Children of Steel (37 page)

I had to laugh at that, "You know on Lyceum
we could do it in the hallway of your dorm, and nobody'd say a
word. Unless we were blocking the hall of course!"

She looked at me shocked, "You're
kidding!"

"Nope, I had always thought Leopards were
kind of easy going when it came to sex, but after being there I
think we're pretty straight laced."

"Why's that?"

"I never saw things like group sex, or some
of the combinations I ran into there. And everybody's so open about
it too."

"I had heard that it was a pretty wild
place," she replied in disbelief, "but in the hallway?"

"Well it was late, but I did have to step
over them."

She shook her head in disbelief at that. It
was a little hard to believe, I admit. If I hadn't seen it I
wouldn't have believed it myself, especially among humans, who
often seem terribly hung up about their bodies.

We decided to grab a Taxi to save time,
getting dropped off at the west end of the Campus, just inside the
grounds. We walked to her dorm from there as it was pretty
close.

There really weren't too many people about; a
few of those who were however did watch me a little closely. I
found I really didn't care for it either.

"What's the matter with them?" I asked Kathy,
"Aren't there any animen students on campus at all?"

"Not really," she admitted uncomfortably.
"This is a Liberal Arts college, and most animen don't seem to have
an interest in those kinds of curriculum."

"I can understand that a little, but what
about the law school? I'd think there'd be a lot of interest
there."

"Uh, well to tell you the truth Raj, remember
how animen can't sue here?" She asked embarrassed.

"Yeah, it's like that a lot of places,
why?"

"Well they're not allowed to practice law
either." she said quietly.

"Oh," was about all I could think of to say
to that. Ah well, who ever said life was fair anyway? And why
should I care, I wasn't about to apply, law was something that
humans did anyway. But I did give Kathy a hug the next time
somebody stared at us, and then turned and gave them a big toothy
grin.

"What was that for?" asked Kathy after the
hug.

"Oh nothing," I said looking innocently
around, "just enjoying the company."

We made it to her room without incident; it
was on the second floor about halfway down the hall. She unlocked
the door, opened it a crack and called in, "Meg, you better be
decent, I have company."

"That's okay, I don't mind," I said to Kathy
with a smirk.

"That goes without saying," she laughed. "You
guys are all the same, it's Meg I'm warning, not you!"

I heard a bit of rustling from inside, a
giggle or two, and some heavy breathing. "I don't think Meg is
alone," I whispered to Kathy.

"Oh? I don't hear anybody.

"Trust me," I grinned pointing to my ears, "I
know."

"Let's find out," she said giving me an evil
grin and walked in. "Ready or not we're coming in!"

I followed her inside. The room was roughly a
ten by twenty cubicle, with two beds and two desks on opposite
sides. There were also two closets that we passed coming in from
the door. It wasn't a really large room, but a lot nicer than what
I had on ship and of course it had windows too.

On the bed there were two people who were
quickly doing their best to replace what had obviously only just
been removed, namely their clothes. I assumed the female was Meg,
the male just didn't look like a Meg to me. The bed was also a bit
of a mess, but from the scent in the room, I don't think they had
gotten very far when we interrupted.

They were both looking at Kathy with a guilty
expression, which turned to surprise when they noticed me. Or maybe
I should say shock? At six three, two hundred and sixty pounds now
that I had reached my full growth I think I was an impressive
sight, at least I hoped so.

"Close your mouth Meg before you start
catching flies," Kathy said sarcastically, then continued in an
introductory tone. "Meg, Charley, this is Raj. Raj this is Meg and
Charley, who've both obviously decided to get an early start on the
weekend!" she said the last with a smile.

Meg was looking me over with interest, I got
the impression she hadn't seen too many Leopards. Charley was also
looking me over too, though I don't think he was exactly happy
about being interrupted. "Hi, sorry to interrupt," I said
diplomatically.

"Hi," said Meg rising from the bed to shake
my hand, "I think I met your brother a few months back, I've never
seen a Leopard as large as you before. You are a Leopard
right?"

Maybe I was wrong about her not seeing too
many Leopards, "Yes I'm a Leopard." I admitted with a smile, "So
you met Sunil?"

"Yes, Kathy and I met him downtown when he
was here," she was still arranging her clothes, which seemed to be
rebelling at the attempt. She was about five foot five with red
hair and fairly attractive as humans go.

By this time Charley had gotten up, and shook
hands too. He was about six foot, maybe two twenty, and looked to
be fairly well muscled himself.

"Hello," was all he said, giving me an
extremely strong grip, and I thought a slightly hostile look. I
remembered my manners, warned my temper to behave, and just ignored
it.

"We just stopped off to grab a few things,"
said Kathy as she went to one of the closets. "You two will both be
happy to hear that you'll have the place to yourselves for the
weekend."

"I noticed you weren't in class this
morning," replied Meg, "so I didn't expect you back till
later."

"That was obvious," said Kathy smiling.

I sat down on the bed and looked around the
room a bit, Meg was over talking to Kathy now and I decided to talk
with Charley and see what he had to say. "So what are you
studying?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Physical Education, I'm on the college's
football team," he said with obvious pride, "and plan to go into
professional sports when I graduate."

"What's football?" I asked bewildered, I
figured it was some kind of sport, but I don't think I had ever
heard of it before.

"You don't know what Football is?" he asked
amazed, "Where are you from anyway?"

"A place on Earth called Brazil, its part of
the American Common market."

"And you don't know what Football is?" he was
still surprised; "It's one of the biggest sports in North America.
Anyway its a contact sport that involves moving a ball across a
field, you score by crossing your opponent's goal line."

"Oh, you mean Rugby?" I asked, "I played a
little of that when I was younger."

"No, it's like Rugby, only with somewhat more
formalized rules, and a lot more hitting."

I wondered if I should tell him that the
reason they didn't let us play Rugby as we got older was that they
were afraid of casualties? I know I sent a few to the hospital and
was even sent there myself once. But I did recall something of the
sport now that I thought about it.

"I think I may have heard of it once," I
admitted. "You can make a living that way?" I continued
surprised.

"Sure, haven't you ever heard of professional
sports?"

"To be honest, no. The only kinds of
competitions I've ever engaged in were fighting ones and they don't
pay you for that. Unless you count what I've done in some of the
Bars." I added the last with a laugh.

He looked me over with a critical eye, "You
fight competition? I've done a lot of that myself, maybe we could
go a few rounds some time."

"I don't think so," I said
apologetically.

"Hey, just because I'm a football player
doesn't mean I'll try to really hurt you."

I had to smile at that, "That's not what I'm
worried about, believe me."

"What, you think you could hurt me?" He
looked incredulous at the thought, "You're not that much bigger
than me! I've been up against bigger guys on the field, and I've
got a black belt in Karate. Won a few competitions myself too," he
finished indignantly.

"I've got a fourth degree black belt in
Kenpo," I replied quietly. "A third degree black belt in Judo, a
third degree black belt in Escrima, and ten years experience.
You're just not in my class and probably couldn't hurt me. On the
other hand, I
would
hurt you."

He seemed to get pretty upset at that, I
couldn't understand why either. After all, I was made to be
stronger and tougher, so I could survive better and save the
company the money of replacing personnel constantly. By now the
girls had finished talking, and Kathy had finished getting
whatever, so they came back over to where we were sitting.

"You couldn't hurt me," he replied hotly,
"I'm probably as tough as you!"

Kathy spoke up at this point, "Charley, calm
down okay? and Raj, quit teasing him." She turned to Charley then,
"Charles, he's a combat soldier okay? He's been trained to fight a
lot more than you, it's what he does."

"And I am engineered," I admitted
uncomfortably. "So don't take it so personally, okay? It's not like
I had a choice in the matter."

"Oh, alright," he said mellowing, "but I
still don't think you're all that tough," he grumbled.

I was split between just leaving at that
point with Kathy, or showing off first. In all honesty I must admit
that I enjoy showing up some people whenever possible, and I wanted
to show Charley that I could easily beat him. Maybe it was because
I was just a second class citizen and wanted to show up my betters.
Maybe it was because I was frustrated with the obvious prejudice I
had to deal with constantly. Or maybe it was just because I have a
really
big ego.

Anyway, Kathy forestalled my decision by
grabbing me and leading me out, saying goodbye, and that we'd
better be going or we'd be late.

"
I
know you can beat Charley with one
hand tied behind your back," she said as we headed down the stairs.
"So you don't have to go showing off, okay?"

"Somebody should tell him about making
challenging noises to a Leopard," I growled half heartedly. "That's
how we determine respect amongst each other."

"You fight to determine position?" she asked
amazed.

"When we're younger like myself, yes." I
noticed the look of shock on her face. "Oh, it's nothing serious,
and it’s sort of formalized, nobody usually gets really hurt or
anything."

"So if you want to move up, you have to fight
somebody?"

I was the one shocked now, "No, of course
not, like I said that was more when I was younger. Now when you
join a new clan your fighting skills help somewhat and they
definitely have an affect on how much respect you get from others
in your Clan, as well as members of other Clans. Every ship has
competitions between crewmembers and a champion. Not everybody
competes, but enough do.”

“Sounds brutal,” she shivered.

“Not really, it’s more like sparring than all
out fighting. But getting back to the point, once you've fit in,
your Clan position changes as you do. Everybody just knows, more or
less. I could probably beat any member of my clan in personal
combat nowadays, but that wouldn't have any effect on my standing
in the Clan."

"Which is?" she inquired.

"Near the bottom," I admitted.

"Oh, how near?" she asked slyly.

"Let's just say it's as near as one can get,
Okay?"

She laughed at that and I flagged down a Taxi
to take us to Karen's.

"So you took Meg to meet Sunil, huh?" I asked
as we rode to Karen and Terry's.

"Yes, she was kind of interested in meeting
him. I had told her a little about you, so when he called she
wanted to go see him too. How'd he get my number anyway?"

"Oh, my family keeps a general delivery
letter posted in the main post office here," I looked at her with
an embarrassed smile. "I figured it might not hurt my family to be
friends with a lawyer, also I thought you might enjoy meeting them.
If I had known that I might end up, ah, competing for your
affections, I wouldn't have told anybody," I teased.

"Raj, you're jealous aren't you?" she looked
at me accusingly.

"Only a little."

"What makes you think anything happened?" she
asked with a smile.

"He is my brother; give me some credit for
knowing my siblings. So did they get along at all?"

"Who?"

"Meg and Sunil."

"Oh, yeah they did pretty much. Meg's a
business major and she was interested in what the big corporations
are like. She wants to work for one when she graduates. That's as
far as it got though, they weren't that interested in each other."
She smiled, "So where did you stand in your family?"

"At the top of course," I laughed. "When
you're young, strength and size count for everything!"

"And let me guess, Cassandra was second,
right?"

"Pretty much," I admitted, "She's probably
the smartest in the family and we were always close, so if anybody
messed with her they usually got pounded."

"You sure that she was second and not you
perhaps?" she teased.

"I said she was smart didn't I?" I admitted
happily, I always enjoyed talking about Cassandra, "She never used
to ask me to beat up on anybody for her though, she was a force to
be reckoned with all by herself."

"I can believe that after meeting her, she's
definitely the determined type."

By that time we were at the apartment and
went upstairs to join the rest.

"What about you guys?" asked Karen looking at
Gabe, Dave and me, as I walked in. "Don't you need anything?"

"Not unless it gets a lot colder, or we need
to dress for something formal," said Gabe. "And if we do, we'll
just buy something."