“OK. We’ll check into a hotel, and I doubt there are all that many for anyone to have to visit to find us.”
Pushing back his chair, McKinnon put his hands on the table to help his old legs lift his extra pounds. “I don't think I’ll have any problem convincing the other men to crowd into just one car, or talk some of them into hitching a ride back on the truck. Your partner clearly scares the hell out of them. Me too, frankly. She’ll fill the entire back of one car, even with the rear seat backs folded forward. You can sit up front with me and keep her from grinning at me in the mirror, or breathing on the back of my neck.”
“Fine, I can do that,” answered Ethan, winking at Kit. They were ready to head into Cayuga to make some money.
Chapter 3: Enemies and Friends
McKinnon, cautioning them that Kit might provoke panic if seen walking around unaccompanied, and suggested that she always stay with Ethan while in town. He pointed out that the natural response of people with guns, and with no prior knowledge of Kit as an intelligent alien, would be to shoot first and ask later. Handguns were commonly carried in open range cattle country, particularly so in Calder County recently, as grievances had turned violent.
The sheriff let them out in front of the third largest hotel in town, the Imperial, and went inside with them to make an introduction. He didn’t consider this favoritism as much as preventing his promptly having to return to answer a disturbance call.
He called out to the proprietor, standing behind the counter as they entered. “Horace, I’ve brought you two guests that will make the Imperial Hotel the talk of the town.”
Actually, he only thought Kit would achieve that notoriety for Horace, since Ethan looked like the boy-next-door type. “I know you allow dogs in your cheaper rooms, so I doubt you’ll exclude cats. Right?” He’d adapted the same humorous approach as had Greeves about his companion.
It was deliberately phrased to make it sound like a trivial matter. The owner-clerk had been reading something when the Sheriff came in, and he merely glanced up and back to his reading, as he absorbed what the familiar face had just said. Ethan was behind him, with Kit at his side.
“Sure, cats don’t bark.” He acknowledged, looking up again to see who the sheriff had brought him. He dropped the flexible digital reader on the counter when he saw the huge blue “kitty” behind the man.
“What the hell?” He backed away from the counter, clearly contemplating ducking through the open office door behind him.
“Easy, Horace. This big blue cat is an intelligent alien, and it talks. Both she and the young man with her are from a planet outside Human Space, called Koban. If you kept up with Hub news on your reader, and followed the war stories through its final year, then you must have read about the Kobani and their alien allies. This cat is one of their allies.”
McKinnon couldn’t work up the courage to reach out to touch Kit, but he had spoken with the animal on the short drive from the airfield.
Or should we think of her as a person? He wondered.
Ethan, recognizing the need for reassuring the clerk, had placed his hand and forearm on Kit’s neck. A small ruff of furred flesh encircled the tiger’s neck, and the young man’s hand rested there.
This ruff was chock full of nerve receptors that led directly to the brain’s imaging and language centers. Contacting any lifeform with this tissue permitted mind-to-mind contact.
“Why does he look so nervous?” Kit asked.
“He’s afraid you won’t know how to use a litter box.” Joked Ethan.
“I can hang my rear end out a second floor window, over a sidewalk.”
“You just proved his point.”
“No, I can smell his fear. He’s afraid I’ll eat him or a guest. I am getting hungry, you know.”
“After we get a room we’ll go shopping, and then eat something. It’s morning here.”
“By our ship time and my stomach it’s long past dinner, and I should have brought a hunk of rhinolo meat with me.”
“To the largest beef producer in Human Space? Sort of redundant.”
“I doubt beef is as good as rhinolo. I wish we’d contracted to a world with tuna fishing. Now that’s a great tasting new food to me. Never had a fresh one.”
“Let’s see if we get a room here first.”
“Uh, uh…, Sheriff,” the owner stammered, “we don’t accept animals that large. It might tear the place up.”
Kit spoke up, to demonstrate that she could. “Sir, I don’t tear up the furniture of my own home, I surely won’t tear up property I’ll be charged for. We’re paying with a credit chit, in case there is any damage. After this, you’ll be able to tell people that an alien slept here, and liked it very much.” Nothing like a bit of salesmanship. Or was that salescatship?
The proprietor’s eyes initially grew larger when Kit spoke, then he considered the word of mouth advertising he would get when he let it be known that the first non-human guest on Chisholm had selected Cayuga’s Imperial Hotel for their stay.
“Do you want a ground floor, street view, or a second or third floor room that overlooks the saloon behind us? The saloon view is cheaper, but it gets noisy.
Ethan made a request. “Third floor, on the side by the clothing store, with a balcony if you have one available.” He’d seen they had rooms like that, as they pulled up.
The man glanced at the register and said, “Sure. It’s not as cheap as the rear rooms, however.”
By Comtap, Kit asked him, “Why third floor on that side?”
“We can come and go with ease after dark, and people will think we’re in our room. A three story jump is too much for a human from here.”
“How many days will you be staying?’
“Not certain. Use my chit for the first day in advance, and we’ll let you know later.” He handed his card over, and then let the computer scanner verify his biometrics.
McKinnon, seeing they had a room was ready to leave. “Kindly stay out of trouble, and please remember my cautions about you two staying together. I’m going to call the local Tri-Vid news and entertainment stations, and ask that they make public service announcements about your visit. Might prevent some misunderstandings.”
“Thank you Sheriff.” Ethan said.
“Yes, I will heed your words.” Kit told him.
After McKinnon left, the proprietor asked how many key cards they needed.
“You don’t have biometric scanners on the doors?” Ethan asked.
“No, we aren’t a frequent destination for Hub visitors, so I didn’t invest in the technology they expect.”
“I’ve never stayed on a Hub world either, but I was looking forward to using that technology. Just one card then. You may have noted that tigers don’t have pockets.”
“Or thumbs,” he added via Comtap, just to annoy Kit.
“Fine. Uh do you have any luggage, perhaps in the Sheriff’s car before he drives off?”
Ethan gave Kit an accusing look and said, “That’s a shopping need I have, for which you can help direct us. I need to buy a few clothes and toiletries, I’d like to buy a horse that isn’t afraid of my friend here, and I need all the gear for riding out on the open range, and for camping.”
“I have business cards of places in town that sell what you want at reasonable prices. The clothing store next door you probably already saw. If you tell me where you’ll be going first, I’ll call ahead to alert them to you two unusual visitors. The free advertising I’m going to get from your stay here shouldn’t include unfortunate stories from places I recommended you to visit. If you buy a horse, the hotel has an agreement with a stable just up the street that charges by the day. You get a discount if you mention where you’re staying. There’s a hitch rail around by our side entrance, but you can’t keep a horse there all night.”
“Thank you. I’m sure I’ll also find a place to eat while I’m out. However, is there a butcher shop, or a market where we can buy about fifty pounds of raw beef?”
Kit provided the solution. “The meat won’t make it back here. I’ll eat all of that while my brother tries the local foods. Is there an outdoor area for any of the restaurants in town, where we can both eat at the same time?” That resulted in three more cards for places to eat that had outdoor patios, and cards for two butcher shops.
Now Ethan had one more request that he’d been concerned about, since his personal pistol, an alien Krall made projectile weapon, had also been left on their shuttle when Kit sent it back prematurely. “What are local laws concerning ownership and purchase of guns? As a visitor, will I be able to buy them, and is there a waiting period or permit required?”
Horace didn’t even blink. “This isn’t a Hub world, Sir. Most of their restrictions don't apply to Chisholm or to any of the Rim Worlds since the war. If you’re over sixteen you can own a rifle or a shotgun. Over age eighteen, you can buy handguns. No permits or waiting required, and you can carry them openly, or concealed. There are no plasma beam weapons or heavy laser rifles allowed under import laws. That’s one Hub regulation that we agree with. Although, there are some lower power handheld laser pistols sold, and nonlethal weapons like nerve Jazzers and Sonics. Those are all power hungry, and a larger battery for them makes them heavier to carry, so they aren’t very popular.
“Some few businesses will tell you that you can’t enter them with any firearm, which they have a right to do. Those aren’t businesses that many cowboys frequent, or most men around here for that matter. Even many of our women carry concealed small caliber pistols.” He passed over eight cards this time. There were more gun shops than public places to eat in Cayuga.
“Charlie, at Guns ‘n Stuff, is the most knowledgeable about quality hand guns, but he isn’t the cheapest.”
“Thanks. Since we have nothing to put in our room yet, could you please call the store next door to say we’ll be over there in just a moment?”
When they headed towards the clothing store, a woman was already standing at the door as the two stepped out of the hotel. She called back into the store, and a man’s head briefly poked out the door, before both of them went inside. There were several people on the sidewalk on their side of the street that looked up at them, and then hurriedly crossed the street. A couple of preteen boys saw them, and they fell in trail well behind them, and pressed their faces to the store’s window to watch them after they entered. One of the boys was on his phone the entire time and taking pictures of Kit.
The purchase of items of clothing, shirts, pants, toiletries, a wide brimmed “cowboy” hat, and a pair of pointy-toed boots went smoothly. The husband and wife were fascinated with the two off worlders, but particularly with Kit, who carried on a conversation with both of them as Ethan was fitted.
By the time they left the store with Ethan’s purchases, there were at least a dozen kids gawking at Kit. They kept what they considered to be a safe distance, with obviously no idea what that would actually be if a massive teal colored tiger from a high gravity world really wanted to eat them.
That distance dropped precipitously when Kit said, “Hi kids. Anyone want a ride on my back?” The teens were cautious and leery enough to keep their imagined safe distance, but seven of the roughly six to ten year olds crowded around. Ethan lifted two at a time onto Kit’s back as they strolled towards the hotel. Ethan wanted to drop off his old clothes and bags of new before walking to a butcher shop. If the older kids knew what Kit was craving, they might have maintained a much greater safe distance.
When they reached the hotel, several young kids had not had a turn yet, so Ethan violated the spirit of his agreement with the sheriff, and briefly left Kit alone with the kids, allowing them to climb aboard on their own.
He was gone only a few minutes. Nevertheless, when he returned to the front of the hotel there were a sizable number of adults gathered there, who were more or less crowding the kids out of a circle of adult attention. Several large white vans had parked on the street, and one was double-parked at an angle, as if it had arrived in a hurry.
Ethan, fearful of what might have happened in his absence, roughly shoved his way through the kids and the ring of adults, only to find Kit besieged by…, reporters, and Tri-Vid cameras on the shoulders of several cameramen.
There was a cute little blonde haired girl sitting on Kit’s back, about age six or seven, who was caught up in the frenzy of the human interest story of the “small beauty and the gentle beast” story, which the local news outlets had rushed to the Imperial to cover. At least that was the story to which they had shifted their focus, doing that shift the exact moment they reached the hotel, and saw Kit surrounded by children, with one child sitting on her back, laughing delightedly.
It seemed the sheriff had notified them, as he’d said he would, hoping that a story about the two visitors would defuse any panicky public reaction to Kit’s presence in his town. If the enthusiastic reactions were any indication, shortly Kit would be a celebrity. She was calmly trying to answer questions being fired at her from three male reporters, who would barely wait their turn for to her to answer the previous question.
“Excuse me,” Ethan interjected. “Please allow my sister to answer you before you ask your next question. And kindly give her some room. She was giving this little girl a ride, and you have the sidewalk blocked.”
They briefly turned to look at him, but only a fourth reporter, outside the cluster of the three male reporters around Kit, asked him anything. Although, the three men did move to one side so Kit could walk a short distance down the sidewalk, with them in trail.
“Who are you?” She asked. “Do you know anything about this, uh, tiger?” That came from the pretty but harried looking female reporter, who had been pushed aside by her more aggressive male counterparts.
Ethan smiled, “Yes, I know her. My name is Ethan Greeves, and Kit and I arrived together this morning. She’s a member of my family, and we’re from Koban. She loves children, both human and tiger cubs, and she often plays with them at home.”
The woman’s camera operator had automatically swiveled around, to cover the handsome young man she had questioned. The professional moved back to frame the shot on his reporter and the man she was speaking to, and managed to include the large blue tiger with the small girl on its back in the background.
She introduced herself. “I’m Jeniene Olander, of COLM news. Koban, isn’t that where the supermen are from, which the Planetary Union Army says were instrumental in the defeat of the Krall. Do you know any of them?” She obviously hadn’t thought out her first interview question.
Ethan partly suppressed his laugh, and resisted an impulse to say, Yes, I’m a superman. Aside from modesty, he was perfectly aware that almost none of the Kobani fit the image of what Normals thought of when they used a term like supermen. They expected to see extremely bulked up muscles on a towering male frame. Ethan was taller than an average male today, at slightly over two meters, or bit over six feet six inches, but his well-proportioned body, muscled but not bulging with them, probably didn’t match the image the word superman suggested.
He corrected her. “The Kobani shouldn’t be called supermen. We come from a world with a bit over one and a half times standard Earth gravity and we do have genetic enhancements that make us physically stronger and faster than any Krall warrior. Nevertheless, we don’t look any different from anyone on other human worlds.”
“You said ‘we,’ does that mean you claim to be a Kobani?”
Now Ethan did laugh. “I am a Kobani. I can tell by how you asked that question that I didn’t match your expectations of a physically impressive specimen.”
She blushed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound incredulous. The stories told by returning army veterans, those who saw Kobani in action, had some
incredible tales to share. If you’re just like any of the rest of us, how do you explain their exaggerations?”
“Mam, I said we don’t look different. I didn’t say we’re not different. The differences are internal and not externally obvious. Let me provide a descriptive illustration. See that little girl on Kit’s back?”
“Yes. What does that illustrate?”
“If she had been born as a full Kobani, a child that had inherited all of our enhancements, even at her obviously young age there aren’t many men on this entire planet who could even match her in most purely physical activities. I mean tasks such as lifting heavy objects, running fast, jumping high, or throwing objects, as general examples. She also could think at ten times the speed of your own thought processes, and react far faster than any one you’ve ever met.
“A normal person with extensive military training would have skills, such as martial arts and weapons training, which she probably wouldn’t have at her age, but it wouldn’t matter if they were unarmed and tried to attack her. Even unskilled, she would be far faster that they are, able to avoid or counter any move made against her that they tried, and she could strike back faster and more powerfully than they could possibly block. If you bring firearms into the equation, that’s different. We aren’t indestructible, but we are hard to target if we see you trying to do that, and very dangerous and resourceful in using whatever is at hand to defend ourselves. If she also had a firearm, the attacker is unlikely to even get off a shot, or to survive to fire again if they did.”
“Mr. Greeves, I presume your implication is that a fully grown Kobani, with training and weapons, has a far greater advantage over a man than a Kobani child that age.”
“Yes, that would be an implication you could draw.” He grinned at the obvious inference. She wasn’t asking particularly bright questions, or drawing logical conclusions, but she was very pretty.
Koban Universe 2: Have Genes, Will Travel Page 9
