For those of you who do not live in Washington DC, NPR (National Public Radio) is an actual radio station and these are actual programs that occur on this station. This is the chapter in which I begin to introduce the human characters in this little game. More will follow I guarantee it
Chapter 2 Part 2- Outreach
Sound. It wasn't something that most people were interested in. They just walked around listening all day and not really thinking about what a wonderful gift ears really are. Serafina thought this as she looked out the window onto the people who passed below her apartment. Language also. Complex, eloquent.
She looked down at a tabby cat who was sitting before her, staring at her intently. "What? I've fed you already today." The cat meowed and then walked out of the room toward a small coffee table on which rested a micro stereo. Right she mused. I almost forgot, Morning Edition. She got up out of her chair and walked over to the little radio, waving her hand through the holographic controls, as they shimmered to life, activated by her prescence. She switched to her one and only preset, NPR. National Public Radio. To her knowledge Gray was the only tom in her neighborhood who liked listening to the news in the morning. Not only that but he also listened to Marketplace, This American Life and a host of other shows dedicated to world events.
Most pet psychologists would say that the pet was merely attached to the sound of human voices. But then most pet psychologists had never seen a cat who would pay rapt attention to the reports on the New York Stock Exchange and yet fell asleep whenever she popped one of the holodisk variants of Kitty Einstein. The flying birds and bouncing balls and miles and miles of tasteless red yarn elicited only a yawn from him, or if he was in one of his more sullen moods one might see him get up, walk with tail in air, eyes locked with Serafina's as if to say, "You should have learned this by now." and sit on the holographic projector, his rear paw, 'accidentally' tagging the 'eject' button on the side of the unit.
Now she looked at him, as he sat on the couch, stretched out like some magnificent fur rug looking lazily at the world map posted on the opposite wall. By this time she was dressed, jeans, shirt, handbag and another case carrying her laptop and device. She knew that animals had a language. Most people scoffed at notions such as these, and Serafina scoffed right back at them. She had been an animal lover all of her life and she knew that many animals had to have a language. Otherwise how could one explain the ability that dogs had to communicate actions to each other simply by barking. Some tried to attribute it to some sort of doggie Morse code, but she knew that couldent be the case. All of her analyses had shown that beneath what humans registered, audibly, there was a deeper meta sonic level of sorts. All animals had it. But each species had it's own variant. And she'd quickly realized that there were dialects within species as well. Serafina snapped out of her reverie as she headed for the elevator to the Mag-lev platform. She already had a batch of sonic recordings from the animals in her neighborhood. Now all she had to do was drop it off at the lab and run it through the super computers to see what she got. Then her brain sparked. There was one group of animals that she had not collected recordings from…Bats. What animals were more sonically gifted than they were? They had to use sound to see! Serafina turned away from the lift and fondled a small gold bracelet on her wrist, from which small holographic emitters projected a keypad and screen. She'd have to reschedule but she knew that It would be worth it. If she could prove that animals were sentient…who knew what the possibilities could be?
Confrontation.
Shiva's wings pumped hard as she flew with Aries back down the tunnel. Both were attempting to head fotr the exits and start combing the forests before the rest of the colony awoke. "Faster, faster!" she crowed, speeding ahead of Aries who breathed heavily a couple of wing beats behind her. "Seriously," he puffed, "The fact that you closed the door while I was asleep makes you forfeit this race…even if you win." His eyes narrowed and he sped up his strokes. "And trust me you won't!" Already there were other bats streaming out of the exits into the night,. The colony spread out over the forest covering acres in a few seconds. Every week they fed on a different quadrant of forest to ensure that the bug populations had a chance to bounce back. Shiva laughed crazily as she weaved around dormant power lines and rusted transformer boxes, with Ariel still on her tail. The pair spiraled around one another one last time and then split, climbing into the night sky, speeding toward opposite sections of the forest.
Shiva hung from a tree after feeding simply enjoying the feeling of having a full stomach and watching the others flying about the forest. and watching the others flying about the forest.Evreything was at peace. Then a voice whispered right next to her ear. "Where have you been?" Shiva nearly fell off her perch as she whipped around to see Damocles hovering right below her ear. His coat was midnight black, and on his chest was a small patch of triangular bare skin showing his distinguished service in the military. Shiva's brain locked down. "I've-I've been away." She stammered, unable to keep her eyes away from her father's jaws. "Where?" he asked. "I haven't seen you for three nights? I began to get… worried." Her mind began flashing off warning bells. Something was afoot. "How have you been doing in your navigation class?" Shiva's stomach lurched. She'd pleaded with the teacher not to tell her father about her grades but that idiot must have ratted her out anyway. "Fine…why?" She felt beads of sweat beginning to form on her forehead. "Lying doesent suit you Shiva, I thought we discussed this." His lips curled back to reveal long canine teeth. Unusual for a Silverwing male to have… "Perhaps I need to reiterate the lesson." "No please, don't…" she pleaded with him, tears shivering around her eyes.
"Don't touch her- " another voice growled angrily. It was younger, bolder. Her heart leapt, Hovering silently in front of the pair was Aries. "She was with me last night." Shiva's mind went blank as she processed what he just said. Her father didn't know what context that statement was in and if he was half as smart as she though he was…"What" he growled thunderously. "Choose your next words carefully son. Very carefully…" "She stayed in my roost because she didn't want to stay with you." "And why would that be?" Aries voice quivered. "I saw what you did to her face yesterday. No child deserves such things." Damacles snickered. "In the army for such disobedience she would have been hung by her thumbs for a half hour. Or until she fainted. What I gave her was nothing more than a love tap by comparison." "This isn't some regiment and she isn't a soldier in your idiotic regiment. She's your daughter. And you have no right to do this to her." Her father's face split into a grin. "Oh you'll find that there is a lot that I can do…" "I know just how to settle this…." He turned to Aries again. "You are a bad influence on her young man. I forbid you two to see each other." "NO! You can't" Shiva cried breathlessly. "I can and I will. And If you try to stop me, I'll get the elders involved. And trust me you don't want that. And if that doesn't work…" "Come on Shiva." He pulled.
"No, you can't do this!" she cried out breathlessly. "Fine then!" Damacles snarled, and looking back at Aries defiantly, he gripped his daughter's front half with his claws, and began to flap, literally pulling her from the branch. His sharp claws scored deep grooves in her bac. Shiva screamed once and then slowly let go from the branch sobbing uncontrollably. Aries was helpless to stop them, he didn't know what he would do if he approached her. And so he was forced to watch Shiva's limp sobbing form being dragged through the air away from him. "Shiva, NO!" the cry escaped his lips before he could clamp down on it. He howled in anguish and his cry of rage carried through the trees and seemed to echo long after he had left for his home.