Children of Steel

by John Van Stry

I smiled back, “Don’t feel bad, I used to work out with a tiger who regularly benched seven hundred, used to make me feel like a weakling.”

  “Yeah but people expect that of them, they’re all bulk and no stamina.”

  I nodded, “Yeah that was the only thing I could usually beat him in, stamina tests.”

  “You know I could use a workout partner,” she said, “interested?”

  I nodded, “Sure, I haven’t found one yet.” Then I added with a grin, “especially a cute one who can powerlift.”

  “And who can kick your ass across the room,” She smiled back.

  “Well, I’ll have to work on that I guess.”

  “Let’s go hit the showers and get lunch.”

  I nodded, “Sounds good.”

  We got cleaned up and headed down to the mess. The mess was pretty much like messes everywhere, a large room with a moving wall, tables and a food service line. The only really difference here was that the tables were attached to the floor, and the food service area could be quickly secured as well. While loss of gravity was rare in space, you still had to take precautions. The mess was also one of the few places on the ship where they had tried to disguise the fact that we were onboard a ship, a few fake windows looking out onto some landscapes, a few plants, and a faint background of nature sounds. It wasn't the greatest attempt, but at least they had tried.

  Herza and I started to make a regular practice of working out a few times a week together. We ended up sparring a lot of course, nothing conditions as well as actually fighting. She didn’t try to teach me anything really, not wanting to interfere with the stuff Banner was working on with me, but sparring with her was always educational and I always learned something from it. Eventually I hoped to stop her from beating me all the time as well.

  I did get to spend quite a bit of time with Mist and Katrine as well, though that was more of a social affair. Dating onboard a ship isn’t the easiest thing, and the only free time I really had was my rack time. So I missed a lot of sleep, but the opportunity to hold someone in your arms is more than ample compensation and it did help ease some of the ache of Cassandra’s not being there.

  3

  By the time of the next clan meeting I was starting to feel like part of the crew. I had a few friends onboard the ship now and was making more, I also felt at home with the clan members. It had been nearly two months since I had graduated, and we had been in space about five weeks. I felt I had transitioned pretty well.

  So I was kind of surprised when about halfway through the meeting Balizar spoke up.

  "Well, I was hoping it would work itself out, but it seems we have a problem."

  I froze, the only thing I could think of was that I must have made some kind of mistake, but I couldn't think of anything and my mind was racing.

  Herza gave me a little kick, "Not you Raj. Balizar what are you trying to do, scare the kid to death?"

  "Huh? Oh sorry Raj! I don't mean you. It seems that Terease isn't coming again."

  I started to breathe again and listened to what was going on.

  "Well," began Kate "I talked with her again this morning, and asked her to come but she seemed pretty withdrawn."

  "So, what should we do folks?" asked Banner.

  "Well, the only choice we have now is to drag her out of her shell," said Sharazad. "And I would recommend somebody her own age."

  There was a lot of agreement with that and that's when I noticed that everybody was looking at me. You ever try to be small and insignificant? I found out that it doesn't work once you've passed two hundred pounds.

  "Uh, excuse me," I began, "Who is Terease, and why are you all staring at me."

  "Yes, I think you'll do," said Balizar. "Is it agreed?"

  "Is what agreed?" I asked again as everybody else went 'aye'.

  "Well, you get to go down to Terease's room and bodily drag her out of it," smiled Herza.

  "And who is Terease?" I was getting confused again and worried too.

  "Don't tease Raj, Herza." Said Balizar. "Okay Raj, here's the story. Terease came aboard the same time you did. She's a Leopard and legally falls under the jurisdiction of the Clan, just as you do."

  "I've never even seen her, where does she work?"

  "She works in engineering, and other than that she never leaves her cabin."

  "What not in two months?" I was shocked, how could anybody stay holed up and alone that long?

  "It seems that she has never been a member of any clan. Her parents were killed in an accident on a science station when she was about four. She was raised by a group of humans there until she was ten and then was sent to an engineering school. She was the only Leopard there, and I get the impression from the records I was sent, that she has always been a loner."

  "Anyway, if we don't bring her into the fold she's probably going to go off the deep end," said Kate.

  "So," I asked, "what am I supposed to do?" I really was confused now. The thought that somebody didn't want to be with their own kind, or anybody even, really made me worry.

  "Actually, I think Herza had the right idea. Just go down to her room and drag her out. Spend time with her every day. You're about her age, so I think you have the best chance of forming a one to one relationship with her."

  "But what if she doesn't want to?"

  "Don't give her a choice. Use force if you have to. From what Shooma down in engineering tells me, she won't be able to give you too much trouble."

  I was still worried about this, "But what if she goes to the Captain?"

  "She can't, legally as long as you don't rape, rob, or kill her, the Clan is the legal authority," said Banner, "so either she puts up with you, or she has to come and put up with us."

  "Yes that's basically about it," continued Balizar. "We don't care if she likes or hates you Raj ..."

  "Gee thanks," I mumbled

  "... the goal is that we get her to start living a normal life before she either flips out, or gets caught in a psych eval. I will not stand around and let that happen to one of our own."

  "Well, any advice?" I asked as I looked around at their faces.

  "Yeah," this was from Katrine who was grinning, "be careful, I'd really miss you if you got your 'you-know-what' cut off!"

  "Me too!" piped up Mist laughing.

  "Gee thanks a lot." I mumbled, "Well I guess I might as well go see what kind of trouble I'm in." I got up and started for the door.

  "You can wait till tomorrow Raj," said Sharazad, "a few more hours won't make much of a difference."

  I stopped and thought about it a second, but I couldn't see myself being able to relax now.

  "No, if I sit around and think about this you'll have two whacked out leopards. I'll let you all know what happens."

  I walked out the door to a chorus of 'Good Lucks' and her room number from Kate. The walk down gave me time to think about what I was doing. The other drawback to being the junior member of a clan is getting all the dirty jobs of course. So how do you just barge in on someone who's decided to be a recluse? Granted it was unhealthy, they used to tell us horror stories about animen who went off the deep end, especially Leopards. Of all the animen only Weasels have a worse reputation than us, but then they're proud of it, we're not. The only thing that kept racing through my mind was that at least if she went off the deep end now, I'd be her first target.

  I wondered then if she had any combat training?

  On that thought I came to her cabin door, and knocked.

  "Who is it?" came quietly from inside.

  "Warrant Raj Rakir, May I come in?"

  "What for?" Was it my imagination, or did she sound nervous?

  "Personal," I responded.

  "No, go away I'm busy." Yes, she did sound nervous.

  "Thank you, but no," I opened the door and walked in to her quarters.

  The first think to hit me was the smell. It was a clinging unhealthy rot, faint but nauseous. The second thing to hit me was the book she was reading, right in
the face. I looked at it as it hit the floor, some kind of engineering text, must have weighed about twenty pounds. The smell was worse.

  "Who the hell do you think you are!" She yelled. "Get out of my cabin."

  I looked her over, she was about 5' 8", average height for a Leopard, but she looked way too thin, kind of drawn too. She still had her uniform overalls on and they were clean. But her fur didn't look good, kind of patchy.

  "Didn't you hear me?" she yelled again.

  "Yes, actually I did and there's no need to scream."

  "Well then," she continued in a more normal voice, "get out."

  By this time she was standing right in front of me. I looked down and smiled what I hoped was a good impression of a nasty smile and grabbed her wrist.

  "With pleasure," and I dragged her out into the hall.

  "WHY YOU LOUSY ..." She jumped me as I pulled her down the hall, "I'm gonna ..."

  I wouldn't have even called it a scuffle; I just scooped her up into a fireman's carry over my shoulder and kept going down the hall. Damn, was she light, skin and bones mostly by my guess.

  "Temper, temper now," I chided. "Screaming and kicking aren't going to get you anywhere."

  "What do you expect? Barging into my room and dragging me out like that?" she growled.

  "Well I'm sorry about that, but your room stinks and that book had definite dislike for my face."

  "Okay, I'm sorry about the book, now put me down."

  I decided that the mess was a good place to start and turned down the hall in that direction.

  "I'll think about it, now when was the last time you had a decent meal?"

  "I had some food just a little while ago, why?"

  "I'm not talking about that packaged crap I noticed sitting on your desk, I'm talking real food."

  "Damn it, put we down."

  I stopped and set her down; we were at the mess entrance anyway. I glanced inside, it was fairly empty but they were still serving, good.

  I felt something hit me in the back; I turned around and looked at her. She was holding her foot and scowling, I sighed.

  "Come on, let's eat."

  I pulled her inside and we walked over to the serving line. I ordered for the both of us, got the food and found a corner table away from the few people still there.

  "What is this?" she looked at it kind of disgusted.

  "It's meat, vat grown in the culture tanks."

  "I don't eat meat, and it's not even cooked!"

  I looked at the food, most of us animen can eat raw meat, and some do. This wasn't really raw, but it was pretty rare and sitting in its own juices I guess it might look raw.

  "Listen," I explained patiently, "you are a Leopard, a carnivore, not a Horse, or a Rabbit or a Gazelle, or any of those. You were designed to eat meat and if you don't eat enough you'll die. Those food supplements don't supply enough of the amino acids you need."

  "I've lived so far haven't I?"

  "Looked in a mirror lately?" THAT got a real good scowl! "Further more, if you don't eat it, I will sit on your chest and force feed it to you in front of everybody."

  "You wouldn't!"

  I stood up. She looked at me startled and started eating, so I sat back down. After she had eaten about half I asked her, "Where did you ever get such a dumb idea?"

  "The people who raised me were vegetarians."

  "It's a miracle you didn't die."

  "I always took vitamin supplements, which since I came on board I haven't been able to find. You know this tastes pretty good actually."

  She was eating pretty well at this point.

  "That's because there aren't any vegetarian Cats on board," she was almost done with hers, so I gave her mine, which so far was untouched.

  "Thanks," she started on mine with a will. But then she looked like she hadn't had a decent meal in months. Two months actually. "So, why are you doing this anyway? I don't even know you."

  "I'm a member of your Clan, and as you don't seem to be interested in taking care of yourself,” I sighed, “I was elected."

  "Wait a sec," she said between mouthfuls, "I don't belong to any Clan."

  "You know that invitation you got to the Clan meeting tonight? The one you ignored?"

  "Yeah so?"

  "That's your Clan."

  "No it's not!"

  "Listen, you live on the ship, you're a Leopard, so you're in the Leopard Clan, period. And no matter where you go for the rest of your life, you're going to find the same thing. Clans are a way of life for all animen, including you. We function better that way."

  "I've done just fine on my own thank you, and prefer it that way."

  "Looked in a mirror lately?" I asked again.

  She stopped eating and looked at me "Listen I can do just fine on my own, this was just my own ignorance. Now I know better."

  "Oh? What about that little attack from behind in the hallway? You can't even defend yourself. Somebody has got to look after you. This isn't a nice safe human enclave you're in now. My predecessor had his neck broken in a bar fight for wising off to the wrong guy, and he knew how to fight. Anyway, I'm bigger than you and right now what I say goes. Finish your food."

  "I'll go to the Captain!"

  "Don't waste your time, he'll just tell you to take it up with your Clan."

  She started eating again, "But it's not my Clan, I've never been in a clan, I don't know anything about clans!"

  "That's why I'm here, you done?"

  She looked at the two empty bowls of food, "I guess. Oh I ate all yours too!"

  "That's okay, I ate earlier. Come on next stop."

  "Where are we going now?"

  "Showers, your fur looks like crap, and there's a scent on you that I don't like."

  She stopped so I grabbed her hand and started dragging her along again.

  "You're not going to try anything funny are you?"

  I looked at her, and she seemed real worried all of the sudden.

  "Rape is still punishable by death on this ship, and I'm sure Balizar would make it a slow one for anybody who messed with a member of his clan. Even people who thought they didn't belong." I smiled, "And there are two very lovely ladies who seem willing share my pillow. And ..."

  "I know, I know," she said glumly, "have I looked in a mirror lately."

  I took her up to the showers by my quarters, stopping in them briefly to grab a robe. It was just past half shift so the showers were empty. I directed her over to one of the shower stalls in the back and started to undress.

  "I guess I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" she asked watching me undress.

  "Come on, it's just a shower. What in the hell did those idiots teach you anyway?"

  "It's not that," She said a little nervously while undressing, "I'm just not used to being with someone else."

  "You'll get over it," I replied, and then added mumbling "if it kills me."

  "What?"

  "Nothing, just get in here."

  I looked her over as she got in the stall. She really looked thin, and her coat was pretty dull and ragged. I got some medicated soap from the dispenser and started to scrub her down. When I got to her back a lot of fur started to come off in my hands.

  "Damn!" I cursed violently.

  "What's a matter?" she asked, "and stop scrubbing so hard."

  "Damn, Damn, Damn! Didn't anybody teach you anything about hygiene?"

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Your coat! You haven't been taking care of your coat. But then looking at your overall condition I guess I shouldn't be surprised by anything at this point. Damn!"

  "Would you please tell me what you're talking about? You're scaring me!"

  "Your back's been itching quite a bit hasn't it?"

  "Yes, so? A few spots on my legs and arms have been too. Why?"

  "Ringworm," I said with a dejected sigh, "you've got ringworm."

  "Is that bad?"

  "Listen, ninety-five percent of the crew has fur or
feathers. Ringworm not only itches, but it causes both fur and feathers to fall out, and it's easily spread. If anybody finds out you have this, you'll be a social pariah faster than a leper at a salad bar. At least it's easy to cure."

  "Oh," she smiled "Great, now I know how to get you to stop bothering me. As soon as I let the crew know, you'll have to leave me alone or they'll ostracize you too."

  THAT really did it! I'll admit I have a bit of a temper, all Leopards do; mine was just a bit overdeveloped. I blew.

  "Listen stupid, I happen to like having friends. I like socializing. I especially like flirting with pretty women. We were seen eating dinner together, and rumors on a ship travel faster than light. If anybody finds out, they're all going to assume I have it too! And I will personally twist that pretty little head of yours right off your neck and take my chances with the firing squad!"

  "Gagck!, Gurgle."

  I realized I was holding her by the neck about two feet off the floor. I set her down and looked around. The shower area was still empty.

  "Look I'm sorry about that." I said quietly.

  "You're sorry!" she gasped, backing as far away from me as she could in the shower. "You could have killed me."

  "No, I wouldn't have. But you have no idea what you just threatened," I said dejectedly. "This is my first assignment. What little family I have, is spread out all over the place, and I may never see them again. Belonging is very important to me, if I were to lose that here I'd go crazy."

  She looked at me kind of strangely and said "I've never had anybody, I can barely remember my parents. I may have been raised among humans, but I was never one of them. I was like a pet or a mascot. Even at Engineering school I was more of an amusement than anything else, 'look at the Leopard, what is she doing here?' and 'is that thing housebroken?' I heard all those remarks they whispered, with these ears how couldn't I?"

  She was suddenly in tears at this point, so I helped her rinse and dry. Then I wrapped her in my robe and took her back to my room.

  "Terease, I'm sorry about your growing up alone. There's nothing I can do to change the past. But you're not going to be alone anymore."

  "But I don't know how to act around people," she looked up at me, "I'm scared."