Children of Steel Read online

  Children of Steel

  Published by John Van Stry at Smashwords

  Copyright 2011 John Van Stry

  Copyright 2011 John Van Stry

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author.

  The material in this story may contain adult themes and/or items of a sexual nature and is intended for a mature audience only.

  This book is a work of fiction, any resemblance between characters in this story and people living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  ISBN: 978-1-4524-4953-1

  1

  "Gene design and splicing, 100,000 dollars."

  OK, I thought to myself while continuing to stare straight ahead, at least I wasn't cheap.

  "In vitro fertilization, 10,000 dollars."

  Aw come on, whatever happened to the gift of life?

  "Artificial womb; rent and maintenance for 8 months, 2 weeks, 127,500 dollars."

  Well, at least I got out early and saved a few bucks.

  "Nursery and infant care, two years, 60,000 dollars."

  Gee, I wonder what it was like for humans? Then again, they had parents, didn't they?

  "Nursery attendant, thumb graft surgery, 20,000 dollars."

  They were going to charge me for that? Damn, he deserved it too. I still bet he hadn't thought I could bite it off yet! Talk about your rude awakenings.

  "Pre-school two years 80,000 dollars."

  Yow! That much? I'm gonna hate it when they get to the real stuff.

  "Basic schooling, six years, 360,000 dollars"

  Humans I'd heard got twelve years and a lot more training, I wonder what they paid? Or if they paid?

  "Basic combat training, six months, 60,000"

  That was fun at least.

  "Advanced combat training, one year, 200,000"

  That almost got me killed.

  "Technical training, two and one half years, 300,000 dollars"

  And now the big one.

  "Assault ship and shuttle pilot, one year, two million dollars."

  Why why why did I have to volunteer for that one? I knew this day was coming. Some dumb idea about 'making more so I can buyout quicker', at least that's what I told everybody last year. Hah, now they're a year into it, and I'm just two mill deeper.

  I moved my eyes and risked a quick glance at the man behind the desk while I stood there rigid at attention. He was another one of those pale pasty faced admin types who obviously avoided the bright sunlight and heat of the outdoors. He smelled strongly of antiseptics and soap, probably some kind of health nut. Standing at ease to either side of him were two other humans, the one on his left was the instructor from my last training course, the one on his right was the head of my crèche section and my guidance councilor. He noticed my glance and winked at me smiling. Embarrassed at having been caught in the act I quickly returned my eyes to stare at a point in space directly in front of me.

  The Admin guy stamped some papers in front of him then, mine I assumed, then had the other two sign them as well.

  "Well, by the power invested in me by the Board of directors of the Tri-Star Mining and Manufacturing corporation, I present you, Raj Rakir, a sentient leopard-man of .7 human norm on the Rourstat scale, with your bill for creation and training by the corporation. As covered in the created species act of 2069 you must now work for above said corporation until you have either paid this bill, or completed a term of 50 years indentured servitude."

  'Indentured servitude'.

  Slavery was probably more like it. But I wasn't natural born, so my parents couldn't negotiate a deal with one of the smaller corps. Heck, I don't even have parents. At least I was supposed to have a hundred year life span according to the spec sheets that the company geneticists claimed were 'me'. That's if I didn't get killed by something else first of course.

  The admin guy started to talk again and I pulled my mind back from wandering and paid attention.

  "As you have completed advanced courses in security, combat, electrical and computer technician, combat pilot, and shuttle pilot, you will be given a combined rating of Pilot-technician slash soldier. Your rank will be that of Warrant third class. Your starting pay will be eighty thousand new dollars per year, as in accordance with the equal pay statue of 2075. Due to your high standings in your classes, the company has assigned you a graduation bonus of twenty thousand new dollars to help defray outfitting costs.

  That number caught my eye, coincidence? Not likely.

  "I would like to end by saying something special to you Raj; do not let concerns for buyout overwhelm you. Do your duty and serve the company well, and the company will always be there for you. Dismissed."

  I came back to attention, saluted smartly, turned on my heel and marched out the door.

  The rest of the large room had been empty; I was there alone today because my extra training had caused me to graduate a year behind the rest. It had been a rather lonely time, to suddenly have my family and friends of fourteen years suddenly absent for the first time in my life was rough. I had been so busy though I really hadn't had too much time to feel sorry for myself.

  Once in the hall I could smell the rich scents of the other students, along with the human staff. My nose picked out six different species immediately, with the hint of several others, it was a fairly busy corridor.

  When I finally got back to the safety of my room I sighed and leaned back against the closed door. This was it, finally. I had finished all my courses, survived actually, and graduated. I looked at myself in the mirror, ears drooping a little as I had to admit to myself the prospect of going 'out there' all by myself, and leaving the structured life of he crèche was scary. We were kept on a short leash here on earth, morphers, animen, whatever you called us; we weren't terribly popular here right now. Actually I'm not sure we ever really were, so we never went off company property without a lot of supervision. That part I wouldn't miss at least.

  I changed out of my dress uniform and took a moment to brush out my dark pelt and thought about what had just happened to me, I had finally gotten my 'bill' and I now owed three-plus Million new dollars. Three Million. I sighed letting that sink in for a moment, at least they couldn't charge interest on it otherwise I don't think I'd ever be able to pay it all off.

  Yet I could actually make that kind of money in thirty or so years, if I didn't screw up and get nailed with too many fines. Tri-Star wasn't that bad a corporation to be working for really, there hadn't been a major strike or labor problem in over twenty years. The history books we had studied had shown a lot of abuses that had taken place over the years, and even Tri-Star had a few of them to be honest. But overall they came up pretty clean when lined up next to some of the other Corporations. Hell, some of the stories I had heard in training about some of the other companies really made me pretty glad to have been born into one of the better ones. So I really couldn't gripe that much, and anyway, who really hates their family? Simply put, the bottom line was that if it wasn't for Tri-Star I wouldn't exist. I did owe them that much.

  I flexed a bicep and grinned toothily at my reflection in the mirror, and they did design well. I was the biggest leopard in my class, and the strongest. I'd graduated at the head of my advanced combat classes for a reason: I
enjoyed kicking ass. Whatever was coming, I'd find my way through it one way or the other.

  I checked my terminal then to see if my orders had been posted yet, they had! I was to report in one hour, not much time to say goodbye, but I really didn't have any real friends around here anymore to say goodbye to. I got out my carryall bag and looked around the small room that had been my life for so many years. I glanced over at the other bed, which had been empty since Nepal had shipped out with the rest of my siblings. It was still strange not seeming him there, not hearing his wise ass comments about my dressing habits. Sure I took extra time with the mirror, being bigger I drew more attention, and more scrutiny.

  Opening up the small closet I pulled out my uniforms and got the few things I owned off my desk and started to sort them on the bed when I heard a noise at the door.

  "Come in, it's open!" I called before they had the chance to knock.

  "You weren't planning on leaving without saying goodbye I hope Raj, were you?"

  I turned and gave a toothy smile to my Guidance Counselor who was standing in the doorway, still dressed in his formal company uniform from my graduation ceremony. Cat smiles tend to be disturbing to some people, especially humans, but I don't think anything ever bothered him. Well at least not anything I did anymore.

  "No Sir, I was going to stop by on my way out." I admitted sheepishly. He was one of the two people outside of my 'family' I had ever developed an attachment to. Probably because he had stuck by me through my rough period, I had been a real source of trouble for him during that phase.

  "Please Raj, call me George. You're not one of my kids any more; you are your own person now." He smiled sadly, "I'm going to miss you, you know. You and your family were quite a joy to have around, even if you were a bit of a problem at times."

  My family was all of the other Leopards of the Delta-Zeta crèche group. Either by company design or fortunate accident we had decided a long time ago that we were the 'Rakir' family, and I have to admit it was comforting to have eleven brothers and sisters sometimes.

  "I'm going to miss you too George," It felt a little strange calling him that, as kit's we had all called him 'Uncle George' or 'Sir', depending on how much trouble we were in. We had also called him a lot other things behind his back as well, some not so nice.

  "Well, you just remember to behave, and be careful. You aren't going to be in a nice safe school or crèche anymore you know; it's tough and dangerous out there."

  "It hasn't exactly been safe here either," I said sadly. A lot of students hadn't made it; I could still remember the names of the five other students that had died in advanced combat training alone. I had had a few close calls myself over the years that I had been run through my own training.

  "But don't worry about me," I smiled again, "you know I'm good!"

  "Yes, I know. First in your combat class, first in your advanced combat classes too." He sighed, "You're going to find out real fast that doesn't mean much out there, Raj." He reached up then and scratched under my chin. It was usually considered patronizing and an insult when a human did that, but not George. I just closed my eyes and rumbled a little. George did it to everyone, and got away with it. Once he even did it to one of my advanced combat instructors in front of everybody. Guess it’s kind of hard to be afraid of us when you’ve raised as many crèche groups as George had. He was a straight company man and rumor was he’d raised three groups before mine. Rumor also was few people lasted more than two.

  "I'll behave," I sighed.

  "I've heard that before!" He laughed and stopped scratching my chin. "Steve says goodbye too of course."

  Steve was George's longtime roommate, and closest friend I guess, I was never sure what their relationship was. They had been living together for as long as I could remember. He worked here too, in the section that raised the Herbivores. He was deathly afraid of most of us predators, including me.

  "Tell him I'm still sorry about growling at him all those times when I was little!" I laughed.

  "Oh, he knows that. But I don't think he'll ever forgive you for that trick with his ankle," he laughed himself then. "Took me six months just to talk him into coming back here again!"

  "Well, goodbye then," I said.

  "Goodbye Raj."

  We shook hands and he left.

  I quickly finished packing my belongings in my travel bag. There really wasn't much, a few book tapes, family pictures, a couple of uniforms, and some shorts. As I walked out of the compound I looked around one last time. I had spent nearly all of my life here, but this time I wouldn't be coming back. I walked over to the transport center, showed my orders, and found an airbus that was going to the field my new ship was at. I suddenly realized that for the first time in my life I was alone. I wasn't being chaperoned by an instructor or anybody. There weren’t other students or family members with me. It was just me. I smiled to myself, it felt good. I stood a little straighter and adjusted the bag on my shoulder as I climbed on board.

  Looking around at the other people on the airbus, I noticed they were mostly company types. About ten of them looked to be like me, new graduates ready for our first assignment. I could smell their nervousness from where I sat, and knew I smelled as bad myself. So I pulled out and reread the hard copy on my orders as the airbus took me to the field, having no idea what my new assignment held for me. I knew I was being assigned shuttle pilot duties on a freighter, and what that implied, but that was about it. I knew nothing about the ship or the people onboard her.

  The bus dropped me by the field entrance and I showed my orders to the guard at the gate. He gave them a bored once over and waved me through, so I started across the tarmac to my first assignment.

  The ship I was assigned to was the Astra. It was a Transport and Cargo ship, depending on the current needs of the company. My billet was junior shuttle pilot. I looked at the huge bulk of it as I approached; it was in the middle of a swarm of technicians, gantries, and machinery, with a few officers supervising the whole thing.

  I wound my way through the confusion and walked up to the guard on duty at the boarding hatch, came to attention and saluted.

  "Warrant Third Class Rakir requests permission to come aboard."

  "Permission granted. The Captain wants to see you in his dayroom, as soon as you can find it."

  I walked aboard the ship, my ship, I couldn't help but be excited, this was finally it. I was on my way out into the real world at last. We’d all talked about this day growing up in the crèche and I’d been jealous when my sibs had all gone out there before me. Now I was finally here, I wondered what Cassandra was up to. She’d been the one who really encouraged me to go to shuttle training. I quickly found the Captain's day room, straightened my uniform and knocked on the door and waited.

  "Enter."

  "Warrant Third Class Rakir reporting as ordered Sir," I said saluting.

  "At ease, sit down Mr. Rakir."

  The room had a pleasant smell of wood to it, probably from the desk. A brief glance around showed it to be rather nice, no sign of the metal deck or bulkheads, pictures decorated the walls, and an expensive computer sat on the desk. I looked the Captain over next. He was human, which was what I expected. Most, if not all of the important positions in the corporation were staffed by humans. He looked to be about forty, but with the age treatments that humans can afford he could have easily been ninety. He was in good physical condition, had all of his hair, and probably weighted about 170 lbs. He also had a fairly pleasant scent as humans go. I sized him up more out of habit than any conscious effort, he had the no nonsense look that my advanced instructors had. Not someone to get mad obviously. I sat down in the chair across from his desk and tried to keep my tail from twitching.

  "Welcome to the Astra, and the working half of the company. First of all while this is not a military ship, the company expects discipline and I expect all orders to be followed. Uniforms are to be worn when shipboard and when on company duty. I expect everybody to pitch i
n during loading and unloading operations and in the event of a corporate action sidearms will be issued to all warrant ranks and higher."

  “Yes Sir,” I nodded. Corporate action was euphemism for a military action, this may not be a military ship, but it probably carried as much armament as one. The corporations played for keeps.

  "I want you to see the quartermaster and get outfitted. He's not bad, and on this ship we try not to stiff you animen with a lot of jacked up expenses. We have a good buyout rate on board and I keep a good crew. Mind your manners and your business and I guarantee your time here will be a profitable one. Any questions?"

  "No sir." I shook my head.

  "Excited?"

  "Uh, Yes Captain, very." My tail twitched and I once again concentrated on making it behave.

  He smiled then and leaned back in his chair relaxing a little. "Listen I've been working for the company for almost fifty years, and I've been Captain of this ship for more than ten. So let me give you some advice. Keep your eyes open and be real careful, I have about a forty percent attrition rate in new ani's like yourself. Now I know you cats all think you're hell on wheels, but this is dangerous work, that's why you're here and I hate having to get replacements.” He leaned forward and looked serious again. “Oh, and by the way, your predecessor lasted three months. Got his neck broke in a bar fight, a real waste of talent that.

  "Good luck, Dismissed."

  I stood up, saluted, and left. I decided that I should probably find out a little more about my predecessor, and soon. They had told us life could be rough, but no one had ever mentioned that kind of thing.

  I made my way back to the quartermaster's office next; the Astra was a pretty big ship. It displaced about fifty seven thousand tons. Its cargo holds could double as assault ship bays and it always carried six such ships just in case. It had a standing crew of about three hundred, and could carry another five hundred troopers if need be. One thousand if you didn't mind sleeping in the hallways.