Bhavacakra
Nineteen
(9/17/06 1200, Wolf Ranch, Texas)
“Hey! Slow the fuck down!” The black form yelling behind them began to catch up as Shima reduced her speed.
Naomi glanced over her shoulder and shook her head as she put her chin back on his shoulder. “I know she’s a Mini-top, but she’s got a really foul mouth. I wonder why Kerrik puts up with it.”
Caradoc shrugged. “If he’s like us, she gets to be the way she is.”
“Having other tamers let their pokegirls behave like we do is a lot more shocking that I thought it would be.” Naomi chuckled as Misery pulled even with them and drifted overhead. “What is it?”
The Mini-top pointed to the right where she’d been searching. “I think I found something you might like. It fits what you told me you were looking for.”
Shima looked up at her. “You need to learn to fly faster.”
Misery instantly bristled. “Look, bitch, I just started flying a couple of days ago. I’ve got a maharani who pushes me more than enough, so don’t you get started too.” She switched her attention to Bishop as Shima started laughing. “It’s a two-story and it’s stone. The roof needs a lot of work, but Kerrik has some tarps ready for a makeshift one and seeds for growing you one that’ll last.”
Caradoc nodded. “We’ll be right behind you.” Misery grinned and turned away as he dropped his voice. “Shima, don’t play any speed games with her. I don’t know what she’s capable of, but if you piss her off I’m sure she’ll be very sorry afterwards.”
The Nightmare turned in a wide arc and accelerated just enough to slowly close on the Mini-top. “In a fight, I’d take her apart,” she said thoughtfully. “Of course, she isn’t called Misery because she’s a pushover. I wonder what it would be like to face off against her.”
She jerked in midair when Misery vanished, only to reappear on her back and sitting astride her just in front of Caradoc. The Mini-top leaned forward until her mouth brushed the back of Shima’s neck. “It would be over quickly.” She vanished again, only to appear in front of them once more. She staggered until she got the flying spell under control and raced away.
Shima actually wobbled for a few seconds. “Fuck! Either she’s telepathic or her hearing is incredible.”
Caradoc hugged his Nightmare. “I don’t think you should challenge her.”
“You got that right.” Shima rose as they headed up a rise. “I don’t think you need to worry about that happening. She just scared me out of a year’s growth.”
Naomi pressed herself against Bishop’s back. “You’re not alone.”
Shima crested the hill and turned just as Misery shot towards the ground and landed heavily in front of a two story brick home. “Shima, give me a circle over the area.” He waved to Veronica, who dipped her wings in answer and climbed to begin circling overhead while she kept watch.
The building looked to be in reasonable shape, although a portion of the west side had been smashed and the roof over that section was completely gone. Caradoc leaned back slightly. “What do you think?”
Naomi was surveying the land as they flew over it. “This is a lot drier than Jamaica, but if there’s water, I can convince everything we brought to grow. The house is bigger than our last one, but there’s only the barn for the other pokegirls. We’ll have to build them something.” She looked up at him. “It’s the best one we’ve seen so far, and I’m not sure that going on will turn up anything much better that this. I want to see the interior of the buildings, though.”
Shima was coming around when something screeched a challenge from the hole in the house. A red and yellow striped pokegirl with cat ears and a feline tail jumped out of the hole on to the roof and hurled a fireball that missed as Shima turned sharply. It’s a Hellcat, an infernal fire type pokegirl.
“Hey!” Misery’s yell brought Caradoc’s head around. The Mini-top was waving at the Hellcat. “There’s a tasty piece of the best rabbit ass for miles right here and you’re trying for horsemeat? You’re a fucking idiot!”
The pokegirl screamed in rage and threw a fireball at Misery, who vanished just before it hit and detonated. Misery appeared behind the pokegirl and almost casually kicked her in the ass, catapulting the surprised pokegirl off the roof. While the Hellcat was still in midair, Misery created an energy blade and hurled it, neatly chopping off both of the infernal’s legs. “Dodge that, you whore.” The Hellcat squalled as she hit and bounced, only to get nailed by an expertly thrown pokeball at the top of her arc. The Mini-top hopped off the roof and caught the pokeball before it rolled far away.
Shima looked over her shoulder at Caradoc. “Nope, you don’t have to worry about me challenging her. She took down that girl without any effort whatsoever. Oh, and what she used on that Hellcat was an energy blade. I mentioned it before when you were cutting wood.”
“It looks as impressive as you made it sound. Let’s finish our circle and then put us down near Misery.”
Like he’d thought, the barn and house looked fairly sound, and behind the barn were piles of fencing wire and cedar posts that looked undisturbed. That would give them a head start on setting up livestock pens once the Elves had scouted the area for ferals and established a patrol pattern.
Shima descended slowly and finally landed at a trot. She pulled up next to the house just as Misery was collecting the legs she’d cut off the Hellcat. She tossed them onto a pile of refuse and headed for the Nightmare and her passengers.
Shima looked at Caradoc as he slid off her back. “Do I have to wear clothes here?”
“I don’t know. Misery?”
The Mini-top shrugged. “You wear as much as or as little as you want. If you put it on display, we’ll look. We wear clothes because we want to, but you’ll see Whisper going skin as much as she can most of the time. We wear clothes in town because humans still think a nude woman wants to be fucked. Morwen’s the only one with a nudity issue, and that’s because she’s a threshold.”
Naomi frowned. “What’s that?”
“When humans interbreed enough with pokegirls, they eventually start exhibiting traits derived from pokegirl genetics. Human girls with enough pokegirl blood can actually turn into a pokegirl during puberty. It’s called threshold.”
The Elfqueen looked shocked. “That’s horrible.”
“I think so too, but there’s not much that can be done about it. Kerrik thinks he’s on the track of a solution, but I don’t know much about it and what little I do know I don’t really understand.” Misery flashed a smile. “I don’t speak geek.” She glanced at the house. “While you were checking the place out, I was yelling into the doorway. The fact that nothing else came out in response to my challenges would suggest that there aren’t any ferals in there beside the Hellcat. However, an aware pokegirl might wait until she could get your tasty tamer into close quarters before striking. I’d like to suggest that Veronica and I reconnoiter before you let him go inside.” She grinned when Naomi looked surprised. “Ok, my reputation is true. I am a merciless killing machine, but then it never said I’m stupid.”
The Elfqueen chuckled suddenly. “I must admit that I haven’t heard much about you or Raven or Whisper, but what I do know tends to emphasize how smart you are.” She waved at Veronica, who began to descend. “Shima, take her place.”
Misery was watching Caradoc. “You’re not going to complain?”
He shook his head. “Every time we find a feral at close quarters, it seems like she always comes after me. I’m not going to argue over keeping me in one piece.”
The Mini-top’s ears flicked. “I wish Kerrik would do that. He doesn’t throw himself into the thick of the fray, but I know he’s always thinking about it.”
Caradoc grinned. “He can’t help it. While I was a spaceman and caution is my watchword, Kerrik has been an adventurer most of his life. I was raised on stories about him.”
She gave him a puzzled frown. “Really? You know, he won’t talk much about himself. Would you be willing to share that information?”
“He didn’t ask me not to tell about him so I’m sure we can work something out. I know stories about him that span the whole history of the Tirsuli Confederacy.”
Her eyes lit up. “When I tell Raven about this, you’ll have all the help you could want getting this place in order. We’ve already put one ranch together so we know what we’re doing.” She looked at Naomi. “That is, if you don’t have a problem with it.”
“You won’t be trying to sneak into his bed, so I don’t.”
Misery nodded slowly. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s a wonderful man in the sack but we’re content with ours.”
Veronica landed as Shima headed for the sky with Winona’s sleeping form strapped across her chest. The Valkyrie dismissed her wings. “Why the change in plan?”
Naomi jerked her head towards the house. “You and Misery are going to clear it for Caradoc.”
“I don’t need her.”
Misery grinned. “I love to see it when a youngster stretches her wings. If you really want to go first, I’ll let you. I’ll just cover your ass if you get in trouble.” She leaned sideways slightly. ‘It does look like a nice ass from here, but I don’t think I’ll get distracted.” She swung her submachine gun around and flipped off the safety. “However, if I yell for you to get down, you’d better, because this thing will punch right through you and I’m not going to wait for you to decide to get that pretty ass out of my way.” She glanced at Naomi. “I promise not to aim for her head, but just to be safe you might want to give me her pokeball.” Veronica snarled softly and Misery laughed. “You should be glad I’m with Kerrik now, because a year ago I’d just shoot you in the belly to prove my point.” Her eyes went distant for a second before refocusing. “Well, shit. My twee tells me that I was out of line to even hint about shooting you. I apologize.”
Naomi gave Caradoc a confused look when he chuckled. “It’s ok, Misery,” he said. “I’m glad you’re trying. Veronica, go with her and play nice. After all, we may live here and if you punch holes in the building, Naomi’s going to know right away that the bedroom with the most damage will be yours. We’re going to be neighbors with the Wolf family and we’re all going to have to learn to get along.”
Veronica nodded. “Yes sir. I’m just not used to working with outsiders.”
“Me either.” Misery shrugged. “But we have to start somewhere and you and I are it. I don’t think we’ll find anything, but that’s usually when something bites off your tail.” She snapped her tail from side to side. “And I don’t want to listen to Raven harp at length if I do lose it.”
The Valkyrie summoned her armor and sword. “Let’s do this. I’ll lead.” She lunged through the doorway. A second later, Misery followed her.
Naomi glanced at him as she kept watch. “I saw you watching her. Please tell me you’re not going to want to add a Mini-top to our family.”
“I don’t want to add a Mini-top to the family.” The Elfqueen watched him for several seconds before he threw up his hands. “What?”
“I’m just wondering if you want to add some other breed to the family.”
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t have any plans to add to the family.”
“That’s what worries me. You never do. It just kind of happens.” She shook her head and changed the subject. “I asked Raven about what happened to the Blight we sold to Kerrik. According to her, he put the Blight into stasis for the next twenty years. Does that mean anything to you?”
“No, it doesn’t. How are you and Autumn getting along?”
“I think she knows I’ve got a bad case of hero worship about her and she’s been very nice about dealing with me. She’s a legend to the Elf breeds and it’s a dream come true to have met her.”
“You don’t think she’ll try to take over later?”
Naomi shrugged. “One of the reasons she was so respected was that she didn’t lie to people. If something was a suicide mission, she was honest about it. You still had to go on the mission, but at least you knew what your chances were. She said she’s not interested in taking over my court and I believe her. She also said she’s got a former tamer who is probably looking for her, a man named William Sanderson. She’d like to know if we run across him.”
Veronica and Misery came out the front door. The Valkyrie dismissed her sword but retained her armor. “The place is empty and cleaner than I thought it would be.”
Misery nodded. “It looks like the Hellcat was like many cat breeds and didn’t soil her lair. It’s not bad at all. Veronica can show you around while I keep an eye on the area with Shima.”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t trust her?”
“I don’t trust anyone I haven’t worked with before. It’s a survival trait. It’s also not an insult, but if you want to take it that way I can just go home.”
“We don’t.” Bishop took his maharani’s arm. “Let’s look the place over and see what you think about it.”
The interior was cluttered with broken furniture and dust, but while it smelled of Hellcat, there weren’t the layers and layers of dried mud that they’d had to deal with in Falmouth. Most of the windows were gone, but there was so little rain that there was almost no water damage to the interior. One of the selling points was the fact that of all the buildings they’d looked at so far, this was the only one to have a finished basement, and it would serve as shelter for the Elves and Milktits while refitting the barn to be livable.
Upstairs there was more water damage, but it was still lighter than what they’d seen in Falmouth and repairs would be fairly straightforward. The hole in the roof would take a really large tarp, but they’d focus on fixing it first. Naomi looked it over critically. “The only problem I see is getting the raw materials to repair the roof.” She looked at him. “Where are we going to find shingles or even wood for that matter?”
“Misery said that Kerrik was going to give us seeds so we could grow a roof. It’ll be made out of living plant material that is self repairing and also should generate electricity from sunlight.” He smirked. “You should like that.”
“I do like that idea. I also like this house and I think we should claim it. What are Kerrik’s terms for purchasing it?”
Bishop shrugged. “We haven’t discussed it yet. Now that we’ve found someplace we like, I’ll correct that. I think we should head back so I can talk to him.”
(9/17/06 1430, Wolf Ranch, Texas)
“Do you have a minute?”
Kerrik looked up from where he was watching Morwen and Raven sparring. “I do.”
“I wanted to talk to you about the property we found. You mentioned selling me some land and I wanted to find out what you had in mind.”
“How much land did you have at your place outside of Falmouth?”
“We had a little over a thousand acres. Why?”
“I propose to sell you a plot two and a half miles on a side. That’s six and a quarter square miles and four thousand acres. I’d prefer to take most of the payment in crops and other trade.” He looked thoughtful. “How about you pay me twelve percent of your crop for the next fifteen years and we’ll call it done? I’d like a cross section of everything you produce, including the coffee and sugarcane. By then, I’ll have my own crops in and if we’re still on speaking terms we might form a partnership. Oh and I also want the first right of refusal if you decide to sell out and move. I don’t have a problem with you living on my lands, but I’m not comfortable with strangers doing it.”
“You don’t expect me to join your clan?”
Kerrik’s ears flicked. “Caradoc, you came here with the purpose of starting your own family and clan. I don’t want you to feel you have to subordinate that plan and become a satellite clan to mine. My clan hasn’t forced anyone to join it in millennia and, honestly, I have been encouraging clansmen to strike out on their own for the last five hundred years. The need for the large clans has passed and it’s time that the clans themselves passed as well.”
Bishop regarded him for several seconds. “If I didn’t know you couldn’t lie, I wouldn’t know if I could believe that. You helped build the clans.”
Kerrik shrugged. “Times change is not just a human saying. The clans were born for a reason. That reason has passed and now the clans are dying. And that is exactly how it should be.” His ears flattened for a heartbeat. “It also has almost nothing to do with our conversation. Are you interested in buying the property that I am offering, and on the terms I suggest?”
“I’m not sure about the percentage. My crops will be small to begin with. I think the percentage should start out higher and decrease over time.”
Kerrik shook his head. “I’m investing in you and your farm, Caradoc. I think it’ll grow faster than you think and I’m willing to bet on making more than what I think the land is worth before you’ve paid me what we’re agreeing on.” He glanced at Shima and Winona. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to even think for a moment that I was taking food from the mouths of your people so you could pay my bill, especially in the beginning when things will be tight. Four thousand acres at twelve percent of what you harvest for the next fifteen years, and I’m not going to let you negotiate a higher price.”
Bishop started chuckling. “Only you would turn down more money. Why?”
“I want us to go into business together, and it’s hard to do that if one side resents the other. It’s not impossible, but still, I’d rather remain friendly to you.” He smiled slightly. “After all, someday I’ll have daughters looking for husbands and you’ll be my closest neighbor.”
Caradoc blinked. “That’s not nice. Besides, someday I will, too.”
“I’m pretty sure Raven will run them off when they come around.”
Bishop laughed as he reached out a hand. “I accept your terms.”
Kerrik took it and they shook. “Excellent. As my first customer in a land deal, you’ve managed to win some very nice housewarming presents. You’ll be getting some kattle and some chickens, and Raven wants to help you fix up your new home.” He frowned. “I’m not sure why she’s suddenly so helpful, but I’d take the offer if I were you.”
“I am going to take her offer.” Caradoc hesitated for a second. “She wants to help because Misery told her that I know stories about you that I’m willing to barter for their aid.”
Kerrik looked at him evenly for a moment, his ears completely motionless. “You found an interesting coin to pay her with.”
“If you don’t want me to talk about your past, I’ll find another way.”
“No, this is a good way for her to have some of her questions answered.” He looked over at the sparring. “I’ll answer every question she asks me, but I don’t know what questions she might have that she won’t or doesn’t yet know to ask. If she asks you, then she’ll at least have some answers. I just have one request.”
Caradoc frowned. “What is it?”
“Don’t try to sugarcoat anything. Please answer any questions any of my ladies have completely.”
“Are you sure?”
“With the exception of Morwen and Autumn, we’re delta bonded, which, as I understand it, means we are together until someone dies. They need to know everything about me that they think they want to. If it turns out that perhaps they didn’t want to know certain things that they did, then we’ll deal with it. But I don’t want them to feel that things were left out just to spare the truth.” He smiled at Bishop. “After all, I am always about the truth.”
“That’s what I’ve always understood.” He paused. “Why are you here?”
“I came here because my sons needed my help with threshold and some other issues in their children. I also came here because I’m always curious about places I’ve never been. I’m also looking to see what here could benefit the confederacy.”
“And the pokegirls?”
“I take lovers wherever I am. I never expected what happened with us, but I don’t regret it.” He pushed to his feet. “When they’re gone, I’ll remember them sadly but fondly.”
“You’re not going to convert them into Tirsuli?”
“We’ve talked about it and I think they’ll all decide to become kami or sidhe.” His eyes filled with sadness. “But death comes for all eventually, even the members of arguably immortal races such as the Tirsuli. Someday it’ll take them, someday it’ll take you and someday it’ll even take me.” The sadness vanished as he grinned. “But in each case it’ll have to work its ass off.”
(9/18/06 0900, Bishop Ranch, Texas)
Raven dropped into a hover in front of Bishop and grinned as she shifted a large bundle of fabric and rope on her back. “Kerrik and Whisper had to make a side trip and they’ll be along in a little while. Autumn is with Naomi and all the elves in the world while Morwen is kit sitting in the shade of your porch. Misery and I have the tarps and stuff you’ll need for your roof. We’ll get started with that and then check in with Naomi and see what she wants us to do next.” The smile dimmed. “Unless you’d prefer we check in with you instead of her.”
Caradoc shook his head. “If you’d seen her roll of paper on the wall, you’d know she’s the one with the plans. I’d have to ask her if you came to me.” He chuckled. “She put that up right after Kerrik gave us a room at the lodge. I don’t want to ever have to ask her to choose between me and it.”
The grin returned full force. “I did see it. I think, come Christmas I’ll give her a handheld computer so she can carry all that around with her for ease of access. That is, if she doesn’t get one from you beforehand.”
“You celebrate Christmas?”
“We celebrate any holiday that involves gift giving.” She winked and spun in place. “Misery, we’re on the roof first!” Then she shot upwards, closely followed by the Mini-top.
“Kerrik has a well organized harem.” Shima watched as Raven shed her bundle and tossed rope at Misery. “With their help, this is going to go a lot faster than we thought.” The Nightmare glanced at him. “Not that I’m complaining. Now if they can keep me from having to pull a plow, I’ll be perfectly happy.” She scuffed at the ground with a delicate foot. “There’s a lot of rocks in there and plowing it isn’t going to be any fun.”
“I think we’ll find another way to plow the fields, Shima. If nothing else, Cindy has volunteered to help. She and Veronica are a lot stronger than you are.”
“I knew I liked you for some reason.” Shima gave him a lazy smile. “So what do you want to do now?”
“Let’s head over to where Naomi and Autumn are. I want to see what they’re up to.”
Shima blinked and pointed at the horizon. “You might want to see that instead.”
Caradoc turned and stared at the huge green and gold object that was flying in their direction. “That’s Whisper’s spaceship.”
The construct slowed and came to a hover a dozen feet from the barn before it eased towards the ground. The top spun into nothingness to reveal several long rectangular objects much larger than a bus. The first one lifted into the air and moved off the platform to settle carefully to the ground next to the barn. The others followed in turn. Then a form jumped off the edge and loped towards him and Shima.
Kerrik slowed to a walk and halted in front of Bishop. “They’re not much, but we brought four double wide mobile homes for your Elves to live in while you build something more permanent for them. They don’t have electricity or water, but they’re a lot better than nothing.”
Bishop looked at the buildings and turned back to Kerrik. “Thanks.”
“It’s not a problem. I’m going to have to do it at the lodge soon, so we went looking for them. Right now you’ve got more Elves and less room, so Whisper thought you could use them. When you’re done with them, you can feed them into your weaver or give them back to me.”
Bishop blinked. “You know about that?”
“I don’t know the details, but the energy signature is a dead giveaway. Vice picked it up when you arrived at the lodge. What kind do you have?”
“I have a two meter unit that I brought from Tirsul. I chose it over more clothing.” That meant that when completely set up for operation, the unit would be a cube two meters on a side, with an interior volume of eight cubic meters. This would put an upper limit on what could be manufactured in it. “It’s still in my luggage and I haven’t set it up yet.”
“What kind of control unit do you have?”
“All I could afford was the base model. I was hoping to buy an advanced model from you. I saw you’ve got a SR unit and was hoping to take advantage of it.”
A self replicating unit had the software package necessary to make more weavers, including the control module, which was the heart of the unit. Tirsul didn’t have any laws restricting their ownership, but through an unspoken agreement by the clans, who owned the vast majority of them, they weren’t often available on the open market. It was even rarer to find one on an outlander world, which this one definitely was. Usually they were kept securely inside heavily fortified installations and the AIs involved were always sophisticated enough to be totally loyal to their owners.
Kerrik nodded. “I don’t see where a better control module would be a problem and I’ll add it to your bill. I will warn you that Shikarou feels that having weavers on the planet is too dangerous since they could fall into the hands of outlanders. When he finds out you have one, he’s not going to be pleased.”
“I don’t live in Haven. How do you feel about it?”
His ears flicked. “You’ll need a twee to operate the advanced unit and it’ll have to know you. I think that’s more than enough security. Not even an advanced video girl could hack the operational protocols. Besides, it’s your property.” He rubbed an ear. “Did you want to have SR capability?”
Caradoc shook his head. “No. I don’t need it. If I need more weavers, I’ll come to you so we can decide if I really need them. I don’t want to give that technology to outlanders before they are ready for it and you’re a lot better than I am at spotting that sort of thing.”
“If that’s what you want.” Kerrik rose as Morwen went flying through the air and slammed into the side of a boulder. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I need to intervene before someone gets more hurt.”
(9/18/06 1230, Bishop Ranch, Texas)
Morwen looked up from her sketchpad when Kerrik’s pokedex chimed. “Is that message from Elizabeth?”
Kerrik checked the display. “Nope. It’s from someone you’ve never met, a woman by the name of Yoshihara Junko. She’s the sister of Fumiko, the Titto in Shikarou’s harem and she’s also Yushiko’s aunt. When we left Prime, she asked if she could correspond with me since I answer more often than Fumiko does. We talk from time to time.”
“She’s human, isn’t she?”
Kerrik’s ears flattened. “One of these days you’re going to have to stop punishing yourself for going through threshold. It wasn’t your fault. It was just one of those things that happens to people, like me being kami.”
“You didn’t become kami, now did you?”
“Actually, I did.” He smiled slightly when she stared at him. “I wasn’t born kami, you know. I became one when I went to the wrong place and the magic there changed me into pretty much what I am now. It resulted in my becoming estranged from my mother and it also drove me from my homeland, so we’re not really all that different in that regard.” His eyes turned solemn. “I was alone and all the social tethers I’d had up to that point were completely sundered. It almost drove me to suicide. That’s one of the reasons I agreed to bring you into my family. I didn’t want you to be alone like I was.”
“Were you able to channel it into something you preferred to be, like I did with becoming a Vampire?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t have any idea of what was happening to me, and by the time I’d started to figure out parts of it, it was too late. That whole event was one of the reasons I passionately hate not knowing what’s going on around me.” He glanced at his arm and gritted his teeth.
“I didn’t know.”
“There wasn’t any reason for you to. I’m only telling you now so you understand that you are not alone in not necessarily liking what you’ve become or in mourning the loss of what you once were.”
She scooted closer until her knee was touching his. “Would you go back to what you were if you could?”
“In the beginning I tried to do just that. I spent a very long time trying almost anything I could think of to return me to what I considered normal. Then I finally stopped trying.”
“Was it because you came to terms with what you are?”
He grimaced. “That happened much later. I stopped trying to change because I realized that I couldn’t reverse the process without killing myself. I wanted to go back even more desperately that you do.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” He wiped the display with his sleeve. “You know, if you’re not happy being a Vampire, you could make the choice to become something else. Vampires can evolve.”
Morwen blinked. “I hadn’t thought about it. What would my options be?”
“Well, with a moon shard you could evolve to Psivamp. If you were interested in becoming a Starlady, we’ll need a dawn stone. Vampires can also become Lucarda, and for that I’d have to summon an Esper named Zalera and convince her to bless you. It shouldn’t be too hard. If nothing else I might be able to whip up a spell to duplicate her blessing.” He faced her squarely. “Or, I could talk to Svetlana or Dorothea and ask them to bless you so that we could use an angel stone to turn you into an Angel. I’m fairly sure that Svetlana would jump at the chance to get a celestial pokegirl into my family. After you’re an Angel, at that point if we used a shield stone you’d become an Archangel.”
“That’s a lot of different stones.”
He shrugged. “I have them. The asteroid belt is lousy with evolution stones as a result of something Sukebe did. It also explains why he had an asteroid base. He was probably mining them in bulk.”
Morwen frowned. “What do you think I should do? You’re my tamer after all.”
“I think you should think about your options, do some research and decide if any of them are something you’d like to investigate. It’s not the easy answer you’re looking for, but it’s the one you need to hear.” He reached over and squeezed her leg gently. “I want Morwen Wolf to be happy here, and I want her happy enough that she won’t leave. You are what is important to me.”
“Would you treat me differently if I became someone else?”
“I would if that’s what you did. However, you’re not becoming someone else, Morwen. You will still be you. If you were to become a Lucarda, you’d still like to sketch, and hopefully you’d still want me to break my rule and take you to my bed before you come of age.” He smirked at her. “I’d still want to, by the way. You’re a beautiful young woman, but you’ll be that no matter what body you wear. Why? It’s because who you are transcends what you are, and you will always be my Morwen. The only thing that can change that is if you decide to leave us.” His ears flicked. “Me.”
She looked at him before leaning over and kissing his cheek. “I’m glad to hear that, Kerrik. Can I borrow your pokedex so I can look over the entries that I might become?”
“No, you can’t.” He carefully didn’t smile at the startled look that crossed her face. “You can, however, get a pokedex of your own. You can also ask your twee to give you the information without using a dex at all.” He hefted his pokedex. “I have a message to listen to.” He laughed when she smacked him and got up. “Now I’ll leave you to your ruminations and see what Junko has to say.”
“Kerrik?” When he looked back she gave him a sincere smile. “Even though I’m still having problems with being a pokegirl, I don’t think I could be in a better place and I am happy being with you and the others.”
“I’m very glad to hear that. There’s a portable computer waiting for you in my desk. It’s in the bottom side drawer. It’s got the most current pokedex software I’ve got loaded on it and it’s already been DNA coded to you. The box has your name on it. I put it there the day after you joined us.”
He headed to his room and jumped from the porch onto his roof. A couple of lawn chairs had been put there for people and he dropped into one and keyed Junko’s message up. He had to make a mental adjustment when her image appeared. Junko was nearing forty years of age, but due to the low level longevity in the Yoshihara line, she still looked nineteen and he had to remind himself of her true age. She smiled and waved before speaking in English. “Kerrik, I know it’s been a while, but I’ve been really busy with stuff around here. I’ve finally gotten tired of taming and I’m looking at hanging up my pokedex and finding me a husband.” She rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, to find a good man I’m going to have to make my way through the fog of all the other males who think that just because I’m human I’m a better catch than Bastit would be. Of course, according to Mother Sachiko, nobody is good enough for me, even though she’s more than ready for me to give her grandchildren before she dies.” She sighed. “Dad says I must follow my heart, but I’m his only daughter to not threshold and I know what he wants me to do. I also know its part of my responsibility to Edo.”
She visibly brightened. “Sorry to drag you down with me, but I’ve got a couple of nice young men in mind and I’m sure things will work out just fine. Anyways, I wasn’t sending this just to whine. A few days ago Soichi was receiving a delivery of high purity iron ore from Opal for the smithy when she was surprised to hear the delivery guy say he knew Shikarou. Soichi said that to her it sounded like he was trying to get in touch with your family. Since Shikarou never returns my messages and Fumiko says he’s busy pretty much all the time, I thought I’d tell you about it. I did some checking and his name is Thai Silvati. I put his message address on the end of this recording in case you want to investigate further. Everyone here says hi, except for Keiichi, who just grunted when I said I was messaging you. I’ll be waiting for your reply.” She winked and the image died.
Kerrik touched the com unit on his collar. “Who is Thai Silvati?”
Virtue answered promptly. “Thai Silvati is a human male from Pokegirl Prime. He is a friend of Shikarou’s. He was born and raised in the Ruby League although the message address Fumiko provided suggests he’s living in the Opal League now. He was involved in Shikarou’s adventures in Ruby and was indirectly involved in Roisin joining his family.”
“Why would he be trying to contact Shikarou?”
“Unknown. However, records from Selene indicate that Thai is a very self sufficient individual and that he would not be attempting to contact Shikarou unless his situation was dire. Do you wish me to do a detailed analysis of his life since Selene’s records end? That will take approximately six days, primarily because of the transits between here and Prime.”
“No, Virtue, that won’t be necessary. However, I want to send him a message. Begin recording.”
“Recording, commander.”
Kerrik smiled, being careful not to show any teeth. “Mr. Silvati, you do not know me, but I am Kerrik Wolf and I am Shikarou’s father.” He flicked his ears. “Please note the family resemblance. A member of the Yoshihara family contacted me and suggested that you might be trying to get in touch with us. If that is true, please contact me at the embedded address. You and Shikarou are friends, and because of that I’d be glad to examine your situation and see if I can be of assistance. If not, please disregard my message to you. In any case, Mr. Silvati, I hope you have a nice day.”
“Recording ended.” Virtue said quietly. “I’ll upload it and it should go out this afternoon.”
(9/18/06 1500, Bishop Ranch, Texas)
Morwen flipped up her mask and headed for the water cooler. On the other side of the railroad tracks, Kerrik triggered his cutting bar. Sparks shot high into the air as he began slicing another section from the continuously welded rail. Behind him, the cut rails lifted into the air as Whisper moved them to the temporary pile while Misery and Raven levered a crosstie up and carried it off to its pile. Autumn and a handful of her Elves patrolled the area and provided security. They’d already captured a couple of Eva and some Doggirls when they popped up to protest the intruders.
Kerrik and Raven had gone through the day before and used fluorescent bright yellow paint to mark the rails at ten foot lengths. Now they were cutting the rails up and moving them to the lodge where they would be fed into the weaver as needed.
The timbers were often partially rotten, so they too would be fed into the weaver where they could be converted into something useful such as new lumber made of density enhanced cellulose utilizing a honeycomb interior. This increased the lumber’s strength while lowering overall weight. A lot of this lumber would go to projects around the lodge. Some of it would go to Bishop’s place for his needs while the remainder would be shipped to El Paso and sold.
However, even when a third rotted, a timber that started out weighing two hundred pounds would supply a hundred and forty pounds of wood and creosote. Considering that there were three thousand ties for every mile of track, for every mile of rail they pulled they’d also be recovering between three hundred and two hundred and ten tons of ties every mile.
The rails themselves came in a variety of weights and were measured in pounds per yard. These were a hundred and twenty pounds per yard, so every mile of track was 422,400 pounds or two hundred and eleven tons of steel for the twin rails. Clips and incidentals would only add another ten or so tons to that total.
Kerrik had manufactured some shovels that had heads nearly three feet across and two feet deep in order to take advantage of pokegirl enhanced strength and after they removed the rails and crossties, they’d go back and gather up the crushed rock that formed the ballast for the rails. The rock would also go into the weaver where it would be turned into not only finished products but concrete that he could sell to others. The timbers would provide the cellulose for the bags. Considering that there was roughly six hundred tons of rock per mile of track, he would be able to provide over twelve thousand bags of concrete if he desired.
His goal was that in twenty years he wanted to be able to come back and see no signs of the railroad lines that currently crisscrossed his land.
While he eventually intended to feed most of the town of Fort Davis into the weaver’s maw, the railroad lines were a quick and concentrated source of raw materials that he intended to use as efficiently as possible.
Hydrocarbons were all over the place in space and could be easily obtained by having them shipped from Vallation by the tanker load, but first he wanted to recycle the local materials. They had to go somewhere and having them turned into consumables that he could market would allow him to clean his lands without having to establish long term holding facilities for them. Any landfills or dumps already on his land were also on his list for removal and reprocessing and to expedite his plans he was considering building a much larger weaver that would be what was known as a basic processor. This would produce nothing but blocks, or containers in the case of liquids, of pure substances that would be moved elsewhere where they could be used as raw materials in more sophisticated weavers or sold to craftsmen interested in using them for their own projects.
However, he wanted to be careful not to become too ambitious or grow too big in order to encourage the humans to begin rebuilding their manufacturing base as quickly as possible. They had to expand quickly in order to catch the ferals while their numbers were still as low as possible.
“You look thoughtful.” Raven smiled at him as he flipped up his face shield and handed him a canteen. “We’ll be done with a mile pretty soon. How far did you want to go today?”
He swigged water in his mouth and spat before drinking deeply. “I want to knock out two miles of track if we can. Then we won’t have to come back for a while.”
“We were wondering if you found this fun. It’s good to know you don’t.”
“I would much rather lounge with my ladies than cut up rails, but we need the metal and I want these eyesores gone.”
“No, really, don’t hold back. How do you really feel about the rail lines?”
He chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. We’ll harvest them for raw materials and in a few years they’ll only exist on old maps.”
“Morwen wanted to know what would happen if someone bought the railroads from the Texans and complained about your destruction. I think it’s a good question.”
“I bought the property as is, and there was nothing about easements or liens on it. It’s ours to do with as we see fit.”
(9/19/06 0900, Guadalupe, Chihuahua, Sunshine League)
“I don’t see the men getting on the road major. Care to explain why?”
Major Garcia looked out over the camp. “Well, sir, it might have something to do with the fact that it’s been pouring down rain for the last two days and the Rio Grande is too high to safely ford with the wagons. If you want to leave the supplies and the helicopters behind, we can be on the road in two hours.” He glanced at Coronel Ruiz. “Our weather witch says that the rain will break today, probably during the late afternoon. We’re working on a bridge to cross over and it should be ready to go by the morning.”
Ruiz dropped into his chair and reached for his cup. “I know what the problem is, major, but I have to go through this charade before I write my letter to Mexico City explaining that the weather is holding us up.” He glanced up at the tent roof and the drumming sound from the rain pounding it. “It means that the Texas forces won’t be able to find us before we’re gone. I’ve been worrying about one of them stumbling over us.”
Garcia shrugged. “It wouldn’t change facts, sir. They don’t have any force large enough to stop us, and anything they put in front of us we’ll crush without too much of a delay.”
“I wouldn’t be too cocky about how powerful we are. You and I both know that pokegirls are rather powerful force multipliers. Still, we have plenty of pokegirls of our own and you’re probably right.” He glanced at the map. “I want patrols out on the other side of the river tonight. Try to keep them a couple of hours in front of us and on our flanks at all times. I don’t want any unpleasant surprises.”
Garcia smirked. “I’ll see to it personally. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the Texans will give up when we take Austin. After all, they don’t have the stomach to raise an army to face us. Hopefully most of them are cowards.”
“The tamers we’ve seen so far haven’t been afraid. Remember, Garcia, underestimating the Texans could prove fatal.”
“I will sir.”
(9/19/06 0930, Wolf Ranch, Texas League)
Raven looked over the collection on the table and then at the almost drooling Misery before turning to Kerrik. “They’re guns. Her I can understand, but why did you call the rest of us here for guns?”
His ears flattened for a heartbeat. “Yesterday I had a really bad feeling. The last time I had something like it, things went to hell almost immediately. I have you ladies and so I decided to ignore it, but today it is worse than it was yesterday. So we’re going to have some upgrades.” He gestured at the table. “These are Tirsuli weapons and today you’re going to learn how to use them. All of you.”
“I don’t like guns.” Autumn gave him a mildly defiant look.
He didn’t respond to her attitude, although Raven’s eyes narrowed. “Have you ever used them?”
“No. I’ve never seen a need for them.”
He nodded. “Fair enough. You’ll still learn these.”
Raven glanced at the Elfqueen and then looked at her tamer. “How important is this to you?”
“It’s almost reading important.”
She nodded. “I thought it might be something like that. Autumn, shut up and pay attention to him.”
Autumn’s mouth thinned. “Excuse me?”
Raven looked amusedly at her. “I am the maharani and you are my subordinate. You of all people should understand chains of command. I am giving you an order. Follow it.”
Autumn opened her mouth but Kerrik interrupted. “First, Autumn, I’m not giving you any leeway in this. You may or may not choose to use these weapons, but you will learn how to use them and how lethal they can be. If nothing else, you need this knowledge so you won’t get too close or send some of your Elves too close and get someone killed by friendly fire. Two, do not ask Raven about the ‘or else’ unless you’re ready to see it up close and personal. And three, we have a hierarchy here and you agreed to follow it.”
Autumn blinked. “I will. It just startled me. I haven’t heard that tone since the war.”
Raven patted her on the hand. “I only use it when I absolutely have to. Hopefully this won’t come up again anytime soon.”
Morwen leaned forward. “Does this mean I’ll get to carry one of my own?”
He nodded. “Like I said, I’ve learned through hard experience to listen to these feelings. As long as you are responsible with them, you’ll get to carry these weapons. Now, before Misery has an orgasm over there, let’s get on to the weapons.”
The Mini-top grinned unabashedly. “Hey, those look very sexy, but nothing makes me wet like you do, Kerrik.”
Perhaps if we tossed her into the pool it might.
Everyone laughed until Kerrik picked up the first weapon. It was shaped vaguely like an assault rifle, although the barrel was far thicker than any human weapon they’d seen before. “Ok, this is a hornet. It’s a coil rifle that uses gravitonic generators to accelerate a 7.4mm osmium pellet to 2500 meters per second. Secondary grav generators counter the recoil while an integral suppressor reduces the supersonic crack the pellets make as it leaves the barrel.”
He tossed the weapon to Misery, who grunted when she caught it. “Damn, this thing is heavy.”
“It weighs forty eight kilograms, which translates to a hundred and six pounds. All of these weapons are designed to take normal Tirsuli strength into account, so humans and pokegirls without enhanced strength will have a really hard time using them from anything except a fixed mount.” He picked up a magazine and tossed it to Misery as she juggled the rifle to catch it. “A single mag holds 1200 beads and an internal power cell provides the power supply to the weapon. A full magazine weighs almost six kilos or thirteen pounds, so they make dandy clubs at close range, but then so does the rifle, which is hardened so it won’t be damaged if you do beat someone to death with it or use it to pound your way through a concrete wall. The pellets are designed to fragment on impact to contribute as much energy to the target as possible, but since each one puts fifteen thousand joules into a target, it will still burn through roughly 15mm of steel. Thus they do have some armor piercing capability and armored pokegirls will not be able to shrug off a hit from this. The weapon fires in three modes, which are single shot, six round burst and fully automatic. On full auto, the hornet cycles at twenty four pellets a second and you have fifty seconds of ammo from a full magazine. Normally it’s fired in burst mode, giving you 200 bursts per magazine. It’s accurate out to two thousand meters, although at that range the pellets will sometimes spread a bit, so use single shots if there’s someone there you don’t want to kill. The rifle has a holographic sighting system with a detent slide on the top of the stock where your thumb rests that allows you to adjust the magnification.”
He picked up a solid looking pistol. “This is an energy weapon that fires bolts of charged particles. It weighs ten kilograms or twenty two pounds and has an integral powerpack that allows it to fire a thousand shots before needing recharged. Like most energy weapons, it is line of sight, but due to interaction with other particles in an atmosphere, the effective range is around five hundred meters. This weapon fires in single shot only, and if fired repeatedly the barrel will get hot enough to sear you to the bone or start a fire if put down on something wooden. Always wear a temperature stabilized holster with it to protect you and your surroundings.” He tossed the pistol to Morwen. “The pistol has iron sights, but you can put a laser on it. This is a weapon that you’ll find over half of the people carrying in any given sample in the Tirsuli Confederation and is very rugged. It’ll fire in vacuum and just about any other environment you can think of, except for underwater or on planets with atmospheres thick enough to be liquid. When fully discharged, the weapon can be recharged in thirty minutes if you have a standard charging station. It does not, needless to say, run on wall current.”
“There are smaller versions of this weapon available for carrying. They have a much smaller magazine capacity and get hot pretty quickly, but they do make good hideout guns.”
A longer weapon was next. “This is the rifle version of the pistol and fires a much more powerful bolt of energy that’s effective to two thousand meters although, just like the pistol, the farther away the target, the less energy the bolt will have when it arrives. However, at up to five hundred meters the losses are negligible. The magazine also holds a thousand shots and can be changed out for a fresh one. Magazines take an hour and a half to charge.” He handed the weapon to Autumn. “These are not hunting weapons if you intend to eat what you shoot. They are also not weapons for taking prisoners unless you are an outstanding shot, and even then your target will need prompt medical care to keep from dying from shock and fluid loss. If you shoot someone in the hand, they will likely lose the whole arm.”
He picked up the last obvious weapon. It was about the size and shape of a submachine gun, but the housing was smooth and instead of a hole in the end of the barrel, it came to a small bulb. “I’m hesitant to discuss this one, but it’s a handy weapon. It’s called a disrupter and what it does is dissolve chemical bonds.”
“What happens when you do that?” Misery handed the pellet gun to Raven.
“A couple of things can happen. First, the part of the thing you just shot could just come apart in a shapeless mass. However, when the bonds are destroyed, the energy in them is released and sometimes the target explodes. This is not a weapon for taking prisoners. The effective range is a thousand meters and the integral powerpack holds two hundred shots.” He lobbed the disrupter to Whisper.
“And finally, this,” he picked up a backpack with a metal case instead of a fabric bag, “is a personal shield generator. It weighs fifty five kilograms or a hundred and twenty two pounds. It creates a hemispherical electromagnetic shield around you that will protect against most non-magical attacks. It can be overloaded and if that happens, the generator will then burn out without harm to the wearer, at least in most cases. If you use it, your weapons have to have a tuner put on the muzzle that will spin an opening in the shield that you can shoot out of when you begin to take up the trigger. Be aware that when this hole is open, things from outside can enter through it. Like most protective devices, everything about it is a tradeoff, but it is solid and dependable and it can save your life.”
“So these are the weapons that Tirsuli soldiers use?”
“The militias use something like them and they get used in squabbles in the confederation. What you might think of as a modern battlefield does not exist on Tirsul except when the odd alien race decides to invade. When that happens, the primary battlefield is not a place for organics unless they’re part of a cybernetic combat system.” He put the shield generator back onto the table. “Now we’ll grab a bite to eat and then we’re re going to go into town and cause some property damage.”
(9/19/06 1100, Wolf Ranch, Texas League)
The suppressor on the hornet worked by creating a partial vacuum in front of the muzzle that extended out for six meters. This moved the punishing crack as the hypersonic pellet hit atmosphere far enough away to be bearable to the user. In practice, it meant that the hornet hissed loudly as it fired in full automatic. Misery’s eyes were narrowed in concentration as she slowly swung the weapon sideways, drawing the sights along the front of the brick building two hundred meters away. At the house the noise sounded like a powered saw as the pellets chewed through brick, stone and metal. With a roar and a cloud of brick dust, the building began to collapse as she took her finger off the trigger. She carefully pushed the safety on the still unfamiliar weapon and turned to Kerrik. He’d already learned that, contrary to the literature on Mini-tops, when she was holding a weapon Misery went from rambunctious and fairly carefree to consummate professional. Because of this, he wasn’t surprised that her voice was calm and even faintly disinterested. “This is an outstanding weapon. If we’d had them during the war, we’d have won.”
“It takes more than a gun to win, but pokegirls already had the drive and these definitely would have helped.”
Next to her, Raven aimed carefully and squeezed the trigger. The pistol didn’t make any noise by itself, but the particle bolts crackled like grease in a hot skillet as the outer portion interacted with the air molecules they encountered as they traveled downrange. The bolt struck the van in the passenger side door and dumped its energy into the body. The van lurched sideways as it vomited molten metal and glass. Threads of smoke crept skyward as the melted steel tried to ignite the asphalt where they’d landed.
With a screech, a Catgirl vaulted out of the ruins of the brick house and raced down the street away from the group. Misery grinned and raised the hornet. The bolt from Morwen’s snapshot took the Catgirl between the shoulder blades before the Mini-top could fire.
Unlike a bullet or hornet pellet, which kills by tearing a wound in flesh, an energy weapon dumps energy into tissue, causing it to heat to the point that any liquids flash instantly to steam. The result was that the Catgirl’s upper body exploded, spraying meat and bone parts in a wide area as the still intact torso hit the ground and rolled.
“Yes!” Morwen pumped her fist triumphantly into the air. She sobered instantly when she saw the look of hate that Misery was giving her and spoke in a quiet voice. “While I know you think I stole your kill, you never called it. I’d also like to point out that it was your training that let me make that shot.”
Misery looked at her for several seconds before nodding. “You also have some small natural skill that helped. It was a good shot, little sister.”
Morwen hugged her.
Kerrik Wolf
Harem
Raven: Archmage
Whisper: Cabbit
Misery: Mini-top
Morwen: Vampire pokekit
Autumn: Elfqueen