Page 40 of Tail Me No Lies
“Maybe you should apologize for eavesdropping.”
They stared hard at each other. She lifted her chin in stubborn refusal to back down. His tail whipped from side to side. Rain drumming against the house filled the silence.
She sighed. “I shouldn’t have said that. It was rude and not true. I don’t know how to say I respect your intelligence without sounding like a condescending bitch right now.”
“We will struggle through the hardship,” he said in a flat tone.
Her lips twitched in amusement. “Nox, I do respect your intelligence. I’m sorry for what I said. It was unfair of me.”
He would accept that. “Thank you. Now tell me why you are on Corra.”
“I told you, the job opportunity—”
“No,” he said. “We have determined that was a lie. I will have the truth. You came here for a specific reason.”
She gave another dramatic sigh. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”
“What is it you wish to know?” he asked, although he had his suspicions.
“Your real name.”
“Reality is all about context, I find, but yes. I’ll tell you my true name.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded. “Fine, but my research isn’t unethical.”
“I did not claim it was unethical. I said it was illegal.”
“Well, legalities are all about context, aren’t they?” she asked, mocking his earlier statement. “What’s legal on Corra is banned on Earth. So, yeah, I found the legal restrictions on genetic manipulation too onerous. It’s backward, honestly. No modifications in food stuff, which is ridiculous. It’s not like I wanted to make a—I don’t know—a cat-dog. I just want to tweak plants to make them resilient to weather extremes and blight. All crops are products of centuries—millennia—of selective breeding and modification.” As she spoke, she grew more animated. The blanket slipped over her chest. Nox did not feel the need to alert her.
She continued, “Just look at wild corn versus domesticated corn. Or the Brussels sprout. It was incredibly bitter when cooked, but it was bred to reduce the bitterness. Then Brussels sprouts are having a moment and everyone loves them. But do that in a lab? Oh, the pearls that must be clutched.” She grasped at an imaginary necklace around her neck.
“I suspect the situation is more complex.”
“Earth laws tend to swing from one extreme to another. Zero regulation to excessive regulation. Do you know why our translation chips won’t do visual translations when the technology exists?”
“I do not.”
“Because centuries ago on Earth, we had neural implants. Little computers in our brains. We could search the net, read messages, and hold virtual conversations all in our heads, in seconds. No external devices. But then capitalism happened. A surprise craving for a soda wasn’t a real craving, it was a virus to influence consumption. Greedy companies advertised directly into people’s brains, andthey couldn’t turn it off. So no more neural implants. Total ban outside of translation chips.
“Earth used to have cyborgs.Cyborgs. The real thing, not the modern prosthetics we have. Taking volunteers from the military wasn’t good enough. Oh, no. The military used dead soldiers as their cyborgs. A resurrected army of the dead.” She gave a disgusted shudder.
“Interesting. You have many opinions, but you have not answered the question.”
“Basically, people suck and that’s why we can’t have nice things,” she said. “So, yeah, if I wanna Frankenstein up some plants, I can’t on Earth or any Interstellar Union planet. That means Corra’s the place to be.”
He didn’t understand all the words she used in that sentence, but he understood the overall message. Corra was the best place to pursue the type of research she was interested in without burdensome regulations and oversight.
“How ruthless of you.”
She lifted a shoulder, the bed sheet slipping further down. “I wasn’t being facetious about the job opportunity. The professor was a leader in his field. I was lucky to get the position. I already decided to relocate to Corra, so I pounced.” She paused. “Your turn.”
“My mother named me Nox. It is an old Earth word meaning darkness. She was a Terran enthusiast. She even mated a human, though that did not last long.” Nox’s tail swayed happily as he recalled his mother’s delight in human food and entertainment. His memories of his mother’s human mate were vague. The union had been brief.
“Are you part-human?”
“All Tal.” He flexed his fingers and swiped playfully in the air. She rolled her eyes. “You know of the troubles on my planet?”
She nodded. “War. Is that why you left Talmar?”
