Dialene

by John Van Stry

  "How many is that?"

  "Sixty three," he said nonchalantly.

  My mind boggled, her dad had Sixty Three morphs made for her. That was something like two thirds of a billion dollars!

  "Something the matter Dialene?" Sabre asked looking at me carefully.

  "I think I just realized that my boss is far richer then I can possibly conceive." I gulped watching as Samantha went up to each of the tigers and greeted them warmly. They weren't just employees, they were property.

  "Just think of her as royalty." He chuckled, "That's how we handle it."

  "And you're all her faithful servants?" I asked a little sarcastically.

  He looked at me, "Hey, you've been around her almost a month now. You know better then to act like that."

  I watched as she headed up to the house waving at another tiger standing at the doorway who was waving back, looking happy to be seeing whoever it was. You can't fake that. But then you can't fake holding a scared fox who's woken up in the middle of the night with a terrible nightmare about suffocating in space while siting next to her now dead mate.

  I looked up at him, "You're right, I do know better, she's got to be worth billions, owns this place, you, probably me, and she treats us like equals when he could just treat us like property."

  "Actually she's worth one point two trillion, but you didn't hear that from me."

  "Where'd she get all that money from?"

  "Her Dad, he's the former president of the company, and since he died she holds thirty two percent of the stock. Second biggest stockholder."

  I shook my head, "And I'm her personal pilot? You are insane letting me even get near her Sabre. You should have just grown your own."

  "We did," he said soberly, "She's dead. There were originally sixty four of us."

  "Oh. I’m sorry, I didn't know." I said and gave him a hug.

  "That's okay. You couldn't have." He hugged me back. "Now let’s head inside and I'll show you your rooms and introduce you to the rest of the inmates in this asylum. I think you'll like it here, we're all very close."

  I nodded and followed him in. At least they were all very attractive cats. So things shouldn't be too dull.

  He took me for a tour of the main house. It was substantial, there were the usual dining rooms, kitchens, guest rooms, living rooms, etc. There were also the staff quarters, gyms, pool, firing range ... The list went on. Then there was the carriage house. I don't know why it was called that, it was where they kept and repaired all the estate vehicles. I got a tour of that one, which was separate from the large garage I had parked the car in. There were a number of other outbuildings too numerous to mention, and I looked over the map of the estate, which covered a very large piece of ground.

  "So, here's your room," Sabre smiled finally showing me where I was to live.

  "So who am I sharing with?" I asked looking around. It was two rooms, several closets and a very nice private bath.

  "Whom ever you want to, it's your room after all."

  "No, I mean, who is my roommate?" And turned to face him, hands on my hips.

  "Oh! No one. This is your room."

  "Wow ..." I said shaking my head. "This is really something. A fox could get used to this."

  He laughed, "I'm sure one could. Dinner is at seven, dress is casual unless we have company. Attendance is usually voluntary, but I highly suggest you show up tonight and meet everyone.

  I nodded and he excused himself to take care of his own things. It didn't take me long to unpack, I didn't really have that much. So I looked at the time and decided to take a nice long bath before dinner.

  Dinner was a comfortable affair. I got to meet most of the staff, I didn't even try to remember any names. Everyone was very happy to see Sabre again, and Samantha as well, though she'd only been gone two months. Everyone cheered me when Sabre recounted my performance on the flight in. I blushed, but I admit I enjoyed it. There was a lot of talking and joking around the table, when several of the fem tigers teased Samantha over her missing Sabre, I was shocked at first. But her response told me that this was normal behavior for them. She might not have been much bigger then I was, but she was as much one of them as any of the group.

  It was easy to see why they loved her, I don't think her father had had much to do with that. After dinner her tailor came up to my room. A six foot female tiger isn't what I expected, but she was good. She told me it would be a few days before the outfits would be done, so she'd have my one uniform cleaned tonight for me. She gave me some fashion tips as to how to dress, and for where. For the most part the uniforms I got on the trip here were fine. But around headquarters, social events, and some local places, I should wear the fancier stuff.

  When she left it was starting to get late. I heard a knock on the door and ran over to answer it, pulling it open, my heart sank almost immediately. I had hoped it might be Sabre, but instead it was the backup pilot, a male leopard. We'd been briefly introduced at dinner though we hadn't talked at all.

  "Umm, hi. Sabre asked me to come by and talk with you a bit, go over the way we do things, and answer any questions you might have."

  "Did he say anything else?" I asked looking him over. He wasn't bad looking, and was pretty well built. I guess living with tigers keeps you in shape.

  He had the good grace to look a bit embarrassed.

  "Yes, he told me to tell you that he wouldn't be by tonight."

  "What else?" I asked leaning a little closer.

  "Well," he looked me in the eye, "He told me that you don't like to sleep by yourself, you like cats, you're a kick-ass pilot, and whether I like it or not you're the senior pilot and if I pissed you off, after you got through with me he'd pound on what was left. So can I come in now?"

  "Why?"

  "Cause going over things in the hallway will be a pain."

  I nodded and let him in, he walked over to the table and dropped a data cartridge on my table and took a seat. "Most of the stuff you need to know is on there. I spent the afternoon writing it all down. That cartridge isn't to leave your personal possession and destroy it when you've memorized it. There are some more things that I won't commit to anything but memory, I'll tell you them myself once you're comfortable with this bunch."

  I nodded, "So did you come in here looking to fight or to fuck?"

  He grinned, "Both, neither, it all depends. Yeah you’re the only fem here that's smaller than me. Guy can get a complex after a while when all his female lovers are as big or bigger then him. On top of that you're good looking, you'll have your pick of anyone here, if you want them. But ..."

  "But what?" I asked.

  "I don't know you, up to now I've been the top pilot. I'm a pretty good pilot too so I'm not just gonna roll over and bow to you because Sabre says so, no matter how many bones of mine he threatens to break. I take my job seriously and while it sounds like you're good, I want proof. If you're better then me, I'll admit it. But I'm not taking anyone else's word for it."

  I nodded, "Okay, so what do you want to do about it?"

  He grinned, "I have two sim units linked together in the basement, and one of the team to run them. Five dogfights, I pick two setups, you pick two, the computer picks one."

  "And if I lose?"

  "I'm senior pilot."

  "If I win?"

  "Then I'm your cat. I don't have a problem with you being senior pilot, as long as you can show me you deserve the job. This isn't just ego, I owe Ms. Harten's Dad."

  I grabbed my gear bag and nodded, "Let's go."

  He led me down to the basement, where sure enough, there were two rather high quality simulators, with the attendant consoles and equipment. There was one of the Tigers from the staff sitting by the control panel. He waved hello to both of us and we climbed into our units and closed the hatches.

  "I'll let you pick the first one Cam," I told him, "So I'm ready when you are."

  "Okay Dialene, Standard arms load, a Tri-Star Series III fighter."

 
"Sounds okay to me. Let's go."

  "Okay run the first program Trent."

  And we were flying. His first set up was a typical head to head combat flight. He was good, but I was better. Five minutes later I tagged him one of my two missiles.

  I spent a few minutes talking with Trent and got him to load a space scenario in an asteroid field. That one took a bit longer but I managed to tag him again as well.

  The third scenario involved combat in a populated space lane, in close to an L-5 facility. I was getting cocky, and he took me down a peg for it. I was impressed with his style, though I still felt I was better.

  For the fourth test I picked armed aircars and put us in heavy rush hour traffic. I managed to get him first, but had taken enough damage that I was in the process of crash landing when Trent pulled the plug.

  The computer generated one was ... A replay of the action I had flown that morning.

  In this one the first ship was armed, and taking it out was a lot harder and used up one of my two missiles. I tired to make some changes as to what I had done but the computer wasn't allowing it. So I was still stuck coming in against the fighter I had bested, only this fighter knew that I had a missile left, and a gun as well.

  He came in much like the original guy had, but made a few minor changes. I was able to dodge his first missile salvo, but the second one didn't respond to any of my ECM and I barely avoided getting nailed. When I fired my remaining missile it blew up before it had fully cleared the rail! I cursed the damn thing and went into a dive trying to make for the atmosphere where his missiles couldn't maneuver as well.

  It turned into a tail chase with him behind me trying to catch up. Then one of my engines failed and there was no way I could continue on that course so I whipped around hard to go head to head with the gun. We crossed and tangled and I thought I had a clear shot twice, but couldn't seem to tag him. We jinked a few more times, and my second engine went out. About then he fired another missile, and this one I couldn't break lock on.

  I cursed under my breath as I shut down the sim and climbed out. I was tired and needed a shower. Sims beat you up almost as much as the real thing.

  "Well I might have beat you three to two Cam, but I don't think I can really claim that much of a victory over you," I said walking over to him as he leaned against the other sim unit. "Though I don't think the last one was exactly random," I added with a grin.

  "Well, as it's the only sim currently in the machines memory, it didn't have much of a choice." He said smiling back at me.

  "So, what do we do now? I think you're pretty good, I was pretty impressed by a lot of what I saw. However I still think I'm better, though maybe not as much better as when we first climbed into these things. It's not like I decisively waxed your tail, or you mine."

  He nodded and smiled, "True, but think of how much better you might have done if I didn't start telling Trent to degrade your systems and abilities on the fourth and fifth tests."

  "You didn't?"

  "Sure did. Wanted to see how good you really were, and how you'd act if you lost. Well you still won on one of those, and on the other you put up a pretty good fight. Now if you'd come out and copped a bad attitude, I would have kept my mouth shut and taken the senior job."

  I thought about that a little, "I bet the rest of the people here don't appreciate your deviousness at all, do they?"

  He laughed loudly, leaning back against the sim unit again, "Oh you don't know the half of it. They just don't understand the joy of deceit, trickery, and downright sneakiness."

  "Somehow I have a sneaky suspicion that you've been doing your best to teach them too." I grinned shaking my head.

  "Come on up to my room and I'll show you my little collection of trophies sometime," he snickered.

  "Throw in a shower and a backrub and I'm there," I sighed stretching. I noticed he watched my stretching with typical male interest.

  "You," he smiled, "Have a deal."

  I surprised him by leaning up against him as we walked up to his room. He was about as sweaty as I was, but he smelled good, so I didn't mind. Besides, I liked cats.

  7

  I woke early the next day and went back to my room to take a shower and get ready for the day's work. Cam was still snoring quietly as I left, but by the time I had made it to the table downstairs for some breakfast he was already there. Of course he wasn't wearing anything, so maybe that had helped him.

  "I thought clothes were required on Earth?" I asked leering at him. Hey, he did look good in the buff.

  "Have a donut. And when it's just family around here, no one cares. Especially in the morning. Sam's family has been working around animen since they were created, so she isn't offended by fur."

  I nodded at that as one of the tigers sauntered in also sans clothing and grabbed some bacon and eggs off the table. The cook was clothed, and was cooking up a storm. But then I suspected there would be a lot of big appetites every morning here. I found an open spot and sat down to dig in with a relish. I was almost done when Sabre and Samantha came in on each other's arm, dressed for work.

  "Ah Dialene, sleep well?" Sabre asked smiling.

  "Oh not bad," I smiled back, and then said in a lower whisper, "I do miss Jack though, ask him to visit sometime."

  "Oh, I think you can expect him on his regular weekly schedule," he smiled.

  "He working in the mines again?"

  "Only during the day," he ruffled my ears, "Cam's a good guy, I'm glad to see you two are getting along. Just watch out for his tendency to play tricks on folks."

  "Like the time he got a certain tiger to bathe in lime jello?" I sniggered.

  Sabre sighed, "He told you about that, huh?"

  I smiled toothily, "You know he even has a picture? You look good in green."

  He growled slightly, "I think I'm gonna have a talk with him about that."

  "Oh I already did."

  He suddenly looked worried.

  "Yup, it's my picture now. You want it back, you'll have to earn it."

  "You're right," he sighed, "I was insane to hire you."

  I laughed and handed him a sausage. "I gotta go get the limo ready. We going to the office?"

  He nodded, "No big plans for today. It's Friday so things should be relatively slow. Heads up for Saturday though, we have a major dinner engagement, tell Talis in the shop to have the Benz ready."

  I nodded and gave him a kiss then headed out the door, giving Samantha a hug as I passed.

  The day passed rather quietly for me. As Samantha's personal pilot I found out that I wasn't really expected to play limo driver all the time, a number of the tigers were well trained in that aspect, and one would sit in front with me on the drive. There were also one or two cars with backup always somewhere in the traffic around me.

  Cam's job was to fly backup craft whenever I fly Samantha anywhere, and he was second pilot if we took the yacht out. The yacht turned out to be a converted destroyer, which didn't surprise me anymore. All of this I learned from reading that data cartridge he had given me. There was a lot of other stuff in there was well, procedures and codes and countersigns. A lot of which changed on a regular basis. I made a note to have everything that was in place when the last guy was here changed.

  I asked Sabre why there was so much more security today then there had been yesterday.

  "This is actually more along what she normally has. Yesterday was light because we didn't want to clue people in that she was arriving by having a lot of guards here waiting."

  "Didn't seem to work, did it?"

  He shrugged those massive shoulders, "Well, yes and no. The guys upstairs I suspect where waiting for weeks. But no one made any moves down here. We were escorted yesterday, you just didn't see them."

  I nodded and went back to studying my book and maps.

  "Why do you have Earth Maps?" He asked curiously just before he left.

  "Never been here before. Don't know a thing about it." I mumbled while trying to find a
ll the major corporate offices, there were lots.

  "Really? Well, welcome to Earth."

  "Thanks!" I smiled.

  That evening we all spent watching a movie with Samantha and Sabre, of course the estate had a first class theater. Though there weren't any seats, just lots of cushions. Tigers were sprawled out everywhere as we watched some brand new release. It was cozy and a lot of friendly cuddling was going on. I stayed close to Sabre and Samantha, and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Sam and I chatted quite a bit afterwards and teased Sabre until they went off to bed. I watched them go feeling a bit lonely when Cam slid up behind me and gave me a hug.

  "Walk you to your room?" He purred in my ear.

  "You only want me for my body," I sighed, flicking my tail and leaning back against him.

  "Well I think I already have your friendship, and someone else has your love, so what else is there left for me to chase?" he whispered nibbling on my ear.

  "Good point." I smiled.

  The social event on Saturday was a date. Samantha was seeing a man it seemed, an old lover who she continued to see for appearances sake. And also because she genuinely liked the man. Sabre was a little restless over it, he confided in me that he didn't care for sharing very much, but understood the necessity of the situation. When I pointed out that Samantha shared him with me, he said it was different.

  "How?" I asked.

  "I'm a hypocrite," He smiled.

  But I knew there was more to it than that. Sabre cared about me, but I knew enough about cats to know that if she said she wanted an exclusive deal he'd be all over it. Some cats are just that way and Sabre was definitely one of those.

  So we chauffeured the dating couple to a fancy restaurant, then an opening night play. I looked great in my custom uniform, Sabre looked resplendent in his own outfit. Of course Samantha and her date, James, looked splendid too. And there were lots of rich people and celebrities there as well as the press. So for the most part Sabre and I were in the background, as were the rest of her security guards, and a few of her date's as well.