Sara's Journey Begins

Sara Tabith Martin

by Mr. David R. Dorrycott

"Sarah Tabith Martin, age twenty-three. Daughter of Franklin William Martin and Jessie Marie Martin, sister too..." Sara tossed her pointer into the tiny campfire. "David Andrew, Janet Marie, Samuel Arnold and Anna Rebecca" she said quietly. Leaning back against her pack she stared up at the twinkling stars so far above. "And she gave them all up to hunt a dream. Stupid girl." Yawning she rolled over, staring back towards the glittering lights of Galveston. "But Mom, I have to know, and I can't find out cooped up in this walled town" she whispered. "Yeah Sara, but did you ever stop to think how lonely it was going to be?" Yawning again she closed her eyes, and was soon asleep.

Seven years ago the bug had bit her. No, not Empty Cradle. That had gotten her mother last year, and her best friend Marie... And a dozen other girls and women she knew. It came in cycles, that much they'd learned. Come high summer, Cradle came to visit. It didn't matter if you were already a

mother of just tuned woman virgin. Cradle didn't give a damn. No the bug that had bitten her had been the same bug that had bitten her oh-so many times Great Grandfather. On her mothers side. The fat old dude who'd late in life picked up a Japanese Mistress and sired her mothers line. At eighty years of age yet, and no need for the wonder drug Viagra either. It was the bug he called 'I Gotta Know.' IGK for short. She'd been busy helping set up the next run of peach wine with her sisters when the thoughts came to her.

Why was twenty feet in an airship life, and twenty one death? Why did EC come only in the summer? Why was the satellite system still so accurate after all this time? Those questions and a hundred more hit her like a rock. She had walked off, to ask her mother. Mrs. Martin taught school, first to sixth grade. Her husband taught anyone else interested in going farther. Like all his children for a start. Her mother had palmed her off to her father, and he'd hung his head. "Insufficient Data" was his answer. Meaning, no one knew. At least no one in Galveston.

"Then I'll find out" she told him, wondering at the bittersweet smile her father had given her. It wasn't long before she'd understood. Their family had always been 'pack-rats' as far back as anyone could remember. The huge ex-military bunker turned warehouse next to their bunker turned home held things going back to the seventeenth century. Books, artifacts, junk. Stuff her so Great-Grandfather had collected, even several notebooks of his own writing. But the book that had caught her attention had been a work of fiction. A man lost his wife, went mad, created a disease that killed only women. So maybe some madman had created EC too.

Still six years later she had exhausted her options. The Cities 'Genetic Advisors' had been pushing for her to have children by a select group of men, and EC was just as active as before. And no one seemed to care. Not about her own opinions, or about where the world was headed. Mom and dad almost nightly brought home seaman, mainly officers. Trading peach brandy or a home cooked meal for books, newspapers, artifacts and even wild stories. Sara started listening.

Four months ago, the GA hard on her case and time running out she'd made her mind up. "Dad" she'd said, "I'm going to find out what happened, and how to stop it."

"How?" he'd asked. "You've gone through the warehouse, the library, done more research than anyone I can remember since I was a teenager. What resources are you going to use?"

Sara laid a dozen thick books on the table. "These Dad, and these" a handful of ink pens landed on top of the books.

Her father picked them up, "What?" He opened the cover, noting the date. "1984, The old madmans Class Ten notebooks, plastic pages. The empty ones. And his old Space Pens." He looked up from his desk, studying the city bred frame of his daughter. "Your going out? You wouldn't survive a week. No training, your much too weak physically, and you've no supplies."

"I've thought about that Dad. I want you and Mom to sign this." She dropped another paper in front of his father. To his credit her father didn't scream, didn't argue, he simply looked up.

"Your certain about this? You know you'll be dropped from the GA rolls immediately."

"Yes... I really thought about it. And Dad, I want kids, if the EC doesn't take that away from me I will have them. They'll just look like what the old man envisioned is all. Besides, I don't LIKE guys anyway."

"Of course dear. I'd noticed the way you look at your friends" her mother said from behind her. "Honey, what's Sara up to now?"

"She want's to become a Felinoid so she can go out and get herself killed" her father answered.

Sara stood back, unmarried it was still her parents decision, and the Council would hang any Mage that created a shapeshifted without certain papers signed first.

"Sara?" He mother said gently. "Go on dear. We'll let you know tonight."

Sara had left, leaving the choice up to them. Oh she wasn't worried, but there were ways things happened in this family. Janet and Anna already had children so that question was answered. She walked across to the warehouse. There was an old trailer, its tiny rubber wheels long rotted

flat. Filled with camping gear that hadn't seen the light of day in almost a hundred and thirty years it had to have something she could use. If dry rot hadn't gotten to it first.

So the next morning she'd ended up at the Cajin Jacob's home, a many times patched group of 'mobile homes that had somehow survived storms, time and at lest two attempts to burn itself to the ground. Her parents had talked with the old man, traded him a dozen bottles of their best brew

and, half an hour later she stood naked before a man for the first time in her adult life.

"Youze knows they no way com bak" Jacob had asked. "Youze knows?"

Sara swallowed, nodded, then found her voice. "One way ticket ride, right?"

"Yazzzz. Youze goes in pretty pretty. Youze comes out all kitty kitty. Youze agreeee, youze drink bottle. All bottle."

Sara had drank, almost throwing up at the taste. By the time she'd emptied the bottle she didn't much care about anything. The drug was that fast. And when she walked up with her parents three days later she was a shapeshifted. A Felionoid shapeshifted.

Of course her name was dropped from the breeding rolls instantly, she wasn't human any longer. Her parents started getting offers, offers from people they didn't even know. For some reason the fact she'd changed physically seemed to them to mean she'd changed morally too. She had, but

only to make her normal inclination a dead hard fact. For the next month her dreams would sometimes wake her panting, her damp hands between her legs.

Most of the rest of her time had been spent with others who either explored or traded outside. She learned what to look for, at least within a hundred miles of home. What kind of people to trust, very few, what kind to fight, and most importantly when to run for her life. What was eatable, how to catch game, trade, repair the gear she'd found that was still usable and how to tell good workmanship from shoddy. She already knew how to read a map, the case she'd found in the trailer had been a goldmine. A Real goldmine. After studying and copying them they paid for her entire training, fitting out and barter left over she transferred to her family. Unlike most shapeshifters Sara liked her new body. She never shifted back to human, and wouldn't unless it was to her advantage.

The day she'd left had been hard, saying goodbye to her family, her friends. Winter was just turning, she'd have until Summer to find a place to stay until Fall turned. Three months of 100+ weather, when your wearing fur, would kill you. She'd marked where she might find family, places where military bases had been, small towns that probably hadn't survived but had dependable water. All set she shouldered her weapon, settled her pack, checked her blades and water, then waved goodbye. By nightfall she'd made a whole twenty miles and her first camp.