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Jason
Masmajean I aimed just behind its foreleg and pulled the trigger.
The boar spasmed and went limp. Beate put a shot into its throat while I
reloaded.
When I snapped my gun shut, there was a sudden very loud silence.
God, they re fast, said Beate, after a long moment. I let out a long breath
and nodded wasn t sure my voice would work just then. She took a single
hesitant step toward the huge carcass and stopped.
Mabob had no such hesitation. He strutted over to the beast, bashed it once,
ringingly, on the skull. GRONK! he proclaimed.
That was enough to rouse us both from our awed stupor. We walked the three
steps necessary to stand beside him.
As we stood looking down at the wild boar, Beate said, Sorry I didn t pick my
shots better, Annie. I know where you told us it was most vulnerable but, it
came at us so fast, I shot without thinking.
I shook my head. If it hadn t tripped, it d still be coming, and you d have
had a chance to avenge me. I wasn t sure what would stop it either, all I had
was an educated guess. And I wouldn t have had a chance to guess if the slip
hadn t thrown it sideways.
She knelt beside the carcass. Mabob stopped pounding it with his balled talons
and peered to see what she was looking at. When she started to laugh, I
stooped to have a look for myself.
Then I was laughing too, partly out of relief and partly out of the irony of
it. The same thing that tripped me up had tripped up the wild boar: it had put
its foot right through one of the frankenswine burrows.
When the rest of the posse skittered down the hill to make sure we were all
right, they found us clinging to each other, still laughing, while Mabob
rattled like a dozen maracas and kept time by thumping a foot on the wild
boar s ribs.
As far as I was concerned, I d had enough excitement for one day. (Not
Beate she grabbed two others to fill in for me and Leo and went out to scour
the countryside looking for wild boar or frankenswine we d missed. To the
relief of my eardrums, she took Mabob with her.) I got down to the more
mundane business of gene-reading the ones we d killed.
The results came as a considerable relief. All of the franken-swine had come
from a single litter, and we d killed both parents.
So, no more frankenswine, said Leo, looking as relieved as I felt.
I tilted a hand back and forth. Maybe maybe not. Now I need the gene-reads,
forward and back, on the three wild boar we ve got so far.
As I d expected, Mike had left the gene-read for his boar on file for me. I
laid all three side by side on the monitor, put my elbows on the desk, my chin
in my hands, and gave them a good long study.
When I turned back to Leo, he was smiling. Tell me if I m reading this right,
Annie& All three of the wild boar came from the same two red deer. If we eat
those two, our troubles are over. He tipped his chair back with a satisfied
air and added, I ve always liked venison, especially the way Chris cooks it.
Some of our troubles are over if we eat venison. I tapped the screen. You
are reading it right, but you re not reading between the lines.
What am I missing?
The fact that any red deer in the forest may well be prepared to give birth
to wild boar next time around. And since nobody s reported any tulip-red red
deer, we won t get any warning beforehand. Most does simply abandon offspring
that far off normal, which cuts down on the problem, but we will have to take
care of the mother of our three. I pointed with my chin at the screen. She s
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obviously raising them.
So the next hunt will be to sample the red deer.
Sample and tag, I think. That way we can keep an eye on any other potential
problems.
He stood. That s decided, then. Let s eat.
Let s neck, I said, rising to my feet beside him. That was a helluva close
call this afternoon, and I could use the reassurance.
He grinned. How about both?
Done, I said, and we did.
After dinner, he did me the favor of checking to make sure all the parts were
still there and in good working order. (It was his considered opinion they
were.) And then we eased down deep into the bedding for a well-deserved rest.
Loch Moose Lodge being the sort of place it is, we didn t get it, of course.
For the second time in as many nights, I got dragged out of sleep by whispers
just outside the door.
It was my fault you got chewed, Jen. I m telling her and that s all there is
to it.
It was Susan s voice.
You don t hafta. I got chewed because I got chewed. It s not as if you bit my
leg. We decided before
Before doesn t count, Susan said.
Why not? said a third voice. Just because Jen got bit doesn t change things
any more than the Kinyamarios cat did.
I sighed and nudged Leo awake. Then I got out of bed and opened the door.
Caught in the act, all three of my suspicious characters Susan, Ilanith and
Jen started and blinked at me.
After the ear strain Mabob gave me this afternoon, I said, I m having a
helluva time eavesdropping. Why don t you all continue this discussion inside
and save me the trouble?
Reluctantly, they all trooped in. Light coming, I said to Leo. To the kids,
I said, Sit down and tell me what s to tell.
There was a long silence; all of them looked at their feet. At last, Ilanith
heaved a sigh of pure exasperation and said, Too late now. Either we tell her
the truth or we make something up real quick.
Jen brightened momentarily, as if she were on the verge of making something up
real quick. Then she looked at me and shook her head, resigned. Okay, she
said.
Tell her, I guess. After all, if something happened to you, Susan, it d get
lost all over again.
You tell, said Susan. You started it.
Leo groaned and rearranged pillows until he d propped himself up to look at
the three of them. Could we compromise on this?
Somebody tell us so we can go back to sleep. He gave me a sidelong glance
with smile. Maybe it s just a dream?
If it is, it s one of those frustration dreams. I nudged him over so I could
sit on the edge of the bed, then I held out my hand, palm up, to the three.
Come on spit it out in Mama Jason s hand. Susan?
It s my fault Jen got bit, Susan said.
Ilanith made a rude noise in contradiction.
Was not, said Jen. Tell her she s wrong, Mama Jason!
You re wrong, Susan, I said. Anything to oblige. Now, could we get to the
heart of the problem?
It s not a problem, said Ilanith. It s a solution.
It s a solution that makes problems, said Susan. Her face had gone back to
being grim.
Then we ll have to find a solution to the problem caused by the solution, I
said.
To Leo, I added, I m not sure I m awake. Did that make any sense to you?
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As much as anything they ve said, he answered. He fixed an eye on Susan and
said, Let s have it.
From the beginning, I added.
It was Jen s idea, Susan said. Jen glowered, but Susan went on. We all
thought the geneticists back on Earth forgot to tell us how to stop the
encrypted genes from activating. Or maybe we d lost that part of ships files
where they did tell us&
Tell me something I don t know, I said, growling despite my best intentions.
Ilanith said, You tell, Jen. It was your idea. And it was a really good one,
too, Mama Jason.
This time around Jen was proud of her idea. Okay, I will. My idea was maybe
they didn t forget to tell us how to stop red deer from chaining up to wild
boar.
Maybe it just wasn t indexed! And, if it s not indexed, you only think it s
not there.
I m pretty damn sure I heard my jaw hit my chest. Good god, I m an idiot! I
said. (Me and three generations of jasons but I m the only one I can hold
personally responsible.) Never occurred to me&
Ilanith picked up the story from there. So we figured, if we just kept
looking, we d maybe find it.
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