Stepping Stones (Founding of the Federation Short Stories Book 1)

by Chris Hechtl

  “Right,” the vet said. “And then you have an animal that is that small and very easily mishandled. Very easily squished,” he said.

  Sakura blanched and then nodded. Someone putting an animal in their pocket and then sitting down. She winced.

  “They tried to get Doctor Ishigani on board behind my back,” the vet rumbled, rubbing his thick jaw. “I got wind of it and put a quiet word in with legal about the potential problems with the design. Ishigani was all for giving it a go until they slipped up and told her they wanted her to borrow resources from her other projects and slip it into the budgets of our ongoing projects.” He shook his head. “Things are already tight as it is.”

  “So, the project got nixed. I had wondered why; I'd only been on board for a week,” Sakura stated. “I was wondering about the engineering involved.”

  “Well, don't worry about that now. Concentrate on the baboon project. We need to show some more results.”

  “Hai, Sensei,” she replied as he realized he was gossiping with a subordinate.

  “Get back to work,” he ordered.

  “Hai, Sensei,” Sakura replied as the bioreactor's timer went off. She rose from her stool dutifully to go about her business as he left.

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  Sakura became fascinated by Toshi over the following semester. He was unusual; his bond with the animals alone told her that. He had a level of empathy she admired, and he took risks. He could also handle the stress; he not only handled the animals, his own class load, but also his usual duties as well. But it was the empathy that really intrigued her. She had medical training that emphasized empathy with a patient in order to better facilitate healing, one of the reasons she had drawn the current assignment. But his was on an almost instinctive level. He was also quiet and shy but had a glow about him. A potential she recognized.

  Her sensei Yamato was silent about his history, just giving her the basics. Anything she wanted to know she had to learn from social media or from Toshi himself.

  Toshi took to the pink-haired girl's attention with a shy smile, which amused her even more. Had he been anyone else, Kibba for example, he would have been all over her. But she liked that he let her make the first moves. Of course she realized any other girl would have waited for his advances, dropped hints, gotten his attention, and flirted. She had other ideas.

  Not only did she want to know his secret but she also wanted to forge a bond with him. It could come in handy if she needed his help during the mission, or so she told herself. She knew it was self-justification, and Toshi was a potential security risk as well as a distraction, but with Sai gone she needed all the help she could get.

  Since Toshi wasn't familiar with the dating customs of her clan nor did she want him to get to know them, she took him to simple things. A movie and dinner and she was flattered that he insisted on picking up the tab. He didn't know that the Ramen bar she had taken him to was run by the clans. He was oblivious when she casually made her daily drop off, then took his arm and led him out.

  A few nights later she introduced him to a local dojo. The dojo was a business model; a small mom and pop setup in a strip mall that was really a front for one of the clans. It was a safe place for the clans to go to work out and keep in practice while maintaining their covers. It was, however, not used as a drop point; they couldn't and wouldn't compromise its cover.

  She pretended to be only an apprentice, but he surprised her by his skill. “I know you're holding back. We both know that it is an akkou. Why are you doing it? I admit, I'm rusty; I haven't practiced in a while,” he said.

  She chuckled and then nodded, sobered by what he said. “Okay then,” she said softly, with a feral smile.

  He saw her glittering eyes and gulped. “Oh boy, now I'm asking for it. Me and my big mouth,” Toshi muttered to himself.

  After their bow she took him down with a quick leg sweep and punch. But he surprised her by planting a foot in her midsection and throwing her in return before she could land the killing strike.

  They laughed when the bout was over. She had a new respect for him. She noticed Toshi was rolling his shoulders. He had a couple of bruises forming on his face and arms and his hands were battered, but he didn't complain, didn't say anything nor did he indicate he wanted to turn in early.

  She took pity on him and took him to the spa. He seemed to enjoy the experience. She found he had devastating hands, even better than some of the clan therapists within the spa.

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  A physical evaluation cycle of the troop revealed some medical issues they had to deal with. To Toshi's delight he was allowed to participate in the staff meeting. It was clear though that he was the lowest ranking person there, so he was to be quiet and observe. But one thing bothered him.

  “We have a problem with joints. Some of the subjects have early onset arthritis,” Doctor Chan noted, looking at his notes. “It's making some of the subjects distracted and temperamental. Ideas?”

  “Well, we can't get them to hold still for acupuncture, and medications in their food could cause unwanted side effects. Any ideas?” Doctor Ishigana asked of the staff.

  Toshi tentatively raised a hand. When all eyes turned to him, he hunched his shoulders a moment in defense then shrugged. “I have an idea.

  To Sakura and Doctor Ishigana's amusement, he introduced Brutus, Thoth, and the baboon troop to hot springs or at least simulated hot springs. The hot steam and hot water seemed to relax the baboons. It relaxed Toshi as well. Sakura grinned at him and led him into the chamber when the baboons were gone for some time alone, but Kibba and some of the other interns joined them. She seemed put out by the interruption but Toshi just smiled it away and enjoyed the time together with the group.

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  Doctor Ishigani was pleasantly pleased by their progress. Not only had the project finally started to come back on tract, but it was also stating to meet and in some cases exceed projected expectations. The primates were naturally more inquisitive and intelligent than first projected. That altered how much they would need to alter of their brain structure, and therefore, how many other changes would be needed to support the larger brain. For instance, without the larger brain the skull wouldn't need to be enlarged, and therefore, the spine and supporting musculature. Doctor Chaing had put forward the proposal of enlarging the animals in toto, and that had been the way things were trending. Now she wasn't so sure that would be necessary.

  Or at least not as necessary she thought. They still needed to work on the prefrontal cortex, the language centers, and the pituitary gland. Alterations to the vocal cords along the lines of the Lagroose chimps were already being sequenced into the next generation as were a dozen other minor improvements.

  She smiled to herself as she enjoyed her tea. But when she glanced at the monitors her heart seemed to skip a beat. The baboons were out! That made her sit up abruptly, dropping the ancient piece of china in her haste. It shattered, but the broken ceramic was forgotten as she went to find out what was going on.

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  Thoth was amused by their progress. He'd been watching the humans enter and leave their chamber; it had taken some time to understand the workings of the door. The young male human had been the key; he'd allowed Thoth to observe from up close as he left the chamber. He had watched as the door had been locked from the outside with a lever.

  The tools they had been introduced to had been the second half of their exit strategy. He'd learned to use sticks as tools to get food, but he had extended the idea further to use them to escape. He had put a stick through the hole in the door in order to hit the latch that held the feeding door closed. It had taken some patience and a few tries, but he'd gotten it done without a human noticing.

  The door had fallen outward and away and had been stopped by a chain on the side. The door acted as cliff, a shelf for the humans to slide food or other items through. But it was just big enough for him to get his arm and shoulder through to use the stick to push the door lat
ch down and disengage the latch. The click had told him he'd been successful, a push with his shoulder had opened the door.

  Most of the troop had followed him out, but all had been nervous. The young had wanted to run amok, but a bark had gotten them into semiorder of the column. Thoth wanted to explore outside the confines of their room and into the human's world he'd only seen through the glass.

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  Sakura saw the male wandering about when she looked up from the microscope she'd been looking through. She turned startled, eyes still adjusting, but the male just sniffed and kept walking by. The others of the troop followed. One of the young males playing rear guard seemed interested in her, but when the gap from the group became too long to bear, he scampered back to its safety.

  “Um, we've got a problem,” Sakura said, keying her phone. She realized that her hand was steady as was her voice. Sensei Kakashi would approve she thought distantly.

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  “What's going on?” Toshi asked as security hustled him inside.

  “Don't ask stupid questions. Get in there and help,” a guard said. “I've got to get suited up.”

  “Help with what?” Toshi asked as the guy pushed him through the door then shut it behind him. He turned at the sound of a lock engaging. The guy looked at him through the window then pointed to behind Toshi. His eyes were wide. Toshi turned to see Thoth as he rounded the corner. The male baboon sat down for a moment, scratched an itch, and then sniffed Toshi's way. Then he got up, dangled his tail and moved out. The others of the troop followed his lead.

  “What the devil is going on?” Toshi asked, shaking his head in wonder, slowly walking towards them. That made the column shy away from him so he stopped and craned his neck to watch Thoth explore the lab. From the closed doors and frightened looks through the windows, everyone was locking the place down. Great, it would have been nice to have gotten some warning! He fought the urge to turn a fulminating look on the guard who'd hustled him inside the lab. That could wait. Obviously he had to do something.

  Leading Thoth though wasn't in the cards; he knew it. Thoth would go where he wanted to go. The lead females were following him out of curiosity and to not let him one up them. Two of the females kept trying to get past him to take charge, but he just shuffled ahead or snorted to make them flinch and back off. This was obviously his show.

  “Um, hi guy, gals,” Toshi said softly. He worked up the courage to cut through the column to head Thoth off. When the big male turned his eyes on him, he stopped, turned his back on him, and crouched, waiting. Thoth came over, sniffed him, and then casually sat next to him.

  “So, how's your day been?” Toshi asked flippantly. The male looked at his hands, snuffled, and then looked away.

  “Yeah, mine's been eventful too it seems, for the same reason,” he said keeping his voice quite. He looked over to see a wide-eyed Sakura watching the exchange. He couldn't help it, he winked. She gulped but fought the urge to glower at him. She mouthed to him to get the animals back in their enclosure. He snorted softly then cut his eyes away. “Remember, no sudden moves, no eye contact,” he said loud enough for her to hear. She slowly nodded, eyes looking away.

  His eyes fell on a monitor in time to see security suiting up on the other side of the door. They were getting ready to come in with the full SWAT package. Not good for the animals or Sakura and himself who would be caught up in the exchange.

  “Sakura, call them off. Let me try to get them back. They will get bored.”

  “I don't know if I can.”

  “Try. You don't want to be a hostage here,” he warned her. She slowly nodded.

  When a young female went to stick her finger into a sequencer, he made the danger call instinctively. She and the troop froze and turned to him. “That's bad,” he said, reaching out to tap the machine. She looked at it, looked at him, and then sidled away.

  Thoth watched the exchange, nodded once, then moved along.

  He had to do it a second time when a female walking along the counter knocked over a beaker. The glass shattered on the floor in front of a few of the troop who jumped back instinctively away. Fortunately, the glass was empty, so once he warned them off, he picked up the pieces or used his shoe to brush them into a pile out of the way. One of the junior males ignored the order and picked up a piece. When he cut his finger and lip trying to bite it, he dropped the glass hastily and held his hand to his mouth. He held it up to one of the females to inspect. She snorted, brushed his arm, and then moved on. Toshi shook his head. The male's wounds would clot in moments and heal on their own as long as he didn't get infected.

  “Let's take a tour, shall we?” Toshi said, moving along with them. He demonstrated simple things, noting a few watching with interest, but others seemed bored. After a while a couple of the baboons took themselves off, climbing onto counters and desks to explore or sit and watch from on high. But slippery papers made them think twice about some areas.

  Sakura winced and coughed when a couple of the females defecated on some of Doctor Chaing's vet samples. She shook her head. Her movement attracted some unwanted attention. One of the males brushed her foot, reached out with a hand to play with the shoelace, before he moved on.

  She fought a sigh of relief. It wasn't quite over yet she thought.

  Toshi was struck by the wise brown eyes, but a single canine yawn made him think twice about thinking of Thoth as anyone to trifle lightly with. Which was quite possibly Thoth's purpose for the yawn in the first place.

  Once Thoth started to seem bored, constantly looking away, Toshi took the hint and lead them back to their quarters. Sakura watched, wide eyed as the troop passed her by. Thoth took a look at the girl, sniffed her, and then kept moving on.

  “Get the waldos to drop them a reward. Maybe the smell will get them back in,” Toshi murmured in passing to her. She nodded and tapped at her tablet to send the order.

  They took an interest in the other enclosures, fluffing up and strutting or vocalizing when they saw other baboons. But finally they calmed down as Thoth regally stepped back into the enclosure.

  When the last animal followed him in, Toshi quietly but firmly closed the door. One of the females came and stuck her arm out through the hatch then looked through it at him.

  “Sorry,” he said, not meeting her eyes. When she felt for the door lock he grunted. “So, that's the trick,” he murmured. He waited until she withdrew the hand before he closed the hatch.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder, startling him almost out of his skin. He turned to Sakura who wrapped herself around him, shaking.

  “Yeah, interesting start to a day,” he laughed, letting the hysterical relief subside. He heard distant clapping then turned to see the doctors and security entering the lab, smiling and clapping. He nodded as Sakura disengaged her embrace.

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  “That was a very close call,” Doctor Ishigani stated. “Do we know how they got out?”

  “I'm not sure about how the hatch was opened, perhaps it was left open?” Toshi shook his head. “But they figured out how to reach through it to the latch.”

  “Damn. They are improving,” Doctor Chiang stated.

  “You make that sound like a bad thing,” Doctor Ishigani stated, eying her colleague.”

  “No, no, it's just ...” he sputtered off and then shrugged helplessly.

  “The danger quotient has definitely increased,” Doctor Ishigani stated. “We'll have to figure out a better locking mechanism right away. Door stops too and a latch. I have engineering working on bracing for the doors until a better setup can be worked out.”

  “Hai,” Doctor Chaing agreed. “That could have gone very differently,” he stated.

  “Well, it was definitely a wakeup call,” Doctor Ishigani stated. She nodded to Toshi and Sakura. “Very good work keeping a cool head. And even better that you led them back to their quarters.”

  “Sakura helped with the treat, Ma'am. Positive reinforcement,” Toshi replied, feeling
her hands slip into his under the table.

  “Indeed. I'd let you take the rest of the day off to sort yourselves out, but we have some new unprecedented data to process. I want each of you to write your impressions down. Spare no detail. Go over the video once you have finished and add more detail as necessary. I want time chops and stamps as well.”

  “Hai, Sensei,” the interns replied in unison.

  When they departed Toshi leaned over to Sakura. “No rest for the wicked I guess,” he said wryly. Her lips twisted in a slight smile before she pushed him off to his own desk to get to work.

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  Toshi was the toast of the department for several days until the group tired of it. On Thursday he saw a woman walking with a baby in a sack. The following day he introduced a baby carrying pack to allow him or others to carry an infant or two around with them while in the lab. The pack was tan in color with Velcro straps and pockets for useful things like extra diapers and a bottle.

  Sakura was the second person to give the pack a shot. She took to caring for the infants right away, enjoying the experience. Doctor Ishigani saw the youngling, snorted, but didn't object.

  Two of the other female techs took to carrying the infants around as well during the following week. Infant mortality rates dipped immediately. That was a relief to the staff, but a double-edged sword. Additional subjects meant they would eventually either need more room or the old subjects would have to be phased out.

  Toshi did his best to ignore such considerations since they were well above his level anyway. He focused on his schedule and started to work on training each of the baboons in some of the behaviors Doctor Chaing had asked for. Many were veterinary related, allowing the animal to expose itself to be injected with a treat as an eventual positive reward. That took time to perfect.

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  A month after that introduction, Doctor Chain called Toshi to Thoth's enclosure. “We've got a serious problem. It's time to put your training to the test.”