Tweak

Shin wandered the gardens, nibbling on this that and the other thing. The good thing about being able to eat almost anything was that when he got hungry he could go to the garden. Gardeners had begun looking the other way when Shin went walking the garden because the cooks wouldn’t give Shin food. Said he had to restrain himself.

Restraining himself, for a day, had made Shin lose a dangerous amount of weight. So Ash had slyly suggested Shin walk the garden and see what interested him.

Three days of stuffing his face and walking the garden and he had made a little muscle on his legs but the rest of him was stick thin. On the fourth day, as Shin chewed on an unopened rose bud, he ran into Layaent. The man’s eyes were narrowed as he looked Shin up and down.

“You’ve not gained muscle. Most of us come by muscle naturally. Has your appetite abated at all?”

“No, and the cooks won’t give me food,” Shin growled.

“Mother’s orders.”

“Where is she?” Shin asked, hand on a hydrangea flower, “maybe I could talk to her, could explain what is going on, maybe she’ll let me eat more actual food.”

Layaent sighed, “I was hoping you knew where mother was. Her and father haven’t been seen since the night you, Ash and Mysh went over the edge, into the river.”

“Mysh went over too?”

“We expected him to go, that was why we brought him out here. Kept babbling about have to be free, have to get out and see the trees. I managed to convince Joral to set him free, Joral being the new head of house.”

“Into the wilds?”

“Obviously, Shin, it’s not the first time we’ve done this,” Layaent murmured, motioning to the stone bench.

Shin sighed and sat on the bench. He knew a lecture was coming on, “I’m not going to tell anyone about the people in the wilds. Who would believe me, even if I did tell someone?”

“I’m not concerned,” Layaent sat beside Shin, “with you telling people. I’m concerned about you. Look at your metabolism right now, look at your size. You’re no longer short but you’re stick thin. If you don’t start forcing your body to move, you won’t gain the muscle. Maybe once you build it, it will stay. I’ve looked at your file, you’re meant for speed.”

“Why?” Shin asked, “why am I built for speed? Why are you built to be an alpha male? Why can we sniff things out hundreds of feet away? Why do we need more than perfect vision? Why do we need to see in the dark.”

“My own brother,” Layaent muttered, “look, Shin, not everyone is capable of accepting the fate that is laid out before them. Genetics and tweakers are no exception to the rule. Sometimes people are born who can’t stand the life we live. Some end up being like Mysh, only he was the first elder to have that problem. When that happens we quietly shuttle them into the wilds.”

“Those who are lost…” Shin looked at Layaent, “no.”

“Yes,” Layaent said quietly, “the alterations began as tweaks. Then a few genetics wanted what the tweakers had. As the question came up as to whether or not we even wanted to continue living amongst commoners or leave and start a civilization of our own, out in the wilds, the commoners demanded genetics. Having started such a thing, we could not simply leave the commoners to their own. We had to show them the mistakes, to show them how to keep themselves alive through the trials. The council of six voted five to one to stay and help the commoners.

“Throughout the genetic and tweaker lines the voting was the same. One out of every six did not want to stay. Those who wanted to leave had to sign contracts about everything. They had to agree not to fight amongst themselves, had to agree that tweaker and genetic alike would live side by side in harmony-”

“Why didn’t I hear about this?” Shin asked.

“Shut up and listen, Shin, I’m not supposed to be telling you this. One of the stipulations of their contract stated that they had to, absolutely had to, accept in those in the future who found themselves in the same predicament. When you were born a male from the Otter tribe-”

“Otter tribe.”

“That’s what they call themselves,” Layaent sighed, “a male came from the tribe because they needed help. He risked life and limb to get here. Something was affecting the tribe members and making them act insane. Over half the population died over night. The male touched minds with Mysh. That’s. When we found out that it was a power thing, transferred from mind to mind, a power using virus.

“Those who were immune, by some fluke, were weakened and then struck by one of the viruses a genetic corporation carried into the wilds, meant to protect the company’s people from beasts in the wilds. What the first virus didn’t kill, the second nearly did. Only a handful of the tribe is still alive.”

“Why did Mysh survive being touched by this virus?”

Layaent shrugged, “theories run abound. From, he’s got power of his own to the genetics have had an immunity alteration that protects them the virus’s more lethal traits. Joral agreed to release Mysh because he seems to have calmed down.”

“Then why were mother and father trying to kill him?“ Shin snapped.

“There are some,” Layaent stressed, “who swing to the other side of the spectrum. Some who believe that those who do not accept civilization are mad. The ones who leave us, they can be spotted from early childhood with a sixty to seventy percent accuracy rating. These people always show traits, you must understand.”

“Oversensitivity?”

“Emotions, how illogical are they? An animalistic instinct that is so far out there that they lock it away entirely,” Layaent paused and met Shin’s eyes, “sounding like someone you know? Cases of nature and runts are more often to run than others. And yes, they run. No one points to the wilds and says, go out there, there’s someone there who will help you.”

Shin swallowed, “so they weren’t after Mysh?”

“No. They were after you. And, if they ever return, when Taya’s time comes, they will be after her as well. Mysh isn’t their concern, he is someone else’s failure, someone else’s child. Mother and father have always been a bit…”

“Unemotional?” Shin asked.

“Exactly. Yet somehow those two produced three children who are bound for the wilds. More and more of us, Shin, are being born with a craving to run rampant and free,” Layaent sighed out, rubbed his face.

“You too?”

“Of course me too. Except I can’t leave, not until my children are born, as I was bound by Meshnan to do. She believes that it’s in the blood, that it might skip a few generations but it’s still there. People weren’t meant to be confined by the laws of man, people weren’t meant to have no god,” Layaent said, imitating Meshnan’s voice, “if we were meant to be gods of ourselves, to rule ourselves, we would have conquered the wilds without effort on our part, without altering our genetic material to include the blood of the animals who survive in the wild.”

Shin almost laughed, “that’s definitely Meshnan for you.”

“I’m not saying you have to stay, I’m not saying you have to leave, either,” Layaent glanced about to see if anyone was around, “Shin, I just want you to be aware of the options that are available to you. You can have whatever life you want, you can be whatever you want. You’re a middle child and once people see that you are not actually a runt you can have a breeding contract with an oldest.”

“But all breeding contracts with oldest doesn’t permit the other partner to have a lover.”

“No, no it doesn’t,” Layaent murmured.

“I’d have to be with a female who would hate me because I can’t satisfy her. Or I’d have to watch her take males to her bed and father bastard children with them while I have nothing for solace.”

“I know.”

“I have a sexual appetite, you know, I have cravings and desires.”

“I’m just saying.”

“You want to know what I want from my life?”

“Yes.”

Shin shook his head and frowned, “I’ve never even thought about it. I’ve always thought of my life as belonging to the family. Whatever is best for the family is what I should do, even if it’s not best for me. A time would come when I would be told who to breed with, I would get children on her via medical and genetic technology and then. Then I’ would raise my children and do what I could to not make her life miserable as could be.”

“Think about it,” Layaent said, standing, “I will rescind mother’s order to the cook on the basis that she is likely dead. Father, well, we found his blood on a tree and if what Ash tells us is correct, he hit his head pretty hard on that trunk. There wasn’t much blood there, or in the area around it. I’m suspecting he stumbled off somewhere and got eaten. That deals with that problem.”

“Problem? You think he’d keep trying to kill me?” Shin asked.

“You came back, so it’s possible that father would leave off. Mother was always the brains of the outfit and she is the one obsessed with keeping the Ishteshtin name clean of… blights. Father is Meita, his loyalty has always laid there and will continue to do so. If he’s still alive, that is. His family has bigger worries than if his child on a woman of another family is a blight.”

“Ah.”

“If he’s lucky, the otters found him and killed him, quick death.”

“If not?”

“They’re keeping him alive to breed him,” Layaent shrugged.

Shin looked up at Layaent and stood, “why otter?”

“Oh? Oh. Because the leader, the one who became dominant over the others and thus stepped up as alpha, was a female tweaker with the characteristics of an otter. Her face,” Layaent motioned towards his face, “I’ve been told, looks sort of otterish and because their territory is the river.”

“Which river?” Shin asked, “the one we fell in, or the one we followed north?”

“The one you followed.”

“They’ve spread, Ash said they’ve marked trees a couple of miles south.” something bothered Shin, at the mentioning of Ash’s name. Like something he was forgetting but every time he tried to recall it, it slipped out of his fingers.

“That’s more of a line in the sand. Ones like Mysh step across the line and react differently than, say, me. Of course, if you can’t smell the marking, it’s somewhat useless but the tribe will still come and see who’s playing about. On future trips, you’ll notice that we skirt around a mile and a half, or so, of the forest,” Layaent paused and watched Shin for a moment, “is something wrong?”

“Something Ash said, I think,” Shin muttered.

“What about what Ash said?”

“I.” Shin frowned, “I think he said he spoke to the male we encountered in the woods, touched minds with him.”

“Oh no,” Layaent closed his eyes and shook his head, “no, that’s not possible. If Ash touched minds with a male, he would be infected, he’s not shown any signs at all of being infected.”

“Why didn’t Mysh spread it around?” Shin asked.

“Because only a power user can spread it…shit.”

“Is there any way to tell if Ash is a carrier or if he’s fine?”

“Have him use power on somebody.” Layaent muttered, “but that’s the same as handing him a loaded gun and telling him to start shooting.”

***

Taya giggled and swam through the air while not really getting anywhere. Ash had been surprised to find that the girl was a sensitive, that she was one of those ones who could very easily be affected by power. Which meant that Ash could float her in the air and make her seem like she was swimming with tropical fish with a simple thought planted inside her mind.

“ASH!” Layaent flew into the room, causing Ash to jump and drop Taya onto the bed, over which she had been floating, “what in God’s name are you doing?”

“Playing with Taya,” Ash said, retreating against the wall as Layaent advanced on him, “why? What’d I do?”

“You,” Layaent jabbed a finger at Ash and then looked at Taya, “what?”

“You’re being mean,” Taya said, crossing her arms and pouting.

Pouting, a ten year old genetic was pouting. The fact that she was pouting seemed to upset Layaent, who stepped away from Ash and tried to look innocent.

“You should know better,” Layaent said.

“You should know better,” Taya snapped back.

“Better than to allow a power user to play with you when they’ve just come back in from the wilds, Taya, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred damned times. When someone comes back from the wilds you do not deposit yourself in their lap and demand to be entertained or regaled with their stories!”

“You’re not the boss of me.” Taya said, sticking her nose into the air, “Mother is the boss of me.”

“I’ve just declared her dead.”

“Then father is the boss of me.”

“He’s dead also.”

“Then Shin is the boss of me.”

“You’re only saying that because you know Shin is afraid of you and will let you do whatever you want,” Layaent snapped, “get down off that bed, get back to your studies and stop playing with Ash this instant. Do you hear me?”

“Shin is the boss of me.” Taya said stubbornly.

“No, he is not the boss of you, if the mother and the father die then the eldest available sibling takes charge, if you’ve a problem with that, you can live in with the orphans for a week and see how you like that. Get off the bed and go back to your studies.”

Taya harrumphed but climbed off the bed and stomped out of the room. Layaent waited until she was gone, and then a moment longer before he spun and shook a finger at Ash.

“You idiot.”

“What did I do?” Ash protested.

“You connected your mind to a male’s in the forest, and then just happened to leave that part out when you were telling me what was going on?” Layaent snapped, “all the while unaware that there is a power bound virus that every person in the wilds is a carrier of.”

“Oh, I’ve not shown any symptoms though.”

“You’re a carrier then. And you can spread it to anyone, power user or not-”

“If I use power on them…” Ash winced as it dawned on him, “oh. Layaent, I’m sorry. I didn’t know or I wouldn’t have done it, honest, I’m not out to kill your entire family.”

“What?” Layaent stepped back, not understanding.

“Well I crashed your dad into a tree, your mom got covered in wasps and then went missing and Shin and I went over the cliff. Now I may have just infected Taya with a power bound virus so…”

Layaent laughed, “you’re right, it does seem like you’re out to kill my entire family.”

“I feel fine, really,” Ash said, sitting on the edge of the bed, “could we talk for a bit?”

“Sure,” Layaent walked to the desk and pulled out the chair, turning it around so that it faced the bed, “what would you like to talk about? I mean, besides the general, all around mess this trip turned out to be?”

“The short people,” Ash said quietly.

“Ah. Now that was a first, I’ve never heard of short people.” Layaent muttered.

Which, from years of knowing Layaent, Ash knew was the truth. Sadly, that also meant that Layaent had known about the tall ones in the forest and hadn’t told Ash. Some family secret that Layaent wasn’t allowed to talk about with a tweaker.

“Never?”

“Never.” Layaent shook his head, “but from your approximation of their civilization, they’ve entered the tribal stage and are likely on their way to the stone and then iron ages. Worshipping a god is the first step of uniting. Without religion, our own civilization would never have made it as far as it has. They’ve been there for a while and know how to use the forest to their advantage. Drums, beat in tune and in time with a great beast’s footsteps.

“Hell, I think I’ve heard them coming through and thought it was a beast. You hear that sound and you run, doesn’t matter what you are doing, what you were about to do, you get the fuck out of there before the beast catches your scent and decides to investigate.”

“Which would explain why no one has reported on them yet,” Ash murmured, adjusting on the edge of the bed, “they know how to disappear into the forest.”

“That they do,” Layaent nodded, “there have always been wild tales, about howlers having families about people in the wilds. The genetics let the tales make their rounds, because we know there are people in the wilds, but we never put much thought into them. People flap their lips and a six foot tall creature suddenly is taller than a skyscraper or a trapdoor spider isn’t the size of a dinner plate but is as big as a car. Stuff gets around.”

“Meaning you’ve heard rumours?”

“I’ve heard muttering about a vicious, wild people in the wilds, like we all have. We don’t like to think that we are the only intelligent species on the entire world, that we’re the only ones of our kind, even, to set up a civilization. We’ve travelled the seas, from north to south to west and all the way back again and we’ve found nothing. Over all of the wilds and we can’t even find the ruins of the Emperor’s palace that are said to exist in the wilds.

“Untameable land abounds on our world, so much so that we can’t get together the metal to go to the moon and back again, we can’t put satellites into the sky. We’re limited by the resources we have at hand and the few resources we can find in tameable land across the wilds.

“As a people we need to believe in something else, in someone else. God no longer hears us, she no longer smiles down on us and her temples and churches and alters were torn down years ago. With a lack of a god, without any sort of myth left to us and us having conquered the known world and our own bodies, it is only natural that we look to the wilds and whisper to one another about the people who God forgot.”

“Myth has always talked about short people,” Ash muttered, “dwarves and pixies and trolls with hair on their faces and even their women have hairy arms. If that’s the kind of rumour you’re talking about.”

“Someone brought a body back once,” Layaent said, “the genetics passed it off as a tweaker who had been shot and killed by a trigger happy border guard. We didn’t bother investigating, either, seemed pointless at the time.”

Ash sighed, “well they’re there.”

“And within a thousand years they could be a problem,” Layaent added.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Joke like that, in a thousand years they might be a problem, they might not be a problem for ten thousand years. But one day they’re going to learn how to ride a beast or drive the wilds creatures at us and then we will have to face something that we cannot defeat. These people have created a civilization inside the wilds, where everything is weighed against them and they haven’t much chance of winning. Yet they’re still there. When they meet us, what will they see us as?”

“Pansies,” Layaent muttered, “I would. I mean, come on, we can’t go into the wilds, we’re tall and slender and don’t eat much, we aren’t exactly war fairing considering the fact that our military’s only job now a days is guarding the border and exploring for tameable land.

“But I wasn’t joking. In a thousand years, they could be a problem. And you’re going to laugh at this, Ash, but you and I may live long enough to see that happen,” Layaent straightened as Ash laughed at him, “see, you’re laughing at me, at my idea. But just you watch. I’ll be head of my house and you’ll be the highest rank you can take and we’ll be old men. When they invade-”

“What a ridiculous notion!” Ash said, wiping tears from his eyes.

“When they invade! You can come over to my house and I’ll pour you a drink and say I told you so.” Layaent growled, standing, “now, we talked about your thing, can we talk about my thing?”

“Your thing?” Ash muttered, sensing the change in topic that was coming, “what about?”

“The Meitas.”

“Ah.”

“It’s not going well for them, Ash. The council of six has laid open every single file the Meitas have and it’s been found that they’ve been wilfully negligent.”

“Wilfully what?”

“Negligent. Do you know what a class five felony is?”

Ash choked on the words that almost came out of his mouth. Hadn’t Shin said something of the sort? When they had been in the wilds and Ash had told Shin about the genetic labs being covered in garbage and being such a mess. Shin had said that such a thing was a class five felony.

“Do you know what a class five felony is?”

“Is it something about unhygienic conditions?” Ash muttered, “Shin talked a bit about it, out in the wilds.”

“Do you, does your family, even know about the laws and rights to protect themselves? You took money from the pool to pay for your education.”

“No I didn’t,” Ash shook his head. He had paid for his education entirely on his own, from the family income but it had been all money that he had earned. His father had kept careful tabulations of every job Ash had taken, every chore Ash worked. That was why Bri was his mentor, even though they were the same age. It had taken Ash five extra years to earn enough money to pay for his schooling.

“What?” Layaent stiffened.

“My education was paid for from the family income, the academy has a record of my transcripts as well as my receipt, no doubt.”

Layaent breathed in slowly and pinched the bridge of his nose, “what do you mean you didn’t withdraw money from the pool?”

“It came from the family income, I took the card to the school and swiped it myself, with my father standing right there.”

“You applied, your signature is on the application.”

“On what application? I never signed a paper, no papers. I never even began signing my name until I graduated and started doing reports.”

“What’s the pool for, Ash?”

“Alterations for tweakers, should anything happen to the fund family.”

“So, you don’t know the fourteenth clause of the second contract signed by the tweakers?”

“What’s it say?”

“That any tweaker can apply to the pool for an education fund.”

Ash frowned, “we were told that tweakers couldn’t access the funds and that if we wanted to petition for money we could try, but we would be denied and then have to pay the expense of flying out the council of six.”

“And you never, at any point, signed something for the Meita?”

“No, I’ve not entered into a contract with them yet because I am an officer of the law. In five or ten years, when they decide to breed me, then I will enter into a contract with them.” Ash blinked as Layaent went red with anger, “that’s… not how it works, is it?”

“No, Ash, that’s not how it works.”

.