Koban: The Mark of Koban (45 page)

“She can have my share.” Carson matched the
repulsed look.

A vibration in the cage drew their attention.
The wolfbat was stirring around. The boys pulled off their shirts, as they had
discussed when the cage was built, and draped them over the cage as if removed
for the summer heat. This way they didn’t appear to be obviously hiding
anything from view, or so their adolescent minds thought. In any case, they
managed to get inside the dome and easily climbed the stairs up to the
twentieth level, where the school was located.

They managed this without any real notice,
since only the SG kids used the stairs very much. Adults preferred the
elevators, even if modified. Besides, most people were already in the Great
Hall for the nightly communal supper. They stashed the cage in the back of the
utility room, and covered it with a stack of old tablecloths. Then headed for
the place in the hall where their family and their friends always sat for the
first of two dinner shifts.

****

Sitting at the customary family table, Noreen
was scratching the right ear of her big “baby,” and Kobalt made a noise that
wasn’t a purr, but was some sort of deep rumbling equivalent. Anyone unfamiliar
with a “tame” ripper was unlikely to enjoy the sound. Particularly when it came
out of a fierce looking, well-muscled animal that was over four feet high at
the shoulders, about fourteen feet long, including tail, and weighed over eight
hundred Earth pounds. He yawned in contentment, exposing his large four-inch
canines, fully aware of the discomfort that caused in some of the nearby adults
when he did that. He rather liked that idea, wishing he could rub his frill
against them right then, to sense what they felt.

The kids that had grown up with the two rippers
always around thought it was “cute.” Perspective was everything. They had never
had one hunt them in the dark for food.

The Commander had joined Noreen and Dillon’s
family tonight, with Marlyn and Thad’s growing family at the adjacent table,
with Maggi as their guest. Mirikami made it a frequent practice to sit at
various tables during the week, on different dinner shifts.  This way he stayed
in touch with nearly everyone, maintaining the open lines of communication.

So long as there were only about eighty two
hundred Prime City residents, he could make that work. Much of Prime City had
become hydroponics and manufacturing areas. However, there were almost a
thousand three hundred backed up requests for couples from Hub City to move
here temporarily. They wanted children, like those they saw the modified
citizens enjoying. Not a single pregnancy had succeeded in a live delivery in
Hub City, after a hundred heartbreaks over a seven or eight year span.

There was no pressure to convince any of them
to accept any modifications at all, no matter the reason for moving to Prime
City. Most “converts” asked for the bare minimum gene changes, the four human
clone mods, to help a woman grow strong enough to carry a child to term. The
father also needed the mods, since otherwise the fetus was at too high a risk
in the high gravity. That child would inherit the genetic traits of both
parents of course, joining the other SG kids, except none would have the Koban
nervous system, as parallel but inert.

For now, the organic superconductor nerves were
redundant and only couples that wanted their grandkids to be fully Koban
adapted opted for them. Although, a rumor had it that SG’s with “nerves” might
be able to receive other levels of Koban derived modifications that required
the faster nervous system.

The occasional and subtle repetition of the
lists of nearly a hundred fifty “standard” genetic mods that virtually all
modern humans carried, and had carried for hundreds of years, gradually wore
down some of the societal objections in Hub City. The “original defective”
genome of the race, from the mid twenty first century, no longer existed
outside historical preservation in various laboratories and gene banks. The
general population, as far back as three hundred years ago rarely had these
defects, and at one time paid only a few days salary to have genetic problems corrected.
Health plans had routinely paid for repairs that were life altering or life threatening.
 

The only reason for the delay in moving so
many couples into Prime City was logistics. Many suitable quarters for
habitation had become manufacturing or hydroponic areas. That production would
have to move to Hub City to create living space here. It was underway,
requiring those that wanted to move to participate in the relocation efforts,
going both directions.

Mirikami, sitting across from Dillon, used one
of the new verbs that had entered common use. “I frilled both Kobalt and Kit
when they returned. I personally don’t see any drawbacks to an agreement with
the northern pride, and I believe it will eventually lead to cooperation with
other ripper prides, once we each lose our natural distrust. With that major predator
threat removed, hunting will get a lot less hazardous.

“Except rhinolo, moosetodons, and yaks aren’t
going to make friends or become pets, but then we aren’t going to stop eating
them either.” He laughed.

Maggi, sitting at the end of Thad’s table,
right next to Dillon’s family, said, “This is only the third intelligent alien
species we’ve met, and the second one we found that we can make agreements with.
Not that the Raspani really make agreements. Their original brilliance has been
bred out of them.”

Marlyn had maintained an interest in the
Raspani. “Is the new training school Vince set up for them making any progress?
Jake has their pigeon version of Krall and Raspani language fairly well
decoded, I thought.”

“They have a relatively small vocabulary dear,
and their minds are reduced to a simplistic level. One thing they all seem to
believe, is that some of their people went far away and will return for them.
That makes more sense than just wishful thinking on their part, because none of
us can see how the Krall could have hunted down every last member of every star
faring race they conquered. I hope refugees from each of those races exist
elsewhere in the galaxy.”

Kobalt and Kit rose up as two disheveled boys
came running into the Great Hall, late for dinner again. Noreen and Marlyn
checked their hands for being freshly washed, which they were. That was more
than their dusty bluegrass stained pants and shirts could say. They each
frilled the cats before rushing over to the self-serve tables of hot and cold
food, and loaded up a heaping tray each. SG kids ate a lot of food for the sake
of their increased metabolism, and usual childhood hyperactivity.

When they returned to their family tables,
they took their usual places beside their fathers, rudely shoving the next
oldest child aside. Katelyn was the six-year-old sister of Carson, and Bradley
was the six-year-old brother for Ethan, both younger ones shoving back at their
big brothers, in the normal sibling resentment and pecking order. The youngest
child of each family sat by their Moms. Both were three-year-old boys, Cory
with Noreen, Danner with Marlyn. The children’s similar ages were a tribute to
Planned Parenthood.

Carson shoved a bite of cubed rhinolo stew
meat in his mouth, and asked “Uncle Tet, are we going to have a truce with the
pride on the north side?”

Noreen spoke first. “Don’t do that again. Ask
first, or swallow before you talk.”

Mirikami smiled. “We just found out about the
offer. I can’t imagine that anyone wants to turn the northern pride down.
However, we do have to give everyone here a say before we make a final decision.
Even the pride elders will ask the opinions of the pride members. At least
that’s what I gathered from Kobalt and Kit’s impressions.”

Ethan hadn’t filled his mouth yet. “Oh, the
pride will all agree. Kit made a really good connection with a female named
Telror, and she had her own mind images to share that would show the pride that
humans are really
people
. Kobalt and Kit have those kinds of images, but
they are outsiders that lived with us.”

Thad looked down at his son. “How do you know
all this? Kit just arrived, and when I wanted to know if she had seen you on
the way back, she didn’t have any frill contacts with you to share, not for the
last two days.”

Noreen reached over to Kobalt and touched his
frill a second. Kobalt looked at Carson, then away. “Odd, Kobalt has no image
of seeing Carson all day either, but that was a very pointed and insightful
question my son.”

Uh Oh.
Carson
thought. Rippers would withhold information, but they would not lie. A gap in
mental story telling was a red flag for an omission.

“Uh, we knew what they were going out to do,
and I was sure they would convince the wild rippers.” He ended that lamely, as
he realized that Ethan had already spilled more details than they could possibly
have guessed.
Busted.

His Dad spoke up. “I don’t think we need to
cover all of this at the table, in public. It can wait.”

Carson knew that wasn’t a reprieve, merely a
stay of sentencing. Besides, now their parents might decide to ask Jake what he
saw. There’d be no memory gaps or filtering there.

Dinner continued with various items of
chatter, while Ethan and Carson ate mechanically, their appetite gone.

Later, after the families cleaned their tables
and left for their quarters, and the next supper shift filtered in, Tet grinned
at Maggi. “What do you think those four were up to?” He obviously included the
cats.

She smiled back. “The kitties are only guilty
of loyalty and cover up. It’s hard to say about those two scallywags. Look who
their fathers are.”

With a sigh, Tet asked. “Scallywags?”

“Crap! Watch an old movie sometimes. Why do I
always have to translate for illiterates?”

****

The next morning, Carson was up early for
class. His parents hadn’t really laid into him when they got to their cubicle
cluster. They sent him to bed early, right after homework, no watching an old
Tri-Vid recording of a show in a life and place he didn’t know about anyway. Except,
this particular level of discipline happened almost once a week for him. He got
off easy.

After breakfast, he was about to leave for
class when his Dad handed him some work gloves, made of Smart Fabric. “Uh,
thanks,” he muttered in confusion.

Just then, his mother stepped back into the
small eating area, with Kobalt in trail. “I discovered you intended to take Kobalt
to class today, he told me. I cleared it with your teacher. Mr. Rigson is
expecting both you and Ethan to arrive with the cats.”

“Sure.” Now he was more confused. The cats were
normally too much of a distraction for the kids to work on their lessons. They
wanted to frill them all the time, but today the cats were to be part of the
presentation he and Ethan wanted to make.

“Why is it OK today Mom?” He was suspicious.

“It’s a show and tell day on the class
activity list isn’t it?”

“Yes, though everybody has seen and touched Kobalt
and Kit a zillion times.”

His Dad looked at him meaningfully. “Ah. But
have they ever sensed what a wolfbat was thinking?”

They were really busted!

“Uhh…, I guess that’s what the gloves are for,
so it won’t bite me?” There was no point in trying to deny it now, since they obviously
knew.

“Hummph. I never thought of that.” His Dad fingered
his chin. “No, those are really for cleaning out the animal corral after class.
That will make you late for super, so consider yourself excused in advance for
missing a meal. Have a nice day.”

****

Mr. Rigson was waiting in front of the utility
room door when they arrived. “I checked, and it’s fine, and the cage held it
OK. It dragged one of the tablecloths partly inside through the mesh, but
couldn’t damage or chew Smart Fabric of course. Leave the cloth over the cage. It
will make a good surprise for the class if nobody sees it first.”

Carson was puzzled.
Does everyone know what
we did?

Then Carson remembered his Mom had called Mr.
Rigson. He and Ethan carried the covered cage to the classroom, and placed it
under the teacher’s desk, out of sight. The bat was unnaturally still he
thought, until Mr. Rigson asked them to send the cats to the back of the
classroom. The wolfbat certainly had scented and heard the two rippers. It
wasn’t about to attract attention. The boys let the cats know why they were sent
there, and that they didn’t want the wolfbat to die of fright in front of
everyone.

After the usual routine of show and tell presentations,
Ethan and Carson went last. The other dozen kids had noted the cats, and
despite the lack of novelty, they were perfectly willing to frill the cats
again. When the boys pulled the covered cage from behind the desk, their
interest shifted. Lifting the cloth, the whole class uttered the expected excited
exclamations. The wolfbat itself was clearly terrified, and instantly spotted
the rippers through the herd of humans that surrounded its pen.