Fic: The Summer Intern (cont.)

[jeriendhal]

Freya caught up with her in the gift shop as she was looking a glass cube with a little holographic pre-ferin hopping along inside. “Don't buy anything,” the ranger advised, as she handed Nan a security pass to clip to her embroidered vest. “You wouldn't believe what the mark-up for all this crap is.”

“All for a good cause, I guess. So where do we go from here?”

“It's going to be about another half-hour before the flyer comes to take you to the interior. May as well give you the tour while you wait.” She led Nan outside to a little electric cart, and drove them to a sort of circular tower, more like a wide pole really, with a spiral staircase circling around it, open to the air save for a safety hand rail and the faint glitter of a force field. “This is the Sky Walk. It's a real treat.” Freya led her up to the top of the tower, a height of over thirty meters. This brought them to a three meter wide walkway made of transparent durasteel, which curved between the great trees of the rain forest, lizard-like flyers darting from branch to branch, hooting calls to each other.

Nan could only agree. The view was absolutely spectacular, allowing her to imagine she was floating above the world as she walked along the path. “Are there many ferin near the centre?” she asked.

“There's a troop about thirty strong that keeps an eye on things,” Freya said. “We tend to divide the ferin in the three categories.”

“Civilized, arboreal, and the in-betweeners,” Nan finished. “I imagine the troop near here are in-betweeners?”

“Right. The troop leader actually served for ten years in the navy, but he decided to “go back to the trees” as they put it, once his hitch was up. A number of the does did the same.”

“I think that's the hardest thing to understand about them, at least for me,” she said. “They really don't make any distinction between the more educated ferin and the ones that simply choose to stay in the forest their whole lives?”

“They're not like us. They're not like anyone. If they'd had the chance to evolve naturally maybe they would have formed social structures we're more comfortable with, but the Varn decided they wanted power plants with two legs, and the Gene Mage did the rest.”

They caught up with another group of tourists, creo schoolchildren this time escorted by a pair of teachers, judging by their neat uniforms, with the bouncy steps of heavy-worlders enjoying the feel of lighter gravity. Another ranger was giving a talk about the local wildlife, pointing out the lizard flyers and the flying beetles they hunted, and the great blossoms of the plate flowers sprouting in the cracks of the tall Village Trees.

“Can we see a ferin?” one of the children asked, when the ranger paused to let them ask questions.

“Well, you'll get a chance to see some when we pass through the village further on,” he told them.

“Will get to see them up close?” another child asked. Behind their backs, Freya made a high sign to the other ranger, who acknowledged it with a flick of his left ear.

“Well, we'd really like you to,” the ranger said carefully, “but they're very shy. Too many people have tried to hurt them since they were rediscovered. Do you remember what it said in the interpretive centre?

Freya touched a control at the hand comp hanging from her equipment belt. Over Nan's head, the upper forcefield protecting this section of the Sky Walk blinked off. Then the ranger pulled an apple from her pocket and began casually tossing it up into the air.

The first child said, “They said that the outer planets were tryin' to explode... exploit 'em. Make them do stuff even though they didn't want to.”

“That's right. And when a ferin escapes from that, they generally don't want to have much to do with folk who aren't ferin, even we vulpine, who've always tried to be their friends.” Overhead in the branches near Nana and Freya, a gray furred creature with blue spots crawled along the tree branches, wrapping its long tail around the branch, gripping it as it dropped down to hang there. It churred eagerly as Freya held out the apple to it. Grabbing it in its long fingered paws it ate the treat greedily.

“But since you cubs have been very good, I think one of their friends the pre ferin might be willing to come close.” The male ranger pointed to behind the children, as the pre ferin dropped into Freya's waiting arms. It looked at the children with curiosity but no fear, the flap of its spade tail waving lazily as Freya scratched it between its spurs.

There was a general “Ohhhhh” from the cubs, and less sanguine looks from the teachers.

“Aren't they dangerous?” one of them asked.

“Any creature is dangerous if they're provoked, but pre ferin aren't known to be aggressive,” Freya said. “This little doe is very gentle. They can pet her if they don't do it too hard.”

She gestured them forward, and they each took a turn petting the pre ferin's' cat soft fur. It responded in turn by purring loudly, its tail curling around the ranger's arm in pleasure. When the last cub had taken his turn, Freya held her arms out and the pre ferin jumped away, landing on the male ranger's shoulder.

“Now, can anyone tell me what these little fellows like to eat?” he asked, as Freya and Nan continued down the Sky Walk.

“That was better,” Nan observed. “There was some little human snot who probably wanted to take a sentient ferin home in the interpretive centre that I just wanted to strangle.”

“Get 'em while they're young, that's the way to go,” Freya said. She checked her chrono. “All right, let's head to the landing area. The flyer should be in by now. Now its time for you to meet the First One.”