by Chris Hechtl
<)>^<)>/
Three weeks after taking Flo and her boys in, Vanessa finally had the right set of circumstances to visit the Borlin house. She made certain to schedule it for when the kids were busy, in the middle of the week several days after their last run to town in order to have given the animals a proper resting period.
She had Jon and Kevin load up the wagon for her. “Sure you don't want me to come with you, ma?” Kevin asked worriedly.
“I'll be fine,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. She started off and then stopped by the root cellar to go to the jakes.
“Get in while I go to the jakes and relieve my bladder,” she stage-whispered to the woman in the open door. Flo nodded.
Vanessa made a show of adjusting her dress as she came back from the privy house. She climbed on board, gathered up the reins, and then snapped them and clucked to get the animals moving and on their way once more.
Kevin and the kids never saw Flo and her sons climb into the cart since it had obstructed their view. Nor did they know she'd even been there; Alvin had been good to his word.
<)>^<)>/
It took the better part of the morning to get to the Borlins. When they did, Flo got out and stretched, then was hugged by Anne. Vanessa insisted on giving the Neochimp some goods for her to help pay her way. “She's a good hard worker,” Vanessa said to Anne. “She'll be a big help around the farm. I know you need that help as much as we do around this time,” she said.
“That we do,” Anne said with a nod to Flo. “And we'll be sure to give her some stuff to help her on the next leg of her journey,” she said.
“Thank you,” Vanessa said with a sense of intense relief.
“Bless you,” Flo said, giving her a hug until the woman gasped and tears came to her eyes.
<)>^<)>/
Isabel came out to take down the wash to see Tessa getting pushed around by a group of bullies. The boys were local toughs and a few new kids who had come in to town. There was little work in town, so they preyed on the weak or lounged about instead of going to school.
As she watched, the woman was knocked off her feet. She cried, cringing as they jeered. “Enough of that,” Isabel said as she came over to them. They quieted and turned to her. “Go on now, off with you, or I'll tell your mothers and you'll all have fat ears and red bottoms,” she snarled.
The boys looked at each other. She turned a glower on the leader, Mick. Mick tried to stand up to her, but he instantly folded when Judith came out onto her front step to see what was going on.
“Come on,” he said, hitting Bolly on the shoulder. “Let's go see if we can find an invader,” he said nastily.
“Why? She's not a Neo or an alien smartass,” Isabel said, clenching her feet as she stood near the woman. She waited until the boys were far enough away before she risked bending over to help the battered woman to her feet.
“I can't go home,” Tessa sobbed. “They'll come for me …,” she said as she crumpled in Isabel's arms.
“There, there,” the woman said huskily, fighting her own tears as Judith approached. The older woman wrung her hands in her apron, unsure what to do.
“Come on. We'll help you get settled. We'll find a nice cup of tea to settle your innards while you check yourself over, then we'll see what we can do,” she said firmly.
Judith nodded and took the woman under her arm. She looked back to Isabel, but Isabel shooed them off.
It was a pity; Tessa was a good woman. She couldn't do anything about the way the woman looked; none of them could be blamed for how they'd been born. Nor should they be she thought. The woman's ears, they were on top of her head though, and she had something of a muzzle, cleft lip, and sharp canine teeth.
She followed the two women into Judith's house and then shut the screen door behind her. She rested against it, fanning herself from the heat.
“At least the mosquitoes aren't out,” Judith said as she fetched a cup of raspberry tea. They'd managed to save the berry bushes near Flo's house and a fresh crop had been recently harvested. It was meager tidings for the neighborhood, so they used it for tea instead of trying to bake pies or make jam.
“What do we do?” Tessa asked softly. “What do I do? Look at me, I'm a freak,” she said, tugging on her offending ears.
They finally realized the woman wouldn't be safe until she left town. That meant they had to plan to get her out somehow. For the time being, the woman would have to live in Judith's basement.
Word came through the grapevine later that evening that Tessa's home had been raided, and her family had been taken away. Tessa cried fresh hot tears of anguish when she heard the news.
<)>^<)>/
Corporal Lishman was glad that he'd been in the recent roundup. Credit had gone to the boys of course, and they'd gotten their reward for the six that had been found—not that they were true Neos or aliens. They were chimeras, but so freakishly close to Neos it hadn't mattered. No one had turned them in; most likely because the parents were the local doctors. Not that it had mattered.
Major Scherer had personally ruled on their fate. They were to be shipped to the gas chambers on the next transport, though they weren't told that of course. He'd read up on the eugenics program. Like the Nazis long before them, the Eugenics program gave the subjects a sense of hope. If they had hope, they wouldn't panic and would be easily herded. According to some of his history classes, the Nazis had promised work and food to the people so they willingly went into the gas chambers.
The ruling would set a precedent for others to follow while also providing a reward to the boys for their due diligence, drawing them to the Horathian's side. Others who saw them get rewarded would want to participate to get rewarded as well.
But one had gotten away. Which was why he was back on Main Street outside the tailor's door. He was tempted to kick it in. Instead he knocked.
“Yes?” a quavering female voice asked.
“This is Corporal Lishman. Open up,” he said in a stern voice.
Isabel opened the door and let the man in. He looked around, noting the clean living room with the piles of folded clothes. There were dress dummies set up in the corners. “Can … can I help you, Corporal?” Isabel asked, fighting to keep her voice level.
He continued to survey the room and then flipped his goggles down to scan the house. He even took his time to scan the floor. But there were no betraying heat signatures. He looked over to his robotic dog, but the dog didn't indicate it had picked up another scent.
“I'm looking for a woman. The woman you helped in the street yesterday. Witnesses state you drove off a group of boys who were bringing her in,” the man said.
“She's not a Neo; she's a chimera. She can't help being born what she was,” Isabel said, jutting her chin out.
The corporal eyed her. “You realize harboring her is a crime?”
“She's not here,” Isabel said, waving her hands. “Feel free to look around if you must. I helped her up and sent her on her way after a cup of tea to settle her nerves.
He looked around again, admiring her nerve. There was little of anything of value. He was tempted to toss the place out of spite but decided against it. Instead, he turned away. “Do not be so stupid to help those who cannot be helped. They are the enemy. Remember that or you will be sorry,” he growled.
She gulped. He could tell she was sweating … but then again it was stifling hot out.
“Come on,” he growled to the dog as he stormed out.
Isabel didn't get over her case of the shakes until he was long gone.
<)>^<)>/
Two days later Vanessa dropped her load off at Al's early and then left Alvin playing with the boys. She borrowed a Branack to carry her into the inner town, promising she wouldn't tarry long since she wanted to be back to the farm before lunch. She had the girl's dresses tucked in a parcel for Isabel to re-stitch. She'd realized she didn't have the time to do it properly herself, and well, Gretchen had whined enough to make h
er decide to have the professional do the job.
Isabel had a foot-powered sewing machine, an old one but a good one she knew. Better for her to do it she thought as she pulled the bipedal beast up and then tethered it to a hitching post. Besides, she had another reason she wanted to come to see the woman. One a bit more personal she thought. She dusted off her long skirt and then went up the steps to the door. She saw the curtains twitch so she knew someone was home.
Isabel had been nervous about the knock on her door but had been all smiles when Vanessa had told her about the project and offered a down payment to her. She appreciated the work and especially the food the woman used as trade for her labor. She also appreciated it when Vanessa quietly told her that Flo was safe. “Your old friend said to let you know. And to thank you again,” Vanessa said with a nod to the woman.
That had told her what she had needed to know. She made arrangements with the woman to get Tessa out of town as well. Vanessa had winked and then gone on to Judith's to have a quiet word. Tessa would have to make her way to the outskirts of town on her own the next time Vanessa came to town. Until then, she wasn't safe.
Vanessa was surprised when she found the girl waiting for her by the short bridge sometime later when she left to go back home. The duo hadn't said a word; she'd merely let the girl hide in the back under the old blanket and crockery.
“It looks like I'll be seeing Anne again real soon,” she said softly as she clucked the horses back into motion.
Chapter 15
“All hands and passengers—please brace for breakout of hyperspace. If you feel sick, please take appropriate measures,” a voice said from the speakers. Jethro looked up from the game of spaces he and Letanga were playing with the foxes.
“Hang on a minute,” Letanga said, setting his cards down. “I wish we had a window,” he muttered as he pulled his tablet out, “or a better screen.”
“What?” Shiku demanded. “What are you up to?”
“I want to see the breakout,” the leopard said simply as he keyed in the ship's sensors as the voice counted down the last thirty seconds. “Got it,” he said as he tapped into the feed. “A lot of bandwidth,” he muttered.
Jethro got up and looked over his shoulder. The foxes looked at each other, then crowded around as well. Shiku knelt next to Letanga so he could get a view. Letanga dropped his right arm so it wouldn't obstruct the view.
They watched the starbow effect turn into a rainbow and then a bright flash as the countdown hit one. “And we have arrived in Antigua space, ladies and gentlemen,” the voice said from the speaker as the image went through some pyrotechnics as energy bled off the ships in the convoy.
“That never gets old,” Letanga breathed.
“I know. I wonder what it'd be like to have the feed direct to our implants or see it on the bridge,” Shiku murmured.
“I saw it once when I was standing watch,” Letanga said as he set the tablet down and the group collectively stretched. Pamplona took that opportunity to visit the head while Shiku went and got a snack. “It was too cool. It got stuck in my head,” Letanga said.
“I saw a bit when we were on that prison liner coming back from B101a1,” Jethro said. “It was cool, eye searing cool …,” he shrugged.
“Lucky,” his cousin muttered darkly.
“I wasn't on the bridge. I just saw it. They probably have recordings too,” Jethro said.
“Not the same as seeing it live. It doesn't have the same thrill,” Letanga said. He checked his tablet. “Mail and news should be coming in once the picket is done with checking our IFF,” he said.
“It'll take the comm section time to sort out,” Jethro said.
“True,” Shiku said as he finished with the snack. He put the bowl of fried insects he'd reheated in the microwave on the table. Letanga fished out a grasshopper and munched it. “Hey!”
“Hay is for horses,” Letanga said, masticating with a slight smirk. “Shall we get back to busting your nil?” he asked.
“Very funny,” the fox growled as his partner came out of the bathroom. “Ready?”
“Ayeyup. Let's kick their fuzzy asses,” she replied with a nod and ear flick.
“Sure you will,” Letanga drawled as they picked up their cards.
<)>^<)>/
The foxes managed to get to five hundred points first, so the cats took the ribbing of their loss in good grace. Jethro was disinterested in getting razed. He was like them who had a few other things on their mind, like catching up on the news that they missed out on while they'd been in hyperspace. They would have plenty of time to read and catch up on events; it would be four days of sailing into the inner system before they debarked.
On the last day before they debarked, they met up again but in a conference room on the transport. Jethro wasn't certain how Shiku had arranged it, and for his sanity, he decided he didn't want to know. He did enjoy the view on the large screen that took up most of one of the short walls on either end of the room.
Just being able to see the star system seething with activity was neat. “Impressive given the last time I was here,” Jethro murmured.
“Look at the warships,” Tikaani said, pointing to clusters of warships. “They are really turning them out, aren't they? Is that a battlecruiser?”
“Possibly,” Shiku said, zooming in. “Yeah, looks that way, but it's hard to judge from this angle.”
“It is,” Jethro said absently.
“How can you tell?” Pamplona demanded. “The Newman and Firefly class are almost identical except for size,” she said.
“A Resolution class and Newman class look alike in theory, but there are differences you can spot. This for instance has got more turrets than a Resolution like Firefly does,” Jethro said.
“Oh,” the arctic fox replied. “Well, I'm no expert,” she drawled.
“That part's obvious,” Shiku said dryly. She shot him a moderate glower as a quelling look. He just flicked his ears at her.
When the image futzed out and then zoomed in and out, Shiku turned to Letanga. “What are you trying to do, make us sick?”
“No, I'm trying to look at the shipyards,” the leopard said. “I want to see what's coming. I heard scuttlebutt that Bismark is nearly finished …”
“Yeah, a second go around after someone let the pirate's jack her,” Pamplona said in disgust. “I bet Marines weren't involved in her security.”
“Don't bet on that,” Jethro replied. All eyes fell on him. “You all know we have security at each lock and on board. The pirates got in. They managed to seize control briefly, but our people got her back.”
“They should never have gotten on board in the first place,” Shiku growled. His eyes caught sight of the yard just before the screen blurred and pixilated out. A pop-up came up warning them that the yard was a protected military asset.
“Crap. I guess ONI has some sort of blocking software built into the cameras to keep people from looking at it and certain facilities,” Letanga said, giving up the effort.
“Right. Wanna bet we got flagged?” Pamplona demanded.
“Probably,” Shiku said shaking his head.
“Joy,” Jethro sighed.
<)>^<)>/
Lieutenant Fletcher, the smart A.I. that oversaw ONI interests in the star system along with much of the growing Federation, received many flags every hour. Most were minor; organics and even a few civilian A.I. who were too curious for their own good. A minor hand slap and warning was all that was needed to get them back to the straight and narrow.
The ones that persisted were the media or those who thought they had the right to directly oversee the goings-on of classified areas. Those were a pain in the ass to deal with. The media had to be handled delicately. The individuals—there were procedures set up for them. The three attempts by spacers who tried to play tourist had been a nightmare to handle. After the Bismark incident, each of them had been rather close to getting shot.
Usually first-time offenders got
off with a bot warning. But he still had to look over each case and sign off on closing it.
The current set of flagged files he had in his active memory were of people looking at the shipyard complex. The navy yard, not the civilian yards in the star system.
It was typical for the media as well as engineering personnel, especially after the aforementioned Bismark incident. The A.I. got plenty each day; most of them were polite about turning away. He checked the IDs. His emotional modulator indicated amusement and disgust. Marines he thought, checking the IDs of all who had been in the room at the time of the violation.
When he checked further, his emotional module indicated fresh amusement. He checked their security clearance as protocol dictated. Within a microsecond, he had signed off on not checking in further since they had high enough clearance. He sent them the usual form letter in their email and then closed the case.
<)>^<)>/
Jethro got word of the hit on Protodon just as they were about to debark. He was instantly concerned for the Neocats, as well as the other people he'd met, and Colonel Pendeckle's boys and girls. But he also got a mail from the travel authority informing him that both tickets had been used. He compared the dates and realized the kittens were off world. A sense of relief ran through him. It wasn't much, but at least he'd gotten them out he thought.
“Master Sergeant McClintock and party, report to blue eight gate for debarkation …,” a PA voice said just as his implants pinged.
“Right,” he said, nodding to Letanga and the others. “Let's go, folks,” he said.
<)>^<)>/
The group was ordered to report to Captain Lyon in administration of the Navy's admiralty space complex instead of at Marine RECON. That was unusual, given that the captain's HQ had been located on the planet up until their arrival.
Since they had to report within a few hours of their arrival, Jethro had their gear secured temporarily. He made certain everyone in his party was clean, fed, and ready to report. He even made them go to the bathroom since he wasn't certain how much hurry up and wait they'd have to endure. The group rolled their eyes but didn't complain. At least, not out loud, he observed.