Science Fiction Novel Idea

I have been toying around with the idea for a science fiction novel based around the idea of a child being raised by wolves a la The Jungle Book. This is some of what I have written so far. It would call for some pretty serious research on genetics, but it seems like it would be a lot of fun:

Jayna balanced on the edge of the sewer catwalk, her thick woolen collar pulled over her nose. Cat-like eyes with deep brown irises and framed with coal black lashes peered over the fabric, narrowed and searching. A small orb emanated blue light, guiding her safely over the cracked concrete. All around her was the sound of water, rushing in the ravine, dripping from the ceiling. Her heightened hearing made it sound like a symphony of water sprites. It was a sound she’d heard all her life and yet it always entranced her.

Growing up in the underground tunnels had heightened all of Jayna’s senses, or perhaps they had always been heightened, she couldn’t tell. She’d lived below ground her whole life, only daring to go above once a week for sun exposure and fresh air, and then only under the strict watch of Dux.

                The story surrounding Jayna’s birth was uncertain, left with many missing facts. She’d been born, obviously, but had been in the possession of a government research group from the time of her birth to the time of her abduction. Exactly what they had intended to use her for, no one knew, especially not her guardian mother, Lila. Dux might have known, but his surly quiet kept questions at bay. He was protector only.

                Lila and Dux also lived in the research lab, two of a pack of wolves genetically enhanced by the government scientists so that they could communicate with humans telepathically. But the wild nature of the wolves could not stand the cages the calculating men and women forced them into and so they planned an escape. Again, Jayna could only ascertain vague details, but the feelings she could from Lila were red and tinged with screams. Jayna could only guess how they had managed to get by the research team.

                Lila told her that on their way to the sewers, the safest place from poachers and extreme weather conditions, they had heard her screaming. She was a pup, the closest approximation of age she could muster from the wolf minds, barely able to chew her own food and her thoughts full of abstract colors and sounds. It was the only show of pity they’d ever seen out of Dux, according to Lila. He broke into the room in which she’d been contained and grabbed the blanket wrapped around her in his scarred maw, carrying her delicately to the pack and laying her before Lila.

                “Raise her as your own.” He told her. She did not argue, or she would not. She had lost a litter of puppies while the scientists operated and she had the life-giving milk Jayna needed to survive. And she in turn gave her something to focus her mothering instinct on. She loved Lila, and she knew she loved Jayna from the warm, golden glow of her thoughts each time she spoke to her. They were their own little family within the larger community of the pack. Dux was the patriarch, his word was law. And so they searched the sewers, finally finding an old utility room that had caved in years before and making it into their nest. Fresh water flowed in from an underwater stream, no doubt the reason the roof had collapsed, but which provided them with two of their core needs, shelter and water.

                Now, she focused her senses on her surroundings, searching for any signs of alien life, anything out of the ordinary of the rushing water flowing underground or the musty draft blowing through the tunnel. Anything that may pose a threat to Jayna’s pack. She picked her way through the half crumpled sewer, jumping from broken slab of concrete to broken slab of concrete.