Disclaimer:
This work is fiction. The work has no relationship with any person existing at any time anywhere whether real or imaginary or copywritten. Everything in this work is mea culpa.
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The pokegirl universe was first documented by Metroanime and to him all of us who reside or visit there owe a debt of thanks.
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Eight
(07/27/06 0530 Bishop Farm, Tropic League)
Shima eyed the valkyrie circling overhead with supreme disdain. “She’s going to slow me down.”
“Of course she is.” Caradoc wrapped his arms around her waist, mindful of the bundles strapped to the nightmare’s equine body. “You’re more than twice as fast as she is and we need to stay together. The only way you can run this trip at full speed is if you carry her too.”
The nightmare chuckled softly. “Well, I’ve already got more than enough weight on me with all the trade items we’re taking, so I certainly don’t want that. I’ll probably be hauling her around anyway after she gets tired. Valkyrie aren’t great flyers at the best of times and since she’s been feral I doubt this one has been keeping in shape.”
“We’ll work on everyone’s conditioning later.”
“That sounds ominous.” Shima looked back at him and chuckled at his grin. “I see a lot of sweat in our futures and not the fun and sexy kind.”
His grin just widened.
Naomi slid onto her back and snuggled up against Caradoc. “I’ve got the pack and all the rest of the trade items we’re taking. I think we’re ready to go.”
I have downloaded the latest IFF codes for Haven from the beacon and sent them a message to be alert for our impending arrival.
“You heard the lady, Shima.” The nightmare nodded and trotted across the ground before stepping into the air and shifting smoothly into an easy gallop. She turned as Veronica twisted onto an intercept course and headed north as they climbed together and started over Falmouth. A feral of some kind came out of a house and bellowed a challenge at them as they passed overhead in the dim predawn light.
That’s a ponytaur who was feeling feisty. Jordan might pay well for her.
“We’ll come back later,” Caradoc muttered as Shima accelerated to her cruising speed for this trip. It was also Veronica’s top speed and the valkyrie began powerfully beating her wings to keep up. She slipped back and dropped directly behind them to take greater advantage of the lowered wind resistance in the nightmare’s wake.
Shima wrapped his fingers in hers and leaned back to yell into his ear. “If I phase, the flight will get easier for me, but she won’t be able to draft anymore. I probably need the exercise too, so I’ll stay corporeal unless the wind is too much for you.”
Caradoc bellowed back. “Naomi has her face pressed against my back and I’m good. How’s Winona?”
“She’s asleep, and by her choice instead of mine. How long will it be until we reach Haven?”
He’d worked out some rough calculations the night before, based on an estimate of her speed. “Roughly forty five minutes to shore. The flight to Covenant will take another hour or so.”
“Covenant?”
“It’s the capital and only city on Haven.”
“So we’re forty five minutes to feet dry and two hours to target.”
He gave her a puzzled look. “Feet dry? What’s that?”
“It’s a military term for when we cross from water to land. We adopted it from the United States militaries, back when there was a United States. Once we’re feet dry, we can land if Veronica needs a rest.”
“Oh.” Seagulls scattered below them and he broke off to watch as they headed out to sea. The waves curled by beneath them as they had since the beginning of time. They were currently traveling at over a mile a minute and the shore began to quickly draw away from them as they flew. In less than ten minutes it was gone, slipped over the horizon. Now they flew in a huge bubble with water beneath them and the partially cloudy sky above. Other than them, nothing else moved in his sight, not bird or fish. It was as if they were completely alone in the universe.
Periodically, Caradoc looked behind him to check on how Veronica was doing. About half an hour into the flight she started to slow down a little, but gamely fought her way back into position. However, by the time the coasts of Haven swept into view, she was definitely falling behind.
I have received an IFF query and replied. We are officially designated as friendly.
“That’s good,” Caradoc muttered to himself. “I’d hate to find ourselves being used as target practice by whatever pokegirls make up their aerial defenses.”
He leaned forward to yell into Shima’s ear again. “I want you to land beside that house on the beach so Veronica can get on your back.” He pointed past her. “I want the red one with half a roof.”
The nightmare obediently began slowing and descending. “I guess I was right about her needing more exercise.”
Caradoc wisely didn’t say anything about the fact that Shima was covered in sweat and that her human torso heaved beneath his hands as she sucked air.
As soon as Veronica realized what they were doing, she locked her wings and went into a glide. She immediately swung out from behind Shima and hunted out the nearest thermal to give her lift.
Shima touched down and braked to a halt. Caradoc and Naomi slid off her back as Veronica stalled out and dropped heavily to the ground. He stepped in front of the valkyrie and pressed his hand between her breasts. She glared tiredly at him as he timed her pounding heart. “Thirty minute break, ladies.”
Veronica’s golden hair shimmered in the sun as she shook her head angrily. “I’ll be ok, sir.”
Caradoc dropped his voice. “I know you will. Shima needs a rest too, so work with me, will you? I don’t need her falling out of the air with me on her.”
The valkyrie’s eyes widened and she glanced at the nightmare, who was handing Winona to Naomi. “I understand, sir. A quick break sounds like a good idea.”
He gave her a wry smile as he offered his canteen. “I’m glad you agree.” After making sure Veronica was settled down, he checked on Shima. “Can you carry all four of us or will Veronica need to follow behind?”
“I can carry all four of you.” The nightmare ran her fingers through her mop of red hair.
Caradoc looked up into her eyes. “I don’t want you to overexert yourself just to prove how tough you are. I know you’re tough. I also know I don’t want to walk home.”
Shima suddenly smiled. “That would take a lot longer, wouldn’t it? I can carry all of you, but I will make the rest of the trip phased. Without it, when I’m at full speed it’s like trying to run while pushing against a solid wall.”
“I’d like to work on your endurance when we can. Flying corporeal seems like it would be the best exercise.”
She nodded and took the towel he offered her. “You’re right and I’ll need to get used to it so I can work with Winona when she’s older.” She wiped down her body and smiled warmly when his eyes followed the towel. “Maybe I could get your attentions all to myself sometime soon?”
“I think that would be nice.”
She chuckled and tossed the towel over his head, blocking his vision. “You keep looking at me that way and I’ll want it much sooner than later.” The towel was warm and smelled like her.
He pulled the towel off and gave her a mischievous wink. “I can’t help admiring a pretty woman when she’s showing off for me. Anything else would be rude.”
“I suppose that’s true.” She snorted and headed off to reclaim her daughter.
An hour later they crested a rise and saw a white lake up ahead. Dots of green at the southern edge of the lake became buildings as they approached. Covenant was laid out haphazardly with an apparent disregard for order that reminded Caradoc of the cities he’d seen on Tirsuli worlds. He’d always both appreciated and disdained the approach. Being from a space traveling family, he’d appreciated the fact that these people had all that area to spread out in. Still, he was from space and part of him always detested the waste of all that cubage.
The buildings were of varying sizes and shapes. The only thing they had in common was a dark green roof that he knew was a genetically modified grass. It grew thickly enough to protect from any weather and was self repairing. He peered closely as they began to approach. Blue swirls in the green would have indicated that the grass had also been modified to collect sunlight and convert it into electricity. His family had used that variant in their survival tents and blankets. It was the one he was most used to, but here they used something else to generate power.
He noted that ribbons of dull black became roads and sidewalks to connect the buildings and nodded mentally. They were undoubtedly constructed from thermal converter material and were drawing power from the surroundings by converting surrounding heat to other forms of power. They were in common use in Tirsuli space.
I have just received instructions to land in this region. A grassy area flashed in his vision as the twee injected data into his visual cortex. The building next to it is a trading post.
Caradoc pointed past Shima’s head. “Go ahead and land in that park.”
Once on the ground, Veronica slid off the nightmare and toppled to the ground, rubbing her ass. “I don’t want to insult Shima, but I hate flying that way.”
Shima changed back to her human form and shrugged. “I’m not insulted. I’d rather you found a different way to get around myself. You’re no featherweight. If we can get pokeballs today, that will give you an alternate method.”
The valkyrie perked up. “We’re getting pokeballs? That would be nice. I’ve been in them before and it was very quiet.”
“That’s the plan.” The trading post was a nicely decorated building with flowers in planters all along the front and sides. There wasn’t a sign, but in a community like this, everyone probably knew what it was. Caradoc tried the door and sighed when it was locked.
In the glass next to the door was a small sign. It read: “Hours - 0900 to 1700 most days”. At the bottom of the sign was an imprinted digital counter that currently read 00:26:32 and was winding down the seconds.
“It’ll be open in about half an hour.”
“What do we do until then?”
We could talk to the police girl who is coming up behind you. She has that look police get when they want a discussion. An image flashed in his view, outlining a vague reflected image in the window that moved as the pokegirl approached.
Caradoc turned around to see a blue haired woman wearing a blue and red uniform heading purposefully in his direction. “I think, Naomi, I’ll talk to this uniformed pokegirl who is coming to see me.” Suddenly he was surrounded by the members of his harem. “Ladies, she hasn’t proven herself a threat, so please relax. Naomi, you’re with me.”
The other two dropped back and tried to look nonchalant as Naomi squeezed his hand and let it go. She moved to stand between him and the oncoming pokegirl, who slowed when she saw what was happening. She stopped a couple of meters away and surveyed the situation with an experienced eye. “I’m Edith. Please present your pokedex so I can identify you for my records.”
“My name is Caradoc Bishop and I don’t have a pokedex. I’m not from Haven. I’m from the Tropic League and I’m waiting for the trading post to open. I want to see what’s for sale so I can decide if I want to try merchanting between the two leagues.”
Edith’s eyes narrowed. “How did you get here?”
“I flew. You can see I’ve got a nightmare.”
A young man in battledress came jogging up, followed by a redhead wearing a similar outfit. He stopped beside Edith. “It’s ok, officer. I sent out an update that Bishop was expected, but I guess you didn’t get it.”
Edith went to attention. “No, major, I didn’t.”
“That’s ok. I’ll take over from here and you can return to your patrols.”
“Yessir.” She snapped a salute and headed off.
The major shook his head slowly. “Sorry about that, Bishop. We’re trying to keep information about you as vague as if you did come from the Tropic League.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Jamie and this is Madison. We know about your mission from the king. So, what brings you to Haven?”
“I’m Caradoc. This is Naomi, Shima and Veronica. The kit is Winona.” Bishop took the proffered hand. “I got permission from the Northern Region commander to come to Haven for the purpose of trying to set up trade between you and the Tropics. While I’m here I’m supposed to try to find out if you’re massing forces to invade Jamaica.” Caradoc smiled slightly. “I got the impression he’s not that worried about the rest of the league, just his island.”
“I can assure you that we’re not preparing our military to do anything like that. Hell, the reason you were detailed to the Tropic League was because father was concerned we were going to be invaded.”
“The Jamaican Tropic League Defense Force isn’t planning anything like an invasion and Jordan doesn’t think anyone else is either.”
“That’s good to hear, Caradoc. I’ll pass it along to father.”
Madison gave them a curious look. “What kind of trade items?”
“Jordan knows that the Indigos have some advanced tech that he doesn’t and he’d like to get his hands on it. There is already a rumor that some of it came from here and I reminded him of that so he’d let us come here.” Caradoc smiled grimly. “I’m really here because I need some taming restraints for Veronica.”
The valkyrie’s face flamed. “I’m sorry for what happened, sir.”
Jamie gave them a curious look. “Should I ask?”
“I’m as strong as any Tirsuli human, which means I’m a lot stronger than a Terran human. Neither of my other pokegirls is stronger than I am, so it wasn’t an issue until Veronica joined my family. Because of that, her enhanced strength came as somewhat of a surprise. She was feral at the time and when I was in the process of awakening her mind, she got the right kind of leverage to bring her full strength to bear. The result was she crushed my hips, broke my back and shattered the top of my right femur.” Jamie and Madison both winced. “Bone shards perforated my liver, bladder and bowels. Only the fact that I am Tirsuli kept me from bleeding out until Naomi could start healing me.” Caradoc gave Veronica a warm look. “She’s part of my family and I don’t want to be afraid to bed her, so we need those restraints.” He returned his attention to Jamie. “I could probably make some out of things around my farm. However, I’d rather have some that I completely trust so I can only be concerned with pleasing Veronica. That way I’m not worrying if the next time the restraints creak they’re going to fail, too much to pay attention to our shared pleasure, which is where my mind should be at that point.”
Behind his back, Veronica gave him a look of surprise mingled with joy at his words.
“Did you just say you convinced the commander of the Northern Region of Jamaica to let you come here just because you wanted to get some restraints so you could properly tame your valkyrie?” Jamie whistled in a low tone. “That’s pretty smooth.”
Caradoc shrugged. “Veronica deserves no less. And if I can sell similar restraints to the Tropics, other pokegirls won’t have to worry about hurting their tamers or the punishment such an accident would bring.”
Madison frowned. “I’m sure the fact that you’d be making a profit off the sales never entered your mind.”
“Of course it did. I might as well be recompensed for my efforts. I also want to get pokedexes, both for myself and for sale. Pokeballs and other items would only help the tamers and the pokegirls, so they’re good ideas as well.” He remembered something. “And I want to pick up some Primers. Naomi is interested in seeing what the Wolf’s religion is like.”
“That may be a problem,” Jamie admitted. “There are only a couple of his worshippers here and father has given explicit instructions that the Wolf’s religious texts are not supposed to leave the island.”
“He has given what?” Caradoc gave Jamie an uncomprehending look. “Shikarou doesn’t have that right. Nobody does.”
Jamie shrugged. “He’s the king.”
“I don’t care who he is. King or not, he cannot restrict the Wolf’s religion. The Wolf won’t stand for it. If Naomi wants that text, then I’ll make sure she gets it.”
Madison looked shocked. “You must not know much about kings. His Majesty’s authority is absolute, just like that of the leagues on their land.”
Caradoc gave them both a mulish look. “He can decree anything he wants, but I want Naomi to have that book, she wants to have that book and the Wolf will ensure I get it for her.”
Jamie shrugged. “Then I hope someone comes along and gives it to you, because we can’t. You won’t find it for sale in the trading post, either.”
Bishop took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t really want to stand around and argue with you, Jamie. I don’t suppose you could convince the owner of the trading post to open a bit early, could you? The sooner I can get done here the sooner I can return to my home.”
Jamie shrugged. “I’ll go talk to Tammy and see if she’ll open early for you.” He took Madison’s hand and they vanished.
“It’s about time he left.” A man with silver furred wolf ears and long silvery hair stepped out of the shadows, followed closely by a petite woman with purple hair. “I don’t have long before someone detects my presence and, frankly, I have better things to do than act as the Wolf god’s errand boy.”
Naomi frowned. “Who are you?”
“My name is Kerrik.” He slid off his pack and produced a small leather satchel from it. “Inside this are the books you’ll need, or at least that’s what the Servant said when she gave it to me. I wasn’t interested enough to see for myself.”
Caradoc took the satchel and slipped it into his backpack. “Why do you dislike the Wolf so much? The tales about you two are the stuff of legend.”
Kerrik’s ears flicked and he made a disgusted noise. “My disagreements with him are the stuff of legend are they? That’s exactly why. Do you have any idea how long it takes for a story to become the stuff of legend, as you put it? I’ve been in the Tirsuli Confederacy since before the Wolf was widely worshiped and the whole time I’ve known of him he seems to think I have nothing better to do than run his errands. I was a priest of his once and he’s never really let me quit.” He sighed. “It seems like the worst mistakes I make all have to do with the bloody gods. Most of those involve me going and doing someone’s bidding no matter what I think of the idea.” His head came up as his ears rotated. “I really don’t want to be found here, so I’ve got to be going. Poppet still hasn’t apologized for insulting my harem and I’m not in the mood to listen to her ooze hypocrisy disguised as false sympathy because she thinks I can’t stand to stay away from her divine self.” He slipped his arm around the woman with him. “Home, Raven.”
The two of them disappeared a couple of seconds before Jamie and Madison returned, this time with a four armed woman with dark gray skin. Caradoc blinked when he realized that four breasts, one pair sitting below the other, strained the fabric of the jumpsuit she wore. She looked Caradoc up and down critically. “He isn’t much. Why the rush to get him outfitted?” Shima’s mouth curled down and she gave the pokegirl a long stare that the other completely ignored.
“His presence here is something we want to downplay, Tammy.” Jamie glanced at Bishop. “Officially, he isn’t supposed to be here, but unofficially, from time to time he may be going to make some trips here for supplies.”
“I’m not supposed to be here officially? What about trade between the Tropic and Haven?”
Jamie shrugged. “I’ve been told that you’ll be here unofficially and that you’ll be our primary trade factor with the Tropicals until they open some kind of diplomatic channels with us.” He pulled a large folded sheet of vellum from inside his shirt. “In fact, here’s your grant of authority as the trade factor between us and the Tropic League.”
Bishop slipped the paper into his backpack. “Great. Does that mean I need to worry about getting my ass shot off by Haven’s military?”
Caradoc watched as Tammy unlocked the door to her shop and turned to them. “Let me deactivate the security system. I’ll be right back.”
Jamie chuckled. “No, we’ll provide you with IFF codes before your visits. Tammy here will proctor your tamer test before she’ll sell to you. I know you’re officially not from here, but it’s a requirement that my mother Candace is adamant about. Anyone buying pokegirl supplies needs to be a tamer of one sort or another and she’s really fond of putting people into categories.” He glanced at Madison. “It’ll also get you a free starter pokedex, which isn’t cheap. I don’t know how you’re suited for money, but you know all about our currency.”
Caradoc nodded. “I do, and it just so happens that everyone has looted jewelry and other valuables from houses in Jamaica, so much so that it’s a glut on the market. I just sold about five hundred pounds of Blue Mountain coffee and I gleefully took jewelry, gold and other sundries in payment. I should have plenty to convert into Haven coinage before I go shopping.”
Jamie started to say something when Tammy appeared in the doorway. “If you’ve got money, then get your ass in here and take your test.”
(07/28/06 0800 Outside Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Naomi squeezed his shoulder. “What’s the matter, sir?”
He tugged at the belt around his waist. “I can’t believe that Veronica likes it in there. Your description of what it’s like being inside a pokeball sounds like being in a sensory deprivation tank. I was in one of those once. Never again.”
“It can be relaxing, sir. I’ve never cared for it particularly, but I know of others like Veronica who do.”
He shivered. “You’ve been turned into energy, stuffed into an empty hyperdimensional space and somehow you’re aware of what’s happened. That sounds like hell to me.”
Shima looked over at him. They’d unpacked the pokepacks they’d gotten in Haven and repacked everything in regular containers, which had then been strapped on the nightmare for the trip to Montego Bay and eventual delivery to Commander Jordan. “It’s not my favorite place to be, but I don’t mind being in a pokeball if I have to. What I hated was storage. You go into a pokeball, get put into storage and when you come out months may have passed and your friends or sisters are scattered or dead. Everything has changed and you have no referents as to how or why or sometimes even what has taken place.” Her jaw clenched. “Everyone knows that Sukebe had hidden facilities all over the world and just think, Caradoc, it’s very likely that in some of these places there are still pokegirls in stasis, completely unaware that the war is over. And nobody is sure what will happen when the power fails on their storage units. Will they be trapped in stasis until the unit is destroyed? Or will they just die, killed when the power blinks off? Will they even know what is happening to them or will they just wink out?” Her eyes were slightly wild. “And if it weren’t for random luck, I’d be there too, unknowing and waiting to find out.”
Caradoc queried his twee. Wait just a moment while I use the com unit in the pokedex to contact Alexandria and find out. He took a deep breath at the information that flooded into his mind.
“I may be able to answer the question of what’s going to happen to pokegirls in storage. The storage units Haven has are reverse engineered from Sukebe’s designs and as far as anyone knows are almost identical to the ones he used. If the unit is set up properly beforehand, when the power goes off it will go into a controlled shutdown. This will protect the contents indefinitely or until the unit suffers catastrophic physical damage.”
Shima gave him an unhappy look. “From your tone it doesn’t sound like I’m going to like the second part of your answer. So what happens if it’s not set up for this controlled shutdown?”
“Then the unit will drain off the life energy of the pokegirls inside it, one by one, to keep itself running. It is how the leagues found out about pokepower.”
Naomi raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“Where the Haven’s came from, the leagues had set up cities and towns across their territories. These communities were too far apart to power with buried cables or power transmission lines on poles. Some ferals are attracted to electrical fields and would invariably destroy the power cables. Pokepower was the solution. When a pokegirl is put into her pokeball, she’s turns into energy, using the rule of E=mc2. A tiny part of that energy goes to maintaining her in the hyperdimensional matrix. I don’t know how that works and the samples of math I’ve seen are pretty ugly. Some pokegirls were condemned to death and the energy that they’d become was drained off and stored in batteries that supplied it to power these towns. Death is supposed to instantaneous, but in all honesty, nobody knows for sure. Pokepower is terribly inefficient, but there are lots of pokegirls around and since most people don’t think if them as human, they’re just another resource to be exploited.”
Naomi looked horrified while Shima just looked ill. “That’s a terrible thing to do to someone. Please tell me that Haven isn’t doing that.” Naomi’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Please tell me we’re not involved with anyone who would even consider something so horrific.”
Caradoc wrapped his elfqueen up in his arms. “I’d never condone anything like that and, as far as I know, Haven doesn’t use it at all. I know how the leagues would decide to condemn pokegirls if they needed one for power and as far as I’m concerned, the way that it’s done is tantamount to murder.”
“How would they pick?”
“Shima, they’d condemn some poor pokegirl because she’s handy, that’s how. In that future, the leagues had set up an elaborate method involving making tamers handle their stored pokegirls regularly or else they’d be condemned and disposed of as the league saw fit. I’m sure that a lot of them went for pokepower.” He looked thoughtful. “You make it moderately difficult to get storage rights, so lots of people will want them, but not so hard that it acts like any sort of a filter. The tamers will fill the storage units for you. If you don’t make statements of a specific penalty, or better yet, make it a very minor one that you enforce randomly for dumping unwanted pokegirls in storage and forgetting about them; well, the tamers will use it as their trashcan. That’ll give the leagues lots of ‘abandoned’ pokegirls for starters and pokepower.”
“How does a minor penalty that’s randomly enforced help the league?”
“They can assess fines against the tamers, which gives the league another source of revenue. Since it’s random, a tamer will be unlikely to worry about it. He decides it’s the price of doing business with storage and writes off the loss if he gets unlucky and fined. Besides, if the league accepts pokegirls in lieu of a fine, he doesn’t feel like it costs him anything hard to replace as long as they don’t take the ones he values more.”
“I saw that Haven had electricity. How does it furnish it?”
Caradoc looked thoughtful for a moment. “They’ve got a variety of options, and it looks like they’re installing thermal converters in places, but I suspect they’re using standard fusion plants for power. Right now they only need one and more of them are easy enough to put in as the city grows. They run off water, or rather the hydrogen in water, so fuel supply isn’t really an issue. A more sophisticated powerplant can run off of the oxygen in water too, making it much more efficient.”
“The level of tech used depends on where the people in charge of this contact effort decide on where to limit the technology that’s being imported. The policy is usually to set it above the local norm, but not so high that the locals cannot aspire to it. It serves as a goad to make them want to improve.”
“Does that mean your people think you have a responsibility to make sure that others improve?”
Caradoc chuckled. “Not that I’m aware of. I read the Wolf clan mandate for here and I think they’re more concerned about having others spend time trying to match them instead of using all their energy trying to invade them for toys that they can’t make yet.”
“How would you do it?”
“I don’t really care what the locals think. I’d go for modern technology. The humans don’t have the tools to make the tools to make the tools to make Tirsuli technology. If they wanted to learn how to do it, they could always come to me.” He shrugged. “A modern powerplant would break any material fed into it into its component atoms and then convert them directly into energy. As a side effect, before they’re converted, you can filter the atoms for anything you want to collect and process them in a manufactory.”
“Sir, we’re entering town. Perhaps we should change the topic of conversation.”
He blinked and looked around. “Sorry, I never noticed. I guess I was enjoying the discussion too much. You’re right. We’ll table this discussion for now and take it up again later.” He pulled Veronica’s pokeball from his belt and released her. “We’re almost to town and I need you to guard Shima while Naomi and I go up to talk to Commander Jordan.”
The valkyrie grinned. “Yessir. I presume I’m supposed to use nonlethal methods to defend her against humans?”
“Shima can protect herself from a human. If this hypothetical attacker uses pokegirls, then you might need to help her.”
“Yessir. I will do as ordered, sir.”
The guard at the TLCFHQ wasn’t someone Bishop had met before, but the man noted the pokegirls and merely waved Caradoc and Naomi inside the building while his moonbunny cuddled in his lap.
The redhead smiled when he opened the door to Jordan’s office. “Tamer Bishop, how are you today?”
“I’m doing well. Good morning, Nina.”
Her smile grew. “You remembered. I wanted to thank you for the coffee. It’s been so long since I’ve had any.”
“You are quite welcome. Is Commander Jordan available?”
Nina shook her head. “No, sir, he’s not. He’s out with the flu.”
“I see. I’ve got him the supplies I said I’d try to get him. I could just drop them off, but he needs to see the instructions before trying to use them.”
Nina cocked her head slightly. “Are these the high tech items you were going to try to get from Haven?”
“He told you about it.” It wasn’t a question.
She nodded. “He had to, sir. I’m cleared for everything that passes through this office and I do most of the administrative work on his projects. In this case, it means that I know he wants you to brief Joe and Alex. You’ve worked with them before and you can find them at the berry farm.” Her smile returned. “However, you were right to be oblique when questioning me. This is a classified project and you had no idea if I was cleared for it or not.”
“Thanks. I guess I’ll head to the berry farm.” Caradoc tipped an imaginary hat. “I hope you have a nice day.”
“Thank you, sir. You too.”
As they headed down the stairs, Naomi sighed. “If you were supposed to go to the farm instead of coming here, I wish they’d told us so we could have skipped the trip downtown. There’s not much pollution here, but there’s enough residue from before that it still makes me feel a little woozy sometimes.”
“Are you well?”
The elfqueen chuckled. “I’m fine, sir. I’d have to be here for an extended time for it to really bother me and the farm doesn’t affect me at all.”
Caradoc stopped as he pushed through the main door and stepped outside. A large circle of people had appeared around the front of the building and they were talking excitedly to each other as they craned their necks to look at something inside the circle.
Fear shot through him when he realized that Shima and Veronica stood not quite back to back in the rough center of the circle. The nightmare looked angrier that Caradoc had ever seen her. Veronica had summoned her armor but at the moment had not bothered to summon her weapons. She looked distinctly nervous and relief flickered across her face when she saw him. “Sir!” Shima’s eyes flicked in his direction and she visibly relaxed, but she also immediately returned to eyeing the crowd with an evil glint to her eyes.
He forced his way through the crowd, ignoring the muttered curses as he slammed through them heedless of the ones he knocked off their feet and, once in the open, hurried over. Naomi kept close on his heels. “What is going on?”
Shima stopped scanning the crowd long enough to scowl at a bearded man and a younger woman who were talking to the tamer on duty. “They are.” She went back to watching alertly. Winona was pressed against her mother’s front legs and Shima reached down and scooped up her daughter. “Now that you and Naomi are here I can hold her.”
The moonbunny looked up and spoke to her tamer, who turned and gestured at Caradoc. “You, get over here!”
Caradoc deliberately turned back to Shima. “Explain what’s happening.”
She nodded. “Winona was playing around me when the crowd started to form. From what I could overhear, nobody has seen a child in a while. Then that one,” she shot the bearded man a look filled with hate, “tried to take Winona.”
Caradoc’s face went still and his voice was soft. “Did he?”
“Hey, I’m talking to you! I said get over here!”
“Shima, I want you to give Winona to Veronica.” The nightmare gave him a surprised look as he turned to the valkyrie. “If I give the command, I want you to take Winona and fly back to the ranch. You are to ignore commands from anyone else and if attacked you will avoid contact and get back to the ranch as soon as possible. We’ll be along as quickly as we can.”
Shima suddenly lifted her daughter and stared into her eyes. Winona slumped and she handed the unconscious child to a startled looking Veronica. “His plan is best. If she has to take my daughter, what will we be doing?”
“We’ll probably be outlaws at that point because the only way someone is going to take our daughter is over my dead body and I do not expect to go before the Wolf alone. All three of you stay close.” He turned and headed for the angry looking tamer. “Yes?”
“You come when I summon you; do you understand me, buddy?”
Caradoc cocked his head. “What’s your name and rank, tamer?”
The tamer’s eyes narrowed. “I’m Greg Barker and I’m a full tamer. Who are you?” Beside him, the bearded man and the woman watched impassively.
“I’m Caradoc Bishop and I’m the administrator of the Falmouth region. I am not your enemy, but I am not your buddy either. Now what is this about?” It was an empty title since only his farm was in the Falmouth region, but it was a legitimate rank and he intended to get full use out of it if he could.
The bearded man interrupted Barker as he started to speak. “I’m Councilor Montgomery and I want to buy that baby pokegirl.”
“She’s a pokekit and she’s still an infant. Winona is less than a month old.” Caradoc counted in his head. “Twenty two days old today. I’m not going to separate her from her mother at that age.”
The woman’s eyes lit up. “She’s perfect. Name your price.”
Montgomery nodded. “You heard my wife. Name it.”
“Hopefully you heard me too, but I’ll repeat it. She’s not for sale at any price.”
Montgomery didn’t look happy. “Perhaps you didn’t hear me say that I am Councilor Montgomery. I’m on the Jamaica Privy Council and I advise the Governor-General. As an administrator, you should know what that means.”
Caradoc didn’t a clue as to what this man was prattling about, but Councilor Montgomery seemed to expect him to be impressed. “My hearing is far better than yours. I don’t care if you’re the Wolf made flesh. Nobody is taking my daughter. Come back in sixteen years or so and I’ll decide if you’ll do for her. In the meantime, you might find one you can adopt at the ranch in Kingston.”
Montgomery’s chocolate face darkened as the blood rushed to his cheeks. The woman tugged on his arm. “Walter, we’ve never seen a black pokegirl baby before. I want her.” Caradoc absently noted the M almost hidden against the darkness of her skin.
“Yes, dear, I know she’s a perfect fit for us.” Montgomery drew himself up to his full height. “Tamer Barker, what’s the legal limit on pokegirls?”
“Sir?”
“How many pokegirls can a tamer legally have?”
“Three, sir.”
“That’s what I remember, too. I order you to confiscate this tamer’s fourth pokegirl.”
Barker gave the Councilor a shocked look. “Sir, she’s just a baby.”
“The law is the law, tamer. I expect you to enforce it.”
Caradoc suppressed an urge to kill Montgomery with his bare hands. “I believe that only Commander Jordan can give that order, Councilman Montgomery. Your trying to circumvent the legalities is just going to put Tamer Barker on the spot for no purpose. I really doubt that the pokegirl limit has anything to do with infants or any other pokegirl that doesn’t need fucked.”
Montgomery’s wife gasped in shock. “You will not use that kind of language around me. It’s tamed.
“If you say so, madam, however, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s wrong to try to take an unweaned infant from her mother.” Caradoc was pleased that he didn’t use the first word that came to mind, which was insane, and instead said wrong. He doubted they’d appreciate his candor any more than they had seemed to so far. “I don’t know if you have access to a dependable supply of milk and it doesn’t really matter since she needs her mother’s milk to build up the right immunities or she might not live for long.” He glanced at the motionless infant and wished she were awake to help him out. “Besides, she’s got three times the strength of a strong human and she bites. She damned near took off one of her mother’s nipples and she bit my finger clear to the bone when I wasn’t paying attention to her.” He held up a purple stained finger with a thin line that ran completely around it. “If it weren’t for the fact that I had some great grapes I probably would have lost it.” The woman gave him a startled look and then looked suddenly worried.
Shadowcats and some other pokegirls are also black and more common than a nightmare. I doubt they’ve done anything heinous enough to warrant being given to such a pair of idiots, but it’s better than them trying to take Winona and ending up dead at your hands.
“What you might think about doing is, since you’re a Councilor and all, travel to Kingston and visit the ranch there. There are a lot of pokegirl breeds with black fur or skin and a lot of them are easier to care for and more common than a nightmare is. These can be rather difficult. I still don’t know what I’m going to do with her when she learns to phase and I can’t discipline her anymore.”
Montgomery blinked. “Phase?”
“Shima, show the man.”
The nightmare stepped carefully up next to Naomi and looked at her alpha. “Strike me.” The elfqueen smacked her in the middle of her equine torso. The noise echoed across the plaza. “Again.” This time the strike passed through the nightmare without effect. The blow pulled Naomi off balance and she stumbled into and through Shima’s body, emerging on the other side.
Caradoc watched the color drain from the woman’s face, leaving it a sickly gray. “That’s phasing and Winona will learn to do it very quickly.”
“Walter, he’s right. We should go to Kingston and look for a baby there.”
Montgomery gave Caradoc a look that said he’d remember what had happened. Caradoc returned it with interest. “Ok, dear. We’ll go in a couple of days.”
He took her hand and led her away as she started whining. “But I want to go now, Walter. I want a baby now.”
Caradoc resisted an urge to wipe his forehead as Barker watched them leave. “Bishop, you’re a smooth talker but he’s going to be out to get you for that.”
“I get that impression too.” He chuckled suddenly. “I probably can’t stop him, but I can at least make him work for it. Shima, Veronica, I want you two to stay here. Keep Winona asleep. Naomi, you’re with me.” He turned and headed back into the headquarters building. Naomi rushed to keep up with him as he took the stairs five at a time and slammed into Nina’s office.
The busty redhead jumped when he burst in. “Mr. Bishop!”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Sorry about that, Nina. I would like to get the paperwork necessary to become a tradesman.”
Hazel eyes gave him a puzzled look. “Sir, the tradesman class is still being worked out. All I have is some preliminary paperwork and I’m not sure that it would do you any good.”
“Nina, I just came from the street, where someone tried to take my infant daughter because she’s a pokekit and technically gives me four pokegirls. I can’t have that keep happening. Being a tradesman will protect her since I can have as many pokegirls as I need for my job.”
Nina’s mouth dropped open. “You have a daughter? How old is she?”
“Less than a month. Why don’t you go with Naomi and take a look at her while I work on those papers?” He gave her a desperate look. “I won’t let someone take her and I’m afraid if someone does, not only will her mother become violent, I’ll probably be helping her.”
The redhead turned and opened a file cabinet. She handed him a thin stack of papers. “Here. I’ll make sure you get approved.” She got up and followed Naomi out as he pulled out a pen.
He quickly filled out the forms, putting an infinity symbol in the spot for what he thought would be the maximum number of pokegirls needed. With a bit of luck it would be mistaken for a badly slanted eight. When he came to the block for describing his reasons, he carefully described a farm, way station and defensive post designed to control the area surrounding Falmouth from what he estimated to be massive waves of starving feral pokegirls. He even listed the numbers of skeletal remains they’d found in the outskirts of Falmouth while looking for supplies, carefully not mentioning that their condition suggested they’d died during the Red Plague and had been there for several years.
Nina hadn’t returned by the time he finished, so he took the paperwork and headed downstairs. The redhead was cradling a sleepy looking Winona and cooing over the child while Shima stared fixedly into the distance and Naomi watched from nearby. “Here’s the finished paperwork.”
Nina sighed and handed the infant reluctantly back to her mother, who eagerly took her. “She’s adorable, Mr. Bishop.”
“My name is Caradoc and yes, she is.”
She smiled as she took the paperwork. “I’ll remember that if we should meet when I’m off duty, Mr. Bishop. I’ll introduce you to my husband at that point.”
Caradoc hadn’t been angling to add her to his bed list, but decided to look disappointed anyways. It seemed to please her. “Ok, Nina.” He sighed and looked at Naomi. “I think we need to be heading for the berry farm. Thanks for everything, Nina.”
“I’ll make sure this paperwork gets taken care of right away, Mr. Bishop. I would advise you not to discuss it with anyone else until it’s done.” Her eyes searched his. “Naomi told me about your meeting with Councilor Montgomery.”
“I won’t say a word until I know everything’s done.”
“Very wise, sir.” Nina stroked Winona’s hair one last time. “Good day, sir.” She headed inside.
(07/28/06 1030 Montego Bay, Tropic League)
Fissy grabbed a bag and tugged on it. Caradoc chuckled. “Hold on.” He unstrapped the bag from Shima’s harness and it dropped into her arms. “There you go.” The catgirl flashed him a grateful smile and carried the bundle into the building.
Tina stepped up and helped him remove more sacks. “Thank you, sir. Fissy’s not stupid, she just doesn’t always think like we, I mean other pokegirls, do.”
“I’m not that different from you, Tina, and we probably think a lot alike. Your including me in your ‘we’ works just fine and doesn’t insult me in the slightest.”
“Are you like Alex, sir, in thinking that we’re independent people just like you are?”
He glanced at Shima and noticed her watching him curiously. “No, I’m not. You can’t truly ever be free, since you have to have sex with a human to remain sane. It’s not your fault, but you can’t go off and form a society of pokegirls living alone forever. You have to have humans somewhere in the program just to survive. It doesn’t, however, mean you aren’t people. You just got screwed by the system. It happens.”
“What about ferals, sir?”
He shrugged and began unfastening the harness. “Feral pokegirls go in the same category as human bandits do. I won’t seek them out, but I’ll meet them with everything in my arsenal and I won’t necessarily fight them intending to take prisoners.” He glanced at the amazonwu. “Not all the pokegirls wandering out there are animalistic feral or even feral at all. Many of them prey on humans and other pokegirls just because they feel it’s their right to do so. That makes them bandits.” He grabbed a bag as Shima shook happily and changed back to her human form. “I laid your dress over there.”
“Thanks.” The nightmare slipped it on as he headed inside.
Naomi was opening the bags and laying out the things they’d picked up on a table in small sample batches suitable for the discussion Caradoc was going to have shortly with Joe and Alex when they returned from checking the berry fields.
Veronica was keeping an eye on Winona while the others worked. Everyone wanted to make sure she wasn’t left unattended for a single second while in Montego Bay, and the valkyrie was proud to have such an important assignment.
Once they were settled, Naomi brought in some drinks for them that she’d gotten from the same place they tended to eat lunch. Then Caradoc took his place behind the table. “You two did know that Commander Jordan wanted you briefed on this stuff, right?”
Alex wiped a foam mustache from her upper lip. “Yeah. Joe and I seem to becoming the tech geeks for the Montego tamers. While I’m not a nerd, it does beat slogging through the wilderness waiting to get attacked.”
“Or looking for the Black Rivers,” Joe grunted sourly. “I’d much rather be here then trying to track down those bastards.”
“Who?”
“They’re a gang. Holdovers from before the war, they’ve gotten some pokegirls and become real terrors. They like to skin people who won’t do what they want. They also do that to any police that they find. We drove them out of Montego Bay and Kingston, but they’ve got a base somewhere that we can’t find.”
Caradoc scratched his cheek and sighed. “I’d like all the information I can get on them, if you don’t mind. My farm, once it gets known that it’s out there, would be a perfect place for them to raid and I don’t fancy being skinned or watching it happen to anyone in my care.”
“I’ll find you the updates we’ve gotten after your little show and tell, ok?” Joe rubbed his hands together with anticipation. “The berries have helped us put more pressure on those fuckers and I bet your new gifts will just make it worse for them.”
Caradoc nodded. “I certainly hope so.” He reached for the first item, a small red and white sphere. “Ok, this is a pokeball. Tina and Fissy may already be acquainted with them since they’ve been reverse engineered from ones that Sukebe used.” He glanced up to see the amazonwu nodding. “What they do is, once tuned to a pokegirl, convert her into a stable energy format and then store her inside a hyperdimensional pocket inside the ball. In this state, her body is in temporal stasis, but her mind remains aware. Because of this, if she’s critically injured when placed into the ball, her condition won’t worsen. It also means that she can and will go feral if left in a pokeball without being tamed on a normal schedule. A pokeball will recover or capture a pokegirl on the very edge of death, so it’s a great way to save your pokegirl’s life if she’s in danger. Standard pokeballs also act to prevent pregnancy in a pokegirl, or will harmlessly abort an already existing pregnancy in a pokegirl who is captured or recovered. If you want a pokegirl to get or remain pregnant, you’ll have to put her into a special type of pokeball, called a maternity ball, instead of a standard ball. Or you could just not put her into any ball at all.”
“How can you tell them apart?”
“The different types of pokeballs come in different basic colors. Once you start personalizing them, only a scan with a pokedex will tell for sure what they are.”
Alex shifted in her chair. “What happens if you put a critically injured pokegirl into her ball and then let her out?”
“She’ll probably die unless she receives immediate medical care. There is a way, however, to heal her inside her pokeball.” Caradoc put down the pokeball and picked up a metal cube eight inches on a side. “This is a Portable Pokegirl Healing Unit or PPHU for short. It, too, is based off of technology from Sukebe, but only loosely. Sukebe’s healing units are large and not man portable. They were designed to be permanently set up and wounded would be pokeballed and evacuated to them for healing. They perform a lot of functions that aren’t necessary in the field, like cleaning or adding techniques to a pokegirl’s repertoire.” He shrugged. “They also cost a lot of money and, since I didn’t have that much, I got this instead.” He pressed a recessed button on the front and the cube popped open to reveal a spherical chamber. On one side were four tiny LEDs. All glowed with a soft green light. “Simply place the pokeball inside the unit and close it. It functions almost completely automatically and takes two minutes to completely heal a pokegirl.” He looked up. “The unit comes with a solar and electrical charger and has an internal battery capable of four uses before being discharged. The lights here show the charge status.”
“What’s a solar and electrical charger?”
“You can charge the unit with light or you can have an electrical pokegirl use any electrical technique on the solar film. Both will charge the battery until it’s full, at which time the charger will automatically dump any excess. The outer case also functions as part of the charging system, so if you have to keep moving, strap it to the top of your backpack so it’ll get some sun. This means that if you lose the film, you can still have an electrical pokegirl attack the case itself to charge the unit. Don’t hold it when you do that.”
Joe frowned. “You said something about it functioning almost completely automatically. I don’t see anything that you can adjust.”
“Pokeballs track the physical state of a pokegirl and make a baseline when she’s first put into it. Healing returns her to that baseline. However, the PPHU can be plugged into a pokedex for greater versatility.” He indicated a port on the inside of the PPHU, next to the lights. “You can program the PPHU to return a pokegirl to her base physical state, in case she’s captured in some other condition.” He looked at Fissy. “It means that if programmed for the base catgirl form, if you put Fissy into a pokeball you could heal her throat injury.” Both Fissy and Joe’s mouths dropped open. The catgirl recovered first and clapped her hands happily. “That is, of course, your call to make, Joe. You’re her tamer and you might prefer her the way she is.”
Joe was already shaking his head when Fissy turned to look anxiously at him. “If she can be fixed so she can talk, then do it. I know it frustrates her and I’d like her to be able to better communicate with me.”
Alex gave him a startled look. “Will wonders never cease? You’re not really a jerk.”
He grinned back. “Yes I am, just not to her.”
“Sir, there’s no time like the present for such a display. It will help to point out that you know what you’re talking about.” Naomi smiled from where she was seated with Shima and Veronica. “And we all want that.”
“You have a point.” Caradoc picked up one of the pokeballs. “One of the design peculiarities of a pokeball is that if a pokegirl tries to fight the capture field, she can escape if she’s strong enough. Catching a pokegirl who is likely to resist can be made easier by weakening her, usually through combat. Remember that almost all ferals will resist capture and the few that won’t will be really, really obvious. I merely wanted to point that out since I don’t think Fissy will fight the capture field. If a pokegirl isn’t captured, the pokeball, if not destroyed in the attempt, will need to be recharged before it can be used again. If a pokegirl is successfully captured or recovered, the containment field is recharged by a tiny portion of her mass, something in the three milligram range. Since this mass is taken from her entire body, neither of you will notice nor miss it.”
He turned to Fissy. “Is this something you want?” She nodded emphatically and reached out towards the pokeball. Caradoc touched her with it and Joe gave a small scream when she turned into a cloud of red energy and was sucked into the suddenly open ball. It closed and twisted violently in Bishop’s hand.
“STOP HURTING HER!” Joe charged. Shima grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him into the air as the pokeball stilled and the button on the front flashed once.
Caradoc looked at the nightmare. “You can let him go now.” He continued as she carefully put the human down on his feet. “Most of the time, even with a willing capture, they can’t help but fight a little. Fissy is pretty strong and even without trying, she almost broke free. After she’s healed, you might want to see if she’s interested into evolving into a higher tier pokegirl.”
Joe came up and stared at the ball. “She’s ok?”
Bishop handed him the ball. “Let me show you how to release her and you can ask her yourself.”
After a brief period of demonstration, Joe successfully activated the pokeball. Fissy materialized and looked around slowly. “Fissy,” her tamer touched her gently. “Are you all right?”
She nodded slowly and gave Caradoc an inquisitive look, her ears flicking slowly. He smiled. “No, we haven’t tried yet. Joe wanted to make sure you were ok before moving on.”
The catgirl looked at her tamer and suddenly hugged him. Joe hugged her back until she pushed him away and pointed at the pokeball in his hand and then at herself. He nodded and played with the pokeball for a few seconds before figuring out how to activate it and return Fissy to it. He stared at it for a few seconds and suddenly handed it to Caradoc with a sheepish look. “Sorry about that.”
“I’d have been more violent about it and much more embarrassed later.” Joe blinked and gave Caradoc a weak grin before heading back to his seat. Caradoc pulled his pokedex from his belt. “This is a pokedex. I’ve got a couple here to sell to the Tropic League and later we’ll go into a lot more detail about how they work.” He opened a port on the side of the dex and unreeled a thin cable from a takeup spool. “Pokedexes have the capability for wireless communication with other pieces of equipment, but in this case you really want to make sure that you don’t have any data corruption. An optical cable like this one is the best way to ensure that. Considering that the base form consists of a lot of data, this is also the fastest way to load it into the PPHU.” He plugged the end of the cable into the data port and watched as the holographic display changed to indicate the presence of the PPHU. He opened a smaller window in the display and pulled up the catgirl data, and then used his finger to drag the data to the PPHU icon. It pulsed twice and turned cyan to indicate a successful download.
Then he carefully unplugged the cable and let it rewind before closing the port in the pokedex. The ball slid snugly into the PPHU cradle and he closed the lid. It clicked as the lock engaged. “Now we wait. The unit will automatically unlock and open when the healing is complete. It was deliberately designed to be very simple in case your pokegirls have to heal each other. Many of them aren’t literate and need this process to be as easy as possible.”
There was a deafening silence as everyone watched the cube and waited. The click of the lock disengaging made Alex jump and she scowled at the PPHU. Caradoc pulled out the pokeball and offered it to Joe. “She’s your pokegirl.”
Joe took the ball and stared at it for a moment before activating it. Fissy coalesced and looked around warily as her ears flicked. “She looks the same.”
“Master Joe?” The words were slow and her voice weak. Joe stared at her in shock until she leapt into his arms.
“I think we’ll take a break while they’re happy at each other.” Alex grinned and headed up to the table. “Do you think that system could help Tina, too?”
Caradoc looked the amazonwu up and down. “That depends on what kind of help she needs.”
“Sir, when I was wounded during the assault at the camp, I lost a lot of range of motion in my right shoulder. I can’t raise that arm over my head anymore. I also took some damage to my lungs which really reduced my endurance during strenuous activity, like combat.” Her face colored slightly. “It’s one of the reasons we are stationed here at the farm.”
Alex nodded. “She lost nearly thirty percent of her useful volume in both lungs.”
Caradoc gave them a thoughtful look. “Those kinds of injuries are the reason the PPHU can do baseline realignments. It is expected that feral pokegirls could have a lot of already healed damage that would limit their usefulness to tamers. This would therefore limit the pool of tamers that would accept a particular individual. The whole goal is to get the ferals out of the wilderness and into harems, which helps fight the other ferals.” He looked from pokegirl to tamer. “If Tina is willing, we could to that while Joe and Fissy are being happy at each other. Then we can get back to my discussion on the equipment.”
A few minutes later, Bishop stood at the table again as Tina rotated her arms slowly and grinned happily. “I now want to briefly discuss pokedexes. You have six of them and all are identical to the one that I have. Some of the functions, like the satellite uplink capability for automatic updating, the satellite communications capability and the global positioning system, aren’t really useful here since the Tropic League doesn’t have access to any satellites. I was told to mention, however, that Haven is willing to lease satellite access.” He rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “Any negotiations about that will have to be between officials from the two leagues. I don’t have the authority to broker a deal like that and I’d turn down any attempts to give it to me. I have a farm and an embryonic trading business to run. That level of negotiations is usually political in nature and politics would just get in the way of my work at home.”
The pokedex that he picked up was 11.5 cm long, 6.5 cm wide and one centimeter thick. Anyone from the home pokegirl universe would have been surprised at how small it was. “This is a Haven pokedex. It weighs 140 grams and has been tested against almost anything that a pokegirl can dish out. I’m sure someone can find a way to break one if they work at it hard enough, but since the league only has six of them, I’d hate to be that person when it happens. They’re going to know it wasn’t an accident.” He activated the unit and the black face lit up with a graphic display. “The entire front is a touch screen display. Just touch the icons to activate the various functions.” He tossed the unit to Alex, who yelped and scrambled to catch it. Fissy intercepted the one he lofted at Joe with a lazy grab before she handed it to her tamer. “The book icon with the P on it activates your pokedex.” He continued as they pressed the icon. “On each end of the dex is a scanner that can be used to scan a pokegirl merely by pointing it at her while the pokedex function is active. I don’t know how it works, but it is very rarely wrong. In addition, if you scan a pokegirl that’s not in the dex, the pokedex will give you a couple of best guesses to work with. That does not mean it’ll be completely right. My suggestion is to engage her cautiously, if at all. Unknown pokegirls are often unique and unique pokegirls survive because they’re very tough or have other ways to defeat or evade attackers. Attacking one is a very good way to get remembered as an object example of what not to do when hunting pokegirls. Usually such an honor is posthumous in nature.”
“Does it use batteries?” Alex was turning hers over in her hands.
“It’s my understanding that it has thermal converters that turn heat from the environment into power for the unit. That means your body heat will charge it as will leaving it out on a sunny day. A lot of the tech from Haven was originally reverse engineered from Sukebe’s work.” That wasn’t true with the pokedex, but Caradoc knew that Haven would be hiding some Tirsuli tech in amongst the gems other leagues recovered from the madman’s labs. It made sense to him and his only regret was that they weren’t incorporating more. “If you scan a pokeball that you own with the pokedex, you can learn your girl’s health, relative power level and the techniques that she knows.” He looked his audience over. “While this may sound rather bizarre, the fact remains that sometimes a pokegirl isn’t aware of all the techniques she knows and these scans can reveal some surprising things.”
“The scanner heads can also be used to record video for later replaying or even mailed if you have satellite access.” He held the unit up so the display was facing him and pointed the back at Alex. “If you hold it like this, then both sensor heads will record and you’ll get a recording suitable for play on a holographic display without further conversion.”
“Even without satellite access, pokedexes can communicate with other pokedexes for up to three kilometers, if you have the user’s com code plugged in. They’ll also simultaneously share with up to ten other pokedexes without needing satellite access.”
He opened the port on the side and pulled on the cable. “This is your data jack and the jack as well as the cable is just as durable as the rest of the unit. You can also use this cable to upload data to the pokedex or share data between two pokedexes much faster than a wireless setup. A pokedex has a lot of memory, so music files and video shouldn’t be much of a problem. If the unit starts to get full, it’ll let you know. The display on the pokedex will do flatscreen video as well as holograms of less than ten centimeters in height. A lot of holographic playback will tax the power system and deplete the power cell fairly quickly, so keep that in mind.”
“What’s the memory storage on that thing?” Joe was poking icons on the pokedex he held. “I know you said it was a lot, but I like numbers. They feel more real than ‘lot of memory’.”
Caradoc gave the tamer a bland look as his twee whispered specifications to him. “You are aware that beyond a certain point, it’s all just adding extra zeros and that the human mind has difficulty comprehending them.”
“I know, but I still want to know.”
“It has roughly a petabyte of data storage and a terabyte of active memory.”
Alex laughed as Joe gave him a blank look. “Can you put that into terms he can understand?”
“A terabyte is a thousand gigabytes and a petabyte is a thousand terabytes. You could store over a hundred years of holographic recordings.” His eyes suddenly twinkled with humor. “If I put it into terms Joe is familiar with, it’ll hold more porn than he can ever look at.”
“Wow,” Joe breathed quietly. Everyone else in the room burst out laughing and he turned bright red as he realized what he’d said.
Caradoc Bishop - Tirsuli human
Naomi - elfqueen
Shima - nightmare
Veronica - valkyrie
Winona - nightmare pokekit