by TS Hottle
“Good morning,” the female said. “I’m Dr. Moren. I’m one of the people who gave you the Gray treatment upon your arrival.”
That made Tishla laugh. “So you know of the Grays, too.”
“Oh, our people are righteously angry at them,” said Dr. Moren. “Much of what we did to you as a precaution, they did to our people as a joke.”
Tishla did not need to hear more to know what the doctor was referring to abduction, invasive experiments that served no purpose, and tracking devices. When the Realm learned that these bug-eyed things didn’t even invent the technology they used, the Warrior Caste made it a point to slaughter any Grays they encountered and send the corpses back the way they came. She wondered what these humans did to them. “They’re rather pathetic once you learn who and what they are.”
“We have to remind our mereens that using sex toys on them really is a war crime, even in peace time.” She held out her left hand, palm up, and began dragging her finger across it deliberately. “So you can extrapolate languages quickly. That’s a rare talent among primates. Are you unique in this? Or does your species naturally have this ability?”
“We’re born with it. It’s a survival mechanism that evolved during our early Stone Age.” That was more than Tishla wanted to say, but somehow, she felt completely at ease with this woman. “The person who was here before said I was on Metis.”
“Welcome to the Compact,” said the doctor. “Thirty worlds and their colonies that like to pretend they’re a single entity. Well, as long as the Laputans think we are.”
“We are aware of the Laputans.”
“We know. That’s why you ended up on the wrong end of a stun wand and a guest of a hazmat crew. That liner you boarded was actually one of ours.” She swiped on her palm some more before looking up again. “Female. Correct?”
“Yes,” said Tishla. “As are you.”
The doctor looked down at her rather large breasts and reddened in the face a little. “Ever wonder why that particular sexual dimorphism is so common among primate aliens? Anyway, that’s not how we deduced it. I suppose you remember when we… probed you.”
Tishla knew her face colored, only in her case, it was anger. “Yes.”
“That was a scope. We found an orifice and wanted to see where it went. You were supposed to be unconscious, but we’re a little unsure on the sedatives in a first contact situation. We didn’t know what would poison you.”
“So you found my womb,” she said. “See anything else interesting?”
“Yes. Did you know you were pregnant?”
Now it makes sense, Tishla thought. If Kai sent his concubine away to a place where her indenture would be nullified, and she carried his child, then…
“I must get back to my people,” she said. “I cannot give birth on an alien world. My ma- My mate has to be present.” My mate is probably dead.
“In due time. You’re of a species unknown to us.” She did not add that said species was also breeding and likely to give birth on this world, but she didn’t have to. “It’s as much for your protection as it is ours.”
“I’m a geneticist by training. I understand. But you do not realize what may happen if I give birth on an alien world outside the Realm.”
“Rest easy,” said Dr. Moren. “I assume you’re not about to give birth in a month. Or are you? Zaras have really short gestation periods.”
Tishla did some quick calculations. Kai last slipped his tongue inside of her eight days before she left Hanar, the first world Marq had arranged for him to take. She had been at the height of her fertile period. “Not for another six turns. What I think you call months. I don’t know if the time periods are the same.”
“Well, then, let us make sure Metis is safe for you.” Moren did not add that they needed to know Tishla was safe for Metis. She did not need to.
“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 human’s 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 accomm
odations for you, something a little more private than a hospital. ”
13
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 couldn’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.
14
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 h
er 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.”
