Devotion Runs Deep

By Michael Black

“What in heck was that Einy? Does this planet have a flying animal or something we need to know about?”

An AI does not startle easily, and they certainly don’t stutter either. Einstein didn’t get that particular memo though, “I...Boss...that wasn’t an animal Captain, it was an aircraft. Uh oh, it’s in trouble too, spiraling down. I’m following it, boy that thing is flimsy! One wing keeps flopping up and down, it’s trying to level out. Ow! That had to hurt.” The screen showed the crash, and the pilot being thrown about forty feet from the ‘airplane’. Einstein hovered at 200 feet and zoomed in on the motionless pilot, “He isn’t moving Boss, better get the Doctor up here. That guy”...Einstein didn’t really need to state the obvious when they got a close up view, but he did anyway. “It’s a Dog!”...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Black
• Release date: Dec 10, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463079614

Michael Black

I was born in 1948, to two delightful parents, in Brockton, Massachusetts. From about 5 years old I knew I loved Science Fiction and Horror movies. I graduated from Braintree High School in 1966. The Military draft was going strong then, and since I didn't want to be conscripted, I joined the Naval Reserve the next year. From 1968 to 1970 i served on my first ship, going to the Mediterranean on one 6 month cruise, being released after my 2 year obligation. From 1970 to 1972 I did Weekend Warrior time on two reserve Destroyers once a month, and two weeks in the summer. Just before my enlistment was up, I found I liked the life of a sailor, and reenlisted in the regular Navy, for the remainder of a twenty year carreer.After that, I went to work for a private Ship Yard, and spent the next 24 years working on more Navy Ships, making much more money of course. I retired in 2016, and have been learning how to enjoy retirement ever since.

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Devotion Runs Deep

By Michael Black

Copyright 2019 Michael Black

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

About This Story

Prologue

My Teddie! Kayla was frantic, in the rush to the ship she had forgotten to grab her cherished fuzzy bear from the bed in her quarters and she was being extra ‘difficult’. She did not want to leave her precious sleep toy behind, and that was that. Candi could understand the terror in the little girl’s eyes, she had seen the love Kayla always showered on the furry inanimate thing. Truth be told, Candi felt a certain fondness for the little fuzzy toy too; she had never chewed on it, but liked to lick sometimes. It always made Kayla laugh when Candi did that. I get! As Candi took off as fast as her four legs would move she heard Doktor Mary shouting Candi don’t! We have no time, the virus is spreading. Candi shouted back, hoping she could be heard, I go fast, is important! She ran through the open doorway into the compound and up the stairs to Kayla’s bedroom. Grabbing the teddy bear off the bed quickly she ran back out, carrying the all important treasure in her mouth, only to see the starship rising through the low hanging clouds, leaving without her.

Candi wandered aimlessly for a while, farther from the lab compound. Doktor Mary had told her that she didn’t know for sure if the virus would hurt a dog. None of the Gen 1’s, Gen 2’s or Gen 3’s had come down with the sickness and they had been released into this world to hopefully survive. Candi was Gen 4 though, the very first; no one knew if the gene mixture was as immune as the other Gens were, so she had to be extra careful for a time. Candi wasn’t angry that she had been left behind, she knew how deadly the virus was to humans. A hundred biologists had already died and she feared for Doktor Mary and her daughter Kayla. Candi’s eyes leaked during the wandering. When she was several miles from the compound the sun was setting as she lay down to rest on a small promontory above the valley below this mountain. When it was totally dark the planet’s moon began making its nightly trek across the pitch black sky, blocking out thousands of twinkling dots of light as it moved. The sight reminded Candi of the human’s God, Doktor Mary had talked about him a lot. While Candi didn’t really know how to pray she did know that it was the feeling behind it that meant the most, so she began singing to God. The plaintive sounds lasted all night, sometimes just the modulated tones of her kind, but other times voicing the human words she knew, all the while hoping Doktor Mary and Kayla were safe. The teddy bear lay beside her throughout the recital.

There were no signs, no soft magical voice telling Candi if her song was heard or not, but her singing did have one curious result. All the Gens came to her during the night on the promontory. There were eight of each Gen, representing a fair number of the different breeds, twenty four dogs total; plus the only Gen 4 ever, the humans called her a ‘Shepherd’. Candi talked softly with them all, Stay together, work to survive, what Masters want for us. Dogs are smart to begin with, and all the Gens understood human speech even if the 1’s and 2’s had a little difficulty speaking it. All of them agreed that Candi’s little speech was a wise thing, and all of them hoped the humans would return one day; humans were nice to dogs usually. It was decided that Candi would lead the pack and make the harder decisions for them. Slowly an intelligent society grew.

***

The Generation Project was borne of the most noble of motives. However, the Earth’s constant desire for more powerful war machines and weapons was not. Originally the Bio Weapons Research Center on Carandel had been built for the purpose of killing people with some exotically evil ‘bugs’ certainly, but after a few short months officials woke up to a far more sinister horror and repurposed the remote laboratory to finding ways to save people instead. The facility even had a new name, ‘Angel Labs’, searching for antidotes to the many bacteria and microbes being found every year as Humanity struggled to spread out through the stars. A fair number of the bio scientists were also dog lovers as well, and they brought the Generation Project with them. The goal was to increase a dog’s lifespan and by default the number of years a loving human could enjoy their company. It was not an official mandate, but the researchers worked in their spare time only, so the project was tolerated to a degree.

Trying to extend any species lifespan is not a fast process by any measure, but you don’t have to wait for a subject to die either. Cellular biologists can monitor cell degradation to figure out if a ‘potion’ is living up to their expectations. The mixture the biologists settled on had a bonus effect as well; the dogs began thinking more abstractly, and started talking. By the time Candi received her ‘dose’ when she was born, 26 years had elapsed since the project began and the first Gen 1 was still alive, even if he was slow and half blind. Candi was 6 when the ‘accident’ happened, and she lived for 37 more years. During that time one cave in the valley grew into 23 caves, holding up to 12 dog families in each. They began making things too, crude at first but a little more detailed and refined as the colony progressed. Candi was proud of them all, but there was one thing she would do every evening without fail. Each night she would climb to the promontory, carrying the dilapidated teddy bear in her mouth, and sing to the human God for hours. It did not matter if it rained, Candi would just put the bear under a flat rock where it stayed relatively dry. After a while Dizzy, one of the Gen 3’s, managed to fashion a container for the bear and it finally stayed dry all the time. Her three litters didn’t stop Candi either, she never missed a single night. One night Candi went up to her ‘High Place’ and did not come back. In the morning the pack elders found her in her usual spot, just lying there with her eyes closed as if she was asleep. They buried Candi in soft ground behind the promontory and covered the grave with rocks. Dizzy, Candi’s mate, created a simple wooden monument and anchored it in the ground in front of the stones. Then he looked up at the sky, wondering what Candi had seen up there for so long. Dizzy never understood what it was that drew her to this spot every night. He had asked her once and all she would say was that God lives there, will send Masters back one day.

Dizzy was confused by the words at first, but he remembered back to the first days when Candi had said she wished she still had the ‘pretty book’ that Doktor Mary had used to teach her how to read words. Dizzy had been 1year old at the time and ready for any challenge. Even though the ‘Lab’ was taboo he went back to it to find this book. It was supposed to be thick and ‘pretty’, that was all he knew. It took three times, but he finally found it and brought it back for Candi. It was the prettiest book in the compound, but Candi scolded him for half a day for taking such a risk. After she was done scolding she did thank him though, and showed it by teaching him to read human words too. Dizzy went back to her cave and found the book open, right next to the place she always slept. Most of the words were still strange to Dizzy, but the word God was repeated over and over again. His eyes focused on one entry half way down the page that simply said, ‘God is Love’, that was easy enough to understand. He didn’t have to look for God, God was inside everybody. Candi sang to God every night so that he would send the Masters back to the pack; he knew that was a good thing. Dizzy decided then and there he would read all of this book, puzzle out every word, and teach the others. After dark that night, and every night for the rest of his life, Dizzy sat on the promontory and sang to God for Candi. It began a tradition that endured for all the time the pack waited.

The Masters did return, but it was almost 1000 years later. An archaeological expedition thought they were going to dig through a research facility from old Earth; they were not prepared for what they found instead…

***

Chapter 1

Alright Einstein, standard orbit until we find the lab complex. It is supposed to be half way up a mountainside so focus scanners on all the mountain ranges first. A rude noise came from the overhead speaker, Yes Captain Obvious Master of the Universe Boss Man. Should I just waste time orbiting, or tell you I already know where it is? The beacon is still functional, even if it is a bit weak. Bill Elgin cringed, I should reprogram your personality algorithm Einy, sometimes you grate on my nerves at the wrong time, like now. Einy knew he had the winning move, You do that and I’ll tweak those environmental controls in your cabin again. Would you prefer 30 degrees or 90 this time? Besides, you’re the one who put in the snark routine Boss.

Putting his hands up in the traditional surrender gesture, Bill laughed. Ok ok, you win this round. Just tone it down a bit, ok buddy? A softer voice was his reply, Noted and adjusted Captain. There’s a lot of cloud cover down there, switching to radar for descent and slowing to 500 mph. This elevator is going down, so buckle up and hang on just in case everyone. That means all you passengers back in your cozy cabins back there too folks. I’m watching the indicators for compliance so don’t try fooling me. Captain’s in a mood today. Finally getting the necessary green board, Einstein took the ship downward through the thick clouds. Even though the AI could ‘see’ perfectly fine with his scanners and radar, he still slowed to 200 mph. These clouds were thicker that even he was used to. The descent seemed to last forever, but the Gymkhana’s forward screen finally showed flickering images of the surface, As you can see on the board Boss, we’re at 3500 feet in altitude and the clouds are breaking up. The mountain is off to the right at 3 miles, so I’ll head for it as soon as I get us out of this soup. Just another 100…suddenly the ship turned completely over and dove for the ground. Bill briefly saw something on the screen as it