by Darrell Bain
* * * *
The stop at the Denver Enclave was brief, only long enough to unload cargo and replace their fuel cells. Some extras were added to give them the range for the long flight to the Houston Enclave. Even then, the trip would have been impossible without clear weather for much of the way so that the solar panels could absorb energy to complement the fuel cells and magnetic absorbers. Jamie wondered if the dearth of replacement supplies he had noted over the last few years had worsened while they were gone, and thought they probably had. He wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years the West Coast became completely isolated from the rest of the country, just as the continents had been for a long time.
Australia was a barren desert now, South America's few remaining Enclaves were foundering, and Europe was struggling, except for England, which was long gone. No one knew what was happening in Asia anymore, except for second-hand reports from Moon City space pilots.
In the air again, Jamie's thoughts continued to tumble around like autumn leaves caught in a breeze, going up and down, back and forth, but never coming completely to a secure rest. It was frustrating, and unlike him to brood. He forced his thoughts into another line, that of researching some of the old genetic experiments on humans. That might help Della, at least, if no one else.
* * * *
In a trailing floater, Kristi and Jeannie were squeezed together with Princess, Woggly, Lady, and Conan. The animals were all napping, not being interested in the scenery.
Jeannie leaned against Kristi's shoulder, her thoughts in as much of a muddle as Jamie's. “Poor Della. I just hated to have to leave her there on the ship."
Kristi squeezed Jeannie's hand, which was entwined with hers. One reason that she had avoided permanent attachments before meeting Jamie and Jeannie was the very fact that she hated to lose someone she cared for, either by death or by separation. Even after all this time she still wasn't sure how she had become so entangled with Jeannie, but she wasn't sorry.
“Della turned out to be a sweet girl, once she started to trust us, that is. I wonder what she'll do now? Moon City evidently doesn't think highly of non-procreative or group sex."
“She didn't seem to mind that much, Jeannie said, “once she got the idea. You did good.” She giggled, remembering a particularly randy gathering of the three of them.
“Most women don't mind if you go about it the right way. It's different with men; they have to be born with the proclivity."
“Jamie sure wasn't. He likes women. Period."
“That's for sure. He wasn't happy about leaving Della, either. Well, we do what we have to do. I don't worry about Jamie. He takes things as they come, regardless. I do worry about Troy, though. He's feeling really depressed now. Too many of our friends are gone."
“What can we do about it?"
“Probably nothing.” Kristi said. “Remember, he's an old man. He was taking out patrols before I was born."
“He doesn't seem that old when you're talking to him. Except for all that white hair, of course.” Jeannie said.
“Yes, but remember, he grew up in a different era than we did. Why, back in his day, he still had to worry about catching diseases from simple intercourse. Can you imagine that?"
Jeannie couldn't. Sex to her was as natural as wings were to a bird, even to letting herself get pregnant. That brought on a thought. “I just remembered. Neither of us has gotten permission for a baby. What do you think the population control board will say?"
“Leave that to Jamie. He's still the fair-haired boy in the Enclave, for now at least."
Jeannie felt a sudden surge of fear. “Do you think they'll make him go out again?"
“They can't, unless he wants to, and I don't think he does. He's got something else bothering him, but he won't say what it is."
“I know,” Jeannie admitted. “Well, we'll just have to love him more, won't we?"
“That we will. It won't be hard, will it?"
“Not at all. He's an easy man to love.” Kristi stroked princess, asleep in her lap, thinking of the life growing in her. Jamie was indeed an easy man to love.
* * * *
The familiar sight of the Houston Enclave around him was like a tonic to Jamie. He hadn't realized how much he had missed it. Masters brightened up as well. The pets bounded ahead of them onto the waiting sled as if they were going hunting, rather than back to their apartment in the security building. Fuzzy Britches appropriated Jamie's lap, leaving the dogs to find their own seats. The dogs appeared puzzled. Usually, when they rode sleds, which was not all that often, they were relegated to a place in the aisle.
Jamie used his body computer to check ahead, telling John Whitmire in no uncertain terms that he intended to take the rest of the day off before checking in. Masters, having no other pressing business continued on up in the elevator to make his report.
While Jamie impatiently waited on Jeannie and Kristi, he initiated a search program with the main Enclave computer. No security clearances were required. The data he sought was so old that all barriers to access it had been lifted long ago. That done, all he had to do was wait.
* * * *
“Where's Kristi? Jamie asked, as soon as he saw that Jeannie was alone.
“She went on up to check with Whitmire. Troy is already there.
“Well, damn. I was ready for both of you.” He kissed her thoroughly. It had been several days since they had made love.
“She said she'd be long in a little while. We don't have to wait, do we?"
Jamie kissed her nose. “No, we don't. It's just always more fun with three."
“You'll just have to suffer,” Jeannie said, leading him to the bedroom.
Princess looked up from the middle of the bed where she was nursing two new kittens. Fuzzy Britches occupied the edge of the bed, looking on curiously, but for once he was speechless.
Jamie eyed the scenario. “It appears the bed has been appropriated. I guess we'll have to find another spot."
Jeannie wasn't listening. Her mood had changed abruptly. She began petting Princess and talking nonsense to her while Jamie and Fuzzy Britches stole from the room.
* * * *
John Whitmire's old, blocky face had added some wrinkles, Kristi noted. They deepened as she and Masters made their report. It was no more to Whitmire than a confirmation of what he had already heard from Hawkins. Essentially, the longspace voyage had been a failure. Nothing had been brought back that might save earth from the pet plague, and nothing to relieve the diminishing prospects of Moon City. The threat of the collapse of technology in both cultures was not eminent, but the decline was no less sure, and he was at a loss to know what to do about it. He had recommendations to make, and he had no idea what they might be at this stage. He was tired, almost tired to death, from years of juggling personnel and resources, and for the last year even more of a burden had descended on him. What was worse, his success in recovering the Altairian technology had propelled him into the highest councils of Enclave government, and they were depending on him for solutions. At this point, he didn't think he had any.
“All right,” He finally said. “Go on back home. Take a couple of days off, then you had better plan on a patrol outside. Since you've been gone, we haven't had a whole lot of intelligence from the wilds."
“Why not?” Masters asked.
“We've been losing too many people. I finally curtailed what rangers we have left, until you can get some more trained."
Masters wondered what was happening outside the confines of the Enclave now. When he had last gone out, the bigcats had been active. Had they become that much of a menace? He found himself anxious to find out. The wilds of earth would be a relief after what he had gone through on the voyage into space. Masters and Kristi left together.
* * *
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jamie was armed for bear the next day when he took the elevator up to see Whitmire. The research program he had initiated had indeed brought results. Coupled with
his own knowledge, and that of some biologists he knew, he had little doubt now that there was a program which could enhance Della's muscles, and indeed any of Moon City's citizens who wished to take their chances on earth. Not only that, he had had a long conversation with Fuzzy Britches, Masters, and Kristi. He still wasn't completely sure where his thoughts were leading, but he knew for certain what he wanted to do in the meantime.
“Let me get this straight,” Whitmire said. “First, you want me to pressure the population control board to allow Jeannie and Kristi both to have their babies. Next, you want your pets to go on the next patrol with Masters and Kristi. And finally, you want to initiate experimentation with humans that has been forbidden for decades. What else do you want? Perhaps command of the floater fleet?"
“I still have the thought disk,” Jamie said, fingering the disk in a wide pocket of his coveralls.
“Which we both know is about used up."
“No one else can judge that, can they?"
“True, but I've been keeping that in reserve. It's one way of controlling some of the council here. Give me another reason."
“I can't do that yet. Can't you just trust me?"
Whitmire thought about it. He was juggling a number of conflicting interests. Some of the council wanted to use the ship that Jamie had made possible for further exploration; others wanted to use it to completely subjugate Moon City into their way of thinking. All of them still thought that there was more information to be gained from Jamie's thought disk. Whitmire was concerned with the survival of earth more than anything else, and so far, Jamie had come closer to solving that enigma than anyone, even if his efforts had met with less than complete success. He made his decision.
“One condition,” he said.
“What's that?"
“You stay here."
Jamie had to think that one over. Let Woggly and Fuzzy Britches go out into the wilds again? They had been very lucky the last time and he knew it, although the pets had simply thought of it as a period of fun and adventure. Well, the ranger pets would be along to help take care of them, and if anyone could bring them back, it was Masters.
“Done,” he said.
* * * *
Kristi had been late returning to the apartment the evening before and had seemed more animated than usual, though Jamie couldn't figure out why. Kristi offered no explanations. Time enough for that if they returned from this patrol. Jamie and Jeannie said their good-bys as she and the pets boarded the sled that would take them to the outskirts of the Enclave, then he returned to the security building. This time though, he refused to work with the waiting engineers and physicists. Instead, using Whitmire's authority, he called in a team of biologists and geneticists and outlined what he wanted done. Two of them refused to participate after seeing the direction he was going. There was still a horror of altered humans prevalent in the culture, even so many years after the last of them had been killed or driven into the wilds. It wasn't a rational fear, simply a reflection of normal human emotions striking out at a convenient scapegoat when times were hard. The idea of an altered human bothered Jamie no more than a paraplegic of the old days would have. So far as he was concerned, if an alteration could help a person, he was all for it. As he began work, he smiled to himself. According to Fuzzy Britches, a few cat gene insertions would improve the whole human race. It was almost tempting. Della seemed to be part cat anyway.
* * * *
Two days later, and miles into the wild country surrounding the Enclave, Fuzzy Britches was scared but confident. He crouched on the outermost branches of a large white oak tree and carefully noted the tangle of Muscadine vines he could use to escape to the next tree if it proved necessary. It hadn't been all that hard to convince the humans to let he and Woggly go out, himself alone and Woggly in the company of Lady. White Hair, as he called Masters, and Kristi had spent the first night out in their tent together almost totally involved with each other, to the total exclusion of the pets. Fuzzy Britches often wondered where humans found the energy for their couplings, but he had long since stopped worrying about it. At least it kept them happy.
A sleepy chirp sounded from nearby. One of the rare bird nests he had found. The adults had fluttered and swooped at him when he first took his position, but finally settled down after they decided that he presented no threat. He settled himself comfortably, prepared to wait as long as necessary, although he thought it would be sooner rather than later. The dogs had told him that they smelled bobcat before they left on their own mission.
Just before dawn, the larger cat made its appearance. It was a clear night, and peering down at the base of the tree, Fuzzy Britches could see that it was indeed an enhanced animal, as he had hoped. The large head was unmistakable. Besides, unenhanced animals were becoming rarer and rarer, unable to compete with their more intelligent counterparts.
Fuzzy Britches hissed gently. The larger cat snarled up at him. It had been drawn by his scent, and was irritated at the intrusion into its territory.
“Come here,” Fuzzy Britches called again, speaking in the patois peculiar to the cat species.
The bobcat bounded up the trunk of the tree and out onto the branch where Fuzzy Britches rested.
“Go away, little cat. This territory mine!"
“Yours,” Fuzzy Britches agreed, eyeing the larger animal carefully.
“Why you here?"
“Talk to you. You talk to other cats.” He bounced on his branch, upsetting the birds into chirping again, fearfully this time. The bobcat flicked its ears toward the sound.
“My food. You go away."
“No. Leave birds alone. They eat bugs. Help the forest."
The feral cat could make no sense of this, but Fuzzy Britches was patient. He talked earnestly, explaining his ideas to the wildcat. Finally, at mid-morning, they left together.
* * * *
Masters’ hand went automatically to the weapon belted at his waist, but he took no other action other than to calm Conan who had bared his teeth. The dog calmed, especially when he noticed Fuzzy Britches standing unconcernedly by the larger cat.
“Friend,” Fuzzy Britches said. “I tell him to come see humans and dogs. Give him Enclave collar. No fleas then and he not eat birds anymore. I tell him we come back again, make it where his mate not have so many kittens. Tell him he help humans, we help him."
Conan advanced and cautiously sniffed noses with the cat, then returned to Masters’ side. He had seen stranger things in the wilds during his lifetime.
Masters removed his hand from the butt of his weapon, and the big cat lowered his ears. He walked warily around the camp, sniffing at the tents, then accepted a food bar from the ranger. It had long since been ranger policy not to bother the feral animals unless threatened, and never to stay in one place long. Enhanced animals were still just as territorial as their forebears. Anytime humans camped too long in one place they could expect retribution. He was amazed that Jamie's pet had talked the wildcat into coming into camp. He called the Enclave to have their supporting floater make a special trip. He had to repeat his request twice when he asked for Enclave collars to be brought out. When they arrived, he used his body computer to modify them so that they could not be used to gain entrance to the Enclave, but otherwise left their properties intact.
Later that day, Kristi and her patrol returned to camp, bringing two feral dogs with them, accompanied by Woggly and Lady. The dogs were large, as most feral dogs were, representing a cross between dogs, wolves, and coyotes, essentially a new species. They, too accepted a collar, and were told of a bobcat in the area who would be wearing one.
Woggly cavorted happily with them, glad that he had gotten Fuzzy Britches’ instructions right.
“We're returning to the Enclave tomorrow,” Masters told his rangers that night.
“This is something new. In all the years I've spent in the wilds, I've never seen this happen before. Feral animals have never accepted friendship from us; at best, we've just avo
ided each other. And I've never seen canines and felines making friends in the wild.” He shook his head, wondering what else could possibly happen in the presence of Jamie and Fuzzy Britches. By now, he wouldn't be surprised to see Tiger becoming vegetarians or some other equally ridiculous phenomena.
“Maybe we never had our own pets try to work out a truce,” Kristi said.
“It has been tried, but never succeeded, at least not for long. There was just too much antagonism between the feral animals and humans. Sooner or later some dumb, prejudiced human would spoil the rapprochement."
Kristi stretched out and propped her head in Masters’ lap. Fuzzy Britches jumped onto her belly and stretched out to his full length, purring happily while chin-bumping her breasts. “Maybe they just never had a cat around like Fuzzy Britches."
“Fuzzy Britches smart,” Woggly said. “Still a cat, though. Cats not play fair. Climb trees."
* * * *
Kristi ushered Masters into the apartment after they had made their report to Whitmire. Jamie and Jeannie rushed to hug her. She kept an arm around the ranger captain's waist as she accepted the hugs, then pushed him forward. “Look what I brought home with me,” She said smugly, eyeing Jeannie. “A brand new play-pretty."
Masters was old enough and Jeannie young enough that they both managed to blush. Jeannie recovered first. “If we're going to play,” She said, “You better go get washed first. Don't forget to do behind your ears."
Masters wondered what he had let himself in for, but he was not unhappy about it. It had been a long time since he had taken on a family. His only question now was whether he could hold up his end of it.
* * *
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Fuzzy Britches was the key to the whole thing,” Jamie explained to Whitmire two weeks later. He had asked Masters to come with him, to lend support to his arguments. “Some of his remarks that didn't make sense out of context started sounding better once I started thinking about them. He kept mentioning that ‘the pets would take care of humans’ and that he wanted to talk to some feral animals. Well, Troy has told you all about that.” He glanced at the white haired man sitting beside him. Having Masters in the family would make his plan safer, even if he still didn't like what he was proposing.
