Fictional Life

REDEMPTION

— by Jeff Karamales

Afterword

There are times that I feel I think too much. Then again, is there such a thing for a person that enjoys writing? Without the contemplation of things or events, turning the fertile soil of the imagination, there wouldn’t be stories to enjoy. There wouldn’t be ideas that others have come up with that are, for all intents and purposes, beautiful concepts.

At least this was what I felt with Ted’s Sunset of Furmankind story. Wow! What an idea. And like a lot of other people, I was thrilled by the tale he wove, the concepts that sprang forth. It was well thought out, a phenomenal tale, but ultimately the story of one man finding himself in a rather extraordinary set of circumstances as the price for a momentary lapse of judgment, of giving in to his passions and anger and paying the price for that lapse.

Jonathon Sunset was, to me, a believable and rather tragic character. I’ve been in the position he found himself in where the woman he thought loved him was unfaithful. I can understand his reaction. Unfortunately, instead of walking away, Sunset gives in to that moment of darkness with the result being…well, I won’t say as it might spoil the story for some.

The life that he faces is one where Jonathon Sunset believes all of his choices are either non-existent, or so limited they might as well be non-existent. For the longest time he’s convinced that the direction that his life takes is a punishment only slightly better than the most final of alternatives.

And that, my friends, is what really got me thinking.

What would cause a person to volunteer for the Anthro Human Colonization Project? What would make a person give up their humanity and in the process find a guaranteed one-way ticket to an alien world?

I really have to wonder if such a decision would be one the average person could make. First there’s the uncertainty and anxiety of undergoing a transformation that turns a person into something that is both more and less than human. We’ve all seen how badly humans can treat others of the species because of their skin color, or the place of their birth. If anything, that is one trait that truly is blind to race, creed, color, religion or sexual orientation; the ability to hate. To undergo the furmankind process is an open invite for others to hate that person.

Then there is the pain of the transformation as the very DNA of the volunteers are warped, twisted and manipulated. Most people these days have an incredibly low pain tolerance. Sorry, but that’s my opinion after serious observations. Sure, I was in the Army. I’ve also been shot, stabbed, hit by a bus, a taxi cab, and Mazda Miata, of which I’m happy to say I totaled with nothing worse to me than severe bruising. My normal remedy was a hot shower and Motrin for the pain. Well, except the shot and stabbed parts. Those I simply had to endure, avoid watching anything that made me laugh and thereby made me feel as if I were going to bust a seam, though it was great for getting sympathy dates.

Still, the process to become a Fur is excruciating.

But this was the question that rumbled around my brain in the wee hours of the morning and I was completely fascinated by it! So began the process of getting some thoughts down and asking Ted if he would mind me taking a whack at a tale set in his other world. To be honest, I was already dreading this story. Born of Heroes was the longest thing I’d ever written, and I knew that this idea wasn’t going to be turning into a short story. Not by a long shot.

I guess Ted was happy with the way BoH turned out, because he said yes.

Right away I knew that I wanted a strong female lead. I know a great many ladies, my girlfriend included, that are pretty, very feminine, and are about the toughest people I know. One can even out shoot me any day of the week, but she gets upset when I say that, so we’ll just move along now…

So, strong female. Check.

Next was which Institute?

Well, we’ve seen the Adirondack facility and the people there, and I was curious as to what the headquarters of the AHCP would be like, and the corresponding Institute. As the first facility and home of such a program, nothing but stunning would do for the architecture. That, and having been to Europe for my work, I found that many of the Nordic nations love clean lines, geometric designs, and tie all of that in with a sort of postmodern zeal. I already knew the black pyramid was a must, and everything just sort of fell in place after that, though I think my two favorite features were the reflecting pool surrounded by the flags of all the participating nations and the furman fountain/statue inside the lobby. Then there were the actual living quarters of the Stockholm Institute and labs. I wanted these to look like a resort villa using traditional European buildings with a sort of Bavarian appearance. All in all, I’m really rather enamored with my take on the heart of the AHCP.

All of this, of course, brings us to Ásmundr Gustavsson, the man behind the whole AHCP and development of furmankind.

With the bits of background that Ted gave, the power the man commanded, I saw a person not unlike Sir Richard Branson. Urbane, charismatic, shrewd, but ultimately approachable. Still, it was daunting to exhibit such hubris and write him into the story. I was sure that Ted would put the kybosh on that. Much to my surprise, he really enjoyed my description of Ásmundr! I liked the thought that Ásmundr, while brilliant, wealthy and such an awe inspiring figure to the Furs was able to see the need for humans to colonize far off worlds, but still worry about the men and women that volunteered for his program. The man struck me as something of a military General in the middle of a war. He has identified the enemy and knows what measures must be taken, and he will order those measures to be done, knowing the entire time that it means some of the people under his command will die. It hurts him, and he wishes otherwise, but he’s still going to do what he sees as the best course of action for humanity and the Furs as a whole. I would have to say that Ásmundr was one of the most layered, and complex individuals that could possibly exist, and if there was a character that could be the basis for an entire story, he’s it.

There was the question of which of the four types of Fur to make my character.

Even as I was contemplating what to make my lead character; Felis, Canis, Ursis or Vulps, there was the conundrum of where they would go? Javan? Monarch? Both are Vulps worlds, Javan as mentioned in the 2nd chapter of SoF, and Monarch as that was where Sissy’s brothers, both Vulps, went where one was killed. Would she be Canis and go to Khepri? Or Ursis and the world of Diamante…

The answer was really quite simple.

Bastien!

Why Bastien? Because Bastien would be both an easy world to send a colony to, but also a hard one. Easy because the Felis that were there collected almost half a decade of information and a replacement colony could move right in to the original site. Hard because Bastien was a ghost world. Save the two Vulps that were the endeavor’s physicians, the entire colony died within hours, four years into their stay there. Men, women, children…all of them gone. I know it’s a terrible comparison, but to me being told I was going to such a world would be the same as being told that my new house was going to be set up in the middle of a cemetery or that I would have an apartment in a mausoleum. No thank you.

At the same time, Bastien would be a desirable world due to the wealth of natural, raw resources.

This, of course, made the choice of Fur type for my main character rather simple. The only ones that survived the plague that eliminated the Bastien Felis were two Vulps, so, once again, foxes it was! Then again, I have foxes that live around my house, and I love the little critters. I’ve found they’re rather adaptable, fairly intelligent, incredibly agile, and they really help keep the rodent population in check!

After these plot tidbits fell into place, the other characters just happened. Granted, I had a good pool of already established characters to play with, but many of those wound up on Bonestell at the Second Chance colony. There were, however, peripheral humans that I could bring back. That gave a good supporting cast.

With Ted’s Second Chance group, we see the tensions that have arisen with an unbalanced gender ratio that’s leaning towards a greater male population. I wanted to go the opposite direction. I think that the potential for trouble when there are unequal numbers of males and females can be disastrous in the right, or more likely the wrong, situation. This, however, was something that I could use to a story telling benefit by utilizing a trait that foxes exhibit. The skulk.

Vixens tend to form small family groups that the females dominate because males, or dog foxes, roam before and after breeding season. While some males will return to the same female year after year, some don’t and will mate with any available female they encounter. If you look at some of the territories that foxes inhabit, particularly those that are in suburban areas, this trait makes a lot of sense. With the dog fox roaming there is one less mouth to feed and compete with for food, and that can have a drastic effect on the success rate of a skulk.

As I happen to live in a rural setting, I like having lots of foxes for the previously mentioned rodent issue. And rabbits. Nasty little things tend to do great amount of damage to my garden year after year, and the only reason rabbits exist is to feed everything else. I can, however, do without finding half eaten rabbit carcasses in my forge and workshop. It’s rather like the Godfather at times…

Back to topic, though. Vixens are comfortable in skulks, with all of the females taking part in the raising of the kits. They will band together to hunt prey that they wouldn’t attempt to take down otherwise, and the skulks tend to fare much better than a solitary vixen would. This translated easily to the Abeona group, and I thought it was a good example that my characters were no longer fully human. Incorporating vulpine behavior into people that are as much animal as they are human is both easy and challenging, but I’m pleased with the result.

All of this hasn’t really answered the driving question, though, and that was, why would a person volunteer for all of this?

Okay, first off there’s the $1 million in prize money to be awarded after the first five years of colony time. While all that’s fine and good, what would a Fur do with that money? They’d be on a foreign world, and last I checked, there aren’t a lot of stores. Sure, they could purchase goods and the like from Earth, but how long would it take to get those goods to a far off planet, if ever. Space travel is costly. Heck, flying from one country to another is expensive. While the money might be a good incentive to those in dire financial straits, it really is a negligible enticement.

I think that the reason one would volunteer for something like the Furmankind project is far more poignant. Each character that we’ve seen, both from Ted’s incredible story and my own humble offering is essentially an orphan or misfit of society. Somehow, with the exception of Jon Sunset, there is a disconnect of some manner each individual has with the world they live in. Some are poor, some are dissatisfied, in the case of Dante Capanari he’s already disconnected from the rest of the word. He’s estranged from his parents, living on the streets, hungry and tired of being a social pariah. But he sees something more clearly than all the other characters, and that is hope. Hope for a better life, of having a steady and readily available source of food, the hope of belonging. That in and of itself is a strong motivator.

For some of the others, their reasons are maybe not as evident, but they are no less powerful.

I think that the desire for something more, something with meaning would be the strongest factor for volunteering. To take part in something like an off-world colony where every individual is a contributing factor to success would be why a person volunteered for the AHCP. How many that may read this look at their lives, the same routine day after day, the lack of challenges and far too much time spent behind a desk and dream of something more? Or, in the case of us moderns, something less?

Life on another world would be a challenge of wits, of incorporating the traits of the animals that our brave explorers are blended with, learning how to use those traits to go beyond mere survival. Isn’t that what living is all about? I see people today that are so reliant on their electronics, of being constantly in touch with everyone around them, yet at the same time they are distant, easily distracted by the ring or chirp of a cell phone that actual social interaction means next to nothing. On the flip side, I have friends that like to leave the electronics behind, throw on old clothes and hit the woods for a little bit of primitive time where they can enjoy companionship without the constant bombardment of electrons vying for their attention.

I know that I would jump at the chance to leave most of the crap that I’ve filled my life with away. Granted, I like having access to the world’s collection of music at my fingertips, or the ability to watch almost any movie that strikes my fancy, but do I need it? No, not really. I for one would love to be in a situation where I was reliant on my wits, my skills, my ability to adapt to survive. Perhaps that was one of the reasons I joined the Army, or now make my way as a sword maker. I have a desire for a less technologically complex life.

That and what a thrill to say that you were the first person to see such-and-such! Sure, in the grand scheme of the universe something like being the first individual to set foot on some alien mountain light years away would mean exactly spit, but to the person doing the stepping…well, it just doesn’t get any better.

So what kind of person would volunteer to become a Fur and be exiled off the Earth? I can tell you honestly, if such a program existed, I’d be one of the first in line! Long live us social misfits, those of us born with a vagabond soul and we upstart Bohemians that have the audacity to dream of a better world.

With my warmest regards, dear readers and dreamers!

Jeff Karamales