Children of Steel

Published by John Van Stry at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 John Van Stry

Copyright 2011 John Van Stry

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The material in this story may contain adult
themes and/or items of a sexual nature and is intended for a mature
audience only.

This book is a work of fiction, any
resemblance between characters in this story and people living or
dead is purely coincidental.

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ISBN: 978-1-4524-4953-1

"Gene design and splicing, 100,000
dollars."

OK, I thought to myself while continuing to
stare straight ahead, at least I wasn't cheap.

"In vitro fertilization, 10,000 dollars."

Aw come on, whatever happened to the gift of
life?

"Artificial womb; rent and maintenance for 8
months, 2 weeks, 127,500 dollars."

Well, at least I got out early and saved a
few bucks.

"Nursery and infant care, two years, 60,000
dollars."

Gee, I wonder what it was like for humans?
Then again, they had parents, didn't they?

"Nursery attendant, thumb graft surgery,
20,000 dollars."

They were going to charge me for that? Damn,
he deserved it too. I still bet he hadn't thought I could bite it
off yet! Talk about your rude awakenings.

"Pre-school two years 80,000 dollars."

Yow! That much? I'm gonna hate it when they
get to the real stuff.

"Basic schooling, six years, 360,000
dollars"

Humans I'd heard got twelve years and a lot
more training, I wonder what they paid? Or if they paid?

"Basic combat training, six months,
60,000"

That was fun at least.

"Advanced combat training, one year,
200,000"

That almost got me killed.

"Technical training, two and one half years,
300,000 dollars"

And now the big one.

"Assault ship and shuttle pilot, one year,
two million dollars."

Why why
why
did I have to volunteer
for that one? I knew this day was coming. Some dumb idea about
'making more so I can buyout quicker', at least that's what I told
everybody last year. Hah, now they're a year into it, and I'm just
two mill deeper.

I moved my eyes and risked a quick glance at
the man behind the desk while I stood there rigid at attention. He
was another one of those pale pasty faced admin types who obviously
avoided the bright sunlight and heat of the outdoors. He smelled
strongly of antiseptics and soap, probably some kind of health nut.
Standing at ease to either side of him were two other humans, the
one on his left was the instructor from my last training course,
the one on his right was the head of my crèche section and my
guidance councilor. He noticed my glance and winked at me smiling.
Embarrassed at having been caught in the act I quickly returned my
eyes to stare at a point in space directly in front of me.

The Admin guy stamped some papers in front of
him then, mine I assumed, then had the other two sign them as
well.

"Well, by the power invested in me by the
Board of directors of the Tri-Star Mining and Manufacturing
corporation, I present you, Raj Rakir, a sentient leopard-man of .7
human norm on the Rourstat scale, with your bill for creation and
training by the corporation. As covered in the created species act
of 2069 you must now work for above said corporation until you have
either paid this bill, or completed a term of 50 years indentured
servitude."

'Indentured servitude'.

Slavery was probably more like it. But I
wasn't natural born, so my parents couldn't negotiate a deal with
one of the smaller corps. Heck, I don't even
have
parents.
At least I was supposed to have a hundred year life span according
to the spec sheets that the company geneticists claimed were 'me'.
That's if I didn't get killed by something else first of
course.

The admin guy started to talk again and I
pulled my mind back from wandering and paid attention.

"As you have completed advanced courses in
security, combat, electrical and computer technician, combat pilot,
and shuttle pilot, you will be given a combined rating of
Pilot-technician slash soldier. Your rank will be that of Warrant
third class. Your starting pay will be eighty thousand new dollars
per year, as in accordance with the equal pay statue of 2075. Due
to your high standings in your classes, the company has assigned
you a graduation bonus of twenty thousand new dollars to help
defray outfitting costs.

That number caught my eye, coincidence? Not
likely.

"I would like to end by saying something
special to you Raj; do not let concerns for buyout overwhelm you.
Do your duty and serve the company well, and the company will
always be there for you. Dismissed."

I came back to attention, saluted smartly,
turned on my heel and marched out the door.

The rest of the large room had been empty; I
was there alone today because my extra training had caused me to
graduate a year behind the rest. It had been a rather lonely time,
to suddenly have my family and friends of fourteen years suddenly
absent for the first time in my life was rough. I had been so busy
though I really hadn't had too much time to feel sorry for
myself.

Once in the hall I could smell the rich
scents of the other students, along with the human staff. My nose
picked out six different species immediately, with the hint of
several others, it was a fairly busy corridor.

When I finally got back to the safety of my
room I sighed and leaned back against the closed door. This was it,
finally. I had finished all my courses,
survived
actually,
and graduated. I looked at myself in the mirror, ears drooping a
little as I had to admit to myself the prospect of going 'out
there' all by myself, and leaving the structured life of he crèche
was scary. We were kept on a short leash here on earth, morphers,
animen, whatever you called us; we weren't terribly popular here
right now. Actually I'm not sure we ever really were, so we never
went off company property without a lot of supervision. That part I
wouldn't miss at least.

I changed out of my dress uniform and took a
moment to brush out my dark pelt and thought about what had just
happened to me, I had finally gotten my 'bill' and I now owed
three-plus Million new dollars. Three Million. I sighed letting
that sink in for a moment, at least they couldn't charge interest
on it otherwise I don't think I'd ever be able to pay it all
off.

Yet I could actually make that kind of money
in thirty or so years,
if
I didn't screw up and get nailed
with too many fines. Tri-Star wasn't that bad a corporation to be
working for really, there hadn't been a major strike or labor
problem in over twenty years. The history books we had studied had
shown a lot of abuses that had taken place over the years, and even
Tri-Star had a few of them to be honest. But overall they came up
pretty clean when lined up next to some of the other Corporations.
Hell, some of the stories I had heard in training about some of the
other companies really made me pretty glad to have been born into
one of the better ones. So I really couldn't gripe that much, and
anyway, who really hates their family? Simply put, the bottom line
was that if it wasn't for Tri-Star I wouldn't exist. I did owe them
that much.

I flexed a bicep and grinned toothily at my
reflection in the mirror, and they did design well. I was the
biggest leopard in my class, and the strongest. I'd graduated at
the head of my advanced combat classes for a reason: I enjoyed
kicking ass. Whatever was coming, I'd find my way through it one
way or the other.

I checked my terminal then to see if my
orders had been posted yet, they had! I was to report in one hour,
not much time to say goodbye, but I really didn't have any real
friends around here anymore to say goodbye to. I got out my
carryall bag and looked around the small room that had been my life
for so many years. I glanced over at the other bed, which had been
empty since Nepal had shipped out with the rest of my siblings. It
was still strange not seeming him there, not hearing his wise ass
comments about my dressing habits. Sure I took extra time with the
mirror, being bigger I drew more attention, and more scrutiny.

Opening up the small closet I pulled out my
uniforms and got the few things I owned off my desk and started to
sort them on the bed when I heard a noise at the door.

"Come in, it's open!" I called before they
had the chance to knock.

"You weren't planning on leaving without
saying goodbye I hope Raj, were you?"

I turned and gave a toothy smile to my
Guidance Counselor who was standing in the doorway, still dressed
in his formal company uniform from my graduation ceremony. Cat
smiles tend to be disturbing to some people, especially humans, but
I don't think anything ever bothered him. Well at least not
anything I did anymore.

"No Sir, I was going to stop by on my way
out." I admitted sheepishly. He was one of the two people outside
of my 'family' I had ever developed an attachment to. Probably
because he had stuck by me through my rough period, I had been a
real source of trouble for him during that phase.

"Please Raj, call me George. You're not one
of my kids any more; you are your own person now." He smiled sadly,
"I'm going to miss you, you know. You and your family were quite a
joy to have around, even if you were a bit of a problem at
times."

My family was all of the other Leopards of
the Delta-Zeta crèche group. Either by company design or fortunate
accident we had decided a long time ago that we were the 'Rakir'
family, and I have to admit it was comforting to have eleven
brothers and sisters sometimes.

"I'm going to miss you too George," It felt a
little strange calling him that, as kit's we had all called him
'Uncle George' or 'Sir', depending on how much trouble we were in.
We had also called him a lot other things behind his back as well,
some not so nice.

"Well, you just remember to behave, and be
careful. You aren't going to be in a nice safe school or crèche
anymore you know; it's tough and dangerous out there."

"It hasn't exactly been safe here either," I
said sadly. A lot of students hadn't made it; I could still
remember the names of the five other students that had died in
advanced combat training alone. I had had a few close calls myself
over the years that I had been run through my own training.

"But don't worry about me," I smiled again,
"you know I'm good!"

"Yes, I know. First in your combat class,
first in your advanced combat classes too." He sighed, "You're
going to find out real fast that doesn't mean much out there, Raj."
He reached up then and scratched under my chin. It was usually
considered patronizing and an insult when a human did that, but not
George. I just closed my eyes and rumbled a little. George did it
to everyone, and got away with it. Once he even did it to one of my
advanced combat instructors in front of everybody. Guess it’s kind
of hard to be afraid of us when you’ve raised as many crèche groups
as George had. He was a straight company man and rumor was he’d
raised three groups before mine. Rumor also was few people lasted
more than two.

"I'll behave," I sighed.

"I've heard
that
before!" He laughed
and stopped scratching my chin. "Steve says goodbye too of
course."