Tweak

The ring most definitely was not working in a mysterious way. Mysh had found them in the woods and recognised Shin’s smell as one of ‘family’ and then the tribe Mysh had taken them to had been all too eager to give them multiple males. Perhaps it was a plot to get rid of some of the males. Whatever it was, Shin and Ash were led to the big tree and left with four males. Mysh, the big male’s brother and two others who looked to be related.

What frightened Shin was the fact that none of these were the male that he knew from his and Ash’s trip into the wilds. Ash didn’t even notice this until Shin pointed it out. That group of people who they had seen at the base of the tree had had more females.

Which meant two tribes were living practically on top of one another and didn’t even realise it.

At the base of the tree, the tribe simply left. The males looked from one another and to Shin, finally.

“This,” the brother of the male motioned to the tree, “is a big tree. And a nice river.”

“River belongs to otter,” Shin muttered, “we have to be careful at its edge. Uhm…”

Ash stepped up beside Shin, “We need food and a way to preserve it. We sleep up in the tree. Until we get blankets of some sort, we sleep together.”

Mysh poked his male friend, the male stepped forward and looked away, looked skittish around a larger male, “we can eat almost anything out here.”

“Right.” Ash said after a long, long moment, “I keep forgetting that.”

“We could even eat the tree,” another one said, sending a nasty buzz up Shin’s hand.

“Ah,” Shin gave his hand a hard shake, “no! No. We do not eat the tree. No one eats the tree. Eating the tree is.” how did he explain it so that they would understand and realise how serious this was? “Bad?”

The males looked at one another, then to Mysh. The broken male cackled like a mad then promptly dropped to the ground and began tearing grass up out of the ground. There was something very odd about Mysh’s behaviour. It wasn’t even like a broken male, it was more like…

Like Mysh was desperately trying to hide how whole he was.

“What do you think, Mysh?” Shin asked the big man. Mysh had, after all, been programmed to be the elder and to lead the entire tenth generation.

Mysh looked up at Shin, a distasteful look that implied that Shin was an ass, “up tree, piss round clearing. Eat grass if hungry, not tree with spirit. Tree protects land, tree lets stupid ants live when not need to.”

“We. Can’t.” Ash muttered, “Otter owns the river, your tribe-”

“Snake,” one of the strange males said quickly.

“Snake owns land just over that way and there’s a tribe of short people who wander through here all the time. Otter didn’t piss on the trees and uses the tree as a trading place. If we live here. We have to be completely invisible.”

“If short people,” Mysh scratched at his jaw line for a moment, then continued on, “if short people know tall people here, then short people not trade with otter and otter get upset with snake for taking over land. Thus tall people find new home or shut up about it already.” this last part was said as he glared at the smallest of the strange males.

“Snake lived very well on the ground,” the small male said quickly, “lived in the open and was known across the forest.”

“Lived very well?” Mysh stood, cracking his joints on purpose to draw everyone’s attention to him, “sorry, must have mistaken those rocks for females. Must have mistaken grass for edibles tasteful food. Trees must be actual elders. Snake blood ran red and bright across clearing of home when genetics stomp, stomp, stomped through. Stole snake land. Stole snake women and children. Kill snake elders, leave rest for dead. Of course, must be all mistake, snake doing quite well for self.”

“Ishteshtin,” Ash muttered, “the Ishteshtin genetic company came through here?”

“Eh?” Mysh looked at Ash, confused.

“You’re snakes, you’re related to Shin and Mysh. Otter is led by a woman from the otter family, from one of the tweaker families. Therefore, it’s only right to assume that snake is related to the snake family, which is the Ishteshtin line.”

Mysh blinked at Ash then looked at his companion, his maybe-lover, “sign of genetic make in air.” the smaller male traced a symbol in the air that made no sense to Shin whatsoever, but Ash made a sound.

“Meita.”

“Genetics come through. Not people in white coats,” the maybe-lover said, “white coats come into the forest and offer candies and thick blankets for plants and animals. They come and check on our women and sometime take away a sick on and bring them back better. White coats are not this Meita, you speak of. They are. Gomesh. Lady with pretty eyes came to check and found what Meita done. Frown, pretty eyed lady did and then left. Come back few days later and say that Meita will no longer be a problem.”

“Evera?” Shin asked.

“Never names, just pretty lady with eyes. Blue and green and lines of other colours, darker, of all the colours of eyes can be.”

Evera. “when?”

“Ehm,” the male considered, “maybe half a moon cycle?”

Had Evera shared information with Shin because of what she had witnessed in the wilds? She hadn’t exactly seemed the type to break or bend rules. Perhaps she wasn’t, perhaps it had simply been that Evera had been looking for an opportunity to leak information when Shin had made his completely legal inquiry. Evera could have lied about who had paid the bill for Uhwan’s harvesting. It was, after all, her inheritance that she had put at stake, as well as her own safety.

“Mysh say big creature coming, up tree,” Mysh jabbed a finger upward, then looked towards the river.

The strange males didn’t have to be told twice. They were climbing up the side of the tree before Shin could comprehend what was going on. He smelled exhaust, like from a vehicle. Mysh made a growling sound and Shin jerked out of his daze and climbed up the side of the tree, his body easily remembering the handholds from the last time he had climbed it. Ash was right behind him.

At the top of the tree, the males were huddled in the center of the flat area, where the tree limbs sort of melded into a hollow large enough to be a bathtub. Shin and Ash ignored the males and moved to the side of the tree that faced the river. They laid down and peeped over the side.

Mysh shortly joined them.

“Not see from ground?” he whispered at them.

“No,” Ash muttered back, “but if they have heat sensors…”

“We have multiple people,” Shin responded quickly, “heat sensors don’t distinguish between people, they show size and width but we’re of average height and pretty much everyone with us is the same size besides Mysh. And they aren’t looking for him.”

A beast of a machine floated down, nearly touching the river as lights flashed and it made a high pitched noise that cause Shin and Ash to both wince and cover their ears. Mysh chattered and clucked at the machine as if chiding it. When the sound changed pitch, the other males growled irritably.

“Waaaait,” Mysh growled back at them. “wait for stupid tall people to set camp for night. Then smart tall people end sound for good.”

“What?” Shin asked, startled enough that he forgot, momentarily, about the sound.

“End sound for good, do lots of time snake has. Quiet like, through grass. Otter folk come up from waters and drown stupid people, but Mysh prefer just breaking loud thing and leaving stupid people to animals,” Mysh muttered flatly as the machine stopped its droning and rose into the air, “is stupids looking for tribe, to take back to world and practice on. Happens many times.”

The big man waited a moment longer before he stood and cracked his joints again. A health problem, or just how Mysh drew attention to himself? Suddenly the males were up and edging towards Mysh, looking to him for orders.

“Neh, bring water. Nuh, diggum root. Nah, set snares. Noh,” Mysh pointed to each male in turn, then turned to Shin and Ash, “stay. Stay. Sleep or something. Lookin’ like not sleep in many days.” There was no meaning behind the random sounds Mysh was making, the man was simply using them to denote a different person was to do a different task.

Ash and Shin shared a look before they shrugged and gave in to their exhaustion. They slept several hours before Mysh woke them with a jabbing finger and a growl.

“Smelling like relation is here,” Mysh grumbled, “mean to Mysh, he is and stomping foot, threatening to piss on tree if not wake two. Go make be nice.”

Shin stretched and stretched, accidentally cracking several spots in his back. He rubbed his eyes and grumbled about being tired and stiff before it dawned on him, what exactly Mysh had said. Shin blinked sleep from his eyes and focused on Layaent. Shin’s brother looked pissed. There was a scratch on his right cheek and a darkness around his left eye that seemed to imply that he had gotten into a fight.

“I haven’t got too long,” Layaent growled, voice rattling the strange males, “the government men are going to come looking for me, once they realise what I did to that bastard power user of theirs. On a side note, it would seem that some power users have difficulty getting their claws into me.”

“It’s your mood,” Ash muttered, “and how guarded you are about what others see in you. You’re likely the most closed person he’s ever had to pry it. That paired with how irritable you get when someone uses power on you…”

Layaent growled again, “nice tree. I might come join you one day. Might. Anyhow, what do you need out here?”

“Need?” Shin asked.

“Government is screwing with my family and traipsing over my land, damn right I’m asking what you need. Anything at all. Blankets, metal pots, medicines. Male government owned power user to feed to trap door spiders?”

“Females!” one of the strange males said quickly.

Layaent glanced at the male, then back to Shin, “I offer anything and he’s the only one who said females. You know who’s straight in this bunch.”

“We do need females,” Shin responded, “if we’re thinking long term survival. We wouldn’t say no to blankets so as to not freeze and certain containers would be useful for water and the like.”

“I can do that,” Layaent said with a nod, before he grinned, “I know some females who may want to escape city life and whose absence would annoy the government to no end.”

“Ahta,” Shin said quickly, “the security person at the museum. She has a bit of a family, third generation power user. Can’t be bought ad we’ve leased her for a few years to straighten out the museum security system and isn’t happy about being leashed and having such little freedom.”

“I will look into it,” Layaent muttered, “Joral has gotten in contact with the Toleran family about Ash. Officially, we are letting everyone think that the pair of you are on the run. Both families will open their doors to the government. Joral is trying to talk Ash’s father down off the ledge though. The man is tempting fates and has declared that he will stand toe to toe with the government.”

“You’ve not met my father, Layaent…” Ash muttered, “He’s too stubborn to be talked down.”

“The other genetics won’t support the Toleran family if they stand against the government,” Layaent said quickly, “Joral is trying to explain this to your father.”

“But the tweakers will,” Ash murmured, “Layaent, you misjudge where the power is. The council of six has supported the tweakers publicly and the families have their backbones back. They have gotten a fresh lesson of their rights and privileges. Our families have, for generations, lost valuable members to the government funded power programs. That man that you fought at your estate could very well be related to me. Related to you even. Brainwashed to believe that the government is good and that all power users must be subdued.”

“They’ll see this as a chance and a time to make a stand,” Shin murmured, rubbing at the ring, “maybe. Maybe that’s what needs to happen. Maybe this all was just to change the status of the power users. Erpof said it was the ring of God herself. An unexplainable force.”

“Shin,” Layaent muttered, “the rest of us don’t see the connection.”

“Power has never been explained,” Shin responded, “it can neither be proved, nor disproved as to being controlled by genetics. Just as God cannot be proved nor disproved. The ring isn’t picky about blood. A slave boy, a tyrant, homosexuals and mentally unstable fellows. But you add actual power to it and everything just lights up. They,” he motioned to the strange males, “speak of a female spirit, of a Mother Nature or God who talks to them and they have power to some extent.”

“God wants power users to be free…” Layaent said, sounding unconvinced, “right. I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Power has good blood,” Mysh said, bobbing his head, “those with power smell better. Mmm. Mysh smell good. Males in snake fight over females, for chance to present self to female but females,” Mysh glanced at the males and leaned in close to Layaent, “only like those with power. Neh?”

“You’re mad,” Layaent said flatly to Mysh, “go. Away.”

Mysh bore his teeth and Layaent growled. The two men both shifted into a challenging stance. The strange males suddenly found their nails interesting. Ash shifted away from the two men, as if trying not to get caught in the middle.

“Why does the Ishteshtin line have two alphas?” Shin asked, pulling the attention of Layaent and Mysh away from each other and towards him, “You’re both programmed to be the top of the command structure and that just seems a bit odd to me. Layaent was born after Mysh. Mysh was programmed to be elder. Which means Layaent should have been programmed to bow to Mysh so why is Layaent growling at Mysh like Mysh should be beneath Layaent when Mysh is above Layaent?”

To which Shin received two very confused looks. Layaent and Mysh looked at one another, puzzled, then back to Shin.

“I don’t know,” Layaent snapped out, “maybe mother and father added it into my genetic code. They weren’t exactly supportive of this elder who had power.”

“Gah. No power. Mysh no power. Mysh just odd.” Mysh said before he stuck his tongue out at Layaent, “Mysh older, Mysh own tree. Stupid Layaent go get females.”

“I’m getting you an ugly one,” Layaent growled back at Mysh.

“Ugly like Layaent’s face?” Mysh asked quickly.

Ash and Shin both tried to speak at the same time. They both understood that they had to distract the men before a fight broke out. Layaent’s visits would have to be carefully controlled. If only there were a way to immediately end any protests the two alphas might have.

But Shin would have to worry about that later. Keeping Layaent and Mysh apart would take all of his concentration.

***

They didn’t see Layaent for another three months. When the man finally showed up again, he had a group following him that Ash couldn’t focus on. By the time Layaent showed up, the tribe had already set up in the tree and gotten ready for winter, adjusting food sources for possible females that might be brought out. Other tribes had come through the tree area four times in those three months. It seemed like otter and snake had finally realised that the other tribe existed. The short people came through twice, both times trading with otter via the tree.

The short people didn’t realise they were there. The other tribes… it was questionable. Snake glanced up at the tree and then continued on. Otter didn’t even look towards the tree, but to check to see if the short people had left anything amongst the roots of the tree. Their tribe had left the root area alone. Touching nothing but to check on it when the river suddenly flooded. Still the roots were dry.

Days were becoming colder and darker and more and more, the tribe stayed close to the tree. Through clever hunting a few of the males had managed to bring down a big creature that had been almost like an elephant, only covered in fur. It had taken nearly a month to prepare the meat, but more important to them was the hide, which they had dealt with in such a manner that the tribe now had a type of covering for winter. It was not the softest covering, but it was warm as could be.

When Layaent did arrive, he had a large bag draped over his shoulder and a group of people following him, each with a bag over their shoulder. Layaent threw his bag at Ash, “up the tree and I will explain. Everyone,” he said to those others following him, “climb the tree.”

Bri was amongst the group, as well as young Mally, but they were the only two Ash recognised. It took some work to get everyone and their bags up the tree and by the time everyone was in the central area, all of the tribe had returned home and was ready to listen to Layaent.

“I’ve brought females, as I said I would,” Layaent muttered, “Ahta, her mother Nalla and her grandmother Aei. Bri, third generation. I’ll explain, just let me introduce people,” Layaent said as Shin opened his mouth to question, “Then there are the two Mallys. Now.

“Ahta, Nalla and Aei are generational power users, adjusted by the government to include basic standards of what I think is about a sixth generation genetic. I think. Aei is beyond breeding, but Nalla and Ahta would not come without Aei. So if you have a problem with this, I will find a tribe that would accept someone with Aei’s experience.”

“No!” protested one of the males, before he tried to make himself look small, “elders are welcome. They can stay and look after children while the rest of us hunt.”

“Bri. Crazy lady shot her commander in the knee.”

“He shot a thirteen year old girl because she was a power user, bastard’s lucky someone distracted me and I missed his head like I had been aiming for,” Bri snapped out.

“The two Mallys are, get this, both Mally. Moderately-altered-little-ladies. Add a ‘y’ to make it a cutsie name. Mally one, older one, is a power user flicked on, means she was meant to use power. She is the thief, fertile and capable thanks to a shift that Evera made before we left. Mally two, the younger one, hadn’t undergone the fixing or un-fertilization process and thus will be viable in ten years or so. Both of these two technically never existed and thus won’t be missed.

“There has been a great upheaval since you two left the world. But. First, let me say that I’ve lost Taya. When I say that I lost Taya, I mean that I brought her out to the wilds with me and she disappeared. I’m not going to put any effort into finding her because I have a nagging feeling that I know where she’s headed. She’s shown signs of being a possible power users and the government is demanding that we hand her over. Can’t hand over what we haven’t got.

“Mei, Mysh’s younger brother, will be coming out to join your tribe once he reaches maturity. Until then, we are going to do our best to hide his… oddities.

“Someone let the pure breeds know what Shin had hypothesised. Since then the pure breeds have shifted from genetic alterations are bad to. Let’s just say that they’ve gotten violent and the power users are backing them.

“Ash, your father was arrested and tried for treason,” Layaent paused just for a moment, “they took him from his home in the middle of the night and deprived him of food for a month, then put him on trial. Then they found him guilty. I’ve. Never seen anything like it. Your mother killed three guards and used one of the judges as a weapon against the other guards. Your mother freed your father and I’ve seen them since but officially speaking, we have no idea where they went.

“I looked over their genetic codes and just don’t get how they did it. He was starved and she was smaller than a third generation. How in God’s name did a woman that small give birth to you, let alone use a fully grown man, larger than she was, as a weapon?”

“I told you before,” Ash growled, trying to gain control of his emotions, “you’ve never met my parents. They aren’t like genetics.”

“Right. Well, they are fine and we may have handed them a map and told them how to reach you. They’ll be leaving the city after I return there. That. That was the start.

“The tweaker families, as you said, backed your father.”

“My mother,” Ash interrupted, “my father was head of my house, but the tweaker families would have backed my mother.”

“Well, whoever they backed, they backed them good. Every tweaker who was bound to the government who still had their wits about them, walked away. Two hundred tweakers were arrest for murder of those who attempted to remain behind and thusly escaped into the pure breed reservation, where the government has been trying to get into since.

“Genetics with power have begun showing themselves and standing their ground. Uhwan, has power, and her family made a major mistake in her programming, I think. As she shed her personality and took on a new one. Or, maybe she’s just good at manipulation,” Layaent shrugged, “she has control over the elements and when the government came for her, she used the very plants that she had been tending to kill them.

“At the moment, the government is fighting a losing battle. There are those who are standing against the power users, but they are very quickly finding out that if you challenge a power user in the street, unbound by rules, you will lose. Power users have shown a good deal of restraint so far. Bloodshed has been left to those who shed blood first or to those power users who try to stop their own kind.

“No matter the blood, good or bad, genetic, tweaker, pure breed or commoner, power is found and it is under this equality banner that the power users are building their nation. Joral is going to try to talk the power users into shifting towards the wilds, because power users have more of a chance of survival and the government can’t follow them out here. But he wants to make certain that you and your… group… survive the winter.”

“Tribe,” Mysh growled, “all together of one mind, of one working, tribe.”

“Does this tribe have a name?” Layaent said quickly to Mysh.

Everyone was silent for a long moment. An idea occurred to Ash that made him snort out, “dog,” before he continued on, “we have different families and different castes all mixed together and that would basically make us tweakers, who are called mutts.”

Bri snorted, getting it, “gives a whole new meaning to the term of bitch.”

“Dog tribe?” Layaent muttered, “how is that-”

“Otter looks like otters in the face, some of them,” Shin said quietly, “snake live close to the ground and their homes have doorways built in such a way that they have to crawl into them on their bellies. Dog would be a mixture of many places.”

Layaent shook his head, “anyway. The bags that we brought have blankets and food stuffs, some pots and utensils. Hammers and axes. Survival stuff. I will be back in the spring and bring more items.

“Oh. Ash, Shin, you may or may not be happy to hear that people have been reporting sightings of you all across the nation. They’ve made you into some sort of romantic story, faced adversity and then ran away to be together. The government has put a bounty on your heads that rivals the wealth of the genetic families. Some power users actually say that they just saw you running down an alleyway to give themselves time to flee.”

Shin huffed out, “so we will be given anything we need, anything at all. What about the other tribes? They’re dying off and need help just as much as we do.”

“Otter is doing quite well, compared to us and snake,” Ash muttered, “twenty members or so. But Shin has a point. Not all people can come to our tribe. If you bring us many more people, we’ll have to split into two tribes just to allow us to survive. The land can only allow so many people to live in one spot.”

“So, when it comes to that,” Layaent growled back, “split and call the other tribe cat for all I care. If you split your tribe, then at the very least, each tribe will have a chance of surviving instead of making new tribes of people who can’t possibly survive.” the older man shifted his weight and glanced upward, “I have to get back. Joral is having a meeting that I have to get back for. I will see you all in the spring, hopefully.”

Ash and Shin watched silently as Layaent left. Once the man was gone, they looked at each other, then to the females. All looked like they were going to be a handful.

“Base rules,” Shin said, drawing the attention of the six women to him, “Mysh is dominant. He was created to be the tenth generation genetic elder, which means he was made to dominate over even Layaent. We don’t leave the tree alone, we don’t wander the ground at night. If it sounds like a big creature is coming through the woods, you go the other way. If you encounter short people, leave immediately. If you encounter another tribe out here-”

“Another tribe?” The women said as one.

“We’re playing that one by ear. We do not communicate with other sentient beings, we do not poke other sentient beings. You will each be paired off with a male for training purposes. Whether or not you stay with them is your choice. They will teach you what to avoid in the forest. Do not knock them unconscious or break them. Or, if you want to, wait until they are back at the tree but realise that we will have to provide for them while they heal,” Shin paused for the briefest moment but ignored the three questions about another tribe and the three involving outright murder, “Do not eat the tree, do not eat insects from the wilds. If it is acting funny, do not eat it either. Don’t drink stagnant water.

“Do sleep in the tree, either in the central area here or up in the branches. Via power we may or may not be able to manipulate the branches and create regions for us to sleep in. Under the canopy is, for the most part, safe. Outside the canopy… not so much.

“Do drink from the little natural pool by the river. It’s been found to be safe and fish don’t go in there.”

“When it rains, the driest place is in the central area and the leaves have begun turning yellow. Means that the tree will drop leaves for the winter and that it will likely be cold as hell.” Ash finished before he sighed, “we’ve got to start preparing for winter. So if you can, by chance, heat an area with your power for any amount of time, it would be very useful if you taught the rest of us.”

“I tried to,” Shin muttered, “but I lit a plemmer on fire instead.”

There was a sound, like a foot on a branch. Then there was a startled squeak and a blur before something hit Mysh squarely on the shoulder. A shocked face and little fists batting at the big man as he twisted and flicked the small person off.

Ash braced himself for the worse, for a third race sharing the wilds with them. Relief flooded him when he recognised the annoyed growl and the furiously exasperated female features.

“Taya!” Shin snapped, “what are you doing out here?”

“I came to find my big brother,” she snapped back, straightening her shirt, then her pants and finally patting down the hair on her head, as if that would give it some kind of control. Taya huffed out, “And I’m not going back, so there.”

“This isn’t civilization, you can’t just stomp your foot and have your way,” Ash said calmly, “we are twelve fully grown adults against one child.”

“I can heal,” Taya said, sticking her nose into the air as she folded her arms and tried to look like she had control over the situation, “with. Power.”

“Bull,” Shin responded.

“Go ahead, break a leg or something,” Taya growled at Shin.

Mysh looked from Ash, to Shin, to Taya and finally to his lover. Something seemed to pass between the two males and the lover went over to Taya and picked her up like a sack. Taya beat her little fists against the shoulder of the male but it did her little good. He presented her to Mysh as if offering up a present.

“Little creature is strange,” Mysh muttered.

“Little creature is going home,” Shin said quickly.

“Creature can stay.” Mysh said as if the matter was resolved, “now. Dog is tribe, dog learn quick or dog die. Winter bad time for all things. So. Move, move. Little but bigger than little creature,” Mysh motioned to the younger Mally, “take with little creature and neh,” a motion to the lover. In all the time the tribe had been together, Ash and Shin had never heard any names. Mysh randomly referred to the other males as a variation of the ‘n’ sound, which seemed more his replacement for the pronoun ‘you.’ The males, in turn, called Mysh nothing. They only made acknowledging sounds at the back of their throats before they moved on. “Large one with look like acid,” he motioned to the older Mally, “with noh,” pointing to Ash and Shin, “other laidums-”

“Ladies,” the older Mally corrected, annoyed.

“Split with other nahs.” Mysh sighed out, “one, two, breath and out. Pasts behind and futures ahead, all bad water stuff must be passed under a bridge. Yes?” The older Mally growled but grudgingly agreed with the rest of them, “good. Now. Time to make food, come, come.”



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