Read The Inner City for Free Online

well.”
    “She looks . . .” Portafack began. “Her name is Tercepia, right? She looks like a normal girl. A normal young girl.” His voice was soothing. He was looking at Tercepia more and more as she helped a friend make sandwiches. She wrapped two and put them in her pocket.
    “We spent a lot of time with her. Of course she was one of the first group.”
    “Oh? And what happened to the others?”
    Sandam hesitated briefly. “It was just her and two males. We had trouble with one of them and he’s not for release. We keep him separated from the others, since he’s not really trainable. We can generally tell from their appearance how well they’ll do.”
    “I suppose the ones who look too much like a dog get sent to the pound?” Portafack joked.
    Sandam’s face froze and eyes shifted to the window. Then he produced a short laugh and said, “Nothing that drastic, I assure you. It’s very rare. Most of the hybrids are running the way we want now.”
    “Oh, that’s right,” Portafack said. “They’re born in a group, aren’t they? Multiple births. I suppose you don’t call them a litter, do you?” He laughed and Sandam dutifully laughed with him. “Are the mothers the humans? How does that work?”
    “We use cow surrogates, of course.”
    “Cow surrogates.” Portafack shook his head. “I’ve heard of that. I thought it was for women who didn’t want to ruin their figures. But I guess you can mix anything in a test tube and stick it in a cow these days?”
    “Well, that’s pretty simplified. We actually use gene-splicing; we can manipulate DNA, so we mix and match genes. We still have a lot to learn, but we’re getting there. We change things a little for each generation.” He gestured lightly towards the girls, with their differences in doglike facial appearances. “We hope to get to the point where we can produce hybrids for assembly lines, for care-taking positions, for general manual labour, and we’re looking into exhibition sports as well. They can run fast and catch things, so it seems a possibility. But I’m happy with girls like Tercepia. She’s really got the best of both breeds—eager and loving like a dog but looking very human. The other male in her group has turned out very well. He was one of the three hybrids we placed last week, and we’ve already gotten good reports on him. Like Tercepia, he’s exceptional, though a little more outgoing. There’s another boy now that looks promising. Smart and strong.”
    “No,” Portafack mused, “I don’t want a boy. I like Tercepia.”
    “Then let me suggest this. Why don’t you try talking to her and seeing how she responds? I can send her over to the eggs. She loves those. When you get there, pick up one of the eggs that’s about to hatch—look for a slight crack in the shell. It will get her interest. Then you can walk around with her and see how it goes.”
    “It’s a little bit like a date,” Portafack joked.
    “A trial.”
    “A test run. That’s fine by me. How do I get her to come?”
    She was over by the sink, running water and filling glasses. She would occasionally duck her head in the jet of water and drink.
    “Tercepia,” Sandam called.
    She wiped her mouth and came over to him.
    “Go to the eggs,” he said. “Bring me an egg.”
    “Egg,” Tercepia repeated in a happy voice. She turned and began to skip out the door.
    “You’d better hurry if you’re going with her. They’re always in a rush.”
    Portafack almost lunged in his haste, and he was forced to trot briefly in order to keep her in sight. She went off to the left and around the back of the barns, stopping briefly to run over to a brown dog that was circling a tree. The dog turned once to look at Portafack, and he got a look at its eyes. They surprised him. They were blue, and unlike most dogs’ eyes, they had a pronounced white rim. Startlingly human-looking, he thought, and he didn’t like it. The blue-eyed dog studied him for an