13 Degrees of Separation (81 page)

“I...
Bobby was driving. He...” she flung her head in her hands and cried.

“I take
it Bobby didn’t live?” the elder asked softly. She turned and stroked the
girl's curly brown hair.

“No,” the
girl sobbed shaking her head.

“Polar
bears cleaned up the mess,” Blizzard replied and then sneezed.

“Oh. Ah.
Yes. That will do it,” the elder sighed stroking the girl. “Most of the bears
are naturals, not Neo's like us. They don’t respect humans,” she said.

“The
feeling is mutual,” the priestess snorted then closed her eyes.

“True,”
Blizzard agreed and flicked her ears.

“What
made you crash young one?” The elder asked, fitting furs over Susan and then
going to a place on the wall and tapping at the controls. She looked at the
girl, her teeth were chattering and she was nearly out. Unfortunately she
needed answers so she'd have to stay awake. After a moment a cup of steaming
brew appeared in the slot. Blizzard and the priestess sniffed the air at the
sudden smell of water and something else.

She
handed it to the girl. The girl looked up, taking comfort in the warmth in her
hands. They still shook, not from as much the cold as the stress the elder
realized. “Drink it, it's fortified tea,” she said.

“Oh.
Thank you,” the girl gulped. She took a sip, “wow, this is strong,” she said,
eyes wide.

“It's
elderberry tea. I ran out of my favorites centuries ago I'm afraid,” the elder
said shaking her head. Fat chance she'd ever get more of anything else. Tea was
something the pack was not big on trading for, and it didn't grow on this world
anyway. The pack did get what they could from the Terrans, grudgingly because
of her vice though.

“You're
that old? Really?” Cali asked, eyes wide.

Blizzard
wanted to protest, such insolence. She wrinkled her muzzle in annoyance but the
elder flicked her ears at her. “Really, really that old,” the elder chuckled.
Blizzard blinked at her ancestor's ready humor.

“She has
been here since the snows first fell, long, long ago,” Blizzard said. “So be
respectful,” she warned.

“Well, it
wasn’t always like this,” the old one sighed. The elder got a cup of tea for
herself then a bowl of meat and put it down in front of the priestess, then
another bowl in front of Blizzard. The priestess's eyes opened at the heady
scent of meat, they nodded their thanks.

“You said
you piloted this ship?” Cali asked, “you're a sleeper?”

The elder
glanced at her and flicked her ears. “I did? Oh yes, that,” she chuckled. “I
had forgotten. Forgive me, I'm old and my memory slips now and again.” She
shrugged then sat, drinking her tea.

“I was a
lieutenant in the marine corps, pilot,” she said indicating the shuttle. “This
world was hit. We were sent to help with the evac, but well, my ship had an
intermittent power failure in the storm. It got banged up good coming down,”
she explained.

“Ouch,”
the girl winced in shared pain. They'd crashed in the little air flitter.
Crashing in something as big as this, as high as it went? In a storm? They were
lucky to have survived.

“Yes, I'd
say you have some understanding in that regard,” she said amused. She looked
over to see Susan’s eyes. Her eyelids fluttered and then opened, blinking a bit
in the light. She checked the child's vital signs on the monitor. Core temp was
creeping upward, up to 92 now. Good, she was at least a little alert, a touch
of shock but she was assimilating well.

“The
planet was fortunate, the Navy managed to stop the planet buster, but it
well...” she indicated the door. “It's remains and the lack of the Terraformers
caused an ice age, a nasty one,” she said with grim humor.

Cali
gulped at the tea, Blizzard gulped at the meat. “Oh, ouch,” Cali said to fill
in the silence.

Blizzard
looked up and then to her mother. Her mother nodded, eyes still on her meal.
She was eating slowly, as was her daughter. Normally they would wolf down a
meal quickly but she'd set the example of going slow and listening.

“I was
tasked with repairing my shuttle since the evac ships were overloaded. I
offered to stay behind. I had felt guilty about the crash,” the elder said. She
shook her head, “I've been here ever since, they never came back for me. I
can't say I blame them,” she said.

“How...
how could you stay alive that long?” Cali asked, brow wrinkled. She ran a hand
over her face. Most of the feeling was coming back to her skin. It felt like
jagged needles stabbing into her face and hands. Not a pleasant sensation but
better then the burning numbness. Hopefully the frost bite wouldn't be too bad,
her face all black wouldn't be good.

“Oh
that?” The elder chuckled, she pointed to the pod. “The pack always wonders
that but none have had the balls to ask until now. That pod over there is also
a stasis pod. Each shuttle has got four of them in case of casualties, my
shuttle was spared from getting stripped. I help the Neos in the area and they
in turn supply me with news and food. I sleep in stasis most of the time.” she
explained.

“Oh,”
Cali said.

“I set
the computer to wake me if someone is near. I usually don't wake until spring
has fully sprung,” the elder said. She had yet to fully identify herself.

“The
winter is overlong grandmother,” the priestess said, pushing the now empty bowl
away. “New pups have been born, but the hunting has been bad, the herds are
still south,” she said.

“Ah.
That's bad,” the elder sighed. After a moment she returned her attention to
Cali. “So... Back to you young one. You were going home and got lost?” She
asked, turning to the humans.

“No, we
were running,” Susan mumbled. She coughed and tried to rub her eyes. Cali got
up and gave her a sip of the tea, she coughed again. Cali helped her to sit up,
rubbing her back to help her get over the fit.

“Running?
Running away?” Blizzard asked confused, “from your home and family?” She asked
questioningly.

“No, from
the pirates,” Susan mumbled. Her eyelids fluttered, she was incredibly tired.
After a moment her eyes closed once more and she laid back, relaxing.

Cali
stroked her hair gently for a moment. She looked at the readouts. She could
puzzle out temperature and heartbeat. It looked like her sister was recovering.

Cali
looked up when the elder snuffled. Her eyes locked on the elder who was sitting
stiff in shock, hand paws in her lap. “Pirates hit the port and then the outer
towns. We were waiting in the car when they hit the trading post. Dad, mom, and
Uncle Ben were listening to the radio when this thing came out of the sky and
the...” she choked back a sob, hand going to her mouth.

“It
strafed the post?” The elder asked quietly. Cali nodded. “No survivors?” The
elder asked.

“We
didn’t stop to look. When... when it blew up the fuel depot Bobby hit drive and
we ran into the tree line. The pirates shot it up then circled back, Bobby said
they were chasing us.”, she explained.

“Oh,” the
elder said.

Blizzard's
eyes were wide. Such a story! She wasn't sure about it but it sounded scary and
exciting.

“We just
ran and ran. We tried to get him to stop but he just...” she shook her head
helplessly rubbing at her eyes.

“He
wanted to get away, to get you safe. Smart boy, I wish I had been able to meet
him. There wasn’t anything you could have done,” the elder said, patting Cali's
shoulder in sympathy. “How bad are things? Do you know?” the elder asked.

Cali
shook her head, “I heard on the radio about the attack just as that shuttle
came in. It.. it... was bad,” she gulped, fighting tears. “Everyone was excited
about a ship coming in and had been flocking to the port,” Cali explained, eyes
darkened by the memories.

“Oh,” the
elder said, walking over to the wall. “Get some rest,” she said pausing there.
She turned to see Cali nod. The girl took a blanket and curled up with her
sister. The elder frowned and then touched a control and a hatch door to the
cockpit opened. She went up the ladder and through the hatch, she knew the
priestess would keep the others content.

“What are
you doing elder?” Blizzard asked, looking up. She went over and looked up then
climbed a ladder. She heard voices, strange voices. Her ears flattened and she
sniffed, but couldn’t smell anything beyond the elder's scent and dust.

“Checking
the radio, I'll be back in a minute,” the elder said, sitting in a chair. She
tapped at the controls, “I wish I had more implants,” she grumbled.

Blizzard
wondered what she meant by that. The voices however cut that thought short. Her
ears flattened as what the strangers were saying registered.

Chapter 3

The
former marine officer checked the radio, scanning the frequencies. It wasn't
hard to narrow them down to the pirate ones so she could find out the news. Her
actions grew grim as a clearer picture emerged. From the sound of the chatter
these weren't ordinary pirates. Pirates would normally loot, pillage, rape, and
then burn. Unfortunately Kathy's world had had more than their fair share of
them over the centuries. These were sounding more and more like they were
setting up shop and staying long term, a full occupation, not a good thing.

Cali woke
a few hours later and told her about the last ship that had come in bearing
news of Pyrax. She spoke of an Admiral Irons, a legendary figure from the Xeno
war who had turned out to be a sleeper. They had heard about it a month ago
when the last ship came through. According to the story the admiral had been
found by a passing freighter. He'd spent his time on her rebuilding the ship
and training the crew before he got off in Pyrax just in time to avert a crisis
of power there and then fend off attacking pirates. The story was a bit
garbled, somehow he'd salvaged enough ships to ambush the pirates and capture
them.

The elder
was fascinated and carefully quizzed the girl on the events. It was a pity that
the girl's account was third or fourth hand, still it was something for her to
think about carefully. The time of hiding in shame was over. The time for
action... maybe now, she thought. She decided to help as they ate another meal.
They bedded down for the night as she returned to the computer.

“What's
your name?” Cali asked as the wolves came back inside. The elder had shown them
the refresher but the Neowolves couldn't handle the cabinet sized space easily
so they took their business outside when nature called.

Blizzard
snorted softly, her mother looked from her to the avidly watching humans. She
flicked her ears as her daughter flounced down and crossed her paws in front of
her. She returned her attention to the still waiting human. “I am called
priestess,” she said, sitting.

“Priestess
is a role not a name,” Cali said, cocking her head. Over the past several days
the humans had exchanged stories with the wolves to keep themselves occupied
and to pass the time. They'd learned that the priestess was the keeper of
wisdom and the trainer of the pack's cubs.

“Still it
is my name now,” the priestess replied, amused by the little one's interest.
Her own daughter had never thought to ask.

“Now,”
Cali said, picking up on that word. She narrowed her eyes, “but there was
another priestess before you, so at that time you had a name,” Cali replied.

The
priestess snorted, surprised and amused afresh by the child's logic. “You might
as well tell her,” little Susan said, stretching slowly. “She's always
interested in stuff like that, she'll get it out of you eventually.”

“Hypatia,”
the elder said, coming into the room. She nodded to the priestess as Blizzard
looked up in shock, “Tia when she was a child.”

“I...”
Blizzard stared at her mother, “I didn't know.”

“Trust
grandmother to know,” the priestess laughed softly, flicking her ears, “she
knows us all.”

“Especially
those of you who are descended from my line,” the elder replied in amusement.
Fresh shock washed over the two neo wolves as they absorbed that. The two
humans stared at each other in confusion. Susan shrugged helplessly.

“We had
known to call you grandmother but...,” the priestess said trailing off.

“Moira,”
the elder said, sitting down in a chair. “My name is Moira, first lieutenant
Moira white wolf, Federation Marine corps,” she announced.

The
priestess's eyes went wide as she digested that, the shock...

“Everyone
had a name at one point in their lives daughter,” the elder replied. “I wasn't
born elder or grandmother. Those names you and the packs fostered onto me, I
bear them with no ill will,” she said.

“I...,”
the priestess began.

“As it
happens,” the elder said ignoring the priestess and turning to Cali. “Hypatia
is the name of the librarian of Alexandria when it fell... or so the legend
says. I named her that years ago,” she said, turning to the priestess who was
flabbergasted. Moira tapped at the food replicator and replicated the evening's
meal. She heard the rumble from Cali's tummy and snorted in amusement.

“Here,”
she said, passing the girl the stew. The girl thanked her but passed it on to
her little sister. The girl sniffed the fragrant aroma and then sighed in
appreciation. She was still having trouble holding utensils but she stubbornly
insisted on doing it herself. Moira was quite proud of the child's unbroken
spirit, and amused by her sister's fretting.

“I take
it the hunt turned up empty?” the elder asked looking at Hypatia, the priestess
shrugged a no.

“I
thought not, the small game have either gone or have entered hibernation. With
the long cold winter they may never wake at all at this rate,” she said,
handing Cali a second bowl and then replicating a tray of meat for the wolves.
She made herself some stew as well and sat back, watching her guests eat.