Children of Steel Read online

  "Well we never did get along very well. Except when she was in trouble of course."

  I found the stairway and we went down. I just walked around like I owned the place and nobody even looked twice at me. I probably looked like a patient with the sling and all. I found the room I was looking for, there weren't any warning signs on it, so I grabbed the computer slab and walked in.

  I could see why they hadn't wanted me here, She was a mess. Both her legs were gone, and her body was a mass of tubes, wires and bandages. I looked over her chart to see what I could understand.

  Her legs had gangrene, and had to be amputated. New ones were going to take two months to grow. Her back had been broken in three places, but fortunately there was no nerve damage. Most of her intestines had to be removed due to severe damage, and a lot of her body had been carved up pretty well. I couldn't believe she was still alive. Obviously somebody had done a lot of hard work keeping her alive, more than who ever had tried to kill her.

  I handed Herza the chart and walked around to her head. I pulled up a chair and sat down next to her. Kali had always been everybody's favorite; she was the most beautiful of all my sisters. We all treated her like a queen and she never took advantage of our devotion. I started to stroke her head carefully, I could see the heart monitor jump then, so I leaned over and started to whisper in her ear.

  "It's okay now Kali, it's Raj, I won't let anybody hurt you anymore dear, you're safe now." I continued on with more of that, trying to calm her down. I know from my own times in unconsciousness that sometimes you can hear and understand people around you, and I wanted to do my best to reassure her. I watched her heart monitor slow back down, and I took her hand in mine, and gave it a little squeeze.

  "What the hell are you doing in here! This is restricted!"

  I had never heard anybody convey so much authority in a whisper before, I was impressed. It was a black bear so I guessed it was the Doctor.

  "That's his sister." Herza answered defensively, hands held up, from her post by the door.

  "I don't care who he is out!" She looked at Herza, and Herza beat a quick retreat out the door.

  "You too, Mr. Rakir!" she said from the doorway.

  "In a few minutes, I'm not done with today's visit, and I don't want my sister to think she's here alone and forgotten." I replied.

  "You'll leave now or else!" she threatened.

  I looked at the monitor, the heart rate was up a little. I looked back at the doctor, who had followed my motion.

  "I'll be back tomorrow dear," I whispered in her ear, "somebody just needs a little persuading."

  I got up and kissed her forehead, then headed for the door. After it was closed the Doctor started to lecture me about bothering seriously ill patients, and obeying Doctor's orders, and all that crap. I grabbed a roller bandage off a nearby cart and stuck it in her mouth.

  "Shut up, I've had this lecture before, and now that I'm an adult I'm not listening to it again."

  "How dare you ..." she began, pulling it out.

  "I dare because I am her brother and have the right too," I started, staring her down. Which was not an easy feat as I was dead tired. "It would appear that the only things keeping my sister alive are a lot of work and a lot of will. I thank you for the work, but she's the one providing the will, and that needs support. Have you ever spent a month in the hospital, all alone with no one to talk too? All alone, sure you were going to die?"

  "And you have I suppose?" she asked, still a little hostile, but her wind was running down. I had her.

  "Yes, I have. And she knows it too. They had told everybody that I wasn't coming back, and wouldn't allow anybody to visit me either." I turned to look at Herza for a second. She was flabbergasted, "That's why I have a tendency to go ballistic some times, at least that's what the psych guy told me," she just nodded.

  "So I'm going to continue to visit her, and I want to be called when she regains consciousness. Please?" I wheedled a little bit on the last. After all I didn't want her mad at me. At least not any madder than she already was.

  "Ah hell," she sighed. "You do have the right to, and your other sister warned me you wouldn't take no for an answer. But if you go and get her upset, or start messing with her treatment, I'll put you in the next bed! You understand?" Her voice raised on the last threat.

  "I can live with that I think." As a child I learned that Doctor's have to be put in their place, they often tend to think of themselves as minor Deities. But you had to humor them too, just in case.

  "Good, come up to my office." We both followed her there and sat down once inside. I was grateful for the rest.

  "What happened to her, and who did it?" I asked. That was the next question I wanted answered.

  "She had her legs crushed, very slowly, and was then systematically cut up. The only reason she's alive was that at first they wanted everybody to see what happens to anyone who disobeyed them. She wouldn't sleep with the Colonel, and fought him when he tried to take her anyway, so he did this."

  "I definitely killed him too quickly," was all I could think of to say.

  "You said at first," put in Herza, picking up on what I had missed, "what does that mean?"

  "Well, they were just going to let her die then. But a few of the nurses and Doctors that were still allowed to work stuck her in a back closet, and did their damnedest to try and keep her alive. We actually managed to save a few that way thanks to the help of a few of the human nurses, who got real upset when they saw the things their bosses were capable of."

  "You mean that some of the people here actually defied their leader?" asked Herza.

  "Only a few, most either went merrily along, or just ignored anything they didn't like," she shook here head. "It's just truly amazing the things that some humans can ignore, forget, or just plain pretend never happened."

  "And they call us animals!" Was all Herza could say.

  "What's her prognosis now?" I asked, getting back to my sister.

  "Pretty good I think, she's survived so far and now that we can give her proper care, I expect her to make a total recovery. But she'll need some time in physical therapy to recover her strength. As for the mental damage, I don't know. She went through quite a bit."

  "When do you expect her to regain consciousness?"

  "Probably in a day or two. All the physical trauma to her head has been repaired now, so it shouldn't be long."

  "I'll be back again later," I said, "around dinner. Please let the staff know I'll be around a lot from now on."

  "And if I don't?" She asked cocking her head.

  "You'll have to explain to Dr. Feurst why all his handiwork on me got messed up." I smiled and got up to leave. "Thank you for saving my sister Doctor, I appreciate it."

  I shook her hand, and left with Herza. Once we got outside of the Hospital, I leaned on Herza.

  "Tired?" she asked looking at me.

  "A little, I want to go examine my brother's personal effects. Who knows where they would be?" I asked looking around.

  "Security is the best guess. I'm supposed to be on duty now, so is it all right if I leave you there?"

  "Yeah, that's fine. I don't want to get you in any more trouble."

  She led me around the building, and over to a smaller one that had its front door blown off.

  "They still haven't fixed the door yet, but this is the place. I'll see you at dinner okay?" Herza asked.

  "I'll be fine, see you at dinner."

  I waved goodbye, and walked inside. I found the front desk, and leaned against it, until somebody finally noticed me.

  "You okay? Need any help?"

  "I'm okay, still recovering. But I do need some help, I want to claim whatever personal belongings of my brother's that may still exist," I told him.

  He looked at my name tag, "Same last name? Rakir?"

  "That's correct, first name Nepal. I also want to check on my sister's belongings. She's in the hospital, first name Kali."

  "I'll get one
of the local security people to help you. I don't know what they're doing about that. Have a seat; you look like you could use it."

  "Thanks," I said sitting down.

  He headed into the back, and came out with a middle aged female badger in uniform. Her insignia showed her to be a member of the complex's forces.

  "Hi there Mr. Rakir, my name is Lyotta. I'm in charge of taking care of the dead and their belongings."

  I rose and shook her hand then sat back down.

  "Do you have anything on either of them?" I asked, "I doubt they had much to start with, but I felt I should check."

  "Well, your brother's gear was confiscated by the enemy, so who knows what happened to it. The same for his personal effects mostly. After the invasion, they moved into our quarters and pretty much trashed our personal belongings.

  "I knew Nepal though, and I honestly don't think he really had that much. Just some photos and correspondence as I recall."

  "How did he die anyway? Was it an execution?" I asked quietly.

  "Yes it was. They killed most of the male security forces as soon as everybody had surrendered. I guess they were worried about any possible escapes, or riots. The only reason I think they didn't kill the women and the technicians was so we could work in the mines. How's your sister doing anyway?"

  "She looks bad, but the doctor says she'll make it," I looked at her. "Anything of hers survive either?"

  "I doubt it," she said shaking her head. "But there's still a lot of cleaning up to do. Anything could turn up from either of them, so come back in a couple of weeks and see."

  "Thanks. You people seem to be bouncing back pretty quickly." I told her.

  "Better to work than to think about who we lost. Everybody here lost somebody, be glad your sister's okay."

  "I am, believe me, I am." I got up to leave then. "Thanks again!" and walked outside.

  I wandered around for a while, learning the layout of the place. I really had no idea when I was supposed to go back on duty or what I was to do. I decided to tackle that later, but for now I just walked around looking at the damage from the battles that had taken place here.

  I finally sat down in the same courtyard that had been the scene of the failed negotiations. I guess from my point of view they had succeeded pretty damn well. Somebody had righted the table and chairs. The table itself was pitted and scarred from the rounds it had stopped, and some holes from those it hadn't. I guess that hand grenade hadn't been nice to it either.

  I drew my knife, and for the lack of anything to do, I carved my name in big letters across the table. I was about half way through, when somebody in a police uniform showed up.

  "What may I ask, do you think you're doing?" she asked me.

  I looked up at her. "Signing my work?" and I went back to working on the 'J'. The concrete was pretty hard and it was really dulling the blade.

  "Oh, really? Do you always sign your work?" She asked sarcastically.

  "Why not?" I laughed gesturing at the blood stains still on the chairs and ground, "I put a lot of blood and sweat into it already." I tilted the table over a bit, "That's my own personal stock." I sighed pointing to the stains on the bottom.

  "Kind of morbid, aren't you?" she sat down in one of the other chairs.

  "I don't know," I said finishing my work. "I've gone through a lot these last days. First I was shot down, then shot up, patched together physically, pulled apart mentally." I looked it over with a critical eye, "And just this morning, I find out I lost a brother to these butchers and almost a sister too. I really don't know how I feel."

  "Survivor’s Guilt. There's a lot of that going around right now." she admitted sadly, "I lost a couple of good friends myself. At least it's over now."

  "I don't think it's over yet, not by a long shot. I want to find these shits and kill every last one." I looked around the courtyard. "What did they do with the bodies anyway?"

  "Which ones?" she looked surprised at the sudden change.

  "The Colonel and his staff," I laughed, "I mean I left them right here and now they're gone!"

  "You really are sick, you know that? I gather they went into a mass grave. They were pretty messy actually.

  I stopped and thought a second; I was acting a little strange. "Excuse me; I think I really have been acting like a fool."

  "That's okay," She gave me a sidelong look; "after the bodies were buried I wanted to dance on their graves. Some actually did."

  "I thought us animen were supposed to be above that kind of thing." I smiled thinking about the sight of that.

  "We're really not all that different from them you know, and that's what bother's most of them."

  "But we are different!" I asserted.

  "We look different," she corrected, "I mean what is really different about you? You've got retractable claws, a fur coat, a tail, and a leopard's head. That's all just cosmetic's really."

  "But I'm faster, stronger and tougher than they are!" I argued.

  "Maybe a little bit, but those are more likely due to training than the Gene splicer’s work. No we're much more alike than some people can stand, make that some 'humans' can stand. But look at history some time; you'll see that persecution and prejudice are old human tricks."

  "Then why in the world did they create us?" I asked hotly.

  "Somebody has to do the dirty work, and the ignorant masses became enlightened. Nobody who's really smart wants this work, too many don't come back, but we're trained to like it from birth."

  "So why do you keep doing it if you're so enlightened?" I asked suspiciously.

  "I wasn't asked, and I suspect you weren't either. I'm actually a geologist by training and I'm filling in here until things get back to normal. But to be totally honest, I do like the work. Maybe that's another thing that bothers these people, we may be the ones taking the chances, but we're the ones getting the experience."

  I stopped and considered what she had said. Yes the corporations created us because many people wouldn’t give up their sedate and safe lives back on earth, where they could live long healthy lives. Even those who would come into space and colonize the many far flung planets didn’t want to take any more chances than they necessarily had to. So they had to create a work force, and they created us. They were getting to the point where the human race couldn’t continue to expand without us and in some places couldn’t even just live in the status quo. So there were those that resented us, hated us, and wanted us gone. But they never thought about what would happen if we weren’t there, they never thought about that.

  "Well, it's something to think about anyway." I got up, and so did she, "I better get going, I'll see you around."

  She nodded and we headed our separate ways.

  13

  I went and had something to eat then, and after a short nap I eventually ended up at the gym, where I exercised carefully until it was time to go see Kali again. I was happy with my progress, I remembered the doctor's advice and didn't push it, still I was rapidly recovering my stamina.

  The walk back to the Hospital was uneventful and I didn't even have to stop and catch my breath on the way. I entered unharassed and made my way down to my sister's room. I sat down by her head, found a comb and started to groom her head. Most of the rest of her body was covered by bandages so it was about the only thing I could comb. I talked quietly as I worked and found myself beginning to unwind; I hadn't realized just how upset I was until then.

  After spending an hour, I told her I would be back in the morning and gave her a little kiss goodbye. I could have sworn I felt her hand move when I squeezed it as I got up to leave, but I wasn't sure. I was quite surprised to run into the Doctor as I was going down the corridor on my way out.

  "Ah Mr. Rakir, have a good visit?"

  "As good as can be expected I guess. Do you really think she'll come out soon?" I asked.

  "Her brain scans seem to indicate it, and my experience is the same."

  "Would you know what room a Leopard named
Mist is in? She has both legs in traction."

  "Let me check," she looked at her computer slate. "Ah, here she is room 312."

  "I'm not going to get into trouble this time am I?" I asked smiling.

  "No she's in an open ward, but you should hurry, visiting hours are almost over." She smiled back.

  It didn't take me long to find her room, I walked in and found her lying in bed with both legs in traction. She looked up as I walked in.

  "Hey Raj, nice to see you. Pull up a chair."

  "So what happened to you anyway?" I asked sitting down.

  "Took some autofire in the legs, that's all. I heard about you while I was on the way to the hospital and to be honest," she looked me over then, "You have looked better."

  "I just got out yesterday and I'm still recovering. When are you due to get out?"

  "They finished rebuilding the bones yesterday, but with the slightly higher gravity here, the Doc wants to keep me in an extra day. He's afraid of stress cracks I guess, so I'll be in 'til tomorrow afternoon."

  I looked at her legs; they were up in the air in a truly classic position. If it weren’t for the hardware from the healing machines, it would be worth a lewd remark or two.

  "So has everybody else been in to visit?" I asked.

  "Everybody who's on planet, you just missed Balizar. He looks busier than I've ever seen him. I'm really surprised he's still on planet." She looked really puzzled.

  "Why's that?" I asked her.

  "Well, usually these things are handled by the locals afterwards."

  "Well, we are going to be here a while, and I know the Captain wishes to make a point by having an animan handle the trials."

  "Oh I know that, but why him? Aren't there any locals of rank around?"

  "I'm beginning to suspect not." I said worriedly, "I'm also wondering if more of these folks are going to show up here."

  "Let's change the subject, I really don't feel like worrying right now!" she replied emphatically. "So how are you feeling?"

  "Better actually, but you should see what the Doc did to my coat, I've got bald patches everywhere." I motioned with my right arm, which was still in a sling, "This was the only rifle shot that hit me clean, but it was pretty far away, so my armor took a lot off of it."