Collected (Selected Book 1)

by Robin Roseau

  Yes.

  I stared at the word then closed my eyes. I decided I wanted to sleep, so I lay down. "If you were going to make me move, then I wanted traps so I felt like I had claws of my own. Now I don't know. You were both scared."

  We were.

  "That changed something. I don't know what I want. Hiding would be easy now. I think I've lost her. She won't find me if I stay here and you don't interfere."

  So you'll hide?

  "You may wake me in the morning and ask me then."

  You haven't answered my basic question. This challenge makes you feel alive. Is that why you're confused now?

  "Hiding doesn't make me feel alive. It's the smart move though."

  If you ask for my help tomorrow, I'll give it to you, but then I won't let you hide anymore.

  "If that becomes my decision, I want style points for trying, style points if I am gracious about one of her traps, and more points for each trap I defeat and every time I catch her in one of mine."

  I predict you will almost certainly lose if you take this path.

  "You're probably right. You are owed one more question, and then you were going to answer mine."

  Are you beginning to understand why we make some of the decisions we make?

  "Yes. But you should invite us, not take us from our homes. Or at least be honest about it."

  If we are honest, humans will defeat our testing. Most of you will pretend extreme xenophobia.

  "Find a compromise."

  For what it's worth, I'm on your side. All Catseye are. We do not believe what happens here is right.

  "Then why do you help?"

  Because I can do more to ensure the best results in the end. If someone else does this, the results, especially for the mating candidates, would be worse. I'm good at this.

  "Oh."

  I owe you an answer. Bronze is not looking for you. She is preparing surprises. She won't find you tonight.

  "Do I need the bed for the visor to help me sleep?"

  No. Sleep.

  And I did.

  * * * *

  I woke somewhat slowly, although the visor was helping. I was cold and stiff, and I groaned and rolled over. The bell clanged, and I froze. But when nothing happened, I slowly sat, the bell clanging a few more times until I was leaning against the tree.

  "Well, if she's nearby, she'll find me in a few seconds."

  I believe you are temporarily safe.

  I dug through my pack, used some water and the soap to wash my hands, and then ate some breakfast. I saw to my other needs, which was somewhat awkward, and then contemplated my choices.

  "Are the woods filled with surprises?"

  I can't answer that. I have been asked to tell you something. I vouch that it is the truth.

  "Oh? Do tell."

  Bronze is a significantly better tracker than she displayed last night.

  "How much better?"

  She is a kilometer from your location and following the stream in your direction. She is moving slowly, and I will add, silently.

  "What happened to her bell?"

  I did say she was moving slowly. Her bell remains operational.

  I considered my choices. Jasmine could be lying to make the competition more interesting. I wasn't going to accuse her. Jasmine could also have given hints to Bronze. Bronze could pass by. She would need to be practically on top of me to see me.

  You need to get moving.

  "I think you're helping her."

  I'm not. She spent the night setting up surprises for you. And now she intends to drive you into them, one after another. Your only escape is to stay ahead of her and do something surprising.

  "Why doesn't she just catch me?"

  She is exceedingly confident she's going to win, and she wants her style points. Sapphire, I swear, she will catch you if you don't move. If you move, you probably will lose, but it is not certain.

  I didn't know what to do. I didn't know if I could trust Jasmine. She claimed she wanted me to win, but then she'd made me move last night. Now she was trying to make me move again. On the other hand, she could have led Bronze directly to me, and she didn't do that, either.

  As quietly as I could, I collected my things. Then I turned west, putting more distance between the stream and me. I counted one hundred steps, consulted the compass, and turned north.

  Twenty minutes later, I was still free, and I hadn't heard Bronze. But I came to the main east-west trail, and I stared at it from cover of the jungle.

  You're acting like prey.

  "Tell me something I don't know."

  All the sheds are trapped, as are the approaches to the sheds.

  "As I said, tell me something I don't know."

  She left bribes for you in three of them, and I'm supposed to tell you.

  "Good bribes?"

  If you want your own style points, yes.

  "You told her what I said, didn't you?"

  Yes.

  I looked over my shoulder. I looked at the trail.

  I'm going to help you. I turned off your bell.

  "That's cheating."

  Malfunction.

  "Jasmine, that's cheating."

  I helped her last night. This was your turn. Go.

  I stepped onto the trail, turned east, and set off in a jog.

  I made it perhaps a half-mile before there was a clanging from my right. I came to a skidding stop, and I heard Bronze running through the jungle to my right, clanging away on an intercept path to the trail in front of me.

  I eyed the jungle but decided I was too slow and would make too much noise. I turned and ran.

  Five minutes later, I knelt down to catch my breath. I didn't hear any noises behind me.

  "I think I lost her," I whispered.

  It would appear so. I can't help you more than I have, at least not yet.

  I pulled out the map. Unless I was completely lost, several trails would converge on one of the equipment sheds, somewhere not too far in front of me.

  She left treats for you in that one.

  "And trapped the shed to high hell. Besides, I wouldn't know what to do with her treats." I glanced at the timer. I had just over six hours to go.

  I didn't run, but I moved quickly down the path. I came around a bend in the trail, and ahead of me I could see the small clearing that held the equipment shed.

  I approached cautiously, looking for strings across the path. I didn't find any, but instead I found strings across the sides of the path. I stared at the first one I found, and then on the other side of the trail, the next one.

  "What do these do?" I whispered.

  Pull one and see.

  "I don't think so."

  I promise at least one of us will laugh.

  "It's nearly over, isn't it?"

  She's heading in your direction, but she's not here yet.

  "Yeah, but she's got me hemmed in. I know that clearing is trapped. The trail is trapped, too. This is an amazingly narrow funnel."

  I turned around and began working backwards, looking for a way out of the trap. The string on one side stopped, and I began to nose myself into the jungle, but I got a few feet before I found another string.

  I followed it, and I found some sort of release mechanism. I stared at it for a while. It held a taut rope, and the rope disappeared into the trees above me. But to make it worse, there were more strings leading away from it, deeper into the woods. There were multiple trip wires for this trap.

  I wasn't sure how to disarm it. I was pretty sure I didn't want to set it off. And I was pretty sure if I moved deeper into the woods, I'd get caught by it.

  Working carefully, I moved back onto the trail, but then from ahead of me I heard a single clang.

  I turned and ran.

  Forty yards from the clearing, I came to another stop. I stared.

  "She won't kill me."

  Of course not.

  "Other than getting caught, what's the worst that can happen?"

&nbs
p; Embarrassment from one of her traps.

  I looked over my shoulder. Then, moving very carefully, I advanced forward. I found three trip wires and stepped over each of them carefully. Then I moved sideways, skirting along the edges of the clearing, now heading south. I was opposite the door to the shed, then five feet. Ten feet.

  Then there was a clang-clang-clang from behind me. I tossed a look over my shoulder, saw nothing, and dashed south.

  But I was sure that was a bad idea. Absolutely sure. I cut right and made it to the side of the equipment shed without incident. My heart pounding, I stood still, listening. There was a clang, and then after a moment, another clang. Then it grew still. But a minute later, there was another, and it sounded closer.

  If I stayed where I was, she'd see me for sure. If I left the lee of the shed, she'd see me. But the jungle was only five steps away.

  I moved quickly but quietly, stopping at the edge of the tree line. I found no trip wires. I melted into the underbrush barely in time.

  Clang.

  I tried moving deeper. I wanted to go south. But something snapped, and the ground I was on began moving. I stood up and ran northwest, tripping and falling forward, but barely avoiding a trap of ropes forming a sort of corral. I heard clang, clang, clang. I got up and ran, crashing through the brush, hitting the trail, and turning west.

  Over the next minute, I avoided one dropped net but was firmly caught in the second, getting myself well tangled.

  At least it wasn't a sticky net, but the edges were weighted, so it fell down around my ankles and tripped me. I sprawled, tumbling, wrapping the net around myself quite thoroughly. The bottom edges were designed to tangle together, and I lay on the ground for a moment, panting, sure Bronze was right on my ass, and she had just won.

  But when she didn't appear, I slowly managed to work myself free. Then I eyed the net before bundling it up and taking it with me.

  Maybe I could use it.

  I got another mile before I tripped again. It was actually a good thing I did, as I would have run into a wall of thorns that snapped into place across the path.

  There was a game trail of some sort. I turned south, panting heavily, until I encountered a larger trail heading southwest.

  I took a minute to drape the net between some of the trees, the bottom at ground level. If she was following me, maybe it would slow her down, thinking I was actually as clever as she was.

  What's this?

  "I'm tired of carrying the net. Maybe she'll stop to puzzle it out."

  Laughing. I wouldn't count on it.

  I kept moving. There was a clang to the north, then another one. I began running again. Then there was a clang behind me, growing louder. I went into a full, blind run.

  In front of me something began to rise across the trail. I tried to stop, but I skidded right into it. I tripped and would have fallen to the ground, but the net caught me gently, although it wrapped around me as I was, somewhat gently, lowered to the ground.

  I struggled with it, but Jasmine hadn't been lying. Some of the nets were very, very sticky, and all I did was grow increasingly stuck.

  There was a clang from beside the trail. And then Bronze stood up from perhaps ten feet away. She sauntered over, clanging with each step, then knelt down and rolled me more firmly in the net, leaving me on my back and staring up at her.

  I sighed.

  She patted my cheek.

  "You won."

  She leaned over and carefully kissed my forehead. Then she straightened and began heaping dead leaves over me.

  "Hey. What are you doing?"

  There was no explanation. I tried to roll away from her, which seemed fine with her. She actually helped roll me around a few times, and then she picked me up.

  I saw the net was festooned with leaves, sticking to the net.

  "Clever," I said. I squirmed around, laying my face against her chest, and relaxed. At least it was over.

  Recap

  I sat in my cell, feeling somewhat dejected. Bronze had held me in her arms all the way back to the colesseum, not even letting me out of the net. My visor was blinded, but they didn't bother with shackles.

  Once there, she carried me to the showers, untangled me, and gave me another, long hug. But then she left me, and it was the guards who escorted me back to my cell after my shower.

  That had been sometime yesterday. No one had talked to me since, and I was lonely.

  I let the visor provide entertainment, but I wanted more. The visor didn't provide intellectual challenge, and mindless entertainment wasn't doing it for me today.

  I was in a mood.

  And so I was really in a mood when the guards finally came for me two days later.

  * * * *

  "It's about time," I told Jasmine.

  "You're a very demanding person," she said.

  "And whiny. Don't forget whiny."

  "How could I forget?"

  "Were you listening that day I earned my first privileges? I told you I required adult stimulation."

  "There were sixty-four women in your overall group. I can't spend twenty-four hours a day with you."

  I turned away. "I know that," I muttered. "I told you I'm being whiny."

  "Well, we're here now. Let's discuss your last challenge."

  "I lost."

  "You performed well."

  "She let me."

  "She spent hours trying to find you."

  "You said she was on my tail."

  "I lied."

  I stared at her.

  "She didn't have a clue where you were. She wasn't going to find you."

  "You lying, manipulative bitch," I said coldly. But then I grew angrier, and it didn't take long for everything to come rushing in. I began to see red. "But what should I expect? You've all been lying assholes since the day you arrived. Does it amuse you to play with my life like this? I bet it does. I bet you get a kick out of repeatedly lying to me and seeing if I'm naïve enough to believe you, over and over."

  She gazed at me coolly, and then she turned towards the far end of the room. A moment later, a door appeared and Bronze stepped through. She offered a human smile and crossed the room to me, but I turned my back on her, and when she reached for me, I pulled away.

  "Perhaps we should sit and review your first challenge together," Jasmine suggested.

  "Fuck off."

  Bronze made some sort of noise.

  "And you can fuck off too, Bronze. I bet you're as big a lying, manipulative sack of shit that she is." I jerked my head towards Jasmine. I spun around. "You couldn't beat the pathetic human without cheating, and you couldn't graciously accept a loss that didn't matter that much. Fuck you both."

  She blinked at me a few times, which was mildly disconcerting, given her big, deep blue orbs. Then she turned to Jasmine and spoke in whatever language they were using.

  "Bronze wishes to know what you're talking about. Perhaps we should sit, and you should tell her."

  "Fuck you, Administrator," I said. "You're such a lying piece of crap, I bet she really told you to punish the puny human if she doesn't learn her place."

  "She understands English, Ms. Fletcher," Jasmine reminded me. "I'm sure if that's what she said, she would be able to correct my translation."

  Bronze pointed towards Jasmine and nodded.

  "Fuck both of you," I said, turning my back. A moment later, I felt Bronze's hands on my shoulders, and I shrugged her away and stepped around the table. But she pursued me, captured my shoulders in her strong hands, and pulled me against her front, wrapping arms around me.

  "Get your hands off me!" I screamed. "You're never touching me again." I pulled away, struggling with her until she released me. I spun to face her. I couldn't read her expression, but I was pretty sure it wasn't anger. "The only way you're touching me is if you force me, and maybe I can't stop you, but I think we demonstrated I'm more than willing to die to avoid being touched by someone like you!"

  Bronze looked over her s
houlder at Jasmine and spoke a question.

  "She asks why you are so angry. Your last interactions were so tender."

  "Like you don't know!"

  "Ms. Fletcher. Take a seat. We'll all take our seats. You'll have a table between you, and she won't touch you. And then you can tell her exactly why you're angry. I think perhaps she doesn't know."

  I turned away. "Fuck off. I concede the remaining challenges."

  "No!" That came from Bronze. "Sapphire. No." The words game out slow and strained, but understandable.

  "It's all a farce. You'll stack the deck against me. It's been stacked from the very beginning. 64 to 16?" I spun around again. "How fucking short on confidence do you need to require 64 against 16?"

  "It was never 64 against 16," Jasmine said. Her tone never wavered. In spite of my clear anger, she never raised her voice. I understood why they called her the Ice Cat Queen. "Nearly every encounter was decided one on one, or at most, two on one. Some species hunt in pairs. There were 64 for their encounters between each other, and because many of the species require mating events, even unsuccessful mating events, for proper mental health."

  I spun to face her. "I can't believe a word that comes from your mouth."

  "Did you at any time see more than three involved in capturing one of the women?"

  "They cooperated to guard the exits."

  "In your event, none of those encounters ever became more than one on one," she said. "Occasionally a candidate beats the first such encounter, and then she will face at most one more, unless she turns away from her first chosen exit. It can turn more chaotic when the women cooperate together and rush a single exit."

  I stared at her for a minute until Bronze spoke again.

  "She asks you to explain your anger."

  "You're all lying, cheating sacks of shit!" I screamed.

  Bronze spoke, her words calm.

  "She says she has never lied to you and does not know why you believe she would cheat you. She asks you to please explain. I ask you to sit and explain. Why don't you sit and explain?"

  "Fine." I stomped to the chairs, hooked one and carefully pulled it out, rattled my shackles a little, and sat. "Fuck heads."

  Jasmine sat calmly, Bronze more slowly. She was watching me carefully. I refused to look at her. Then she spoke, and Jasmine translated. "Please tell me why you are so angry."