Free Keystones: Altered Destinies by Alexander McKinney Page A

determine what’s there now.”
    “And what about us?”
    “In what sense?”
    Calm realized that a scientist who had chosen to live in the most remote settlement ever established by mankind might not understand the need to reconnect with the rest of humanity. “What do we do? How long can we survive?”
    “Oh. Well, we haven’t yet finished mapping the surrounding area, but the portion of the Oort Cloud that we were in appears to have made the same trip as us. That means we have what amounts to an unlimited supply of raw materials. The FAME stations were designed to be self-sufficient for extended periods of time due to the impracticality of regular supply chains.”
    “So we’re not in any immediate danger of starvation or atmospheric breach then?”
    “No, we’re safe, more or less indefinitely.”
    “Indefinitely?” Calm asked, not believing that the man could really believe that.
    “Yes.”
    “How many women are at this station?”
    Comprehension failed to glimmer in the man’s eyes. “Twelve.”
    “And men?”
    “Forty-seven.”
    Understanding still eluded the cosmologist. “I’m going to go talk to someone with a higher pay grade,” said Calm.

The Pet Shop

    Deklan sat with Susan in her office. A sign on the door said “Out for lunch.”
    “I think you’re being hasty and overly dramatic,” she declared.
    “Oh? How?”
    “You’re suggesting that because of one venomous dog and rumors in an ER, we should flee the planet.”
    Deklan thought about this. It was an incomplete summation, but accurate as far as it went. “You are aware of the stakes here, right? If I’m correct and we flee, we survive. If I’m wrong and we flee, we get a holiday.”
    “What is this ‘we’ business? I met you today while you were bleeding in my office. I have half a mind to bill you for services rendered.”
    Deklan had learned over the years that being rude sometimes got through to people in ways that being polite didn’t. “Fine. Stay and die.”
    Susan bristled. “That was uncalled for. I’m just saying that perhaps a little research is in order.”
    Deklan rolled his eyes. “What research do you need to do? Dissect a few more stray dogs to see whether they’re hosts to deadly viruses?”
    Deklan swore that he heard a miniature sonic boom as Susan’s head snapped around. “Do you think a Keystone could do that?” she asked.
    “Who knows what a Keystone can do? Calm is famous for being the next best thing to indestructible. Did you see the footage of him kite-surfing in the hurricane?”
    “Yes. What does that have to do with animals?”
    “My cat ripped a door off its hinges and nearly killed a Great Dane.” Deklan struggled to believe this, despite having lived through the experience only that morning. “Animals outnumber us, and not just by a little. If a tiny percentage of them become Keystones, and a tiny percentage of those become dangerous Keystones, then humans will stop being the apex predators of the planet.”
    “I still think that we should apply a more scientific method. What if animal Keystones are very rare and your cat is as powerful as they’re going to be? You were in an emergency room. There, as one would expect, you heard the worst-case stories.”
    Deklan could hear the rationalization in Susan’s voice. The lies that people tell themselves, he thought, in order to avoid having to act. “So you think that, out of all of the animals in the world that have become Keystones, I’m living with one of them, got attacked by another, and then heard stories about all of the rest in a third location that I visited? Doesn’t that stretch the meaning of the word ‘coincidence’ just a little?”
    Susan flapped her hands in dismissal of his counter-argument. “The dogs were probably just attracted to the smell of blood.”
    “And that doesn’t worry you?” he rejoined.
    “Okay, fine. This needs to be looked into a little more. Let me dissect some rats.” Susan turned away