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Subject: {ASSM} Project Biolab 1/3 Biolab 13: The Wolves (zoo, best, military scifi, asst codes, caution) TBD
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Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:10:01 -0400
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Biolab 13: The Wolves - Cycle 1

    Released to the public domain
    ----------

    best/zoo, F/wolf,
    ---

    For those of you who followed the 'Olsen Twins Raped by
genetically altered wolves' story and thread in ASS and ASSD, this
series of stories is loosely based on (using different characters),
inspired by and builds on some of the things mentioned in that story.

    My thanks for Fidelius Castratus' permission to take some of his
ideas and use them here.

    If you can't handle reading a story that takes some liberties with
science, don't waste our time by reading this. The 'stretches' are few
but I've tried to keep things internally consistent.

    This is an adult themed story and contains material not suitable
for many ages and people. If, according to the laws where you live,
you shouldn't be reading this, don't hold me responsible for your
decisions.
    ----

    How to pronounce the names.
    Hirruph - Huhrr-UHF (accent second syllable)
    Hyrek - HIHR-eck (accent first syllable)
    Larynda: Lah-RIHN-dah (accent second syllable)
    Lia - Lee-AH Accent second syllable)
    Liaya - Lee-AYE-yah (accent second syllable)
    ----

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 01
    Liaya Stevens
    Chapter One - Introduction
    ---

    "I think it can be done. If nothing else, we'll advance the
science."

    Sometimes I wish I'd never been to that conference. Instead, I was
one of the most enthused. In fact, I was the one who's ideas were
drawn upon to found the Biolab Thirteen Project.

    Ahhh... How time changes one's attitudes. How could any of us know
that years later, some of us would be the unwilling leaders that led
the world to a revolution in the understanding of sapience?

    Of course we didn't know. By the time we had even an inkling, it
was far too late.

    I feel a cold touch at my neck. Habit makes me lean into it rather
than flinch away.

    "Hyrek wasn't stupid, just impatient. You taught the rest of us
patience. " A gentle snort fluffs my hair. "You have a wolf's
cunning."

    There's a pause. "When you choose to use it.

    "Tell the story Lia - so our cubs will know."

    Once again, I allow my mind to drift back to a past I sometimes
regret. Mostly, I regret it for the mistakes I made. One mistake
really. I misjudged Hyrek. Yet, that mistake led to Hirruph.

    It led to some of the most controversial and sweeping social
changes our world was forced to endure.

    The unarguable proof that we, homo sapiens, are not alone in our
ability to reason and communicate that reasoning. We engineered the
first animals to do so in a manner we had to accept. That doesn't
matter. More than twenty years later, there are 'ambassadors' and
'interpreters' who stand at some of our sides.

    Some, such as Hirruph, are also our companions and mutually chosen
mates.

    I guess it wasn't really a mistake after all.

    ---

    It started in a classroom.

    A student needing a subject for her doctoral project.

    "Bioengineering Animals - Extrapolating the future"
    By: Liaya Stevens.

    "This student plans to look at what has happened in this field,
the current state of knowledge and project that rate of growth into
the future to show that some projects now considered impossible or on
the fringes of the science will be not only be possible but become
routine in the near future.

    "One such project is the possibility of modifying some species
with human genes to produce a viable and self-sustaining sub species
capable of human speech. Such animals would, this student feels, give
us an insight into some aspects of animal-human interactions and
animal interactions with the environment that could lead to a better
understanding of the impact of proposed changes to ecosystems as well
as bring a deeper understanding to more typical animal-human
interactions.

    "This student feels that such a program, while basically
unproductive in the short term, has long term benefits that would
justify an in depth look at the pros and cons of such fringe
research."

    Given the current state of the field at the time I wrote that, the
extrapolation was obvious. Obvious to me anyway.

    A week after I wrote my proposal, I was taken to a top secret
government project and informed my career was decided for the
foreseeable future.

    It seems that anyone who was able to reason things to that point
was automatically grabbed. My 'obvious' reasoning wasn't as common as
I had thought. I'll never know if my instructors had subtly guided me
once they realized what my chosen field of study would be.

    I was younger then. I was starting to become cynical but I still
believed in academic freedom. Now, a lifetime later, I wonder how much
there really is. My eyes are less cloudy. I've been nurtured in a
world of non-human concepts and skills.

    I start to shiver as memories surface. Jaws that can crush bone
are gently wrapped around my wrist as it is lifted from the keyboard.
Hirruph leads me to our bed. Once there, he releases me. I settle on
the edge and turn to stare at him. I don't see him, I see the bloody
remains of Hyrek. We've talked of this before. There are still so few
of us that we haven't had the interaction to talk out our problems
with those who can fully understand them. The pain has weakened with
time but it can still sneak up on me.

    "Enough." His tones are commanding. "You do not have to tell the
story in one sitting. At your own pace. We have plenty of time before
the cubs need to know their true heritage.

    "For now, it is enough for you to remind yourself that every
ending is a beginning. All those beginnings led to here. To now. To
us."

    "I can choose to see life as a series of endings or a series of
beginnings." I whisper what has become my private mantra at times like
this. "I choose beginnings."

    I hug him to me. The feel of his warm fur begins to calm me. With
Hirruph, I learned to admit my attraction to his intense masculinity.
It's something I denied while working with his father, Hyrek. Hyrek's
and then Hirruph's attraction for me is rooted in the depths of their
genetic heritage. A heritage unknown to any of us until the records of
the early years of Biolab were made available to more than the
government.

    The expression of that attraction was and is, uniquely theirs.
Long before Hirruph and I shared the words and knowledge that what we
felt for each other was more than physical fascination created by his
genes, I 'knew' that he was, in some obscure way, more important to me
than a mere project should have been.

    I digress. My past is deeply colored by its future. That is the
nature of memories. Things forgotten, things remembered dimly. Some
things remembered with a painful clarity. Past, present, future. All
blur together to create what is now. I'll do my best to place events
in their proper order.

    Looking back, I cannot believe I was ever as innocent as I was at
the beginning. Yet, events force me to see that innocence with painful
realization of how easily I was led to each of my actions by others or
events. Youthful arrogance. Where are you now?

    Dead. Long dead and better so.

    People have long searched for some hidden significance to the name
'Biolab Thirteen'. In reality, there was none. Those of us gathered
were involved in the thirteenth project funded under the overall
project called 'Biolab'.

    The goal was simple. Create a self-replicating assortment of
animal spies. That's it. The lab was tucked away and disguised as part
of another series of research projects involving species
re-introduction to their former habitat.

    Project Thirteen involved the modification of wolves.

    In one of those ironies so common when scientists are forced to
focus on one goal rather than allowed to follow where serendipity
leads, we never questioned that all our work was with male wolves. It
was specified that males would be the sex of choice. Not until Hyrek
and phase two, did I or anyone else suspect that all of the speech
capable wolves would initially be male. So, for over fifteen years, we
made slow progress. Modify, breed, examine the results and move on.

    For some unknown reason, the wolves seemed to relate more to me
than any other person. I was encouraged to use this. I studied wolves
and their social structure. Practically lived with them. Self-honesty
forces me to admit that nobody on the project realized that all we
learned from our studies of wild and domesticated wolves would turn
out to be useless in understanding what we eventually created. Lupus
Sapiens. Even now, few are aware of the full extent of the
capabilities of the new species. In our most private discussions, we
who are mated have spent long hours deciding when to reveal each
capability.

    Biolab Thirteen is indeed a long term project. Generations long.
Human generations. Even now, the research quietly proceeds. Female
wolves are being modified. We've had limited success so far. The genes
that seem to be most effective in rendering wolves speech capable are
strongly linked to the genes that lead to males. We're getting closer
each generation.

    For now, the fact of all the speech capable wolves being male is
explained by pointing out the original goals of Biolab.

    Two of us, myself and Larynda, have had to admit we serve as 'host
mothers and breeding stock'. We had no choice. The details describing
our parts were made public soon after word of Biolab and its goals
were leaked. Both of us would have preferred to have our roles remain
unknown. Scientific and social progress as a result of rape and
coercion is something we'd like to put behind us.

    Sometimes, on those nights when I brood about things, I wonder how
much of our progress socially is due to Larynda and I seeking to gain
acceptance and understanding of our roles in Biolab Thirteen. In a
very real way, we had no choice about what happened to us.

    No, we don't see ourselves as victims. Not any more. What
happened, while painful, led to something beyond our wildest dreams. A
completion and maturity neither one of us is ashamed of.

    Yes, people do suspect other pairs of being more than 'working
partners'. We have our small communities where we can gather together
for mutual protection. Places we can call home when the world gets to
be too much for us.

    Again, I get ahead of myself. I ramble. I wander. I play the 'what
if' game all too well.

    Hirruph has reminded me that for all my mixed cultural knowledge,
I am human. Humans are better at this game than any other species we
know of. His own opinion is that this ability to play 'what if' is the
one thing that makes humans so radically different from all other
creatures.

    "Live. Learn. Remember but do not focus on what is past. Seek
forward to what might be rather than look back at what has been." I
gently swat his nose as he reminds me of the heritage I now share. "Be
the best wolf you can be." is often how he expresses it. He's been a
wonderful teacher. Love has made me want to learn from him. Love and
the bittersweet memories of Hyrek.

    Over 15 years of botched and sometimes spectacular failures. Then,
there was Hyrek and his brothers.

    A casual and unrecognized failure in understanding that led to
success.

    Serendipity that shaped my life into patterns that led to
maturity.
 ======

    FM nosex Fpov

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 01
    Liaya Stevens
    Chapter Two - Co-Opted
    ---

    "Liaya Stevens?"

    I turned slightly. "Yes?"

    He held out his hand. "I'm Nathaniel Tracy from Biolab
International. Your paper was quite impressive."

    I shook his hand and smiled. "Thank you."

    He let go and looked around before speaking again. I thought I saw
something predatory in his eyes but decided it must have been due to
the lighting. "Is there some place private where we can talk about
your future with my company?"

    His arrogance set my teeth on edge. "My future with *your*
company? I'm willing to listen to your offer. Then I'll consider it
along with all the other offers I've received."

    "Miss Stevens. Those offers are meaningless. I'm here to tell you
that you've been drafted. You're working for Biolab International--and
will be directly under me." His smile was that of a predator who has
captured a particularly tasty victim.

    I ignored the fact I'd been drafted. I'd known it was a
possibility but kept on with my education anyway. "You'd better be
able to prove that."

    "I can. In private."

    He reached for my arm and I shifted it so his hand missed. "Mr.
Tracy. Just because I'll be working for you, if you can prove I've
been drafted into your company... It does NOT give you rights beyond
that of being my boss. Presume otherwise and I will prove you very,
very wrong."

    He glared at me and then smoothed his face into a smile that
didn't hide the anger in his eyes. "Someplace private?"

    "Not yet." I looked around and spotted one of the school's
security guards. For once I was glad they were so visible. "Excuse me.
I'll be right back" Without waiting for a response I worked my way
across the room to my target.

    When I got close enough to see who it was I sighed with relief. It
was Jim, a guard who had become a close friend.

    I touched his shoulder lightly to get his attention. "Jim. A
distressed damsel needs your help." I pointed at Mr. Tracy, who nodded
when Jim studied him. "He says he's from Biolab International, and
that I've been drafted into his company. The creep says he's my boss,
now. How much of that can you confirm for me before you take us to a
conference room and stay as my witness?"

    Jim didn't make a move other than to glare at the man I had
pointed out. "I can confirm all of it. He's also an idiot and I will
take great pleasure in telling him so." He faced me and gently turned
me to face him. "Lia, I'm sorry this happened. I'll make it up to you,
somehow. I promise." He kissed me lightly on my lips.

    "Jim? What's going on?"

    "Not here." He linked his arm with mine and urged me in the
direction of Mr Tracy.

    When we got close enough James stopped us and studied Mr. Tracy
until the man lifted his chin in a small gesture of defiance. It came
down abruptly when James spoke with a quiet hatred. "Nat, I've had it
with you. Get out of here, now."

    "But..."

    "No. Now--or I'll call for an escort and have you forcibly
removed."

    "You wouldn't!"

    Jim straightened and shifted his stance slightly. "Lieutenant, I
gave you an order, not a request. I don't want to repeat it."

    Nathaniel blanched and visibly controlled his anger. Jim
interrupted him as his mouth opened. "Consider your next words
carefully--if you want to remain as overall head of Biolab. Dr.
Stevens will be delivered when she is ready. Not before. If you want
to override the orders we were given, you can, of course, call the
White House and try to get the authority to do so--after you leave
this campus. In the meantime Dr. Stevens will be with me."

    Jim nodded politely and gently turned me before we walked away. I
could feel the man's glare. When I glanced over my shoulder I noticed
he was headed for the exit.

    "James?"

    He shook his head and kept us headed for one of the small
conference rooms. After we entered one and closed the door he pointed
at the table and chairs. "Lia. You might as well sit and relax. This
is going to take awhile to explain."

    I pulled free and turned to face him. I gave him my best glare and
filled my voice with all the ice I could find. "Yes. You do have some
explaining to do--lover-boy."

    He winced and moved to a chair. After he collapsed in it I settled
in the one opposite his and waited.

    He leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "Damn that oversexed
asshole. I wish..." He brought his head down so our eyes met as he
settled his chin in his hands. "In another hour we would have met
under more hospitable conditions, as we arranged, and we would be
sitting in this room having this conversation anyway. Lieutenant Tracy
was NOT supposed to interfere with my operation. I am going to have
some unkind things to say to the person who was supposed to keep him
away from you during this conference."

    He sighed. "The man, as you noted, is an oversexed creep, but he
is, so far, the best man to fill his position, which is overall
coordinator for the Biolab Project and the visible CEO of Biolab
International. That also, unfortunately, makes him your boss when it
comes to anything not related to your part of the project."

    "Was 'loving me' part of *your* job?" He flinched and I kept up my
attack. "What am I to you? Was fucking me a fringe benefit, a perk you
took advantage of? Who are you, James--and who gave you the right to
totally fuck up my future."

    He glared at me, a glare I recognized. It was the one he used when
I was being especially exasperating. "I'm the god-damned man who's
kept you in this country for the last five years--while the other side
has kept trying to kidnap you for *their* version of our project. I'm
Junior Colonel James Allgheri, government security, assigned to keep
one Liaya Stevens alive and well so she could take over as head of
research for Project 13 because of all of the people in genetech,
she's become the one all the experts think might just succeed in
producing the final product--which happens to be a talking animal that
can *communicate* with us humans." He slammed one of his hands on the
table. "I also caught 47 different kinds of hell from The Woman
Herself when I let her know I'd managed to fall in love with Lia, the
woman. Damn-it, woman, don't fight me on this. You can call *her*
right now and plead your case but I already know what's she's going to
tell you: 'It's an undeclared war but it's still a war--and you swore
an oath when you asked us to defer your time of service. Are you going
to serve? Or do I have find a hole and bury you in it for the rest of
your life?' "

    He slumped and put his head in his hands. "Biolab is about spies,
Lia. The kinds of spies nobody notices because they can't possibly
exist. We have to develop our own for two reasons. To get there first,
if possible--and to be able to tell if anyone else is using them. Are
you with us?"

    I sagged as my indignation and anger vanished--to be replaced with
understanding. "Animal spies. Animals who can talk and tell their
masters what they've learned."

    He brought his head up and I saw tears. "Lia, we had to let you
present your paper. I hope we've managed to convince the other side
that you're 'just another student with big dreams'. If not, there's
only one place you can hope to pursue your dream without having to
look over your shoulder and wonder who your friends are." He shrugged
before he reached for my hand and held it gently. "Head of research,
Lia. The best people we have are betting on you to make the
breakthrough."

    He looked down at our hands and whispered: "My boss says, quote:
'Take the lovesick fool with you and you'll have one person at your
side who cares for the person and her needs. You'll need that in the
years to come.' "

    Damn. All my dreams and hopes for any sort of a future were being
handed to me. But, they had a price I knew I've never know until long
after I agreed to pay it. Talk about compound interest... I sighed and
held out the flag of truce. "Jim? Are you with me?"

    He nodded slowly. I pulled my hand free, got up and went to make
sure the door was locked. I also jammed a chair underneath the handle
before I turned back to him. My hand was shaking as I pointed at the
chair at the head of the table. "Go. Sit. I need to be cuddled."

    He hesitated and then quietly moved. I settled in his lap and
sighed. "You never said you loved me."

    "I was ordered not to. We security types aren't supposed to love
the person we're guarding. It clouds our judgment and our superiors
are always wondering who we're ultimately loyal to."

    I reached down and played with his intertwined fingers. I wanted
to be head of my own project. It was my dream come true--but it was
also far too soon. "James? Who are you loyal to?"

    He ducked. "I took an oath."

    "Is that your final answer?"

    He hugged me slightly. "It's the only answer I can give."

    My heart leapt within me but all I did was lean back against his
chest. "I guess I'm with you. What happens now?"

    "Something you should know. I'm not part of campus security even
though I wear the uniform. Now that you've presented your paper, I go
where you go."

    "A bodyguard?"

    "Yes. Yours."

    I sighed an settled myself to think about my future, or at least
as little of it as I had control over. "OK, Mr. Bodyguard. Since it's
obvious you already knew what was going to happen, you must have
planned ahead. I'll run your damned Project 13. But you get to run the
rest of my life. Satisfied? Oh, tell your 'boss' that she's a
manipulative bitch."

    He laughed at my astringent tone. "I told her that when she
refused my transfer request. Lia? Do you want me to be head of
security for your project, too?"

    I let some of my exasperation show again. "James Allgheri, right
now all I want is to be able to start this day over. How the hell
should *I* know what you should be doing? I've spent the last five
years learning to micro-manipulate genes. I've just been handed the
answer to my wildest fantasy and all I can think of is the fact I have
to take orders from a jerk who thinks he's God's special gift to
women--if I want to have any sort of a future in genetech. *You* tell
me what your job title and duties should be." I stood up and faced
him. "Jim, let's get out of here and go someplace we can pretend we're
just 'Jim and Lia'. Or is that possible now that I'm head of Project
13?"

    He handed me a new id card. It had my picture on it, the name of
the project and a stylized head of a wolf as the background. It also
had the words 'Biolab Thirteen - Head of Research' in bold letters
that crossed it diagonally.

    I snorted. "Somebody was pretty damn sure of themselves."

    He blushed. "I was."

    His smile turned a bit lopsided. "Lia, as Project Head, you can do
damn near anything you want as long as you don't offend the great gods
of security. Once you're safely at your new home, we can be 'Jim and
Lia' anytime you want. I don't think you understand what's going on.
The best people in genetech are waiting for you to tell them what to
do. All they care about are results." He stepped over and gently
lifted my head so our eyes met. "Lia, they've read every scrap of
paper that's come out of your lab. They want one thing from you. Your
insights. Give them that and you can do any damn thing you please,
even if it means screwing one of us on the conference table in the
middle of a meeting."

    I couldn't stop my giggles. "Are you *serious*?"

    "I am. These people are *that* dedicated to their work. So am I."
He let go, grinned and reached for his comm. "Alpha Wolf to pack: We
have our Alpha Bitch. Scouts to me for escort duty. The rest of the
pack can return to our home territory."

    I stared at him in shock as I saw the implications of his words.
"A wolf pack? How secure is this room?"

    He froze and the grin left his face. "Totally."

    "What about the rest of the people on the project? Are they going
along?"

    "Yes."

    "How well do you understand the social dynamics of a wolf pack?"

    "Lia? Is there a point to this?" When I nodded he went on. "It was
easy for us to adapt to. From a military point of view, with its
established lines of authority and promotion from within the ranks for
ability, it seemed to be a natural fit. My people, especially, haven't
had a problem with adapting to 'thinking like a wolf'."

    "They wouldn't have, would they?" I murmured. I sat on the edge of
the table and watched his face. "James, I wasn't talking about the
military aspects. I asked how well you understand the *social* aspects
of pack behavior. Who are the wolves loyal to?"

    He frowned. "The pack, of course. And then to the Alpha pair."

    "Right. And who is the Alpha pair loyal to?"

    He hesitated then shrugged. "I'm not sure. To themselves?"

    I sighed. "Their loyalty is to the pack and its survival.
Otherwise they wouldn't *be* the alpha pair. It's rare but there are
confirmed instances of packs killing one or both alpha wolves when
they were consistently anti-survival in their actions."

    He thought about it and then nodded. "OK. I can see that."

    "Good. You wanted my 'insights'. I'll give you some. A wolf
doesn't give its loyalty to abstract concepts. It gives its loyalty to
something tangible, the other wolves in its pack, as long as their
behavior benefits the pack as a unit. You can't buy that kind of
loyalty, you have to earn it, constantly. If an alpha wolf has to be
replaced--it's replaced by a wolf who is also a pack member. In your
*professional military opinion* who are any wolf spies we create going
to be loyal to? And what about our own people? Right now 'thinking
like a wolf' is reinforcing the existing chain of command. This
project is going to last for years, probably decades. What is going to
happen when someone is added to the project? What is going to happen
if somebody decides to replace one or both of *us* for political
reasons that have nothing to do with the success or failure of the
project? The humans will accept the changes, I hope. What about the
wolves? How do you think *they* are going to react?"

    I watched his face as he worked his way to the inevitable
conclusions. I knew when he finally hit the wall. His face drained of
color and he stared at me. "Lia..." He caught himself and started
again. "In your paper you mentioned wolves as being ideal. Were you
aware of these problems already?"

    I spread my hands in a gesture of helplessness. "No. I focused on
wolves because their social structure is so close to ours. They are
also being reintroduced into the areas they used to live in. They live
closer to nature than we do and I feel that if we can give them speech
they can tell us things that will help us as we rebuild many of the
habitats we've destroyed." I couldn't stop my slight smile. "I wanted
to build spies--but my spies would owe their loyalty to the entire
world as part of their awareness of what it takes for them to survive
as a species. I don't think wolves would make the kind of spies you
need unless we find a way to convince them *our* concepts are better
than anyone else's when it comes to increasing their chances of
survival."

    He nodded. "Do you think there's a way?"

    "I don't know. Let's build some talking wolves, first. Then we can
worry about all the other problems. I do think it boils down to the
same thing we humans do."

    "Oh?"

    "Will we be able to get them to consciously override their
instincts and equate our survival with theirs?"
======

Project Biolab: The work in Progress

    Biolab 13, Cycle 01a - Larynda 1/? (F-Wolf best)

    ----------
    F-Wolf best

    How to pronounce the names.
    Xanae: Zah-NAH-ee (accent second syllable)
    Xanatha: Zah-NAY-thah (accent second syllable)
    Larynda: Lah-RIHN-dah (accent second syllable)
    -----

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 01a
    Larynda
    Chapter One -
    ---


    This one would have been about what happened to the woman who was
fucked by the escaped wolf. (Mentioned in the next story.)

======

    Story codes: best/zoo, F/wolf, preg, mention of wolves killing a
human (in passing as part of the setup for the main story)
    ----------

    Some background:

    Several genetically modified wolves escaped from a government lab.
A few days later, searchers found the remains of a woman in her
mid-twenties. Investigation led to the conclusion the wolves had
partially eaten her. A more thorough examination of the remains led to
the conclusion that all but one of the wolves had taken her sexually.

    Evidence found at the site indicated the woman's twin sister had
been there at the same time. How she survived was a mystery.
Concessions were made and she was advised that due to security
concerns, her silence on the 'facts' would be appreciated. Her shock
at her sister's death seemed to be genuine, so nobody thought to take
the time to ask her for more details about the days leading up to her
sister's death.

    Security was god to some of them and a few people suggested the
woman be 'taken care of'. Cooler heads prevailed and the sister was
allowed to live. It was pointed out that any questioning or further
mistakes would let the wrong people know there was something worth
hiding. They couldn't afford to let that happen. Maybe later, when the
furor had died out, the woman could be 'taken care of'.

    Due to public outrage, they were able to hunt and kill the wolves
with nobody ever thinking that they might have had other, more serious
reasons for wanting them dead.

    Tracks found at the death site were assumed to have been those of
the alpha wolf tracking the survivor for some reason. An expert
testified that her tracks indicated she was not frightened during her
escape .

    Several months after the wolves escaped but before the project
resumes, surveillance of the young woman has turned up evidence that
has forced them to rethink things.

    How to pronounce the names.
    Hyrek - HIHR-eck (accent first syllable)
    Liaya - Lee-AYE-yah (accent second syllable)
    ------

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 01
    Liaya Stevens
    Chapter Four - New Plans
    ----

    "Damnit! You were supposed to clean up all the loose ends!" The
man is speaking with a cold venom that chills everyone in the room.

    "But sir..." The technician is trying to placate his 'boss'. "We
only knew that those wolves mated with and ate the one girl. We've
been watching the other one and while we finally figured out she'd
been mated with, she's kept her mouth shut so we didn't push things.
As far as we know, she only made the one routine visit to her doctor.
No other phone calls, no medicines... It was supposed to be a routine
surveillance so nobody paid much attention to anything except her
possibly talking about what happened. Once the media was done with
her, there was nothing we can point to that would have told us
anything.

    "Besides..." He grumbles softly and with obviously heated
feelings. "Nobody expected that damn Hyrek would turn out to be
fertile with humans and get her pregnant. That sure wasn't part of our
plans."

    Most of those present let loose inaudible sighs of relief as the
director nods slowly. He notes the sighs but ignores them because the
feelings of others don't matter to him right now.

    "OK. We don't know how that happened but it's done.

    "More importantly, what can we do next and still keep the project
on track?"

    They turn away from the director to study the picture now being
displayed on the screen.

    "Thank god it looks like a normal puppy. Let's hope it has none of
Hyrek's intelligence." That's from one of the genetechs.

    "Those people are too visible for us to just go in grab them. No
telling how people would react. It's too soon for anything to happen
to her. As much as I'd like to kill or capture them both, I can't
approve such action. Besides, this is a chance to see how well it
blends in. That can help our ultimate goal." This from the security
specialist.

    The director nods, starts to speak and then pauses as an idea
occurs to him. "Keep an eye on them but don't do anything yet.

    "You know, we kept everything after we killed Hyrek and the
others. Let's..." He pauses to smile a slightly evil smile that only
Liaya catches... "Try again. This time, we'll use some of Hyrek's
sperm to 'breed' the next batch of puppies." The techs in the room
think it over and smile openly or to themselves. Everyone knows it
isn't a good time to mention any objections. A security specialist
decides to speak up.

    "Sir, if I'm reading the tapes right, all those wolves wanted was
freedom from where they were. While the escape plan was elaborate...
all the evidence indicates they hadn't planned much past that point.
Hyrek is the big unknown at this point. We obviously underestimated
him." He shrugs a bit. "We'll never know how much."

    "Go on..." The director's voice is cold and filled with hidden
threats.

    The man ignores the implications and hurries on.

    "They didn't kill during the 'escape'. I think if we were to use
one of our more secluded areas in the forest and let them run loose,
we could almost eliminate the risks of any of the next batch trying to
escape as they get older."

    "Liaya?" Everyone looks at the woman named, with mixed feelings of
fear and hope.

    She had been over-ruled about her demands that they recapture
instead of kill the wolves. Nobody denied her competence or partisan
feelings. She didn't deny her feelings either. Those feelings, and her
undeniable genetech skills--had made her head of Section Thirteen as
soon as she'd been recruited.

    "I was careless." She shrugs slightly. "I thought I understood
Hyrek and the others. I never thought they might be planning an
escape.

    "No, worse. I never thought Hyrek was planning one.

    "As Jim mentioned, we underestimated him.

    "I won't do that again.

    "I also think next time will work." She pointed at the image.
"There's proof it *will* work.

    "We just need to refine our conditioning."

    Then, she looks down at the table. Everyone waits.

    In a very quiet voice, she continues. "To avoid... 'Potential
problems'.... I'm willing to be the woman who is 'bred' to produce the
next batch of puppies."

    There is a thoughtful silence as her offer is considered. Nobody
notices the slight and chilling smile that is fleetingly visible on
the director's face. He's skilled at deception. He's also skilled at
maneuvering people to get what he wants. Liaya had rejected his sexual
advances so he had carefully worked things so her 'affinity' with the
wolves would lead to her offer. Only he knows where the materials used
in the first set of experiments had come from.

    Most of the genetic material used had been his.

    It would appear that his lust for Liaya had bred true. It thrills
him to think of her being the mother of his new 'children'.

    None of that thrill is visible.

    "Artificial wombs worked for the first batch. We could use other
wolves to carry artificially inseminated eggs to term. Why should we
use you directly?" He can guess her reasons but he wants to hear her
thoughts out loud. He wants to embarrass this woman who has not only
rejected him but has also proven him wrong on such an important matter
as the security surrounding the wolves.

    Hell, if the bitch had let herself be killed instead of giving in
to the wolves, none of this would have happened.

    "Sir...

    "We know that natural reproduction works. I think we should not
ignore that proof and use it to reduce the risks in a very critical
stage of the project. Not only that.." She blushes. "The maternal bond
will be greater and it will reduce the chances of them trying to
escape."

    Only in her deepest thoughts does she dare to add. 'Or tie them to
me strong enough so they take me with them next time.'

    The survival of the one woman hints at something she hopes only
she is able to see.

    If this whole project of creating 'animal spies to order' works,
it will revolutionize things. What nobody else has realized yet is
that by using wolves, they are creating spies whose loyalty would be
to the members of their 'pack'. Unlike humans, you don't gain that
loyalty through indoctrination, money or appeal to reason.

    She'll have to be careful but if they move to the forest compound
there is a better chance that in the guise of 'training', she can bond
the wolves to her more fully this time. She regrets the mistakes made
but she has learned from them. Next time, she will move far slower and
with more assurance. After all, they mature much faster than humans.
In Hyrek's case, his mental powers matured even faster than his body.

    As part of the testing, they had estimated Hyrek's 'intelligence'
as around twelve years old. Considering he had been eighteen months
old and just past his 'puberty', they figured he would eventually get
pretty close to adult human intelligence.

    Nobody had considered that he might have already reached that
level and decided to hide his true abilities.

    He paid for that 'mistake' with his life and the lives of his
companions when he moved too soon. Her guess is that once they
escaped, the sudden change of environment caused their instincts to
surface and take control.

    Whatever had happened, there were tantalizing hints that Hyrek had
managed to override those instincts.

    She hopes Hyrek's children will be as capable as he was.

    This time, she will take care to make sure his children are taught
to make *very* long range plans before acting. She smiles to herself.
Spies have to be careful or they don't survive for long.

    The director nods slowly, as if he is carefully considering her
words. Had he not been distracted by his own thoughts, he would have
given some thought to why this normally forceful woman seemed so
reluctant to express herself. He chalks it up to embarrassment at
having to give birth to puppies and possibly wind up mating with them
after they are older. She'll make a fine 'brood bitch'.

    Even better, she is doing it 'in the name of Science'. He gloats
at how easy it is to manipulate her.

    "We'll do it."

    That ended the planning conference.

    The stage is set for the next step: Breeding Liaya and creating
their 'spies'.
======

End: Biolab 13: The Wolves - Cycle 1
======

Biolab 13: The Wolves - Cycle 2
---

Cycles 2&3 notes:

For those of you unfamiliar with my 'BioLab' series, I'll summarize
it.

Just over 100 years ago, as a result of a top secret project, some
species of animals were genetically modified for enhanced intelligence
and speech. The details of that are in the 'BioLab 13' series.
Essentially, human genes were used as part of the modification and as
a result, in the early years, males of the modified species were cross
fertile with human females. More time and experimentation produced
females who were fertile with the modified males.

BioLab 6 was the project that dealt with the modification of equines.
In the one story written so far, there are hints of the time and
effort spent to get the modified animals legally recognized as humans
and given the same rights.

The BioMates series deals with Sophia and Ted Larson, who first meet
online and then when he is older, they meet in person when he joins
the 'BioPartners'. The BioPartners are the human-animal teams that are
a result of the BioStructs (as they are now called, even though they
are self reproducing) needing human help to interact with the world.
As Ted points out in the story, If you become a BioPartner, you link
your life to that of your animal partner and become their hands.

Sophia, a BioStruct wolf, has chosen security as her career. Note that
in the BioPartners, it is the 'Struct who is in charge and who makes
all the decisions instead of the human member of the team.

Settled into their relationship and jobs, Sophia and Ted live and work
in space as a highly specialized security team.
======

(F-Wolf zoo nosex)

Released to the public domain
----------

Biolab 13 - Cycle 02
Liandra and Grrfeth
Chapter One - You're Hired!
---

I studied the ID cards the men held out. "Mark Simpson and Dan
Iverness from Bio-Partners, Incorporated. I suppose if I run your
cards I'll only confirm who you are?"

They nodded. I noticed that Mark was able to keep his eyes from
drifting away to study my body. Dan wasn't even trying to keep from
stripping me in his mind. I felt chilled by his intent inspection.

I ran the cards in my scanner and it verified who they were. I handed
the cards back and after they put them away Mark sighed. "Miss
D'Atreuss, we'd appreciate it if you joined us for a short trip to a
nearby facility." He had the grace to duck his head in apology for his
next words. "It's the paper you presented. Somebody made a mistake in
allowing you to present it. You were going to be allowed a choice.
Now?..." He sighed again. "At least you don't have to worry about
looking for work. Your application was given priority processing and
you've been accepted as a Bio-Partner." He handed me an ID card.

I glanced at it and froze. It had my picture on it, all my vital
stats--and the words 'Bio-Partners - Security Division' in bold
letters that crossed it diagonally.

I looked up. "I don't get a choice about the field I want to work in?"

"No. Your partner will explain the situation."

"Someone worked pretty fast, to have this done by the time I finished
giving my paper."

Mark nodded. "Grrfeth tends to be that way once he's made his
decisions. We have all your things collected and ready to go."

I finally glared at him. "Just like that? Isn't my disappearance from
the conference going to cause problems?"

He allowed himself the barest hint of a smile. "No, Ma'am.. It's not
going to cause any problems. By tomorrow morning the world is going to
know what happened to you. Now, will you *please* allow us to escort
you to quieter surroundings so we can finish sorting this out?"

I looked around at the emptying conference room and then settled for
another long look at Mark. Finally I raised my eyebrows and waited a
few seconds before relenting. "Security concerns?"

He nodded. "Apparently, once Grrfeth saw your qualifications, whatever
they are, he ordered my boss to rush us out here to collect you before
you could withdraw your application."

*That* quiet admission got my attention. Since I already knew I didn't
have any say in my future, other than to agree to get on with it, I
settled for another glare before letting my shoulders slump in defeat.
"I'm in your hands, Mark. I won't say I'm happy, but I do thank you
for being as courteous as the situation allowed you to be."

He studied me a long time. "Miss D'Atreuss..."

I stopped him. "Liandra. I prefer Lia."

He nodded almost imperceptibly. "Lia. I was about to say that of all
the people I've been sent to 'collect', you've been exceptionally calm
and accepting of what has happened."

Instead of answering I gestured at the hallway. "Shall we, Mark?" When
he glanced at the hallway and then his partner I remembered something.
"Are you two now my bodyguards?"

He nodded without stopping his scanning of the thinning crowd. "Until
we deliver you to where we're supposed to take you."

I hesitated at that revelation and then smiled to myself. "Are you
open to my suggestions?"

He gestured at the door. "Let's go. Lia, as soon as I handed you that
id card your 'suggestions' became something I have to take very
seriously--if I want to keep my job."

"Isn't that interesting." The blandness of my reply stopped him dead
in his tracks. After he turned to face me I jerked my thumb over my
shoulder. "Get rid of him. He's been so busy stripping me and fucking
me that he hasn't been watching the crowds, or me." He blanched and I
went on. "Your briefing *must* have been hurried. Don't *either* of
you know that I could have killed you both by now if I'd really wanted
to?" I grinned at his shock. "You first, since you've been paying more
attention to your job and I would have to make sure my first blow
killed you. Him?" I snorted. "You tell me what chance he would have
had." I settled into a relaxed pose and waited.

There was a long silence that got oppressive while they came to terms
with their blunders. Mark finally spoke softly to his partner: "Dan?
Did Miss D'Atreuss overstate your dereliction of duty? And would you
explain how your close study of her missed the fact she's trained at
least as well as we are?"

I looked over my shoulder at Dan and put on my most vapid smile. "It's
a hobby of mine. They're even kind enough to let me teach the advanced
people when I have time I can spare from my studies--and competition."

Dan's face drained of blood. "I was told this was going to be another
routine pickup and she was going to be delivered to the usual
place..." I felt myself shoved to one side as Mark's hand flashed past
me. My training took over. If Mark wasn't the threat, that meant Dan
was. To think was to act. I lashed out and felt my foot hit flesh. I
rolled as I hit the floor, came to my feet, turned... and paused to
evaluate the situation.

Dan was on the floor, obviously unconscious. When I looked at Mark he
was grim. "I gave him his final briefing just before we came here.
Taking a new person directly to Grrfeth is *not* routine. It isn't
'delivering them to the usual place', either. Lia, I think we'd better
stay here until I can get a proper handle on this situation. I don't
trust anybody right now." He must have seen my slight flash of
amusement. "Except you, of course."

I smiled at him. "I might have been taking out one of my own when he
made himself useless." He flinched and I continued. "Sorry. It's that
damned 'high adaptability index' again. Blame it on all the security
I've had to live with just to get access to the research materials I
needed to consult so I could write my paper." I held out my hand. "You
think fast on your feet. I'm impressed."

He took my hand and studied my face. "Thanks, I think. I've been a
Bio-Partner for years. I was promoted to a position I didn't ask for
and then ordered: 'Go get that damned woman and bring her here before
someone realizes her value to us.' Yes, my briefing was missing a lot
of details. It didn't mention how adaptable you are. It didn't mention
your 'hobby'. It didn't mention you have a knack for spotting things
that are supposed to stay hidden. In fact, other than the id photo, it
didn't say a damn thing about Liandra D'Atreuss, or about what she
wanted to do with her life."

I blushed. "I wanted to get a job that would let me work with the
bio-enhanced animals from Project Biolab.

He laughed. "You've got it if you can help me figure out a way to get
us to where Grrfeth is waiting. I had this set up as a simple 'pick up
and deliver' operation. The locals did all the work setting it up.
Other than knowing the route to his current quarters, I don't know a
thing about this area.

"Here are the problems: What do we do with Dan to make sure our side
gets him for interrogation? Who do we call for help? How do we get to
someplace safe so we can plan the next step? Where is that safe place?
Does the opposition know where Grrfeth is located? Are we being
tracked? Do we want to keep our tail, if we have one, or get rid of it
somehow? And, last for now, would you relax out of that damn 'kill on
sight' pose? We don't need the attention it draws to us."

I blushed again but didn't relax. "It's perfect. That *lout* had
designs on my body. You came to my rescue when he pushed me too far.
He isn't the first to want more than my company. He's also not the
first man I've knocked unconscious. I shall, as usual, call who I
always call, the local dojo. Dan will be taken there just as all the
others have been. He will be cared for until he can be collected by
the proper authorities." I reached for my comm. "Any objections?"

"Yes. Your comm can be used to locate you to within a few feet--by the
opposition."

I let my hand drop to my side. Before I could say anything a young
woman walked up to us. "Miyoko is upset with you. After all, you *did*
promise to behave today."

I turned to face her directly. "Tara. How did she find out? I usually
have a few minutes to relax before she gets upset with me."

She giggled. "She saw it happen and went to get the room ready. She'll
be here with the pickup team in a few minutes. She also sends her
compliments to your companion. She was impressed by his control and
wonders who trained him. She hasn't seen his style of attack since she
left home."

I felt Mark's hand twitch slightly before he let go of my hand. His
voice was calm, as if we were discussing everyday matters. "I'm Mark
Simpson. I'm from the company that just hired Miss D'Atreuss. So is
the gentleman at our feet. I'm afraid he found her a bit too
irresistible and overstepped courtesy. I didn't expect her response to
be so decisive or I would have let her handle the situation."

I sighed. Mark had just put some pretty severe limits on what I could
say. "Mark, you wanted a place where we could talk privately so you
could tell me more about my new job. Will Miyoko's do? There are many
quiet places that are secluded and secure from distractions. They can
also take care of Dan until someone can pick him up."

A female voice interrupted us. "Other arrangements have been made.
Mark, you had backup."

I spun towards the voice and saw... Nothing until a shadow moved. Lips
peeled back to reveal teeth that gleamed. "Grrfeth is on his way." The
wolf stretched and walked over to settle on her haunches. "Sorry,
Mark. Need to know."

Mark sounded exasperated when he finally found his voice. "Sophia, you
could have at least let me know I was going to have a backup in
place."

Her ears twitched slightly. "We're still trying to plug a leak. This
carrion," she glanced at Dan, "isn't who we're after. Besides, Grrfeth
and I figured that if there *were* problems, they'd be a good test of
Liandra's ability to handle herself in her new job."

I shifted in reaction to my anger.

Sophia turned to study me thoughtfully. "Miss D'Atreuss, don't do
anything foolish. My brother wouldn't like it if his partner was flat
on her back during her first media interview."

She must have seen my doubts at her ability to stop me because her
next words were for Mark. "Mark? Would you please try to break one of
my legs?

He sighed. "I'd rather break your jaw. It moves too much for your own
good." He launched himself, the two of them blurred together and when
they stopped he was face down and she had his throat in her jaws. She
let go and stepped away to resettle on her haunches again. "Get up,
Mark. I think Miss D'Atreuss has decided she's not going to embarrass
herself in public."

She turned her head slightly and I allowed myself to follow her gaze.
A large wolf was walking towards us. People seemed to fade out of his
way as he approached them. Something in his body language said he
wanted to run in our direction but he was forcing himself to move
slowly. I heard a snort and looked at Sophia. "He's upset. Somehow the
media found him before he could talk to you alone. You've got less
than two minutes to decide if you're going to accept his request that
you become his partner."

I sighed. "Let me see if I have this figured out. Grrfeth is the one
who had my application priority processed and had my new id card made.
He's in security and wants me to be his partner. If I agree, that
means that I have to be in security, too. That means that any human
who works for you has to work in the same field as the animal they
agree to partner with. We no longer get to have a say in what job we
do." I looked down. "Anything I've missed?"

She tilted her head slightly as she turned it so she could study me.
"Lots of things. The human becomes our hands, our interface that lets
us live in this damn world you forced on us. You get to see hatred
close up and personal because there are those who still feel that any
human who helps us has betrayed what it is to be human. In return for
your commitment and trust we pamper you and are there when the burdens
become too much for you to bear, just as we expect you to be there for
us."

She went back to watching Grrfeth's approach. "Say yes and you'll find
out what it's like to be loved by a wolf." She used her muzzle to
point at Grrfeth. "He's a lonely young wolf, Lia. He's been looking
for someone like you all his life."

I had time for one more question. "Sophia, what's your rank and
specialty?"

"Lieutenant, Bio-Partner's Security--and my specialty is recruiting."

Grrfeth and the journalists following him stopped and studied us. He
finally settled on his haunches in front of me but his gaze was on his
sister. "Were you and Mark bored, sister?"

She snarled at him before she switched to something I could
understand. "Your soon-to-be partner was considering attacking me.
Since you don't want her hurt I ordered Mark to attack me before she
could do something stupid. Besides, she probably would have held back.
He didn't."

I started to say something and then decided to keep my mouth shut
until I knew what was going on. Grrfeth swung his huge head to face me
and I could see a glint in his eyes that had nothing to do with his
sister's comments. "Miss Liandra D'Atreuss. I'm Grrfeth, the beta wolf
in BP Security. Sorry it took us so long to process your application.
It was being handled as a routine app until it reached me. I corrected
that mistake. Are you still interested in working for us?" He lifted a
front paw and held it out. "I wouldn't mind having you as my partner."

Sophia snorted, loudly. "What happened to your aggressive approach to
things, brother? Did you just realize you finally met someone who can
tie you in knots if she decides your ego is getting out of hand?"

I decided to interrupt what looked like an ongoing battle between
siblings. "Sophia, perhaps I should go ahead and risk getting hurt.
Insult my *partner* and you insult *me*." I knelt and took Grrfeth's
paw in my hand. "Is she always like this?"

He grinned. "Ignore her. She's jealous because she has to wait for her
partner to grow up. I'm not a cradle robber like she is." His eyes
never left my face when he made a comment that caused me to blush.
"Sister, speaking of knots, as soon as I read her application I knew
she could tie me up if she really wanted to."

He pulled his paw free, moved to my side and settled so he faced the
small group of journalists. "You wondered what could divert me from my
usual duties. Meet my partner, Liandra D'Atreuss, the newest member of
BP Security."
======

End: Biolab 13: The Wolves - Cycle 2
======

Biolab 13: The Wolves - Cycle 3
---

    M/Wolfess zoo/best

    Sorry. I know this one should be longer. I quit here because I
knew that this was a good place to stop. If I'd kept going I would
have gone past two hours. Expect a sequel.
    ---

    Bio-Mates
    by: Stasya T. Canine
    ---

    "Sophie. Look at this." I was casually browsing our email and a
message had stopped me in my tracks.

    She padded over to the edge of our bed and settled her head on my
shoulder so she could read it. "So? Two hours to do a story." She
snorted her contempt. "You're a hack, Ted. Shouldn't be a problem."

    I shook my head. "Yeah. Shouldn't be. Except for once I can't get
started. That's the problem with being a hack with years of
experience. I've pretty much written it all. They want something
*original*."

    "Oh." She turned and nuzzled my ear. "I missed that part. How'd
you get involved with a place that wants real writing?"

    I shrugged ruefully. "You know how it is. Boredom. Wanting to know
what else is being done. Looking for new ideas." I leaned back and
laughed as I reached up to stroke her head. "I didn't think I'd be
expected to actually supply new stuff."

    Sophie nibbled my ear. "Well, that's what you get for being
stupid. Should have been obvious that contests in a group of writers
would lean towards originality. They've probably got the same problems
you do. Boredom and they are seeking new inspiration."

    "Yeah. You have a point. Some of these folks have been around as
long or longer than I have." I turned and kissed her gently. "Any
suggestions?"

    She returned my kiss before she replied. "Only one for now. You
have almost two days and you only need two hours to do the story." Her
lips quirked slightly before she turned and flagged me. "Take your
mind off the contest and do something useful."

    "Oh. That." I looked closer and then took a deep sniff. "You're
coming into season aren't you?"

    Instead of answering she snorted and rolled over on her back. She
spread her hind legs and let her head flop to one side. "Well?"

    "Yeah. I see what you mean."

    * * *

    I settled on the bed and bent over so I could taste Sophie's
nether area. I'm human but her musk was all I needed to get a raging
hardon. My mouth gently closed around her and I felt her inner
spasming begin as she responded to the pressure. She didn't moan but I
felt her body shake as her breathing quickened.

    I suckled and every so often paused to deliberately inhale through
my nose. After all these years I was still amazed that something that
smelled so pungent and had such a profound effect on me - tasted so
bland. That miracle didn't stop me from fully appreciating Sophie's
increased sexuality at these times.

    As I paid homage to her place in my life I remembered the first
time we made love to each other.

    * * *

    "Damnit Ted. I hate this."

    I looked up from the screen and turned to study Sophie. "Hate
what?"

    "This!" She turned and flagged me. She was dripping.

    "Oh. Sophie, your fertility is a normal part of life. You'll just
have to get used to it."

    "Maybe." She turned back so she faced me and settled on her
haunches. "You couldn't prove it by me. Twice a year I get to feel my
rationality slip away. For most of my cycle - I'm nothing but a damn
animal."

    "Sophie, you're more than an animal. Your a biostruct based on the
original Earth wolves. Your intelligence has been enhanced and your
kind has been given speech. You'll always be far more than an animal
to people like me. Those of us who are considered open-minded enough
to work with you *know* that a few days of lost rationality doesn't
make you any less than what you are."

    "You're very special and someone, a *person*, that I love deeply."

    She tilted her head slightly as she studied my comments. "If you
care for me so much, how come you've never loved me as you would
someone you love? I know damn well you aren't a virgin. I'm not one
either. *That* was something *they*," I couldn't believe the contempt
in her voice, "made sure of. Once I had proven myself 'successful', I
was forced to breed with male biostruct of their choosing. I wasn't
given a choice in the matter."

    I was stunned. "I..."

    She looked at me and her eyes softened. "How could you know? It
all happens at the farm before we are allowed to form partnerships.
Few of us talk about what happens there. We prefer to put those
memories behind us and get on with our lives."

    I didn't trust myself to speak, so I just nodded slowly.

    She returned to her original complaint. "Look, I think it's past
the time when we should have stopped ignoring reality and proved to
ourselves that we really are a team. I've been quietly doing some
talking with other 'structs' who have the smell of humans on their
genitals. We've compared notes with those who don't and the one thing
we've found to be consistent..."

    "Is that humans and biostructs who have the courage to become
lovers as well as working partners are over twice as efficient in the
field. They also stay together for the rest of their lives."

    I leaned back. "That isn't in the records."

    She grinned. "It is and it isn't. It only shows up if you know
which teams are also lovers. So far nobody has taken the time to let
people know that eventually all of the more stable teams stay that way
because they are truly mated, physically as well as mentally
compatible."

    "Oh." I seemed to be overusing the word but Sophie had managed to
make me almost speechless.

    "Sophie, I've never seen you as a sexual person. It just..." I
looked directly into her brown eyes and shrugged slightly. "Never
occurred to me even though I have come to see you as 'sexy' in your
own way. I guess I figured that you had found your own solution to the
problem."

    She snorted her contempt again. "I couldn't bring myself to become
a 'breeder' who couples with whoever I was told to breed with."

    I got the impression that she wished she could cry. She knew what
crying was because there had been many times when she had comforted
me.

    "I'm me! I'm a real person. You and the other biopartners are the
only people who seem to realize what that means. *You* let us choose."

    She fell silent and her eyes closed. I watched as her body seemed
to sag in on itself as she let herself settle to the bed. I thought
she had fallen asleep until she opened her eyes again and studied me
intently. "Nobody else does that."

    "Two years ago *we* chose each other as partners. Don't you think
it's about time we chose each other as *sexual* ones?"

    She waited with that special patience of hers as I considered
everything. So much of it had been hinted at in the past. The things
said and 'not-said' when biopartners took the time, rarely available,
to socialize.

    I briefly closed my eyes in pain and then reopened them. "This is
a hell of a way to learn the truth."

    She nodded.

    I took a deep breath and stood up. Once I was standing, I
carefully stripped. "We're not virgins but, I guess we are. Did any of
your conversations include details for the best ways for biopartners
to mate?"

    Her ears shifted in what I knew was her version of an embarrassed
blush. "Of course. They also included the best ways for a struct to
seduce her partner."

    I couldn't help my grin. I already knew Sophie was very outgoing
and forceful. She had to be if she wanted to get any respect when we
were in the field. "Somehow, I'm not terribly surprised."

    * * *

    That first time had been awkward for both of us. Over the years we
had come to know each other as true lovers and mates.

    I chuckled softly and returned to pleasuring Sophie. I had my
story. But, I wouldn't write it until *after* we reaffirmed our
commitment to each other.

    I knew she'd help me find the two hours to begin to tell it.
======

    M/wolfess zoo nosex
    ---

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
    Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 01 - The Journey Begins
    Chapter One - The Ad
    ---

    People Wanted:
    Do you enjoy the outdoors?
    Do you work well when unsupervised?
    Do you enjoy the idea of working with animals?
    For more details:
    Contact 'Bio-Partners': partners@biolab.nml
    ---------

    That was it. No address. No phone number. I didn't need them. I
already knew about the Bio-Partners. Ever since I was a kid I had
known I wanted to go to space. My one undeniable skill is that I get
along well with most animals.

    * * *

    Oh, I tend to forget that some people think I can write reasonably
well. Apparently not well enough to offer me any compensation. Forget
writing as a career.

    In our history class we had spent a week discussing the original
BioLab project. Over one hundred years ago wolves and horses had been
'enhanced'. After the techniques had been perfected, many other
species had been enhanced. As part of the history lesson, we got to
watch a vid of the original Pony Girls and then had the option of
seeing a live performance by some of the members of the current Pony
Girls chorus line.

    That was the day I decided I wanted to be a Bio-Partner.

    Somehow.

    I'd waited years for one of their rare advertisements. My patience
had been rewarded.

    * * *

    "Fill out the forms on this disk. When you reach the end, you'll
be told what to do."

    After I settled at one of the tables with the other candidates, I
inserted the disk and scanned the list of questions. "Incredible", I
mumbled. "Is there anything they don't want to know about me?"

    After hours of answering questions, I got to the last page. I
thought I was numb and unable to be surprised - but I was wrong.

    One question remained. One simple instruction. "Answer the
following question in any way you wish and save your work. Wait for
your instructions to appear on the screen."

    I stared at the question. 'Are you bothered by people who have sex
with animals?' I slyly glanced at the other people who were answering
the questions. I couldn't tell if anyone else had reached the last
question.

    I leaned back and thought about my answer. As far as I knew,
nobody was aware that I wrote fiction and posted it on the grid.
Should I keep my secret or should I finally admit to what I had been
doing?

    I thought back to that long ago history class. I remembered how we
had talked about the early days of BioLab and how the machinations of
the original project leader led to the eventual discovery of the then
secret project.

    The lesson was clear. I decided to be honest.

    "No, I am not bothered by the idea. In fact, until now, I have
never admitted that I use a nym and write, as well as post, such
stories on the grid."

    I saved the work and waited.

    * * *

    My wait was a short one. The screen flashed to get my attention. I
hesitated. In spite of all my dreams, now that I had taken the last
step on the path - I wasn't sure if I wanted to know...

    Enough!

    I stabbed at the accept key.

    "This is Sophia. Thank you for being honest, Fyrenth. We've been
hoping you would join us. Remove your disk and bring it through the
door. I'm waiting for you. Incidentally, the final question is
tailored for each person. Welcome, Bio-Partner."

    I fell back in shock. I had been certain that *nobody* had linked
me to the writer 'Fyrenth'.

    I was in a daze as I removed the disk and went over to the door.
My hands were shaking but I managed to open the door and walk into the
small office. The door sighed shut behind me and I heard the
distinctive 'thunk' of a security lock.

    * * *

    "Hello, Ted. Toss the disk in the trash."

    I dropped the disk in the trash, braced myself against the wall,
closed my eyes... And sighed. "I should have expected something like
that last question and now this."

    The wolfess sitting on the desk raised her head. "No. We
deliberately find ways to startle anyone who gets this far. Resilience
and adaptability is required in a successful Partner. We need to know
if a person has it *before* they take the final step."

    "May I sit down?"

    "No. Follow me. We'll relax and talk during the trip." She jumped
down and led me through a door. As we walked down a corridor, she
explained. "This is only a recruiting station. From here, each person
who is accepted is escorted to The Farm. There, you will be allowed to
settle in and eventually find a partner."

    "Until you find your partner, I will be your guide and, if you
wish it, your companion."

    Things had happened too quickly. Instead of answering when she
paused and glanced at me, I nodded. She resumed walking and I followed
her.

    * * *

    At the end of the corridor a transport was waiting. "Luxurious", I
commented after we had settled and it started moving.

    She sighed and looked out the window before answering. "Humans who
make it this far are rare. We pamper them outrageously."

    I chuckled at her choice of words. "We?"

    She turned and studied me. Something was going on behind those
brown eyes and she wasn't bothering to hide it. "We." Her ears
twitched slightly but I had no idea what that movement meant. In a few
days I would discover that her odd ear twitch was her way of laughing
or showing amusement.

    "Bio-Partners is an operation that is funded and run by animals,
not humans. Does it offend you to learn that for all practical
purposes, we 'use' humans? The partnerships are real and often deep.
That doesn't change reality. We need you more than you need us. Of
course we take special care of those few who are able to treat with us
as equals. It won't be long until you find out what price you've paid
to join us. This luxury is something we all need and share."

    She sighed deeply and closed her eyes. "In the coming years you'll
learn to appreciate having a place you can call home - or something
like this transport, a place where you can settle and relax for a
brief period."

    "No, I'm not offended. Surprised though."

    Without opening her eyes, she commented. "We don't make an issue
of who controls things. Ever since the biostructs were granted equal
legal status with humans, we quit listing our species in any public
records."

    I gazed out the window as I thought about her words. "You make the
rest of it sound pretty bad."

    Her mild retort was simple. "I speak of reality."

    I nodded slowly. "Fair enough."

    We watched the landscape in shared silence. As evening overtook
us, we talked of many things.

    "Sophia? How did you learn of my nym?"

    She smiled. "Anyone can be traced. Your style of writing has been
analyzed. Eventually we were able to link it to you. Once we knew who,
we waited and hoped you would follow up on your plans to apply. The ad
was deliberately released only in your area and we hoped you would see
it and answer."

    "You had no way of knowing it but your stories are very popular
and many of the Bio-Partners enjoy them." She hesitated. "*I* enjoy
them."

    She settled with her head in my lap. I reached down and started
petting her.

    She continued. "Many of us are waiting to show you the differences
between your well written fantasies - and reality." She raised her
head and looked at me. "Are you ready to learn?"

    This was all too much for me. Nothing was happening as I had
expected it to happen. "I guess so." I fell silent and tried to sort
out my thoughts and emotions.

    "Sophia? How do you decide who will guide the new applicants?" She
had hinted at wheels within wheels.

    "How else? While you were answering the questions, the air around
you was constantly sampled. Those samples were passed to a room full
of Bio-Partner teams and unpaired Partners. Your reactions were
discussed and eventually one of the unpaired Partners was selected
from the species your pheromones indicated that you are most
comfortable with. After we talked it over, we decided that I was the
one who was the most emphatic in feeling that you 'smelled right'."

    I shook my head ruefully. "Nothing is what I expected. I didn't
even get the chance to see if 'love at first sight' is true. 'Love at
first smell' seems to be closer. I'm so confused that I don't know
what questions to ask."

    Sophia sighed and increased the pressure of her head in my lap.
"You don't smell confused. Your hands aren't either. Listen to your
body when it speaks. It will take special effort for now but
eventually it will become as natural to you as breathing." She paused
and then whispered. "At least that's what the already partnered humans
tell me. Part of the time we spend at The Farm will involve you
learning enough so that you will know what questions you want to ask."

    "Direct, aren't you?"

    "Honest. Just as you had to be when you answered the final
question."

    "You have a point." I paused and 'tasted' the feel of my next
word. Yes... It felt right. "Partner."

    Sophia opened her eyes and looked at me. I could tell she was
feeling something that was special to her. "Are you sure?"

    "You say I am. It's time I started living my fantasies."

    She shivered slightly as she closed her eyes and relaxed. Sometime
during the night, I leaned back and fell asleep.

    That was how a glorious sunrise found us.

    We were already comfortable with each other and willing to begin
walking through life...

    Together.
======

    M/wolfess zoo nosex
    ---

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
    Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 01 - The Journey Begins
    Chapter Two - Transported
    ---

    Since I'd spent most of the night sleeping upright, with Sophia's
chin resting on my leg, my sleep had been uneasy. I had awakened when
she got up to go to the bathroom. After she'd finished, she had padded
back and made me get up so she could change the couch I was sitting on
into a bed. We resettled and I didn't wake up again until I smelled
food.

    We were working our way through breakfast when I realized I hadn't
asked how long the trip would take.

    "As long as it takes." Sophia was relaxed and nonchalant.

    "That doesn't make sense. Any place on Earth can be reached in
less than 36 hours."

    "True. If you are in a hurry. I'm not. Are you?" She finished the
last of her food and settled on her haunches. I knew enough about
canine body language to realize she was smiling with her whole body
this time.

    "Huh? Why wouldn't I be in a hurry to get started?"

    She looked away and then back. "Do you remember the final step I
mentioned yesterday?"

    "Yes."

    "You're in the middle of it. When you agreed to be my partner, you
linked your life to mine. Where I go, you go. To some degree, my work
determines what you will be doing while I am working. In this case,
you'd be learning on the job. I'm in security. My career has been on
hold until I could find a partner."

    She hesitated. "Actually, I've deliberately kept my career on
hold. You see, in my spare time, I'm one of the few biostructs who
writes. I wanted a chance to see if we are actually compatible with
each other."

    "You mentioned that you want to get into space. There is an
opening for a security team on one of the geostations. I meet all the
qualifications except one. I'm unpartnered."

    "I'm sorry, Ted. That's one of the prices you pay as a
Bio-Partner. You can choose your hobbies and what you do in your spare
time. Your career is linked to your partner's."

    "Do you still want to be my partner? If not, we go from here to
the Farm and look for new ones. Say yes..."

    "And our next stop will be the Bio Partners' launch facility."

    My first reaction was anger. I felt tricked. What about my dreams?
I wanted...

    What *did* I want? What did I know? I'd been so focused on
becoming a Bio-Partner that I hadn't put much effort into figuring out
what I would do once I reached that goal.

    Skills? What skills? I got along well with animals. I suppose I
had vaguely figured I would go into some sort of animal related work
if I hadn't been accepted. I could write but I was realistic enough to
know that I wasn't good enough to live on whatever I could earn as a
writer.

    The adrenalin surge slowly faded. I looked down at my clenched
hands. "How many never finish the last step?" I raised my head and
looked into brown eyes.

    "At your age? Fifteen percent make it this far. Of those, roughly
fifty percent never finish the last step. The odds get worse as the
applicants get older. They aren't much better for the people younger
than you are. At best, only twenty percent of the original applicants
make it to the last step. Those are averages of course. Some years are
better than others. We don't make any sort of effort to let people
know the truth. We need all the applicants we can get. Admitting the
high failure rate would only discourage people from applying."

    I nodded. I was beginning to understand Sophia's comments about
pampering and prices. "Do all the Biostructs treat potential partners
the way you do?"

    Her answer surprised me. "No."

    "No?"

    Her posture shifted slightly. She sagged and then raised herself.
"I told you I'm in security. That means that I and my partner will be
routinely trusting each other with our lives. Whoever that partner is,
they *have* to be able to think clearly when they are dealing with the
stress of an unexpected situation. Our lives, and those of many
others, might depend on how we react. Panic *during the problem* is
not a viable option." She grinned. "Afterwards, when the situation is
under control and others have taken over, we can panic as much as we
want to."

    "I see." I did, too. It was obvious Sophia was far more
experienced than I was. Harder, but she had to be.

    I think what frustrated me the most was learning that by agreeing
to become Sophia's Partner, I had unwittingly agreed to let her make
my career choices for me. I didn't even get the chance to look at
different careers and see if I was interested in them. As long as I
stayed partnered with Sophia, I'd be in security.

    The only way to get a chance to choose my career was to break last
night's promise to Sophia. I didn't want to do that. Last night, being
next to her had felt more right than anything I'd ever done before. I
couldn't bring myself to believe that 'feeling good about being around
her' was enough of a reason to stay now that I knew that if I did, I
would never be able to choose a career based on my own desires.

    I tried to figure out if there were any other, and better, reasons
for me to stay partnered with Sophia. I needed a reason that would
help me feel useful.

    Wait. Something she had said. What was it? Something about my
hobbies. Had she been trying to tell me something?

    I replayed her words in my mind. Oh. Really? I get to choose my
*hobbies*?

    That's when I turned my full attention back to Sophia.

    "You said 'We've been hoping you would join us'. Why?" I held my
breath as I stared at her.

    "Because you write. We want you writing for us. About us. As we
are and as we see..."

    "Ourselves and the world around us."

    I was shaking again but this time it was because I was afraid a
long held dream was going to be offered and then taken away. "There
have to be partners who write. You said *you* are a writer."

    Surprisingly, she turned away and looked out the window. "I write.
There are a few others. Not enough of us." She sighed. "There are
never enough of us."

    'There are never enough of us.' Something about that simple
sentence bothered me. I'd heard it before. Where? When?

    She can't be! No way! Yet... The phrasing. How come I hadn't seen
it sooner?

    "Tialira?"

    Her head jerked around to face me.

    I was numb. Sophia was Tialira. *My* Tialira. My virtual lover who
had been there for so many years. Supportive. Gentle. A fellow writer
who waged war against all the false perceptions that still existed.

    I rediscovered my voice. It broke when I finally found the words I
wanted. "Would you have told me?"

    She ducked her head. "I don't know. I was afraid of how you would
react. I didn't want you thinking I used that to pressure you into
staying. You have every right to resent what I've done."

    I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Several years ago, I
made Tialira a promise. 'If we ever get the chance, I'd like to be
with you so we could see if we really could be close friends after
meeting in person. If we managed to stay friends, we would see if we
cared enough for each other to become lovers in real life.' Tialira
made the same promise to Fyrenth." I shrugged even though I knew she
wouldn't see it. "I made that promise to the *person* Tialira and the
image I had built of her - in my mind. I knew the real image would be
different. Life on the grid taught me that If I loved the mind, the
shape of the body doesn't matter."

    "Since I still love Tialira, you, I'll have to learn to ignore the
package you're wrapped in. I don't think I'll have much trouble doing
that. I've written about it, now I get to live it. "

    "That's something I knew I'd be dealing with if I was accepted. I
never expected to have to deal with it so soon. I was expecting a
gradual building of a relationship. I never dreamed that I would find
myself with the chance to confirm one that already existed."

    She nodded without looking at me.

    I held out one of my hands, palm up. "Well? Is this the chance to
keep our promises?"

    Her eyes flicked in my direction. Slowly, one of her front legs
came up. She laid her paw in my hand.

    "Yes."
======

    poem Wolfess/M zoo Wolfess-pov nosex

    This is Tialira's poetic version of the first two chapters of the
story detailing how she and Fyrenth met in real life.
    ---

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
    Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 01 - The Journey Begins
    Chapter Three - Tialira's Song
    ---

    Words from afar
    Blaze brightly
    On the screen of my life.

    Where is he?
    Who is he?
    Is he for real?

    Lonely.
    Oh, both of us,
    So very lonely.

    Carefully, I search.
    I must *know*.
    Dare I find out?

    I whisper his name.
    It gently rolls from my tongue:
    "Fyrenth."

    I dream of a touch.
    Any touch.
    *His* touch!

    Is he for real?
    Could he be mine?
    In our dreams, fulfilled?

    Gently.
    Very gently.
    I ask without asking.

    Then...
    Discovery!
    He's real!

    Pain.
    Agitation.
    Unsure.

    He's human.
    I'm not.
    Much danger of failure.

    Days
    Turn to years
    And a promise is made.

    "Fyrenth."
    In my deepest parts.
    I whisper his name.

    Would he?
    Could he?
    Will he?

    His scent overwhelms me.
    He's near
    Yet so far.

    Words from nearby
    Blaze brightly
    On the screen of my life.

    "Fyrenth."
    I whisper his name
    Etched so deeply, on my soul.

    Contact!
    Welcome!
    Will our future begin?

    Scents.
    Overwhelming.
    Tell of chaos within.

    Before me.
    Beside me.
    Together!

    "Fyrenth!"
    A whisper within.
    A dream, reborn.

    A future suggested.
    In the chaos of now,
    A mistake maybe made.

    Scents overwhelming
    Tell of shock,
    And surprise.

    My eyes turn away
    To help hide...
    My fear.

    Inward I turn.
    Can *he* read *me*
    That well?

    "Tialira."
    He knows!
    He knows me!

    The scent
    Of confusion
    Tickles my nose.

    But not do I smell
    The scent
    Of rejection.

    "Tialira."
    Spoken in darkness
    It tells of his love.

    Words from next to me
    Blaze brightly
    On the screen of my life.

    More words
    Do we share
    And speak of our past.

    Of promises made
    And chances to learn.
    We speak of it all.

    "Tialira."
    "Partner."
    "Together, we two."

    Fears, unfounded.
    Replaced by a future
    Well founded.

    A gentle touch
    Binds us together
    And tells of our love.

    "Tialira."
    "Fyrenth."
    With tenderness spoken.

    Words from within
    Blaze brightly
    On the screens of *our* lives.
======

M/wolfess zoo nosex
---

Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 01 - The Journey Begins
Chapter Four - Space Bound
---


Sophia was as good as her word. Our trip ended at the Bio Partners'
space facility.

By the time we arrived I'd accepted that I'd have to become some sort
of private security agent. Although, by the time she'd been partway
through her briefing I had the impression we were to be slightly more
than that in practice. Bio Partner Security was an internationally
recognized organization, complete with our own charter, laws and even,
to my surprise, a judicial system that could, if they chose to do so,
take precedence over any national court system. BPS was, by its nature
and duties, something of a cross between a police force and a tightly
knit group of mercenaries.

When I mentioned this to Sophia she laughed and agreed with me.

"BPS was a natural progression from our original design goals and our
instincts. There are other types of biostructs in security, of course,
but most of us are wolves. With the proper training, our teams are far
more effective in the field than the best of the k9-human teams."

She sighed. "When Liaya made her breakthrough, there was a mostly
covert and undeclared war going on. She managed to break through the
security and set us up as independents instead of military assets used
by her native country. One important result, aided by the Pony Girls
case, was that even though other research programs were successful,
all of the end products were declared human equivalent. With lots of
human help we formed Bio Partners as an umbrella organization and
became independent of all ties to the various countries we were
created in. We're truly international in outlook instead of oriented
to national boundaries. That was mostly Liaya's doing. Her private
notes show that she had a very thorough understanding of the mindset
of wolves--and she used that to mold us and get us started on the path
we now travel."

We were walking past a booth when she stopped and settled on her
haunches. "Ted? There's something you have to do before we leave."

"Oh?"

One ear flicked in the direction of the booth. "Make two calls. One to
your landlord and one to your parents. Tell them you been accepted for
training and that a team will be there to collect your personal
effects." She dipped her head and turned sideways. "I'm sorry. They'll
have to take almost everything that's yours. Family mementos can stay
but... We'd like to keep those to a minimum. Things are negotiable.
The pick up teams are standing by and can move immediately."

She looked at me. "I hate this part. The most life changing event
you'll have experienced to date, and I have to *order* you to lie.
'Don't tell anyone you're already partnered'."

Somehow I found myself sitting in the booth. Sophia's eyes were almost
level with mine and then I was looking into their depths when she rose
and touched my nose with hers.

After she pulled away, I watched her settle, and finally found the
courage to ask the question she must have known I had. "Why?"

"Operational Security. If we don't do this now, this way, everyone who
was close to you could become a target for the hatred. We have enough
teams that we can keep an unobtrusive net around them but the best
solution we've found is this one. You need to make a total break
before word could possibly get out. The opposition knows we do this,
and generally, they are honorable enough that once the break is done,
they leave the applicant's family and friends alone until they find
out if you become a full partner, or not."

The emotional pain that hit me made me wince. I'd known things were
bad, but this was far worse that what the news ever told us.

She settled back on her haunches, out of view. Very softly, but with a
note of command even I could recognize... "Make the calls. People can
be there within five minutes. Longer, if need be, but don't go past 30
minutes."

"Right."

I made my first call to my landlord and explained I'd been accepted
for a new job in another part of the world, and would be moving out.
Because of that, I was making arrangements for some movers to pick up
my stuff.

When he asked me who they would be, I put him on hold and looked at
Sophia.

"BPS Movers, International."

I smiled a little, then took him off hold and passed on the
information. I apologised for he short notice, made an agreement on
where to send the refund of my rent and any other money I'd be getting
back, then hung up.

The call to my parents was longer, and more evasive even though I had
to work with them and Sophia, who was out of range of the camera,
until we had figured out what would be picked up and what would be ok
to leave behind.

They were a little puzzled, but accepting of the fact I had decided to
put everything in storage until I knew more about where I'd be living
and working.

Eventually I shut of the phone and leaned back to sigh wearily. "Damn.
That was more painful than I expected."

Sophia nuzzled me. "I'll do what I can to make it up to you."

I turned and hugged her. "Thanks."

Then she pulled out of my embrace and shoved with her nose. "Move
over. My turn."

I slid to the side, and she settled next to me. Once I initiated the
call she took over and made the arrangements for my belongings to be
gathered and stored.

Too soon, or so it seemed, her call was over and she'd used her nose
to disconnect.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, then she turned her head to
smile at me. "Ok. Time to find out if you get space sick. Let's catch
the next orbital shuttle, and then we'll catch the next Earth-Moon
flight."

I couldn't stop my eyebrows from going up. "Moon?"

"Yes. We'll be spending the next six months at the BPS training
facility for people who specialize in operating in space. Assuming we
both pass, from there we'll get assigned to one of the Geostations."

"Uhh... Sophia? Shouldn't I go through some tests or something first?"

She smiled a little. "You already have. We have all your medical
records, and I know you've been on several suborbital transports.
There's no record of you having problems, and the only way to find out
if you can deal with more, is to experience it. The only real
difference will be that the free fall segment will last a lot longer.
Other than that, there's no difference between a suborbital flight,
and an orbital shuttle."

I sighed. "Oh. I always thought there would be more, or some special
tests."

She shook her head. "No. Worst case, I'll have you knocked out until
we reach the Moon, then we'll find out if you're ok there. You
wouldn't be the first partner who can't handle free fall. If that
happens, I'll rethink my career choice."

I winced. "You'd do that for me?"

She sighed. "I would. I've worked in space by myself, and hope to do
it with you at my side, but there are plenty of other openings I can
fill on Earth or on the Moon, assuming you can deal with the low gee
environment. I'm not going to say I'll be as enthusiastic at first,
but I can adapt."

She smiled and nosed me. "It's called 'love'. I've waited quite a few
years for you to grow up and I don't want to let go, now that we're
partners. Changing my job slightly is a small price to pay for that.
Besides, we have to pass our finals as a team, before we work in
space. Let's do this one step at a time and see what happens. Ok?"

"Ok."

Then she surprised me by sticking her nose out to see if anyone was
nearby, then pulling it back so she could watch me carefully.

"There's something you need to know, and keep secret unless I tell you
it's ok to mention it."

I sighed. "We're pretty public, aren't we? I don't know much about
security, but it seems like talking like that here shouldn't be done."

She nodded. "Good. You're at least as adaptable as your tests
indicated. This isn't as public as you think. We're in the area
routinely used by BPS personel. Normals tend to avoid this part of the
terminal, even though it's open to the general public."

"Ok."

"I'll keep it simple until we're in our cabin on the Earth-Moon
flight. Once we sign in as a team, and you get your basic
certifications, we'll be the Beta command team for BPS."

I knew my eyes widened in shock. "Beta? You expect me to help you run
the entire organization?"

"Yes, eventually. Not at first, though. For the first few years,
you'll be acting more as my secretary and won't be doing much more
than making any suggestions you think of, and passing along my orders.
Assuming we go to work on one of the stations, we won't be announcing
our true status, not even to the other BPS teams, unless we have to.

"Currently, I'm in charge of recruiting, and that is all that most
people know about my status, other than the fact I'm in the security
division, as you have to be."

I sighed. "I have a lot to learn that most people don't need to know,
don't I?"

She matched my sigh. "Yes. Still want to be my partner?"

I didn't know what to think, mostly, except that I couldn't see myself
abandoning Sophia after she'd waited as long as she had. I'd waited a
long time too, so it wasn't like we were just getting to know each
other.

The decision wasn't one, and I figured she knew it but wanted me to
admit it openly. "We've waited a long time to be with each other,
Tialira. I'm not going to abandon you now that we're together."

I chuckled suddenly as I had a whimsical thought. "Hey, do you think I
want to miss out on a chance to collaborate in person, with my
favorite authoress? No way!"

She stared at me, then surprised me with one of the most feminine
giggles I'd ever heard. "I'm not going to argue with that. I've been
looking forward to that and I'd forgotten about that dream because of
all the serious stuff going on right now."

She shifted again and put her nose through the curtain. "Come on.
Let's find us space on one of the shuttles. Anything we need will be
available once we get settled on the Moon."

After we'd walked a ways I looked down and smiled. "You always carry
your tail vertical like that, and prance instead of walking?"

Her ears went back slightly, then she glanced at me quickly. "No. I
only do it when I'm extremely happy about something, and I think you
know what I'm happy about."

"Yeah. I'm still in shock about this. I never dreamed you were a
struct."

"I was afraid to tell you."

I sighed. "I wish you had, but I've seen enough news reports, to
understand the reasons you didn't."

She turned suddenly and nosed her way through a door before it could
open completely. "This way. We have our own screening area, since we
have noses. Still have to go through the detectors, but generally,
it's a formality instead of anything serious and tedious."

We reached a set of detectors that were manned by a couple of BPS
teams. One of the wolves nodded at her.

"We'd heard you finally partnered, Sophia. Headed out?"

"Yes, to both questions."

The other wolf had padded over to sniff me, then he looked up. "State
your name and if you've agreed to be Sophia's partner."

"Ted Larson. I've been Sophia's partner for years, only I didn't know
it until last night."

He sneezed and turned to study Sophia. "He thinks he's telling the
truth. Can you explain that?"

She grinned. "Easily. Meet Fyrenth."

His head jerked around, then he seemed to catch himself and he settled
on his haunches. "So. Been looking forward to meeting you, for quite a
few years. Don't let Sophia get away with dominating you all the time.
Going to have to be a pretty strong Alpha if you want to keep her in
line, sometimes."

She actually snarled quietly. "He'll find out as soon as we get to a
secure location. He doesn't know, yet."

"Sorry. You know the drill. Walk through one at a time, and we'll see
if there's anything we need to worry about."

Sophia walked through with her head and tail high, and the wolf nodded
after he checked with the others. "You pass. Ted? Your turn."

I walked through gingerly, because I suddenly remembered I was wearing
my usual street clothes and not what I wore when I traveled.

Nothing happened, and when I turned to stare at the detector system,
he laughed. "Relax. These are more sophisticated than the commercial
ones, and they have some pretty exotic recognition routines built into
them. We already knew you probably didn't have anything on you we
needed to worry about. You've been constantly scanned ever since
Sophia brought you through the door to this area."

I managed to get my attention away from the detectors, and I focused
on him. "Why send us through them?"

"Insurance. There are things the standard scanners miss. Just because
you were with Sophia, you aren't exempt from deep scanning, before you
can go past this point. None of us are."

He looked at Sophia suddenly, and she nodded.

He faced me again. "There are things that can be shot at you, and
you'll never know they've been attached. Or someone could have made a
substitution to something you normally carry. We've had it happen
before, and some folks never stop trying to find ways to get past our
systems. Just one more thing you get to live with as a Biopartner."

I sighed. "Oh. Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't expecting it."

"You're welcome, Sir. All part of the service. You'll need to get used
to it, now that you're Sophia's partner."

He stood and shook himself. "You're clean. Get out of here, and good
luck."

"Thanks."

After we turned a corner, Sophia spoke quietly. "I can't hide the fact
I'm one of the senior wolves. Think of yourself as my Executive
Officer. It will be normal for teams to make reports to you, and
expect you to pass them on if I'm not available. You're new to the
job, and everyone knows it. They'll make allowances for that, and any
time you act like you don't know something you should, they'll help
you out in any way they can."

"Ok. That's nice to know."

She laughed. "Yes, it is, because I ran into the same problems and
support, when my brother took over as head of BPS, which automatically
made me second in overall command. Once we settle into our training,
don't be surprised if he and his mate show up to relax and keep us
informed of things we need to know."

She stopped suddenly, and studied me intently, then she sighed. "I
hope you can live with having a limited number of sex partners. At my
level, which is yours, too, we don't have a lot of people we can fully
relax with, without risking screwing up the chain of command and
violating security."

It was my turn to sigh. "I have the feeling I'm going to be too busy
to worry about that for awhile, anyway."

She nodded and resumed walking. "Probably true, but you never know
until it happens." 
======

    M-Wolfess military-scifi zoo nosex

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
    Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 02 - Job: Security
    Chapter One - Final Exam
    ---

    "All right, trainees. This is where you find out if you can do
your jobs without getting killed." I read the name tag on the man's
shirt because I wanted to remember who he was, for later. Already, I
didn't like the sneer in his voice and I could tell from her tail that
Sophia was getting angry enough to say something. He sneered and
looked straight at us. "I wish I knew why you idiots put all your
faith in a couple of *romance writers* and made them the group
leaders. But, it was your decision to make, not mine."

    I stiffened and studied his body language. Before I could say
anything to Sophia, he went on. "This is an exact duplicate of BPHQ.
It has all the defenses and all the security mechs HQ has. The problem
we've set up is simple. There's *one* safe area in the building, the
commander's office. The group's job is to get as many of you there as
possible. Period. That's it. It doesn't matter how much you think you
know about the emplacements. Not all of them are going to be active
and others are going to be set up for delayed activation. You're going
to take casualties and some of you are going to be 'killed'. That's
what those fancy suits are for. The defenses will be detuned and
programmed for non-lethality. Take enough hits, or the right ones, and
you'll be considered dead where you stand."

    He glanced down at his console. "As soon as I enter the activation
code, you're on your own." He looked at Sophia and me again. His body
language shouted his contempt before he emphasized it by speaking.
"Should be a cakewalk with the BP's beta command team in charge."

    He started entering the code and I froze. His hands were making
the wrong moves! As he completed the sequence I unfroze and shouted.
"Sophia! Get the group to safety! I'll try to deactivate the system!"

    I lunged and as I did so Allen grinned at me. "What's the matter,
*trainee* Larson? Have a sudden attack of cowardliness?"

    I shouldered him aside and tried to enter the override sequence.
No good. The laser started to cycle. I had one chance. The defenses
were set for 'aim and fire', not 'fire and sweep'. As the laser swung
in my direction I ducked, lunged to one side... And screamed in pain
as its first shot hit my arm. I juggled my hand laser to my other hand
and fired at the gimbals. Metal splattered, but not soon enough. I
took more hits, this time in my legs. I clenched my teeth, fought off
the dizziness and shock, then leaned sideways for a clearer shot. This
time I was rewarded with an explosion. The laser froze in position and
stopped firing. I sighed with relief as I rolled to one side, out of
the line of fire.

    I panted and let some of my anger show as I forced myself erect
and turned to confront Delagado. "You idiot. You entered the sequence
that activates the program used for testing combat suits. Once we move
out of this room, we don't stand a chance. You're in charge of
programming, *Mister* Allen Delagado. Override the settings or we're
all dead."

    He started to say something, saw my look and decided to turn his
attention to the console. "Stupid writers." He was mumbling as he
stabbed at the keypad. "Got no business in this job anyway. Too scared
to finish the course and I'm going to enjoy telling the commander his
favorite pet can't handle the pressures of combat... SHIT!" He pounded
on the console before he tried again. His shoulders started shaking as
he turned back to me. "It doesn't work. The override sequence doesn't
work!"

    I sighed. "Mister Delagado. I assume that since this is a training
facility, there are safety features HQ doesn't have."

    He flinched. "There are. Unfortunately, the combat suit program
only has one abort code other than the programmer's abort. Only senior
command teams know what it is--and we're sealed off until someone
reaches the commander's office. They can see us, but they can't get
any info in."

    I winced as my strength ran out and I fell to the floor. Before I
could say more Sophia arrived, quietly examined me and had one of the
other BPs slap a couple of field shots into me. "Bad, Ted. Those shots
came close to killing you. We can stop the blood loss and counteract
the shock. But..."

    We looked at each other and I nodded sadly. "Understood. We're
safe in here but the system's set to test combat suits." I let my
contempt show. "Mister Delagado tells me only the senior command
override might work at this point. It was the first thing I
tried--before I took the hits. One other thing. It's a small detail
but it's important." She nodded. "I noticed the entire system is set
for 'aim-and-fire'."

    Her head tilted slightly, seemingly casually, but it was her eyes
that told me how angry she was. "Not much, is it?" She raised her
voice. "Team two. Arrest Mister Delagado and don't let him near any of
our people or equipment. If he argues, tell him that I'm looking for
an excuse to put him first in line when we leave."

    She settled on her haunches and started entering commands into the
display. Eventually she had a map of the building, along with a
twisting line that led from where we were to the commander's office.
There was another line, flashing red, that led from outside the
building to the commander's office.

    She looked up and then back at the display when one of the women
asked a question that showed how new she was. "Why can't we stay here
and wait to be rescued?"

    Sophia snorted softly. "Are you considering that action or
mentioning it as a tactical option?"

    "Mentioning it, Ma'am."

    "Fair enough, then. If we stay here, we guarantee Ted's death. We
don't have the facilities to stabilize him for the time it would take
rescuers to reach us. There's a small chance that by fighting our way
to the safe area, he'll still be alive when the medical team arrives."

    "There's another reason, too." She looked up and let her
expression go neutral. "How do you feel about going into combat next
to people who are more concerned about their safety than they are
about doing their job?"

    She turned her gaze back to the display and studied it some more
before she looked at me. "I hope they can see this. 'Feth and Lia are
going to be upset but I don't have a choice. That red line represents
the fastest known route from the outside to the commander's office.
It's the one Lia and 'Feth used when they were testing the defenses
after we redeployed them as part of his promotion to head of
security." She sighed. "Forty five minutes. Nobody's done it faster. I
hope they have their combat suits with them because I want them to
start their way in--leading the best medical evac team we have--as
soon as they can."

    The building shook slightly and she managed a chuckle. "Now you
know why they're in charge. They do a good job of anticipating Mr.
Murphy. 'Feth also likes things that go 'boom' and Lia isn't much
better when she's in a hurry."

    I studied the other line. I knew there was something I should be
seeing but I kept fading in and out. One thing I 'knew', though.
"Sophia." She turned. "I don't think I have forty five minutes."

    She nodded. "I don't, either. That why I chose this route for the
group. It has the fewest permanently emplaced weapons. A lot of
mechs--but they're easier to kill and safer for us to face."

    We looked at each other as she continued. "I've decided I don't
want to outlive you. We go this way, we have the best chance of
getting the others out of this mess, even though I don't expect us to
make it all the way."

    I winced as the pain caught up with me again and then forced some
words out. "No. Don't waste yourself, Sophie. You're too good and
there will be someone else you can team with."

    "No." She stood and touched her nose to mine. "You, or nobody.
It's our mess to clean up. As much of it as we can before we die. At
least this way our deaths mean something."

    "You sure?"

    She pulled back and just looked at me. I sighed and turned my head
to study the others. I made my decision and managed a salute in their
direction. "We who are about to die..." I returned my gaze to Sophia.
"Orders?"

    "We pump you full of pain killers and shock suppressors. Likewise
for me. Hell on our systems but we need the edge. Before we leave I'm
going to brief everyone on where the fixed weapons are. You and I get
the tough job. You first, to draw the fire of the mechs. I'll be right
behind you to kill them while they are shooting at you. While we're
doing that the other structs kill the fixed defenses. Everyone else
secures the areas as we move through and they make sure we leave
nothing behind us to shoot our backs."

    "Injured fall back and do cleanup. The dead, we leave for later.
We move fast, and we don't slow down for anything. You and I will do
our best to leave fire lanes for the others but if they have to, they
shoot through us. If they don't, none of us have a chance. All of you,
if you have a shot, take it even if it means injuries to one of us."

    She sighed wearily. "I don't like it but it's the only chance we
have. We'll get you as close to safety as we can. When Ted and I fall,
good luck."

    She turned and locked eyes with each of the other trainees before
turning to team two. "Stay here, and keep Mr. Delagado away from the
controls. Use your own judgment if he tries anything. That includes
the use of lethal force if you decide it's needed."

    She glared at Allen then turned back to the display. "Gather
'round for the briefing, people. We're moving as soon as I finish. We
have an appointment to keep--in the commander's office."

    * * *

    As we approached our chosen exit I paused and shook my head.
Something was bothering me. I held up my hand in the halt signal.
Sophia joined me and looked up. I shook my head again. "I'm thinking.
We've missed a detail, I think." I looked at the other people and as I
looked at the medical supplies, I had it. "Of course!"

    I gestured at the emergency supplies on the wall. "The oxygen
masks. If we use them we don't have to hyperventilate or worry about
the combat filters." She nodded and I broke the case open. I grimaced
before putting mine on. "One more thing to screw up my system. Not
that it matters at this point." After I made sure both of our masks
were secure I entered the first digits of the security code that would
open the door for us.

    I tossed a seat cushion through as the door opened. As the lasers
found it I sprinted for the next door and fired my laser at the first
mech as it was turning in my direction. Sophia was right behind me and
her shots finished the mech as I was keying the next door open. Before
the fixed laser could reorient from the cushion the 'struct following
her had destroyed it. As we lunged through the next door the other
group members were welding the remaining doors shut and destroying the
defenses that hadn't fired on us.

    Things became a blur of noise, laser fire, rapidly punched keys
and the occasional scream as someone took a hit or burned themselves
on hot metal. When my mask emptied I broke a supply cabinet and
replaced both of our masks before we entered the next room.

    Forever, more burns, another keypad and I lunged through a door
while looking for the mech I knew would be there. Sophia stumbled into
me and we fell across a desk. I expected to die for that mistake but I
cursed her clumsiness anyway.

    She responded with oaths of her own that detailed my own
stupidities.

    Both of us shut up at the same time. We were alive and nothing was
shooting at us. I raised my head and looked around. It was the
commander's office. "I don't believe we made it..."

    The wall blew in. My last thought was: "I didn't know the system
was programmed to shoot through walls."

    * * *

    I came to, briefly, as somebody was dragging my now suited body
into an airlock. I screamed in pain as whoever it was jammed my limbs
into positions they didn't want to be in. Sophia was doing some pretty
impressive cursing that included my name and words that sounded like
'stupidity' and 'love' and 'don't' and a lot of other things I
couldn't make out. I think I mumbled 'I love you, too' but I don't
know if she heard me.
======

    M-Wolfess military-scifi zoo nosex mixedpov

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
    Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 02 - Job: Security
    Chapter Four - The Masquerade: Activation in Place
    ---

    "Ted, you've shown a real aptitude for security work. I'm glad you
and Sophia stayed together. You're a good team."

    I glanced over at Sophia and we shared wry smiles before I turned
back to Grrfeth and Liandra. "It was a close thing during my training
on the moon. Sophia, well, she had some pretty harsh things to say
after I woke up in the hospital. I did some pretty deep thinking while
I was recovering from those laser burns." I shrugged with a casualness
I knew wasn't fooling anyone in the room. "I was ready to quit. We
talked things over, I did some more thinking--and here I am."

    A paw touched my bandaged arm in a private signal. I sighed deeply
and leaned back on the couch. "Yeah, love. I know. If I hadn't forced
the laser to target me first and then destroyed it, we'd have lost
most of the group before we got started. Instead, I spent six months
flat on my back trying to decide if I really wanted to spend the rest
of a possibly short life paying for the mistakes of idiots like Allen
Delagado."

    Grrfeth snorted loudly. "He's no longer a serious problem. Lia
assigned him to Station Sixteen after she spent some time detailing
his problems and probable future if he didn't change his attitude.
He's also due for a few more sessions with the psych folks since they
want to figure out how their tests let him get through in the first
place."

    "That leaves us with another problem, though. What are we going to
do with the team that recorded the highest scores ever seen on the
assault training course *after* the human partner was hit by a
supposedly 'safe' laser?"

    I stared at Grrfeth and then Liandra. She nodded. "I've seen the
records. After you disabled the laser the two of you went into some
sort of 'overdrive' and spent the next ten minutes clearing a safe
path through a course that was designed to take at least forty five
minutes for *experienced* teams to clear."

    "It didn't seem like it was *that* difficult--once we started." I
looked at Sophia again. "Do you want to tell her? I don't think she'd
believe me."

    I didn't mention that I'd seen the records of their own entrance
or that I'd been awake long enough to see their own arrival in the
safe area. Combat suits and explosives had let them use a 'least time'
course instead of the 'least damage' course Sophia had plotted. It was
a lesson in emergency rescue tactics that Sophia and I knew we
wouldn't forget.

    Sophia held my eyes a long time before she nodded almost
imperceptibly and turned to face Liandra. "Ted was dying. Neither one
of us expected him to survive until help arrived. I didn't want to
outlive him. We argued about it but he finally agreed to my plan."

    Grrfeth perked his ears in her direction. "That isn't in the
records. What plan?"

    She ducked her head and turned away from him. "We had nothing to
lose so I decided we should go for broke."

    I touched her head with my good hand. "There was more but it boils
down to something simple. We tried to commit suicide as a team doing
the job it was supposed to do. She made me a moving target and we
hoped her faster reaction time would stop whatever was attacking me
before it killed me. We also counted on our fatigue to eventually slow
us down enough so that the automatic systems would kill us before we
got to the end of the course." I held Grrfeth's eyes briefly before
turning to Lia and shrugging. "Love made it an easy decision,
actually."

    I leaned forward and put my head in my hands as I remembered
making the decision to die. "We never expected to live through the
experience."

    Grrfeth finally broke the strained silence. "Now?"

    Sophia and I held another silent conversation before I nodded in
agreement and we got off the couch to stand at attention. Her words
were the simple ones we'd been wanting to say ever since I was
released from the hospital: "Bio Partners Sophia and Ted Larson,
security specialists, ready for duty."

    Grrfeth studied us. "I see. Captain Sophia Larson. In spite of
your low rank, you are still the Beta wolf in Bio Partners' Security.
Nothing will change that. Lieutenant Ted Larson will, as your partner,
eventually become your executive officer and fourth in command of BP
Security."

    She nodded and we waited.

    His lips curled into a smile. "Lieutenant Ted Larson. Because you
have shown an interest in improving our equipment, I've decided to
make you my special assistant and liaison with the research
department. That will be in addition to your normal duties as Sophia's
partner."

    He sighed. "Sophia, it's nice to have you where you should be,
finally. Ted, welcome to active duty--and the headaches of running
this outfit. You and Sophia are going to be doing a lot of the field
duty that Lia and I would like to do but don't have the time for."

    "Lia? Anything to add?"

    She frowned. "Actually, yes. I think Ted made a good point while
he was in the hospital. There's a lot of hate directed at the Bio
Partners because the animals are in charge. He said something about
using a different approach." She looked at me and then seemed to
realize we were still standing at attention. "Relax, you two. Sophia
knows that the two of you don't need to play the military type games
when it's just the four of us."

    Sophia waited for me to resettle on the couch before she settled
with her head in my lap. "Lia, I was making a point."

    "Which was?"

    "Don't coddle us because we're a new team. If we're the best team
for job, use us."

    Lia chuckled. "Trust me, we have too many situations where we need
to use a command rated team with your adaptability ratings, to waste
you on 'make-work'. For now, we plan on giving you some light duty.
Once the two of you get some field experience we'll be using you in
situations that are going to really test your skills."

    "Sophia, since your primary specialty is recruiting, we're sending
the two of you to Station Nine. It's showing signs of being ready for
a recruiting drive." She sighed. "We still don't have enough human bio
partners and 'Feth and I are hoping S9 will give us enough to take
some of our older 'structs off reserve status. Only the BPs will know
the two of you are one of our senior command teams. Please try and
keep it that way. When you aren't pulling regular duty be looking for
ways to recruit qualified people. S9 is BP friendly so this will give
us a chance to experiment before we move you to one of the less
friendly stations."

    She returned to the subject. "Ted, you didn't have any answers
when you made that comment. Done any thinking about it?"

    "Some. Sophia and I have talked about some pretty crazy ideas
since then but we decided they wouldn't work and a few of then would
backfire if unfriendly people found out we were using them. Education
is about the only solution we agreed on."

    Grrfeth sighed. "Education is a long term solution. We need
something that works a little faster. Oh, well. I didn't have much
hope to begin with."

    He and Lia held a silent conversation of their own before he
turned back to us. "Lia's been after me to take a break and now that
you two are active, we have a team we can relax with. Ted, I want to
take you over and formally introduce you to the research folks. Lia?
Do you want to take off with Sophia and meet us later?"

    Lia jerked upright and stared at Grrfeth. She looked surprised,
then thoughtful. "The cabin?"

    He nodded. "We'll be late getting there. I'll be showing Ted the
back way in and before that the research people will probably want to
show him all their latest toys."

    She smiled and got up. "See you in the morning, then." She and
Sophia left.

    * * *

    'Feth studied me for a few minutes. Then, unexpectedly, he nosed
the controls that isolated his office. After he settled in front of me
he shook his head from side to side. "Lia's a suspicious person.
Usually I don't get rid of her that easily. So tell me a bit about
those ideas you and Sophia think might work as long as nobody
discovers we're using them."

    I settled back and sighed. "Only one is something we think might
have a chance."

    He nodded.

    I came at it sideways. "Right now Lia handles a lot of the contact
with people who are unfriendly, right?"

    "Right. The problem is that people know she's my partner and is
actually speaking for me rather than making the final decisions
herself. It's time consuming but it usually gets the job done."

    I nodded. "What we came up with was similar in some ways but as
long as nobody finds out, might let you speak for yourself without
revealing you're a wolf. You'd have to make all your contacts
electronically but if you set it up that way from the beginning,
there's a good chance nobody would figure out what was going on."

    "You interest me. Continue."

    I hesitated and then decided to go ahead and tell him. "Use a man
as your dummy. His body, your voice."

    He winced, then sighed. "Lia and I thought about that one years
ago. It was our first choice until we realized what could happen if
someone found out. We also did a few experiments. None of the men we
tested were able to accurately match their actions to my words and
intent."

    It was my turn to wince. Soon after I teamed with Sophia, we had
wondered how come 'Feth never used a dummy. It was such a simple idea
that we more or less assumed that he'd thought of it but rejected it
for reasons we couldn't figure out. With that in mind we'd stopped
speculating and looked for other ideas. Eventually we'd returned to it
and done some serious work on figuring out if we could make it work at
all. While we were trying to sell Sophia's writing to agents who
didn't know her, we'd found a version of the idea that worked.

    "Were any of them actors or writers? Sophia and I did some tests
of our own and we found a way to make it work." I held up a hand to
stop his comments. "But, we also assume it works because we're both
writers. Neither one of us knows if it will work for anyone else. We
*do* think that it will work as long as the 'dummy' is a writer or
actor."

    "There were a few actors from the Pony Girls. None of them were
able to project the presence we needed. No writers. There aren't that
many of you and you and Sophia are the only ones in security. For long
term use the dummy would have to be from security--and one of our top
people, too." He tilted his head a bit. "Guess who happens to be the
only man who meets all of the requirements?"

    "Ouch. We didn't get that far in our thinking after we found out
we could make it work."

    He nodded. "Speaking of that, I find it interesting that you've
managed to make something like this work so well that it's never been
discovered or mentioned by our own people."

    I blushed. "They know about it. What they don't know is that
Sophia is feeding me my lines in real time."

    "Real time? No delays? And how did you manage to get this past my
nose?"

    "Some delay. No more than would be normal for someone who is
taking the time to carefully think about his words during a
conversation." I couldn't suppress a slight grin. "You know about it.
Furthermore, you knew before we used the technique the first time.
Every use of the technique is in the records."

    He glared at me. "How?"

    I lost the grin and got serious. "Remember when Sophia created a
new pen name for her mainstream work?"

    "Yes."

    "The main reason she did it was because she's tired of being sold
as 'the wolfess who writes'. Agents, publishers and reviewers focus on
the fact she writes, not the fact she writes well, and often has a lot
to say. The content gets lost in the media glare every time she
publishes a new work."

    He snorted. "I remember her comments. She was more eloquent than
usual."

    I laughed. Until she and I became partners, 'Feth had been the one
who had to listen to her complaints. " 'Feth, once we settled into our
lives together, she decided to pick up from our days on the grid but
add *all* her grievances in when she was venting to me. She had plenty
of practice with that version, with me as her audience."

    "Anyway," I continued, "she started using a man's nym and used me
as her electronic representative. By then I was fluent enough in wolf,
and our private language, that we decided to see if I could actually
relay her words real time, as if I were a translator."

    I leaned forward and locked eyes with 'Feth. "It's working--and
we're almost certain that we know exactly *why* it's working."

    "Go on."

    "First, nobody expects it. The BPs who know about it know that
Sophia is marketing her work under a pen name, with me as her agent so
she can hide her species. They see exactly what they want to see and
have no reason to look for more. It's a logical progression in our
relationship. Inevitable really, since she's made it clear that she
will continue to find time to write for new markets. They'd dig deeper
if we *hadn't* started doing it, or something similar."

    I sighed. "That was when I first ran into the intense hatred some
people have for human BPs." My smile was lopsided. "Sophia gets to
listen to me vent about *that* at least as much as she vents about
being stereotyped. She'd told me about the isolation but it hadn't
sunk in until then. Remembering that--and Allen's attitude--is what
triggered my comments in the hospital."

    I stiffened as I made some connections in my mind. 'Feth caught it
and leaned forward to study me. "What is it?"

    "A random thought I need to discuss with Sophia."

    He snorted. "Not good enough--but since we're talking about
something else, I'll let you avoid telling me the details."

    I sighed. I still wasn't used to the amount of honesty that living
with wolves forced on me. "If it makes you any happier, it's about the
recruiting job on Station Nine and doesn't have anything to do with me
being your dummy."

    &&& note to self: This is what triggered Ted's original idea about
making a tape of his and Sophia's private lives.
Hatred-education-recruiting. Could a 'bootleg' video of their private
lives on the station be used to push curious people over the edge into
volunteering to take the BP tests? With S9 a known friendly station,
he was thinking it might make a good place to try this idea. Most
people there would know the skills and limitations of a BP team and
maybe, just maybe, they could be fooled into thinking that a 'new
team' might be careless enough about their own security while settling
in--that someone could bug portions of their quarters. It is later,
while on leave from S9--that he and Sophia have their first sex
together.

    "Better. When did I decide I was going to use you as my dummy?"

    "You haven't, yet. But, you will, someday."

    That got his attention. "I will? What makes you so certain."

    "I'm a writer. It's part of my job to see patterns and understand
what actions they might lead to. You know about the technique. It
works under controlled conditions. You're in charge of BP security and
on some stations, the ones that need our skills the most, the hatred
for human BPs and BP teams in general--is getting worse. Everyone
knows Lia speaks for you when she's negotiating contracts. If you
don't find a solution that lets you negotiate directly, we'll start
losing contracts."

    "One possible solution is to create a special liaison, give the
position some fancy sounding title that impresses people--and
incidentally implies that the person has full authority during
contract negotiations, then use the person who carries the title as
your dummy, all without telling anyone else, including Lia and Sophia,
what you're doing."

    I settled back and looked at the ceiling with feigned casualness.
"I can't say when, but I'm fairly certain you'll make the decision in
the near future."

    He sat there with a shocked look on his face.

    I grinned at his shock. "Hasn't Sophia ever told you anything
about *how* she writes?"

    "She's tried. I lost interest when she started talking about
multiple personalities and other psychobabble. Maybe I should have
paid closer attention."

    It was my turn to snort. "She was probably still trying to
understand herself, then. Security regs kept her from opening up with
me until after we partnered. Now that we've had a chance to be totally
honest with each other, we understand ourselves a lot better than we
did." I sighed. "Wasn't much else to talk about while I was
recovering."

    "Anyway, to keep it simple, we both become the character we are
writing about. It's not really acting or role-playing but it shares
elements of both. I guess that's what made me choose communications as
my primary specialty. It's what I have to deal with when I write. In a
strange way I guess my self-training as a writer let me realize Allen
was going to make his mistake before he made it. Even before I became
a BP, I had trained myself to observe people. I could see the results
and as a writer I needed to know what inner attitudes caused those
results. I was hyped, expecting trouble and watching *everything*, not
just the things I was supposed to be watching." I held out my bandaged
arm and spoke with newfound confidence: "I was new, untested and
wasn't expecting trouble caused by one of our own people. If I'd known
*then* what I know about my abilities *now*, I'd have shot and
disabled Allen before he finished entering the activation code."

    'Feth chuckled bitterly. "Sophia mentioned that once she figured
out what was going on she was thinking about shooting him. But, she
was so busy getting all the other trainees and workers to safety that
she couldn't afford to take the time to deal with a situation you were
already trying to fix."

    "We talked about that. She couldn't decide which made her madder.
Me taking the hit as I lunged to disable the laser, or the fact we
wound up reversing our normal roles until she decided the quickest and
safest way out was to treat the situation as if it were a 'limited
resource' combat rescue mission."

    He tilted his ears in my direction. "Ever wonder how come she
saved everyone else before worrying about you?"

    "Yeah. She claimed it was all the training but neither one of us
was satisfied with that answer She's been trained to lead the team and
remove the dangers. *I'm* the one with all the medical training. I'm
the one who is supposed to make sure everyone is safe during the
initial problem." I sighed. "Neither one of us could figure out an
answer that made sense."

    "Lia and I know why she did it." He looked away for a long time.
When he turned his gaze back to me I was surprised to see his body
seem to collapse in on itself. A tension I hadn't noticed was now
obvious because it wasn't there.

    " 'Feth? What's wrong?"

    His voice fell to a whisper. "You should have heard Lia curse when
she got a good look at the records. Then, she cried. For you. Her next
words were: 'Someone to share my burden with--at last.' "

    "Ted, the reason Sophia never hesitated is simple. You have
something that took us all by surprise. 'Command presence'. When you
shouted at her to save the people, she responded instinctively, as a
wolfess responds to her mate. Later, when she had time to evaluate the
situation, she realized you knew more about the situation than she did
and she followed your orders until it was clearly safe for her to
resume her normal role as commander of the team."

    He stood and held out a paw. "Lieutenant Larson, I'm glad you're
on our side."

    As I took his paw, he smiled. "We're running late but it's been
worth the time lost. From this point on, 'Tango Delta' is between the
two of us. Clear?"

    "Yes. Sir." I let go of his paw and sighed. " 'Tango Delta'? And
what do we tell the women?"

    Was that a grin? " 'Top Dog'." Yep, it was a grin. "We tell them
anything we want to as long as we don't break security. Of course they
compare notes, too. I think we'll need to spend time making sure we
tell them the same things."

    "Shit!"

    He laughed and unsealed his office.

    As we walked out the door he looked up at me and winked. "Sounds
like this writing thing you do has a lot in common with what we need
to do as security people. Understanding the way our opponent thinks
has always been an important part of defeating him, or her."

    * * *

    Lia looked down at me as we left 'Feth's office. "He wanted to get
rid of us."

    I laughed. "I know. Did you want to sit there and listen to them
talk shop about all the new gear?"

    "No." She grinned back and then sobered. "There was something else
but I can't place it, yet." She sighed. "Maybe he just wants to relax
with someone who is capable of hearing the full story and
understanding it. Until you partnered with Ted there's never been
another male high enough in the command hierarchy to have the
clearances that let 'Feth be totally open when he talks. That's the
unspoken reason 'Feth and I are so happy that you've settled into a
solid relationship. Both of us need to get away from the pressures of
command and we can't do that if we can't be totally open with the
people we're relaxing with."

    I glanced over my shoulder at the closed door and finally
chuckled. " 'Feth has always been impatient once he makes up his mind.
He probably wanted to get started on 'male-bonding' with Ted and he
simply forgot to be his usual polite self when he threw us out."

    She laughed and winked. "He was a bit more abrupt than usual,
wasn't he? Anyway, there's a selfish reason I'm glad you teamed with a
man instead of a woman. How's your sex life?"

    "It isn't." When she didn't answer I started walking down the
hallway. "Ted's not a celibate. He's seen the girls a few times. You
know the rules during training. My cycle was suppressed but once he
was in the hospital I had the suppressants stopped. Ted's seen me go
through it. Scared him at first but he's accepted it. Truth is, we've
both been so busy that sex with each other hasn't been on our minds,
even as something theoretical." I stopped and studied Lia. "He's not
afraid of the idea, in theory. He even knows I'm willing. Like most
humans he hasn't made the final connection..." I chuckled. "Even
though he's written about it."

    I started moving again. "Lia, I know him better than anyone here,
including psych, does. When the time is right, for us, I'll make a
move--if he doesn't."

    "Sophie, that's not what made me ask."

    I froze in mid step and jerked my head around to focus on her.

    She blushed. "I haven't been with a man since 'Feth and I
partnered. I know you and Ted are mates, now. Is there enough room for
me?"

    I studied her body language. "There's something else. Out with
it."

    Lia sagged. "I thought you had it figured out. Ted has 'command
presence'. That, and his position as the eventual fourth in command,
is going to force him away from using the girls--or anyone else--if he
doesn't want to screw up morale. Can you see him making *that* mistake
once he knows it's there for him to make?"

    "Damn!" I sighed. "No, even as young as he is, I can't see him
making that mistake." I nosed the exit open. "Lia, I need to think
about this. Let's walk to the cabin."

    As we started down the path I looked over my shoulder at Lia and
smiled a bit crookedly. "I don't know what arrangements you and 'Feth
have but Ted and I have an agreement. We approve each other's sex
partners. If you try to seduce him, he's going to ask me for
permission to go along with it."

    I made a mental note to tell Ted that when she's sexually
excited--Lia's scent is almost as musky as mine.

    * * *

    "Go ahead, Lieutenant. Feel them." I looked at the light gray
casual outfit and then at the technician before I reached for the
sleeve and ran my hand over it. "Feels a little coarser and bit
thicker than what I usually wear. What's so special about them?"

    "Watch." He picked up a hand laser and casually fired it at the
chest of a dummy wearing a similar set of clothing. There was a puff
of smoke that quickly dissipated. "Go take a look."

    I reached for the laser. "If you don't mind, I'll take the power
pack with me."

    He hesitated and then shrugged. "Suit yourself, sir."

    'Feth chuckled. "Ted has an allergic reaction when there's a
powered laser behind him."

    I finished disabling the laser and shrugged. "True. Do you blame
me?"

    The tech blanched. "You're *that* Ted Larson?"

    I nodded before I walked over to examine the dummy. There was a
blackened spot that revealed a silver layer underneath the seemingly
normal fabric. No hole. I grunted and looked closer. " 'Feth? Have you
seen this before?"

    "I knew about it, yes."

    "Why aren't the trainees equipped with this?"

    He came over and put his front feet on the dummy's chest so he
could examine it. "No penetration. Hot, though." He dropped and
settled on his haunches. "When you were in training, they were still
trying to solve the heat problem. It was stopping the hit from
penetrating but the heat was causing third degree burns several inches
in diameter." He studied some gauges. "Looks like there's still a lot
of heat getting through but a basic field dressing can deal with it."

    He turned to the tech. "What's the production schedule on these?"

    The tech sighed. "We're starting to get them to the teams pulling
high risk duty. If it means anything, Lieutenant Larson took hits from
a stationary defense laser. These stop the those from penetrating but
the sustained heat really cooks what's behind the fabric. Without some
sort of cooling system, whoever's hit is going to suffer some major
heat trauma. If it's any consolation, the cauterization of a normal
laser hit is more survivable." He blushed and looked directly at me.
"As I'm certain he knows.

    I sighed. "Survivable. Yeah. They are. I was hoping..."

    'Feth studied me. Finally he turned back to the tech. "Any chance
of solving that problem?"

    "None that we can think of, right now. Our regular combat suits
are able to survive hits from stationary lasers, though."

    'Feth nodded. "Suggestions?"

    "None, Sir. Records show that 90% of our non-suited combat
injuries are from hand lasers. We need to focus on that for now. This
is the best solution we have, so far. Once we get the new casual wear
in the field, we'll start replacing duty suits with the new ones, as
we planned earlier."

    'Feth nodded again. "Let Lieutenant Larson know if you make any
progress on the stationary laser problem." He signaled for me to
follow him out the door.

    I handed the tech the power pack. "Sorry if I offended you. Unless
I'm in a suit, live lasers make me nervous. Psych tells me I'll get
over it, eventually"

    He glanced at my bandaged arm and then smiled. "No offense taken.
The lapse was mine. I've had to deal with combat veterans before and I
should have realized who you were when the Commander introduced you."

    'Feth was waiting in the hallway. "Don't look so disappointed. It
was an unusual set of conditions. I've taken steps that make us sure
it will never happen again."

    I couldn't stop my eyebrows from rising as I turned to look at
him. Before I could say anything his ears and tail sent me a quick
message. 'No. Later. Unknown ears. Leak."

    &&& It turns out that someone in programming had added some code
that disabled the override codes in the suit testing routines--when
Sophia was listed as part of the testing team. He'd received the
report a few days earlier, by special courier, and then decided to
keep the information secret. Sophia does not, as part of her normal
duties, do any suit testing. He managed to divert Lia's attention by
focusing on uses for the new team. He'd already decided that Ted, as
Sophia's partner, was the only BP with a 'need-to-know' with regards
to the problem. This explains his ready acceptance and activation of
'Tango Delta'.

    My fingers flicked back a quick 'Understood' before I spoke: "Glad
to hear it was something fixable."

    We resumed walking to our next stop. "I wonder if we should change
the production schedule so the trainees get the new stuff next, after
the hazard duty people."

    He looked up and then went back to making sure he kept us headed
the right direction.. "Reasons?"

    "We're short trainees as it is. There's no point is having them
injured before they make it through the full training program--and
possibly make them feel like we don't care about what happens to them
until they are full partners. Training is supposed to be realistic,
I'll grant you." I chuckled. "I think it should be a bit more
survivable when things go wrong. The new casual wear would let them
know that they are as important to us as anyone else in the
organization. Part of that 'different approach'. If we announce that
the newest recruits get the same protection as our hazard duty teams,
it might encourage more people to join us."

    I lowered my voice. "It will also let them know that the duty
*can* be dangerous enough to get them killed if they get careless but
that they will be using the best equipment we have in production,
backed by the best training we can give them. If it weeds out one
Allen Delagado before he gets into the system, I think it will be
worth the risks of it backfiring."

    'Feth nodded without looking in my direction. "I'll talk it over
with Lia and Sophia."

    * * *

    I settled to my haunches at an observation point that overlooked
the valley. "Lia?"

    She settled on one of the benches. "What is it?"

    "Have they found a solution yet?"

    She sighed. "To which problem? I'm not a mind reader."

    "The rationality loss."

    She sighed and gazed out at the valley for so long I finally
interrupted her thoughts. "Lia?"

    The wind shifted and suddenly I could smell her frustration. "They
think they have one for the equines. For the rest of you, no." She
turned her head and looked at me. I saw tears. "They're pretty sure
that at our current level of understanding, successful intervention is
impossible."

    "Do they have any theories or hope for the future?"

    She finally laughed. "A lot of people would be upset if the reason
got out. It's hormonal. The sudden balance change affects the brain
cells and interferes with the interactions that cause 'rational
thought'. You're too smart for your own good, Sophia. The percentage
of brain cells you use for rational thinking is so high that you don't
have any left over for some redundancy. When your brain tries to
compensate, there aren't enough spare cells."

    I settled and thought about it. "The males don't have the problem?
Or do they?"

    "They live in a state of semi arousal all their lives. The shift,
in a relative sense, isn't as great. The loss is there but not as
noticeable because their brains have managed to find a way to
compensate for the loss of access to the brain cells that are the
primary contributors to their rationality."

    Something in her posture told me she was amused about something.
"You aren't as upset as you should be."

    "Nope."

    "Care to explain?"

    "Get fucked!" She turned her head and I could see a huge grin.

    My first reaction was a snarl of frustration and the beginnings of
a lunge... Until I realized she'd actually given me her explanation. I
resettled and glared at her instead of saying anything.

    She nodded. "Security has access to some information the
researchers don't have. When our own people ran the data they
discovered that the more a wolfess has sex when she isn't in estrus,
the less rationality loss she suffers *during* her estrus. It's as if
her brain slowly learns to compensate in the same way a wolf's brain
has had to learn to compensate from puberty in order to deal with the
effects of his hormones keeping him at a constant low level arousal."
She smiled lopsidedly. "It gets better. There is enough statistical
evidence to show that a wolfess in an active zoosexual relationship,
with its significantly higher sexual activity, will eliminate the loss
of rationality during estrus long before a wolfess who randomly seeks
sexual contact outside of her estrus. A wolfess who has sex only
during her estrus reinforces the loss of rationality and each time she
does so it becomes less likely she will be able to overcome that loss
in the long term. She'll have to live with it *all* of her life."

    I stared at her in shock as the implication hit me. "The sooner
Ted and I start fucking each other, the sooner I won't suffer the
loss?"

    "It doesn't have to be Ted. Otherwise the answer, as far as our
people know, is yes."

    "Wonderful." I couldn't hide my frustration with the new
situation.

    She nodded and then added quietly: "Cheer up. It's not common
knowledge yet and we intend to keep it to ourselves as long as we can.
Think of the advantage it gives most of our teams. The loss of
rationality in a wolfess is a documented and well known fact. As far
as everyone *except* our teams knows, it can't be changed..."

    Her smile became a feral grin. I knew I had one of my own
spreading across my face.
======

    M/wolfess military-scifi zoo nosex
    ---

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
    Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 03 - Station Twenty
    Chapter One - "Any More At Home Like You?"
    ---

    The long corridor was a typical low-g station corridor.
Service-mechs and fifteen people had been placed so they simulated
what we would probably see during a normal working day. Everything had
been positioned before Sophia and I were called through the service
entry.

    As we got ready for the practice rescue drill, we were putting on
our duty suits and discussing how we would handle the situation.
Michael, head of the crew that handled publicity for the station, was
comfortably seated in the main chair back at station monitoring and
waiting for us to tell him we were ready. Someone had decided to
broadcast this one live and I wasn't happy about the decision.

    Once we were in our suits, we opened our private comm channel so
we could test our communications before we sealed. We also continued
our discussion. "Ted, you know we can do this. It's just another
rescue drill. Think of later." Her laughter was soft. "Should be
plenty of incentive for you to get this over with in a hurry."

    "Bitch. Now I'll be distracted." I chuckled briefly before I
returned to my complaint. "Anyway, I think Michael is nuts. Filming
this is one thing. Doing a live feed?"

    Her voice lost its laughter. "Ted, it was the Station Commander's
decision and I agreed with it. Many of the people here still don't
trust me. This is a chance to let them see me doing what they are
paying me to do."

    I sighed. I didn't need to make an issue of the old fears that had
surfaced when we arrived at Sophia's newest duty station. The
intensive training I'd undergone in the last five years had only made
it worse. "Hate, distrust... You'd think these folks would know
better."

    "Most do." Sophia's voice was filled with regret. "But, to see an
animal in charge of a human and to know that under the right
conditions that animal will also be in charge of them... Some people
can never accept that, Ted."

    "Sophia, you aren't an animal." This part of the discussion was a
stale argument for both of us but I had to make the comment.

    "The point is that I'm not a human. So let's prove I have what it
takes to lead humans. OK?"

    "OK."

    She stood and I heard the quiet noises that indicated she was
finishing her suit check. I did the same. "Sophia. How come the
dumping of the corridor air while people are in it with us? I'm afraid
of Murphy."

    With the planned air loss, people could die if Murphy's Law kicked
in and something went seriously wrong.

    I knew that each person was a volunteer and had an emergency air
supply with them, just in case. I also knew that all of the corridor
lights would start flashing at a preset time after the drill
started--to let them know they should use those supplies.

    Our job was to get everyone to safety before the lights started
flashing. My unspoken point was that during the years we'd pulled
station duty, both of us had developed an almost paranoid belief in
Murphy's Law.

    Sophia's voice was slightly strained when she answered. "Because
everyone here needs to know we will do the best we can, no matter what
Murphy tries to do to us. So, we get as close to the potential
situation as we can during the drill. That means they dump the air."

    "Sophie, I don't like it when it's this real." I took a deep
breath and then closed my faceplate. "I'm ready."

    Sophia lifted her head back and then brought it down quickly
before she abruptly stopped the movement. Since our private channel
was open, I heard the distinctive 'snap' as the latches on her
faceplate closed. She turned and raised herself so she could place her
front feet on my chest and look through my faceplate to examine the
duplicate readouts that were behind my head. I checked hers and spoke
one word. "Green."

    She gently pushed herself away and settled next to me. "You're
green too. Ted? It's just another drill. We've cleared the corridor in
half the time we've been given today."

    I heard her voice on the station channel. "Michael, we're ready."

    Instead of an answer all the corridor monitors went live. I wanted
to swear but held it to a muffled grunt of annoyance. Michael's voice
sounded strained. "While you were getting ready, I did the
introduction."

    There was a long silence before he took a deep breath and let it
out in a long and extremely resigned sigh. I guess he had his own
objections to what we were about to do. His next word was softly
spoken. "Show time."

    Before the audible and visual air loss alarms finished their first
cycle, Sophia had taken off at almost her full speed. As she headed
down the corridor she angled in the direction of one of the walls.
Before she reached it, she jumped, flipped herself sideways and pushed
off so she would hit the ceiling over the first mech. Her initial duty
was simple. She had to locate the people in the corridor and make sure
all the emergency chambers had opened. She kept up a commentary that
let me know where she was, and more importantly, where the people
were.

    I had a different job so I was able to jog rather than run but I
still used the walls or ceiling when I needed to get past an obstacle.
As I reached where each person had been reported by Sophia I needed to
make sure they had reached the nearest safety chamber. Once each
section had been cleared I made sure that the section chamber resealed
and the emergency air supply had activated. Stationers ran their own
drills, so I didn't expect to have to do more than verify things were
working. Since this drill didn't have any simulated injuries to deal
with, I was using part of my attention to search for air leaks.

    That search for leaks almost got me killed.

    Everything was routine until I bounced off the ceiling over a mech
and found myself staring at the business end of a welding laser that
was on and moving in my direction. About the same time that I was
realizing I was under attack I heard a yip of surprise and a grunt as
something happened to Sophia that she hadn't expected. The next thing
I heard was a very angry snarl that was followed by the sound of her
combat laser powering up. Not good.

    "Ted." Her voice was unnaturally calm. "Combat mode. Someone's
shooting at me."

    I didn't have time to switch suit modes or answer because my
training had taken over as I spotted the laser lining up. I had just
enough time to wish my suit was in combat mode before I reacted by
dropping down and rolling into the woman's legs. My first move was to
grab the laser so she couldn't use it on me. There was a brief flurry
of movement as we fought and suddenly she was down, her arm broken and
flopping uselessly at her side. I couldn't stop my grin as I bent down
and caught her as she tried to scramble away. "It's over. You're going
to be out until someone decides you should wake up." I applied the
knockout and watched to make sure it took effect.

    As I straightened up I remembered Sophia's order. "Combat mode."
It didn't sound like much of a command because I was out of breath,
but the circuitry understood me.

    "Ted!. Ted!! Answer me!" Sophia sounded frantic.

    "I'm OK. I didn't have time to switch modes until after I put her
down and out. I'm OK and don't have a scratch on me. She had a welding
laser but never got a chance to use it." That reminded me of it so I
recovered it and squeezed the barrel until I felt the internal parts
shatter. With that done, I placed the now useless laser on one of the
mechs so it would be out of the way.

    The distinctive sound of laser fire hitting Sophia's suit caused
me to duck behind the nearest mech. I carefully shifted so I could
study the corridor ahead. Sophia was caught in a crossfire. "What's
taking you so long? Do you want me to take out the one closest to me?"

    There was a soft sigh of relief. "I needed to know what condition
you were in. I was going to leave these two the same way." The words
were matter-of-fact but the anger was unmistakable if you knew her as
well as I did.

    I heard her take a deep breath. "No. I'll handle them both now
that I know you're OK. Get back to getting those people to safety." I
heard the thump as she hit something very hard and then there was the
sound of two shots from her laser.

    Something was nagging at me... The alarm. It hadn't gone off yet
and I knew it should have. "Condition red! Get out of the combat zone!
Get to safety, NOW!" The suit's speaker was blaring as I turned it to
full so I could be heard in the thinning air. The remaining people
moved faster but they weren't moving fast enough to keep me happy.

    I switched to the public channel. "Michael! Get the area sealed."

    "We've been trying to break through to you. We can't. Someone used
a command override on the controls down there." His voice fell to a
whisper. "Ted, we're still live on this. It's up to you and Sophia.
Nobody can get in to help."

    Sophia interrupted us. "I heard. Ted, you get to the air lock and
use the manual override to seal that leak. I'm going to work my way
back down the corridor and check all the chambers. Let's make sure the
lights on them are telling the truth. The ones at the lock lied to
me."

    I heard Michael's gasp and then he was bellowing orders. It
sounded like Senior Colonel Michael Forrester hadn't lost his command
skills during his retirement.

    I looked at where I was going and sighed. I was going to hurt when
this was over. That didn't stop me from taking my first step and
launching into a power assisted run that had me bouncing from wall to
ceiling to floor in a pattern that would get me down the corridor as
fast as possible. "I'm moving. What about your opponents?"

    "I shot their lasers and then knocked them out. We'll rescue them
later, if we have time. Right now we have to worry about some people
who are more deserving of a chance to live." Sophia's words were
broken by grunts as she worked her way back along the corridor and
made sure everyone was safe.

    After I arrived at the airlock I tried the security overrides and
wasn't surprised when they failed. Somebody had wanted Sophia to fail
in a big way. I looked at the useless control panel and then reached
for the manual controls. As I felt them disengage the powered controls
I thought about the effort that had gone into the attack. It had been
pretty well planned and executed but at the same time whoever had
planned this must have had a huge blind spot. I toggled to the open
channel and sent some good news to Michael and the world. "I should
have us sealed in a few minutes."

    Sophia was curt and on the combat audio. "Good. Those people are
all on their emergency air. Every chamber has been sabotaged. Control
doesn't know yet and I don't plan on telling them until the briefing."

    I nodded and then realized she couldn't see me. "Understood." By
then I had settled and found a good grip on the external hatch.
"Stupid. They forgot to wreck the hinges on both hatches." I hit the
release lever that disconnected the powered systems. "Didn't even
bother to disable the manual override. Careless."

    Sophia was more pragmatic. Well, she did have more experience at
this sort of thing. "It must have been their back door. If they'd
succeeded, we'd be dead and they couldn't go back to the station."

    I grunted as I finished closing the outer hatch and let the suit
servos help me spin the locking wheel. "Outer door secured."

    I watched the readouts for my external sensors and sagged with
relief as the pressure slowly built to normal. Training let me close
the inner hatch while my mind was wondering what would happen next.

    I was still on our private link. "Both hatches secure and the
pressure is nearing normal." I leaned against the wall and let go of
the tension. "We did it."

    "That we did." There was a long pause. "I've sent the all clear.
It's going to be awhile before a crew can get to us. Now that all of
us are safe, they are securing the rest of the station."

    Something in her tones warned me to stay on the scrambler. I chose
my words carefully. "It would have been convenient if there had been a
near total, or total loss of life here. Especially if two of the lives
lost were ours. It would have been even better if there had been a
similar accident in another area and everyone survived without our
help."

    Sophia sounded smug. "There was an industrial accident in another
part of the station. Whoever caused it, they weren't quick enough to
get out before Michael ordered the area sealed. Be glad you're not
linked to the command net. Station security is having problems
protecting the people involved in the accident. People are pretty
upset right now." She laughed softly and I winced at the overtones.
"Suddenly people are insisting that all the Partners go on emergency
duty and cover the major areas because nobody feels they can trust the
humans on duty."

    Her next statement was matter of fact. "Ted, it would have been a
major blow to the Bio Partners' reputation." She laughed again.
"Instead, Geostation Twenty is going to be gifted with a Bio Partners
investigative board."

    I groaned. "Wonderful." Sophia kept laughing longer than my
comment deserved. "Sophie! Snap out of it. It's over!"

    Her laughter cut off and she walked over to me. Contact
communication?

    "Private. For us only. Grrfeth will be in charge of this one.
They'll be here in three hours."

    Three hours? The time was either too long or too short, depending
on where he was launched from. I saw the only answer but it didn't
make sense. He'd already been on his way when the drill turned real.
"Did he know?"

    Sophia was still for so long I bent down to check her readouts.
All green. So, what was bothering her?

    I looked back at her eyes and they were gleaming. "Remember the
request we made two years ago?" Before I could remember, she told me.
"He's agreed. He and Liandra are bringing the surgical crew." Then she
answered my question. "No. He didn't know."

    She switched to external audio and greeted the people who had
quietly joined us. "Everyone OK?"

    "We're roughed up a bit, but otherwise we're fine." The woman who
answered curtsied slightly and then looked directly at Sophia. "I'm
the senior Lieutenant for this bunch. Who do we owe our thanks to?
They didn't tell us that a Bio Partners team would be wearing the
latest in combat armor during an ordinary drill. Sorry we couldn't do
more to help. We were off duty and didn't expect to need combat gear.
What do you want us to do with the bodies?" She pointed upwards in a
universal gesture as she spoke of 'they' and then swung her hand over
to point at our attackers.

    To my surprise, Sophia flipped her helmet open. Her deep
inhalation through her nose told me her reasons. She faced the woman
calmly. "They aren't bodies, only unconscious. Detail some of your
people to keep an eye on them. As for who we are, do you really have a
need to know?"

    The woman blushed. It was obvious she hadn't expected Sophia to be
so direct. Her embarrassment didn't keep her from maintaining eye
contact with Sophia. "I think we do. We owe you a life debt. While the
two of you were distracted with whatever you wanted to say in private,
we talked it over and decided the best way to repay that debt, if the
rumors are true, is to join up."

    She grinned and the grin took years off of her face. "We're
station grunts. Isn't a one of us wouldn't do each other dirty to get
a chance wear armor like yours for regular duty." There was a chorus
of laughter and agreement.

    Sophie's ears flicked in what seemed to be amusement as she tilted
her head slightly to the left. I knew better. Being in security meant
that we didn't trust our own communications under certain conditions.
Considering how close we'd come to being killed, I didn't blame her
for her caution. To save time and keep our conversation private she'd
used some of the signals we'd worked out and let me know she'd made a
field decision to treat these people as passed recruits. Wonderful
thing, a wolf's nose. Sometimes it cut past a lot of paperwork.

    "Junior Colonel Sophia Larson, Bio Partner Security. My partner
and mate is Captain Ted Larson. If you folks picked up the rumors I'm
thinking of, you may have heard of us already. She suddenly flipped
her faceplate closed and laughed through her speaker. "Unlatch, Ted,
and tell them who we are before you give them the basics."

    I reached up and opened my plate. Before I did anything else I
took a deep breath and savored the station air. There was laughter as
they realized I was clearing the suit air out of my lungs. "Easy,
Captain." That was one of the men. "I saw that sprint to the airlock.
Must have been rank in that suit. Take your time. We heard the
announcement about it taking awhile before we could get back to work."

    I rested a hand on Sophia's suit and took the time to examine the
scorches where she'd been hit. "Not bad. Scorched but no penetration
past the ablative layers."

    I turned back to face my audience. "The wolf-bitch likes to play
her little games. She seldom gets a chance to play them after combat.
Usually we're in a debrief before our armor has cooled."

    "Anyway, she's Tialira and I'm Fyrenth. Maybe you've heard of us?"
I waited for the shoe to drop.

    It did and I got total silence from my audience. Finally...
"Station Nine. The bootleg tape..." It was an awed whisper.

    I looked at the Lieutenant and was rewarded with a new blush.
"Rumors? Nice touch, El Tee." I studied the one who had mentioned the
tape. "Except the tape wasn't bootleg. We jinxed the security
ourselves and only the other Bio Partners have ever known the truth."

    "Why us? Sir."

    "You want the long story or the short one?" He started to fidget
when he realized I was still studying him.

    "Whatever you decide to give us, Captain."

    Sophie's voice was a barely audible buzz in my ear. "They all
smell clean. Nervous, but they think they know what they are getting
into. They'll do OK."

    I took a deep breath and smiled. "I can give you both in one
sentence. It's a recruiting tape and we aren't getting enough
ground-pounders who pass the entrance exams."

    Now that I'd started with the explanation, I knew I needed to let
them know the full situation, just as Sophia had let me know what I
was really getting involved in before we'd partnered. "Everything we
did in that tape was honest. No acting. There are some downside perks
we couldn't show you but it should have been obvious that the Partners
do a real good job of taking care of their own."

    "As for the negatives involved, if you remember any of your tac
training and have looked around you, it should be obvious that there
are a hell of a lot more problems than most people can handle for
long." I settled against the wall. "Today's exercise was one of the
major problems letting us know it was still around."

    "You folks still want in?" There was a clamor of affirmatives from
everyone but the Lieutenant. "Problems, El Tee? You can drop the
formality. Partners don't use it except on ceremonial or other special
occasions. In the field it can get a person killed."

    She shrugged slightly. "I'm Lieutenant Stella Myers. Yes. I have a
problem." She raised an eyebrow and I nodded for her to go on. "You
said there was more than one major problem. You gonna tell us about
any others now that you know my idiots have more hormones than brains?
Like maybe your biggest one? How come the GPs don't pass the entrance?
I can guess since you're a lowly Captain and the Wolf is a JayCee."
She took a deep breath. "Captain Larson, sir, I think they better hear
that reason *and* the reason you're still in security with her--from
you. Hell, I know *I* need to hear the answers before I decide to toss
the dice."

    A snort sounded from Sophie's external speaker and that broke the
tension. Some folks laughed nervously but Stella held her ground.
"Well?"

    I let my eyes shrug before I answered her. "I guess you may have
it right, since you know the questions to ask. There isn't any way to
sugarcoat things. Once you team, you've given up every right to choose
your own path through life. The Biostructs use us, with our knowledge,
as their hands in order to survive in this world we've stuck them
with. If they change assignments or careers, we do too. No option
unless you want to break up the team. There's always that option and I
have to admit there are some structs and humans who enjoy that sort of
pass-along. That's where security is different. We discourage
'pass-along' when it looks like it's going to happen. Too much depends
on the small things. Usually, it's the lives of those around you. We
humans have one rule we *never* violate during training or combat. 'I
come first, then my partner, then everyone else.' Generally, it works
out."

    My eyes must have hardened because she flinched back slightly. "I
read you, Ted."

    "It's not as human-selfish as it sounds. The structs are a lot
faster than we are. If I'd barged in while she was in combat mode, I
might have distracted her or drawn other fire and put myself in
trouble. If she had been doing a sweep with her laser, she could have
injured me. Once she knew I was OK and out of her field of fire, the
battle was as good as over."

    The man who'd mentioned the tape spoke again. "I nearly missed it.
She was beautiful. Bounced off a wall, hit the ceiling as she shot the
first attacker and then twisted and nailed the second one before she
hit the other wall. Poetry she was. Lovely lady and I ain't ashamed to
say so."

    "Stella?" She nodded slowly. "There's the second answer for you.
Love."

    She smiled slightly. "I thought that was it." She took a deep
breath that caused interesting things to happen inside her overalls.
"I was born out here and there is no way I'm going to pass up the
chance of a lifetime. I never thought GP's had any brains and what
you've said proves that most of them don't. I'm in. Any more like her
at home?"

    There was a tone from the airlock controls and then an override
beep from my suit speaker. "Both of them will be at home if Ted
doesn't get this outer airlock open real soon."

    Sophia was so surprised that she jerked her head around to face
the airlock. "Grrfeth?"

    "Liandra decided she was tired of wondering what shape you two
were in so we left the shuttle and came the rest of the way on our
own. Besides, it was an excuse for us do a space walk. Get this lock
open before somebody notices we're out here."

    I was resealed and moving as soon as I recognized Grrfeth's voice.
In minutes I had company and the outer door was sealed again. When I
reached for the repressurize switch Liandra stopped me. She shifted
position so our helmets could make contact. "Air carries sound and we
need to talk."

    First Sophia, now Liandra. This was turning into a day I knew I'd
be glad to put behind me. "Talk."

    She sighed and than gave it to me in simple words. "Bad news. Both
of your suits are bugged. As long as you're out of combat mode, you
can be monitored. If you stay in combat mode, nothing can get past the
scramblers."

    Bad news? What an understatement. "We haven't dropped combat mode
yet. SOP saved us some more grief."

    "Got it, Ted. The grapevine is telling us that nobody knew our
duty suits are really disguised combat suits. They know better, now."
She sounded resigned.

    I thought about what had happened. "Any way to do some damage
control?"

    Liandra did some thinking of her own. "Maybe. From an analysis of
the video, we know neither of you was operating at top speed. What you
did was near the top end for normal gear. We might be able to use that
as a decoy."

    "What about Sophia?" How are you going to let her know?"

    "Ted, sometimes..." She laughed. "She and Grrfeth are wolves. You
know any humans who can understand pure wolf when they talk at full
speed?"

    She had a point. "I don't know any who can reliably translate when
they talk slowly."

    I could see a smile form when she finished what I was about to
say. "Plus, these two are litter mates and deliberately obscuring
their usage. Let's go. She's up to date and so are you, for now."

    I hit the pressurize switch and we waited. If anyone had noticed
the slight delay I was prepared to blame it on airlock problems.
Nobody asked.

    Grrfeth and Liandra looked calm only if you didn't pay attention
the way they moved. Somehow they always managed to move so they
covered each other's blind spots.

    "Sister, when are you going to retire to teaching so I can stop
picking up the pieces?" He opened it with his usual greeting. That
meant he was pleased about something.

    "As soon as you stop field testing new combat gear, brother." New?
What had he told her?

    Liandra laughed as Grrfeth snorted with resignation. "You want the
job? I thought you preferred recruiting."

    Now it was my turn to chuckle. "She might but if I have any
influence left she'll never take you up on the offer. Besides, this
time she got you. We don't have all the names yet but except for the
three that are out of it, these grunts not only joined us, they have
their own El Tee." I flipped open my faceplate so he could see my smug
grin. "Station Nine worked."

    He and Liandra did an intricate maneuver that let them both study
the small group. He flipped his own face shield up, took a deep breath
and then snapped it closed. "Colonel? How much did you tell them?"

    Sophia was calm. "We didn't tell them anything. We confirmed what
they already knew or suspected."

    I could hear his astonishment. "Confirmed? They're too relaxed
about this!"

    Sophia had the sense not to back down. "They'd just survived a
firefight. Stationers repay life-debts. Plus, they've seen the Station
Nine tape." She got up and joined the silent group of people before
she turned to face Grrfeth. "Commander Grrfeth. I'd appreciate it if
you welcomed the newest batch of Bio Partners."

    He shook himself and I could see the tension leave his body. "Lia?
Do you believe this?"

    She sighed. "You telling me you don't trust Sophia's nose *and*
your own?"

    That got a chuckle that was abruptly cut off. His tail flagged
some orders. 'Trouble. The scouts have discovered there's a team with
a door-buster getting ready to blow the main door. The scouts have
cleared everyone else out. Sophia, Ted, get those recruits out of the
line of fire. Lia and I will deal with the door.'

    "Follow Ted! Move it! We've got seconds to get out of the line of
fire of a door-buster." As Sophia made her announcement I headed for
the nearest doorway.

    They moved and seconds later all of us, including our unconscious
prisoners, were sealed inside what looked like some sort of storage
area. Before I closed the door I caught a glimpse of Grrfeth and
Liandra as they moved towards the threatened hatch.

    "Colonel Larson?" It was Stella. "If that's a buster on the other
side, how are they going to stop it?"

    Sophia sounded distracted as she contacted me privately. "Ted, you
handle it. I'm busy."

    I looked at Stella. "She's probably tied into the station video
systems. Somebody has to be the observer during field testing. She got
elected."

    "They aren't going to stop it. They're going to open the door and
destroy the weapon before it's fired." I was greeted with skeptical
silence.

    "Meaning no disrespect, sir, but that's either impossible or
crazy. I'm armor qualified. Opening that safety hatch with just two
suits? Can't be done." There were murmurs of agreement.

    "You'd be right if any of us were wearing regular forces armor.
We're not. We're wearing Biostruct designed security suits. What if I
told you we weren't stressing our suits earlier? Those two..." I was
interrupted by a concussion that shook the walls. "Are the joint heads
of security AND they are field testing the latest suits and weapons to
come out of our labs."

    In the sudden silence we could hear a couple of faint screams and
then a series of small explosions that became one big one.

    "I'm going to speculate, based on what a security person has to
know rather than what he is supposed to know. I'm guessing that
Grrfeth and Liandra were wearing at least one railgun each. If they
were, someone in our weapons lab solved the recoil problem. That's one
problem and if it *was* solved, the lab also solved the other one.
Their power source is the surrounding magnetic fields. With that sort
of control, I suspect one of them cranked up their shields and ran
through the door. That was the first concussion. The rest was the
cleanup and destruction of the missile."

    "Cap? Something isn't tracking. For a station grunt you seem to
know a lot more than you should. Comments?"

    I jerked a thumb in Sophia's direction. "No secret about that. She
and the boss are litter mates. He found his partner early. She put her
career on hold until I grew up. We're in recruiting but she's also
next in line for top spot in the security division. The four of us
spend our R&R making sure we all know what's going on."

    "They were already inbound for some R&R? Station Twenty doesn't
have a lot to offer. I've been wondering about the response time.
Seemed odd that they got here less than one hour after it fell apart."

    I couldn't help my slight smirk. "Stella, would you spend your R&R
with a GP if you had a choice in the matter?" She blushed and there
was muffled laughter.

    "Hell no, Cap. She's station AND service. She's pretty picky about
who she spends her off time with."

    I didn't try to stop my chuckle. "Same way for us. We're picky.
Plus, as upper command, Sophie and I don't have a lot of choices
unless we want to really fuck with morale."

    "Got it."

    "Knock it off, Ted." Sophia was back with us. "The action's over.
Stella, you wondered if there are any more like me. There aren't, but
there will be as soon as Ted gets those stem cells Grrfeth has finally
agreed to donate. You copy, El Tee? In less than a year, if you
survive the intro course, I *might* give you and your squad a chance
to nursemaid my kids. In a couple more years, those of you who haven't
partnered will get a chance to see if maybe you and the kids can get
along with each other."

    Stella glanced at her squad mates. I noticed that her eyes
glittered when she turned back to us. "We copy, Colonel Larson."

    "Bitch." I mumbled it softly and with amusement.

    "That's *Colonel Bitch* to you, Captain Larson."

    "Yes Ma'am. I can't wait until you're pregnant. Colonel Bitch,
Ma'am."

    She flipped her plate open and indicated I should join her. "We're
off combat alert. This area's secured."

    She stood and shook herself before she faced me and locked her
eyes on mine. "There is only one male that's ever going to breed with
me. You. Everyone else is for recreation." Her lips quirked and her
ears quivered in her version of throaty laughter. "But before that
happens, I have some tension to work off. Think you're up to helping
me do that? Captain?"
======

    M/wolfess military-scifi zoo nosex
    ---

    Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
    Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 03 - Station Twenty
    Chapter Two - "Caught in the Crossfire"
    ---

    Grrfeth looked us over and snorted softly. "What a bunch. You
stink, too. Humans." He and Lia were standing in the open doorway.
"Scanners tell us this area is clear. If nobody has anyplace else they
need to be, let's do the initial debrief here."

    I was about to chuckle when the incongruity of holding the initial
debriefing in the fire zone sank in. "Back up. 'Feth, I know you like
to get your news asap but this isn't your usual ess-oh-p."

    "The ambush isn't a Partner related affair unless Lieutenant Myers
wants us involved. Otherwise, all I need is an after action report."

    Silence.

    Stella found her voice first. "Are you saying what I think you're
saying?"

    Lia nodded her head slowly. "Somebody wanted 'Myer's Misfits'
dead. Sophia and Ted got caught in the crossfire. It could have been
any security team that was planning a live drill."

    "Lia." She turned to face me. "I'm not tracking. It was *us* they
were shooting at."

    She shrugged slightly. "Tacmind it. Every safety chamber was
sabotaged. Why do that if you were the intended targets?"

    My response was automatic and identical to Sophia's. "No
witnesses."

    'Feth snorted. "As high profile as you two have been? Anybody who
manages to take both of you out under combat conditions is going to
*want* witnesses. If one of our better teams can be killed, the types
we usually go after are going to want us to be as nervous as
possible."

    "On the other paw..." He turned his head and studied Stella until
she flinched, blushed and then stiffened as he slowly bared his teeth
at her in what looked like a snarl but what was really one of his
pleased grins. "Former Captain Myers--and her crew--have a knack for
putting paid to operations run by people who aren't used to taking,
shall we say, a long term view of revenge."

    I whispered over our private com to Sophia. "Did you know who they
were?"

    Her voice was equally quiet. "Not until I took the sniff to check
them out. I knew she and her team had been demoted. That demotion
never should have happened if their reports told the truth. What are
they doing on station twenty instead of one of the 'no problem' ones,
such as station fifteen?"

    "... So, somehow, you folks *happen* wind up pulling duty on the
station that hates Bio-Partner teams with a passion, just *happen* to
get involved in a drill that just *happens* to involve a planned loss
of air, PLUS the security team doing the drill *happens* to be one of
my better teams." 'Feth had kept on speaking even though I knew he was
probably monitoring our discussion. He finally wound down and glanced
at his mate. "Lia? Do we really want to hear this story?"

    Her eyes closed briefly before she sighed and reopened them. "
'Feth, this one *has* to be better than the explanation your *best*
team cooked up to explain station nine."

    Sophia and I glanced at each other and started edging out of the
line of fire. Some of Stella's people started to join us but she
caught the movement and motioned for them to stay put. Lia finally
chuckled ruefully and gestured at Sophia and me. "Maybe those two can
learn something by sticking around."

    Caught, we shrugged and stayed. I tried to get in yet another
reason for our long ago decision. "It seemed like a good idea at the
time. Remember, as head of recruiting, Sophia has final say in the
techniques we use." I figured an appeal to authority couldn't make
things any worse.

    Lia chuckled at my discomfort. "Only a fool would believe someone
could plant a collection of cameras in a Bio-Partners Security team's
living area and have them remain undetected long enough so enough data
to make a two hour video of the team's private lives could be
recovered." Several of Stella's people groaned and Lia grinned at
them. "I've met a lot of fools since that tape was made."

    Sophia snorted loudly. "Speaking of fools, maybe it's time 'Feth
and I discussed my readiness to replace him."

    "No! Tell me you aren't serious." My dismayed shout was jerked out
of me before I could think of anything else to say. Lia and 'Feth
grunted in surprise and spun around to face Sophia.

    Sophia laughed at us. "Got your attention, didn't I? The original
topic was 'How the hell did Myer's Misfits stumble into nearly getting
themselves killed--this time?'"

    Several of the named team sighed loudly. The three of us came out
of our paralysis and turned to Stella.

    Stella grimaced when she realized she'd have to tell us what
happened. "Actually, we talked it over and decided that duty on
station sixteen didn't require our full time presence. Somehow
assignments saw it the same way and let us all use our accumulated
leave at the same time." She glanced at one of her people. "Mark? When
is our leave up?"

    He thought about it briefly. "If that clock is right, call it 783
days, 17 hours, 46 minutes and 13.7 seconds. Approximately, of course.
I'd have to check our main combat chrono to give you an exact figure,
Ma'am."

    She turned back to us and shrugged. "So, we were taking it easy
when the call for volunteers to work with a Bio team went out. We
recruited up our missing strength and volunteered as a unit. I guess
our arguments that a team who had worked together before would reduce
the risk, worked too well."

    Her eyes turned cold. "Commander Grrfeth? Now that we know the new
team members are alive, we wouldn't mind a chance to talk to them."

    Before 'Feth could answer, I spoke up with a mild comment: "I
wasn't aware that there was enough left of station sixteen--that it
needed guarding."

    "Somebody, and I can't tell you who, because I don't know who it
was, thought otherwise." She shaded her eyes as she briefly studied
the wall over our heads. When she looked back, she had an embarrassed
smile pasted across her face. "I can't say more unless... Need to
know?"

    Lia spoke up: "I suppose we could take the time to go through
Tango Delta--if that would make you feel better, Captain."

    She blinked and then mumbled to herself. "I *thought* things were
too simple. If you know about Tango Delta, and the fact I wasn't
demoted, I'm willing to let *you* take the fall if I screw this one
up. I'd prefer that Tango Delta doesn't hear about this incident until
I can get things sorted out a bit. We weren't supposed to be this
visible."

    Lia's voice was dry. "I appreciate your faith in my credentials.
Continue, please."

    "Yes, Ma'am. We've been making the combat grade sweeps of the
orbital area for over a year. We've also been quietly seeing who else
tried to do the same thing. My missing team members are guarding what
we found a few weeks ago. Our *real* orders were, as you probably
know, 'If you find anything unusual, don't touch it, guard it with
your best and take your accumulated leave time on station twenty. Just
make sure you don't lose track of what you found. Someone you already
know will make pickup." She sighed deeply and I detected some
resentment. "Let's just say that 'Tango Delta' has always impressed me
as the sort of commander who can get really unpleasant if someone
screws up after receiving their orders. 'I'm just following orders'.
For what it's worth, what we found was definitely unusual, considering
what happened to sixteen."

    Lia chuckled. "Relax. I feel the same way about him, even though
I've only had to talk to him over the com."

    I was shaking as I forced words past lips suddenly unwilling to
move. "Bodies. At least two of them, apparently uninjured. A Partners
team, or teams, in unfamiliar combat gear."

    Stella looked at me and there was a question, combined with
respect, behind that look. "Captain Larson, I'll repeat it: 'For a
station grunt, you seem to know a lot more than you should'."

    "It's a small community of professionals up here. We have to know
as much as we can about our friends and foes. When a geostation blows
up, killing everyone, you can bet Sophia and I would take a personal
interest in the event. We lost some close friends." I sighed. "Truth
is, we lost a couple of Bio-Partner research teams. That's rare enough
that we started wondering how someone could get past us."

    I turned to study Grrfeth. We held a silent conversation and
decided to break our long silence. This was something only he and I
had known about, even as a remote possibility.

    We hadn't tried to keep the search itself secret. Stella's team
had been operating under very specific orders while other teams had
been assigned to do followup work with anything they found that wasn't
'unusual'.

    I muttered 'nothing lasts forever', then removed my helmet. I bent
down, removed Grrfeth's helmet, set it aside and applied some basic
makeup to both of our faces before I stood up and faced Stella again.
"Recognize us?"

    She studied us for a long time. "Something isn't right."

    'Feth fed me some words and then gave me a timing signal as he
started speaking while I only mouthed the words. "Is this better? We
use Ted's face and my voice with some computerized changes to both."

    She frowned and finally shrugged eloquently. "Quite an act."

    Sophia and Lia were studying us carefully. Sophia's question had
an angry edge to it. "Ted. Why?"

    It was my turn to shrug. "'Feth didn't give me a choice in the
matter."

    She glared at me before nodding slowly. "We'll finish this
discussion--later."

    I winced, then decided to try and divert her attention. "It's
'Feth's story."

    Her lips peeled back in a vicious snarl as she shifted to confront
him. "Well? Brother?"

    He and Lia were involved in a silent confrontation. Lia's angry
scowl was being met with a calm stare. When he settled on his haunches
she sighed and motioned for him to say whatever he was going to say. I
had the distinct impression she was saving her comments for later,
when they were alone. He studied her a bit longer, sighed and to my
surprise, apologized to her. "Love, I'm sorry. It had to be that way.
We have a leak and I decided that Ted was the best one to know what
was going on. 'Tango Delta' was a creation he and I had discussed as a
theoretical way to work around the prejudice we've been running into.
After what happened on sixteen, I needed a low profile way to run the
search and make sure nobody found and recovered any of our people or
equipment. The fact that you and Sophia like to get rid of us so you
can have those 'girl talks' made it easy to hide what he and I were
really doing when we were supposed to be 'male-bonding'."

    He grinned at Lia until she blushed, then confronted his sister.
"Do you have a problem with your commanding officer's decisions,
*Colonel* Larson? Ted was the *only* person with a need to know.
First: 'Tango Delta' was his idea. Second: His primary specialty is
communications. Third: We have a leak somewhere in the upper command
structure. Fourth: You and Lia are two of the worst liars to ever get
promoted past Lieutenant." He grinned as she finally flinched. He
switched to wolf: "Tacmind it, sister. If you held command, which of
us is most qualified to perform the duties? Which of us would you have
used if *you* had to make the same decisions?"

    She settled on her haunches to think about it. After several
minutes of silence her ears flattened against her head in a manner
that showed her frustrated resignation. She answered him reluctantly,
in wolf. "Liandra. Brother, that's not a choice, it's the only
solution that has a chance of working."

    I stiffened in surprise, Lia flinched in her own version of
shock--and Grrfeth merely smiled and spoke one word before he turned
to face Captain Myers. "Exactly."

    Grrfeth shifted his expression to one of intense concentration
before he started questioning Captain Myers. "Captain? You didn't do
anything to the bodies except keep track of them? Nothing? No contact
with them at all? It's critical that you followed my orders, exactly."

    She looked thoughtful as she thought back. Before she answered she
looked at her team members. Each shook their head in negation. She
nodded and looked at Grrfeth again. "No, Sir. All we did was plot
their location and make excuses about the need to have the area clear
so we could 'examine it in detail due to the nature of the debris
field'. The team I left behind is keeping station next to the
bodies--with orders to avoid any sort of contact. Once I had a chance
to think about my orders, it was obvious that we might find them.
Considering the fact a nuke was used, intact and apparently unharmed
bodies qualify as 'an unusual find'."

    He had the grace to chuckle ruefully. "Yes. Well, Ted and I never
really expected you to find intact bodies. Intact suit parts, yes." He
took a deep breath.

    "You aren't going to like this. You are now members of
Bio-Partners Security, backdated to the date of your original orders.
You and your team are also assigned as a special investigation unit,
answerable only to myself, Ted, Lia, Sophia and Tango Delta--in that
order. That is also subject to the same stipulations." He stopped and
studied them before he turned to me. "Ted? You're involved with R&D
more than we are."

    I sighed. "Point. Everyone listen up. If we ever discover one of
you leaked what I'm going to tell you, we'll turn you inside out with
no hesitation so we can find out who it was and who it was to."

    I took the uncomfortable silence as an admission they understood
the need for secrecy.

    "I'll keep it simple, for now. When we get on the shuttle, I'll go
into more details. The suits Lia and Grrfeth are wearing aren't
prototypes. They're production models. The prototypes were being
tested on station sixteen when it got blown up. Everyone has been
encouraged to believe they were destroyed and there was no chance of
any other possibility. However, there *was* the possibility that the
teams had enough warning to go on combat alert before things went
wrong. *If* they also had the time, or the need, to use the full
shielding capabilities, they theoretically could have been standing
next to the nuke, and been unharmed."

    Now, I looked at Lia and smiled grimly. "Now, you know the reason
for the *other* new item in those suits. With that kind of power
available, R&D was finally able to move ahead on the hibernation
system. There was a functional prototype of that system in each of
those suits. Our people didn't know about it since it was deliberately
designed to be automatically activated *only* under certain
conditions. One of those 'conditions' was the enabling of full power
to the shields, followed by a flash of light and radiation whose
profile matched that of typical nuclear explosions."

    I leaned against the wall. "We knew the activation sequence would
work. None of us *ever* expected it to be used. If the rest of it
worked, those two 'bodies' are actually in hibernation, and if we are
careful, we can bring them out of it."

    "Captain Meyers, I'd appreciate it if you and your team went back
on station after we do the pickup. There's a small chance the other
team is out there somewhere."

    She snapped a salute. "Of course we'll do it. Do we have a time
limit?"

    Her practical question was one I was glad to answer. "Effectively,
no. Since one team appears to have survived over a year with no
obvious signs of damage, the system would have long since gone to the
program for long term survival. Theoretically, since the suits are
almost a completely self contained system capable of extensive
recycling, they have 20-30 years before they run the risk of death
from starvation. It depends on when they ate their last meal and if
the suit supplies were topped off. Even combat sweeps will completely
search an area larger than they could have drifted to in that time.
Since you found one team, we have a minimum radius. Now we can do some
calculations and get a rough idea of the maximum distance the other
team could have traveled in this amount of time. Now that you know
what you're looking for, you don't have to examine every piece of
debris, only the ones that might be bodies wearing those suits."

    One of her techs spoke up. "Begging your pardon but those suits
don't show up on anything except our best combat search systems. The
way I figure it, we were lucky."

    I nodded and then smiled slightly. "And you didn't see if you
could overcome that problem once you knew about it?"

    He hesitated. "I didn't say that. Actually, it was quite a
challenge until we started working our way through some of the
techniques used in astronomy."

    That got my attention. "Oh? You found something?"

    Now he grinned. "Yes, Sir. Gravitational lensing. It took all of
our computing power in parallel but once I had things sorted out, and
you'll have to see it to believe it, those suits stand out like a
supernova--even though all but the most sophisticated search gear says
the area is empty. Give me a chance to reprogram your shuttle and the
search should take days, not years." My face must have shown some of
my shock in spite of my effort to hide it, because he added in a much
softer tone: "I'm sorry, Sir. Those suits have the best stealth
systems I've ever seen. Now that I know a bit about the technology
involved, I'm willing to bet they are using so much power the energy
concentration creates the lensing effect I spotted. Maybe it only
happens under extreme conditions."

    Grrfeth and I looked at each other and I wondered if my face had
the same shocked look his had.

    * * *

    Stella's senior tech was just about done reprogramming our
computers. "You know, with all the energy those suits use I'm kinda
wondering how your R&D folks missed the calculations for the lensing
effect."

    I flinched and tried to hide my shock at the tone of the man's
voice. It was then that I realized his eyes weren't looking at the
radar console. Instead of commenting I got Sophia's attention. "You
know, Sophia, this whole weird situation reminds me of our final exam.
We almost got ourselves killed because we missed the obvious. Wish
this tech had been there to help us out."

    Sophia launched herself at the tech and he screamed when her jaws
closed around his throat and she knocked him away from the programming
console. In the meantime I'd clawed my laser out and snap fired,
killing the main security lasers. By the time I'd done that Sophia was
straddling the stunned tech and using her personal laser to kill all
the other defenses.

    Stella and her people had made the best decision possible and
frozen in place. When I looked closer I realized they hadn't been
given a choice. 'Feth and Lia were on opposite sides of the room and
both were obviously attack ready.

    Sophia looked down and snarled at the weakly struggling tech.
"Give me an excuse." He froze. She stared at him. "Good choice."

    'Feth never took his eyes off of Stella and her crew. "Ted? Do you
know how many ways these people have been checked and been declared
clean?"

    "Yeah. But there's one stress check they haven't been put
through."

    At that he looked at me. "As I recall you and I were both
monitoring the review. We used every test we had."

    I sighed. "I know. But we never did the obvious one. Tango Delta
*can't* use it."

    "Oh?"

    "You--and your nose. I bet that guy reeks of the same stink you
got from Mr. Delagado."

    He was so surprised he sat on his haunches. "I'll be damned." He
stood and narrowed his eyes as he studied the situation. "The special
programming that took effect during your final exam. We never did find
out who it was. How the hell did you spot him?"

    I sighed again. "His eyes. He wasn't looking at the radar console.
He was looking at the security controls. Pull the security tapes."

    Instead of answering me he stalked over and lowered his head until
his nose was almost touching the tech's nose. He inhaled through his
nose and snorted the air back at the tech. "I don't need the tapes.
Lia? You and Ted watch this thing. Sophia and I have some old business
to finish and we don't need you two in our way."

    Lia and I took our prisoner off to the side. She looked at me and
shook her head. "What's this 'old business' he's talking about? I've
never seen him so angry."

    "Not now." I raised my voice. "Sophie. The training software had
been programmed to kill you if it was ever set to combat suit testing
and your name was listed. Delagado was the finger man who activated
the subroutines. We never found the others responsible. Need to know."

    She turned to face me. Her face was a mask but her ears twitched a
private signal. "Briefing understood."

    'Feth switched to wolvish battle tongue. "Sister. Tacmind.
Mastermind present at kill? Confirm or deny."

    She moved to flank him. "High probability. Interrogate suspects."

    I shivered. There'd been the threat of death hidden in her simple
assessment. Lia must have heard it too because she lifted her head so
she could glare at Stella and her people.

    'Feth walked over and looked up at Stella. "Your senior tech just
tried to kill my sister. I'm not pleased with the situation. Any
suggestions or comments, Captain?"

    She stiffened to attention. "He's my man. My responsibility. I
want him. I don't enjoy being betrayed."

    I barely heard 'Feth's next question. "Sister?"

    "Fear. Anger. Truth."

    "Agreed. Sorry, Major Myers. Combat law. He belongs to us, now.
Join Lia and Ted."

    Stella joined us and turned back to watch the rest of the room.
She reached for her laser and Lia touched her arm. "Put that away. The
four of us can handle this, unarmed. You don't have the skills to mix
it up when two very angry and kill-ready wolves are after their prey."

    She nodded. "Those are my people. I hope they're all innocent."

    Lia's reply was gentle. "So do we."

    Stella never took her eyes off of her people. "What's 'combat
law'?"

    I looked at our secured prisoner and then at Lia. "This is my
first time. You'd better tell her."

    Lia sighed. "Combat law is a special code for a rare situation.
You've just seen a temporary but significant shift in our command
structure. Normally 'Feth and I are the alpha command team and Sophia
and Ted form the beta team. If any one of us decides that a situation
threatens the entire Bio Partners operation we can invoke 'combat
law'. 'Feth and Sophia team to become the alpha pair and Ted and I
team to form the beta pair. It also frees them from having to worry
about us during combat. There's one more thing. I mentioned that Ted
and Sophia are the best team in security. That's not quite true." She
gestured at 'Feth and Sophia. "When those two are teamed... They're at
least twice as effective as when either one of them is teamed with
us."

    She sighed. "Major Myers, your new orders are simple. 'Kill this
man if any of your people tries to start something.' Ted? You and I
need to provide backup. You take the door, I'll disarm the people so
'Feth and Sophia can get this over with."

    I moved to the door and Lia moved to stand next to 'Feth. "I'm
going to gather all your weapons. Don't move and don't try to help me,
or oppose me. If I miss a holdout, tell me and I'll take it. If one of
you is the person we're looking for, this is your last chance to give
up."

    She waited. Nobody moved or spoke. Lia quietly collected
everything and stood guard over her 'loot'. "'Feth? All yours."

    He nodded. "Sister. One of these people does more than fear."

    "Agreed."

    "Now!"

    The two of them lunged in different directions and rapidly wove a
complex pattern that let them make brief contact with each person.
When it was over they froze on opposite sides of the room and stared
at the group.

    They switched to battle language again. "Sister. One only,
female."

    "She hates, brother. I claim her as mine."

    'Feth went in low this time and used his body and momentum to
knock people aside. When he was done a woman was standing alone in the
center of the room with him facing her. He settled on his haunches and
snarled at her when she started to move.

    She froze and began to tremble, then glared at him. "Animal, you
and all of your kind are abominations. The people who help you have
denied their human heritage to become less than human. Death is all
you deserve for pretending to be the equals of true humans."

    "You do not deny that you've spent years trying to kill my
sister?"

    "No. My only regret is that I have failed, this time."

    'Feth was silent as he studied her. His eyes never left her when
he spoke. "Major Myers. Assemble your team and take the prisoner to
the detention area."

    I moved away from the door and let them go. After the door closed
behind the last of them 'Feth spoke quietly. "There will be no 'next
time'. Before you die I will give you the gift of knowledge, a
knowledge known only by a few."

    "You can't kill me! I have rights!"

    "Ted?"

    I chuckled. "You became a Bio Partner, voluntarily. We are a
recognized international security force with our own laws. Like it or
not, you're looking at the four people who would be asked to review
your case and make the final decision. We have plenty of documentation
of your attacks. All we need to close the case is your admission of
guilt. I ask you again, formally and under oath: Have you spent years
attempting to kill the Biostruct known as Sophia?"

    "This is a mockery of justice. You can't kill me for trying to
kill an animal."

    I sighed. "Answer my question."

    "Yes, damn you. By killing her I would have removed one of the
breeders so they couldn't propagate their kind. All of the Biostructs
should be killed, along with the humans who help them."

    Grrfeth smiled. "Before you die, I will give you the gift of
knowledge: None of the Biostructs are animals."

    "You lie! You attempt to hide behind your lie so none will know
the truth!"

    He settled on his haunches and grinned. "Wrong. A diligent search
would have told you the truth. The breakthrough came when Liaya
Stevens realized that success would be reachable only if humans were
given animal bodies. The sealed records of the Pony Girls' court
case--that gained us recognition as full humans--contains more proof
of what I say." He stood and his grin became a snarl. "And if you and
your followers had done a simple DNA analysis...

    "Our true genome would have been obvious." He carefully moved
backwards until he touched one of the walls. The woman was shaking and
moaning while she came to terms with his news.

    He settled on his haunches again. "Yours, hunt mistress."

    Sophia lunged. Her target never had a chance. The woman fell to
the floor, her throat ripped with surgical precision. Sophia settled
on her haunches and spat to clear her mouth. Then she looked at me.
"She smelled like an Alpha Bitch--in heat."

    I couldn't stop my relieved laughter. She'd just used our private
term for women who controlled men by sexual means--to tell me the
woman she'd killed was the mastermind who had spent years trying to
kill us.
---

End: Biolab 13: The Wolves - Cycle 3
End: Biolab 13: The Wolves

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