A Larger Universe (20 page)

The feral human stood motionless for a long time.  His
braced foot and hands never wavered, but he seemed to be thinking over her
offer.  She had never been able to understand the emotions behind those flat
faces.  She had once believed that she could read the snarl they called a
smile.  The show of teeth usually meant that the human was happy, or that it
was trying to be ingratiating.

When this human smiled, she was certain he did not mean
either of those.

"Not good enough.  Everything as before means you will
dispose of me as soon as I have completed installing computers on this
ship."  The feral human stared down the length of her arm.  "Not good
enough for me, and not good enough for you, either.  You should hear my
proposition.  How do we make a preliminary bargain ensuring my life and yours
but postponing our final arrangement?" 

A mewling sound came from under the control desk.  Ull had
forgotten the other two humans. 
Losing the human Seth would be a shame
,
she thought. 
He had been a good servant.  The human kit will not be missed.

The feral human must have forgotten them, too.  She saw him
turn his head in their direction, then look down at her.  "Their lives are
important, too."

"They saw you strike me.  Whatever we do, they must
die."

The human shook his head from side to side.  What did that
mean?  His snarl got bigger.  "Well, I suppose that is it.  You must kill
someone, so I suppose I must kill you," he said.

The pressure on her neck became unbearable.  The room turned
black.  She felt her body thrash about.  The weight on her neck lifted enough
for her to take a deep, rasping breath. 

Through the ringing in her ears she heard the boy's voice. 
"Were you trying to say something?"

"Yes!  Yes!  No one has to die!  Our contract can
include them, too!"

"Well.  My question was, how we make a preliminary
bargain that ensures my life and yours but postpones our final
arrangement?"

"Would my promise of everything being as before for you
and these other two, along with a promise to discuss more, be enough for a
start?" she rasped.  "You also have my word you will continue to live
when you have completed your tasks.”  She struggled to take a breath.  “In
return, you and the other humans must also agree to be silent about what has
happened here.  If your further proposals have merit, it should be possible for
me to agree, but I cannot promise to.  Of course, you could keep pressing my
neck to the floor until I have agreed to everything."

His face showed fewer teeth.  "I'm not sure we have
enough time for that," he said.  "All right.  That will do for me if
I have your promise as you just stated.  I will speak for these other two.  I
am sure they understand what would happen if they revealed any of this."

She drew a deep breath as he released his foot a bit more. 
"I give my word and my word is my contract," she said.

She felt her heart throbbing under his foot.  Finally, he
said, almost in a whisper, "Well, we do have the problem that you agreed
to the contract under duress--I think that is the term--and we have no
witnesses acceptable to you, but what choice do I have?  I have never done
anything like this before.  Your word is either good, and we both live, or it
is not, and I die, or I kill you, and I die, too." he released her arm and
removed his foot from her neck.  In a louder voice he said, "May I help
you to your feet, Lord Ull?"

She took a breath and stood without help.  The boy moved
back and leaned against the control desk.  His eyes never left hers.  As she
looked down at him, she felt her rage building again against his feral insolence. 
She rubbed at her wrist.  Her neck and arm were sore.  Perhaps the arm was
broken.  His violence against her had no precedent since the humans had
revolted centuries before.

From behind her came a new voice.  "Excuse me, Lord
Ull.  Is everything all right in here?"

A warrior human stood in the doorway, his eyes lowered,
awaiting her answer.  If he had seen anything, she could only give him one
answer to his question.  Three more warriors stood beyond him in the
passageway.

Tommy's vision blurred at the edges then cleared, as if he
almost had a migraine.  He could only lower his gaze and wait.  What he had
done in the last few minutes was as complete a surprise to him as it must have
been to Lord Ull.  He had learned that throw years before in martial arts
class, but to have remembered it now... 
It does work much better with some
strength behind it
, he thought. 

The claw wounds across his shoulder hadn't bothered him
while he held her to the floor.  Now, the cuts throbbed.  He could feel
trickles of blood running down his arm and chest.  His pants felt damp at the
belt under his tunic.  If the warrior saw blood, he would have questions.  What
would Lord Ull say?  He knew that many humans in this situation, maybe most
humans, would promise anything to get off of the floor, and would then have him
killed.  The way he had chosen seemed the single solution to this mess, but it
depended on Lord Ull keeping her word. 

Tommy realized he had stopped breathing when he heard her
say, "Why do you ask?  Have there been problems in the rest of the ship? 
I was told the ship was not struck during the attack."

"No, Lord Ull.  The ship is intact.  However, the cargo
in many holds has shifted or been thrown off of shelves because of the jolting,
and a number lords and humans are reporting injuries.  Many are panicking
because no one understands what happened.  No one has ever felt such shaking
before."

Lord Ull turned to glance at Tommy, and back at the
warrior.  "Carry this message. 
The People's Hand
has defended
herself against the raiders, and she has won.  The jolting you felt were her
guns firing for the first time in two generations."

The warrior bowed slightly.  "Yes, Lord Ull.  We will
do as you say."

Ull closed the hatch behind them, then gestured at Seth and
Baek.  "You two go into the room below.  This feral and I have much to
discuss."

When the two humans had lifted the trapdoor and scurried
down the ladder, she sat down in the chair at the control desk.  "I will
not be able to stay here long.  Soon, I must attend a meeting of the council. 
Someone must organize the salvage of
The Extended Claws
.  I understand
the situation and must help."

She rubbed her neck.  "You forced me into an
agreement.  In spite of that, I gave my word when I could have accepted the
alternative.  Dying might have brought me more honor, but I chose to live.

"We will proceed as we have agreed, but I must ask one
thing of you.  You must stop looking into my eyes.  A lifetime is not overcome
in an instant.  I will honor my word, but every time I see those eyes looking
directly at me, I want to tear out your throat."

A surge of relief swept through Tommy.  They did have a
contract.  He lowered his eyes.  "Yes, Lord Ull."

She made the undulating whistle he had heard before. 
"I know that is pretense, wild human.  I must go.  Come to my quarters
tomorrow morning after your first meal.  We will discuss the remainder of the
contract then.  I leave it to you to make sure those who overheard this tell no
one."  She paused.  "If they do, our contract will be voided by the
council, and I may be dead.  You certainly will be, and it will not be my
doing."

As she rose from her chair, a voice came from the speaker on
the wall.  "Ull, are you still there?"

"You can answer from here," Tommy said, and
pressed a button on top of the table.  "Just speak.  She will hear
you."

"Yes, I am here," Ull said.

"A Kadiil vessel is beside the wreckage.  What should I
do?"

"Do nothing.  I will come to the bridge" Ull
replied, and left through the door.

I wonder what that was about
, Tommy thought as he
pulled up the trap door.  "Seth, Baek, come up here.  We have things to
discuss."

#   #   #

Tommy controlled his emotions until he got to his room,
then, with the door closed behind him, he collapsed on the floor next to his
bunk and trembled.  How could he have done that?  What had he gotten into now? 
Tears rolled down his face.  If only he could share this with someone!  Anyone
he talked to on this ship would be horrified, including Seth and Baek.  Those
two already knew too much for their own safety.  They had made it clear they
didn't want to know more.

He felt something soft hitting the side of his face.  He
lifted his head to look into Potter's eyes.  Tommy pushed into a seated position
and wiped tears from his cheeks.  "You almost lost me, Potter.  You still
might."  He pulled Potter into his lap.  "You know, Ull has eyes like
yours.  Her pupils are vertical.  I didn't notice the last time I saw
her."  He scratched under Potter's chin.  "She's not as strong as I
thought she would be, though.  I think you could whip her." 

Potter purred and tried to stretch using his shoulder as a
post.  Tommy winced and pulled him down.  "OK, I got lucky.  She wasn't
expecting me to fight back.  None of her slaves would have fought her.  They’d
stand there while she ripped the flesh from their bodies.  Are the cats here as
tame as the humans?" 

Potter butted his hand and rasped an "Eeeoow?" 

Tommy turned him over.  Potter liked having his belly scratched
but wouldn't take too much of it.  "I wonder what the rest of the lords
are like.  For sure, they must all be used to getting their own way.  From
humans anyway." 

Potter flipped over and offered his head again for
scratching.  Tommy lifted him under his front legs and gave him a hard stare. 
"Are you my cat, or am I just a petting machine who feeds you?  Am I in
charge of you, or are you in charge of me?"  Potter pushed away with a
hint of claws, and jumped to floor.  "I'll take that to mean you don't
want to answer." 

He watched Potter leap onto his bunk and begin cleaning
himself.  Tommy managed a smile.  "Thanks, Potter.  I needed someone to
talk to.  I guess you're it from now on."

He tossed and turned in his bunk for a while, but he was too
tense to sleep.  Finally, he decided to go for a walk. 

The passageways were dark and nearly deserted, and he soon
found himself in the radial passage leading to the observation window he had
been to before. 
Maybe if I look outside, at the raider's wreckage
, he
thought,
I'll understand Lord Ull's anger.

The ship had moved close to a swarm of debris, and landers
moved slowly among the pieces.  One of landers was attached to a larger
fragment.  What appeared to be humans in space suits right out of a movie moved
into a gap in its side.

That was a lords' ship.  Humans had probably been on board,
too.  Humans or not, Tommy's computers and programs had killed many living
beings.  He wasn't sure how he felt.  He knew he should feel remorse.  His mom
would have been talking to him of remorse and the need for forgiveness.  He
didn't feel that way, though.  He was certain he would rather they were dead
and he was alive than the other way around. 

Maybe Lord Ull was unhappy about all the lords his systems
had killed.  That didn't feel right, though.  Lord Ull had said he had
destroyed everything; not that he had killed everyone.

He watched for a while longer then got up to leave.  The
landers were too far away to see what was happening.  Maybe he could go to
sleep now.

#   #   #

The next morning his shoulder was stiff and sore, and the
deep scratches were red and inflamed.  He had washed them thoroughly before
going to bed, but he needed something more.  Instead of eating breakfast, he
searched for antibiotics in the drug warehouse.  The pond Ull swam in might
have
anything
in it.

His second try at sleep the previous night hadn't been much
better than the first.  The more he had thought about what he had done, the
more impossible it had seemed.  His actions were like a dream he had created to
escape, but the claw wounds on his shoulder made a lie of that thought.  His
mind had kept circling from the impossible encounter of the previous day to the
equally impossible meeting he would be having the next day.  Now, the next day
was here, and he was riding the elevator to Lord Ull's deck.  He still wasn't
sure what he would ask for or what he would say. 

He went alone.  He had thought of taking Potter, but that
would have been crazy.  Who took a cat to a meeting?  Besides, after a night to
think on it, Lord Ull might have changed her mind.  If so, he wanted Potter to
survive.  He hoped Potter would miss him, but the humans wouldn't kill him. 
Potter was too good a mouser.  That wouldn't influence Lord Ull if she were in
a killing mood.

The same two warriors waited for him.  This time, he
followed them to Ull's door without comments. 

He found Lord Ull swimming in her pond.  She flipped over on
her back long enough to order the warriors to get out and close the door, and
continued her swim. 

He had compared her with a skinny bear before, but now,
seeing her in the water, she looked more like an otter except for her size. 
She swam using the thrust of her muscular tail, with her arms drawn closely
beside her body and her legs trailing.   Neither of the latter did much except
guide her swift movement.  She disappeared under the water and reappeared in
front of him.

"You will find a rock at the pool's edge on the other
side." She said.  "Meet me there."

Tommy found her waiting in front of the rock shelf, treading
water effortlessly with her tail, her head and shoulders above the surface of
the pond.