The Pet Plague
Page 22
A light began to dawn. “I get it. You think everyone will have to leave earth on the spaceships we're going to build?"
“Not everyone. That is a physical impossibility. All we can do is hold out the hope that some people can leave. We'll build as many as we can, of course, as fast as possible, but only a very small proportion of our population will ever leave earth. The rest will die, quite violently, I'm afraid. As for the others, we're negotiating now with Mayor Bascombe in Moon City on a cooperative venture between our two cultures. They know more about conditions in space than we do. It should work out. We'll all be space folk, eventually, the ones who survive."
Jamie thought immediately of the murderous attack by the mercenaries of Moon City. “You're telling me this, even after all the trouble they caused? They almost killed me, and Jeannie and Kristi as well. What's to keep them from just dropping a couple of asteroids on us?"
“Believe me, that won't happen. They are in just as much trouble as we are. They still depend on earth for too many critical supplies. They will have to do as we tell them, and we will make certain that it is done our way."
“I see, I guess. But what will happen here on earth? Will we just leave it to the animals? That doesn't seem right, somehow."
Whitmire leaned back and clasped his hands behind his neck. He reflected a moment then relaxed again to his normal repose. “It's not quite that bad. There will always be humans on earth. There are feral bands out in the wilds now, living with animals, as you well know. There will be more of them as the Enclaves fall. What I see happening eventually, and this is simply my own opinion, by the way, is that eventually earth's ecology will reach a more stable balance. Food supplies and population of enhanced animals and feral humans will attain an equilibrium. This will take many years, of course, but the ultimate end will be the disappearance of most of human technology and a drastic decline of the human population. Eventually, I expect a renaissance of a machine culture, but that will be in the far future, long after it ceases to concern you and I. For a long while, the earth will belong mostly to the enhanced animals and humans will have little to say about it."
Whitmire's deductions sounded logical to Jamie, but right now he was concerned with more immediate problems, like shorter working hours and getting out of that damned little claustrophobic apartment. However, his curiosity had been aroused. Space training?
“Just what would this space training entail? Not that it matters if I have to leave Jeannie and my pets. I won't do it."
“Be at ease. I think we can reasonably extend the training to include any person or animal you want to take with you. Also, don't think of it as a change of profession; you'll take your profession with you. The training will simply enable you to practice it in space."
That made Jamie feel somewhat better. In a way, the idea was appealing. Perhaps his recent adventures had changed him in ways he didn't yet comprehend, despite his initial disclaimer. He grinned inwardly, trying to imagine the pets’ reaction to space flight and all that would entail. It would probably just give them more leeway to get into mischief. Whitmire might have second thoughts about the idea before it was over! There were still other matters to consider, though.
“All right, I'll think about the space deal, so long as Jeannie and uh, perhaps another person agrees to go along. But not just yet. I still want to go back to my own home at night, and I still want to see Kristi. Do you know when she will be discharged?"
The secretive look crept back onto Whitmire's face. He glanced down at an image on his computer screen, then back up to Jamie. “As a matter of fact, I do know. She is fully recovered and was released from the dispensary last night."
“Damn it, someone should have told me! I want to see her.” Inwardly, he wondered why Kristi had made no attempt to see him. Had their liaison during the expedition been simply another passing fancy for her? He found that hard to believe, but was still hurt that he had not heard from her.
“I've already made arrangements for you to get together but first, let's take up the idea of you moving back into your old apartment. The answer is no. I can't allow it; even if I did, I would be overruled. Until we wring every last bit of data from that disk of yours, you will not be allowed to leave this building.” Whitmire sat back and waited for Jamie's reaction.
It came, swiftly. Jamie could out-stubborn a cat if he put his mind to it, although he rarely found it necessary; he could almost always find a reasonable compromise to conflicting opinions. On this matter, though, he dug in his heels. “No. Either I get to go home or I don't work. You can keep all the security men you want outside my door, but I am not going to stay one more day in that little two by four apartment you've got us in."
“Give me a little credit, Jamie. I never intended for you to stay there permanently. I've arranged for other quarters. Why don't you take the rest of the day off and look them over?"
“No. I want my own home, not something arranged for me. Besides, my pets need to get out into the open once in a while. They need some exercise and fresh air. For that matter, so do I.” Jamie was prepared to be really stubborn here.
“Please, Jamie, indulge an old man. Go and look at the place."
“No."
Whitmire didn't seem at all put off by Jamie's refusal. “All right, let me put it this way. At least do me the favor of inspecting these new quarters. I've gone to considerable trouble to provide them for you. Look them over, then if you're not satisfied we'll talk some more."
It was a reasonable offer. Jamie didn't see how he could refuse without making himself appear as a spoiled prima donna, a trait he detested in others and had no desire to see himself as. “All right,” he agreed, “but no promises."
“Good. I have an escort waiting for you. Go along with them; they know the location. Right now I need to get back in touch with my superiors. They are conferring with Mayor Bascombe and his cohorts in Moon City. They seem to be coming around, but need a little more convincing yet. I think the information we've pulled out of you in the last couple of days will help considerably in making them see the light."
Jamie thanked Whitmire half sincerely and left with his omnipresent escort, but the secretive little smile Whitmire left him with still nudged a suspicion that he was somehow being tricked. He wondered what the man was up to.
* * * *
Roscoe Bascombe concluded his conversation with the administrator of the Houston Enclave. The agreement they had reached depressed him, but he saw no alternative. He turned a glum face to Selene Brown and Rob Passing. “That's it, then. We give them all the help they ask for in building their spaceships, whatever they need. In return, we get a representation in the crews in proportion to our population."
“And that's all?” Passing asked angrily. Damned if that's so! He made a visible effort to hold back his anger. Best to say nothing now. He would talk to Bascombe later. It would be months, perhaps a year or so before the first ship could be completed. In the meantime he would see what he could do to improve their prospects.
“That's all,” Bascombe said. “Actually, I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky to get that much, considering Randall's fiasco on earth. We might have been better off negotiating in the first place."
Selene pulled out a copy of the latest extrapolations on the viability of Moon City. She pointed them out in order to emphasize her words. “Actually, I don't think it would have made much difference. We kid ourselves sometimes about how naive the earthers are, but their computers are as good as ours. They must know our situation as well as we do. Even if we had negotiated, they would have insisted on more or less the same terms.” She sighed, knowing that from now on, her power and prestige would count for less than that of earth's leaders.
“So where does that leave us in the long run?” Bascombe asked.
“Ultimately, it means that our culture will be subjugated and absorbed by theirs. The population disparity will guarantee that, if nothing else."
“And we can do nothing t
o stop it?"
“Nothing,” Selene answered. “We can live, though, and some of our people will survive. If we choose carefully, perhaps our best people will gain enough influence to save some parts of our heritage. It's the most we can hope for, considering any other alternative."
“All right, then,” Bascombe said sadly. “We'll do what we can and hope for the best. I wonder what we'll find out there in the Galaxy?"
“Whatever we find, I doubt that it will be any stranger than the situation we leave behind us on earth,” Passing said. He rose from his chair and left the conference room, leaving the other two reflecting on his comment. Selene followed him moments later. Bascombe remained in his office. He knew that Passing would not be content with what dregs they had salvaged in the agreement with earth. Well, wait and see. Perhaps he would come up with something. In the meantime, there was work to be done.
* * * *
The usual security detail surrounded Jamie and his pets, whom he had insisted on bringing with him to see the living quarters Whitmire had arranged for them. He had intended to take Jeannie as well, but she was off on some excursion of her own. They led him down to the ground floor of the security building then through a complex of corridors he hadn't seen before. They halted at an entrance and the head man gestured for him to enter. He did. The door dilated to the silent command of his body computer, just as Whitmire had assured him it would. He was surprised that the security detail didn't follow him inside but was pleased that they hadn't. He stepped into a spacious living area, tastefully decorated, with a kitchen alcove much larger than he had ever enjoyed. The wall opposite the living area sported a wide window which looked out into a lawn and garden the size of two tennis courts, with a central swimming pool. He gave it only a cursory glance however. His attention was all on Lady and Princess, who were sprawled abreast on the carpet, watching an adventure skit on the holo.
They got up and came over to greet him and his pets and for a moment he was bemused with dogs and cats in a tangle around his legs. He roughed Lady's ears and stroked Princess’ arched back, then suddenly was struck by the fact that these were Kristi's pets. “Hey! Is Kristi here?” He asked excitedly.
“In the bedroom,” Lady said, and went back to stretch out in front of the holo. The other pets followed. Jamie strode hurriedly toward the partially opened bedroom door, then stopped as he became aware that he had been hearing subdued giggles from within ever since entering the living room. It didn't sound like just one woman. Who did Kristi have in there with her? Maybe he shouldn't interrupt. Oh, hell, he thought, Whitmire told me to look the place over. Besides, I want to see her. He was bemused with conflicting emotions, thinking perhaps Kristi had taken a new lover. But why would she have her here? He pulled the door open and peeked in.
Jeannie and Kristi were lying naked on a triple wide bed, hands entwined. He raised an eyebrow. “Can I come in, or is this a private party?"
Jeannie's face turned pink, but Kristi just smiled. “Come on, we've been waiting for you."
Jamie didn't need a second invitation. He undressed and made a place between them, an arm around each. “Now I know why Whitmire was grinning like a Cheshire Cat when he sent me here."
“He brought us both over this morning as soon as you left for work. Wasn't that nice of him?” Jeannie tickled his stomach.
“He knows how to get a man's attention, that's for sure. Maybe he isn't as old as I thought he was. I take it he intends for both of you to live here?” He tightened his hold on both women.
“Actually, it was Fuzzy Britches who insisted on the arrangements and he just went along with it,” Kristi said. “Don't you like it?"
Jamie grinned to himself. Fuzzy Britches! That scamp was always a step ahead of him. “Oh, I like it fine. In fact, I can think of only one thing I need right now that would make it perfect."
Jeannie quit tickling and began caressing him in rhythm with Kristi. “And what might that be, Mr. Da Cruz?” She asked softly.
“A back rub,” he said, and turned over, laughing at their indignant protests.
Jamie got his back rub and much, much more. Later, lying propped on a pillow with his head turned, he watched as Jeannie and Kristi made love to each other. He was in that curious state halfway between arousal and satiation and was wondering whether he could possibly perform again.
Fifteen pounds of rainbow colored cat landed solidly on his stomach.
“Oof!” Fuzz, don't do that!"
Fuzzy Britches spread himself out on Jamie's chest and began to purr, content with his people.
THE END
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