To Touch the Stars (Founding of the Federation Book 2) Read online

  The gorilla female patted her on the shoulder. She snuffled as he offered her a tissue. The orangutan chuffed. “That's telling ‘em, dear,” she said.

  The black male reporter stared at her and then sat slowly. Others around him looked at him with discomfort and contempt. He looked down as if ashamed.

  Miss Cole answered a series of questions but then wrapped things up. When the reporters protested, she waved a hand. “An FAQ and brief are waiting on the Lagroose public affairs page for your perusal. We will also make representatives of each species available for video interviews shortly. But these people have jobs as some have pointed out,” she said smiling to the reporter who had kicked off the snit. “And I for one need a drink, I've been talking for quite a while,” she said, coughing theatrically. That got a chuckle of understanding. “More to come folks, we'll keep you posted,” she said with a wave as she escorted her troop out.

  They had only come forward with apes and dolphins, not the other Neo species. They were too new, too unstable, too controversial, and some were classified for good reason. But the five species finally could come out and live and work in Lagroose normally.

  Accusations of a manufactured slave race and a fraud were normal Barbie judged. Barbie put her best people forward on blog posts but it was the Neos themselves doing interviews that turned the tide for a while. Then a series of typhoons and hurricanes cut the controversy short. The apes wondered what happened when the requests for interviews didn't just taper off as expected but cut off almost completely.

  “The media has a short attention span. They moved on to the next crisis. Be glad. With time we, I mean you, will be accepted. This will give people time to digest it. For the hot buttons to cool off a bit,” Barbie explained to the troop and pod leaders.

  Some on the fringe were not ready to quit or give up the attacks she realized. The hate blogs were still very much active. A few were building up steam picking the various Neo interviews apart. “What do we do about them?” Ngozi asked. “I've tried to talk to them, but they just go nuts. The more I try to talk the more they scream louder drowning me out or picking apart what I say and using it against me,” she said.

  “Unfortunately, that's their game. Trolls,” Barbie said by way of explanation. “And by responding to them you play their game. As long as you stay polite and stick to the facts you are on safe ground, but they are looking to provoke you.”

  “So, what do we do?” she asked.

  Barbie sighed. “Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about them, haters are going to hate. They fear what they can't understand. Willful ignorance defending the status quo. Only time and knowledge can cure that sort of thing.”

  “It won't cure it. It might mute it, however.”

  “What about the religious leaders?” Charlie asked. He eyed the publicist. “And the politicians? What are they saying?” He cocked his head. “They are the leaders, people listen to them.”

  Barbie frowned thoughtfully. “The … the pope and other religious leaders have so far refused to make a snap judgment. I know the Vatican wants to do interviews with you to see where your religious thoughts lie.”

  “I see,” Ginger murmured thoughtfully.

  “I don't think they are ready to come out for or against. They don't want to alienate either side you see. Politicians and leaders hate change. They don't want to alienate supporters but not sure about fringe,” She explained. “Politicians too, they are waiting and watching to see how things trend.”

  “And the UN?” Ginger asked.

  “We're getting some flack but that was expected. They are working on a major refugee crisis and some warmongering in Africa; territory disputes are heating up since flooding has made a mess of the lowlands. Plus a plague there too so they have their hands full. Maybe later we'll get something when things calm down. If they calm down. There is always the next crisis,” Barbie said.

  “About the typhoons,” Ngozi said slowly.

  “What about them?”

  “I want to help.”

  “Me too,” Ginger said.

  Barbie nodded thoughtfully. “You know, I think you can. And if we do, then people will see you differently. They'll be more willing to accept you.”

  “That's not why I want to do it,” the gorilla insisted. The woman blinked at her. She chuffed in annoyance. “It's the right thing to do,” she said. The others nodded as Barbie flushed.

  “Of course it is. I'll get our people moving and set it up,” Barbie said pulling her earwig off her cufflink. “I've got to make some calls. You check with your people for volunteers,” she urged. The apes nodded and went to work.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Aurelia was unhappy about the initial public response but Jack told her it was expected. “What did you expect? People fear what they don't understand. The cure for that is knowledge. Give it time. Give them time to prove themselves.” He shook his head. “Hell, what am I saying; they are doing that now,” he waved to the screen showing coverage of the rescue work on the ground. Lagroose Industries like a lot of the megacorps had stepped up. But this time with a twist. Barbie had arranged for Neo volunteers to be prominent in the rescue work, right alongside the robots and human workers. From reports on the ground, there had been some consternation from people being rescued, but when you were drowning, any helping hand was gratefully accepted. The cameras were all over that. Seeing them pulling children to safety and getting hugs was turning them into media darlings.

  “It's not like we can put the genie back in the bottle can we?” she finally asked, using one of his favorite pet phrases. She stared at the screen, not really seeing the images.

  He chuckled and shook his head. “No, no we can't,” he rumbled.

  “What if we're wrong? What if they aren't ready?” she whispered, eyes troubled and lost. She'd lost a lot of sleep over the whole thing. It didn't help that she was having a troubled pregnancy either. The stress was negatively affecting her health as well as the fetuses. She'd gone with another boy since girls were higher maintenance. She knew Jack would love all their children, but she wasn't ready to have a girl just yet. When she had more free time … she let the thought die off as her husband squeezed her hand.

  “They will make mistakes. They'll fall on their faces a few times; it's perfectly normal. We'll try to help, we'll be there if we can, but eventually they have to learn to stand on their own feet. We need to learn to let them,” he emphasized.

  “Did you see Charlie bristling? He could have broken that reporter in two! He was about ready to!”

  “Yes, and that's natural. I wasn't happy either, and I wasn't there. But Emilia stepped up and handled it perfectly. She's a sweetheart. A bit emotional, but I bet Barbie knew that and planned on that reaction.”

  Aurelia turned a glare his way. “You mean …”

  He shrugged. “It may have been staged; I don't know. What I do know is it played in our, or should I say their favor for now.” He turned to indicate the screen. She looked, a gorilla was busy climbing a tree. From the reaction of the people in the tree, they weren't happy about his intrusion. That stopped when he passed them, got to the top and threw a line out to rescuers. “See? They are doing it. Give them time. I'll deal with the board. We just need to be on the lookout and keep reminding them to behave.”

  “Some are still very naive,” Aurelia warned. “They are unfinished. I'm glad we didn't come forward with the other species. The dogs and cats would be one thing, but the wolves …” She shook her head.

  Jack nodded. The wolves were at the same point as the cats; they wanted to be left alone in their habitats. Well, the cats wanted to explore from time to time, but as long as they did it on all fours the two-legs barely noticed them. “And some are so cynical it's sickening. We … I mean they will figure it out. In time. And dear, for the record, humanity is unfinished. That's normal too. We all need room to grow.”

  “I don't think Wizard or Jerry Lee or, well, any of the other dogs would have minded comi
ng forward,” Aurelia said softly. You and I both know they didn't fully understand the risk though; they had a … very simple view point,” she said, frowning thoughtfully. “But both Wizard and his litter mate Jerry Lee were … are assigned to the military or police. At least they are keeping their intelligence covert. Or were,” she said as her face hardened. Letting the dogs be assigned to the military on a volunteer basis had been something Ursilla and Jack had worked out with the US military, feds, and police forces before she'd gotten involved. At least she'd put a stop to the practice of selling them or the older generation of animals. “And look what happened to them,” she practically spat, eyes flashing.

  Jack scowled but didn't argue. Loosing dogs, hell, any of the Neos to combat sucked. In the early days, it had been expensive, but now they only assigned the older dogs or in Aurelia's nomenclature .5 or below dogs to the ground. That way the program wouldn't be compromised. They had all served with honor and distinction. In Wizard's case he'd lost his life but saved thousands of others in the process.

  Wizard had been spectacular, which was why he'd become the template for a bloodline of dogs that had recently birthed a new generation of pups long after he'd died. Jack eyed Aurelia briefly with a sidelong look. She was ready to fight; he could see it. He shook his head, not willing to pick the argument up with her.

  He was pretty sure General Isaac Murtough had a sneaking suspicion about how intelligent the Lagroose-loaned Neodogs were. He didn't ask any leading questions, and they didn't volunteer anything more than absolutely required. But there were those hints from time to time … “It's all coming together. A bit faster than we'd like I guess but slow for them.”

  She nodded. “They are like children chafing at not being allowed to grow up. I wish they'd settle down but they don't seem interested in flying under the radar do they?” She smiled whimsically. Barbie Cole was milking the Neo participation for all it was worth. She was definitely driving home the point about the Neos being people. Even when the media had been all over someone had pitched a snit over sharing an aircraft with a chimp she'd turned it to her advantage. The woman was brilliant. “You know some of the apes want in on the Daedalus. They've resented their getting passed over.”

  He rolled his eyes in disgust. “Give us a break! No can do. We can put some of them on the waiting list for Icarus, or Prometheus but that's it. They'll have to wait or fly passenger for now. But we will open things up for supervised visits to Mars, plus interviews.”

  “Barbie has them doing interviews,” Aurelia reminded him.

  “Video conference ones don't count. Full in your face interviews like the one Fiben did on the ground a moment ago after that rescue is where people can't claim they are CG or robots. One step at a time. Let her do her job. I'm curious how they'll react on the ground, and how people will react to them.”

  “Mars is a good testing ground then. They are more open minded,” Aurelia said. “They'd do better there.”

  “True. The L-5 colonies too, though none of the artificial habs will be happy about the fur. Shedding and all,” he said. She grimaced. “We'll deal with it,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to hug and squeeze her. She reached up to pat his hand, then squeeze his fingers. He smiled and kissed her.

  She did her best to relax. He was right, for now the future had to handle itself.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Megan Wu and Jean Pierre were taken off guard by the Neo announcement. “I hadn't imagined it was anything like this. Even with the intelligence we'd gathered … nothing like this,” Megan murmured, shaking her head.

  Jean frowned. “Where are we on this?”

  “Stuck. PETA and other organizations are having a field day. They can't make up their minds if they are excited that it proved animal intelligence or outraged by the genetic tampering.” She shook her head. “The anti-genetic engineering and Bible thumpers are pitching snits and picking up steam but the storm has killed coverage on any protests, which means the leaders are holding off. The media is scrambling to cover the storms and rescue work, it's good drama after all. Lagroose is also making a show of helping out … Their robots and people are everywhere, dropping supplies, moving people … They responded twice as fast as FEMA did.”

  “True,” Saul rumbled. Seeing how fast Lagroose had deployed assets from orbit to the ground had been a bit unnerving to some. The public may be happy about the extra help, but he saw it as a training exercise. The next time that helping hand could have a rifle in it. He'd have to be … careful about things. If Lagroose took the gloves off, that deployment alone showed him it could get ugly fast if they took the fight right to the ground.

  “And that footage of a dolphin rescuing people was top notch. The same for the gorilla lifting debris off the kids while the bonobo got under the pile and pulled them out. I'm honestly not sure which way to jump at this point,” Megan said, rolling on and not noticing Saul's distraction.

  “We're going to have to come out somewhere. For or against. The job market angel, slaves, abominations, figure it out,” Jean said, his French accent thickened as he tried to get a handle on his own feelings on the subject.

  “We're polling our people now. Or trying to do so,” Megan replied. “But like I said, the storms are a major distraction.” She waved a hand helplessly to indicate the screens behind them.

  “If I didn't know any better, I'd say they planned it that way,” Jean grumbled. “Figure it out. And get our people organized and out there too. Make sure our media friends show them handing out bottled water and such. And start a campaign to raise money to help the victims,” he ordered.

  Megan nodded, writing notes fast. “Yes, sir.”

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  “You knew about this and didn't tell us?” Saul demanded over the video link.

  “Give me a break,” Descartes said, munching chips. “Like I knew. I knew a little but not a lot. They've got some damn heavy firewalls, remember? And I can't access what's not on the net too.” He shook his head. “Besides, Athena's been snippy. She hasn't let me in for years.”

  “And here I thought you were the best,” Saul sneered.

  “I am the best. Don't ever forget that,” Descartes growled, throwing his half empty of bag of chips away. Suddenly he didn't have an appetite. “You got caught with your pants down too you know,” he said.

  “We knew a little, but we needed proof. You were supposed to provide it,” Saul growled. He wished the little bastard was in the room with him. One good beating and the smart ass would show some respect.

  “One, you didn't pay me to do any such thing,” Descartes reminded him. “Two, I'm working for you when I choose to do so, I'm a freelance, not one of your lackeys, so get that straight. I work for anyone with the balls and cred to pay me. Get out of my face man, or I'll walk.”

  “Find a way in. You did it with their ship, figure something out. We need more data on them. Video of them fighting, anything we can use against them. If you can't find it, make it up. But it better be good. Bullet proof,” the Russian warned.

  “My stuff is the best. But that sort of shit ain't cheap. I'll look into it,” Descartes said. He sent a mental signal to cut the connection. He frowned thoughtfully and turned to Shadow's avatar. He'd recently splurged on a new holo emitter. The frame rate sucked but it looked cool. The AI's avatar snarled, wraith like he turned into smoke so only his red glowing eyes showed.

  “I think we need to update the threat files from Lagroose. We are not going to get in past Athena. Not without someone on the inside letting us in or slurping data. She'd terminate both however.”

  “A cut out you mean? I'm not sure if it's worth the investment. Obviously he's tried for years, and they didn't get anything,” Descartes replied, indicating the blank screen. “Frack. Start screening the videos. Everything, pull it in from every media source. We'll have to build a file; hopefully, there is something there. If not we'll have to grab shots and splice them together. I'm not good at video crap.”
/>   “Outsource it then,” the AI stated. “Collecting the files and processing them will take up bandwidth and processor time as well as memory,” he reminded Descartes.

  “And I'm working on two other contracts as it is.” He frowned. “We are, I mean,” the fat man said, waving pudgy fingers. He looked at the tips then wiped off the residue from the chips.

  “First come, first serve?” Shadow asked.

  Descartes snorted. “You know my golden rule. He who pays the most has my attention. Since Saul wasn't in any hurry to give me a deposit, he can damn well wait. Let's get this project out of the way. Set up a bot to start recording the Neos, and we'll deal with it later,” he ordered.

  “Understood,” the AI hissed as Descartes cracked his knuckles, then with his usual flair went to work on his paying customer's project. Framing someone for crimes they didn't commit was normally child's play. But since the customer wanted it iron clad, it was turning into a tricky problem. He loved tricky problems; they were a rush when he solved them.

  -*-*-^-*-*-

  Miss Cole gave the media and medical representatives from the UN a series of guided tours of the Neo habitats. The dolphin habitat was nearly as popular as the ape one. To the surprise and dismay of a few of the reporters, the apes didn't segregate into separate species much. “At one time they did, but now they commingle. They are also integrating into human style apartments too.”

  “Aren't you concerned about the question of turning them into human clones? Are there clones here?”