Children of Steel

by John Van Stry

  "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."

  "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.
r />   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 affai
r; 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.

  "Are you sure you can walk in those things?" I asked curious.

  "Oh yes," she smiled and walked around the room to show me.

  "Well they do have an interesting affect on your anatomy, I'll admit!" I walked up behind her and gave her a hug and a kiss.

  "Not now Raj dear, we'll be late," she chided me.

  We left the room then and headed to the dinning room. It was nearly full when we arrived and the rest of our group was already there, the girls looking radiant in their outfits. Gabe and Dave both looked very good themselves, in outfits similar to mine in cut, but with colors that matched them quite well.

  I looked around at the other people in the room, there appeared to be about thirty present and about half of them were animen. I found my seat and helped Kathy into hers, (she had coached me on this before hand). Joshua made introductions around the table then and I promptly forgot everybody's name. He was sitting at the head of the table with Fran sitting at the foot.

  I did pay attention when he came to his other children, Darell, Nick, and Stacy. Nick was human and obviously younger than Karen. Darell and Stacy were Wolves; I think Karen had said Stacy and Darell were both younger than her too. I guess that meant Nigel was also a Wolf, because Karen had said that she had two stepbrothers.

  Dinner was a very interesting affair, mostly because I had never seen humans defer to an animan before. I know that it did happen, even in my own company. It was rare though; there weren't too many animen in positions of authority over humans.