Breed

Chapter Thirty-nine

"Thanks for this," Linc said, biting a piece of steak off his fork.

"You said you were the one paying," Mikaela said. Mayumi grinned at her.

"I meant thanks for coming. I know we've been at odds. I know my first inclination; I'm a military guy. My gut tells me to bring the bigger gun, always, then negotiate a peace over the barrel of it. And in the old world, I don't think that was a terrible plan. But this is a new world. People like us, we've changed the rules. There may not always be a bigger stick- or worse, the girl on the other side of the table might be the bigger stick.

"So I think you're right. Militarizing transhumans... it just moves us one step closer to a civil war. But Mayumi and I were talking... you know what, would you like to tell her?"

"I think you should train," Mayumi said. "Not in offensive tactics. But defensive ones. Specifically, I think you should train with me."

"In case you have another episode?"

"Yes. But also, you should train with me. I wasn't a soldier. It's true, some of what I was taught was how to kill, quickly and efficiently. But the bulk of my training was defensive. When you can survive most any attack, oftentimes your best offense is a good defense. Even if we wanted to avoid guns, even if we wanted to focus on harm reduction, subduing someone with the least amount of force or damage possible...

"Mayumi's the tip of an iceberg. Right now, most transhumans are too freaked out to let the world know what they can do. But what happens when someone's powerful enough they don't feel afraid, or are tired of being made to be afraid? You stopped Mayumi because the cops would have put a bullet in her. With her... I don't know if that would stop her, even. But there are a lot of us out there, more every day. So we need to be ready to handle it, when trouble comes, even if it's only to protect those around us."

"I'm not an island," Mikaela said. "So even if you did convince me..."

"You may not be a monolith," Linc said, "but your friends listen to you. I got shut down before I could even try to convince them, because you already so 'no.' But I think we both want the same thing, namely to keep as many people safe as possible, human and transhuman alike. The moment you think that isn't true, you can walk away- hell, you should walk away."

"I didn't say I was convinced."

"No. But you're listening, now. And we've still got a hell of a lot left to discuss." He smiled, but it turned to a frown. "Damnit." He retrieved his phone from his pocket. It was vibrating. He looked at it, then answered. "Crap, what's wrong?"

"Hi, Anita, it's great to hear from you. I'm glad you're thinking about me and really appreciate you calling."

"You never call me for anything good. And no, the time you drunk dialed me doesn't count; I don't care how big the chimichangas were, it was 3 am."

"Well we'll just have to agree to disagree, there. But it's worth leaving your fancy dinner. In fact, I called ahead, and told them you'd need boxes, arriving now." He looked up and saw their waitress carrying a stack of to go boxes.

"Okay, but why?"

"Because I can explain what I'm seeing on TV, but I'm not sure you'll believe it. And either way, you'll want to be here for it."