Scales of Empire

by Kylie Chan

  ‘You are not welcome here,’ Richard said. ‘The dragons have never hurt us, but your kind have killed many of us. We are not interested in trading with you. Leave now.’

  ‘I am not responsible for the actions of others of my kind. If they have hurt you, I sincerely apologise,’ the cat said. ‘They must have misunderstood your actions and reacted wrongly.’

  ‘It attacked us without provocation and killed nearly a thousand of us,’ Richard said.

  ‘Then that was a tragedy. But not as much of a tragedy as what is about to happen on this island.’ The cat stared, unblinking, at Richard. ‘I have watched your broadcasts, and see you are starting a breeding program with this dragon. Do this and your species will be extinct within ten generations. The dragons eradicate other civilisations by breeding them out of existence. I am here to stop the dragon and save your species.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Shiumo said. ‘That would only happen to animals that have no control over their reproduction. And these gentle sentient humans are not animals!’

  ‘You lie so easily,’ the cat said, its voice silky. ‘We have seen it happen again and again. You conquer through reproduction.’

  ‘You steal children to use as toys!’ Shiumo snapped.

  ‘We never steal them,’ the cat said with fierce dignity. ‘We pay their full value – and we value intelligent and cunning children very highly.’

  Richard and I shared a shocked glance.

  ‘They are an important commodity for many species. Such trade with us has made those species rich.’ The cat glanced around. ‘Your own children appear to be agile and smart. They would be an extremely valuable trading resource.’

  ‘You torture children to death,’ Shiumo said. ‘Individual cats travel through space and steal children to sell. Whole species have been wiped out.’

  ‘We never take them by force,’ the cat said. ‘And we never take more than can be replaced. It works well for everybody. We are honest in our motives and dealings – unlike you dragons, who breed entire civilisations out of existence as you lie to them about your motives.’ It turned to Richard and me. ‘Trade your children with me, and I will give you warp ships that are far superior to – and safer than – allowing the dragons to breed with you.’

  ‘You’re the one telling lies,’ Shiumo said. ‘Your warp ships come with a contract that forces any planet who buys them to join your Republic.’

  ‘I am only here to trade,’ the cat said. ‘Warp ships for children. Give me fifty children, and I will give you three ships. If you refuse to trade, and continue to relate with this evil dragon, I will report you to my homeworld. We will be forced to welcome your planet into the glory of our Republic – for your own protection.’

  ‘You will not!’ Shiumo said. ‘Invasion and occupation – that’s all you think about! I love these people and I will protect them.’

  ‘Bring the children to my ship. I am waiting,’ the cat said, and walked back to its ship a hundred metres away.

  ‘If we fight it, what are our chances?’ Richard said.

  ‘If you show it violence, it will retaliate with everything it has. It will blow up your planet, just like they did the Nimestas’ home,’ Shiumo said. She lowered her snout slightly. ‘The best option is to do as the cat asks.’

  ‘We will not give it our children!’ Richard said.

  ‘It’s the sacrifice of a small number of children for the safety of your entire population, my love. You don’t have a choice.’

  I watched the cat as it walked back to its ship, casual and in control. ‘Marque, how far away is their homeworld?’

  ‘Thirty-seven light-years from here. There are a few independent non-aligned systems out here on the rim. The cats are one of them.’

  ‘So if this cat sends a message home it will take thirty-seven of our years to reach its planet? And if they return here by warp – even though it’s a short time for them, it will still be thirty-seven of our years?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘And they travel alone, right? They’re like our Earth cats – fiercely independent?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Then we have seventy-four years to prepare for the war. They are not having our children.’

  I kneeled, took careful aim with the energy weapon Marque had given me, and shot the cat in the back. I continued to shoot as it fell, until there was nothing left of it but a smoking hole in the ground.

  ‘I can’t believe you did that,’ Shiumo said, her voice weak with shock.

  ‘You killed it!’ Marque said. It flew to the cat’s body and hovered over it. ‘If we –’

  ‘Attempt to resuscitate it and I will shoot you too,’ I said. ‘It’s the only one here, and it’s a long way from home. If it sent a transmission, it will take more than seventy years for its fellow cats to find out what happened and come for us. I just gave us time to prepare.’

  ‘Well done, Jian,’ Richard said softly.

  ‘That was so brutal,’ Shiumo said. ‘What sort of people are you?’

  ‘People who are willing to do anything to protect their own,’ I said.

  There was a high-pitched wail from the cat’s ship. A black cat – naked and furry, and only a metre tall – stood in the hatchway, screaming.

  I lowered the weapon. ‘Oh, shit.’

  The little cat shouted something incomprehensible in a hissing, high-pitched voice.

  ‘Goodness,’ Shiumo said. ‘That was the last thing I expected it to say after you killed its parent.’

  ‘What did it say?’ I said.

  ‘It said, “I needed that servant”,’ Marque said. ‘I’ll translate.’

  A mass of gold-coloured fur charged out of the ship, knocking the baby cat over in its haste. Its fur rippled as it galloped towards us on four legs, looking like a small long-haired bear.

  ‘Dragonfather! Dragonfather!’ it shouted in a deep gravelly voice.

  ‘Hey, that’s my toy!’ the cat shouted, and stormed after the furry alien. ‘Come back here. You’re mine!’

  The furry alien hid behind Shiumo. ‘Take me home, Dragonfather. I’m grown up now. I can go home.’

  ‘You’re mine. Get back to the ship!’ the little cat shouted. ‘Move! Right now, or I’ll thrash you.’

  The furry alien took a few steps back as the cat approached us, then hid behind Shiumo again. ‘Dragonfather, please – they promised. I’m all grown up and I can go home.’

  ‘Return to the ship, and I’ll take you both back to your homeworlds,’ Shiumo said.

  ‘No,’ I said.

  ‘We can’t return the cat. It’ll tell the other cats we killed its parent,’ Richard said.

  ‘You can’t keep them here!’ Shiumo said.

  ‘We’ll look after them,’ I said. I turned to the furry alien. ‘What’s your name, little one?’

  ‘I’m not little, I’m mature!’ it said. ‘My name is …’ It made a soft howling sound completely without consonants.

  ‘And it’s mine!’ the cat shrieked.

  ‘Give it a name in your own language – we all do that,’ Shiumo said. She gazed down at the furry alien. ‘Were you sold or stolen, child?’

  ‘I’m not a child!’ the furry alien said. ‘I’m an adult and I can go home.’

  ‘Marque?’ Shiumo said.

  Marque zipped around the furry creature, checking it over. ‘Found the chip. Definitely sold. Not mature, so still the cat’s property. By law we should return both of them to the Cat Republic.’

  ‘I’m not going back!’ the alien wailed. ‘They promised that when I grew up I could go home, and I’m grown up now!’

  I put my hand on its back. ‘We won’t send you back. We’ll look after you.’

  It cringed away from me.

  The little cat stormed up to us and slapped the alien across the head. ‘You’re still mine, and we’re going home!’

  It made to hit the alien again, and I grabbed its hand to stop it. ‘Oh no, you don’t.’
>
  The cat shook its hand free, and kicked me. ‘You killed my parent! This is my toy.’ It glared at the furry alien. ‘You’re coming back on the ship with me right now, and we’re going home to claim my parent’s property.’

  ‘You have to stay here while we work out what to do,’ Shiumo said.

  ‘No, I’m going home!’ the cat shouted, and raced back towards the ship.

  I chased it, but it was much faster than me, moving with effortless grace. It leaped into the ship.

  I stopped, then ran back towards the group. Everybody scattered as far from the ship as possible, concerned it would use a flammable fuel to take off. When we were all at least a hundred metres away, we stopped and waited. The hatch didn’t close and the ship didn’t move.

  ‘It would make sense that its parent hasn’t taught it to fly the ship, or given it access to the controls,’ Shiumo said. ‘I don’t think it would hesitate to strand its parent if it had the chance, and head home by itself.’

  Richard checked his tablet. ‘The general’s on her way. She says to stand by until she gets here. It’ll take a couple of hours.’ He looked at the cat’s ship. ‘Would it know how to use the cat’s weapons?’

  ‘I doubt it,’ Shiumo said. ‘Again, safety of its parent.’

  I went back to the ship, and up the stairs. Its interior was different shades of dark grey, with soft fabric covering the floor and platforms on the walls. The little cat squatted on a carpet-covered platform, desperately thumping at a control panel that was a sheet of blank black glass.

  ‘Take me home!’ it shouted, and thumped the panel again. ‘I am going to kill everybody!’

  It saw me and scrabbled at the side of the panel. ‘Give me a gun!’

  It gave up and launched itself at me. It landed on my torso, dug its teeth painfully into my breast, and clawed my arms and thighs. I put one hand around its throat, and used the other to grab it by the scruff of its neck. I had the advantage of size, and it hung from my hands, spitting and attempting to scratch me. When it realised this was ineffectual, it clawed at my hands, leaving deep scratches.

  I carried it outside by the scruff of its neck. ‘Put it in an energy bubble before it flays me completely, Marque.’

  The cat lifted away from me, still hissing, and Marque enclosed it.

  ‘I guess you’re my toy now until you’re mature,’ I said, shaking my stinging hands and spattering the grass with my blood.

  The cat stopped hissing and struggling, and stared at me.

  ‘Hold your hands up, Jian,’ Marque said. It cleansed the wounds, and covered my hands with opaque white gloves. ‘Leave those on for three days. They’ll deaden the pain and help the scratches heal cleanly.’

  ‘Can you take me home, Dragonfather?’ the furry alien asked Shiumo.

  ‘They won’t want you, little one. If I return you, they will just give you back to the cats.’

  The furry alien lowered its head. ‘They said I could go home when I’m grown up. I am!’

  ‘No, you aren’t,’ Shiumo said gently.

  ‘Both of you are staying with me,’ I said. ‘I’ll look after you.’

  ‘Obviously not very well,’ the cat spat, and slammed the energy bubble with one hand.

  ‘Will you send me home when I’m grown up?’ the furry alien said with hope.

  ‘Absolutely. And nobody will hurt you any more. I’ll be kind to you.’ I turned to the cat. ‘Both of you.’

  ‘I just suggested you die horribly in a violent way that cannot be accurately translated,’ the cat said, scowling. ‘I want to go home.’

  ‘So did your toy,’ I said, pointing at the furry alien.

  The cat squatted and glowered at me.

  ‘Don’t bother talking until we’re inside,’ General Maxwell said when she arrived, and stormed past us and up the hill. ‘Shiumo’s still here?’

  ‘She is, ma’am,’ Richard said.

  ‘Good. Show me the way.’

  We led her to the main conference room, where Shiumo and Marque, together with the little cat and the golden bear alien, were waiting. The room had a table large enough for ten, and posters of the Britannia ship and the Wolf colony’s dome on the wall. Marque had made an energy cell for the cat in the corner of the room, and it squatted inside it, sullen, next to a puddle of its own urine. Every time Marque cleaned it up, the cat made a new puddle.

  The general frowned when she saw the aliens, and the frown deepened when she saw Shiumo’s new body.

  ‘It’s really me, I’m still Shiumo,’ she began, but the general cut her off.

  ‘Can you still impregnate our volunteers? It’s vital that the program goes ahead.’

  ‘Don’t you think we should take some time to consider the implications of what just happened?’ Shiumo said.

  ‘No,’ the general said. ‘We made the trade. We let you heal Alto; now you must keep your side of the bargain. Ninety half-dragon children by the end of thirty days. Fulfil the agreement.’

  ‘That’s cold, Charles,’ Shiumo said, her voice soft with awe.

  The general smiled grimly. ‘Princess – or whoever you are, which is really beside the point – my job is to make strategic choices that maim and kill the bright young men and women under my command. You haven’t even begun to see the cold I’m capable of.’

  ‘I made the agreement. I’ll stand by it,’ Shiumo said, gazing up at her.

  ‘Excellent.’ The general studied the cat and the furry alien. ‘And now we have these two to care for, as well as the dragon babies.’

  ‘I’ll care for them,’ I said. ‘They’re my responsibility.’

  ‘But you said –’ Shiumo began.

  ‘This is different,’ I said. ‘I’m responsible for their current situation. I have to do what’s right by them.’

  ‘Well done, by the way, Lieutenant,’ the general said, flashing me a tight smile. ‘You’re in line for another medal after what you did. Lightning-fast thinking on your feet, and you gained us nearly eighty years to prepare.’

  ‘I would prefer not to receive a medal for shooting someone in the back, ma’am.’

  ‘You dishonoured yourself to do what was right. You doubly deserve it.’ The general turned back to Shiumo. ‘You will impregnate our volunteers, and the babies will stay here. Your babies will stay here. And in seventy-four years, when the cats come to find out what happened,’ her smile filled with satisfaction, ‘you will assist in our defence.’

  Shiumo opened and closed her mouth. ‘This was a setup.’

  The general scowled. ‘Of course it wasn’t. Don’t be ridiculous. But if you’re telling the truth about your maternal instincts, I know you’ll help us.’

  Shiumo lowered her head. ‘My mother is going to kill me.’

  ‘Then I suggest you head directly home – after you’ve fulfilled your contract – and talk to her about how you’re going to protect the planet where your precious children live.’

  ‘This isn’t how it’s supposed to turn out!’ Shiumo protested.

  ‘Tell me, Princess, how is it supposed to turn out?’ Maxwell said with biting aggression.

  ‘Love should be free,’ Shiumo said.

  ‘Feel free to love your children,’ the general snapped back. ‘Now go and make them. Alto will finish the selection process within ten days – and then you’ll be experiencing a great deal of free love.’

  General Maxwell stood with Richard and me, radiating tension. Her daughter hadn’t been one of the original selections for impregnation, but a volunteer had dropped out and Linda had been a reserve. She was the last woman to be with Shiumo. Four others, who had been with the dragon over the past couple of days, waited with us to help her recover from the experience.

  Linda came out of the room, flushed and glowing. She was taller and more slender than her mother, and shared the same blonde hair. She radiated the sexual satisfaction that Richard had shown after his first time with Shiumo. Every woman who’d been with Shiumo had come out with a smile t
hat didn’t fade for days.

  ‘You all right?’ General Maxwell said, touching her daughter’s arm.

  ‘I’m okay. That was a unique experience.’ Linda looked at the other women. ‘You should have warned me,’ she said as she straightened her shirt. She raised her hand. ‘I know – you did warn me, but I still wasn’t prepared.’ She glanced back at the room where Shiumo was. ‘That was …’ She shook her head.

  ‘You sure you’re okay, Linda?’ General Maxwell said. ‘I can arrange help for you …’

  ‘No, I’m fine,’ Linda said. She turned to Richard. ‘I’d be taking her up on her offer to travel with her if I were you, Commander Alto. Having that for the rest of your life? Worth any sacrifice.’

  ‘I’m not so sure about that,’ Richard said, and handed her a tablet. ‘Sign this, please.’

  She signed the tablet and passed it back, then smiled at the other volunteers. ‘I’m glad you guys are here.’ She nodded to the general. ‘I appreciate you being here, Mum, but I need to talk to them.’

  ‘I understand,’ General Maxwell said. ‘You’ve all said that. I expected it.’

  ‘Come and share with us,’ one of the volunteers said. ‘You can’t discuss it with anyone else, and we understand.’

  ‘Do you need me for anything else, Commander Alto?’ Linda said.

  ‘No,’ Richard said. ‘Thank you for helping humanity.’

  ‘Mum?’

  ‘Go,’ the general said. ‘I’ll wait. Come back when you’re ready.’

  Shiumo came out, and Linda went to her and crouched in front of her. ‘Thank you, Shiumo. I feel special.’

  ‘You are special, dear Linda.’ She rubbed her cheek on Linda’s. ‘Thank you for a generous time of mutual joy and pleasure.’

  Richard and I shared a look. Shiumo had said that to every volunteer after they’d finished. It appeared to be a polite form of words.

  Linda nodded to us, then joined the group of volunteers, who took her away to unpack the experience.

  ‘I’m starving,’ Shiumo said. ‘Please come up to the ship for dinner. I want to talk to you about what happens now.’