High Noon on Jefferson: Chapter Twenty

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Khiara took Toad into a bathroom to wash. Wash would be an understatement. A power wash wasn't even string enough a description. You would have sworn Toad was a newly manufactured pupper after the process. He didn't quite sparkle, but...you get the idea.

Where Khiara did this was wildly interesting: she and Dad had apparently adapted a former closet in the front of the house. They redid the plumbing, added bright UV lamps, a chemical processing unit, and more. The chemicals were Earthlife safe, but not for Jefflife. The really interesting bit was the door to the room: it still looked like a closet. A very unassuming closet. Something someone would have ignored. That sure implied Dad and Khiara didn't want anyone to look too closely.

The reason for the scrub down was explained explicitly in a bit, but was pretty obvious to any Jeffersonian: even if Dad and/or Khiara had some sort of immunity they had cooked up from the biochemical incompatibility, not everyone who came over would have that immunity and it might have been the immunity was temporary (that turned out to be true). Any Jefflife critters that might have landed on Toad might have gotten into the house. A midnight bite by a Jefflife critter would have been the ultimate nightmare.

Toad got blowdried and we to Dad's library. I had so many memories of this place. It was beautiful, wonderful and the bookshelves were in an intricate carving style mixing Art Nouveau, Adirondock and an almost elven, naturalistic, grown-in-place feel. Faeries would have felt at home here. It felt far, far older than it really was. That was, I knew, the point. One part was a small, greek theater on the small spot. Dad had used it to talk to and even perform for my brother, our friends and I when we were little. Goofy little performances.

Now, with the whole three rows of tiered couches, Dad sat us down. Khiara brought Toad along and sat down next to Dad. Dad was tall. He knew how to use his height to effect when he wanted. Now though, he also sat down. He appeared to be below us then. I knew what he was doing, even if my Pranksters didn't. Depending on what he said, I'd clue the crew in. Some might have figured it out on their own. I didn't know then. Dad made sure to teach my brother and I about effective communication, whether it was body language or word choice or many other cues. However, once you know, you see what others are doing...and Dad was sitting low, below us, signaling humility. An interesting choice, that.

And then, Dad explained.

Dad and Khiara might be a couple, but that's not why they met in the first place, not really. Khiara came to Jefferson to study the biology and its interaction with Terran - Earther - biology: what caused allergic reactions either way, etc. Dad had seen a paper and post she had written and reached out. He had some questions based on his own observations out in the boonies he was. She replied. They began talking and he offered an idea. It was flat out wrong, but they had enough chemistry talking they decided to meet. The chemistry was even better and stronger in person.

Ick. That thought. Made worse by the fact they were holding hands. Gag. One never wants to think of their parents and chemistry of that sort. gack.

Dad's thought might have been wrong, utterly wrong, but Khiara had another thought when she came out to the farm. Khiara was a very smart woman and probably would have come up with the idea on her own. However, sometimes ideas come faster or in a different order depending on whom someone interacts with. That was Dad. He could have that effect on people.

She took over explaining. She found a way to block the different allergens that caused anaphylactic shock in Terran life when consuming or being exposed to Jefflife's biochemistry. She had been in testing almost since she had moved out to live with Dad. She was going to show us her lab. She went through the entire run of required testing: things moved faster out in the colonies, especially for medtech that might save lives and modern biotech was largely automated. She had submitted the results to the Food and Drug Administration on Earth. It was going through the proper channels and following protocol. to a point.

Dad and Khiara had been using it themselves. That was strictly forbidden. Likewise, they had been using it on some of the nonfood animals on the premises. All of that was wildly illegal. However, the temptation to be the first people to wander around on Jefferson and not worry if something biting would kill was too tempting, especially since they could wander without even anything more than t-shirts and shorts.

Just like on Earth.

Their plan was to get the drug working in a final form and then work with immunologists to see if they could tinker a way to tailor a gene therapy so someone planning on living on Jefferson would not even need to take a drug at all. That was a ways out though, even a couple decades, even with modern technology.

Dad was asking not to bust them for this. They were not endangering anyone other than themselves. They were being careful. Humanity needed to be able to actually live on the planet, not just hide in holes.

Veena and Rosa looked at each other. Tom was uncharacteristically quiet. I noticed from the corner of my eye. Then Rosa started to clear her throat and take a deep breath. Jackie spoke up first though.

"How do the repticulates and ro-bats fit into this?"

Confusion washed over Dad and Khiara's faces. They looked at each other and shared a perplexed look. They turned back to us.

"The what?"

"What are you talking about?"