by T S Hottle
“In that case,” said Tishla, “may I see Marq? I have questions for him.”
“So does Homeworld Security. And the Compact. And probably our Navy. In any event, I need you to get some rest. You’re carrying twins.”
Twins? Oh, Kai, what have you done to us? Are you still alive?
***
They allowed her exercise once they determined what her needs would be. Mostly, she walked around the grounds of what turned out to be a hospital. Once she had been debriefed by the security types, they put her in the alien ward. For some reason, the doctors thought she would feel more at home among primates who were not hew-maan, or human, as she had learned to speak the word.
That did not turn out to be the case. There were a couple of Laputans in the ward, the “golden giants” of Realm poetry. They towered over Tishla and the humans by at least a yored. Tishla’s people, and most humans she had seen, stood only three yoreds high. The Laputans were familiar, but not quite enough to put Tishla at ease. Nor did the three Zaras on the floor. Ape-like beings, right down to the body fur and the non-opposable thumbs, they actually unsettled her as they tried chatting with her in the humans’ gargling tongue.
Nor did the presence of an Orag female do much for her. Orags, she had learned, were a transplanted species of human. Shorter, squatter, and with noses that more resembled those of Tishla’s people. Alas, she was the only Gelt in the alien ward.
And on Metis, which made her a novelty of sorts.
Nonetheless, they let her walk the inner courtyard of the hospital, out of sight of the common citizens (or Citizens, as she understood the term), but always under the watchful eye of a group called Compact Security.
On the fourth day of her captivity, a woman in a dark suit similar to the Homeworld Security agent’s walked with her on her early morning stroll. She introduced herself as Athena Jovann and gave her title as Assistant Compact Attorney for Metis. Tishla took this to mean her new visitor belonged to the human equivalent of the Legal Caste.
“First of all,” she said as they began their walk, “let me apologize for your confinement and the rough treatment upon your arrival. You’re of an unknown species and here for unknown reasons. Do you understand our need for caution?”
“It’s better than the Laputans’ first contact protocol,” said Tishla.
Athena chuckled. “Yes, declaring war on a race whose strengths and culture you don’t understand is generally a bad idea. I take it your Realm has fought with them?”
“I think everyone has fought with them.”
Athena laughed again. “True enough. Okay, to the point. Why are you here?”
How could she explain this in terms that this woman would understand without giving away too much about the Realm? “My race is called the Gelt. Beyond Marq, I am fairly certain your people and mine have never interacted until now. On my world, I am in the custody of an employer who in turn pays for my education in genetics. Because of certain… What’s the word I’m looking for? Do people in leadership positions among your race play games and engage in rivalries that have nothing to do with those they lead?”
“That’s called ‘politics.’ Go on.”
“Because of certain politics on the world where I live, my employer sent me with Marq to this place. In the process, he voided my obligations to him. I need to get back to him. Or to the world he governs.”
“If you give us the coordinates, we can arrange transport on a diplomatic vessel. Perhaps this can begin a relationship between our races.”
Under normal circumstances, Tishla would make counterproposals, using her position as Kai’s concubine to negotiate at least a gubernatorial reception for a new alien race. However, she had no idea if these Metisians were the rule or the exception. They certainly did not behave like Marq had.
“I think,” she said, “it would be best if I returned via Laputan space. Fewer complications. Plus, I am not in a position to determine if contact between our species is feasible at this time.”
Athena stopped, which caused Tishla to stop with her. “We can arrange that, but that will take some time. In the meantime, I will arrange accommodations for you, something a little more private than a hospital.”
***
Two rooms and a water closet were all that made up what the humans called “an apartment.” Once Tishla extrapolated and understood the word, she decided it was a let-down. To her, “apartment,” or its Realm equivalent, meant the spacious suite of rooms she had even in Kai’s primitive dwellings on Essenar and Hanar. This place was a slum.
Well, by her standards, it was a slum. It probably did very well for the humans, particularly considering their culture. She noticed that even the leaders, at least on Metis, tended to work all the time. When they did not, they spent most of their free time away from their homes. At least in Sophiopolis. She had not seen any families since her arrival.
Two weeks after the humans moved her to the apartment, Athena Jovann arrived bearing a large wooden box and some fresh bread. By now, Tishla had a menu of local foods she could eat. She had started with potatoes, and by the time she tired of the starchy tubers, they had figured out what proteins and plant life she could safely consume.
“I just dropped by to bring you this. We found it in the hold of your ship,” said Athena, placing the box on a table that dominated one side of the apartment. “And some bread made from the local grain. I figured you might want to eat something besides vegetables.”
Tishla ignored the food and opened the box. Inside lay the useless control crystal, a small holo disc that had not yet been activated, and… “Wow.”
“That’s a big dagger,” said Athena.
“My mate, despite not being a Warrior, has combat experience.”
“Well, I also wanted to tell you that we’ve lifted your restrictions. You can now move about the city freely.”
“Thank you,” said Tishla, “but where would I go?”
“I would stick to the entertainment district. Yes, people will see your gray skin and wide nose and know you are an alien, but aliens are more common there. Stay away from the countryside or the outskirts of the city. Unless you’re white or brown with a bulb of a nose like ours…” Athena wrinkled her nose and smiled. “…you’re apt to be subjected to stares, maybe hostility.”
“Violence?”
“I can’t promise you it won’t happen, but you reduce the risk by sticking close to the city center.”
“What about data? I’m not that all fascinated by my own people’s sport, and yours is starting to lose its novelty for me.” And in what culture did people make a living playing children’s games or engaging in light combat for fun?
“We’ve opened those up. You should now be able to watch any news feed and go to any site to you choose.”
That you’ve told me about.
Athena relaxed her rigid pose. “That said, I’d like to invite you to dinner this evening. I’ll send an ubur around to pick you up.”
“‘Ubur’?”
“It’s a type of personal drone, a driverless car that you can hire to take you anywhere or to have things delivered. Do you have anything like that on your world?”
“I’ve spent the last five rev- ” She stopped herself. They said years, which translated as an archaic term in the Realm. “The last five years on two primitive colonies. The only drone vehicles we used were for moving supplies around.”
“I see. Well, welcome to Metis, Tishla. This time for real. Can I have you picked up at 1700?”
The number told Tishla this was when afternoon became evening here. “That would be fine.”
***
As soon as Athena left, Tishla thumbed the holo disc. It projected Kai’s image into the middle of the room. She could almost reach out and touch him. Almost.
“Hey, Buckteeth,” he said, calling her by the childhood name he gave her when they were partners in crime rather than lovers or Master and servant. “How’s our child? I’m sure you know by now. I coul
dn’t risk telling you while you were on Hanar. You might not have gone with Marq otherwise.”
She felt anger well up within her when she remembered that, for a brief time, Marq actually owned her.
“The child is partly why I sent you away with him,” Kai’s image continued. “As his possession, he would have to forfeit your indenture upon returning to his own space. The control crystal knows this. Congratulations, Tishla. You’re a Free Woman. You also carry my heir within you, which makes you my heir as well. And now, my love, I need you to return. If I am dead by the time you see this, I need you to take my place. My brother will help you stake your claim to Hanar and to my estate. And if I’m alive… Well, Tish, I need you. You see, I may have purchased you, but it’s you who owns me. You always have.”
Tishla swallowed, trying to blink tears back from her eyes. “Oh, Kai…”
“If you have this,” he continued, “then you also have my dagger. I’ve learned through my sources that the last man I cut with it is at the Laputan consulate on Metis. Find him. Show him the dagger. He will know you are with me and will help you.” He smiled that goofy smile of his. “Yes, I know. Men are strange. Try to kill each other once, friends for life. Which makes him a friend of yours.”
She looked at the dagger. A little dried blood still marred the shimmering blade. She wondered what Kai had done to draw that blood and yet make his victim his friend.
“Get back as quickly as you can,” said Kai. “Stake your claim if I’m gone. Summon the Soveriegn if Laral fights you. Do it for me. Do it for our child.” He paused. “Do it for yourself, Tishla. It’s time you took your rightful place in the Realm.”
He faded from view. Tishla sank to her knees and wept. She had no way of knowing for certain, but inside, she knew. Kai was dead. Why else would he depend on a former enemy to get her back to the Realm? And yet he still held sway over her. He always would. She would not have it any other way. But Kai was gone. And two men had taken him from her. Laral would have to wait until she returned to Hanar to get the justice Kai deserved. The human Marq, on the other hand…
She applied her newly opened search engine to the one burning question that had obsessed her since she awoke in that hospital room over a turn before. “Please find me the residence of a human who calls himself Marq Katergarus.”
It amused her that Marq had taken on an alias in another human language that translated as “trickster.” Okay, trickster, let’s see how clever you really are.
***
Marq Katergarus proved to be rather easy to find once she attained her freedom. Approaching him, however, proved to be difficult. Unfortunately, Tishla was the only citizen of the Realm on the planet. Everywhere she went, she drew stares, the gray woman with shimmering white hair and the broad nose. To these people, she might as well have been a Gray.
So she hunted for Marq in the darkness, wearing the hooded jacket Athena had kindly loaned her. It took some time to trace him, but not long. In fact, it turned out he had hidden in plain sight.
The apartment building was a boring structure made of what humans called “cinder block.” It had almost no security, and Tishla knew why. People with heavy security have something to secure. She and Kai had lived among enough criminals to understand that security often attracted thieves. If it’s valuable enough to protect, they would reason, it is valuable enough to steal.
It might have been a risk. Anyone can break into a place secured with nothing more than locks, but Tishla knew Marq would not take such chances. Human technology was such that he could provide hidden safeguards on his home-away-from-home without tipping off the authorities or anyone else looking for him.
Actually, she didn’t care if he knew she was there. She wanted him to know. She wanted him to see her. So instead of trying to enter his apartment, she took up station in an alcove down the hall and waited for him to enter or leave. No doubt the police had followed her. Good. If she accomplished what she set out to do, they could have him.
In the long coat Athena had provided, she had placed the contents of the box Kai had sent along – the now-useless pendant that once controlled the nanites in her blood, the holo disc, a locket Kai had engraved with a marriage pledge, and the dagger. That dagger meant a lot to Kai, and now it was Tishla’s. She vowed to honor it and use it with purpose.
Marq appeared after an hour, slipping inside as though unobserved, or at least, not particularly concerned if he was. She fell in step behind him, head down, not really caring if he turned around and saw her. On Marq’s floor, she hung back a short distance, feigning interest in another door. As Marq palmed the bio-lock to his apartment, she charged. Pushing him inside, she put Kai’s dagger to his throat.
“Hello, Master.” The second word came out as a sneer. “It’s your concubine, come to shave you.”
A thin trickle of blood ran down his neck.
“I can explain,” said Marq, sounding as calm as a man could just before having his throat slit. “I did not know they would keep you so long. I would have told you about my deal with Kai, but there was never the opportunity. I…”
Tishla pressed the flat of the knife a little harder against his flesh.
Now Marq’s breathing quickened a bit as the calm faded to fear. “You know the penalty for killing one’s Master, don’t you?”
“You know our penalty for theft, don’t you?” Her tone mocked Marq’s. “By Realm law, I became a Free Woman the moment you brought me into Compact space. You deliberately took me to your people, who don’t have slavery.”
“Well, not like…”
She tilted the blade once more so the edge now pressed into the skin. “If you purchase another sentient being, particularly another primate, they automatically become free the moment they step into Compact space. Realm law says that if a master takes anyone indentured to him or her to such a place, they forfeit the contract, and the servant becomes a Free Person.”
“There’s still the matter of the nano-leash swimming in your bloodstream,” said Marq. “Kill me, and no one can turn those lethal bugs off for you.”
She made another tiny little cut in his skin, enough to draw blood once more. “Ask me if I care? Did you think Kai would not send me with a serrmin like you into free space without some sort of message?”
“Think about our child, Tishla. You were my property until we reached Metis. That makes the child…” He screamed as the knife moved again.
“So you knew before I did?” said Tishla.
“Kai said he knew already. Said the nanites in your blood informed him as soon as you conceived. But he was afraid for you.”
“Then you know the child is mine.” This slug did not need to know she was having twins. “As its mother, I am its heir and guardian. Now, then, tell me the real reason you came to Essenar with a poe-tay-toe. I’m most interested. I understand that little tuber started a few wars in your ancient history.”
***
The humans, naturally, frowned on aliens assaulting their citizens on their own turf. Or, as Tishla had come to interpret the phrase, their Citizens. She was not a Citizen. She might have been Free, or even “free” in the language they called Humanic, but that did not mean the same thing in the Compact as it did in the Realm. The humans did not care if Tishla stood to inherit dominion over two planets or Kai’s share of his family’s wealth. They were not interested in her abilities as a geneticist nor did they care that her species could extrapolate complex languages in a matter of hours. Tishla had attacked a Citizen, changing her from an unknown quantity to a direct threat to at least one human life.
So Tishla had to go. Instead of letting the police get rid of her, she hailed a taxidrone and hoped no one figured out who attacked Marq until after she reached her destination.
“Laputan Consulate. Quickly.”
The drone happily chirped its compliance and moved into traffic.
She kept the contents of the wooden box Kai had sent along, however. It had contained everything: His personal
dagger, the message explaining his plan to free her, and the now-worthless deed to her person transferring her indenture to Marq Katergarus of…
Even with all the worlds of the Compact she now knew of, she still did not know where that strange little man hailed from. Nor, it seemed, did the authorities on Metis. They knew only that he was human, and all humans were presumed to be Citizens until proven otherwise.
The tall golden woman looked down from the reception desk at the Laputan Consulate. “May I help you?” Her Humanic sounded rough, unpracticed. Never mind that she probably had spent revolutions on this planet to Tishla’s one and a half turns.
“My name is…” She thought about it. She was Free, but dare she take Kai’s family name? The twins inside her kicked, reminding her she still had duties to her beloved, living or dead. “Lattus Tishla. I am a Free Woman of the Realm. I request asylum among your people and passage to Ramcat, where I may return home.”
The golden woman looked down at her. “A Gelt. I never thought I’d see a Gelt on an Idimic world.”
Tishla permitted herself a little smile at the Laputan word for “human.” It had to do with their creation myth. “A human defrauded me. I exercised my rights under Gelt law. Unfortunately, that conflicts with Compact law in such matters.”
“Oh,” said the Laputan woman. “You’re her. Lucky you didn’t kill him. They’d pack you off to their homeworld and take their sweet time figuring out how to try you. Wait right here.”
Tishla watched her disappear through a doorway. She was a giantess by both human and Gelt standards. Then again, she was likely average for a Laputan.
The man who emerged was also a giant. Craggy-faced, he kept his coarse black hair tied back in a tail the way Laputan military did, even when their service had ended. “So you’re Lattus Kai’s concubine.”
“Former,” Tishla corrected as she noticed the scar running down his cheek. “He sent me to the Compact, which means my servitude has ended. However, I carry his offspring, which makes me his heir.”
