was a pet, this is all new stuff to me." Colleen smiled "Chin up kid, you'll do fine." Exile offered his support as well. "After what you went through you must be pretty toughski." Hunter joined in. "Don't you worry bro, we'll be right with you the whole way." Shag patted DJ on the shoulder and even Muzzle hopped over and stood at DJ's side. "Just remember the tushies are mine." Blitz said curtly. DJ couldn't help but smile "No problem Blitz, no problem."

After about two hours of flight time Hunter put the Air Rover into a circle pattern over an open field. "Exile, is this where you first spotted DJ?" he asked. "Dah, this is place alright." "Yep" DJ confirmed "There's the bend in the road where I was hit, and there's the house I was making for. I tried to head in just one direction when I was running, and the sun always set ahead and to the right of me, so the weapons factory should be North East of here." "Let's take a look." said Hunter, and changed course to the direction DJ had indicated.

Just a few minutes later the Air Rover flew over a little town on the edge of the woods. "Ok Bro, see anything familiar?" DJ looked out the window "I'm not sure, could you swing back over the forest and take another pass at it?" "Deja-vu." thought Hunter as he brought the plane around. On the second pass it didn't take DJ long to spot a large building on the edge of town with semi trucks parked in a paved yard, it was the only such building around. "That's it." DJ said and pointed it out to the others. "There, to the left." He shook his head, "Hiding in plain sight." Colleen spoke up, "I hate to say this gents, but if this is a weapons factory they're bound to have some kind of radar tracking devices, and having flown over it twice odds are they probably know we're coming." "So much for element of surprise." said Exile.

Hunter landed the Air Rover in a forest clearing nearby and the team hiked towards the target. Shag pushing Muzzle along on his hand cart. All was going well until Blitz cried out "NOOOOO!!" The others spun around, ready to fight, only to see Blitz smoothing the fur between his ears, he had walked under a low branch and brushed some termite eaten bark off onto his head. Hunter shook his head, Colleen Rolled her eyes, DJ tried hard not to laugh, and Exile grabbed Blitz's collar, "Come on weird boy." The Rovers crept up to the chain link fence that surrounded the yard and building. Hunter looked over the situation, there were two semis backed up to the loading dock, and a man in a guard shack near the gate. There were workmen unloading the two trucks. Hunter turned to his team, "Ok crew, lets get in there and give it to 'em, Road Rover style."

More...