by G. Howell
Marasitha spent a couple of hours doing last second updates to my briefings. He sat out on the deck in front of the wheelhouse, shuffling papers from his valise, pinning them as the wind tried to steal them. He was a busy little Rris, shorter than most and that put him a good head shorter than me. I always got the impression he should be wearing a suit and bowler, perhaps carrying an umbrella. A hairy little bureaucrat with lists of things I should discuss, subjects I should avoid, backgrounds on various nobility and guild leaders I’d be meeting... on top of all the other stuff I’d crammed in over the past couple of days it all started to run together. At least it was only some late-incoming information that they only just had a chance to get to me, so it only took a couple of hours.
Shadows grew shorter as the sun and the temperature climbed. The air just above the deck hazed almost imperceptibly, like the heat shimmer above an Arizona highway. I suspect that was the main reason that the panting Marasitha pronounced that we’d finished and headed below decks where it was cooler. At least I had the option of shucking my heavy Rris-made shirt. I sprawled out on the cabin roof, squinting at the azure sky through human sunglasses and ignoring the open stares of the crew. I don’t know if it was my bare hide or the maps of scars that crisscrossed it that made them lay their ears back.
Damn, was it really necessary that I cram all that information into my skull? Some of it might be useful, but a lot of it was simply dross. Who said that knowledge is power? I didn’t feel all that powerful, just a little dazed from trying to absorb it all. That the Open Fields printing guild master had had a falling out with the master of forestry; there were new books in the embassy; an advisor’s daughter was bearing the child of a lamp oil merchant... did I need to know that?
A rustle of cloth on fur sounded beside me. “It is necessary, I’m afraid,” Chaeitch said, settling down on the sun-warmed wood. In the brilliant glare of the midday sun on the water his eyes were the merest slivers of black in amber.
I slapped my palm against the hot roof, shrugged. “It just seems a ridiculous sometimes.”
“Politics,” he replied.
“A,” I said. “That’s what I said.”
I heard him chitter his amusement.
“What was that about this morning?” I asked.
“What?”
“Those others on the dock. They were from the Palace? They didn’t look very happy.”
“Oh, there were some details about your guard. It was resolved.”
“Not to their satisfaction, apparently,” I smiled.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw him look at me. “You shouldn’t take so much pleasure in making trouble for the Palace,” he said reproachfully.
I waved a shrug. “I take my entertainment where I can find it.”
“Huhn, and here we wonder why trouble seems to find you.”
I automatically clenched my left hand, feeling the stub where my little finger had been. “I think Rris don’t appreciate my sense of humor.”
He rumbled again and there were a few seconds of background noise before he spoke again. “You know. . . if there are problems, I put that kit in down below. Same place.”
I sighed, not really wanting to hear that.
Another pause before he added, “I included the new pieces.”
“Awww,” I shook my head, really not wanting to hear that. “Come on. You really think that’s necessary?”
“I hope not,” he huffed.
“You know,” I mused aloud to the blue sky. “I’m not happy about that.”
“A. I know. But if need calls, you know they’re there.”
“And you all went to so much trouble assuring me this trip is going to be completely unexciting.”
“We’re hoping,” he said. “You’re not going to make liars of us, are you? Huhn?” I saw him tip his head back, grimacing at the sun overhead. “I think Chihirae’s rightly concerned about you.”
“She worries too much.”
“After what...” he started to say, then shut his jaw with a clop. Realizing he was getting onto delicate ice. His ears flicked a few times, as if a fly were buzzing them. Then he leaned forward and asked, “Can I ask you a question, about you and her?”
“What?”
“When you have sex with her, is it like that with females of your kind?”
Talk about changing tack. I blinked and hesitated again. He and Chihirae... I’d walked in on them going at it. Literal coitus interruptus. I knew that it’d been the time of year, that what was between them was nothing like a human relationship, but that ancient ape in my hindbrain insisted on screeching at what it interpreted as competition. I knew that was utterly ridiculous. They were both Rris; they belonged together. I was the odd one out and I was jealous of that.
I don’t think anyone’s ever said that instincts are logical.
Why was he asking? He was a Rris male. Without a female in season; without those pheromones for arousal, sex was just an abstract concept to him. He couldn’t get off by thinking about it, seeing a shapely female with a great tail, looking at dirty pictures or even masturbating. Without the right cues, they simply aren’t interested in a sexual way. At that time of the year he wouldn’t be thinking about their relationship in that way at all.
“Why are you asking?”
He wagged his hand in a shrug. “I was curious.” He blinked amber eyes at me. “She said scruff biting with you is quite an experience.”
“Scruff biting?” I wasn’t sure if I’d heard right. “That’s... descriptive.”
He chittered. “She said that aspect was different.”
“Oh, did she?” I blinked out at the glare of sun on water. I was going to have words...
“A, she did. But I was wondering if the sex was like that for you. If it was the same sort of experience you got with your own kind.”
“No. Not the same.”
He cocked his head. “Ah? How?”
Now I looked at him. “If you hadn’t noticed, there are differences.” I held up a hand, turning it over. He looked at the furless appendage and tipped his head.
“A, I’ve noticed that. Hard not to. But... it’s so different? I mean, with her? She said it’s an experience for her, I was wondering if it’s so much so for you.”
“Oh,” I rocked back, thinking that one over. “That’s...Yeah...A, it is.”
“Hai?” He ruffled the fur on his forearms, one and then the other. “Not as good?”
“No, not that. It’s... “ putting it into words wasn’t easy. “The feelings are different. She doesn’t... It’s not like a human female. She’s not human. I mean everything; her feel, her scent, her responses, her... inside her... it’s different. I mean, it’s the same, it’s the same sort of act, but it all feels so different.”
“You don’t like that?”
He was acting like he was just talking about the weather, but suddenly I wanted a stiff drink. “I don’t know. In some ways, it’s... it’s frightening: we have to be careful. I mean, there are the physical differences. She... her claws and teeth... she forgets them sometimes. And I’m different enough... I’m heavier than Rris; my... penis is larger and she... well, she’s made for a different shape so it can be uncomfortable for her if I’m not careful.” It wasn’t saying what I wanted to say. I sighed and looked down at my hands and then at the Rris. “It’s... frightening sometimes; confusing, frustrating, exhausting.”
His ear twitched, “Yet you persevere?”
“It’s also contact,” I said quietly. “It’s another person, a chance to feel... not so apart. It’s also pleasurable, fun, reassuring, and it’s... arousing.”
Now his muzzled wrinkled in confusion. That word, arouse, didn’t translate properly. Rather, it translated but I had to use it out of its usual context. “It’s more
than just the time of year for me,” I reminded him.
“Ah,” Chaeitch said dubiously, not sounding entirely enlightened. “So she said. You can be aroused by just thinking about sex, or when she touches you. She said in the night, while you’re asleep, you get erections and she can...”
“Too much information, thank you,” I interrupted and he blinked amber eyes, then flicked his ears:
“Hai, this makes you uncomfortable?”
“I went through enough of it with the physicians,” I grumbled, then met his eyes and asked, “How much did she tell you?”
Now his amusement faltered as he realized that this was another area in which my attitudes differed from the ones to which he was accustomed. “You...didn’t want her to say anything, did you.”
I looked at his suddenly worried eyes, did a brief estimation, then raked my fingers through my overgrown hair. “That much, a?” I sighed.
“Sorry,” he looked uncertain. “I didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to discuss it.”
And thinking back on it, I’d never asked her not to. I’d just assumed...
Crap.
I shook my head. “I never said anything to her. I just never thought she would.”
“Ah,” he said. For a while he just sat there, staring at the glittering water. The breeze ruffled through his fur, setting it rippling like golden fields. He’d been shedding his winter coat, but it still must’ve been hot. “You don’t discuss other mates?”
“Not...usually. It’s complicated. You obviously do.”
“Sometimes. But you’re quite exceptional. I was curious.”
“I... see. She answered your questions? All the details?”
“Hai, yes,” his tongue lolled in a Rris leer. “I see why you’re so popular with them.”
I reached around to rub at a heat that wasn’t sunburn climbing up my neck. “Wonderful,” I muttered. “Chaeitch, I’m trying to keep that...”
“I know. Don’t worry. I haven’t published yet.”
I stared.
“That was a joke,” he said reproachfully.
“Oh. Thank you.”
“You do like her, though, don’t you.”
In a word: “Yes.”
“But your kind... you mate for life? One pair? You’re quite...protective of her.”
That set off alarm bells. This wasn’t just a casual talk stemming from curiosity about an alien’s sex life. He was beating around some kind of bush. He’d discussed my sexual habits with Chihirae, that could also mean they’d talked about other things. Like my feelings. Like how I’d felt when I’d walked in on them.
Ah.
“Are you worried that I’m angry at you? Because of your... relationship with her?”
Out of the corner of my eye I caught his tail twitch; just enough to tell me that I’d scored. “You did seem upset.”
“That was some time ago,” I remembered. It’d shocked me; it’d hurt me, but it was completely right for them. “No. I was being foolish. Reflex. If you were human it’d…You... I won’t stand in your way. I won’t interfere.”
“But how would you feel about it?”
I swallowed. “I can’t help that,” I said. “But it’s best for her. I can’t offer her what you can.”
“You wouldn’t be angry.”
“Chaeitch,” I almost laughed, “if I was going to hurt you, it’d have to be for a damned good reason, and that isn’t it.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I think.”
------v------
The Ironheart was a prototype, but it was still the fastest Rris vessel on the water. Actually, that would make it the fastest vessel in the world, with the Rris crew traveling faster than any of their kind had ever done in a powered vehicle. Shallow and frequent wavelets, a byproduct of Erie’s unusual topography, slapped against the bow. Belowdecks the engines throbbed steadily, transmitting that metal heatbeat through the ship’s frame as it pushed along at about nine or ten knots. The distant shore passed at a rate the Rris still weren’t accustomed to.
It’s over four hundred kilometers across the lakes from Shattered Water to Open Fields as the crow flies. Back home I could have made the journey in a matter of hours by road. Here, the fastest and safest route was the one we were taking, and it took two days, which was almost miraculously fast by local standards. We stopped overnight at the midway point of the southern-shore town of Tearing Ice to take on more fuel and set off early the next day. The weather blessed us again, giving us still blue skies and clear sailing.
I spent most of the day sitting out on the deck, lolling in the sun and talking with Chaeitch and Rraerch. I don’t know why I got on so well with them, I just did. It seemed like they didn’t judge me, they just accepted me. At first I’d thought it might have been because of the business I was bringing them: the technology and innovations were making them quite wealthy. But it didn’t seem to be that at all. At least, as far as I could tell that wasn’t the reason.
We discussed business: the ship, the upcoming job, where we could go next. And we talked about more interesting things: what Open Fields was really like, the places to eat and drink, the sights to see, general gossip. That chatting was also useful for me. I’d been living the Rris experience for over a year, which really isn’t that long to learn a language. There’re always new words - colloquialisms, place names, references and historical events - cropping up. Just asking for elaboration about unknown words can lead conversations off down entirely new avenues.
But we had the time. And it was a good way to pass it.
Rraerch aesh Smither was another Rris I’d known for a long time. In fact, I’d first met her and Chaeitch at the same time, at a rather impromptu meeting Hirht had convened of highly-placed academics in Shattered Water. I suppose they’d been there to find out if I - and what I knew - was for real. Rraerch, as Chaeitch’s patron and principal sponsor, had worked with him and I and we’d found we got on pretty well together. They’d been the first to try treating me like an individual and not a commodity, which hadn’t been easy with the guards and schedule I’d been assigned. Now it looked like that sort of schedule would be on again in Open Fields, so I took the time to kick back and just talk with them.
In my world that lake would have been Lake Erie, here it was known as Windswept. Back home the waterways would have been bustling with vessels of all types, from the big iron ore and container ships down to small pleasure craft. In this world I saw the occasional billowing sail in the distance, perhaps a few more around the small lakeside villages and towns, and that was heavy traffic by Rris standards. Rraerch knew all those small townships by name, and I found a lot of those names quite strange: Tearing Ice, Where Is This, Running Still... She knew some of the history behind those names as well. Tearing Ice had been founded during a particularly bad winter storm during which windblown ice off the lake had cut up some of the early founders; Where Is This? Well, that was named courtesy of an ancient expedition who’d gotten themselves lost. Or so legend went.
I was able to answer a few of their questions as well. They wanted to hear more about my home. My home world, to be more precise. They were fascinated by things I’d always found quite mundane: cars, fast food, shopping malls and cities, flying, television and phones, the internet. Back home we were well into the infodustrial age with JITs microfacturing and custom fabbing while Rris were still back in the opening throes of the industrial revolution. They were still concentrating on the distribution of physical materials, not the distribution of knowledge. They’d seen my laptop and Chaeitch literally drooled over the thought of CAD/CAM/FAB applications, but the idea of just what computers and networks were capable of still seemed to slip by them. For example, back in that world I wouldn’t have been able to use the fact that I was on a boat in the middle of a damn huge lake as an excuse for bein
g out of touch. Just hook up to a cellular or wireless network and carry on as normal. I’d have been able to watch a movie or listen to a piece of music performed years ago and thousands of kilometres away. For Rris, that was unimaginable.
It’s not that they weren’t intelligent. Those two were; smarter than me by quite a margin, it was just they hadn’t had the exposure to machinery and concepts. Consider Leonardo da Vinci. A brilliant mind, way beyond just anybody in my own world, yet he didn’t know what a light bulb was. If the concept had been explained to him he’d have been able to grasp it easily, but he simply hadn’t had exposure to it.
So a lot of that trip was spent chatting, exchanging information the old fashioned way. Funny how that when officious Rris demand I do that it seems like a chore, yet at times like that it was relaxation. Company and environment I expect. What was that Confucious said? Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life. Hell, he also said that wise men say and fools quote, but in a way he was right about career choice. Maybe I just had a perverse nature, but keeping it casual was far preferable to being grilled by merchants and monarchs out to make a quick buck.
In the afternoon we passed what in my world had been Pelle Island. Hours later we entered the St. Claire River at the north-western most end of Lake Windswept and our progress northwards was slowed slightly by the two-knot current. The sun was creeping down toward the horizon by the time we got to lake St. Claire... Season’s Door.
It’s a small lake. Well, relatively small when compared against the other great lakes – it’s still difficult to stand on one side and see the far shore. There was a lot more traffic there where the waterways narrowed. Across the open water I could see several sails on ships under way, making for the western shore where the city of Open Fields spread along the shoreline and back across the rolling plains and woodlands beyond. More vessels were moored on the open water in front of the city, probably avoiding harbor tariffs.
