Page 7 of Rifted Hearts
Live-streamed.
Kaveh flinched, even though no one could look at him and guess he wasn’t human.
“And here’s the man of the hour.” Remi, without asking, put his arm around Kaveh’s shoulder and grinned up at the drone, which darted into position like a dragonfly to capture both of their expressions. “Kaveh Salehi, monster veterinarian, who’s revealing a terrifying new mon born at the ranch.”
Kaveh took the man’s arm off his shoulder, making an effort to keep his temper and not use any unnecessary force. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to join my assistant to start the program.”
Several other people encircled him, all with press mini drones of their own, and Kaveh glanced around him inastonishment. More reporters. He had met cadejos with less hungry expressions.
“Let’s give the doctor some room, folks.” Remi flashed a smile at the gaggle of press, and to Kaveh’s surprise, they all fell back, lost interest in him, and began staring at each other. One woman reached out to take another’s woman’s hand, giggling about something as they both blushed.
Kaveh took advantage of the opening and pushed forward. Remi strolled along with him, chatting at his drone and somehow succeeding in having the mass of people part around them.
Kat gave him a nervous smile as Kaveh walked through the open gates of the zoo’s enclosure and joined him on the stage. Snow cocked his head, lifting one claw in a gesture that meant he wanted to jump onto his arm. The rescue parrot loved to flirt with humans, but he had bad habits that had led to him failing out of several adoptive families.
“No biting, Snow.” Kaveh directed his comments at the parrot but included his assistant in a stern gaze before turning toward the audience. This was quite the crowd.
“You were a little late, so I took the colt over myself and put him in the barn—” Kat cut himself off as Remi waved his hand, his drone zooming up, presumably to get more footage for his online audience. “Oh, hi, Mr. Gatti. Did you have a question?”
Kat sounded even more flustered than he usually did in large groups. Kaveh was a born introvert as well, but between veterinary school and all the academic lectures he gave on his work, he had learned how to address an audience. He’d never been in front of the press like this though.
“We’ll have a question-and-answer period after the main presentation.” Kaveh motioned to Kat, who was still staring at the vid streamer for some odd reason. Getting noresponse, Kaveh held out his hand toward Snow, taking care to keep his elbow bent and close to his chest. That made it harder for the bird to climb up to his shoulder, as he knew from painful experience that he did not want the cockatoo’s beak near his ear or face.
“This is Snow, who’s part cockatoo with one parent from a Riftworld species colloquially known as a phoenix.” As the parrot hopped onto his arm, Kaveh showed him off to the crowd. “Like many animals of mixed ancestry, Snow has gifts from both worlds. He can not only mimic but understand human speech, and he can generate fire.”
There was an interested buzz from the audience, and Snow perked up. He fluffed his wings, embers glowing red at the tips, and then hiccupped a smoke ring.
Kat, who had recovered from his odd distraction, clapped, and the audience politely followed suit. Snow had nothing like the fiery power of a true phoenix, but external validation of his limited pyrotechnic abilities was needed to avoid one of the bird’s famous temper tantrums.
“Is the baby monster also a hybrid?” Remi piped up from the front row, despite Kaveh’s clear explanation of when the Q&A would start. “I understand it’s a rare species known for psychic attacks on humans using their own worst nightmares.”
Had Kat told the vid streamer about the baby repoequus? Other than his assistant, the only other people who knew that information were Garreth and Chrissie, neither of whom was loose-lipped. He spotted the ranch owners off to one side of the crowd, standing next to a short woman in a fashionable pantsuit. Her cheerful smile appeared permanently plastered on her face.
The mayor of Tucson was here, and Remi had justblurted out that Amanita and her colt were a danger to the public.
“All of our Riftworld animal ambassadors have abilities they could use to defend themselves, as do humans.” Kaveh did his best to ignore Remi’s personal drone, which quivered, insect-like, in the air in front of him. “They have consented to be here on the ranch, interacting with humans so that all of us can learn more about our intertwined worlds.”
Right on cue, a mini rift opened on the stage in front of them, and a large blue cat appeared out of thin air.
Flutterberry resembled a large Maine Coon cat, if one chose to ignore her silky teal fur, long-tufted ears, and the gossamer-thin wings on her back. The startled crowd surged forward to get a better look, with quite a few people making squees of delight and one child loudly asking if the cute kitty cat could fly.
Mothcats used their wings only for nonverbal communication, having chromatophores in them that were consciously controlled and could produce complex color patterns. The species could also translocate, a rare ability that allowed them to form miniature rifts that moved them instantly from one location to another, as long as it was within their line of sight. Some members of the species, like Flutterberry, had also bioengineered their vocal cords to allow them to speak human languages. The blue mothcat lived in Tucson as a companion animal with Javier’s sister and her wife.
Or, as Flutterberry referred to them, her devoted servants.
“Flutterberry here is one of Moon Star Ranch’s best-known Riftworld ambassadors.” Kaveh couldn’t keep the relief out of his voice. The mothcat adored human attention,and by the time he finished explaining the basics of mothcat physiology and Flutterberry chatted about the latest gifts her pet humans bought for her, everyone should have calmed down enough that their collective anxiety wouldn’t provoke a response from the repoequus colt.
“Run away, humans.” Flutterberry raised one paw into the air, her high-pitched voice resounding in the clear desert air. “A repoequus approaches, ready to flood your feeble minds with horrors beyond your imaginings.”
The mayor’s plastic smile faltered, and a shocked silence followed Flutterberry’s unhelpful comments. Kaveh wracked his brain for the best way to explain away the mothcat’s Cassandra-like prediction before confusion and fright swept through the crowd like a contagion.
His hesitation proved to be disastrous.
Amanita’s colt barreled out of the barn, crashing through the bolted doors as if they’d been made of cardboard. The repoequus sensed fear from a large number of minds, and a simple Earth physical barrier wasn’t going to stop him from seeking out prey.
The alien colt charged toward the stage and the open gate beyond it.
Kaveh had begun to get the animal used to a bridle, and the colt had one on now, the end trailing onto the ground. Kaveh dove for the end of the reins, planting his feet and holding fast to them as the colt tried to surge into the crowd.
