The commons area was abuzz with more than the regular grouping of captives that would come for free time out of their various padded cells and restraints they were kept in. It had been talked about enough that when the ship falls into orbit and its speed equalizes they will lose the artificial gravity generated by its long deceleration process, burning thrusters in the direction of their destination to prevent from overshooting it at too high of velocity. Everyone figured they would have to sit in storage for a lengthier time than usual since the commons area was far too large to let captives float around aimlessly.

This caused a surge in more extra curricular activity during time in the commons. As though everyone was preparing for hibernation and didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to burn off some excess energy. Some did this with regular trips to the barrel while others fought over the limited space of the basketball court. In the corner was a Rottweiler performing squats, lunges, and pushups taking breaks to catch his breath in between. On the opposite side of the commons was Sokal having entered the commons area to take part in a round of basketball as he was not above the problems that occurred with weightlessness over longer periods of time.

He budged his way into a game, benching one of the team members reluctantly to the sidelines while he played with his captives as though no hard feelings were held. He would get periodic eye rolls and sneers but no one dared do it while he was looking since a simple snap of his fingers would activate a large number of onlooking sentinels in a display of corrective action.

The game was finished and as sokal was toweling off he strolled casually to the part of the commons area where the Rottweiler was exercising.

“Donovan.” The wolf said in an asking manner to confirm what he was too preoccupied to confirm on his arm mounted display.

“Yeah. That's me.” The black and brown canine said while standing to his feet and breathing heavy.

“You are a bit more muscled up than the rest of our guests here. How about putting some of that to the test?” Sokal asked.

“Guests? I don’t see any guests here.”

Sokal laughed and flipped his around Donovan's neck. “Maybe not the right word for it then. At any rate you seem to be good at form and targeting muscle groups which leads me to believe you were once a gym goer, am I right?”

Donovan shrugged his shoulders in a fashion stating ‘yeah, so what?’ in the form of body language. Sokal stood as though the two of them were in a stand-off, staring each other down. It was almost a shame he wasn’t as compliant with the nature of things as Lykron was, since more living muscle was always welcome among Sokal’s ranks.

“You know. It’s an awful shame that your species wasn’t a rat.” Sokal paused for a moment, “Cuz then we can call you a gym rat!”

A dull silence in the commons as everyone almost looked at Sokal in disapproval as his joke fell flat on its face.

Sokal cleared his throat, “Yes, well…follow me then.”

Donovan followed less afraid than most would be with a more ‘bring it on’ look on his face as he walked with more confidence grasping the towel still draped around his neck over his shoulders. He followed Sokal out and down the hall that branched out into more of the ship that was typically unaccessible to the captives save for times where he had some experiments that needed running.

“As you are probably aware from the grape vine, we are going to be losing gravity soon so I’ve been hard at work devising a way to get around some of the problems we face in zero g. We have to close off some sinks used for medical purposes and procedures for drinking and bathing are going to have to be re-evaluated.” Sokal said leading them into a room closer than what Donovan had expected. It was a gym with equipment of every kind for every exercise imaginable. It looked new and well funded. Like one of those that you would need a rich people subscription to from some exclusive club.

Donovan looked at it all in shock, “What, wait…you had this this whole time!?” The Rottweiler was almost shaking in disbelief. “Why wouldn’t we have access to this?! The whole commons area has a basketball court and chess board images in the tables with no chess pieces! This gym can fit the entire block group of us if you wanted it to.”

Sokal put his hand up to stop Donovan, “Yes, yes, but the majority of you were in testing half the time anyway and this room is going to be FAR more important when we lose gravity. To prevent your muscles from atrophy from no gravity we need to spend a good amount of time in the gym. So it's going to be opened up to all of you in similar shifts as the commons area but with some changes.”

Donovan looked puzzled, “With no gravity, how is any of this supposed to work?”

“Good question, these are not just weights for when gravity is available but also an empty bar in this squat station can produce simulated weight resistance using electromagnets or belts from within the chambers that hold the bar itself. The weight can be dialed in accordingly. For now we still have gravity so traditional weights can be added to the bar like normal.”

“One problem though. How are we supposed to even get down here? This place isn’t attached to the same block that we are confined to and we don’t have grab bars to hold onto in zero gravity.”

“Another good question! I’m bummed you haven’t been as receptive as Lykron was. You would have been a great addition to our team! The solution to that are these.” Sokal pointed over to a wall with lockers and in an open one was what looked like boots that one would use in skiing, but different somehow.”

“I don’t… get it.” Donovan's head tilted as the doctor pulled from the open locker the footwear and pulled them open and set them on the ground. The upper parts of the boots splayed apart to grant easy entry.

“They also are equipped with electromagnets. Put them on and they will clamp you to the ground securely while you walk in zero gravity.”

Intrigued, the canine slid them on and stood there as the bindings on them clamped down and snapped into place with clicks and a strap around the top sipped closed and locked itself into a firm position preventing the whole thing from opening up again. They were stiff and awkward to walk in as Donovan strolled around in them testing them out. They were comfortable with soft padding and cushioning for his feet and ankles. He could feel the tug of the magnets as his boot met the floor with every step.

“This is actually pretty effective.” He said while still clomping around.

“They will become more natural to walk in over time. Everyone will be wearing them when on free time.”

“What about the gym though. We will have to go into unsecured areas of the ship to get here.”

“I’ve thought of that too.” Sokal raised his arm mounted display and pressed a couple commands in. Immediately, Donovan's feet were fixed to the ground as if they were built into the metal of the floor from the very beginning. He tugged on them and twisted with as much force as he could produce and it wouldn’t even wiggle or slide across the surface. Finally, he relented and stood still waiting for the doctor to release him from the ground.

“Aren’t electromagnets cool?” Sokal said with a self approving smile. “Any wandering into the restricted areas will immediately activate this feature and halt people in their tracks. Frankly, I kinda wish I had something like this in place back when Keplin made a break for it. For now, they will keep people from wandering beyond the gym.”

“Yeah. These will certainly do the trick.” Donovan replied while the doctor pressed more commands in and released him from his anchor point on the ground. Donovan sat on a nearby bench and fiddled with them trying to undo the straps to remove them again.

“Oh yeah…that’s not happening.” Sokal chuckled, “They don’t really come off all that often with the exception of cleaning and hygiene stuff while you’re out of cell for the time being. I got to get them on everyone soon so there isn’t a point in taking them off you anymore just to go right back in later, ya know?”

Donovan sighed, “Figures.”

“Oh don’t be so glum. You got a gym now, right? Come here to this machine so we can see what you’re made of.”

Donovan accepted the challenge and stood up and made his way to the squat machine. He stepped up onto the rubber pad secured to the floor. On it were bindings for his boots that Sokal directed him to step into. Doing so, his feet were locked into position again, unable to move them.

“I’d have used the magnets but they don’t work on rubber surfaces. Physics and all.” Sokal said while guiding Donovan's arms up and his hands into hand binders. When secured around his wrists he was told to grab the bar of the weight set and they were clamped shut. This prevented him from being able to let go of the bar if he wanted to.

“So you want me to do squats? Not really safe with my feet and hands secured.”

“Nope. We are not doing squats. Lift the weights above your head” Sokal replied and the machine let go of the bar and Donovan lifted the weights with relative ease above his head before it was locked into its position again. Now helpless Donovan watched as the doctor secured a cock ring and ball stretcher around his furhood. After securing it, he rubbed his cock shaft coaxing it out until the knot was exposed. Donovan reveled in it and quivered while tugging on his restraints a little. He rocked his hips a little in approval but the doctor stopped and clamped the band around the base of his cock, behind the knot to prevent his erection from going away. His cock wouldn’t be able to retract into the sheathe with the ring in the way.

“Uh…what are you doing?” He asked but Sokal didn’t answer. He instead grabbed a muzzle of the same style as the boots and hand bindings and worked it onto Donovan's face before clamping his muzzle closed and locking it behind his head. The Rottweiler only watched, not trying to fight back and provoke anything that would make the situation worse.

“I have an exercise routine for you.” Sokal said while threading rope into a pulley system it attached to the bar first and went up over his head, down to the ground behind him and then up to his groin area where it was attached to the mechanism that secured his balls. The rope was pulled a little tighter and could feel a very gentle pull on his balls from it.

“I like to keep people in the dark about things like this so they can’t plan ways around it or spend the day upset over something they can’t control. So instead of sending you back to tell everyone about the things I have planned you’ll be here working out for a while. I’m going to release the weights again and I think you’ll find it in your best interest to not let them descend beyond a certain point. Ready?”

The bar was released and Donovan held it in place above his head. It lowered a little and he could feel the true purpose of the contraption come to life. As it lowered the rope the bar was attached and began to pull on his balls from the pulley system it was attached to. Feeling the strain on his groin he quickly forced it back up to a comfortable position.

“Mmmmph?”

“Yeah. The boots will prevent you from dropping to your knees, and you won’t be able to get the bar to go as low as your shoulders or even the top of your head to rest on without pulling your balls off. Don’t worry though the pulleys take some of the weight off by the nature of mechanics and there isn’t enough weight on here to do that. But It will still be quite uncomfortable if you were to let the whole thing be suspended by your balls. That being said, It’s not a whole lot of weight for a tough guy like you but over the course of a longer period of time it ends up being one hell of a workout. Don’t get much better motivation than this.”

“MMmmmMmmphhh!” Donovan cried.

“I’ll be back to check on you later. Good luck!”

With that, the doctor disappeared from the gym and left Donovan there to perform what was likely going to be the workout of a lifetime.