Part 12

January 21, 2155
Twenty-four days later.

Tira was shocked awake by Tika's almost incoherent scream for help coming from the cub's den. She scrambled around to it in a panic, and ducked inside with her screen on maximum brightness.

Tika was shaking and sweating heavily, covered in blood from the waist down, crouching hugging herself and staring in horror at the puddle of blood beneath her on the sleeping fur. "I hurt everywhere!" she moaned, her teeth chattering. "And I am bleeding heavily! I must have been for a while, the pain just woke me!"

"Med flyer, emergency!" Tira barked, holding the call icon on her screen.

"Where are you bleeding from?" she asked her daughter.

"My flower!" Tika chattered.

"What happened?" Tira asked, wrapping a clean fur around her daughter.

"I do not know!" Pina told her, looking scared for her friend. "She was fine when we went to sleep!"

Tira ducked out of the den with Tika cradled in her arms. The rest of the group, save Davdan who had slept at the Enclave house, quickly emerged from the dens to see what was wrong.

"Tika is sick." Tira explained tensely. "Severe muscle pain, shaking, sweating, and severe bleeding from her vagina."

"And ... UUHHhhh ... And abdominal cramps. And nausea." Tika chattered.

"Those just started?" Tira asked, to which Tika nodded.

Everyone involuntarily stepped back a bit.

"Gods!" Jela breathed, feeling some fear. "No one has had a disease in the whole zone for more than a decade! What could it be?"

"I do not know." Tira answered. "One of you please call the med and tell them the symptoms. See if Beth can be there when we arrive. And find out how long the damn flyer will be!"

Jela made the call. "It will be here in less than two minutes. Beth has been called in." she said when she ended it.

"Can I come in the flyer with you?" Pina asked.

"No. Only I will be permitted, as her mother." Tira said. "Run to the Enclave house and take the tube. Order the car now, before you go, and you will only arrive moments behind us."

Pina took out her screen and took off running, calling the tube Authority as she ran.

Raz, Naz, Jena, and Jela took off after her. "I will bring Davdan!" Naz called over his shoulder.

Menak stayed, hugging both Tira and Tika supportively.

Soon the sound of the approaching flyer was heard, then its lights were seen.

"I will meet you at the med." Menak told Tira as the flyer appeared over the treetops. She nodded, and he gave her one more gentle squeeze before leaving at a run.

Tika's bleeding had almost stopped when they reached the med, but she still continued to suffer the rest of her symptoms forty minutes later, after she had been thoroughly cleaned, examined and scanned, and had her blood taken. Tira sat with her as she lay on her side on the hospital bed in the fetal position, curled tightly around her pain.

Twenty minutes after that, Tika slowly started to uncurl.

"How are you?" Tira gently asked.

"It is getting better." Tika answered. Two minutes later, she sat up. "It is gone." she stated in relief. "Except for the aching everywhere, it is over."

"Good, good. Just lay down and relax." Tira soothed, encouraging her to do so with gentle touches.

Tika did, and three minutes later she fell into an exhausted sleep.

Tira called the desk, and spoke quietly. "She has lost consciousness, but I think she is just asleep. She said the symptoms had stopped just before that, except for the body aches."

A few minutes later, one Med held the door, while Beth wheeled a large device into the room. Working almost silently, she set it beside Tika's bed, unfolded an arm of it and positioned it over Tika and lightly contacting her, then gently slid a white, flat object a quarter of an inch thick under Tika's lower abdomen, beneath the bottom bed sheet.

"What is that?" Tira whispered.

"Micro-phased ultrasound scanner." was Beth's whispered reply. "It's not as accurate as the M.R.I., but I can use it here without waking her up, and I only need a confirmation scan."

"You know what is wrong?" Tira whispered tensely.

"I think so. I think she'll be okay, too. I'll know for sure in a few minutes." Beth replied, looking at a screen on the machine and adjusting settings.

She pressed a button and the machine hummed softly for a moment. She then folded it back up and gently slid the white material from beneath Tika. She signaled for the other Med, who returned to hold the door again as she wheeled the machine out.

Five minutes later Beth opened the door enough to smile at Tira and wave her out to the hall.

"She's going to be fine." Beth said when Tira had joined her in the corridor. "I know this is gonna sound pretty bizarre, but Tika has just entered puberty. She's just had her first period. The bleeding was just normal menstruation."

"She is having her period?" Tira asked in amazement. "How can that be? The bleeding is so heavy!"

"No, she's not having her period, she's already had it!" Beth clarified. "She seems to have gotten the whole thing over with in just over an hour! The bleeding seems so heavy, only because it happened over such a short time, but that's all of it already. From what I can judge from the recording of her sleeping fur and the report from Joe in the flyer, it's not an excessive amount for a girl her size, it's just that it happened all at once, and it looked like more because she spread it around some in her sleep before she woke up. But there won't be any more bleeding until her next cycle. The same applies to the cramping and nausea. It seems bad, until you realize that she seems to have experienced in an hour what the rest of us have to put up with for days! It's really very incredible!"

"But what about the body aches?" Tira asked. "Even her feet and hands hurt."

"Just normal growing pains, apparently triggered by her period. You know, she's grown over a third of an inch in the six days since I saw her last." Beth explained.

"You are sure?" Tira asked uncertainly.

"I'm positive." Beth assured her. "You have nothing to worry about. A little ordinary acetaminophen or ibuprofen should take care of the growing pains. We'll start monitoring her in three weeks, and when her next period occurs, we'll be prepared, and it'll probably follow a more normal pattern. It'll be no problem though, even if it's the same as this one, because we'll be ready to treat her symptoms as soon as they begin."

"Thank the Gods! And thank you!" Tira quietly exclaimed in relief, and she and Beth shared a hug.

"Of course, I've been informed of the study of her by Rupinder Chandras, because I'm her official family doctor." Beth told her as they released their hug. "So I know how unique she is, and that she's been genetically engineered. So everything I've said about her depends or her not showing another strong deviation from the norm, which she might.

"The rest of your group's in the lobby, waiting for news."

"Gods! That is right!" Tira exclaimed. "I cannot believe I have forgotten!"

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure they won't." Beth smiled. "When a mother thinks her child is in danger, everything else comes a distant second. Everyone knows that."

"Well. I will go tell them she is okay, and relieve their worries." Tira smiled.

"Will you want to stay here tonight? I can have a cot set up beside Tika's bed if you'd like."

"Thank you, I will." Tira smiled, and with one last warm handclasp, she hurried to tell the others the good news.

February 14th, 2154 Twenty four days later.

Tika sat on a log by the firepit beside Davdan, watching Tira and Menak sparring each other, idly flipping her big fighting knife in the air with a few spins and catching it. She did not look at her knife while she did so. When she had first begun doing this a few days earlier, it had seemed a bit eerie to the others, but they were used to it now. It was early afternoon, on another hot, clear day.

Suddenly she jumped up and began pacing toward the fighters, yelling loud enough that they were interrupted, and stopped fighting to look at her. "Ahhh! That is it! I cannot stand it any more! Do you two wish to win the Grande Championship, or do you not?" she cried, throwing her hands in the air in disgust and frustration, then continuing before they could respond.

"Because the way you are going now, neither of you have a hope of advancing beyond the round of thirty-two! Ask Davdan, I am sure she will agree with me!"

"Davdan?" Tira asked.

"She is right." Davdan nodded. "With the improvement you are both showing, you should both place in the lower third of the pack going into the round of thirty-two. But it is unlikely that you will advance beyond it. Statistically speaking, and the highly random nature of tournaments notwithstanding."

"Well, that is good news to me!" Tira laughed, surprised at Tika's uncharacteristic outburst. "To finish ranked at thirty two-among all fighters at the Grande tournament is far better than I had truly hoped for!"

"Or I." Menak agreed.

"But you could win! Either of you could win, do you not see that?!!" Tika yelled, jumping up and down a bit in her frustration.

Tira and Menak were again taken aback at this, and had no response.

"Not without completely changing the style of their fighting, and the habits of a lifetime." Davdan stated, shaking her head.

"Yes, exactly!" Tika yelled. "Their fighting style is so stupid!"

"TIKA!" Davdan barked. "You are approaching serious disrespect!"

Tika took a pair of deep breaths, trying to calm herself, and continued in a calmer, though still animated tone. "Look, Menak. You are a big, strong man. I am sure if you had been born a tech or an Elephant man, you would already be World Champion at unarmed combat, because that is the way you fight. You like to kick and punch, and only about forty percent of your strikes use your knife. If no one at the tournament had ever seen you fight, you might surprise some people with punches and kicks, but this will not work because everyone has seen you fight! It is the knife, Menak, that makes our whole lifestyle work! Few are bullied, because any child can kill you with a knife! The knife negates most of the advantages of size and strength, and brings a greater level of equality! Your body is covered in scars, because you do not pay enough attention to the knife! You could be the strongest person in the world, and it does you no good if you are not fast enough to avoid your opponent's knife! And you do not use your own knife because you are squeamish! You are reluctant to stab someone for a fourth level injury, and it inhibits your use of your knife, even to inflict lesser wounds! Yet you have no problem with kicking your opponent's abdomen hard enough to mash their organs!

"And Tira-Mother, since these people have been here, you have started using some stupid fighting style I have never seen you use before!"

Again Tira was taken aback, but Davdan spoke. "Again you go too far, child! She uses the same fighting style she has used her entire life!"

Tika was now the one taken aback, standing angrily and thinking for a moment before responding. "Alright, I had not thought of that. You are right; it is the fighting style she used in recordings I have watched of her fights before I was born.

"But that is not the fighting style she used when she fought with me! The style she used to beat me every time except twice until two months ago, and used to beat Paginna soundly in her first challenge in eight years! Then, I did not fight with strategy, and she did, so she forced me down the path she wished, and beat me almost every time!

"Now I fight with strategy, and she cannot beat me, and it seems she has decided that since she can no longer beat me with her strategy, she will abandon it almost completely!

"Her skills are improving quickly, but she no longer fights with her mind like she did against me when it was effective! Even in her fight with Paginna, she was thinking far better than she is now!"

There was silence for a few moments, as the adults considered what she said.

Finally Davdan spoke. "You know, I think she is right. I think I have contributed to this. Since I have been here and resumed some part in your training, it may have influenced you to resume the style you used when I was training you before.

"And Menak, there is some truth in what she says. It is your style, but it has its weaknesses, as well as its strengths."

"I am not convinced." Tira said, feeling the unfamiliar emotion of becoming angry with Tika's behavior. "The strategies I used against you worked because I knew your every move," she told her daughter, "And they worked against Paginna because she fights with no conscious strategy at all. Neither did you. Against most fighters at the Grande Tournament, I think I am better off to trust my instincts."

"No, I am sure you are wrong!" Tika insisted in frustration. "You needed to know my every move for it to work against me, only because I think so fast! Against anyone else except those with the Quickness gift, you can use your skill at attacking when the judge has only started to say the word 'begin' to force their first move! From there you can push them down your path, no matter who they are! And if you study the characteristic first moves of those with the Quickness gift, it will work against them too! If you had trusted in this truth more strongly at the time, you could have beaten Paginna without taking a scratch!"

Again there was silence, and even Tira began to think she might be right.

Then Menak spoke to Tika. "And if you are right, what should we do?"

"Let me be your fighting trainer for one week. Both of you. Then, if you do not think I am helping you, I will stop, and I promise I will never say anything bad about your fighting ever again." Tika proposed intensely, almost like she was trying to force Menak's agreement by sheer force of will.

"I see. And how would you train us?" Menak asked.

"I would put you on an exercise program that will increase your quickness. We will train on the subject of strategy, especially chain-of-events analysis. And I will Training Fight with you a lot. As Tira-Mother once said to me, I will not injure you, and I will not let you injure me, but I will hurt you, and if you do not fight hard, it will hurt a lot."

Menak's eyes narrowed, smoldering in anger. "That is it. I will admit you have defeated me every time, and it has not been easy to take. But if you truly believe that you could let me fight you with all my skill, while you try not to injure me, without taking an injury yourself, you are a fool."

"A FOOL? I AM A FOOL?!!" Tika screamed. "I will tell you Menak, I have been sluffing, so I would not hurt your feelings!!! I could have beaten you far more quickly than I have! If you let me train you till the tournament, you could give me an interesting fight, but you could still not beat me, because you are too slow!!! And right now, I could beat you every time, without even drawing my knife!!!"

"Now you are being stupid." Menak growled.

"DO YOU THINK SO?!!! DO YOU REALLY THINK SO?!!!" Tika screamed in rage, spittle flying from her mouth. She threw her knife at one of the sitting logs twenty feet away, burying five inches of blade in the wood. "I CHALLENGE YOU, MENAK!!! DEFEND YOURSELF!!!"

"I will not draw my knife against you, if you will not draw yours." Menak stated coldly.

Tika bounced into range and slapped him across the face, an incredibly fast roundhouse blow with all her strength. Though open-handed, it snapped his head around and stunned him. "DEFEND YOURSELF!!! she screamed.

"TIKA!" Tira barked, shocked at her daughter's behavior.

"I AM WITHIN MY RIGHTS!!! DEFEND YOURSELF, OR I KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!!!" Tika screamed, shaking with rage.

There was a long moment of silence as Menak shook the stars from his eyes, then Davdan spoke. "If I were you, Menak, I would prepare to defend myself. There will be no judgment against her if she kills you."

A moment later, Menak responded in a growl, drawing his knife. "Fine. Call the med. If this child wishes to learn a lesson, I will teach it to her. I am ready."

"READY!" Tika screamed, taking a step back from him.

Tira reached for her screen to call the med, her heart pounding in her throat with an almost paralyzing fear for her loved ones.

"Begin!" Davdan called.

Tika made a point of waiting until Davdan had finished saying it, then took two quick, running steps and jumped up toward Menak. She turned to her left in the air, her right foot lashing out to strike the fingers of Menak's knife hand with the edge of her foot, knocking the knife cleanly from his hand, while her left elbow lashed backwards to block hard against the inside of his left forearm. She struck him in the upper chest with her right hip with all her momentum behind it, knocking him heavily backwards to the ground. She landed on him a fraction of a second later, most of her weight hitting him over the sternum, further knocking the wind out of him. She immediately jammed her knee in his throat while grasping his hair with both hands, and started viciously choking him out.

He frantically tapped out on the ground with his hand, and she released the pressure at his throat.

The med answered Tira's call on the first ring, but the fight was already over with no injuries. "Never mind." Tira said, and broke the connection, staring at the combatants in shock.

Tika stood over Menak as he gasped for breath and rubbed his throat. "Menak, I am sorry if it hurts your pride to take instruction from a child." she stated calmly. "But think about it. Trust me. I can get you into the round of eight for sure, and give you a real chance to be Grande Champion. And it will be your last chance. I will not fight in this next Grande Tournament, but after I am tested, they will have to let me fight in the one after that. I will make sure of it, somehow. And I will not lose for a long time."

She turned and looked to Davdan, then to Tira. "The same is true of you, Tira-Mother. At least the round of eight, perhaps the Grande Championship, and your only chance at it."