Ok, so this one was born out of four or five different ideas that I blended together.  Hopefully, this story smoothie will be appetizing to the palette.

Don't look at me like that, I am hungry and craving a smoothie.  Anyway...  Hope you enjoy it.  Let me know what you think.

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            Eric walked along the almost too smooth edge of the nanocrete street on the edge of Ten Mile park, head ducked low under the hood of the black rain coat.  He was trying to keep the rain out of his eyes with the angle alone, without much success.  Pausing at the corner of an intersection, the seventeen year old paused to wipe the water that collected in his blonde eyelashes off, wishing that, just for once, uniform styles would adapt to the principle of comfort over strict, formal lines, but that was like wishing for the world to stop turning.  Shaking his head and tossing the water droplets off the edge of the hood, the boy looked up at the vehicle that came to a stop in the street ahead of him.  It was a rakish looking dark red SUV, diagonally striped with black, the light bar and insignia marking it as a Warden patrol cruiser and Eric paused to stare for a moment, seeing if he knew the two Wardens in the cab.  Probably not, but one never knew.  The man with sergeant's chevrons on his black sleeves in the passenger seat had pacific islander features, including a truly magnificent tribal tattoo on his neck, the deep crimson beret he wore marking him not only as a Warden, but an Elite.  Feeling Eric's eyes on him, he turned his head to look at him, taking in the similar uniform that the youth wore beneath the issue rain coat.  Eric snapped a salute which the Elite returned with a grave smile before the cruiser drove off, the driver taking it easy on the accelerator so he didn't splash the teenager on the sidewalk.

            The Wardens had been created to be the ultimate solution to public safety concerns, trained and equipped to be somewhere between old style police and military.  The vast majority of them really were like police, responding to emergency calls and diffusing tense situations and so on, but on the few occasions since their founding over a century ago where it had been necessary, they had proven themselves more than capable of switching roles and acting as soldiers instead.  Elite Enforcement Officers, like the sergeant in the car, were somewhat like the old SWAT team members, or maybe closer to Special Forces, depending on the situation.  Eric on the other hand, was only a cadet, one of the student trainees who, if he qualified at the end of his school years, would be able to skip the Academy, entering the Wardens right away.  Of course, considering who his father and older siblings were, he would doubtlessly enter the Wardens whether or not he passed the training courses.  Not that he liked that thought all that much, of course.  He was about to step out into the road and continue on towards school when a familiar voice behind him called out loud enough to be heard over the falling rain.

            “Hey, O'Bannon, wait up!" It called, and Eric turned around to find Jace Leander jogging up the sidewalk behind him.  Eric managed a weary smile at the other boy and complied, waiting for him to come up beside him.  Jace wore the same black, high tech raincoat over his cadet dress uniform that Eric wore, though his dress coat was not so heavily laden with qualification badges.  Out of all the fellow cadets that Eric had met over his time in the program, Jace had been one of the least offensive. Which was a hell of a shame, considering...  “Some weather today, huh?"

            “Yeah, some weather." Eric replied, looking both ways before hurrying across the street with the other cadet beside him.  “Figures it would rain on induction day."

            “You would think, with all the technology around, that they would be able to control the weather by now." Jace said, his bright white teeth standing out in stark contrast to his coal black skin and Eric nodded, his need to reply being cut off by a peel of thunder overhead, marking a fresh deluge of rain and the pair picked up their pace, spotting the school campus up ahead.  Pausing at the next street, the pair waited to cross while a maglev train sped by overhead, right at the height of the second floor.  The protective magnetic field projected ahead of the train to prevent friction from damaging it blew a curious cyclone of water down the tube ahead of it, the rain blowing out to either side in spectacular fashion.  Another field of similar design shielded the pedestrians from the wave while they waited for the system to deactivate.  Pausing to contemplate the other boy for a moment, Eric wondered again just why he bothered to still keep company with him, especially after knowing him for so long.

            He had learned very early in his cadet career, even as far back as the junior program in S school, that his fellows often fell into one of two categories.  There were the ones who knew who his family was and resented the fact that he was there at all, leading them to be fiercely competitive with him in public, going out of their way to prove themselves better than him.  Privately, where the instructors couldn't see, those same kids were cruel and brutal, as if by punishing him for his presence, they could advance their own standing.  A couple of times, that attitude had led to full on fist fights.  Though, one very good thing of being from a family of Wardens was that he had been trained to fight unarmed since he was old enough to walk and talk, so, while he wasn't big enough or strong enough to win outright, he hadn't lost either.  His skill and refusal to back down had at least earned him some respect from his opponents, grudging though it often was.

            Those cadets in the other category were actually worse, at least in his opinion.  They were the ones who knew who his family was, and thus did everything in their power to ingratiate themselves with him, counting on the relationship for future favors and to advance their own eventual careers and standing.  Jace Leander was in the second category, barely; his father was one of the four Warden Commandants who had responsibility for the capitol city, so he was practically guaranteed a successful career in the Wardens whether he was 'friends' with Eric or not.  Though he still did his best to excel in his training, Jace had apparently decided that there was no reason not to have a little insurance.  His attempts at getting into Eric's good graces had been so obvious and awkward though, that it was less annoying than those of the others.  Still, he couldn't really call Leander his friend.  Actually, with bullies on one hand and would-be sycophants on the other, he couldn't call many people his friend, come to think of it.

            Splashing across the road, the two human teens finally set foot on the sidewalk outside the school complex, moving to join the queue of other young adults waiting to enter.  Like with all the other Tertiary schools in the world, each student had to sign in with the security grid, identifying them as being on the school grounds where they were supposed to be, but that was actually the extent of the attendance system.  Whether or not you went to class was up to you, but so was the responsibility of passing the mandatory exams at the end of each grading period.  The philosophy of the tertiary and quaternary schools was that the students were supposed to be adults, or nearly so, and, while they were required to be there, they ought to learn to take responsibility for themselves.  But, the difference between this school and any other T and Q school became starkly obvious the moment the two cadets joined the line.  More than three quarters of the students in line ahead of them were not human.

            Several centuries ago, a new technology had been invented, allowing anyone who choose to, to change literally anything about themselves.  For the first time in history, hair color, eye color, gender, race, even species was up to the individual to define.  At first, it was only a very small community of people who choose that last option, a community to which the creator of the tech belonged, naturally.  The fight over its legality and moral standing had not been as fierce as it might have been though, mainly because the designer of the tech was not only extremely smart, but also very wise.  From the beginning, the inventor of the tech had publicly, and very loudly, marketed the whole thing as a matter of simply allowing people to choose for themselves things that had previously been beyond their control, the ultimate in self-determination, as it were.  Fifty years, and an entire generation with true, free choice later, and almost half of the world's population had chosen to change something about themselves, and more than twenty percent could not even be called human anymore.

            Each successive generation had increased that percentage, not nearly to the same startling extent as the first two of course, right up until the first Ultra Bug hit.  The inevitable result of poorly managed medical resources and dramatic overpopulation, the 'Ultra Bugs' were a series of horrifically lethal diseases that were immune to every treatment that medicine of the time had, and they spread like wildfire.  The nonhumans of the world, with their wildly diverse genetics, were almost completely immune, the diseases unable to even infect them in most cases.  True humans by comparison, who had long since started taking their purity as a matter of extraordinary pride, were practically defenseless against them.  Billions had died, the world's population reeling from one disastrous outbreak to another, humans living with the constant fear of annihilation from something they couldn't even see.

            Now, centuries later, the worldwide population of around a billion people had a little less than five percent of pure humans.  The nonhumans on the other hand, despite the horrible way that humans had been treating them until that point, had done everything they could to help them, volunteering in droves to assist in every area.  Which, in Eric's opinion, made it even more unfortunate that humans had clung together in the wake of the horrific pandemics, clinging all the more strongly to the Elitist ideal that had gotten them in such trouble in the first place.  The idea was so deeply ingrained in the collective psyche of humans by now that no one seemed to question it anymore.  After all, they said, they were still pure, not tainted by other species' DNA, not altered from the way they had been born, though that in itself wasn't strictly true either.  The only way humanity had put an end to the cycle of diseases running rampant was to alter their own DNA so they could no longer be infected, mandating the use of a variant of the technology that had created nonhumans in the first place to do so.  Eventually, at a horrific cost, the Ultra Bugs had run out of hosts.

            “Damn, man, what is the hold up?" another voice said from behind the pair of uniformed teens, snapping Eric out of his musing.  Turning to look at who had spoken, Eric found himself eye to eye with a feline face covered in fur, a handsome pattern of black stripes on orange fur making it obvious that the speaker was a tiger.  The furry face was dripping with rain, but he didn't seem particularly bothered by it, grinning broadly, though keeping his lips closed, covering the sharp predatory fangs in his jaws, making the look not even remotely frightening.  Jace barely glanced back from his position beside Eric, and when he saw who was speaking, he turned his head back front immediately with a look that was almost a sneer on his face.  But Eric, realizing that the feline was looking right at the pair of them, and could therefore only be talking to the humans, shrugged.

            “No idea." He said, half turning back to face the newcomer, who was looking at Jace with a disappointed, but hardly surprised look. “Probably too many people all trying to get through at once."

            “Probably right." The tiger replied, his ears perking up slightly as he extended a paw towards Eric, ignoring Jace the same way Jace was ignoring him. “I'm Cayler.  Nice to meet you."

            “I'm Eric." He replied, taking the paw and shaking it, smiling in return.  The line moved forward a pace, but Eric stood still, allowing the tiger to draw even with him instead of standing with Jace.

            “Well, Eric, I can't say I have met many humans my own age, much less a Warden cadet." Cayler commented, looking at Eric's uniform under the semi transparent coat with interest. “What year are you in?"

            Eric's smile faltered a little at Cayler's comment, unsure how to take it.  Was it a rebuke?  A dare to comment?  He wouldn't have doubted either if the tiger had been human, instead of covered in fur.  The elitist and closed minded attitude of humans had extended, until very recently, to schools, living arrangements and almost everything else.  Eric had spent his primary and secondary education years in human-only schools, both dead center in human-only neighborhoods, specifically those in the rich part of town, though one didn't really have to do with the other.  Well, not really anyway.  It wasn't like it was law or anything that prohibited species living near one another; those laws had gone away long before the ultra diseases even existed.  But, education typically had to do with geography, which, with humans in the capitol city, tended towards the richer parts of the city.  But, after three years at his old T and Q school, Eric's father had thought it politically expedient to send his youngest son to the first integrated T and Q school in the world, which had been billed as the best funded and most advanced school at its level in existence.

            “Final T." He replied, meaning his twelfth year of education.  The Q levels started next year, and ended when one got his or her degree.  As he answered, he watched the golden feline eyes, and instead of the half-hidden, sly looks that he expected, there was nothing other than open and candid curiosity.  The tiger's comment really had been an idle and offhand statement, with no hidden meaning behind it. “How about you?"

            “Same." Cayler replied, his grin spreading. “I guess you have your career all sorted out then, huh?"

            “I guess so." Eric stated, looking down at his uniform. “The Wardens are a family thing.  My real passion is science and tech though, especially the new computer gear."

            “Mine too!!" The tiger exclaimed excitedly, his sodden feline tail raising slightly as his grin brightened and Eric couldn't help but share his eager smile. “Have you seen the new X300 processor sets coming out next month?"  Computer gear followed processors, and games followed gear, until the pair finally got up to the check in gate and swiped their IDs, their schedules and class assignments downloading to their tablets as they were added to the 'Present' tally of students.  Comparing their class schedules, the pair found that they were on the same rotation for lunch and break periods and Cayler clapped Eric on the shoulder as he headed for his first class in the main building.  “Hey, I'll see you at lunch, ok?"

            “Sure thing!" Eric replied, returning the friendly gesture before turning towards the outbuilding marked with the stylized shield and wreath of the Wardens, finding Jace waiting for him at the door.

            “What the hell was that all about?" The other boy asked, surprise and disgust coloring his tone at Eric's behavior towards the nonhuman stranger.

            “What do you mean?" Eric asked, surprised at the vehemence in his tone.  He had never expected reasonable behavior from Jace, but this went a bit far even for him.

            “Getting involved with that... That person." Jace prompted as the pair made their way inside the building, their rain coats instantly shifting pattern on the threshold and becoming completely hydrophobic, the water running off of them into the grating in the floor like they were standing under shower nozzles.

            “'Getting involved?'" Eric replied with disbelief at Jace's phrasing.  Narrowing his eyes and turning his tone cold, he managed to continue, struggling with the sudden urge to punch him in the face. “I'm sorry, I didn't realize having a conversation was a crime, Jace.  I guess in that case, you and I shouldn't ever talk again, lest I reoffend the law."

            “Just..." Jace said, his face going through a series of complex gymnastics as he seemed to come to the realization that he had crossed a serious line that he might regret.  Jace might have known that Eric's 'friendship', or at least good regard, wasn't necessary for his eventual career, but he, like most of the other sycophantic cadets, were absolutely sure that their career couldn't possibly survive his dislike.  The other boy finally forced his face into a halfway contrite look that wasn't even close to sincere and continued speaking as they headed for the locker rooms off the entrance hall.  “Just...be careful.  You can never tell what they might be trying to do."

            Not even bothering to dignify that paranoid nonsense with a reply, Eric broke off from his companion and headed to the area marked with “O-P" above it and picked out a locker to his liking, swiping his separate cadet id across the blank name plate, his last name and cadet ID number appearing on it a moment later, then tossed his backpack and raincoat inside.  Pausing long enough to use the towel placed in the locker just for this purpose to wipe the last bit of water off his face and head, he moved back out of the room, towards the interior of the building.  The other cadets his age were already milling around outside the doors to the indoor parade deck, forming into loose groups near each set of sliding doors.  Making sure to join a group far away from Jace, whom he had had just about enough of today, he waited in silence for the doors to open.

            The Warden Cadets, just like the real Wardens, were organized in military styled units, with the T level Cadets forming the bulk of the enlisted corps, the majority of the organization, and the senior Q level Cadets making up the officers.  Despite his personal dislike for being earmarked for the Wardens since he entered school, Eric's father and older brothers had instilled enough of a work ethic into him during his childhood that he felt that if he had to go through the training anyway, he was going to do as well as he could.  He had even earned his way to the competitive post of Cadet sergeant last year, leading a whole section of cadets, which was the highest post a third T cadet could get.  He had every reason to expect a higher post this year for his marks alone.  A moment later, the large holoscreen that sat against the wall of the central hallway came to life, a faint humming accompanying a holograph of the Warden insignia appearing above it.  It was situated so that it was impossible to miss, and everyone went quiet, turning to look at it expectantly.  After a few brief moments of anticipation, the milling teenagers were greeted by the school's ranking list, the collected scores of each cadet in every training category, along with their overall, averaged score displayed beside their name.

            The list was so placed so that it would be impossible to miss, and impossible to ignore, a constant reminder of one's place among the many.  It was supposed to instill a friendly sort of competitive edge among the cadets, but in Eric's experience, that edge tended to turn far sharper than friendly more often than not, especially near the top of each year's list.  Being ranked at or near the top insured your getting first pick of assignments and training programs after graduation, while being at the bottom just about guaranteed a new Warden would be stuck with file clerk duty or anything similarly uninspired.  He was therefore more than a little surprised and unnerved to find his name in the number one position for the Final T list.  At first, he swore at himself, thinking the instructors were trying to pull the same crap the other cadets did, trying to earn favors, but as he looked again, he wasn't so sure.

            The system listed scores for everything from marksmanship and combat training, to law theory and history, and as he matched up the scores he knew he had attained in the previous year, he realized that though there were people in most categories that had scored higher than him, it hadn't been by much, and he really did have the highest average score.  And, since what the cadet program prized above anything else was a well rounded skill set, not high skill in a single category to the exclusion of all others, that meant he was the top ranked Cadet in his year.

            Of course, that particular honor was dubious at best, and he knew it.  Several of the Cadets in front of him in the group were already muttering to each other about his name and its position on the list, unaware that he was standing behind them.  That was fine, he was used to that reaction everywhere he went.  When the doors opened a few minutes later, letting the cadets enter the parade deck, Eric found the officer cadets already distributed throughout the room, standing in their assigned places for formation, scarlet berets instead of the black garrison caps marking them as Q level cadets.  Gathering in a loose crowd around the edge, the T level Cadets waited for the instructors to call out their assigned positions.  It would start with the highest enlisted positions and go down from there, and after the senior T cadets were in position, the new cadets would be officially inducted into the group.  From the familiar hustle and bustle through the doors marked 'Supply', it was clear the newbies were being fitted for uniforms as they waited.  After a moment, the head instructor stepped forward out of the crowd, his loud voice carrying through the open space, magnified by the mike clipped to his lapel.

            “Alright, settle down so we can get this done." He said, taking out his tablet.  “As I read your name, step forward and receive your new ranks, then move to your assigned position." Everyone went quiet, especially the top fifteen or so cadets in the class.  The senior most T level cadet position was Cadet Master Warden, and it was actually almost never given to the cadet in the top ranking.  It always went to the cadet that the instructors felt was best suited to lead, which was not usually reflected in test scores. “Cadet Sergeant O'Bannon," The instructor called out and Eric stepped forward smartly on instinct, though his mind was already going through its usual writhing.  If he got a new, higher position, everyone would instantly wonder if he had really earned it, and the enmity of the cadets who assumed he hadn't would begin painting crosshairs on his back.  If he didn't get a new position, or got bumped back a grade, everyone would instantly assume that the instructors were punishing him merely for having his name, and then the instructors would be the ones with crosshairs trained on him. “You are hereby promoted to Cadet Master Warden.  Congratulations."

            Me?  Really?  He thought as he marched up to the table at the head of the deck, another instructor waiting beside it with the fresh crimson brassard with his new rank insignia on it, three chevrons topped with crossed swords and three four pointed stars, all black on red.  Even as he reached up and unclasped the cloth armband with three stripes that he wore already, his brain was racing.  He had never been that close with the other cadets at his last school, for obvious reasons and his being put in charge of a Cadet section had in fact caused more than a little friction with the other section leaders at his old school.  He had had to work twice as hard to get anything done as the other sergeants, and here, suddenly, he was elevated above everyone except the officers.  Do I really deserve it, or is it more likely that the instructors are currying favor?

            Taking his position at the right hand of the Cadet Commandant, sliding the new rank brassard up his arm to the middle of his right bicep, he shrugged inwardly.  He would make the best of it that he could.  He was pleased in a way that he felt he probably shouldn't have been, to see that Jace, despite all his bluster and assumed superiority, had failed to rise above squad leader for the second year running, retaining the same two chevrons he had been wearing since Second T.  He might have had a famous father too, but he was just too ham handed and generally stuck up to rise very far as a cadet.  As he stood at ease, his hands clasped at the small of his back, he could feel the eyes of every cadet on him; knew they were wondering about his name, wondering if he had truly earned his position if what they suspected was true, but he ignored it.  He was used to those looks.  He had lived with them his entire life.

            Finally, the head instructor finished the roll call, and every cadet on the parade deck waited as the doors to the supply room were opened and a new crop of thirteen and fourteen year old cadets walked into the room in a rough mass, looking awkward and uncomfortable in their brand new black uniforms, trimmed in scarlet and crimson, still creased where they had been folded after manufacturing.  They looked especially unsettled under the scrutiny of older cadets whose uniforms were decorated with qualification badges and achievement ribbons, not to mention the ranks on sleeve and collar.  But, Eric was a bit surprised to see more than a few nonhumans among them, making up at least a quarter of the young cadets.  That was unusual; across the whole of the cadet program, counting every school, less than ten percent of all cadets were nonhuman, and it immediately made him wonder if the education administrators had stacked the deck, so to speak, for this newly put together program.  But, if that was true, why were there no nonhuman officers or noncoms?

            The head instructor was speaking again, assigning the new cadets to squads with much greater speed than he had done with the senior enlisted, doing it on a squad by squad basis and finally, when the last young cadet had taken his place, a skinny mouse who couldn't hide his nerves because his ears were folded back flat and his tail was tucked between his legs, he called the cadet battalion to attention, the young cadets aping the movement of the older cadets as best they could with the less-than-precise drill training they had gotten in the junior program, if they had it at all.

            “Before we dismiss for orientation," He said, “I have been directed to read out a message from the Director of the Warden Corps himself." That made Eric's blood run suddenly cold, and he closed his eyes as the instructor began to speak, swallowing against what he knew was coming. “From High Commandant Walter O'Bannon, Second Minister and Director of the Warden Corps, to the members of Cadet Battalion One Eighteen.  You, who are about to take the oath, have been chosen to participate in this grand example..." Eric could practically feel every eye of every cadet in the hall staring at him, reading his name plate, wondering at it, even though he kept his baring, unmoving like a statue.  He knew that before the end of the day, every single cadet would know the truth, know that Eric's father was the Director of the Wardens; would know that he was the son of the third most powerful man in the world.  And then it would begin again, all the flavors of hostility, or worse, the blatant attempts at establishing a convenient friendship with him.  But then, as the instructor began to wind his speech to a close, he thought of the ranks now around his arm, ranks he knew he had done plenty to earn and he opened his eyes, staring off into the middle distance, aloof.  Fine then. He said to himself.  If that is how it is going to be, bring it on.  “...In closing, you are the future of the Wardens.  Do us proud." Pausing to let the prepared statement sink in, the head instructor took another breath before continuing.  “Raise your right hand and repeat after me.  I, state your name...'"

***

            Eric slid into the seat in the cafeteria heavily, already digging his fork into his tray of food before his backside was fully into the chair.  He was ravenously hungry, the morning's activity having worn him out.  After orientation for the cadet program, he had had to jog across campus for the first of his three science classes, then had hit up history class, then it was across campus again to the fitness center to work out for ninety minutes in the sprawling gym, and now, freshly showered, he was very hungry.  He was just shoveling another forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth when he spied Jace walking over, a sour look on his face and he privately grimaced.  He still hadn't gotten over his fellow Cadet's bigotry, and he had no mind to hear his views on anything at the moment, especially not whatever had pissed him off.  Fortunately, rescue arrived in the form of Cayler, the geeky tiger settling in across the table from him with his own tray of food, greeting him warmly.  When Jace saw the tiger sit down, and Eric fail to say anything to stop him, indeed, seeming pleased instead, he turned on his heel and headed off to another table, his nose almost literally in the air.

            “What the hell is that guy's problem, anyway?" Cayler asked around a mouthful of waffle fry, following Eric's gaze.

            “You know, I have no idea." Eric answered, shaking his head at Jace's back. “I have known him for a few years now, and it has never made sense to me."

            “Look, if me being here causes a problem between you and your friend..." Cayler started to say, his ears drifting backward uncertainly, but Eric waved away the thought.

            “He is not my friend."  Eric stated flatly and truthfully.  “I just happen know him from my old school."

            “Ah, gotcha." The tiger said, then his gaze caught something over Eric's uniformed shoulder and his eyes lit up, the biggest, broadest grin Eric had ever seen coming to his lips, showing his pearly white fangs.  And yet, despite the display of predatory dentition, the look couldn't be anything other than joyful. “Hey, there are some friends of mine.  You don't mind if they sit with us, do you?"

            “Not at all." Eric replied, glancing over his shoulder as the tiger waved, calling out to his friends.  A moment later, Eric saw who was coming and he found his curiosity peaked.  Leading the way towards them through the crowded seating was a slim swift fox with bright blue eyes, his fur a color somewhere between brown and grey, his long fluffy tail wagging so hard it almost knocked over a few drinks on his way past tables, and a very pretty violet eyed snow leopard, her spots light blue instead of black, a combination eye catching enough that Eric could see a bunch of both humans and nonhumans following her with their eyes.

            “Eric, this is Raina," The tiger said, indicating the snow leopard who waved cheerily at him, the spots on her forehead looking like a pattern of falling rain drops as she smiled, the green top she was wearing seeming to make the blue of her spots even more blue beside it. “And this is Matt, my boyfriend."  At that, the swift fox planted a quick kiss on the tiger's lips, giving his hand a loving squeeze before nodding to Eric, offering his other paw.

            “Pleased to meet you." He said and Eric nodded, shaking hands with him.

            “You too." He said, the foursome digging into their lunches.  He could hear the muttering coming from the table full of humans behind him at the brief PDA of the two boys but Eric studiously avoided reacting.  Homosexual relationships were heavily, though privately, frowned upon among humans.  It supposedly went back to the idea of humans being a dying race, and having children being the duty of every single existing human.  Nonhumans on the other hand, welcomed and embraced every sexuality the same way they embraced every gender and species among their ranks.  Personally Eric had never understood what the problem was with it, especially now, after they had cracked temporary gender manipulation, which allowed same sex couples to have fully biological children.  But, though the humans behind him were muttering, Eric's presence at the table, and the uniform he wore, seemed to put a damper on their enthusiasm for taking it any further than muttering.

            “So as we were saying this morning," Cayler said, returning Eric's mind to the present, and he grinned, continuing the conversation about the latest full immersion game to come out, all four of them animatedly joining in the conversation, the rest of the dining hall falling back into nothing more than a faint buzz as they talked...

***

            Eric sat back at his desk in his bedroom, finishing up the last part of his homework for the day.  It was mostly, the usual 'Review the syllabus and familiarize yourself with chapter one' sort of stuff, which was so easy he had almost skipped up when he got home.  But, since his father was in town for once, he didn't dare.  He could hear his father's voice from his office down the hall, obviously in a meeting, though it wasn't anything high level or he would have used the privacy filter built into the room.  It was almost time for dinner by his watch, and Eric finished the last page of the chapter he was reading, logging off his tablet and heading down to the dining room.  His father, seeing him pass from his seat at his desk, waved for him to stop and Eric dutifully paused in the doorway, surprised to see the face of his oldest brother Joshua on the com channel when his father spun the screen so both of them would be in view, his Elite uniform and the bright silver captain's bars on his collar new to his eyes.  The last time Eric had seen him, he had just been finishing the Elite training program.

            “Hey Josh." Eric called, waving to his brother with a smile.

            “Hey buddy, good to see you." His brother returned, grinning broadly.  Josh had always treated Eric well, despite the differences in their ages.  Josh had been in one of the other cities for the last few years, obviously doing well since graduation.  Returning his gaze to their father, Josh's smile faded, continuing his report. “As you said, it might be nothing, but I have given the order to stand up two of our reserve teams, just in case."

            “Good.  I know I can count on you." Walter O'Bannon said, nodding at his son. “Eric has some news for you as well."

            'Oh?" Josh asked, turning his attention back to his brother, once more a sibling talking to a younger family member, not an officer reporting to his superior.

            “I made Cadet Master Warden today." He reported humbly, and his brother's grin returned instantly.

            “Hey hey!" He said, holding up his hand as if giving a high five. “Congratulations!  I knew you had it in you.  You are going to have a great year with that rank.  I know I did."

            “Thanks Josh." Eric said, returning the smile.  He was about to continue when a voice broke in across the communications line, indistinct, but urgent.  Josh looked off screen for a moment and then nodded.

            “Sorry, I have to go,  Duty calls, you know." Josh said, logging off the call and Eric felt a pang of disappointment, but he also knew that was life in the upper echelons of the Wardens, a life he was more than likely going to end up living.

            “Sorry about that, Eric." His father said, shaking his head ruefully. “Your brother unfortunately has a lot on his plate at the moment."

            “Its alright, I understand." Eric replied, moving out of the doorway as the older man got up and moved towards it.

            “Come on, Chef says he has prepared something special tonight." He said, putting a hand on his son's shoulder and steering him towards the stairs, leading down to the main level and the kitchen.  They were about to step onto the stairs when the communications screen in the office began sounding a tune behind them, indicating an incoming call.  His father sighed and stopped at the top of the stairs.  “Go ahead down, I will join you when this call is over."

            “Ok." Eric said, heading down the stairs by himself.  The house was large, naturally enough, considering his father's position, but it was mostly empty now that he and his father were alone here.  Before his mother had passed away, and his brothers had moved out, the house had always been bustling, but now, aside from the robots that kept it clean and the personal chef, it was just him and his father, and most of the time these days, just him.  Entering the dining room, he found Chef Hiashi waiting, serving trays hovering beside him in mid air.  Itomo Hiashi was a big man of Japanese descent, friendly, gregarious, and a true master of the culinary arts.  He had been working for the family for as long as Eric could remember and he had been almost like an uncle to all of the boys despite insisting he be called 'Chef' not Hiashi or Itomo.

            “Evening Eric." He said, moving over to stand beside him as he sat at his usual place at the table.  “Your father busy again?"

            “Evening Chef.  Yeah, he is on a call.  He said he will be down when it is finished." Eric said, nodding as the chef served him a generous portion of chicken marsala and scratch made noodles.  The chef clicked his tongue and shook his head.

            “He works too hard, always has." He replied, setting a bowl of salad with tuna laid on top beside the plate, seared rare.  Eric looked at it in surprise.  He liked Hiashi, the man loved what he did, making large, delicious meals every day of the week, but this was a big portion even for him.  Looking up, he found Hiashi looking at him expectantly.

            “You are a growing boy Eric." he said by way of explanation.  “You need your protein.  Eat up."  Eric rolled his eyes at Hiashi's words, but did as he was told.  It wasn't like he was inclined to complain, really.  About ten minutes later, when Hiashi was helping him to a second helping of noodles and chicken, his father came into the door, slipping his uniform coat on, making Eric's heart sink a little.

            “Sorry Eric." He said, spying the look on his son's face. “There is a bit of an emergency at the office that I have to go deal with.  I'll be back late.  Chef, can you..." He trailed off when Hiashi dramatically lifted the lid of a salver, revealing a temperature controlled travel container with a generous portion of the meal already packaged inside.  Grinning sheepishly at the large man, he continued.  “Thanks, chef.  You are a life saver.  Remind me to give you a raise."

            “I certainly will." Hiashi said with a grin and Eric's father grabbed the container and headed out the door.  When the door had shut behind him once more, the Chef shook his head.  “See?  Works too hard..."

***

            Eric lay back against his headboard, the darkness of his room nearly complete.  Chef Hiashi had left after providing dessert (a blueberry crumble that Eric could still taste), and cleaning up the kitchen, so Eric had the house to himself.  Being a teenager, Eric was about to indulge in what all horny teenagers had been indulging in since the dawn of the computing age.  But, unlike some people he knew, Eric was a little bit of a luddite when it came to pornography, preferring flat imagery and videos rather than the holographic content that was favored by a lot of people, to say nothing of the full immersion tech, which still had never quite caught on, but was nonetheless hanging on by a thread on the net.  Something in the sentient brain automatically rejected the artificial nature of full immersion adult content, making it wholly unsatisfying, despite every effort at full one to one sensory translation.

            Shaking such thoughts out of his head, Eric opened the back of his tablet and slipped the ID chip he used for everyday life out of its slot, slipping in the anonymous chip he reserved for this purpose into its place.  His father had always been very lenient with his children, not even putting the barest restrictions on net usage, unlike a lot of human parents these days.  But Eric still took this precaution every time he went surfing for porn.  Something about what he was doing seemed so...opposite to what was expected of members of his family, that it felt right to be careful.  Besides, it always seemed to add to the excitement he got out of doing this; keeping it from being tied directly to his net account was a thrill in itself.  With the anonymous chip, he could at least have the illusion of being someone else, someone more normal.  He knew that it was nothing more than an illusion, since there wasn't actually a way that he knew of to truly keep net activity from being traced back to someone, but it was a comfort that made the anonymous chip worth the price he had paid for it.

            The tablet logged on like always, with the greeting screen showing no name or identity and he brought up the browsing app that was one of the few accessible to the chip.  Since anonymous chips, which skirted the edge of legality as it was, didn't record the user data, tablets and computers automatically limited their access on a firmware level, which was fine by Eric.  Even the high end chip he had, originally intended for corporate consultants to work anonymously for multiple companies at the same time, couldn't access much more than basic functions.  Of course, he didn't need access to anything but the net for this.  When the browser came up, he scrolled through the list of favorite sites stored on the chip for a minute or two, trying to get a feel for what he was jonesing for.  To his surprise though, nothing on his favorites list was grabbing his attention, though he was certainly feeling the urge as only a horny teenager could.

            Trying to get his mind settled, he started to watch one of his favorite videos, which had never failed to get him going before.  But, after only about a minute, he tried another one, and then a third, none of them working for him.  Giving a sigh of frustration, he exited out of the video he had been watching and sat back for a moment, looking up at the dark ceiling, letting his mind drift, puzzling over the paradox.  Usually, he hadn't had much trouble getting off; sometimes just the memory of the couple of times he had gotten lucky were enough.  Musing over his memories of those times, he sought for the familiar stirring that had given him in the past.  The first time had been at a party when a dare had turned into a bet, which had turned into an hesitant, awkward, but definitely passionate sexual encounter with a random girl.  The second time had been less hesitant, and had been after an actual date with the same girl, but still awkward.  It became even more awkward a memory when he had overheard her bragging to her girlfriends the next day about who's son she had been doing the night before, and that had ended that.

            Shaking his head, Eric laid the tablet out on the bed beside him, feeling even less inclined towards having fun after thinking about that.  He was understandably gun shy after that, and had steered clear of doing much dating.  He honestly wondered if it was easier for people with less famous families.  Following that thread, he began to wonder if it really was as easy for members of the nonhuman races as a lot of humans just sort of assumed it was.  For humans, at least at his age, it was hard because as elitest as humans had become, relationships were all about status, or at least seemed that way.  Maybe this sudden lack of arousal was due to something else though...  And then it appeared in his head, an insidious little thought, a memory that he had almost dismissed.  Earlier that day, at lunch, when Cayler and Matt had snuck that quick kiss, he had felt it.  His stomach had given a sudden flip-flopping lurch that he had never felt before.  It hadn't been dislike, because that familiar, sinking sensation had been his persistent companion every time he had ventured into the world of dating.  Rather it had been a soaring sort of nervous feeling that was only halfway familiar.  Could it have been...attraction?

            Closing his eyes, he immediately regretted thinking about it, but it was too late.  It wasn't that he found Cayler and Matt attractive, because he didn't.  It wasn't that they were ugly, but they were also obviously involved, which, to his mind, completely ruled them out, even if he was inclined that way.  Which he wasn't.  That feeling had to have been merely because they obviously loved one another.  And after all, wasn't that what he wanted as well?  Eric tried to think back, searching his memory for any other occasion that he had seen happy couples, and he had come up with a blank, at least in the years since he had understood dating.  That had to be it.  Nodding to himself, he reached out for his tablet, resolved to search the familiar list again.  But, he found himself staring at the list almost without seeing it.  There was nothing on it that would satisfy this particular desire, that, he was perfectly sure of.  Bringing up the search function, he tapped the search bar with a finger, bringing up the keyboard, then stopped.  What was he going to look for?  It wasn't like there was porn devoted to satisfying that urge, and even if there was, that would be just...false, wouldn't it?

            Sighing, the urge not going away, but unsatisfiable, Eric powered the tablet back down and plucked the anonymous chip from its slot, putting his identified one back in instead and setting the device down on the bedside table.  Lying back on his pillows again, he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, letting his mind drift off towards sleep.  But, in the darkness the insidious little thought still danced around, taunting him.  And now, it had brought friends.  What if its not just the relationship thing that has you flustered?  What if its something else?  What if you really are inclined...?  No.  Eric thought, turning over and putting a pillow over his head.  Definitely not...