Altered Humans

by Darrell Bain

  The federal officer in charge of security at the airport was put on the spot. He was the one who finally caught the discrepancy in the female to male ratio of survivors. “Aha!” He said to his subordinate. “No Goddamned wonder they were all bandaged up. I'll bet that whoever those people were, they were using the bandages to fool us. That floater pilot probably robbed those government folks and dumped them somewhere in the wilds."

  “What should we do now?"

  “Do? Go bring him in, you dolt! We'll make him tell us the real story."

  “Uh, Captain, we still haven't gotten paid. Why should I risk my life for nothing?"

  “Because I said so. Now take a couple of men and go arrest him. I want him alive, hear?"

  “Yes, sir. When are we going to get paid? I've got a family."

  “I don't know. Just stay on duty so you'll be here when we do get paid. Don't get left out like the deserters will be."

  Reluctantly, the Sergeant obeyed his superior, but he could find only two other men to go with him. He figured that ought to be enough. Besides, if the truck driver offered more gold, he might just decide not to bring him in at all. As it turned out, one of his men went missing while he was powering up the van they would use. He thought about going back to report it, then decided not to. If the two of them weren't sufficient to carry out an arrest, then three probably wouldn't be either, and in that case a payoff would suit him just as well.

  * * * *

  Jake was attaching laserifles to the gun rack in the rear top platform when the federal van arrived, easy to recognize by its solid gray color and the intimidating silence of its powerful electric engine. He hadn't heard it coming. “Uh oh,” he muttered to himself.

  Gary had just carried a big crate of supplies into the cargo section. His muscles were aching from the heavy lifting that he wasn't accustomed to, and he was tired from the previous night's festivities. He climbed down the steps of the ladder Jake had dropped from its recess and backed right into the barrel of the sergeant's drawn weapon. His partner stood to one side, watching the house.

  “Just hold it right there, mister. You aren't going anywhere."

  Oh Goddamn, Gary thought. And we were so close! There was nothing he could do. He was captured and he knew the reputation of the FedRats. They wouldn't hesitate to shoot. He thought for a moment of resisting anyway, even if it got himself killed, but decided to wait. Here he had no chance at all. Later, maybe he could contrive something. And maybe Lea or Maria would return and create a diversion before he was handcuffed and pushed into the van. Lea had walked over to Jake's neighbor to pay him for Pluto's care and Maria was back in the house gathering her personal items to carry in a handbag.

  Lea came around the truck from the direction that neither of the federal officers were looking toward and almost bumped into the man holding the gun to Gary's back. They saw each other at the same time.

  “Security! Freeze!” The sergeant yelled, pushing Gary to the ground with a violent shove and swiveling his weapon toward Lea. Slowly she raised her hands, fuming at being caught so easily but unable to do a thing about it.

  The other officer had taken his eyes off the entrance to the house for a moment when Lea appeared but seeing that his superior had the situation under control he turned back. He was just in time to fire a warning laser beam that stopped Maria in her tracks as she was coming outside, as unconcerned about danger as a schoolgirl primping for a date. She had no choice, either. She was wearing her gun but it was already too late.

  Jake was still on the ledge above the rooms at the back of the truck. He cursed silently to himself as he saw the situation developing. Anything he did now was apt to wind up with one of them getting killed. Nevertheless, knew he had to do something. He fumbled for the latch of the port window and silently pulled it back. Then very slowly, so that no sudden movement would attract attention, he begin easing it open.

  The sergeant's companion was one of those who believed that altered humans were an abomination. He had fired the warning shot at Maria by reflex but now he saw that, in his mind, she wasn't even human and therefore fair game. He barely remembered now how his father had deserted the family for an altered woman, but that event had shaped his life. He had seen the graphic images of altered humans being harried and killed on the news too. The admonition to bring the culprit back alive didn't apply to her. His mind told him that she must be resisting arrest and he prepared to kill her outright. Only the fact of her beauty made him hesitate at all.

  Jake still didn't see a way to take out both of the FedRats but he knew he had to try; he could see the hand of the officer holding the gun on Maria trembling. He might shoot at any moment and at this range he wouldn't miss. Jake eased his weapon toward the open port, preparing to try a shot, even if it meant that he might hit one of his friends. Then, from the corner of his eye he saw another figure by the outcropping of hedge separating his yard from the neighbor's. He whistled shrilly.

  Jake had trained Pluto well. Like a silver and brown streak, he was across the space separating him from the man pointing a weapon at Maria and lunging for the arm holding the gun. A laser beam scorched the earth behind him as the officer didn't correct for his speed. He never got another shot off. Pluto had his jaws around his arm, crushing it in his teeth.

  Now Jake could take a shot and he did. He killed the one who had been holding Maria at bay with a needle fine laser beam to the head, knowing that Pluto was keeping the other one busy. In the meantime the sergeant quit struggling with Pluto and simply tried to protect his throat.

  “Pluto, down! Don't move, man, or he'll kill you.” Jake said from the port of the truck.

  Slowly, the sergeant raised his hands, one of them mangled by Pluto's jaws. He trembled, hoping he wouldn't be killed. In short order he was inside the house, sitting with his wounded arm cradled in his lap. His companion's body had been dragged from sight.

  Jake did the questioning.

  “Who else knows where you went?"

  “The Captain knows. He'll send someone out here if we don't report back by a certain time."

  Jake eyed the man closely and suddenly recognized him. “Aren't you the one I helped out financially the other day? Fine way to repay me, don't you think?"

  His prisoner remained silent, unable to meet Jake's scrutiny. He was asking himself why he hadn't just asked for some more gold and then gone to work on the barricades? Anything would have been better than getting himself killed for a government that couldn't even pay him.

  “How come you're still working for the government? Did they finally pay you?"

  “No, not yet."

  “Maybe you don't need money, is that it?"

  “No. I've got a family. I always need money."

  “Let me think a minute. Lea honey, how ‘bout making us one last drink, then we gotta get out of here. Sooner or later someone will be over to see what the yelling was about. And the folks will be here at noon to take possession of the house."

  “What are you going to do to me?” The federal worker asked.

  “I don't know. We could just kill you and dump both your bodies in the river, but then your captain would still come after us.” He rubbed his chin as if thinking. It was deliberate. Jake wanted the man to come up with the idea himself. Lea brought him a glass and he practically gulped down the shot of liquor.

  “I could tell the captain my partner deserted, and that you weren't here. I could say you left your dog behind and it bit me,” the prisoner offered, bargaining for his life, he thought, even though Jake had no intention of killing him. Not yet, anyway.

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Fifteen minutes of hard negotiating got them on their way, with the sergeant taking his payoff and promising to report that his partner had deserted and that no one had been present at the address they had gone to. In return, he got his arm bandaged and his uniform cleaned, its pockets now pleasantly heavy with gold.

  “And you never saw that truck out
there either, did you?"

  “What truck?"

  “Okay, I like your attitude. A hint, though."

  “Yes?"

  “See my dog here?"

  “Sure."

  “You know what he did to your arm?"

  The sergeant shivered and nodded.

  “If I hear you changed your story, I can have you found. I've got contacts all through the city. I've got your name and know where you live. What my dog did to that arm can just as easily be done to your throat. Savvy?"

  “Yes, sir. You can trust me."

  Jake handed him his uniform jacket. “Okay, you can go. Don't report back until the last minute before you have to.” He handed him his weapon back after first disabling it. “Let's get on the road, people."

  * * * *

  “Do you think that FedRat will keep his mouth shut?” Gary asked as they drove away. He and Maria were already in one of the little rooms in the cargo module.

  Jake glanced far enough to the side to see Gary's face on the two way truck intercom he had activated. “So long's they don't question his story, he's probably okay. And if he doesn't get paid soon, I doubt he'll stick around for long anyway. We're probably safe."

  “So where are we going now?"

  “To the freight loading terminal to see what we can round up in a hurry. I'm sorry, but you all are going to have to sort of live in the rooms in back and stay out of sight until it's time to take you to the spaceport."

  “We can do that,” Gary said. He could think of much worse fates than being locked up in a room with Maria for two days.

  “Good. When you hear the loading door open, stay quiet. And time your visits to the head for right after you hear it close. I'll keep in touch, but I'm going to kill the visual now so your smiling faces don't distract Lea from driving. Not that I think you could. I'm glad I have Pluto up here to keep me company. She's so enamored with this rig she probably won't pay any more attention to me until it gets a few dents in it."

  The little screen vanished, the holoprojections swirling away into its depths. It kept an animation from internal files playing to show that the voice was still active and the screen was ready. Booger Bear stared at the cartoons with rapt interest. He had loved cartoons from kittenhood, especially some of the old Tom and Jerry. He harbored an eternal expectation that Tom would get the best of Jerry if he just watched their antics often enough.

  While the truck was moving, Gary and Maria lay on the six inch high memory mattress while they were traveling in order to let it absorb the bumps. Even in such a big rig they felt them occasionally because of the abominable state of repair of the roads and streets. When it stopped, they moved to the little love seat that was barely big enough for the two of them and turned the communication module to standby so that no noise could be heard unless Jake thought it safe to talk to them. Booger Bear complained but had to suffer with a silent rendition of his cartoons.

  * * * *

  Nothing much happened so far as Gary and Maria were concerned all the first day and night. The truck started and stopped on occasion but they never knew what it signified. The rear hatch wasn't opened at all the first twenty four hours.

  It gave them a good opportunity to engage in bouts of slow, sensuous couplings and kissing and touching as they explored and expanded their relationship. And it brought a new aspect into it as well.

  Eventually Booger Bear grew bored with cartoons and began watching them. He knew what sex was of course, from watching holovision in Gary's room while he was gone, but Amelia had never allowed him to be present when they were engaged in it. Now he could watch and use all his senses to learn more about what made the act so important to his humans.

  During the late evening, while Gary and Maria were laying side by side, satiated for the moment, Booger Bear came up onto the little mattress with them. He snuggled up against Maria. She curled a lazy arm around him.

  A moment later Gary heard a gasp of indrawn breath. He glanced over and saw Booger Bear busily licking Maria's nipple in much the same fashion as he had done just recently himself. And obviously it was a pleasurable sensation. Her nipple had already become fully erect and her breathing had gotten faster.

  “Ah, enter my competition,” Gary said.

  Maria clutched at his thigh as their pet continued his ministrations, fascinated with how the tissue of her nipple went from pebbled softness to slick erectness in just a few minutes. “Don't laugh. You'd be surprised at how good that feels. His tongue is like a soft little file, rough enough to stimulate but not enough to hurt. Mmmm.” Her hand moved up from his thigh.

  Now it was Gary's turn to gasp as she used the back side of her hand that was covered with fuzzy down to tickle and arouse him further into a state that he had already begun to enter just from watching. Presently she turned her hand around and he felt the touch of her fingers and hand being filled with his burgeoning erection. And a few minutes after that Booger Bear had to be content with watching. Gary just wished that some of the idiots who were so violently against altered humans, particularly in the matter of having sex with them, could enjoy it as he was doing. Perhaps they wouldn't be so prejudiced then.

  * * * *

  The hatch opened for the first time the next morning. Jake had already warned them that they would be loading at two separate docks during the day. Gary cautioned Booger Bear to stay silent during the intervals and Jake did the same with Pluto before moving him into the cargo hatch. He had been riding in the small back seat behind the driver's console but now that they would be stopping where dockhands would be roving around in unpredictable patterns, he didn't want to take a chance on him being seen, nor Maria and the cat either.

  Both Gary and Maria were curious about the cargo Jake and Maria were going to be handling, even though neither of them were likely to see the end destination of the goods. If all went well, they would be in space, perhaps all the way to Moon City and their new home by that time.

  When the hatch bumped shut for the last time that day, Gary breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay gang, time to hit the head. Who's first?"

  The animals wanted to go and they were allowed to precede the humans. They could take care of their needs quickly, while the humans required somewhat more time for their ablutions.

  While Pluto and Booger Bear were busy, Gary and Maria gazed around at the nearly filled cargo hatch. It was packed with food bar concentrates, all labeled for human consumption, and a consignment of laserifles. He thought the cargo must be headed for a city that had a surplus of something the City Fathers of Dallas were short on and vice versa, in the usual manner of trade; except that now he imagined it would be a straight barter situation, with Jake and Lea charging in gold for the transportation.

  Gold was rapidly becoming the standard medium of exchange as money markets and currency values continued to plunge in the same manner they had done so many times before in the world. Capitalism was a viciously efficient system but it always foundered eventually, simply because of governments borrowing beyond their means of repayment. Bread and Circuses, Gary thought. The age old means of keeping the peasants at bay. But now it was work and survival. Jobs in the cities would mean safety and food and shelter, enough to survive on anyway. How it would play out in the end, he didn't know and was only mildly concerned, except as it influenced the viability of the habitations off earth where he and Maria were going, and the safety of his friends who were staying behind.

  * * * *

  Once they were buttoned up for the night, Jake and Lea came back to visit. Jake appeared to be worried. His usual good humored grin was missing.

  “What's wrong?"

  Jake sat down on the mattress and crossed his legs. “Maybe nothing, maybe everything. The city isn't broadcasting the fact, but there's been some violence here and there, and rioting in the old Oak Cliff sections of the city. There were lots of altered humans there and some of them are well armed and refusing to leave. Others are just generally raising hell. I'll be glad for us t
o hit the road."

  Gary asked about the food and weapons they had loaded, more as a conversational gambit than anything else. The closer they got to separating from the older couple, the worse he felt, even though he knew it was for the best. They were so different than the crowd that he had mingled with while married to Amelia—and so much better that he realized again how constricted his world had been.

  “We bought this load purely on spec rather than as a consignment. I figured prices of weapons and food can only go up. It's a bit of a chance, but we're aiming to find a place where Lea and Pluto won't be at risk and where we can settle down. Hell, we might even start a family."

  Hearing Gary's deafening silence, Jake continued with a chuckle. “We're not that old pal, regardless of what you sprouts think. And we both have the long life genes. We'll be around a good long while yet. Maybe one day you can come back to earth to see us. Or we can go up there."

  “That would be wonderful,” Maria said.

  “That it would. Just living long enough to see the time when it's possible would be nice. For now, though, let's hit the sack. I want us to get an early start tomorrow. We're going to drop you by the spaceport, then swing back up to catch the interstate and head east. There's two medium sized cities along the route over in Louisiana that aren't included in the government list of potential enclaves, but they're trying to get barricades erected anyway. Chances are they can use what we got. And just maybe they won't be so goddamn intent on the government's luddite philosophy now that they've been left high and dry."

  * * *

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  Jake woke everyone shortly after daylight and told them to grab a food bar for breakfast. He intended to start immediately. He had kept the voice potion of a twenty four hour station on air all night with it programmed to wake him if a certain number of key words came up. Riots and violence were among the ones he had listed. When he came out of the sleep fog the program woke him from, he asked for a replay of the announcement that had gotten its attention.