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Subject: {ASSM} RP <*> Biolab 13, Cycle 03 - Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 02 4/? - The Masquerade: Activation in Place (M-Wolfess military-scifi zoo nosex mixedpov)
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Released to the public domain
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M-Wolfess military-scifi zoo nosex mixedpov

Biolab 13 - Cycle 03
Sophia and Ted Larson, Section 02 - Job:  Security
Chapter Four - The Masquerade: Activation in Place
---

"Ted, you've shown a real aptitude for security work.  I'm glad you and
Sophia stayed together.  You're a good team."

I glanced over at Sophia and we shared wry smiles before I turned back to
Grrfeth and Liandra. "It was a close thing during my training on the moon.
Sophia, well, she had some pretty harsh things to say after I woke up in the
hospital.  I did some pretty deep thinking while I was recovering from those
laser burns."  I shrugged with a casualness I knew wasn't fooling anyone in
the room.  "I was ready to quit.  We talked things over, I did some more
thinking--and here I am."

A paw touched my bandaged arm in a private signal.  I sighed deeply and
leaned back on the couch.  "Yeah, love.  I know.  If I hadn't forced the
laser to target me first and then destroyed it, we'd have lost most of the
group before we got started.  Instead, I spent six months flat on my back
trying to decide if I really wanted to spend the rest of a possibly short
life paying for the mistakes of idiots like Allen Delagado."

Grrfeth snorted loudly.  "He's no longer a serious problem.  Lia assigned him
to Station Sixteen after she spent some time detailing his problems and
probable future if he didn't change his attitude.  He's also due for a few
more sessions with the psych folks since they want to figure out how their
tests let him get through in the first place."

"That leaves us with another problem, though.  What are we going to do with
the team that recorded the highest scores ever seen on the assault training
course *after* the human partner was hit by a supposedly 'safe' laser?"

I stared at Grrfeth and then Liandra.  She nodded.  "I've seen the records.
After you disabled the laser the two of you went into some sort of
'overdrive' and spent the next ten minutes clearing a safe path through a
course that was designed to take at least forty five minutes for
*experienced* teams to clear."

"It didn't seem like it was *that* difficult--once we started."  I looked at
Sophia again.  "Do you want to tell her?  I don't think she'd believe me."  

I didn't mention that I'd seen the records of their own entrance or that I'd
been awake long enough to see their own arrival in the safe area.  Combat
suits and explosives had let them use a 'least time' course instead of the
'least damage' course Sophia had plotted.  It was a lesson in emergency
rescue tactics that Sophia and I knew we wouldn't forget.

Sophia held my eyes a long time before she nodded almost imperceptibly and
turned to face Liandra.  "Ted was dying.  Neither one of us expected him to
survive until help arrived.  I didn't want to outlive him.  We argued about
it but he finally agreed to my plan."

Grrfeth perked his ears in her direction.  "That isn't in the records.  What
plan?"

She ducked her head and turned away from him.  "We had nothing to lose so I
decided we should go for broke."

I touched her head with my good hand.  "There was more but it boils down to
something simple.  We tried to commit suicide as a team doing the job it was
supposed to do.  She made me a moving target and we hoped her faster reaction
time would stop whatever was attacking me before it killed me.  We also
counted on our fatigue to eventually slow us down enough so that the
automatic systems would kill us before we got to the end of the course."  I
held Grrfeth's eyes briefly before turning to Lia and shrugging.  "Love made
it an easy decision, actually."

I leaned forward and put my head in my hands as I remembered making the
decision to die.  "We never expected to live through the experience."

Grrfeth finally broke the strained silence.  "Now?"

Sophia and I held another silent conversation before I nodded in agreement
and we got off the couch to stand at attention.  Her words were the simple
ones we'd been wanting to say ever since I was released from the hospital:
"Bio Partners Sophia and Ted Larson, security specialists, ready for duty."

Grrfeth studied us.  "I see.  Captain Sophia Larson.  In spite of your low
rank, you are still the Beta wolf in Bio Partners' Security.  Nothing will
change that.  Lieutenant Ted Larson will, as your partner, eventually become
your executive officer and fourth in command of BP Security."

She nodded and we waited.

His lips curled into a smile.  "Lieutenant Ted Larson.  Because you have
shown an interest in improving our equipment, I've decided to make you my
special assistant and liaison with the research department.  That will be in
addition to your normal duties as Sophia's partner."

He sighed.  "Sophia, it's nice to have you where you should be, finally. Ted,
welcome to active duty--and the headaches of running this outfit.  You and
Sophia are going to be doing a lot of the field duty that Lia and I would
like to do but don't have the time for."

"Lia?  Anything to add?"

She frowned.  "Actually, yes.  I think Ted made a good point while he was in
the hospital.  There's a lot of hate directed at the Bio Partners because the
animals are in charge.  He said something about using a different approach."
She looked at me and then seemed to realize we were still standing at
attention.  "Relax, you two.  Sophia knows that the two of you don't need to
play the military type games when it's just the four of us."

Sophia waited for me to resettle on the couch before she settled with her
head in my lap.  "Lia, I was making a point."

"Which was?"

"Don't coddle us because we're a new team.  If we're the best team for job,
use us."

Lia chuckled.  "Trust me, we have too many situations where we need to use a
command rated team with your adaptability ratings, to waste you on
'make-work'.  For now, we plan on giving you some light duty.  Once the two
of you get some field experience we'll be using you in situations that are
going to really test your skills."

"Sophia, since your primary specialty is recruiting, we're sending the two of
you to Station Nine.  It's showing signs of being ready for a recruiting
drive." She sighed.  "We still don't have enough human bio partners and 'Feth
and I are hoping S9 will give us enough to take some of our older 'structs
off reserve status.   Only the BPs will know the two of you are one of our
senior command teams.  Please try and keep it that way.  When you aren't
pulling regular duty be looking for ways to recruit qualified people.  S9 is
BP friendly so this will give us a chance to experiment before we move you to
one of the less friendly stations."

She returned to the subject.  "Ted, you didn't have any answers when you made
that comment.  Done any thinking about it?"

"Some.  Sophia and I have talked about some pretty crazy ideas since then but
we decided they wouldn't work and a few of then would backfire if unfriendly
people found out we were using them.  Education is about the only solution we
agreed on."

Grrfeth sighed.  "Education is a long term solution.  We need something that
works a little faster.  Oh, well.  I didn't have much hope to begin with."

He and Lia held a silent conversation of their own before he turned back to
us.  "Lia's been after me to take a break and now that you two are active, we
have a team we can relax with.  Ted, I want to take you over and formally
introduce you to the research folks.  Lia?  Do you want to take off with
Sophia and meet us later?"

Lia jerked upright and stared at Grrfeth.  She looked surprised, then
thoughtful.  "The cabin?"

He nodded.  "We'll be late getting there.  I'll be showing Ted the back way
in and before that the research people will probably want to show him all
their latest toys."

She smiled and got up.  "See you in the morning, then."  She and Sophia left.

* * *

'Feth studied me for a few minutes.  Then, unexpectedly, he nosed the
controls that isolated his office.  After he settled in front of me he shook
his head from side to side.  "Lia's a suspicious person.  Usually I don't get
rid of her that easily.  So tell me a bit about those ideas you and Sophia
think might work as long as nobody discovers we're using them."

I settled back and sighed.  "Only one is something we think might have a
chance."

He nodded.

I came at it sideways.  "Right now Lia handles a lot of the contact with
people who are unfriendly, right?"

"Right.  The problem is that people know she's my partner and is actually
speaking for me rather than making the final decisions herself.  It's time
consuming but it usually gets the job done."

I nodded.  "What we came up with was similar in some ways but as long as
nobody finds out, might let you speak for yourself without revealing you're a
wolf.  You'd have to make all your contacts electronically but if you set it
up that way from the beginning, there's a good chance nobody would figure out
what was going on."

"You interest me.  Continue."

I hesitated and then decided to go ahead and tell him.  "Use a man as your
dummy.  His body, your voice."

He winced, then sighed.  "Lia and I thought about that one years ago.  It was
our first choice until we realized what could happen if someone found out. We
also did a few experiments.  None of the men we tested were able to
accurately match their actions to my words and intent."

It was my turn to wince.  Soon after I teamed with Sophia, we had wondered
how come 'Feth never used a dummy.  It was such a simple idea that we more or
less assumed that he'd thought of it but rejected it for reasons we couldn't
figure out.  With that in mind we'd stopped speculating and looked for other
ideas.  Eventually we'd returned to it and done some serious work on figuring
out if we could make it work at all.  While we were trying to sell Sophia's
writing to agents who didn't know her, we'd found a version of the idea that
worked.

"Were any of them actors or writers?  Sophia and I did some tests of our own
and we found a way to make it work."  I held up a hand to stop his comments.
"But, we also assume it works because we're both writers.  Neither one of us
knows if it will work for anyone else.  We *do* think that it will work as
long as the 'dummy' is a writer or actor."

"There were a few actors from the Pony Girls.  None of them were able to
project the presence we needed.  No writers.  There aren't that many of you
and you and Sophia are the only ones in security.  For long term use the
dummy would have to be from security--and one of our top people, too."  He
tilted his head a bit.  "Guess who happens to be the only man who meets all
of the requirements?"

"Ouch.  We didn't get that far in our thinking after we found out we could
make it work."

He nodded.  "Speaking of that, I find it interesting that you've managed to
make something like this work so well that it's never been discovered or
mentioned by our own people."

I blushed.  "They know about it.  What they don't know is that Sophia is
feeding me my lines in real time."

"Real time?  No delays? And how did you manage to get this past my nose?"

"Some delay.  No more than would be normal for someone who is taking the time
to carefully think about his words during a conversation."  I couldn't
suppress a slight grin.  "You know about it.  Furthermore, you knew before we
used the technique the first time.  Every use of the technique is in the
records."

He glared at me.  "How?"

I lost the grin and got serious.  "Remember when Sophia created a new pen
name for her mainstream work?"

"Yes."

"The main reason she did it was because she's tired of being sold as 'the
wolfess who writes'.  Agents, publishers and reviewers focus on the fact she
writes, not the fact she writes well, and often has a lot to say.  The
content gets lost in the media glare every time she publishes a new work."

He snorted.  "I remember her comments.  She was more eloquent than usual."

I laughed.  Until she and I became partners, 'Feth had been the one who had
to listen to her complaints.  " 'Feth, once we settled into our lives
together, she decided to pick up from our days on the grid but add *all* her
grievances in when she was venting to me.  She had plenty of practice with
that version, with me as her audience."

"Anyway," I continued, "she started using a man's nym and used me as her
electronic representative.  By then I was fluent enough in wolf, and our
private language, that we decided to see if I could actually relay her words
real time, as if I were a translator."

I leaned forward and locked eyes with 'Feth.  "It's working--and we're almost
certain that we know exactly *why* it's working."

"Go on."

"First, nobody expects it.  The BPs who know about it know that Sophia is
marketing her work under a pen name, with me as her agent so she can hide her
species.  They see exactly what they want to see and have no reason to look
for more.  It's a logical progression in our relationship.  Inevitable
really, since she's made it clear that she will continue to find time to
write for new markets.  They'd dig deeper if we *hadn't* started doing it, or
something similar."

I sighed.  "That was when I first ran into the intense hatred some people
have for human BPs."  My smile was lopsided.  "Sophia gets to listen to me
vent about *that* at least as much as she vents about being stereotyped.
She'd told me about the isolation but it hadn't sunk in until then.
Remembering that--and Allen's attitude--is what triggered my comments in the
hospital."

I stiffened as I made some connections in my mind.  'Feth caught it and
leaned forward to study me.  "What is it?"

"A random thought I need to discuss with Sophia."

He snorted.  "Not good enough--but since we're talking about something else,
I'll let you avoid telling me the details."

I sighed.  I still wasn't used to the amount of honesty that living with
wolves forced on me.  "If it makes you any happier, it's about the recruiting
job on Station Nine and doesn't have anything to do with me being your
dummy."

&&& note to self:  This is what triggered Ted's original idea about making a
tape of his and Sophia's private lives.  Hatred-education-recruiting.  Could
a 'bootleg' video of their private lives on the station be used to push
curious people over the edge into volunteering to take the BP tests?  With S9
a known friendly station, he was thinking it might make a good place to try
this idea.  Most people there would know the skills and limitations of a BP
team and maybe, just maybe, they could be fooled into thinking that a 'new
team' might be careless enough about their own security while settling
in--that someone could bug portions of their quarters.  It is later, while on
leave from S9--that he and Sophia have their first sex together.

"Better.  When did I decide I was going to use you as my dummy?"

"You haven't, yet.  But, you will, someday."

That got his attention.  "I will?  What makes you so certain."

"I'm a writer.  It's part of my job to see patterns and understand what
actions they might lead to.  You know about the technique.  It works under
controlled conditions.  You're in charge of BP security and on some stations,
the ones that need our skills the most, the hatred for human BPs and BP teams
in general--is getting worse.  Everyone knows Lia speaks for you when she's
negotiating contracts.  If you don't find a solution that lets you negotiate
directly, we'll start losing contracts."

"One possible solution is to create a special liaison, give the position some
fancy sounding title that impresses people--and incidentally implies that the
person has full authority during contract negotiations, then use the person
who carries the title as your dummy, all without telling anyone else,
including Lia and Sophia, what you're doing."

I settled back and looked at the ceiling with feigned casualness.  "I can't
say when, but I'm fairly certain you'll make the decision in the near
future."

He sat there with a shocked look on his face.

I grinned at his shock.  "Hasn't Sophia ever told you anything about *how*
she writes?"

"She's tried.  I lost interest when she started talking about multiple
personalities and other psychobabble.  Maybe I should have paid closer
attention."  

It was my turn to snort.  "She was probably still trying to understand
herself, then.  Security regs kept her from opening up with me until after we
partnered.  Now that we've had a chance to be totally honest with each other,
we understand ourselves a lot better than we did."  I sighed.  "Wasn't much
else to talk about while I was recovering."

"Anyway, to keep it simple, we both become the character we are writing
about.  It's not really acting or role-playing but it shares elements of
both.  I guess that's what made me choose communications as my primary
specialty.  It's what I have to deal with when I write.  In a strange way I
guess my self-training as a writer let me realize Allen was going to make his
mistake before he made it.  Even before I became a BP, I had trained myself
to observe people.  I could see the results and as a writer I needed to know
what inner attitudes caused those results.  I was hyped, expecting trouble
and watching *everything*, not just the things I was supposed to be
watching."  I held out my bandaged arm and spoke with newfound confidence: "I
was new, untested and wasn't expecting trouble caused by one of our own
people.  If I'd known *then* what I know about my abilities *now*, I'd have
shot and disabled Allen before he finished entering the activation code."

'Feth chuckled bitterly.  "Sophia mentioned that once she figured out what
was going on she was thinking about shooting him.  But, she was so busy
getting all the other trainees and workers to safety that she couldn't afford
to take the time to deal with a situation you were already trying to fix."

"We talked about that.  She couldn't decide which made her madder.  Me taking
the hit as I lunged to disable the laser, or the fact we wound up reversing
our normal roles until she decided the quickest and safest way out was to
treat the situation as if it were a 'limited resource' combat rescue
mission."

He tilted his ears in my direction.  "Ever wonder how come she saved everyone
else before worrying about you?"

"Yeah.  She claimed it was all the training but neither one of us was
satisfied with that answer   She's been trained to lead the team and remove
the dangers.  *I'm* the one with all the medical training.  I'm the one who
is supposed to make sure everyone is safe during the initial problem."  I
sighed.  "Neither one of us could figure out an answer that made sense."

"Lia and I know why she did it."  He looked away for a long time.  When he
turned his gaze back to me I was surprised to see his body seem to collapse
in on itself.  A tension I hadn't noticed was now obvious because it wasn't
there.

" 'Feth?  What's wrong?"

His voice fell to a whisper.  "You should have heard Lia curse when she got a
good look at the records.  Then, she cried.  For you.  Her next words were:
'Someone to share my burden with--at last.' "

"Ted, the reason Sophia never hesitated is simple.  You have something that
took us all by surprise.  'Command presence'.  When you shouted at her to
save the people, she responded instinctively, as a wolfess responds to her
mate.  Later, when she had time to evaluate the situation, she realized you
knew more about the situation than she did and she followed your orders until
it was clearly safe for her to resume her normal role as commander of the
team."

He stood and held out a paw.  "Lieutenant Larson, I'm glad you're on our
side."

As I took his paw, he smiled.  "We're running late but it's been worth the
time lost.  From this point on, 'Tango Delta' is between the two of us.
Clear?"

"Yes.  Sir."  I let go of his paw and sighed.  " 'Tango Delta'?  And what do
we tell the women?"

Was that a grin?  " 'Top Dog'."  Yep, it was a grin.  "We tell them anything
we want to as long as we don't break security.  Of course they compare notes,
too.  I think we'll need to spend time making sure we tell them the same
things."

"Shit!"

He laughed and unsealed his office.

As we walked out the door he looked up at me and winked.  "Sounds like this
writing thing you do has a lot in common with what we need to do as security
people.  Understanding the way our opponent thinks has always been an
important part of defeating him, or her."

* * *

Lia looked down at me as we left 'Feth's office.  "He wanted to get rid of
us."

I laughed.  "I know.  Did you want to sit there and listen to them talk shop
about all the new gear?"

"No."  She grinned back and then sobered.  "There was something else but I
can't place it, yet."  She sighed.  "Maybe he just wants to relax with
someone who is capable of hearing the full story and understanding it.  Until
you partnered with Ted there's never been another male high enough in the
command hierarchy to have the clearances that let 'Feth be totally open when
he talks.  That's the unspoken reason 'Feth and I are so happy that you've
settled into a solid relationship.  Both of us need to get away from the
pressures of command and we can't do that if we can't be totally open with
the people we're relaxing with."

I glanced over my shoulder at the closed door and finally chuckled.  " 'Feth
has always been impatient once he makes up his mind.  He probably wanted to
get started on 'male-bonding' with Ted and he simply forgot to be his usual
polite self when he threw us out."

She laughed and winked.  "He was a bit more abrupt than usual, wasn't he?
Anyway, there's a selfish reason I'm glad you teamed with a man instead of a
woman.  How's your sex life?"

"It isn't."  When she didn't answer I started walking down the hallway.
"Ted's not a celibate.  He's seen the girls a few times.  You know the rules
during training.  My cycle was suppressed but once he was in the hospital I
had the suppressants stopped.  Ted's seen me go through it.  Scared him at
first but he's accepted it.  Truth is, we've both been so busy that sex with
each other hasn't been on our minds, even as something theoretical."  I
stopped and studied Lia.  "He's not afraid of the idea, in theory.  He even
knows I'm willing.  Like most humans he hasn't made the final connection..."
I chuckled.  "Even though he's written about it."

I started moving again.  "Lia, I know him better than anyone here, including
psych, does.  When the time is right, for us, I'll make a move--if he
doesn't."

"Sophie, that's not what made me ask."

I froze in mid step and jerked my head around to focus on her.

She blushed.  "I haven't been with a man since 'Feth and I partnered.  I know
you and Ted are mates, now.  Is there enough room for me?"

I studied her body language.  "There's something else.  Out with it."

Lia sagged.  "I thought you had it figured out.  Ted has 'command presence'.
That, and his position as the eventual fourth in command, is going to force
him away from using the girls--or anyone else--if he doesn't want to screw up
morale.  Can you see him making *that* mistake once he knows it's there for
him to make?"

"Damn!"  I sighed.  "No, even as young as he is, I can't see him making that
mistake."  I nosed the exit open.  "Lia, I need to think about this.  Let's
walk to the cabin."

As we started down the path I looked over my shoulder at Lia and smiled a bit
crookedly.  "I don't know what arrangements you and 'Feth have but Ted and I
have an agreement.  We approve each other's sex partners.  If you try to
seduce him, he's going to ask me for permission to go along with it."

I made a mental note to tell Ted that when she's sexually excited--Lia's
scent is almost as musky as mine.

* * *

"Go ahead, Lieutenant.  Feel them."  I looked at the light gray casual outfit
and then at the technician before I reached for the sleeve and ran my hand
over it.  "Feels a little coarser and bit thicker than what I usually wear.
What's so special about them?"

"Watch."  He picked up a hand laser and casually fired it at the chest of a
dummy wearing a similar set of clothing.  There was a puff of smoke that
quickly dissipated.  "Go take a look."

I reached for the laser.  "If you don't mind, I'll take the power pack with
me."

He hesitated and then shrugged.  "Suit yourself, sir."

'Feth chuckled.  "Ted has an allergic reaction when there's a powered laser
behind him."

I finished disabling the laser and shrugged.  "True.  Do you blame me?"

The tech blanched.  "You're *that* Ted Larson?"

I nodded before I walked over to examine the dummy.  There was a blackened
spot that revealed a silver layer underneath the seemingly normal fabric.  No
hole.  I grunted and looked closer.  " 'Feth?  Have you seen this before?"

"I knew about it, yes."

"Why aren't the trainees equipped with this?"

He came over and put his front feet on the dummy's chest so he could examine
it.  "No penetration. Hot, though."  He dropped and settled on his haunches.
"When you were in training, they were still trying to solve the heat problem.
It was stopping the hit from penetrating but the heat was causing third
degree burns several inches in diameter."  He studied some gauges.  "Looks
like there's still a lot of heat getting through but a basic field dressing
can deal with it."

He turned to the tech.  "What's the production schedule on these?"

The tech sighed.  "We're starting to get them to the teams pulling high risk
duty.   If it means anything, Lieutenant Larson took hits from a stationary
defense laser.  These stop the those from penetrating but the sustained heat
really cooks what's behind the fabric.  Without some sort of cooling system,
whoever's hit is going to suffer some major heat trauma.  If it's any
consolation, the cauterization of a normal laser hit is more survivable."  He
blushed and looked directly at me.  "As I'm certain he knows.

I sighed.  "Survivable.  Yeah.  They are.  I was hoping..."

'Feth studied me.  Finally he turned back to the tech.  "Any chance of
solving that problem?"

"None that we can think of, right now.  Our regular combat suits are able to
survive hits from stationary lasers, though."

'Feth nodded.  "Suggestions?"

"None, Sir.  Records show that 90% of our non-suited combat injuries are from
hand lasers.  We need to focus on that for now.  This is the best solution we
have, so far.  Once we get the new casual wear in the field, we'll start
replacing duty suits with the new ones, as we planned earlier."

'Feth nodded again.  "Let Lieutenant Larson know if you make any progress on
the stationary laser problem."  He signaled for me to follow him out the
door.

I handed the tech the power pack.  "Sorry if I offended you.  Unless I'm in a
suit, live lasers make me nervous.  Psych tells me I'll get over it,
eventually"

He glanced at my bandaged arm and then smiled.  "No offense taken.  The lapse
was mine.  I've had to deal with combat veterans before and I should have
realized who you were when the Commander introduced you."

'Feth was waiting in the hallway.  "Don't look so disappointed.  It was an
unusual set of conditions.  I've taken steps that make us sure it will never
happen again."

I couldn't stop my eyebrows from rising as I turned to look at him. Before I
could say anything his ears and tail sent me a quick message.  'No.  Later.
Unknown ears.  Leak."

&&& It turns out that someone in programming had added some code that
disabled the override codes in the suit testing routines--when Sophia was
listed as part of the testing team.  He'd received the report a few days
earlier, by special courier, and then decided to keep the information secret.
Sophia does not, as part of her normal duties, do any suit testing.  He
managed to divert Lia's attention by focusing on uses for the new team.  He'd
already decided that Ted, as Sophia's partner, was the only BP with a
'need-to-know' with regards to the problem.  This explains his ready
acceptance and activation of 'Tango Delta'.

My fingers flicked back a quick 'Understood' before I spoke:  "Glad to hear
it was something fixable."

We resumed walking to our next stop.  "I wonder if we should change the
production schedule so the trainees get the new stuff next, after the hazard
duty people."

He looked up and then went back to making sure he kept us headed the right
direction..  "Reasons?"

"We're short trainees as it is.  There's no point is having them injured
before they make it through the full training program--and possibly make them
feel like we don't care about what happens to them until they are full
partners.  Training is supposed to be realistic, I'll grant you."  I
chuckled.  "I think it should be a bit more survivable when things go wrong.
The new casual wear would let them know that they are as important to us as
anyone else in the organization.  Part of that 'different approach'.  If we
announce that the newest recruits get the same protection as our hazard duty
teams, it might encourage more people to join us."

I lowered my voice.  "It will also let them know that the duty *can* be
dangerous enough to get them killed if they get careless but that they will
be using the best equipment we have in production, backed by the best
training we can give them.  If it weeds out one Allen Delagado before he gets
into the system, I think it will be worth the risks of it backfiring."

'Feth nodded without looking in my direction.  "I'll talk it over with Lia
and Sophia."

* * *

I settled to my haunches at an observation point that overlooked the valley.
"Lia?"

She settled on one of the benches.  "What is it?"

"Have they  found a solution yet?"

She sighed.  "To which problem?  I'm not a mind reader."

"The rationality loss."

She sighed and gazed out at the valley for so long I finally interrupted her
thoughts.  "Lia?"

The wind shifted and suddenly I could smell her frustration.  "They think
they have one for the equines.  For the rest of you, no."  She turned her
head and looked at me.  I saw tears.  "They're pretty sure that at our
current level of understanding, successful intervention is impossible."

"Do they have any theories or hope for the future?"

She finally laughed.  "A lot of people would be upset if the reason got out.
It's hormonal.  The sudden balance change affects the brain cells and
interferes with the interactions that cause 'rational thought'.  You're too
smart for your own good, Sophia.  The percentage of brain cells you use for
rational thinking is so high that you don't have any left over for some
redundancy.  When your brain tries to compensate, there aren't enough spare
cells."

I settled and thought about it.  "The males don't have the problem?  Or do
they?"

"They live in a state of semi arousal all their lives.  The shift, in a
relative sense, isn't as great.  The loss is there but not as noticeable
because their brains have managed to find a way to compensate for the loss of
access to the brain cells that are the primary contributors to their
rationality."

Something in her posture told me she was amused about something.  "You aren't
as upset as you should be."

"Nope."

"Care to explain?"

"Get fucked!"  She turned her head and I could see a huge grin.

My first reaction was a snarl of frustration and the beginnings of a lunge...
Until I realized she'd actually given me her explanation.  I resettled and
glared at her instead of saying anything.

She nodded.  "Security has access to some information the researchers don't
have.  When our own people ran the data they discovered that the more a
wolfess has sex when she isn't in estrus, the less rationality loss she
suffers *during* her estrus.  It's as if her brain slowly learns to
compensate in the same way a wolf's brain has had to learn to compensate from
puberty in order to deal with the effects of his hormones keeping him at a
constant low level arousal."  She smiled lopsidedly.  "It gets better.  There
is enough statistical evidence to show that a wolfess in an active zoosexual
relationship, with its significantly higher sexual activity, will eliminate
the loss of rationality during estrus long before a wolfess who randomly
seeks sexual contact outside of her estrus.  A wolfess who has sex only
during her estrus reinforces the loss of rationality and each time she does
so it becomes less likely she will be able to overcome that loss in the long
term.  She'll have to live with it *all* of her life."

I stared at her in shock as the implication hit me.  "The sooner Ted and I
start fucking each other, the sooner I won't suffer the loss?"

"It doesn't have to be Ted.  Otherwise the answer, as far as our people know,
is yes."

"Wonderful."  I couldn't hide my frustration with the new situation.

She nodded and then added quietly:  "Cheer up.  It's not common knowledge yet
and we intend to keep it to ourselves as long as we can.  Think of the
advantage it gives most of our teams.  The loss of rationality in a wolfess
is a documented and well known fact.  As far as everyone *except* our teams
knows, it can't be changed..."

Her smile became a feral grin.  I knew I had one of my own spreading across
my face.
----

"Community togetherness can lead to a consensus outlook that seeks and destroys any dissident element, no matter how small and really harmless"

Dean R. Koontz - "A Darkness in My Soul" - published June, 1972

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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