Family Tails

A Story of a Mixed Family in the Genetic Age

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Names of actual businesses, their products, etc, are the property of their respective owners.

Story and characters © 2013 Ronald J. Lebeck

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Chapter 1

Lupina, a first generation G.E.L.F.[1], was both anxious and nervous about getting to start her own life. Up until now, she had only known of life while at the Center for Genetic Research and Development, where she and the other Gen-1 G.E.L.F.s had been created. Lupina had read up on the climate conditions and other information about where she was heading in the information packet she had been given before leaving The Center. The G.E.L.F.s were being sent throughout the United States instead of remaining at The Center for their entire lives, so that they could become part of the whole society. Lupina herself, a wolf G.E.L.F., was being relocated to Fairbanks, Alaska, since the state was still sparsely populated, with most of the humans residing along the southern and southeast parts of the state in cities such as Anchorage and Juneau. The rich Native Alaskan culture made the state a good location to place Lupina.

The G.E.L.F.s might have lived there at The Center all of their lives, for however long that might be, totally isolated from the rest of the world. For good or ill, however, their creation was announced to the world--and the media promptly went into a frenzy. Luckily for the G.E.L.F.s though, ever since the governments of the world came down with an iron fist on the paparazzi after the death of a certain important person, the media was forbidden to hound the G.E.L.F.s--if caught, they would be harshly punished. It wasn't long before the world found out that there were other branches of The Center scattered across the globe, and that the Gen-2 G.E.L.F.s would soon be mature enough to join the world's population. Humans, for the first time in their long existence on Earth, now had to share the world with other sentient life forms. It was a media event unlike any other in human history. Religious leaders, politicians, civil rights organizations, scientists, ethicists, philosophers, pundits of every kind, all waded into the discussions--and arguments--with questions, demands, condemnations, conspiracy theories, and more. When it was learned that the possibility existed of G.E.L.F.s being able to interbreed with humans, then a new--and more dangerous--element entered the picture: racial purists[2]. And the poor G.E.L.F.s were caught in the middle of it all.

Lupina and the other G.E.L.F.s had been keeping up on the news, both on TV and on the Internet, and they had received extensive training in human culture before their relocation. When they arrived at the Dallas-Ft.Worth airport, they got their first taste of what they would have to deal with. The reactions of the humans ran the gamut of funny to terrible. Some people thought they were "fursuiters"--people who dress up in anthropomorphic animal suits--as some sort of publicity stunt, others scurried away from them in fear, and some were downright hostile. The airlines at first didn't want them on the planes because "animals were not allowed" unless they could fit into pet crates and be put into the cargo hold. It took a flurry of telephone calls, legal finagling, and a quick court order for the G.E.L.F.s to be allowed onto the planes with the other passengers. Unfortunately, a few humans made a big to-do over sharing the plane with them, and demanded to be put on other flights.

Lupina tried to ignore the looks she got from the other passengers and even the flight attendants. She could sense the fear in some, and of course could hear the various things being said about her. The humans didn't realize how sensitive her hearing was. She kept to herself as much as possible, only speaking when directly asked a question, or when she needed to get up to make a trip to the restroom at the back of the plane. On one leg of her trip, when the meal was being served, one of the flight attendants pointedly ignored her by giving a meal to everyone else but her. When Lupina asked one of the other flight attendants about getting something to eat, she was given a small packet of peanuts. Lupina looked woefully at the peanuts, dropping her ears in resignation, and quietly slipped the packet into her coat pocket for later. It proved to be a long trip from Dallas-Ft.Worth, to Denver, Sea-Tac, and on to Fairbanks International. By the time she arrived at her destination, her stomach was grumbling, so she found a sandwich shop in the airport and used a little of the money she had been given by The Center to get something to eat. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

It was a typical late September day in Fairbanks, AK, when she arrived; the afternoon high had been around 10° C[3]. There was a brief snow flurry early in the morning, though not much accumulation and the clouds were still hanging around. Winter comes early in this part of the world, and can be downright brutal with temperatures plunging down to minus 40° C and colder--exposed skin will freeze in seconds.

After catching a shuttle van to the hotel and getting checked in for the night, she went through the information packet and pulled out the sheet with the phone number of the rental agency that she was to call about getting a place to stay. Programming the number into the cell phone she was given took a bit of doing since the keypad wasn't exactly made for hands like hers, which were somewhere between that of a wolf's paw and a human's hand. The pads on her fingers were a little too large for the keys, so she ended up carefully using a claw to punch in the number. That task accomplished after a few tries, Lupina decided that a nice warm shower was in order, so she happily took off the special shoes she wore and rubbed her paws. She still wasn't used to wearing shoes, even if they were especially designed for those with digitigrade feet. After peeling out of her clothing, she stepped into the bathroom and got the water going for her shower.

"Ah, that feels sooo good...!" Lupina said aloud to herself as the warm water soaked into her fur. She was already getting her winter coat in, so it took a bit more shampoo to get it all properly cleaned...and it took longer to dry, even with the use of the room's hair drier. Once Lupina was finished brushing her fur, her stomach decided to remind her that she was still hungry. "Well, I guess I could splurge a little and get a pizza." She picked up the phone book and dialed the number for a local pizza restaurant. "Hi. I'd like to get a large meat lover's pizza, pan crust, delivered to room 218 at the Holiday Inn Express. How much will that be? Okay. About how long? Okay, that'll be fine. Thank you." Satisfied with her order, she hung up and turned the TV on to see what there was available to watch. There wasn't much on that she was interested in, so she turned the TV off and fished a book out of her suitcase to read. The book was well worn, one of a set of three, that she had read several times all the way through. "I bet the guy who wrote this must be pretty interesting. I'd love to meet him someday. I hope...nah, I'd never get to meet anyone famous, let alone be allowed to get anywhere close to them," she said with a sigh.

After about an hour, the pizza delivery guy finally arrived with her order. When she opened the door to her room, the young man was startled to see the face of a wolf looking him in the eye. "Geez, sorry...um...lady? I didn't know one of your kind...was, um, up in these parts," he said rather uncertainly. Lupina's expression went from an ears forward look of anticipation, to one of an ears lowered look of disappointment. "Um, no offense...I mean, you're just the first G.E.L.F. I've seen. Oh, yeah...here's your pizza, one large meat lover's." He opened up the insulated case holding the pizza and handed it to her. Lupina gave the young man her payment, trying hard not to drool at the smell of the food. "Th-thank you, ma'am. Have a good evening," he said as he put the money in his pocket and hurried off. She gave a quick look down the hallway at the delivery guy, shook her head, and quietly shut and locked the door to her room.

As she lifted the first slice of pizza to her mouth, she paused and savored the aroma, easily able to pick out the different seasonings used. "M-m-m...sweet basil, oregano...and pepper? What's with the human obsession with pepper? They put it in everything!" Lupina wrinkled her nose and thought back to the cooks at The Center who prepared the meals for the G.E.L.F.s. Black pepper, and even jalapenos, were put into so many of the foods...until the G.E.L.F.s got the point across rather firmly to stop spicing the food so much. One of the skunks got so disgusted with the amount of pepper the cooks used that he gave them an idea of just how strong the seasoning was to the G.E.L.F.s--by spraying them. That prompted a bit of an uproar, with nearly everyone throwing their trays across the serving line. A mastiff male flung his tray so hard that it embedded itself into the wall. Naturally, Security ended up getting involved, though when it was over, management got quite an earful. Somehow, the Dietary Department failed to understand how acute the G.E.L.F.s senses are, and were serving Tex-Mex style meals that were way too much for the G.E.L.F.s to handle. The biologists had to sit the dieticians down and explain that just among the wolf G.E.L.F.s, their noses were one hundred seventeen times more sensitive than a human's, and they'd better tone down the seasonings to a bare minimum--and leave the hot stuff out entirely. "To you, a hamburger smells like a hamburger, but to these folks, they smell each and every thing you put on that hamburger. They can tell--just by smell--if the bun is white or wheat, if it has sesame seeds or not, and whatever else was put on it," a senior biologist by the name of Dr. Darcy Nemeth told the cooks.

Lupina could have easily downed the entire large pizza, but she decided to only eat half of it now, and put the rest in the little refrigerator in the room for tomorrow. She had thought about stepping outside for a while and walking around a little, but it was dark and it had been a long, trying day, so Lupina ended up turning out the lights and crawling into bed. Several times, she was awakened by sounds made by other people staying in the hotel--slamming doors, kids running up and down the hallways, people talking, even one person who was snoring...two rooms down. Lupina put the second pillow on the bed over her head to try to muffle the sounds enough so that she could get some sleep. Eventually, things quieted down enough and she drifted off.

When she woke up the next morning, Lupina didn't see any daylight coming around the curtains over the room's window, so she grabbed her watch and pushed the button to light up the display. "08:17 a.m." it said. She started to get up, but then noticed the time on the little alarm clock on the nightstand. "05:17 a.m." "Argh!" she exclaimed quietly and plopped back down on the bed. "I forgot the time difference," she moaned to herself. The breakfast buffet wouldn't start until 06:00 a.m., so she had some time to figure out what to do with. Lupina turned the TV on real low and scanned through the channels. Between the mindless infomercials and shopping channels, she stopped on a 24-hour news channel while she gave her fur another brushing. Most was just the usual drivel about stock markets and business related news at this hour...but then, across the bottom, in the side-scrolling news headline ticker, there was one little item that caught her eye: "G.E.L.F. found beaten by homeless man, story on the half hour." She flattened her ears back and thought aloud, "I wonder who it is." The next ten minutes seemed to drag on while she waited for the clock to read "05:30 a.m." When it finally got around to the story, the details seemed a bit sketchy. Apparently, a homeless guy in Chicago was making his rounds and found the G.E.L.F. next to a dumpster, badly beaten. Luckily, for the G.E.L.F., the homeless man was a veteran[4] and carried him to a nearby convenience store where the attending clerk called 9-1-1. They showed a brief picture of the G.E.L.F.--Lupina gasped as she recognized the face. "Oh, my...Willie! No!" Willie is a likeable, happy-go-lucky mouse G.E.L.F., who has a knack for playing a violin, and was hoping to audition for a spot with an orchestra. He played some wondrous tunes he wrote himself whenever they had a music night at The Center, and Lupina always enjoyed his particular playing style. "Oh, I hope he's going to be okay!" she nearly whispered.

While she got dressed in a pair of comfortable pants, a flannel shirt, and her shoes, she thought about Willie, as well as the other G.E.L.F.s, and how they are faring. At 06:00 a.m., Lupina slipped out into the hallway and headed down to the little breakfast area adjacent to the gift shop. There weren't many people there right as the hotel staff was setting out the free breakfast buffet, just a business traveler, and an elderly couple. The businessman looked up from reading his paper and stared at Lupina for a few moments, before returning to the article he was reading. The elderly couple seemed rather surprised, though she could tell that they didn't seem particularly afraid. Lupina picked up a plate and loaded up on sausage links, eggs, a large muffin, some coffee, and a bottle of water. She took a seat near the windows where she could both look outside and also see the TV that was in the corner. As luck would have it, the TV was on the 24-hour news channel. She watched to see if there were any further developments in the story about Willie, though there was nothing new as of yet. The elderly couple watched as Lupina saw again the news segment about her fellow G.E.L.F., and they saw her expression when his face was briefly shown. Although she could hear what they were quietly discussing among themselves as she ate her food, Lupina's mind was thousands of kilometers away. The businessman finished his paper and left to go back to his room, giving her one more quick stare in the process.

After a minute or so, the elderly woman spoke, "Excuse me, miss? We couldn't help but to notice...that one on the TV, do you know him?"

"Yes ma'am, his name is Willie...he's a gifted violin player," Lupina replied quietly.

The elderly couple exchanged a quick glance at each other. "We're sorry to hear about your friend. It's a good thing that man came along when he did and got your friend to help. Those big cities just aren't safe for anyone!" the woman said apologetically.

"Are you new around here?" the man asked politely.

"Yes sir, I just flew in last night. And you?"

"Oh we came up from Bozeman, Montana to see our son Jimmy and his family. His unit is coming back today from deployment overseas, so Carla and the grandkids are going to come by and pick us up this morning," the man said with a grin. Lupina remembered from the information sheet about Fairbanks that there are two military bases nearby.

Noticing the wistful look on Lupina's face, the older woman asked, "Do you have any family?"

Lupina dropped her ears and looked down at the table, for a moment, and replied, "No ma'am. I-I'm a '1G'."

They got a confused look on their faces and the man asked, "'1G'? What does that mean?"

"First generation, the first of our kind," Lupina replied quietly, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry hon...I didn't know," the older woman apologized.

"That's okay, I guess everything has a beginning," Lupina smiled a little.

After a few awkward moments, the elderly man patted his wife's arm and said, "Come on dear, I think we've taken enough of this young lady's time. We need to go get ready, got a big day ahead of us."

"Oh, okay. Well, it was nice meeting you. My name is Doris, by the way, and this is my husband, James," the elderly woman said as they slowly got up.

"I'm Lupina, and it was nice meeting you, too."

"That's a pretty name. It's derived from the Latin name for wolf, isn't it?" Doris asked.

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, good luck to you...I'm sure you'll probably need all that you can get. I hope your friend will be okay. I really like violin music," Doris said with look of genuine concern.

"Thank you," Lupina replied giving the elderly couple a little wave.

After they left, she got up and--since there wasn't anyone else around at the moment--got a little more food from the buffet and refilled her coffee cup. After she had finished her breakfast, Lupina went back up to her room and waited until she could start making some telephone calls. Hopefully she could find a cheap place to rent while looking for a job...if anybody would hire her.

When 09:00 a.m. rolled around, Lupina started making some telephone calls to real estate agencies that had rental properties. Some of the places refused to talk to her until she had a job, and some of the listings were just too expensive for her with what money she had to get started with. She had just enough to live on for three months, if she was careful with her expenses. Two of the real estate places agreed to meet with her, so she found the schedule for the city bus and headed out. There was a bus stop not far from the hotel, so she grabbed her purse and a light jacket just in case she might need it, and headed out to wait for the bus. Lupina heard the bus coming from farther away than any human could have, thanks to her keen hearing, so she stepped out to meet it. However, when the bus came, it slowed down and she saw the bus driver look right at her, but then he sped up and kept on going. Lupina stood there in shock and could see several of the passengers look out the windows at her. A few had smug looks on their faces, though the rest seemed indifferent. She stood there until the bus was out of sight, and feeling both sad and disgusted, she called the first real estate office and told them what had happened. "Sorry to hear that ma'am. We only have two people in the office at the moment, and one is with some clients finalizing a sale. When somebody else comes in, maybe I can have them come and pick you up, though I don't know how long that will be," the office lady on the phone said apologetically. "I guess I'll have to walk, then. Could you please give me directions from here to your office?" Lupina asked with a little sigh. After getting the directions and writing them down on a little notebook she had in her purse, Lupina set out on foot to find the real estate office.

The Holiday Inn Express was located in the northeast part of the city, so according to the city street map she had, it would require walking from Merhar to Herb Miller Blvd, down to W Trainor Gate Rd and over to Old Steese Highway, and then take that on into the downtown area. It was going to be a fair bit of walking, so she set off to find the real estate office. With any luck, Lupina thought that she might be able to get there before they went out to lunch. It was a nice fall day, the clouds had broken up overnight, and there was a slight breeze. "Well, at least Nature is going to cooperate with me today," she said aloud as she walked along. It took her over an hour to reach the first real estate office. Along the way, she got some strange looks from the humans she met, but nothing out of the ordinary. Once she got downtown, though, some of the people on the sidewalk moved away, and she could sense the apprehension--if not outright fear--they felt upon seeing her. It is an ability the G.E.L.F.s have, along with superior physical senses, speed, reflexes, agility, endurance, and strength.

She spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon going around to various properties that might be within her range, though Lupina totally struck out with the first agency. If the property owners didn't just outright refuse to rent to her, they would jack the price up to where she couldn't afford the rent, deposit, security fee, or whatever other "over the top" requirement they came up with. Feeling rather depressed, humiliated, and even a bit angry, she tried the second agency. They ran into more of the same, though the agent seemed a lot more sympathetic. At the end of the day, and numerous phone calls, the agent did manage to find one place that not only was the price right, but the property owner didn't have a problem with her being there. He had a small log cabin about nine kilometers north of the city, which he only used during the summer for hunting and fishing. The only downside to it was that it was a "dry" cabin--meaning that it had no running water and no well, though there was a stream nearby. There was also no electricity, either, but it did have oil lamps for light and a fireplace with a cooking grate, and a couple cords of wood. For a small deposit, he would let her stay in the cabin at least until summer, though she would have to replace what she used.

"Well, what do you think?" the agent asked. "It's not much, but maybe it'll be a place to stay for a little while if you don't mind roughing it."

Lupina thought for a moment, considering her options. "The Center paid for two weeks stay in the hotel, so I guess that gives me a little time to try and find something better. If it comes to it, though, I'll have to take it," she replied.

"Okay, I'll tell him that you'll think about it, and in the meantime, I'll keep looking for an apartment or something for you. Hopefully something will turn up soon. It's going to be getting really cold before long, and I'd hate to see you out walking in below zero temps. While I'm sure that fur of yours will help some, you're going to need some really warm clothing," the agent said.

"Yeah, that's on my list of things to do, along with trying to find a job. Do you know where I can print some copies of my résumé?" Lupina asked.

The agent looked around the office and said quietly, "I can print you out some. Do you have it with you?"

Lupina grinned and reached into her purse and pulled out a small flash drive. "It's on here," she said, handing it to the agent.

Since it was late in the day, and already dark out, the agent was kind enough to give Lupina a ride back to the hotel. While she ate the rest of her pizza from the previous night, Lupina went through the room's phone book looking in the business section for camping supply stores for cold weather gear and finding other places that she would need to know. She looked for grocery stores, city offices, and any place that might be a good place to submit a résumé. Later in the evening, she was getting hungry again, so she decided to walk over to the nearby restaurant and--hopefully--they would allow her to eat there. Being that it was a weeknight, and still a little early in the evening, the place wasn't crowded. Taking a seat in a booth along the outside wall, the hostess handed her a menu, asked what she wanted to drink, and then went off to get the coffee and water. The smells in the restaurant were making Lupina even hungrier, and she could feel her saliva glands starting to kick into overdrive. After a few minutes, another young woman, this time with dark hair and light brown skin, came with the coffee and a glass of ice water.

"Hi! I'm Miki; I'll be your server tonight. Ooo, you're a tikaani, aren't you?" Miki asked excitedly.

Lupina gave Miki a puzzled look.

"Oh, it's an Inupiat word that means 'wolf'," Miki said.

"Inupiat?" Lupina asked even more confused.

"The Inupiat are the people native to the north slope of Alaska. That's what I am," she said with a big grin. "I moved down here to take classes at UAF...that's the University of Alaska, Fairbanks."

"Oh, okay. Well, yeah, I guess I am a...," Lupina hesitated as she tried to remember the pronunciation of the word.

"Tikaani." Miki added.

"Yeah, what you said. I'm Lupina, by the way," she said holding out her hand.

Miki shook it and said, "Nice to meet you. Are you going to be going to school up here?"

"No, I already have a B.S. degree in Computer Science. I was relocated here because...it might be easier to 'fit in', though it's proving to be a bit more difficult than I hoped," Lupina replied, lowering her ears a little.

Miki's face softened a bit and very quietly, she said, "I know what you mean." After a moment, and at a more normal level, she asked, "What can I get for you this evening?"

Lupina gave Miki her order, who said, "Okay! I'll get that in for you!" and then she headed off to enter the order into the computer POS system.

After about twenty minutes or so, Miki returned with Lupina's meal. "Here ya go! Rib eye steak, rare, baked potato with the works, cup of beef vegetable soup, and side salad with ranch. Can I get you anything else? More coffee?"

"M-m-m, it smells gooood! Sure, I'll take a refill on that," Lupina said with a grin.

"Okay, I'll be right back with the pot. Regular, right?"

Lupina nodded her head, so Miki went off to fetch the coffee pot. Having a nice, hot meal was quite enjoyable, though Lupina knew that she wouldn't be able to eat out very often unless she could get some work soon. At least the young woman who was her server seemed nice.

When Miki came later with the ticket, she suggested, "Hey, you said you already have your degree...maybe you might check at the university to see if they need any tutors or T.A.s. Might be something to look into."

"Thanks, I'll do that," Lupina agreed.

"Anything else I can get you tonight?" Miki asked.

"Nah, I'm good. Think I'll head on back to my hotel room and read some more," Lupina replied.

She went on to tell about the book series she was rereading for the umpteenth time, and how she wished that she could meet the author some day.

"Ooo, I love those books! You know the guy who wrote them lives around here. You just might bump into him eventually. A girl in one of my classes said that she's seen him at a coffee shop downtown," Miki said.

Lupina's ears perked up at that.

"Oops, I've got another table, looks like. Just pay me whenever you're ready to go," Miki said as she laid the little black folder with the bill on the table, and then she scurried off to see her newest arrivals.

Lupina opened up the folder and looked at the damage. $24.38 with tax. She winced at the price, though she made sure to leave an appropriate tip. On the back of the customer copy, she saw a hand-written note that said, "Nice meeting you! Hope to see you around. -Miki" Under the words was an e-mail address ending with ".edu", Miki's student e-mail address at the university.

Lupina spent the rest of the week putting in applications, checking in with the real estate agent, and putting ads up for tutoring college students in Computer Science. Over the weekend, she went around doing a little shopping for things she needed, and looked at prices for sleeping bags and cold weather clothing. She was shocked by the high prices of everything, but then she remembered that it was the cost of being in such an out-of-the-way place. "If I don't find a place soon, I'm going to have to take that cabin. It doesn't seem like anyone wants to let me rent a place that I can afford. Geez, what's wrong with these people? The only reason why the others and I even exist is because some idiot humans couldn't resist tinkering with their chemistry set, and now they act as if we're monsters or something! Ooo, I wish that idiot Mary Shelly never wrote that stupid book!" Lupina thought to herself as she walked along. On Sunday, she met Miki downtown in the early afternoon for coffee and a sandwich. They spent a couple of hours talking and having a good time, until Miki had to go back to her dorm room to work on some homework.

The second week that she was in town, Lupina kept looking for whatever kind of work she could get, and also trying to find someplace that at least had running water available. She only had until the following Monday to find some place before she would either have to pay for extra time for the room, or be out on the streets. By that Thursday, the prospects were looking rather dim. She got in touch with the real estate agent and arranged to go out and look at the hunting cabin. It turned out to be at least nine kilometers out of town, and it was small--just a tiny one-room cabin, hardly 2.5m by 5m. It had one window in the front next to the door, a stonework fireplace at the back, an old cot, a small table and a couple of folding chairs, a footlocker for storage, a big washtub, and a cast iron kettle for heating water.

"Doesn't this just look...cozy," Lupina said quietly with a bit of sarcasm tossed in.

"Definitely not a luxury home, that's for sure," the agent agreed.

"I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Lupina asked. Before the agent could reply, Lupina added, "It's ironic, isn't it? I get created by humans, only to be relegated to living alone in a doghouse out in the boonies...and I'm a wolf! I'll probably end up having half the state trying to burn me at the stake, and the other half wanting my hide for a rug or something." Lupina hung her head in a look of growing despair.

The real estate agent took Lupina by the hands and said, "We humans started out with a lot less than this. You've got a bit of a head start--you're starting out with a lot more smarts, and know-how than we first had when our ancient ancestors[5] left Africa millions of years ago. I read something once that said wolves taught early humans how to work together and how to care for something other than their own selves. Somewhere along the way, maybe we forgot that. Maybe it's time for a wolf to teach us again."

With no other immediately available option, Lupina settled for the cabin, even though it was going to be a hardship. On Sunday of the second week, she met Miki at the coffee shop and told her about the cabin.

"Geez, it sounds like you're gonna be roughing it for a while out there," Miki said rather concerned. "I hope you can find something else before it really gets cold...and it will, believe me. And you're not going to be able to keep your phone charged, either."

"I've got one of those external battery packs that will recharge my phone several times, so that might not be too much of a problem, at least for a while. But, yeah, I know it's going to get cold, and I can't afford much until I can find a job somewhere...if anyone will hire me," Lupina said. "I have to be checked out of the hotel by 11:00 a.m. on Monday, so I guess I'll have to lug my suitcase all the way out there."

"I've got an hour and a half between a couple of my classes then, I can swing by and pick you up and drive you out there, maybe get something to eat along the way. I can come out after my last class and bring you into town for shopping," Miki suggested.

"That would be really nice of you, Miki, but don't you have to work tomorrow?" Lupina asked.

"I work six to close, and my last class is over at four, so we'll have time," Miki replied cheerfully. With those arrangements made, Lupina and Miki finished their drinks and headed back to the hotel.

Miki arrived at about quarter after eleven a.m. and helped Lupina get her things loaded into the back of her SUV. They stopped at a restaurant that had a lunch buffet and ate, and then headed out to the cabin where Lupina would be staying.

"You're right, it's not very big," Miki quipped when they got inside, "but at least you don't have noisy neighbors."

"I'm going to be jumping at every little sound wondering what it is," Lupina said, shaking her head.

"Haven't you ever gone camping before?" Miki asked.

"No, this is the first time any of us have been outside of The Center. Having to rely on your instincts is fine for some things, but for other things it's not very practical...like, how do you get a fire going?"

Miki looked quizzically at Lupina for a moment, and then said, "At least I can help you with that. It's part of Inupiat culture that the women are responsible for the hearth, so I learned a long time ago how to start a fire and keep it going. I have just enough time before I gotta leave to get one going for you. Come on, let's bring some of that wood in and I'll give you a quick lesson on how to start one."

After Miki got a fire going, she hurried off to her next class at the university. Lupina, for lack of anything better to do, set about giving the place a thorough cleaning. By the time Miki came back after her classes, Lupina had the place a little more presentable. Miki was rather helpful in pointing out what would be best to have on hand since there was no electricity for a refrigerator at the cabin. The daytime temperatures were hovering around 10° C and the nighttime temperatures were dipping down to freezing. After picking up some necessary supplies, they got a cheap sleeping bag, some blankets, and some lamp oil, before heading back. Once everything was situated, and Miki was sure Lupina was set for the evening, she took off so that she could make it to work on time. Lupina stood outside and waved as Miki drove off towards the main road. When the SUV was out of sight, Lupina woefully looked in the direction her new friend had gone. This was a new feeling for her, and she wasn't sure how she was going to cope with it. It's not a situation that any wolf, whether four-legged or G.E.L.F., would ever want to be in.

"I'm all alone."

Chapter 2: https://www.sofurry.com/view/490624

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[1]G.E.L.F. - Genetically Engineered Life Form.

[2]"Racial purists" in this setting refer to the humans who are adamantly opposed to humans and G.E.L.F.s creating hybrid offspring, so that the human race can be kept "pure" and not mixed with "animals" (even though humans are taxonomically part of the kingdom Animalia).

[3]In this alternate reality Earth, the United States of America uses the metric system like the rest of the world.

[4]Military personnel have a long history of carrying wounded to safety. The veteran viewed the situation as still being potentially "hostile" (the thugs could return to finish the job), and a "man" was down, so he did as he had been trained, and carried Willie to safety.

[5]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations