Children of Steel (38 page)

"Well, it's your money I guess!" she
replied.

They got their things together then, and we
walked down to the place where we had rented the copter last time
we were here. They still had our records on file, so it only took a
minute to sign for one, then we went out and did a quick
inspection. After passing on it we loaded our gear in and left.

I let Gabe do the flying this time, as he
knew where we were going. I relaxed in the back with Kathy, giving
her a neck rub as we watched the landscape go by. It was a pretty
nice place I had to admit.

There was a small town just off the ranch,
and Karen insisted that we stop there. Once there, she dragged us
into a clothing store and the girls picked out an outfit for each
of us. It seems that Karen did have plans for later, but she was
keeping them to herself.

I did look around the store myself and was
surprised to find a Butterfly knife. They had several actually. I
picked it up and examined it. I hadn't seen one since I left
advanced training on earth, they were illegal back there of course,
nearly everything was, and the company store didn't sell them. I
checked one out, and was surprised to find it was in excellent
condition, nicely broken in and loose.

"How much for this?" I asked the
salesman.

"That's fifty credits, it used to belong to
my grandfather," he indicated the whole collection. "They were
called 'Bali' something or other, he was pretty good with
them."

I picked out another really good one, and
paid him a hundred for both. "They're called Balisong, or Butterfly
knives," and I stuck them both in my pocket.

"You know how to use them?" he asked
interested.

"Sure, I studied it on earth under one of my
instructors; he was very good at it. I'm a little out of practice
myself, but here watch." I flipped the knife open and spun through
one of the easier routines, making the blade open facing one way
then another. I even managed to avoid cutting myself.

"The nice thing about them is that you can
change grips with out really letting go. Also you can use the
handles as a sort of metal whip, let's you hurt somebody without
having to cut them."

"Not bad," he said with a grin. "My
grandfather was really good with those, used to show us all kinds
of different tricks. I'm sorry I never learned, but I never saw the
need."

"It's more for show nowadays," I agreed, "But
it gets boring on ship sometimes and it's fun to show off."

Dave walked up as I turned away from the
Salesman, "Typical Leopard, always stocking up on weapons." he
chuckled.

"Ah these are more for fun then fighting," I
showed him one. "See? The blade's only about four inches long
really."

"Not like that nine inch combat sticker on
your thigh huh?" He grinned pointedly.

"I don't see you walking around without a
knife!" I growled, "Anyway, it's just so people don't get any
strange ideas."

"Just teasing Raj," he said still chuckling.
We started for the door, catching up with the others who were
leaving now. "The problem with you Leopards is that you're all so
bloody single minded. That's why there's so many of you in
comp-sec, fighting and screwing are all you ever think about!"

"But I'm
good
at fighting," I
started.

"And he's good at the
other
too!"
interjected Kathy laughing.

I tried to blush, "... so what's so bad about
that?"

"There's more to life than that, that's
all."

"You aren't going to start trying to teach me
philosophy again are you? While we're on leave?" One of Dave's
biggest hobbies was trying to educate the masses, namely me, Gabe,
Rudy, and anybody else who'd listen, on the finer points of life
and philosophy.

"Just trying to enlighten your mind and raise
your consciousness."

"I'm not so sure enlightenment is such a
great gift, all it ever does is teach you just how miserable you
are. Anyway we're on vacation, so let's leave my mind the nice dark
place it is for now okay?"

"Hey, you've got it easy Raj," said Gabe
looking wistfully up at the sky, "You should hear him when we're
flying; it's a never ending commentary on the cosmos and how it all
relates. You're pretty lucky with Rudy; he's more of the quiet
type."

"Yeah, and I can just pick my teeth at him if
I don't want to hear it." I laughed.

"What do you mean by 'pick your teeth at
him'?" asked Kathy.

"Oh, Rudy thinks that if they ever get
stranded, when the food runs out Raj is going to eat him!" Laughed
Gabe.

"You're kidding!"

"Nope, things like that have even happened
with humans. So Rudy feels that with a leopard the chances are a
lot greater."

"What would you do Raj?" asked Karen
curiously.

"I honestly hope I never find out," I
replied, "after all he's such a good WSO they just might make me
pay for him." I finished giving her an evil grin.

Everybody laughed at that, "I guess I
deserved that," she replied.

We went back to the copter then, and
completed our trip to Karen's home. It wasn't that much farther out
from where we were, only about a fifteen minute flight. As we
approached the farm, I could see quite a few buildings spread out
over the area, with a central cluster that was pretty impressive.
Gabe swung us around to a landing area that already had several
ships on it.

"How many of those building's are your
family's?" I asked Karen.

"All of them."

"All of them?!" I was astonished, there were
three large buildings that appeared to be warehouses, another two
that appeared to be workshops, and at least four more that appeared
to be equipment storage. "What about those building's scattered
around back there?" I pointed to those we had flown over on the way
in.

"Those too, they're for people who work on
the farm. It's a pretty big spread."

"You should see the livestock area," said
Gabe. "It’s a few miles away, so you don't have to hear or smell
it."

We got out then and walked over to a small
building that I now noticed was a garage. "Where is the house?" I
asked.

"It's a quarter of a mile away, on the other
side of that hill," supplied Karen. "So we can get some peace at
night."

Karen waved to several people as we walked
over to one of the cars in the garage; it was a large sedan that
looked like it was made for the local terrain. We got in, Karen
sitting behind the wheel, and headed for the house.

The house turned out to be fairly normal, if
a bit large. Karen explained that it did have five bedrooms, two
being for guests, which was why she and her step sister had to
share a room, and her brothers another. As we walked inside, I did
notice that all of the rooms were fairly large as well.

We were met by a woman who was an older
version of Karen herself and still quite attractive. "Karen! I'm so
glad to see you!" she gave Karen a big hug, "and you too Gabe!" and
she gave him an equally big hug.

"Evelyn forwarded your message to me at the
office, so I ran out here right away. Your Dad said he'd be in as
soon as he finished with the cattle in the north pastures," she
turned to the rest of us then. "Hello Terry, it's good to see you
again! And it's Dave isn't it?" She said shaking hands and giving
them both a kiss.

"Mom," said Karen as she got to Kathy and I,
"this is Kathy Vanderzyc, and this is Raj Rakir."

We both shook hands, saying 'Hello', as she
gave us each a kiss on the cheek.

"Kathy Vanderzyc," she looked at Kathy with a
smile, "I heard you finally got free of your father." she looked at
me then, "I hope you're not dating this lovely gentlemen just to
get even with him."

Kathy blushed, "Well, when I first met him it
was part of the reason," she admitted, "but not anymore."

"So, you work with Gabe on the Astra too?"
she asked me pleasantly, she was very charming in a nice direct
way.

"Yes, I'm another one of the ships shuttle
pilots."

"Oh really? I'd like to hear more about it
over dinner later." She turned then to face everyone then, "Okay
everyone, dinner will be at seven tonight, semi-formal."

The girls gave us knowing smiles at that. I
guess I knew why we had to pick up the clothes in town now.

"After dinner, I expect we'll all go into
town for some dancing, so don't eat too much!" She laughed and
turned back to Karen then, "I expect Nick and Darell will be here,
and so will your sister."

"What about Nigel?" asked Karen, "Won't he be
here?"

"He's in Jamesport looking at some equipment
for your father, so I don't think he'll be around 'til Sunday, if
then."

She then directed us where to put our things,
and who would be staying where. We each got a separate room, and
they were each fairly large, Dave, Terry, Kathy and I got the two
guest rooms and Karen and Gabe took her room. After her Mom left to
let us get settled I asked Karen if we were forcing anybody out of
their room.

"Just my sister, only Darell and Stacy still
live at home. The other two moved out a while ago and have their
own place about twenty miles to the south, by our mill."

We met her Mom back in the living room then
and while she talked with Terry, Dave, and Gabe, Karen showed Kathy
and me the rest of the house. It was really a pretty nice affair,
with a dinning room nearly as large as the Astra's mess hall.

"Why so big?" I asked.

"We employ quite a few people, and it's
always been family policy to invite at least twenty of them to
dinner every Friday."

"That’s a lot of extra work, isn't it?"

"We're a family outfit and we've always
prided ourselves on the fact that we treat
everybody
who
works for us like one of our own. We've never had a strike or any
labor problem and people rarely quit. Anyway, we can afford it, so
why not?"

Why not indeed? I guess that not having
shareholders to keep happy let you spend your profits as you
pleased. Not that Tri-Star worked us to the bone, but they were
still concerned with profit and the bottom line.

"My grandfather used to do the same thing,"
Kathy said, "but my dad let it fade out. He's just too damn cheap I
guess," she laughed, "and hard as hell to get along with. Most of
the hands at home tend to steer clear of him whenever
possible!"

We headed back to the living room then and
joined in the conversation that was going on there. After calling
Karen's Mom 'Mamm' several times, she stopped me and asked me to
call her Fran, or Francis.

It was interesting to hear her talk about
some of the things that went on around the ranch, and the nearby
town. It seemed that this area was the focal point of several large
ranches, and quite a few smaller ones as well. So all the gossip
funneled through town and Fran kept an ear on all of it.

"You never know what you'll learn from folks'
gossip," she told us. "People will run on about the strangest
things, never realizing that they're telling you more about
themselves then they'd ever come out and say directly." She
laughed, "And it's also more interesting than any newspaper!"

She got us to talk about what we had been
doing in the last year. She was interested in the affair on Arboral
at the Timpleton complex and gave me her sympathies when she heard
about my brother. It was interesting to see that she wasn't shocked
about my injuries when Gabe told her about my getting shot up, just
wanted to know if I was alright now.

"It's a tough life you gentlemen have to face
out there," was all she would say about it.

"But then we're pretty tough ourselves," I
couldn't resist saying with a smile.

"Ah, the impetuousness of youth, life’s one
constant!"

We all had a good laugh at that. It was about
half an hour later when Karen's father showed up. Karen ran up and
kissed him hello, the rest of us rising to shake his hand. He was a
gray wolf all right, seeing is believing and I really hadn't
believed until this moment. He was about average size, but had an
air about him that I hadn't seen before. I couldn't put my finger
on it, but I liked him immediately.

"Surprised?" he asked when we were
introduced.

"Pleasantly," I admitted.

His name was Joshua and after we had all said
our hellos, he excused himself to clean up for dinner. Fran excused
herself as well and they left the room together, arm in arm. It was
pretty obvious that they cared a lot for each other, which was
another pleasant surprise.

I spent the next two hours getting pleasantly
intoxicated myself; Karen's parents had a very nice supply of
inhalants and beers. I was careful not to over do it however; I
didn't want to make a fool of myself at dinner. But I did want to
relax and let go, after all this was my vacation.

Getting dressed for dinner was an interesting
affair; I had never worn anything fancy in my life other than my
dress uniform. Fortunately I had Kathy to help me, so I turned out
okay.

I looked at myself in the mirror after I had
finished dressing. The clothes were loose and baggy in the sleeves
and legs, drawing to snug bands at the wrist, waist, and ankle. It
was supposed to be the current fashion here and I had seen other
people similarly dressed. The shirt was a green silk like affair;
the pants were black and had an interesting shimmering effect in
the light that complemented the shirt. There was a sash with the
outfit as well, though there wasn’t any place for my regular combat
knife, which wouldn't have gone with the outfit anyway. I was
tempted to hide one of my new knives in the sash, but decided to
live my paranoia down for a change.

Kathy looked absolutely stunning in her
outfit, which was a low cut black silk dress that went down almost
to the floor. It was cut up the side, just past the hip and it
played some very interesting tricks with the light as well. She was
also wearing a pair of spike heeled shoes that brought her height
almost up to mine. I of course didn't wear any shoes.