Page 20 of The Pacifist
Secrets from the Council
Jonah
Mila and I crossed the border to the Motherlands on foot and walked up to the community drone that I had ordered to pick us up.
Compared to her father’s huge luxury drone that had taken us here, this one was much smaller.
Mila ran the last steps to the drone. “How cute. Look how tiny it is. Can you imagine some of the Nmen in one of these machines? Their heads would bump the ceiling and they would have to sit like this.” She got in and curled her legs to her chest.
“See, there are advantages to being a normal-sized man. One meter and eighty-two centimeters is a fine height.” I used my voice to give the drone our destination while Mila looked up, calculating in her head.
“That’s six feet.”
“Yes, and then some because my ears work like wings and have me constantly floating above ground.” I had always been teased about my ears being big and it was second nature for me to joke about it.
Mila reached out and touched my left ear. “I like your ears. It’s like your brain is trying to reach out and hug people.”
I cracked into a wide grin. “Only you would say that.”
The flight to my house took close to three hours, and gave us a chance to talk about all sorts of things from politics to Mila’s dream of being a veterinarian and running a large animal shelter.
“I don’t want a place with large cages. It should be a wonderful sanctuary where the dogs receive lots of love and live just like they would in a real family.”
“But do you only want to help dogs? What about all the other animals in the world?”
“That’s a good question.” Mila looked out the window. “Maybe I could start with dogs, and then move on to include other animals later.” She was quiet for a few seconds before she pondered out loud. “That reminds me, do you ever wonder about the cloned animals? I mean it’s great that we have the technology to revive species that went extinct during or after The Toxic War, but how do we know that they are behaving like their ancestors did?”
“Hmm… I don’t know.”
“I’ve discussed it with Shelly often”.
“Yeah? I’m curious; what did the genius have to say about it?”
Pulling her foot up under her, Mila turned in her seat and tugged the sleeves of her cozy sweater over her hands. “Shelly agrees that it’s inevitable that the first clones will always differ from their ancestors in behavior. With no parents to raise them they will miss out on learned behavior that would normally have been passed from one generation to the next. It’s safe to assume that there will still be some instinctual behavior, though.”
“So how are the biologists getting around it?”
“I’m not sure. All I know is that they take great care in creating habitats that match each species. It’s fascinating, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It reminds me of something but…” I looked deep into her eyes. “You have to promise that it stays between us.”
Mila’s eyes expanded and she nodded with a serious expression. “Is it something classified?”
“Yes. But I trust you not to tell anyone, and it’s coming out to the public in a few days anyway.”
“I don’t know. What if it slips out of me? Maybe it’s better if you don’t tell me.”
“You sure? It’s really interesting,” I tempted her.
She was so cute when she bit her lip and creased her eyebrows. “Okay, now I have to know what it is.”
“All right. You know how earth healers are cleaning up one toxic area of the world at a time, right?”
Mila nodded. “Yes. I heard they just moved into old Europe.”
“I know.” I gave a secretive smile. “And something extraordinary happened.”
Mila didn’t blink. “Did they find a new species?”
