REDEMPTION

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 10
What's In a Name?
 

THROWING themselves back into their training regimen, Sofiya and Richard hardly noticed the passage of time and before either knew it New Year’s had come and found the Furs throwing a small party before returning to their preparations. More and more time was spent outside instead of the classroom to practice in harsh conditions following with Sofiya’s philosophy of hard training made for better preparations. The routine had also enabled the vixen to get the time needed to cope with her loss, and while it didn’t abate the pain, it did lessen it. This was countered by her growing relationship with the American.

With Richard’s help she’d set up a small navigation course in the woods within the Institute perimeter fence and different points where the four teams of seven Furs would figure out their way, then perform a specific field exercise at the established waypoints. Each point was designed to test the different Vulps’ knowledge of standard equipment such as chemical testing kits for plant, animal and mineral matter, documentation of flora and fauna, and a multiple choice academic test with the entire course being used to test land navigation.

Because they were also evaluating the different teams, Sofiya and Richard were in separate groups, and were to be treated as any other Fur for the duration of the exercise. The team that had the best time, most accurate readings and answers would be getting a pass to go into Saranac Lake for a night at the cinema. So there would be impartial judges, two of Richard’s friends from the Canis Wing had been approached and offered the positions of referees for the exercise. Paul Olsen and Tricia Kramer, both having chosen grey wolves, called the teams out of the cafeteria to run the course and would time them. The catch being there were four different courses to prevent the teams from following the tracks of the others.

The other two Canis Wing members, Mandy Helfers and Lance Fleming, the former having also selected a grey wolf and the latter a Siberian husky and one of the Felis Wing members, a snow leopard Fur, Candace Marsden, would play the role of ‘alien animals’ for the teams to document.

Because of the challenge of the course, Marcelo and a few of the instructors were also observing. If it went well, there had been talk of submitting the idea to headquarters to implement it as a standard training practice. The Director had already asked for, and gotten permission, to use Sofiya’s reward system of simple treats like lunch out, having discovered early on that it motivated the Vulps to try harder to succeed in their training.

The Ukrainian red fox went out with the first team so she could log their progress and then watch the others. Leading the effort, the choice for team leaders having been randomized by a sort of lottery that had different colored scraps of paper mixed in with white and put into a waste basket so everyone had to blindly draw a piece, was a young Asian red fox from the Toyohashi Institute, Kizu Ananori.

Kizu had been a nurse in the city of Nagoya. At twenty four, she wasn’t the youngest of the Toyohashi Furs, but Sofiya wanted her to get more hands on experience in areas besides the medical field, having plans of setting up two survey teams and wanted one medically trained individual with each. Kizu didn’t disappoint, either, studying as much information as she could get her hands on and taking Sofiya’s recommendation for courses.

Team One had a final time of one hour and sixteen minutes, and considering that it was a multi-phase course, Sofiya was extremely pleased.

As the different teams went out and came back, the others that weren’t on the exercise sat in the cafeteria sipping hot drinks of hot cocoa, tea and hot spiced cider, the popularity of the beverages going up as individuals came in from the cold. It would have been worse had they not all had their winter undercoats come in several weeks before.

Sofiya was going over the results from the first two teams when Kizu approached and set a cup of cocoa down in front of the Ukrainian Fur. The Japanese vixen differed from most as the only part of her coloration that was black was her hair that had grown back in thick and glossy after the completion of her transformation while her coat was russet with a splash of creamy white over her front. She smiled warmly as she sat down and engaged in idle conversation until the next team came in and the other vixen waited for the results from the observers and referees.

“So far you are having the best time, Kizu,” Sofiya told the Japanese Fur with a warm smile. “You did very well.”

“I was very nervous,” Kizu confided. “I don’t know how you can so calmly accept the responsibility of being the colony leader.”

The Stockholm Vulps chuckled. “It is much like I told Myao Shin the other day. I have others that know their responsibilities that I trust. All of you have worked very hard to learn everything that has been given to you, and I am very proud of all that each has accomplished. I know that it is frightening to be going to a planet that so many others have died on, but I truly believe that we will be very successful.”

“As do I,” Marcelo said as he joined the duo, unzipping his parka with a cup of hot cider in his hand. “I believe that this course of yours is going to be implemented as standard training. Even if it isn’t approved by headquarters, I have certain flexibility as the Director and think I’d like to use this as part of the regular field training program.”

“If it helps, it is good to use,” Sofiya agreed. “I do not anticipate serious hardships on Bastien, but it is good to be as prepared as possible.”

“I’m hoping that you’re right, though I agree with the need to be prepared,” Marcelo told the Stockholm vixen. “As it is, you have another task that’s somewhat important.”

“Oh? I have not forgotten something, have I?”

The man chuckled and ran a finger over his Van Dyke beard to straighten it. “Well, it’s something of necessity. You’re going to need to come up with a name for your colony. You could go with the original name that the Bastien site was given of Aquenvsvsi, the Cherokee word for Home, but you’re forming what’s essentially a new colony, and maybe a name change would be fitting. A clean slate, if you will.”

“I must come up with this name?” Sofiya asked a little overwhelmed by the thought of yet more on her shoulders as the Director sat down after removing his parka.

“Well, the last colony to go out was the entirety of Classes 15 and 16 from here, and as they were sent to Bonestell, where the previous colony group of humans never landed, they took a vote and came up with the name Second Chance. Maybe not the most conventional of names, but it was rather fitting. Perhaps in more ways than you will ever know,” Marcelo said, briefly thinking of one particular individual. “As a reward, the winning entry earned the one that submitted it a twenty four hour pass. I don’t think Avon, the Fur that won the contest, had that good of a time, but he did at least get to spend time off of Institute grounds.”

Sofiya contemplated the suggestion. “I think that is an excellent idea! I will see to it that an announcement is sent to all the Vulps to participate in. Do you have a suggestion for reward as well?”

“Now that you mention it, there is a special reward…” the Director said, grinning widely, making the two vixens wonder what the man was up to.

***

OFFERING a chance for a twenty four hour pass as reward the same as Marcelo had done with the two previous Classes that had gone on to form the colony of Second Chance set the collected Vulps buzzing with excitement. What was different this time was that the pass would be spent in New York City with the one whose submission was selected appearing with one other on the Andy Skarbek late night talk show. There wasn’t a single member of the Vulps contingent who weren’t a little stunned at this bit of news. The winner and his or her companion would be staying at the Pinnacle, one of the most modern four star hotels in the world as guests of the TV network. The agreement to have Furs appear on the show was part of the Anthro Human Colonization Program’s most recent publicity campaign.

The submission period was four days starting on Monday, ending on Thursday, with the winner being voted on by all of them on Friday. The winner would then go on their pass the following week from Monday to Tuesday with the other two Vulps.

Friday night and the announcement of the winning name came, much to the excitement of the Vulps. The final tally of the votes named Maria Paccini the winner by a three quarter margin for her submission of the name Abeona.

It was no surprise that the former librarian was also a history buff, and had explained along with her submission what the name meant. According to Roman mythology, Abeona was the goddess that watched over children the first time they left home. Even though she and her fellow Vulps were going to attempt another colony on a planet that’d had a settlement on it for four years, for all of them, it was their first time off the world of their birth. Maria then went on to explain that she hoped the name would bring them more luck than the unfortunate Felis colonists.

The news about the TV show had been a shock, though, especially to Sofiya and Richard who sat in the silver fox’s room watching the man’s program to get an idea what their friend might be in for. Andy Skarbek had been a comedian before landing his nightly program almost two decades before, and was best known for his acerbic wit when it came to political humor. While he was more than willing to make fun of fools, they couldn’t fault him his fairness in dealing with guests, or avoiding certain topics that could be construed as uncomfortable, and he even mentioned that he would have a few individuals of Furmankind on his Monday night show as the two foxes watched.

“I am not sure what to be thinking of this,” Sofiya said with her stomach twitching in nervousness at the thought of two of their number appearing on television.

Richard gave the vixen a little squeeze where she leaned against his chest, his arms holding her to him and nuzzled the point just behind her jaw where both had discovered they had sebaceous scent glands, like in a mundane fox, and allowed them to scent mark each other. That contact of that nature had the added benefit of being as exciting and satisfying as kissing. Both saw it as simply an added benefit of their new bodies and essentially being a new species.

Before the silver fox could actually say anything in reply, enjoying Sofiya’s reaction to his display of affection, there was a sharp knock on the door to the room that they had been all but sharing since returning to the Institute.

“Come in!” Richard called, wondering if the two of them could ever get a little uninterrupted snuggle time and had half joked about installing a glass door as often as they were interrupted.

One of Sofiya’s housemates from Stockholm came in, a bundle of sewing notions under her arm and a somewhat frantic look in her eyes. “Thank goodness you’re both here!” Siobhan Hanlon said as she saw the other two Vulps in the room. She seemed rather pleased with herself. “I need your opinions on how Maria and Daniel look.”

“What do you mean?” Sofiya inquired, hiding her own irritation at the intrusion.

“One of the fellas from this Institute’s Class 16 left a few things behind when they headed out to Bonestell, and one of the Felis found them and gave them to me to help out. Maria’s I had to take care of on my own and make from scratch.” The vixen poked her head back into the hallway then made way for the two Vulps that entered the room.

Using the same type of fabric that their standard clothes were made from to alter some of the items that were available for Furs, Siobhan had fashioned an attractive skirt and blouse combination for Maria. The skirt was a dark brown with the blouse a golden yellow that went well with her sandy tan, light brown and cream colored fur. The former librarian looked as if the new clothing was helping her feel a little more confident about herself, though Sofiya had to wonder how much of that was the clothing, and how much stemmed from her recent pairing up with the American that was going with her.

Daniel was dressed in jeans of all things. The rest of his clothing was a light button down shirt in slate with a black corduroy jacket complete with suede elbows and accents over that. While the AHCP certainly didn’t make jackets for Furs, whatever Siobhan had done to make it fit over Daniel’s frame better was so well done that neither Sofiya nor Richard could tell it hadn’t been tailored from the start.

“You two look excellent!” the Ukrainian Fur exclaimed with a wide smile. “I never thought to see one of us in blue jeans ever again, and that skirt is wonderful. You may have to make one for me!”

Richard nodded, his expression indicating his was rather impressed. “I remember the guy that had the jeans made. It was just about the only thing he wore unless he was out running. Mountain lion that went off to Bonestell. I never got a chance to meet him. Did you have to do a lot to them?” 

Siobhan shook her head. “The legs were a little long and I had to take in the waist a bit, which was about it.” She turned and looked at the pair. “Think this’ll work for when they’re on the telly?”

“I think they look wonderful,” Sofiya said with a smile.

“At least the jacket still fits,” Daniel told them. “I wasn’t the biggest guy before all of this. About the only thing Siobhan had to do was put a cut in the back for my tail.” The grey fox couldn’t help but wag said appendage when he looked at the fennec.

The pairing hadn’t surprised Sofiya. Knowing her friend’s penchant for books it seemed as if it was only a matter of time before she gravitated to the former biology professor. They were certainly the grey matter when it came to helping the rest of the contingent learn about the wildlife that the Bastien Felis colonists had been able to document. Of course, Daniel was thrilled with the little vixen as he hadn’t been what one would have considered popular with the ladies prior to joining the AHCP and found almost any reason to dote on the Italian Fur. The pair had turned into Sofiya’s go-to individuals for advice on the fauna of their soon-to-be home.

“I am glad that it was you that won the little contest,” the Ukrainian vixen said with a smile. “I think you will charm the audience as no one else could! This should be quite the enjoyable outing for both of you.”

Maria shrugged. “Ask me that again after we do the show. If I don’t throw up in front of the camera, I might answer yes to that.”

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.