up.
Given a choice between being eaten as a flower and eaten as a sheep, Ray would take the flower any day. The sheep spotted the wrong smell on the wind. Its little brain wasn't geared for friend-foe identification; it settled for WRONG. Adrenaline started pumping, panic took over, and Ray took off along with every other six-legged woolly in the herd.
He didn't know where he was going; he didn't care. He just knew that he had to get as far from that wrong smell as possible. He didn't have to be faster than it, just faster than his neighbor. The military officer in Ray evaluated the data and concluded raising an army of sheep was a lost cause.
Whoever the smelly, hungry things were, they weren't dumb. Running upwind, the sheep stampeded right into the ambush before they even knew it was there. Ray took a mercifully quick blow to the head, found himself in darkness again, and got ready for another lesson in alimentary canals.
Instead he was in his freshman biology classroom back at the Academy. The gardener stood at the front of an otherwise empty class. "What have you learned?"
"To stay at the top of the food chain." Ray shot back the freshman quip just as he would have years ago.
The gardener shook his head sadly. "You are older and wiser than that. Have you learned the lesson, or must you repeat it?"
Ray felt the darkness coming for him. He had a distinct feeling this school only got harder the second time around. "No matter what color the uniform, we all bleed red," he said.
His father had told Ray that once. It had taken him years to understand the full impact that his enemy was human, too.
Ray came awake, grimaced at his bladder's demand, and reached for his canes. Done and back to his bed, he wondered what his next dream would be about. He placed little weight on dreams, just the subconscious mind's way of discharging electricity. He rolled over and went back to sleep.
Six
RAY WAS IN a very good mood when he got his first staff meeting under way at 0800 next morning. He'd breakfasted with the kids, Mary, and Kat. How anyone could stay glum around kids was a puzzle Ray didn't want to solve. They attacked breakfast with an innocent abandon that left the table a wreck, the adults exhausted, and Ray swearing he wanted only one kid so he and Rita would never be outnumbered worse than one to two.
"Think those odds are good enough?" Kat asked, trying to persuade David he didn't need five spoonsful of sugar on his cereal.
"Grandparents, I hear grandparents make great auxiliaries," Mary put in. "Never had any myself, but it's in all the books."
"How about a squad of marines?" Ray suggested.
Mary shook her head, "Not fair to the troops, sir. A good officer never sets her troops up for defeat."
Somehow the kids learned about the day's mining project and wanted to go. Ray promised they could "if there's transport for all of you," which gave Mary an out. His security chief looked torn between "No way, Jose," and "Whoopee." The meal had been so absorbing that Ray was back to the HQ before he recalled the game the kids had been playing as they trooped in.
Mary had asked what kind of animal they'd like to be. Rose piped up she'd want to be a flower. Jon wanted to be a warm, woolly sheep. David had growled and made a leaping grab for Jon that left him shrieking, "I want to be a wolf."
Ray had commended the lad for staying at the top of the food chain. Now the words and the memory of a dream came back to haunt him.
In the staff meeting, Barber was already seated to Ray's right. Mary brought Cassie. "If I'm promoted to minister of mining or something, she'll take security." Doc Jerry sat next to Kat, no longer with murderous intentions toward the middie.
"Anything new concerning last night's talk, Doc?" Ray asked.
Jerry rubbed grainy, sleepless eyes. "Nothing, nada, and zip. I'll keep hammering on it today. Don't know when I'll make a breakthrough. Don't know if I'd recognize one if it bit me."
"You want the middies
Given a choice between being eaten as a flower and eaten as a sheep, Ray would take the flower any day. The sheep spotted the wrong smell on the wind. Its little brain wasn't geared for friend-foe identification; it settled for WRONG. Adrenaline started pumping, panic took over, and Ray took off along with every other six-legged woolly in the herd.
He didn't know where he was going; he didn't care. He just knew that he had to get as far from that wrong smell as possible. He didn't have to be faster than it, just faster than his neighbor. The military officer in Ray evaluated the data and concluded raising an army of sheep was a lost cause.
Whoever the smelly, hungry things were, they weren't dumb. Running upwind, the sheep stampeded right into the ambush before they even knew it was there. Ray took a mercifully quick blow to the head, found himself in darkness again, and got ready for another lesson in alimentary canals.
Instead he was in his freshman biology classroom back at the Academy. The gardener stood at the front of an otherwise empty class. "What have you learned?"
"To stay at the top of the food chain." Ray shot back the freshman quip just as he would have years ago.
The gardener shook his head sadly. "You are older and wiser than that. Have you learned the lesson, or must you repeat it?"
Ray felt the darkness coming for him. He had a distinct feeling this school only got harder the second time around. "No matter what color the uniform, we all bleed red," he said.
His father had told Ray that once. It had taken him years to understand the full impact that his enemy was human, too.
Ray came awake, grimaced at his bladder's demand, and reached for his canes. Done and back to his bed, he wondered what his next dream would be about. He placed little weight on dreams, just the subconscious mind's way of discharging electricity. He rolled over and went back to sleep.
Six
RAY WAS IN a very good mood when he got his first staff meeting under way at 0800 next morning. He'd breakfasted with the kids, Mary, and Kat. How anyone could stay glum around kids was a puzzle Ray didn't want to solve. They attacked breakfast with an innocent abandon that left the table a wreck, the adults exhausted, and Ray swearing he wanted only one kid so he and Rita would never be outnumbered worse than one to two.
"Think those odds are good enough?" Kat asked, trying to persuade David he didn't need five spoonsful of sugar on his cereal.
"Grandparents, I hear grandparents make great auxiliaries," Mary put in. "Never had any myself, but it's in all the books."
"How about a squad of marines?" Ray suggested.
Mary shook her head, "Not fair to the troops, sir. A good officer never sets her troops up for defeat."
Somehow the kids learned about the day's mining project and wanted to go. Ray promised they could "if there's transport for all of you," which gave Mary an out. His security chief looked torn between "No way, Jose," and "Whoopee." The meal had been so absorbing that Ray was back to the HQ before he recalled the game the kids had been playing as they trooped in.
Mary had asked what kind of animal they'd like to be. Rose piped up she'd want to be a flower. Jon wanted to be a warm, woolly sheep. David had growled and made a leaping grab for Jon that left him shrieking, "I want to be a wolf."
Ray had commended the lad for staying at the top of the food chain. Now the words and the memory of a dream came back to haunt him.
In the staff meeting, Barber was already seated to Ray's right. Mary brought Cassie. "If I'm promoted to minister of mining or something, she'll take security." Doc Jerry sat next to Kat, no longer with murderous intentions toward the middie.
"Anything new concerning last night's talk, Doc?" Ray asked.
Jerry rubbed grainy, sleepless eyes. "Nothing, nada, and zip. I'll keep hammering on it today. Don't know when I'll make a breakthrough. Don't know if I'd recognize one if it bit me."
"You want the middies
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