Ro took deep pleasure at the fact she had survived. Many of her spiritual siblings were slime and bone fragments long before they could take a first breath. Formless fetal tissue of varying shades. Then came the partials, with piggy snouts, extra appendages and organs that were rejected halfway through their formation. She was the largest measure of the Goering team's success.
Even as a grown woman, she loved getting sick around staff. They panicked easily and babied her endlessly. Her favorite people were the maintenance crew, who were never quite sure how to see her. Was she a lady, an animal, or a circus freak? Maybe all of the above. Her favorite game to play with them was Kitty Cat hairball. She would get on all fours and pretend to wretch. She would keep this up for several minutes, all the while hyperventilating and struggling. Some noob would panic and run to the nearest doctor. One even called the paramedics. That last incident had resulted in a long tongue-lashing from Wells, though not the kind she'd hoped for. She took her risks frequently, and they couldn't tell if she was suicidal or feral.
Dr. Paring, her assigned overseer, was her suspected sperm donor. She resembled him a great deal, except for her deep caramel permatan. He and his wife, Patricia, raised her until the age of 17. Miss Patricia, as Ro called her, was a former colleague of Paring's. When the matter of Ro had reached her eager ears all those years ago, she practically begged Paring to bring her home.
"You can't raise a little girl in a laboratory!" Patricia Paring shuddered at the possibility of a potentially inhumane tragedy. "Let me have her, Marshall. We keep saying we're going to adopt."
Marshall Paring laid out his opinion like a terminal diagnosis. "We don't really know how or if she's going to develop. They played God with no regard for ethics. Her DNA was tampered. She's got an equine vascular system. It's downright obscene. They want this little baby to be a bioengineered athlete. Corporate's probably got an arranged marriage lined up already. The possible complications...if they hadn't made me responsible for her well-being, I'd quit. This little girl could die any day. Maybe right here in our home, Patty."
"Better than a cage, Hal. I could stay home with her. Be Mrs. Soccer Mom. Does she have any special needs that you know of?"
"The nurses say she's very alert, active, and unnaturally strong. Her growth percentages are all a little on the higher end, but everything is within proportion."
"Do you think they'll let you bring her home?"
Dr. Paring sheepishly admitted, "That was the plan."
Patty kissed his cheek and cuddled close to him beneath the sheets.
"We're going to have a baby," she sighed.
Ro Paring was not much for academics, but she excelled, none-the-less. Patricia frequently discovered tricks and cheats to keep little Ro motivated. Like carrots. And apples. And a quick trot around the back yard. At four years of age, Rowena, as she was known, was still being trained to walk upright. Her arms were longer than normal and crawling on all fours was a breeze.
Crunch, went the branches between her toes and fingers The palms of her hands were so thick that they were impervious to scratches. Along with the tactile, outdoor auditory cues we're of great interest to her. The murmur of running water, the subtle throb reverberating through the ground beneath her, the calling of crickets, the singing of birds. All those individual sounds made a more coherent song than the structured melodies that came through Patty's computer speakers. She had become very proficient at animal mimicry and had invited wildlife to her side many times. She had also frightened away small predators. Her hawk's shriek had sent sundry raccoons and foxes scurrying more than once.
When at last she was ready for an education at age six, she was not permitted to attend classes with other children.. The word came down from the CEO himself, which made the decision all the more disturbing. It was becoming more and more apparent that Goering Inc. had intended to isolate little Ro from the rest of the world. Patty and Hal stayed up nights, discussing possible corporate motives and incentives. It was achingly clear that the Parings were the only ones with Ro's best interests in mind.
Comments (0)
See all