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Revealed: Chapter 12

Krauss had finally come out of the morgue where he had moved the body of his brother. His eyes were bleary and bloodshot and even Dog didn't have to tell me that the pungent smell radiating off of him was that of sorrow. Walking limply into the cafeteria where Teresa and I had moved out conversation, he and his two remaining brothers silently got their food from a dispensary and sat in the far side of the room where they wouldn't be bothered.

I watched them with half an eye. I was going to have to confront him eventually, when he seemed a bit more stable. Maybe if I could catch him alone where his other brothers wouldn't get in the way either. The way they followed him around was somewhat disconcerting. I hadn't heard them say anything. Made me wonder how much of their former selves they kept.

'Their pack mentality is what's controlling them at the moment.' Dog said casually. 'Even if they retained much of their former identity, the pack mentality is dominant and suppressing it.'

"Like a primary directive." I actually wasn't entirely sure what that meant. I had read some books about artificial intelligence and computer that Crane had left lying around and it seemed correct by the way it was used.

'I don't know.'

Right, he only knows as much as me. The only reason why he appeared more intelligible is because he had the ability to process the more animalistic information that came in, smells, feelings and such.

"Any suggestions on how to approach this?" I asked.

'Caution.' It was the same thing he kept telling and though it was sound advice, it was old. I was going to need to do some digging, but where? There was no way I was going back to Mars to try and get Dr. Ruse's research, if it was even still there. If it was still there. Chances are, someone had gotten to it already. The fact that the soldiers Jostens sent over where partially transformed was proof that they had much of the late doctor's work.

"Caution it is." I said.

"What was that?" I had entirely forgotten about Teresa. She was sitting on the other side of the table from me eating a plate of spaghetti. "You look like you were doing some serious thinking."

"Yeah I was." I replied. "Trying to figure out what to do with Krauss." Mentioning Dog to her was only going to cause confusion and talking to him was pretty much thinking so what I told her wasn't a lie. It wasn't entirely true, but... technicalities.

She looked over to Krauss. "If he can't perform the duty he was brought he for, then he'll have to leave." She anticipated some kind of opposition from me and held up a hand so she could continue. "Standard business practice. There's no reason to keep him around if he can't keep it together. Sounds harsh, but it's true."

She was right. If he was like this in the Spec Enforcers, a formal investigation would have been launched immediately. That is, unless he was like this and whoever helped him and his brothers had been covering for him the entire time he was in the unit.

"I'll have a talk with him and try to get this whole thing sorted out." I guess that was my job. I had at some point become the go to guy for human/canine relations.

"Better do it quick. That heavy cruiser the US is sending is due here tomorrow and father doesn't like waiting. Knowing him, he's got half a fleet from a dozen other countries committed and will want to leave for Jupiter as soon as possible." She twirled her fork, spinning the spaghetti thoughtlessly as she spoke. It was apparent that she had to deal with her father's way of doing things for a long time as she almost droned about him. "Those Jostens won't know what hit them." She said that with more passion and fire.

"You don't like them either? The Jostens I mean."

The fire in her only intensified. I had started something.

"You have no idea." He nearly stood up in agitation. "They have been a thorn in my family's side for too long. The company may have been started all those centuries ago between friends, but nothing good lasts that long. They've forced their way to the top through scare tactics and less than legal methods." She was almost shouting, but no one in the room took notice. Maybe this wasn't that uncommon. "Now it's time to strike back and push those fucks out." She smiled devilishly, fork and spaghetti raised to the air like some triumphant knight who had just slain the dragon.

I watched half amused at her vigor towards the coming battle. "Calm down before you spill your food." The spaghetti was slowly slipping off of the fork and was moments from falling.

"Hmm?" She snapped out of her glory and stuffed the fork into her mouth ungracefully.

Despite the fact that she was bruiser of a woman, she was actually pretty nice and good company when she wasn't focused on business. What's with me? Magnet for the strangest kind of company. A wise ass who could shoot a fly from across a room, a German who had some secrets that got him and his brothers into one of the most prestigious special operations unit that existed and now a family of trillionaires that were in a feud with another family of trillionaires and was about to cause a micro war over it. Strange company indeed.

"Heads up." Teresa spoke after swallowing. She was looking over to the right. When I looked, it was Krauss. He was walking right for us.

"I guess I'll talk to him now."

"Yeah you will. I'm going to go find my father and see what's going on there. Toodles." She gave a ridiculous wave and made a quick escape before I could say anything.

With potential back up gone, I turned my attention to the wolf. He came over and sat where Teresa was a few moments ago.

"We need to talk." He said straight and clear. Up close I could see that his fur was matted and grungy from lack of care.

"You have a lot to explain." I crossed my arms, sort of glad that he came to me. He left his other two brothers behind which was good. Now that he was here and talking to me, it was much more difficult.

"I'll start from the beginning." He offered and when I didn't object, he went on. "My mother and father are military contractors and did a lot of work for NATO. This allowed them to make a lot of friends in high places. Due to their connections, my brothers and I were inducted into military training at an early age. I, being the oldest was put up for candidacy for officer training. After years of strict schooling and training, my parents pulled even more strings to get us in the same squad in Spec Enforcers. There's a lot more, but that is the jist of everything."

I didn't say anything at first. Although he gave me a very barebones explanation, it was enough for me to start drawing a picture. Classic, mommy and daddy scenario.

"Do your parents still have their hands in the cookie jar?" I asked. I needed to know the extent of the tampering with normal military procedure.

"No. After Mars, I've had no contact with them. I don't know how they will react to their boys being like this and even worse, that one of them is dead." He sighed a bit. "My life is falling apart and everything is moving too fast for me to fix it." Depression, I knew what he was going through. When I first woke up all that time ago, I was alone, confused and depression was always lingering. I got over it and the Krauss I knew was one tough son of a bitch.

"I don't mean to sound harsh but, people die and although mourning is entirely acceptable, you shouldn't linger on them for too long." I focused on him and patted one of his paws that were resting on the table.

Where was Crane? He was more of a people person and always seemed to be able to get my spirits up.

"Easier said than done." He rested his head on the table and looked around the room and then centered on his two brothers. They had their own food and were eating silently. "I don't know what I would do if I lost those two."

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. You were sort of dragged along." I felt guilty for just bringing him along without even asking his opinion. I had automatically assumed he would go along due to some sort of military honor which I carried around. There he was, pulled from the irradiated, thrust into combat and now paying for my actions.

"I've lost too much to pull out now." He said, still looking over at the other table. "I'm committed."

"And them?" I asked.

Krauss looked a bit confused at the question. "Of course. What makes you think they aren't?"

"No offense or anything, but they don't exactly talk." I pointed out. I wasn't entirely sure if it was entirely true, but I definitely hadn't seen them talk.

"You don't hear them?" He asked as if whatever he was trying to say was common knowledge.

"What do you mean? I've never heard them talk since Mars."

He bit his lower lip in concentration as he digested what was going on. "You..." He stopped and looked over at his brothers again. They were looking back at us.

"You know what's going on Dog." I thought.

His presence came back and I could feel that he was just as mystified as me. 'No, this is quite particular. I'm not even entirely sure what he's even getting at.'

"Caution?" I mocked him with an inward smile.

'Ha...' He said sarcastically and went back to wherever he when he wasn't talking to me.

Krauss was tapping his fingers on the table in slight frustration.

"Tell me, what exactly do you hear?" I asked, trying to get to the bottom of this.

"It's... It's like a normal conversation with them. I thought it was normal, but if you can't hear them..."

"I wonder if the medical ward has a scanner. If something is going on in your head and theirs, maybe a scan would show something." It couldn't be telepathy. That was something out of a bad science fiction or fantasy story. Then again, we were turned into walking dogs. What else could have been changed?

"I don't know." He hesitated. "This is all very strange."

I was more curious now that weirded out. Telepathy! How was that even possible? "C'mon. Let's go find out. Plus, there isn't anything else to do until we end up leaving for Jupiter."

Almost perfectly synchronized, Krauss and his two brothers got up as one. I stared at Krauss for a second due to it, but shrugged it off, getting more excited by the second. I felt giddy like Crane.

There was a scanner, albeit not a very powerful one. It was used just to scan for broken bones and internal injuries, but was capable of taking brain scans.

"This is a bit out of the blue." The technician in charge of the scanner said. He was an Oriental looking man with slicked back dark brown hair. Every few minutes he would run his hands through it leaving little contours where his fingers were. He wore a white lab coat over a purple shirt and kakis. "Can't just let anyone use the scanner and if you haven't noticed." He pointed back into the ward where there were a large amount of people. "We are kind of busy here."

"I'm actually interested is seeing this." Mr. Hawthorne walked up behind us. Teresa was with him, but had gone off to talk to the soldier that had been wounded when they retook the entertainment section of the station.

"M.. Mr. Hawthorne." The technician stammered and ran his hands through his hair. "It's an expensive machine to run and we're too busy to..."

"Nonsense. I'm bringing up some of my own from the planet surface since my own people were injured as well and if there is trouble with cost, bill me." He walked over to the machine and began inspecting like just bought it. In a way he just did.

"Ok." The technician raised bother hand a bit in defeat. "I'll get it warmed up." He went over to the machine and began to procedure to turn it on. It made a low hum. It was a large tube with a table in the center with rings the rotated slowly. There was not much more to explain, anything else that was worth noting at the time was hidden under its white glossy shell.

"Who's going first?" he asked and the table slid out so someone could lay on it.

"I guess that would be me." Krauss went over to the table and laid down in it. A few straps automatically came out of the table and held him down. Krauss resisted a bit, nearly pulling the sides off of the table.

"Stop that. You're going to break it." The technician yelled from the console.

"Sorry." Krauss said and held still.

"Now let's start." The table slid into the tube.