Cassandra and myself.
"Is this your family?" she asked, gesturing
to the first picture.
"Yeah, that's us. That picture was taken just
before I left for shuttle training and the others left for their
new assignments."
"Who's the girl?"
"That's Cassandra my sister, and one true
love." I said with a sigh.
"Your sister? Isn't that incest or
something?" She had a real sour expression on her face.
"You don't know about crèches do you?" I
sounded a little disgusted now myself.
"No, why?"
"Nobody in a crèche family is actually
related. No parents."
"What do you mean, 'No parents'?"
"Just that, none, nada, zip."
"Then how were you born?"
"Listen," I said sitting down on my desk, "My
mother was a test tube, and my father was a DNA extruding machine.
I was conceived by a committee, and planned by a technician. Where
did you think I came from?" I asked embarrassed. Talking
about such things wasn’t exactly socially acceptable.
"I honestly never gave it any thought," she
replied abashed, "I mean, I know about genetic engineering and all.
I've just never met anybody before who was."
I laughed out loud at that! "Haven't met
anybody? Terease, nearly every animan on the ship is a crèche
baby!"
"What? But nobody ever says anything about
it."
"It's not considered polite conversation,
you'll notice nobody ever asks you about your parents either."
"I guess that would also be the reason the
clan's are so important to everybody."
"Pretty much, the Clans watch out for their
members, help all the different species get along with each other,
keep us from running afoul of human laws, and actually handle most
legal matters allowing the human courts to mostly ignore us."
"Sound's a lot like a family to me."
"You're learning. How was your room?"
"Closed for maintenance, but my clothes were
at the laundry pick-up so I'm not too bad off. So tell me about
Cassandra."
"What's to tell? We're in love and if fate
ever should smile on us, we'll get a joint assignment and probably
even settle down as lifemates."
"I don't see you saving yourself for
marriage."
"Hey, virtue is a human hang-up and sex is
not love. Anyway I am not master of my own life yet, not by a long
shot. I could be dead next year. We could conceivably never meet
again. Who knows? It's a big universe, and I'm a small cat."
"Not that small!" she said looking me up and
down.
"That's only because you're smaller." I
smiled, "come on, I found us a small practice room. It's time you
started to learn to fend off all those admirer's you're going to
have in a few weeks." I led her off down the hall to the rec area I
had reserved then.
"Oh, you know something I don't know?" She
asked.
"I figure Gabe will start making passes in a
week or so, and shortly after that it'll be open season."
"But he's a Fox!" She said aghast.
"So? Mixed pairings aren't that
uncommon."
"Oh? Have you been party to many?"
"Listen," I said quietly, "Don't tell
anybody, but my number of lovers can be counted on one hand.
Without using all your fingers even."
"So, I take it that's a No."
"Hey, I'm still learning how to flirt. On two
of those conquests I was the conquest!"
"Really? And here I though you were a big man
of the world."
"That's the problem with size," I admitted,
"just because you're big, people think you're mature too. Hell, I
just try to do as I'm told, let the 'older and wiser' heads figure
out what to do."
By that time we had reached the practice
room. I chased out the previous group and closed the door. We
stripped down, and I spent the next hour running her through
stretching exercises and some basic techniques.
This was followed by a trip to the showers,
then a mutual grooming session as I gave her a lecture on the
proper way to care for your fur and claws. There was obviously
nothing wrong with her teeth. After that it was dinner, where she
again surprised me by eating more than I did and off to bed.
When she laid down on her side and I on mine,
I thought about it a second
"Is this your family?" she asked, gesturing
to the first picture.
"Yeah, that's us. That picture was taken just
before I left for shuttle training and the others left for their
new assignments."
"Who's the girl?"
"That's Cassandra my sister, and one true
love." I said with a sigh.
"Your sister? Isn't that incest or
something?" She had a real sour expression on her face.
"You don't know about crèches do you?" I
sounded a little disgusted now myself.
"No, why?"
"Nobody in a crèche family is actually
related. No parents."
"What do you mean, 'No parents'?"
"Just that, none, nada, zip."
"Then how were you born?"
"Listen," I said sitting down on my desk, "My
mother was a test tube, and my father was a DNA extruding machine.
I was conceived by a committee, and planned by a technician. Where
did you think I came from?" I asked embarrassed. Talking
about such things wasn’t exactly socially acceptable.
"I honestly never gave it any thought," she
replied abashed, "I mean, I know about genetic engineering and all.
I've just never met anybody before who was."
I laughed out loud at that! "Haven't met
anybody? Terease, nearly every animan on the ship is a crèche
baby!"
"What? But nobody ever says anything about
it."
"It's not considered polite conversation,
you'll notice nobody ever asks you about your parents either."
"I guess that would also be the reason the
clan's are so important to everybody."
"Pretty much, the Clans watch out for their
members, help all the different species get along with each other,
keep us from running afoul of human laws, and actually handle most
legal matters allowing the human courts to mostly ignore us."
"Sound's a lot like a family to me."
"You're learning. How was your room?"
"Closed for maintenance, but my clothes were
at the laundry pick-up so I'm not too bad off. So tell me about
Cassandra."
"What's to tell? We're in love and if fate
ever should smile on us, we'll get a joint assignment and probably
even settle down as lifemates."
"I don't see you saving yourself for
marriage."
"Hey, virtue is a human hang-up and sex is
not love. Anyway I am not master of my own life yet, not by a long
shot. I could be dead next year. We could conceivably never meet
again. Who knows? It's a big universe, and I'm a small cat."
"Not that small!" she said looking me up and
down.
"That's only because you're smaller." I
smiled, "come on, I found us a small practice room. It's time you
started to learn to fend off all those admirer's you're going to
have in a few weeks." I led her off down the hall to the rec area I
had reserved then.
"Oh, you know something I don't know?" She
asked.
"I figure Gabe will start making passes in a
week or so, and shortly after that it'll be open season."
"But he's a Fox!" She said aghast.
"So? Mixed pairings aren't that
uncommon."
"Oh? Have you been party to many?"
"Listen," I said quietly, "Don't tell
anybody, but my number of lovers can be counted on one hand.
Without using all your fingers even."
"So, I take it that's a No."
"Hey, I'm still learning how to flirt. On two
of those conquests I was the conquest!"
"Really? And here I though you were a big man
of the world."
"That's the problem with size," I admitted,
"just because you're big, people think you're mature too. Hell, I
just try to do as I'm told, let the 'older and wiser' heads figure
out what to do."
By that time we had reached the practice
room. I chased out the previous group and closed the door. We
stripped down, and I spent the next hour running her through
stretching exercises and some basic techniques.
This was followed by a trip to the showers,
then a mutual grooming session as I gave her a lecture on the
proper way to care for your fur and claws. There was obviously
nothing wrong with her teeth. After that it was dinner, where she
again surprised me by eating more than I did and off to bed.
When she laid down on her side and I on mine,
I thought about it a second
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