Other Trails Chapter 11

[random_xtras]

Joel looked around as Shade peeked into his room, then brightened and set down the little book he'd been reading. "Hi."

"Are you supposed to be sitting up?" She frowned at him with concern, her ears twitching.

"I'm fine." He shrugged carefully with one shoulder. "The concussion's gone."

"But Dr. Syrya said it would be best to let you recover from that normally." Shade recalled how the JD doctor had explained that to use all the tools for repairing heads on Joel would mean having to carefully recalibrate them, and then to do it again to work on the unicorns again.

"I did." Joel smiled slightly, but glanced away as he did it.

Shade went ffft at him, her frown deepening. "You're not telling the truth."

"I am too." He frowned back, then looked at what she was carrying with interest. "I just helped the recovery a little."

"How?" She came further into the room and absently gave him the tray that held his meat plant steak and a big bowl of savoury salad.

He once more did the careful shrug with his unwounded shoulder. "It's part of my strong mindedness. My healing's not that great, but it was enough to take down the swelling."

"I have nooo idea what you just said," Shade told him.

He frowned at her again. "Do you know that some people can talk to each other without using their voices?"

Shade thought of Karc's occasional gruff mental comment. "Yes... It's one kind of psy gift."

Joel paused, looking a bit shocked. "You mean there's an official name for it?"

"Yeah. We told it to you when you were trying to read our surface thoughts last night, remember? There's a Psy corps in the Planetary division of the enforcement corps," said Shade slowly, wondering about his expression. "Though the lady I met couldn't think talk. She could just tell if people were telling the truth or not." Then she meeped and put out a hand to support him as he sagged.

"I thought I'd dreamed that. Stinking painkillers," he muttered. Then he shook his head and rubbed his temple with the hand that worked better. "They don't care about my fur, or my fingers, or my eyes. And they won't care about the strong mindedness either. After so many of us have been killed for that, out here nobody cares."

"Don't cry!" Shade touched him gently on the bandaged chest. "Don't cry. Even if your head's better that'll make other things hurt. Here, have some steak."

He snerked softly and wiped his face on the unbandaged arm, then obediently picked up the eating tweezers and put a piece of the sliced up fungus steak into his mouth.

"It's okay," Shade told him. "I know they can't help the members of your herd that are gone. But the Major here says that they're going to help the ones that are still walking the plain trails."

"The streets not paved with gold." He sputtered softly at how his translator changed the words so that he could understand their context, then looked at her curiously.

She looked back. "You can thought talk with other humans?"

"Only with my mother and siblings. I've got weak telekinetic and healing quirks, and sometimes I can pick up hints of strong surface thoughts. Mostly peoples' opinions of me." Joel studied the salad, and then tasted one of the dark strips in it and blinked at the savoury, nutty, smoked flavour of the raw giant truffle. "My sister Joanne's a smooth gold, and she can talk to anyone without moving her mouth at all, even at a distance."

"What does that mean? Smooth gold?" asked Shade, tossing her braided mane back over her shoulder even as she urged him to have more of the meal she'd helped prepare.

"She didn't get the fur. Smooth golds get golden skin, black hair, seven fingers on each hand, and really strong minds." Joel ate automatically, though his brows moved with each bite. "They're also always female. The rest of us rad babies just have fur and difficulty going through doorways made for norms."

"Yeah, most human races are just little." Shade nodded her understanding, but then frowned. "But if only the smooth goldens are psy, how did you get it?"

"They're the only usual psys among the rad babies. My mother was a margined norm before she hit the wastes. A lot of them have the weak tk and healing." Seeing the question on her face, he explained what he meant by the terms he used for his mother. "The margined are the norms that don't fit the Nazi ideal. They've got dark hair and eyes, and a lot of them have darker skin, too. My mother's hair was curly and black, and her skin looked like it had some good butter mixed into it."

"It doesn't anymore?" Shade helped him catch a piece of salad that fell from the tweezers.

"Her hair's white now, and her skin's black from the time the Nazis tried making a bonfire with her. The healers had to work fast, so the soot stayed in."

"Tried..." Shade shivered and stamped, trying to get her hearts to settle.

"Captain?" Joel looked up at the stamp, then slapped the emergency call button pinned to his hospital kilt when he saw her expression and how badly she was shaking.

"No, no." She shuddered, then backed uneasily and whirled toward the door. "I have to go!"

"Captain!" he called, but she'd already bolted.


* * *


Mist actually squeaked as her sister barreled into her, then went wide-eyed and hugged the darker girl as Shade clung and wept.

"Hey!" Starfighter's avatar was suddenly there, dropping two trays onto the table that Mist had been waiting by before he wrapped brawny arms around his crew. "What happened? Did that furball try to hurt you?"

"N... no." Shade hid her face on her sister and shuddered as she cried. "But those white guys... they tried to burn... Burn..."

"Rust! Don't think about it. I'll ask Furball." Starfighter lowered her carefully to the floor as her legs gave out, then put a hand on her chest and made soft soothing sounds and the little family rumble that he could hear Mist making too.

"Is she going to be alright?" Joel reached them then himself and winced as he lowered himself to his knees beside Starfighter.

"Yeah." The avatar continued to comfort the black-furred girl, absently throwing up a holographic screen so that the white sister could see a running translation of the conversation without him having to let go of the frightened one. "Her people haven't been off world that long, so a lot of the rust we pull out here scares the rivets out of them."

"I didn't know," said Joel quietly, his expression saying that he was cussing himself, but then he winced as Mist poked him.

[Stop that,] she told him.

"I..."

"She says to stop that," translated Starfighter.

"Stop what?" Joel looked at his good hand, which was on Shade's lower back.

Starfighter looked at Mist as she read the question, then translated again when she replied. "She says you're bullying yourself, and that you shouldn't because you don't know anything about how her people react to things." He gave the human man a wry smile. "I'd listen if I were you. They tend to punch people that don't."

[Poor sister,] said Mist, her cheek fur fluffed with worried sympathy. [Poor Shade.]

"Come on, Shade. Think of your salad or something." Starfighter tried waving off the little group of concerned onlookers that was gathered, then rocked slightly as he crouched beside Shade and hugged her.

"Trying," she said, her voice muffled as she continued to hide her face on her sister.

"Good girl." Starfighter grinned. "Don't make me tickle you."

"Does she need a sedative?" asked someone behind the avatar.

"No. She's calming down. I think she'll be alright," came Dr. Syrya's quiet reply.

Shade made no reply to Starfighter's teasing. Instead she sighed and lifted her head slightly so that she could take deeper breaths. "The planet cops are going to put the slap down on those Aryan battery lickers. Just like they did to the rust suckers that hurt Meme's people."

"I never taught you that language." Starfighter's eyes were wide as Mist silently cracked up.

"Don't look at me, I don't even know what those lines mean," said Joel.

"Jenny..." said Meena somewhere behind them.

"Kick the battery licking rust suckers' turbo boosters!" said Sebastian brightly.

"Meep!" Jenny hid her face.

Shade looked up as Joel gave a deep rumble of startled laughter, then saw Starfighter's expression and started laughing herself.

The avatar scowled at her. "Do you even know what those words mean?"

"Yes." She sighed and smoothed her cheek fur down, then leaned against him for a few moments. "I guess they're not stupid enough to lick batteries. But I'm not taking the other insult back."

He pat patted her shoulder. "Alright. Just don't teach it to any little kids."

"You're not as funny as you think you are." She shook her head without lifting it

"How funny do you think I think I am? Ow! See?"

"That wasn't a punch," noted Joel as Mist stood up, then winced as she lifted him to his feet. "Ouch. Thanks."

[Welcome,] she said one handed, her brow furrowed as she frowned at him.

"Here." Dr. Syrya came over and helped the furry man get settled on a bench. "Why don't you eat out here with the rest of your crew?"

[I'll get your supper!] Mist turned and trotted away down the hall, her booted hoofbeats soft on the smooth floor covering.

"Thanks." Joel put the hand that worked better to his side and seemed to be concentrating on breathing carefully for a few minutes, but then looked up as Shade and Starfighter's avatar put their front legs over the bench to either side of him and then rested their lower chests on it. "You guys look a lot like deer, but you sure don't act like them."

"You look a lot like a monkey. Do you act like one?" Starfighter grinned at him.

"Depends on who's watching." Joel gave a slight grin in reply.

"Do you mind if I join you?" asked Dr. Syrya, the lights glinting softly off the coloured enamel she'd used on the larger scales on her head as she signed along with her spoken words.

"I don't mind," said Shade wearily as she poked at her bowl of salad with one finger.

"Go hard." Starfighter leaned back to check for Mist, then waved to her as she came into sight.

Joel just smiled at the JD woman and then looked around the mess, his brows lifting as he saw the assortment of beings who populated the tables. "I see we're the little people here."

"No. That's us." Jenny wandered over with a big mug in her hands, a soft white dress hanging from her shoulders to her ankles.

"Do you need a hand?" Dr. Syrya looked down at her with friendly concern.

"Nah, Grig's got it." Jenny grinned and then looked up at the silver star fighter as he carefully set two booster seats on the bench next to the doctor and then fastened the clamps that would hold them in place. "Thanks though."

"Here, give me your tree tea." Grig carefully took the mug and set it on the table, and then took the two trays that Sebastian had been carefully balancing and set them on the table before setting Jenny in the booster seat closer to the doctor.

"Do you need a hand, Sebastian?" Dr. Syrya leaned back to look at the young unicorn man.

"I'm good." He smiled and scrambled up easily. Then he nearly fell under the table as he tried to negotiate the booster. "Rust!"

Shade snorted, then took the tray from her sister and set it down in front of Joel.

Jenny shook her head and smiled at her boyfriend. "I know I didn't say that around you very much."

"Oops." He wrinkled his muzzle slightly with unhappiness.

"No foul." She reached over and rubbed his shoulder. "It's only a bad word if you're a civilized Archivist anyway."

"Oh." His expression went intent as he turned his attention back to his meal.

The table fell into a moment's silence as those who chose to give thanks did so, and those who didn't mentally compared their suppers.

Then Shade looked around and glanced at the translator screen that Mist was intent on as she ate. "Dr. Lou's not here?"

"No," said Dr. Syrya. "It's busy finishing up something it wanted to do for Mist."

"What's it doing for Mist?" Shade lifted her head with curiosity, then glanced at Joel as he made a pleased sound and thanked her sister for bringing his book along.

"Training a pet sunflower puppy in proper sound identification for her." The JD woman stirred her soup carefully, then lifted the spoon and sniffed at the contents of the deep, round bowl.

"What's a pet sunflower puppy?" Shade sniffed the soup too and felt surprised. "That doesn't smell like meat at all. Just really really spicy." She sneezed into the crook of her elbow, then snorted softly to clear away the fiery scent.

"Careful, don't sniff it too closely." Dr. Syrya put a hand between the black-furred girl and her bowl. "It doesn't smell like meat because there's none left. My people live on bones that have been boiled clean and spiced. And pet sunflowers are a popular kind of hydraoid pet from Dr. Lou's planet. They're disk shaped, with brightly coloured flat tentacles radiating from the disk. Deaf people like to wear them because they react to sounds by twitching the tentacle closest to the sound, and the twitches vary in strength according to how loud the sound is, or how the pet sunflower's been trained." She smiled at Shade, her green eyes sparkling happily. "So now you'll only need to call your sister's name instead of throwing something at her to get her attention."

"I don't throw things at Mist." Shade frowned slightly.

"No. You just stomp on me till she notices the vibrations." Starfighter made his avatar roll its eyes.

"I... oops." Shade put her hand over her face. "Yeah. Sorry. I never thought about that."

"Hey." He rubbed her upper back gently, frowning with concern. "Eat your supper. You put a lot of work into that stuff."

"You made the supper salads?" Dr. Syrya lifted her brow ridges with interest over her soup bowl.

"Yeah. We'd foraged for the onions and leaves, so I wanted to help make a fresh meal for everybody," said Shade, shrugging her lower shoulders. "But I guess I couldn't make anything for you."

"You did." Dr. Syrya chuckled and sipped another spoonful. "I made my soup with the extra water that you boiled that one hill onion in. And it's lovely. Thanks."

"What were you boiling an onion for?" Starfighter wanted to know.

"It was the base for the dressing I made for some of the salads," said Shade.

"Onion, huh?" Joel glanced at her from where he'd been quietly concentrating on making his supper vanish. "Tastes more like what we call garlic where I come from. It's good mixed with honey and this mushroom stuff."

"That's giant truffle skin," Shade told him.

"Whatever it is. It's good." Joel returned his attention to his plate, which now held his salad as well as his steak.

"Anyone here want bread?" A slender shifter boy in the uniform of a Private stopped by the table and studied their wristbands, a couple of bowls in his hands. "This would be good for any of you here other than the Doc."

"Sure, thanks." The puffy buns were passed around to the hexapods, Joel, and the unicorns, and then the boy moved on.

"Once the pet sunflower's trained Mist will be able to navigate crowded population areas safely," continued Dr. Syrya. "Or even forested areas like the ones you two grew up in."

"Alone?" said Jenny doubtfully, looking up from slathering her bun with smallow sauce. "With no one to watch her back? That's no way for a non-converter girl to travel."

"Mist's sister put three grown human men to flight," said Dr. Syrya gently. "And left marks on two of them that they'll carry for the rest of their lives. I would imagine that Mist is just as capable of defending herself."

[I run,] Mist set her bright pink eating tweezers down to say. [Shade fights like a boy.]

"You've made me say ouch a few times with your hooves and fists." Starfighter reached over and poked the white-furred sister gently in the side and was softly swatted for his pains.

"Running is self defense too," said Dr. Syrya. "It's what my people always used to do when trying to talk someone into a good mood didn't work."

"How are there any JDs left in the galaxies?" Starfighter wanted to know, his mouth twitching with amusement.

"Talking works." Dr. Syrya grinned at him, good nature unruffled by his snark. "And back in our pre-spaceflight days, our ancient ancestors always had a cat around that nothing else wanted to argue with."

"A big cat?" Shade gave a little stamp as she thought of shadow pumas.

"Yes." Dr. Syrya's grin widened slightly. "The larger breed are adorable big slabs of purrs and cuddling. I'm always glad to get home on leave and play with the one that belongs to my family."

[Cat doesn't eat you?] Mist's eyes were wide with surprise.

"No. They've been domesticated for thousands of years. There isn't any hunting instinct left in them anymore. The smaller breed will still grab things and chew on them, but their parental instinct is so strong that they're no danger to even the youngest babies either."

[Wow,] said Mist. [Different. Big cats try to eat us. Biggest predator. Scary story monster.]

"You've never domesticated any animals to protect your families?" asked the doctor with surprise, her spoon paused halfway toward her mouth as she looked over at the white-furred girl.

[No. Dads and brothers and Shade protect.] Mist grinned at her sister as she teasingly added her to the list.

Shade snorted at her, and then laughed. "Well, we have our antelope. They're skittish, so watching them lets us know if we've missed anything sneaking up on us. And some of the girls can't resist playing mother to quail didis, and the mothered ones grow up making warning sounds about things that worry us but that usually never notice quail."

"Have you ever actually seen one of your people attacked by a predator?" Dr. Syrya set the spoon down, her eyes wide with amazement.

"Once," said Shade. "My brother Greatheart stopped to help a wounded bushtucker fawn, and the pack of dundogs that were hunting it jumped him."

[Shade was closest. She and Greatheart stomped them,] said Mist seriously. [Stupid bushtucker still thinks it's antelope. Joins the little herd whenever we stop near his nest.]

"Nest?" Joel looked up as he caught the soft audio translation of the white girl's signs that Starfighter was making the hologram give. "A deer that makes a nest?"

"Not a deer," said Shade slowly, contemplating the word that her translator had given her for the one Joel used. "They're bov even smaller than our antelope. Live solitary but close together, and build covered nests of bits and branches tucked into the bushes."

"Cattle." Joel hmmphed softly with wonder. "Nest building cows."

"Someone really needs to study that planet and write about it for everyone else," said Dr. Syrya, also expressing wonder.

[Show brother Greatheart how to read and write, and he'll do it.] Mist glanced to Shade for agreement to her signs, then looked back to the doctor. [Greatheart best history teller of all.]

"Yeah, he is," said Shade. "But he sucks at telling made up stories. He can use his imagination to figure out how giving bluefruit juice to the bottom end of a broken flower makes the top part blue, but he can't make up a BS story about anybody."

Dr. Syrya looked thoughtful for a moment, then asked cautiously, "You won't be telling a made up story when the authorities ask you to tell them how you found Joel?"

It was Shade's turn to pause with food halfway to her mouth as she gave the JD woman an incredulous look.

[Made up stories are for quiet times when the sun's warm and people are sleepy.] Mist snorted. [You don't tell made up stories about someone getting attacked. There's nothing funny about getting attacked.]

"Yeah," said Shade quietly, frowning now as her ears twitched. "If someone wants to be told about an attack or a fight then you tell it straight history. History and stories are as different as a star map and 'As the World Burns'."

"Oh good." Dr. Syrya picked up her spoon, but then paused and went slightly wide-eyed again. "'As the World Burns'? Do you read that?"

"Fff, no." Shade nodded toward Starfighter's avatar, who had gotten hold of the resident people cat's supper and was now trying to shake a clam off his finger.

"Alright, that's not so surprising." The JD woman drank soup and sighed contentment at the flavour. "The drama's actually written for Armourclads in his age range."

"Guys, look out the window," called Thoma. "The planet's lighting up the skyline."

"Don't you need buildings for a skyline?" Starfighter looked over there curiously.

"There's a building." The big feline chuckled.

"That's Tild Rock," said a shifter man, after going over to look out.

"Close enough." Thoma planted a big paw on the man's face from where he was hooked to the side of the window, but then sniffed and realized what Starfighter was up to. "Hey! Those are mine! I went and fished them out of the lake today all by myself!"

"Make the rusty thing let go." Starfighter frowned and shook the avatar's finger more vigorously, then acked softly as a couple hundred pounds of human augmented cat dropped on him from above. "Ugh! Don't start purring. I don't want to cuddle! Ewwwww, someone get this furball off me!"

Shade found herself laughing along with everyone else as the avatar rezzed out and left Thoma in possession of his place at the table and the bowl of assorted shellfish.

"You're not afraid of me, right?" He turned dark eyes and a smile toward her, his whiskers twitching cheerfully as he did everything in his power to look cute.

"Ffff! Why should I be afraid of you?" She snorted softly as something in his bowl moved, but then turned her attention to her own bowl for a moment before turning back to him.

"Because of what I am." He perked his ears at her.

"I'm not afraid of people for being people. Ffff." She leaned back to see if Starfighter's avatar was around and saw him making faces at her over by the window with the view of the skyline. Then the silence of the young crossgenic caught her attention after a moment and she looked toward him quizzically.

Thoma's forehead was wrinkled, and he was looking soberly at one paw, his expression absent as his eyes glistened slightly with unshed tears.

Dr. Syrya noticed him at the same time and made a soft sound as she reached across the table to put a hand on his shoulder. "Thoma? What's wrong?"

He startled slightly and looked up at her, his fur rising and standing out due to his surprise. Then he glanced at Shade and wibbled slightly as he looked back to the doctor. "She called me a person."

"Why shouldn't she?" asked Dr. Syrya. "That's what you are."

"But my last Owner..."

"Was a lying jerk, and is in jail," Jenny interrupted him, her muzzle wrinkled in a strong scowl. "I don't care if you are the only one in your litter that can talk and cogitate. You're still a person. He had no right taking you two guys away from your mother like that."

Shade and Mist looked back and forth between the young feline and the two women talking to him, then exchanged a glance before deciding to try and follow Joel's example and focus on their suppers as the conversation continued.

"Jenny's right," said Dr. Syrya gently. "And so is Shade. You are a person. And so is your mother. And hopefully the people who are looking for her will find her soon and bring her back to the Warlady's station." Her hand on Thoma's shoulder tightened slightly in reassurance. "You and your brother are always free to go back to the station, too."

He took a deep breath, then absently swatted a purple shrimp back into his bowl. "But I like it out here. Even if I'm Free, you guys take care of me, and the little fuzzy guys need me."

Mist couldn't help glancing toward him quizzically as she saw that translated on her screen, and Thoma caught the look.

"What?" Big soft paws tried to sign along.

[Unicorns need Thoma?] she asked.

[Oh. Yes. Thoma is unicorn nurse. Meena being nurse now. Thoma go back after eat.]

[Mouth talk,] advised Mist kindly, nodding to her screen. [I read here.]

"Okay." He grinned, whiskers fanning in a pleased way. "Uh. I work in the ward with the little fuzzy guys. They're not used to being around each other, so they get scared really easily. But if I start purring it calms them down, and some of them have started making friends and playing with the babies."

[Meena purrs?] asked Mist.

"Heh. No. It's supper time, so everybody's gone back to their own rooms. Meena and Meme and the new girl just have to feed the babies and keep an eye on everyone else."

"He's the best ward nurse I've ever worked with," said Dr. Syrya, smiling. "I can't wait till his brother gets here tomorrow to see how the unicorns react to him."

"Thoma's the best," agreed Sebastian without looking up from the jar of smallow cream that he was intently spooning into his mouth.

"Aww. Thank... hey! Seb, don't eat anymore, okay? You'll get another tummy ache."

Sebastian paused, then looked at the jar and winced before offering it to Jenny. "Turn."

"Hmm. I'm tempted, but it'd go right to my hips." Jenny chuckled and put the lid on the jar, then set it aside. "Hey, Doc, they've found those guys, then?"

"Yes. We've got them in custody." Dr. Syrya looked at Shade. "You'll need to give the history of what happened there on the ground tomorrow or the next day."

"Alright." She shrugged her lower shoulders, then picked up her bowl and drank the last of the dressing before setting it back down. "I was the only one that went down, but Starfighter probably saw the whole thing."

"Yes. He's already given copies of his files to our mainframe." The doctor nodded, but then gave the black-furred girl a look of concern. "Are you alright, Shade?"

"Yeah." She muffled a yawn, then rubbed her face wearily. "I'm just tired."

[Too much excitement.] Mist patted her sister on the upper back, then reached past her to pat Joel too before taking her hand back. [Shade and Joel should go to bed.]

"Mist says you should go to bed," translated Shade.

"I know," he said, pushing away his empty plate and reaching for his book. "The doctor does too."

"You can hear my surface thoughts?" asked Dr. Syrya curiously.

"I can hear your strong inclination to pick me up and stuff me into bed." He smiled at her wryly.

[I'll do that,] offered Mist, then looked around as Starfighter's avatar came back and gently pulled Thoma's tail.

"Heeyyyy!" The people cat teen shoved at the avatar. "That's not an emergency tram brake."

"No. It's a winding cord for a friction powered voice box." Starfighter gently mashed Thoma's ears, surprising a purr from the tactile younger man. "Now get outta my way so I can get the Captain and this furball here to bed."

"Watch who you're calling a furball, rustbucket." Joel smirked slightly.

"Whatever, furball." Starfighter's words were dismissive, but he was gentle as he helped the wounded human off the bench and onto his back. "Go to bed, Cap. You look like death reheated. Ouch."

Shade shook her head after swatting him, then wished Joel a good sleep and watched the two men go. "There's so much I want to ask and talk about, but they're right. I'm tired." She sighed.

"It's alright. You guys are staying for a few days anyway. There'll be a lot of time to visit," said Dr. Syrya in her kindly way. "And Mist looks tired too."

[Yeah.] The white-furred girl nodded after glancing at the screen that still hovered in front of her, then set down a pile of neatly stacked trays, plates, and bowls. [Today was good, exciting, and very long. It will feel good to lay down on the big bed inside Starfighter and sleep.]

"Don't worry about the dishes," said Jenny. "There are guys assigned to that. Have a good sleep, you guys."

"Good sleep." Sebastian grinned past a milk mustache.

"Good sleep," said Shade, rising to her feet and stepping over the bench. "And good sleep to you too, Thoma and Dr. Syrya, when you go."

A last round of good wishes went around the table, and then she followed her sister out of the building and over to where their bed and blankets waited for them. Starfighter's avatar joined them a few moments later.