Good-natured laughter greeted the woman as she quickly descended the stairs, and when she reached the bottom the employees broke into spontaneous applause, punctuated by whistles and the occasional cheerful hoot. Nobody seemed terribly upset that they would be working for a former co-worker, and when the noise quieted down she spoke.
“This is something that Jack, Trudy and Cory cooked up in the hospital shortly before Jack’s death,” Thomas somberly explained, “and while I’m certainly honored to be given the chance to manage the store it’s not something I ever expected, nor did I ask for it.” She scanned the familiar faces in front of her, then stated, her tone suddenly upbeat, “Jack worked long and hard to take what his father built and make it even better, and I, for one, don’t intend to let his…his spirit see it falter. Let’s work to make this year a banner year. Let’s do it for Jack!”
Cory Ross found himself joining the group of employees in enthusiastic response to Thomas’ ringing challenge, and in a flash of insight he realized that she probably was, indeed, the best person to take over the business. Next, he knew, would come the delicate part; the “alien connection”.
When the black-furred H’kaah arrived at the dealership in the same vehicle with Lisa Thomas, the employees who took more than passing notice of him thought him to be no more than one of Jack Ross’ alien acquaintances, many of whom visited him on occasion at the dealership. D’jiin waited upstairs in his human self’s old office, the lights off, the blinds pulled, one golden eye carefully peering through a slit at the people Jack Ross used to employ. Lisa, honey, he thought, if you blow this intro you’ll knock a hole in human/alien relations big enough to drive an eighteen-wheeler through.
Downstairs, Lisa Thomas was working up her courage; courage, she knew, that would be needed to get through the next few crucial moments.
“One last thing before we reopen the driveway gates and get back to work,” she stated, her heart racing. “Jack invited me to his house for dinner some months ago. Not knowing S’leen, his H’kaah companion, very well at that time, I feared it would be a dull, tasteless meal (I’m a ‘meat-and-potatoes girl’, remember!) followed by strained conversation that would be of little interest to me.” She shook her head, a wry smile on her face. “Boy, was I ever wrong!”
After the laughter died down she continued. “Jack and S’leen had prepared a lavish gourmet feast of vegetarian delights that rivaled the best five-star restaurants, and once it had been demolished we relaxed and talked about, well, everything! I learned about Jack’s passion for helping the H’kaah achieve independence in a universe full of aliens who would like nothing better than to…to eat them. You see, it was our very own Jack Ross who originated the entire Patrons concept,” she stated, “and up until now only a handful of people, humans and H’kaah alike, knew it.” She paused dramatically for effect while the small crowd of humans muttered in genuine shock.
After a few moments she motioned them to silence, then continued, “That night I came to understand a lot more about the H’kaah, and I learned things the public still has no idea of. And…and then Jack dropped a bombshell on me: He introduced me to a friend of his, a striking, mostly-black-furred H’kaah named D’jiin.” The crowd was quiet now, their wide-eyed attention fully on Lisa Thomas. D’jiin started down the staircase but remained out of sight.
“This H’kaah,” she explained, “had known Jack since shortly after humankind discovered the aliens, and mainly through his and Jack’s behind-the-scenes hard work and determination the Patrons concept was given a life of its own.” Thomas saw that everyone was interested in her story. Good, she thought. It’s time to bring out the heavy artillery. “By the time I met D’jiin the program had begun to roll along pretty good, and he really wanted to live here on Earth and see how the program worked from this end. To bring that about we agreed that I would serve as his patron, hopefully to give him a fairly accurate picture of how his people were dealing with life among us scary, predatory types.” She smiled, then looked at the staircase behind her.
With that prearranged phrase as his entrance cue, the dark H’kaah quickly padded down the stairs and into sight, confidently stepping up to Lisa Thomas’ side. He flashed a brief smile at the surprised group of humans.
“As you might have guessed, I’m known as D’jiin,” he stated in a friendly tone of voice. “You probably saw me earlier at Jack’s funeral, and while our religions are different we H’kaah say goodbye to our dead in a similar manner to you humans.” He paused a moment, then continued somberly, “It’s ironic that Jack died only hours before the final details of my stay on your world were completed, but like many of you, we H’kaah believe in fate. Although I traveled here on numerous occasions for secret visits with him, it saddens me that Jack and I are no longer destined to work together.
“I first met Lisa at the dinner she told you about, and that was when the idea of her becoming my patron was proposed. I returned home to complete the arrangements, and I returned here for final orientation three days ago.” So far, so good, D’jiin silently mused.
“While my species is not as technologically advanced as yours, our business practices and related education closely follow those practiced in this country. Along with working on seemingly endless Patrons matters, Jack and I spent considerable time discussing practical business aspects of this automobile dealership. His heirs, as well as Lisa, have asked me to spend part of my time on your world working as her business consultant. The rest of my time will be split between Patrons concerns and helping S’leen manage Jack’s properties for both his daughter, Trudy Bond and his son, Cory, who has subsequently taken over as S’leen’s patron.”
“Doesn’t your contract require you to be a companion to the human who hires you?” one voice from the crowd questioned. “And if you’re hanging around with S’leen, how can you be a ‘proper’ companion to Lisa? Won’t she be jealous?”
Lisa Thomas’ face flamed with embarrassment at the suggestive remark, and D’jiin quickly recognized the questioner’s whiny voice.
Daryl Polk.
“All Patrons contracts,” D’jiin slowly stated, “have a number of standardized terms and agreements. They can, however, be modified to suit whatever requirements both parties feel are necessary.” Polk’s questions had embarrassed several other people besides Lisa Thomas, and the obnoxious young man suddenly found himself standing apart from his coworkers on the showroom floor. This suited D’jiin even better since he could now direct his comments to the questioner.
D’jiin stared at Polk for a discomforting moment, then continued, “We H’kaah are naturally reserved, and Jack believed that serving as companions to you dauntless, frequently brash humans would be a good way to…to ‘condition’ our people to the harsh realities we’re now having to face. When one’s own people are normally viewed as…as lunch by over half of the species inhabiting the universe there comes a time when drastic choices, choices upon which one’s species’ ultimate survival reside, must be made. Throughout our history a select few of our males have been given intensive military training, and through that training those individuals learned how to deal with any situation, regardless of danger.” He noticed signs of distress—outright fear, actually—on Polk’s arrogant face. The man realized he’d screwed up; he just didn’t understand how badly. “Our government, however, is well aware that, for many reasons, training all of our people to be soldiers isn’t practical, so when Jack offered us the Patrons concept, we—pardon the pun—jumped on it.”
D’jiin momentarily swept his confident, golden-eyed gaze across his rapt audience, then returned it to Polk, who noticeably cringed. “I happen to be one of those males fortunate enough to have had military training, so I don’t require the personal protection of my patron. I also possess this world’s international driver’s license as well as your world’s equivalent of a master’s degree in business administration. And — in spite of what you seem to think — a Patrons companion is not required by contract to
have a physical relationship with his or her patron, even though it does happen between some. Even if it was,” D’jiin flashed a large-toothed grin at the man, “I think her human companion, Dave Billings, might have something to say about that.
“Any more questions, Mr. Polk?”
The other staffers took delight in the man’s blunder, laughing and even applauding the way D’jiin handled the matter. Stepping to one side, the dark-furred H’kaah moved to join Cory Ross and his sister, once again making Lisa Thomas the center of attention.
“If anybody has any objections to D’jiin working with me,” Thomas stated bluntly, “we can discuss them in private. Otherwise, as of now Ross Chevrolet is open for business, and I, for one, would like to make some money.”
* * *
Trudy Bond’s husband, Wes, and their two children had left for home right after the funeral, so after the meeting at the dealership Cory Ross drove his sister out to the estate that was now, for all intent and purpose, legally theirs. Shapiro, Green, S’leen, F’haan and L’niik had gone straight there after the funeral, but had done little more than relax around the swimming pool behind the main house.
Ross went inside and brought out a cold Diet Coke for his sister and a Coors for himself, then they walked around to the pool. “Somehow,” he commented to the group while he peered around, “it’s just not the same. I keep looking for Mom or Dad to pop out of the house and caution Trudy and me not to horseplay around the pool.”
“Of course it’s not the same,” Shapiro stated dryly. “You’re not the same snot-nosed little kid you were so many years ago. Too, I hate to remind you, both your parents are dead. Your mother was a fine woman, Cory, but she’s long gone. Your father—at least as we know him now—is…is not the same person you once knew, either.” Shapiro sighed, then added, “The human part seems to still be there, but there’s another element, an alien element, that’s muddying the waters.” He shook his head. “It may turn out that having his mental matrix transferred to that male H’kaah’s body was not the wisest move.”
“How can you say such a thing!” S’leen yelped. “Jack was your friend, and he was dying!”
Shapiro hung his head but refused to retract his statement. “Jack Ross was my friend,” he explained, “but I’ve seen things about our bunny-boy D’jiin that I never saw in his first incarnation.” He looked first at S’leen, then at Ross’ two grown children. “I trusted Jack with my life so many times I lost count.” He sighed again, adding, “But in the past few days the person Jack became has twice threatened to kill me, and I don’t think that, given the right conditions, he would hesitate an instant to do so.”
That revelation shocked the small group, but once again it was S’leen who challenged the statement by hotly demanding, “Why don’t you tell us what you did to provoke his threats? I have seen nothing in his behavior to make me think he is any more dangerous than he has always been.”
“I think the little lady has you there, chaver,” Green stated quietly. “Are you claiming you did nothing to warrant his threats?” The man looked directly at his former Mossad partner, and after a few tense moments Shapiro looked away. “Just as I thought,” Green rumbled. “Methinks that, given the radical procedure D’jiin had just had undergone, our man Tzvi may have pushed him a little harder than was prudent.”
But it was L’niik who offered D’jiin’s best defense. “I was witness to one of the incidents,” he hesitantly offered. “At first I thought both Teddy and D’jiin had lost their minds, but after careful consideration I’ve decided that both were right in what they did.” That convoluted statement got everyone talking at once, but in a surprising show of determination the white H’kaah male held up his hands and demanded the mixed group pay attention to him.
“D’jiin had become—what is the English term? Ah, yes! Catatonic.” He smiled, delighted at his command of the oft times difficult language. “Nothing was bringing him out of it until Teddy said some…some pretty terrible things, and some of them concerned S’leen.”
“Damn, L’niik,” Shapiro protested, “you don’t have to tell them that!”
The white H’kaah stared pitilessly at the man. “But I do,” he stated. “At first I thought Teddy was insane to say the things he did, and when D’jiin erupted from his catatonic state to attack him I feared that a murder was about to take place.” The big male alien added, “I dare say that had D’jiin and I traded places and circumstances, I might have reacted the same as he did.”
“You…you can’t mean that!” Shapiro cried. “You’d never attack—”
The alien shocked both humans and H’kaah alike by snarling, “You have no idea what any of us are capable of doing, Honorable Teddy Shapiro. You didn’t think S’leen capable of killing—but she did. Two different times! I’ll bet you didn’t know that at S’leen’s homecoming party, during a period of momentary insanity, I…I was about to rape S’leen,” L’niik nearly shouted, “and when Jack stopped me I…I tried my very best to kill him!”
The four humans, as well as F’haan, were shocked speechless at L’niik’s confession, but what followed brought everything into focus.
“Few humans outside this small group know that male H’kaah are prone to succumb to pheromone-induced spells of mindless lust, and that the resulting crimes of passion traditionally result in death sentences for those of us who succeed in our shameful endeavors. Remember, that’s the very same crime that resulted in D’raan’s death sentence, a situation that became Jack Ross’ salvation.” L’niik was doggedly exposing his innermost secrets, and S’leen knew he would never have done it had he not cared so much for his friend D’jiin.
“Jack stopped me from assaulting S’leen, and because of his interference I…I tried to kill him,” he repeated. “By our laws he would have been justified in killing me for both crimes, yet he…” the big male H’kaah suddenly began crying, “…he didn’t. Jack threw me to the ground and restrained me, but while it would have been far easier for him to maim or cripple, he caused me no permanent injury. Considering that I am stronger and faster—and far less skillful—than he was at the time, he demonstrated incredible control of the situation. Then he frightened me so badly I…I fainted, but I needed that fright to snap me out of my pheromone-induced rage. You see, Jack had compassion, and he used restraint.” L’niik sniffed and wiped his gray eyes, adding, “Jack Ross not only saved S’leen’s honor, he saved my life.”
Before the others could voice any objections the male H’kaah said one more thing. “Teddy, you were right to shock him out of his catatonic state, but you went too far. If I were as deeply in love with S’leen as D’jiin is—” L’niik shook his head, “—I most likely wouldn’t have stopped.”
Shapiro was appalled. “You mean you would have—”
“—Ripped off your testicles and torn open your throat,” L’niik grimly stated. “From what S’leen has told me in the past few days, my friend and mentor Jack Ross has done far worse than that when you and Nolan Green and he worked as government-sponsored killers. In your case I think our mutual friend showed a remarkable degree of self-control.”
* * *
Lisa Thomas was nervous. Although she’d fantasized about running the dealership her way, she’d never really believed it would happen. In her wildest dreams she’d certainly never thought it would happen this way!
“Is it beginning to weigh heavily on your shoulders?” D’jiin asked Thomas as the woman settled into the former owner’s leather chair, in the former owner’s oak-paneled office, in the former owner’s dealership. “Remember one thing,” he stated. “If I hadn’t had full confidence in your ability to take on this responsibility, I’d have said so.” He had closed the heavy wood door to the office, and the blinds behind the desk were still shut. “This is probably the last private time you’ll have in this office, Lisa. The staff and customers expect to see someone working in here, and I’ll have to keep a professional distance since we’re not, well—” and he laughed.
“Our ‘relationship’ is supposed to be strictly business. Everybody pretty well knew that S’leen was more than just Jack Ross’ casual friend, but if they suspect you and I are—” He grinned and whistled. “Let’s just say it would cause problems.”
Lisa Thomas signed and shook her head. “Y’know, people thought I was sleeping with you, I mean with Jack, after Maureen’s death.”
“Maybe the stupid ones thought that,” D’jiin quietly said, stepping around the side of the desk to stand next to the chair—formerly his chair—where Lisa Thomas stiffly sat. “The smart ones knew that you were an employee and a friend, and they kept their damned mouths shut.” He moved behind the low-backed chair and, before Thomas could react, he put his claw-tipped fingers on either side of her throat—and began to knead her shoulders and neck.
“What—?”
“Sit still,” he ordered. “Otherwise you might accidentally wind up with Shapiro-style claw marks on your throat, and that would be a bit awkward to explain.” He worked in silence for a few moments, then said, “You’ve been so stressed out recently I’m surprised you haven’t run off and hid somewhere. Relax! The blinds are shut, the door’s locked, and as long as you don’t start moaning and groaning too loudly nobody’s going to think we’re doing anything out of the ordinary.” She did moan and groan, but not loud enough to attract any attention. “In about five minutes I’m going to open the blinds, and you’re going to show the world that Lisa Thomas is ‘in charge’. You’ll make a couple of quick intercom calls, then I’ll walk out that door, go down to inventory control, and Sam Espisito will hand me the keys to that sharp-looking black Blazer sitting on the patio out front.”
Redeeming Factors (Revised) Page 34
