A Larger Universe (33 page)

"Let's go.  I'll give you access to my door, so you can
come and go as you please." 

The return trip was no better than the trip down.  She was
still weak and on the verge of throwing up the food she had just eaten.  After
she lurched against the corridor wall a second time, he helped her to the
elevator and his pond chamber.  Once inside, he held her hand against the plate
inside the door and entered an access code on a keypad in the wall.

"That's it,” he said.  “Now, you live here."

"Could you show me how to turn out the lights?  I spent
half of the first night searching for a switch.  I finally gave up."

"The Nesu like their living areas to be uncluttered
with technology.  Except for the door, everything is hidden."  He led her
to a textured wall near the door.  "Give me your hand."  He pressed
her palm against the wall and pushed to the right, revealing an access panel. 
"The top three knobs control the lights, from full bright to dark.  The
one below on the left controls the air temperature; the next one, the pond
temperature; and the knob to the right, the upper pool temperature.  You
shouldn't try the others for now.  They control the pumps to the pool and
waterfall.  When you're feeling better, I'll show you what's under all
this." 

He realized that he was babbling and still holding her
hand.  He let go and stepped back.  She dropped her gaze to her feet.  What was
the expression she had on her face?  He'd never felt so stupid.  He wasn't used
to feeling stupid.

"Well.  You know what?  I came up here to take a bath
and swim and that sounds even better now than before.  Would you mind leaving
me alone until I'm done with my bath?  This time, I brought my own change of
clothes," he said, pointing to the pile he had dropped inside the door.

"Yes, Lord Tommy," she said.

"You're going to keep calling me that, aren't
you?"

"Yes, Lord Tommy."

As he climbed the hill, Potter came out of the foliage and
rubbed against his legs with a plaintive "meow".  Tommy squatted to
give him a good scratching behind the ears.  "No, I wouldn't have
forgotten you in here, Potter.  Of course, I shouldn't have forgotten her
either, but I'm not used to taking care of her.  You're part of my life.  Part
of my responsibilities."  He considered for a moment, moving his scratching
down Potter's spine. 

"I guess she is too, now."  He sat down with his
back to the pond and Sisle below.  "Along with my guild and maybe every
human in this ship.  And maybe the Nesu, too.  Ull was right about how bad
things were before I got here." 

Potter jumped into his lap and began kneading his leg with
his claws.  "Back home, my responsibilities would have been to get good
grades in school and stay out of trouble."  He bent over and gave Potter a
gentle hug.  "How could a seventeen year old have so many people depending
on him?" He stopped to think about what he had just said.  "I guess
I'm seventeen."  He realized he was sobbing and Potter's fur was getting
wet with the tears rolling down his cheeks.

He stood up, dumping Potter to the ground.  "Time for
my bath, Potter.  Don't give Sisle any trouble while you're waiting.  She's had
a hard week."

Sisle was gone, and two warriors were standing outside his
door when he finished his bath and swim. 

"We were assigned by Lord Ull to protect you, Lord
Tommy," said one.  "Two warriors will guard you while the ship is at
the Gathering."

The same two had escorted Tommy and Valin to the first
meeting with Ull.  That seemed long before.  "We're human.  Let's speak in
a human language," Tommy said in English.  "And when we're speaking
English, I prefer to be called Master Tommy or Tommy.  You're Lord Ull's
personal bodyguards, aren't you?"

"Bodyguards, Master Tommy?" one of them asked.

Apparently, 'Master Tommy' was as informal as he could get. 
"Personal protectors," Tommy answered.

"Yes, Master Tommy."

"What are your names?"

"I am Fen.  This is Lito, Master Tommy."

"Nice to meet you.  I need to take my cat to my other
quarters.  Let's go there first, then I want to find out how the trading is
going, if I can find a way to observe without being seen by our visitors."

"Excuse me, Master Tommy, we're going below the
Commons?" Fen asked.

"Yes."

"We will disturb the artisans if we do."

"They've already been disturbed once today.  Maybe they
just need to get used to it."

#   #   #

Ull arranged for Tommy to have another warehouse chamber for
classes and for the equipment they would be selling.  Tommy's guild moved just
enough computers into the new chamber to equip the same number of ships as had
attended the last Gathering.  Ull felt certain
The Extended Claws
wasn't
the only ship extending its life by raiding and wanted the true quantity of
their inventory to remain secret.

The trading went extremely well. 
The People's Hand
had products almost beyond value to the surviving twenty-seven ships of
Stream.  Five years before, thirty-one ships had come to the Gathering.  They
knew what had happened to one: 
The Extended Claws
; the other three had
vanished.  In the first nineteen centuries since the destruction of Stream, all
of The People's original ships had attended the Gathering.  In the past
century, forty-five had disappeared without trace. 

Now,
The People's Hand
offered hope and an extension
to the only life they knew. 

Ull's concerns about raiders were confirmed on the sixth
day, when one of the missing ships arrived with heavy damage and two-thirds of
its crew dead.  The ship was
My Flowing Streams,
whose surviving crew
accused
Trident
of the attack. 

The crew of
My Flowing Streams
had little left to
trade and not enough crew and human slaves to safely operate their ship.  They
were faced with becoming individual refugees on whatever ship would take them. 
When the traders of
The People's Hand
offered The People of
My
Flowing Streams
the lakes and pools and other rights that came with full
crew status in return for all claim to their wrecked ship and its remaining
humans, they took the bargain without hesitation.  After everyone transferred,
workers from
The People's Hand
began removing the parts needed to repair
the damage from their encounter with the nova.

News of this trade sent Tommy and his protectors hurrying to
Ull's quarters.

Tommy’s urgent call brought Ull to the entrance side of the
pond.  "This is my chance to get a closer look at a drive!” said Tommy. 
“Maybe I can find a way to get inside.  You must let me go over there!"

"Now would not be a good time," Ull responded. 
"Too many landers are moving back and forth.  Too many watch this ship. 
Others know of you and might be waiting for an opportunity to capture
you."

"If we wait too long, the Kadiil could arrive and take
the drive."

"They will.  They have always done so, but not while
the drive is still operating.  They will come when the ship cannot move under
its own power."

"How could they know when that occurs?"

"From what you have learned about the drive, perhaps
you could tell me?"

"No, let me think about it," Tommy said, "But,
if now is not the time, when will be?"

"We were first to arrive.  We can be last to leave. 
When everyone else is gone would be best."

"Maybe I can," Tommy said, suddenly.

"Can what?"

"Tell you what notifies the Kadiil that a ship is
dead.  One of the programs I duplicated from the gravity control computer sends
a signal to the drive approximately every hour.  Always the same interval.  I
thought it was just a clock signal to keep the computer synchronized with
something in the drive.  Maybe it is, but it could be telling the drive the
ship is still alive."

"That means nothing to me," Ull said.

"Just tell the artisans on the ship not to disturb the
gravity computer or the cable to the drive.  The gravity computer must have
power and must always be connected to the drive."  He laughed.  "How
would you have reacted if the Kadiil had come for our drive?"

Ull's tail swished back and forth.  "What do you
mean?"

"When I unplugged the old gravity computer, I was more
concerned getting the navigation computer started than starting the new gravity
programs.  If I had been a little longer, I could have been the cause of an
unpleasant visit from the Kadiil!"

#   #   #

The walk from Ull's chambers to his own was too short to put
off going there for another day. 
And besides, I’m beginning to smell almost
as bad as she did when I first met her.
  He paused in front of his door. 
Come
to think of it, she smelled a lot better when I found her almost dead in here. 
She must have taken a bath after all.

He told his guards to wait outside and palmed open the
door.  As it closed behind him, he heard a loud scream from the side of the
pond across from the waterfall.  He turned to see Sisle make a graceful leap
into the air and roll her body with left hip down and almost parallel to the
ground.  Her right leg snapped out in a kick while the other leg drew
underneath her, then her body rotated back to vertical, and she landed in a
half crouch with her fists held in front of her body. 

The sight of him brought her upright, the fluid body of a
moment before held stiffly.  She stood with head down and hands clasped in
front.  "Lord Tommy," she said.

That was wonderful.  If I had blinked, I would have
missed it.  She looked deadly.  Deadly.  Maybe I should be happy she's wearing
the collar.  And maybe I should be ashamed for even thinking that.  She's never
threatened me.  She fears me instead.  If she knew how much of a joke that is.

He walked over to her.  Her exposed skin was glistening with
sweat under the bright lights.  "Sisle, you've recovered."

Her breath was ragged.  "Yes, Lord Tommy," she
panted.

"What were you doing?  It was beautiful!"

She glanced at him, then lowered her head and took a deep
breath.  "Women's fighting, Lord Tommy."  She straightened her tunic,
pulling it below her knees.

"It looked a whole lot like the advanced stuff I saw at
the martial arts school I went to for a while."

She glanced at him again.  She had a puzzled expression and
he thought he knew why.  "A martial arts school teaches fighting
technique," he explained.

The puzzled expression disappeared.  "Yes, Lord
Tommy."

"Why do you call it women's fighting?"

"The men fight with strength and weapons.  The women
don't have their strength and aren't allowed to train with weapons, yet we must
be prepared to help defend the Nesu or the ship.  This is what we use."

"And the warrior men don't?"

"They consider it inferior, especially since it was
invented by a woman."

"Is it forbidden for a man to learn?"

Her answer was slow in coming.  "No, not forbidden, as
far as I know.  No man has ever asked."

"If I asked, would you teach me?"

Her head came up.  Before she jerked it back down, he saw
that her eyes were big with white circling her irises.  He had seen Potter with
the same frightened expression after a loud noise.  He also noticed that her
irises were a yellowish green.

"Teach you, Lord Tommy?  Why would you want me
to?"

"Let's see.  Because I might need to protect myself
someday.  Because it looks like great exercise.  Because it's got to be more
fun than the weight work and swimming I've been doing to stay in shape.  Take
your pick." 
And because it would give me a way to get to know you
better
, he added silently.

"You are much older than you should be to begin this
training.  The girls begin at five years.  Your skill would never match that of
the girls your age."

"I'm willing to live with that," he responded,
grinning.  He couldn't resist a way to find out her age.  "How long have
you been training?"

"Thirteen years, Lord Tommy."

Maybe a full year older than I am, or maybe less.  I wish
I knew, for sure, how long I've been on this ship.

"Will you give me lessons?"

"If you command me to, Lord Tommy."

Is there any way to get past her rules?
  He brushed
by her.  "I'm going to take a bath and swim," he said.  "Please
give me some privacy in the pool until I'm finished."

#   #   #

The Gathering ended without incident. 
The People's Hand
had taken the pick of the trade goods on the other ships.  In return, the other
ships had received enough computer equipment to duplicate the network on
The
People's Hand
and thirty days of classes for as many humans as they wanted
to send.  As Tommy had requested, every human sent to the classes became a
member of his guild, even though he knew he had no control over what happened
to them once the Gathering was over.  At the beginning of the final five days,
he revealed himself and interviewed guildmaster candidates from each ship.  Ull
doubled the guards that surrounded Tommy, but they weren't needed. 

Tommy hadn't revealed the guild's secret to any of those he
appointed.  He agonized for days and decided he didn't know them well enough. 
Until he found a way to neutralize the silver bands, the warriors would support
the Nesu against a rebellion by the artisans.  The result would be a bloodbath
with enough killed on both sides to make life on the ship impossible.  He
didn't want the final genocide of the Nesu on his conscience, no matter how
they treated their human slaves.

Another decision he and Ull made together was the order in
which the equipment would be delivered to the other ships.  Ull had agreed it
would be prudent to transfer the computers controlling the track room and the
rail guns on the last day.  From the questions asked in the classes, it was
clear the artisans returned to their ships at night and applied what they had
learned.  Too much was at stake to trust even two thousand years of peaceful
Gatherings.