"Can I ask you a question?" "Uh-huh," she said."Can I ask you a question?" "Uh-huh," she said. "What are you doing on this ship?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, we're going to Pendor. What's a Markal doing on a tour to Pendor?" "Oh, my folks are part of the Gaza project." "The what?" "They're archeologists.. well, imaging specialists really. They were helping with decoding text from Terras' late twentieth century." "Oh," Nickolai said, catching about half of what she said. "Then your parents are on this ship?" "Uh-huh!" she said again. It was a short explosion of acknowledgement, and it seemed to be her favorite way of saying "Yes." Sudden curiosity came over him. "What's it really like having parents?" he asked. "What do you mean? You should know better than any human." "Not really," he growled, shifting in his chair. "I mean, sure, I'm the only person on Earth who has a living mother at the moment, but that doesn't mean she's been my parent. Usually she would send me off to school or something. The law couldn't do anything with her claim to me, and I guess she didn't know what to do. My counselor at school calls it 'benevolent neglect.'" "Oh," the femMarkal said. "I'm sorry." They were quiet for a moment, then she said, "Hey, what should I call you?" He shrugged and said "Call me Kolya." "Okay," she said. "You should call me Joey. When we get to Pendor, I guess I won't be the only Furry, will I?" She smiled. "Guess not," he replied, returning a small smile of his own. She looked up beyond his shoulder, waved. "Over here!" she shouted. "Hey, you can meet my folks right now." Nickolai turned around. Walking through the lounge door were two more Markals. Both were distinctly mouse-like, with large ears and visible whiskers. Neither had the apparent nervous energy of their daughter, however; both moved with easy grace through the room. |