Evolution (17 page)

‘She spent enough time up there with you,’ Sati grumbles as we make our way over to Compound Creative, after Athene has left.

Both of her mouths turn down at the corners. One thing I’ve always appreciated about Sati is that she is not jealous. Some females become possessive once you’ve slept with them. Clingy. They sulk when you so much as look at another female. I do hope Sati is not becoming like them. If so, she’ll have to go. I can’t be doing with that.

She perks up a bit when I tell her that we have to go to our aparto-cubes in Compound Creative to select some costumes to wear to the party.

‘Let’s go as Anthony and Cleopatra,’ she suggests. ‘Show these second rate actors how to make a fantastic entrance.’

I’m not looking forward to this evening. More adulation of Kata-Mbula. More invisibility for me. But as Athene said, it’s diplomatic to attend.

We do cause quite a stir when we walk in. Sati stunning as Cleopatra, in a long, red, embroidered gown with gold coronets on her heads, and my three muscular legs topped by a short toga. Sexy beast. Our entrance is welcomed with a round of applause. Kat roars his hearty laugh and opens his arms to greet us.

‘Come and sit here next to me,’ he roars.

Two shapers have been reserved for us. Sati’s next to Kat and mine next to hers.

On the other side of Kat sits Bathsheba looking smug, a pink after-sex glow on her dark skin.

The feast is just as elaborate as the one prepared for our arrival, but now we are used to richer food and enjoy it more.

Kat makes a little speech, thanking “the kitchen staff” for their wonderful efforts.

This remark is greeted by a ripple of laughter, everyone aware that every single humanoid in the sectoid – apart from Sati and I – have helped in the preparation of the feast.

It’s certainly a magnificent spread. I’ve never seen blue rice before or red bread rolls. I just hope the colorants they’ve used aren’t toxic.

It’s just as well Kat gives them praise at this stage in the evening because, judging from the expression on his faces as he watches the entertainment that follows he is not impressed by the show. The forehead of his long thin face creases and the lips form themselves into a stern, straight line. Even his chubby face can’t summon up a smile.

Even I, who profess to know little about such things, realise that the some of the dancers are out of step and the singing off-key. The show is thankfully short and over quite quickly. The singers and dancers look nervously at Kat as they take their bows. The audience clap half-heartedly.

Kat does not join in the applause. He stands up and motions to me to join him in the office. Bathsheba and Sati hesitate, not sure if they should accompany us or not. I nod at them to follow. Bathsheba must take responsibility for this shambles of a show.

Kat faces me without a smile on either face. ‘Well,’ he says. ‘What’s the explanation for this fiasco?’

‘Bathsheba has been in charge of rehearsals,’ I say, ‘but
maybe I should have kept a closer watch on what was happening.’

‘Maybe you should,’ the thin head snaps. He turns to Bathsheba.

She looks at the ground and doesn’t reply.

‘Our colleagues have been putting some of their energies into another creative project,’ I continue. ‘Have you seen the tower they’ve built?’

‘Tower? What tower?’ He looks ready to explode.

‘I am building a city for everyone to live in. The tower is the first phase of this development.’

Sati sidles up to Kat and raises her four beautiful eyes to his. ‘You should come outside and see it. The tower is a beautiful structure. All the members of the sectoid have contributed. They spend the mornings building and the afternoons and evenings rehearsing.’

Kat’s reaction is immediate. ‘The members of this sectoid are not construction workers. They are actors, dancers and singers.’

Sati shrugs. ‘In my opinion they are pretty average as performers. Amateurs. But they excel in bringing Heracles’s vision of a golden city to life. That’s their real talent.’

Kat looks bewildered. I can see him thinking: tower, city, building? What has been going on?

Bathsheba creeps up to the other side of him and says tentatively, ‘I told you all about this in my pcms.’

‘What pcms?’

‘The ones I sent you to keep you informed.’

He shakes his heads, at a loss.

‘You didn’t receive them? So that’s why there were no replies. I assumed you were too busy.’

Kat starts to pace round the office cube, one hand on each forehead, as if trying to weigh up the importance of this.

Bathsheba says weakly, ‘They must have got lost in the ether.’

Sati gives me a quick glance. Bathsheba may believe they were lost in the ether, but she doesn’t. And neither does Kat.

Once more Sati comes to my rescue. ‘Know what? I think we have a code-breaker in our midst. Someone determined that you should not receive that information. We will have to investigate this properly, make whoever it is confess, then turn him or her out into the wilderness.’

Sati must have forgotten for a moment that the wilderness no longer exists, but we get the general idea. Never underestimate Sati, I remind myself.

She managed the coup in C55 and held on to her power for some time. She’s a quick thinker, worthy of being my deputy.

Kat stops pacing. ‘There are very few compu literate humanoids here, so it shouldn’t take us long to discover the culprit.’

‘Give me a list of their names,’ I say. ‘I will be only too pleased to look into this matter for you.’

Kat screws up his eyes and gives me a searching look. The moment passes and I realise that there is no way Kat will accuse me of sabotage without proof, which I’m ninety-nine percent certain he cannot get. Sati has saved the situation.

‘I’m sorry, Kat,’ wheedles Bathsheba. ‘About the welcome performance. I didn’t know you were coming until this afternoon.’ She raises her dark eyes up to his, a sad attempt to engage his sympathy. ‘I had to cobble something together as quickly as possible. I feel I must warn you that you’re not going to be very pleased with our progress for The Big Event either. We really haven’t had time to get the play or the dances up to scratch, but now you’re back I’m sure you’ll be able to whip it into shape.’

She puts her hand on his arm. He shakes it off. ‘I do not whip, as you well you know. I inspire.’

‘Yes, yes,’ says Sati. ‘We don’t doubt that for one minute.
You can work your magic at rehearsals tomorrow. For now you should come outside and take your first look at The Heracles Tower. It’s full moon so it will be bathed in a yellow glow. A wonderful sight.’

As the four of us stand outside the compound door and gaze up at the moonlit tower, I can’t help thinking that Sati has excelled herself tonight. My decision to bring her with me from C99 has been justified.

She squeezes my arm and the eye in the blond head looks up at me with what looks remarkably like adoration.

My next job is to seek out Thor. I know he will do anything I ask, however unethical.

When Athene asked me to find out who had spread the rumour that she was responsible for the death of three-headed Ra, Thor came up a with a name pretty damn quickly and, sure enough, admitted to being the source of the gossip. Whether or not she was actually guilty or not was irrelevant. She was willing to confess. That was all that mattered. I’m sure he will have similar success in the present case.

Thor is in the compu centre killing off a few aliens in Kill Them All, his favourite compu game. He looks up at me and grins. ‘500 down today. Enough to get me to third level.’

‘Good job!’ I sit down beside him and watch his considerable skills as he plans and attacks and shoots with amazing accuracy.

‘If I could drag you away for a minute, I’d like you to use your remarkable expertise in another direction,’ I tell him.

He nods affably, ever willing to oblige.

I look around. Too many humanoids here to talk privately, so we wander off and find a quiet corner in the RR.

‘Ok, Boss. What’s up?’ he asks.

‘I need you to persuade someone to own up to the hacking of pcms between Bathsheba and Kata-Mbula.’

He nods his huge head and licks his two sets of lips. ‘Male or female?’

‘Not important but I must have a confession by tonight.’

‘Leave it to me, Boss.’

I fill him in with a few more details and off he goes to carry out the task.

I go back to The Heracles Tower. Better not to be on the premises whilst the dirty work is done.

Sati is flushed with success and we celebrate in the usual manner using the talent she excels at the most: love-sex. She is as inventive as ever, using her two heads, four lips and two tongues in such imaginative ways that I know I will never tire of her.

The two females I’ve enjoyed today are very different.

Until last night, the only intimate knowledge I’d had of Athene’s body had been through her exotic (and erotic) dances performed exclusively for me in her dormo-cube. Twice I’d watched as her naked, painted body gyrated with the aid of seductive music and light. My eyes had knowledge of her magical body, but there had been no physical contact between us.

I don’t know how to describe this first experience of real sex with Athene, except to say that it was out of this world. We conducted ourselves in the same way that any couple do when making love, but there was a touch of magic about it that eludes description. Suffice it to say that it was unlike any sex I’d had before.

Athene’s magic touch didn’t stop me enjoying love-sex with Sati. Of course it didn’t. I’m a highly sexed male humanoid. Sex with Athene is special, but like most specialities, too rich to be sampled every day.

How lucky am I to have pleasured myself with these two beautiful females, on the same day. Good job I’ve got the stamina.

I admit I do find it a little disconcerting when Sati whispers in my ear, ‘just think what a fabulous baby you and I could make, Heracles.’

What is it with these women, so desperate to give birth? There must be something in the air.

In the early hours of the morning, I leave Sati’s bed and go to my Harrods-green office. A pcm from Thor tells me that he has successfully completed the assignment I gave him.

A female called Lavinia who’s always hanging around Thor has confessed to the hacking of Bathsheba’s mail. I don’t know how Thor persuaded her to take the rap. Better not to know. I admire his ability to fulfil my wishes so quickly, whatever the strategies employed.

There’s a compu-gram of this Lavinia trotting off to Kat, weeping and wailing. She goes down on her knees, clutches at his robe and begs his forgiveness. She tells him she didn’t read the pcms, only trashed them because she was jealous of Bathsheba. She promises she will never do such a thing again. Kat goes soft on her. As a punishment he takes away her small role in the play and suspends her from attending rehearsals for two weeks. Pitiful. Call those leadership skills?

I delete Thor’s pcm. I don’t want any evidence about this admission of guilt to be traced to me. I go back to bed. Not Sati’s bed. My own. All this talk of babies is proving a bit of a turn off.
Rehearsals are to begin at 9.0 a.m. No more building will take place until Kat and I have agreed on a schedule to accommodate us both. At the moment Kat insists that the priority is for everyone to rehearse. I am forced to accept his temporary victory.

I leave them to it and Thor and I set off on foot to visit C98. I intend to suss out the situation with Isis and the baby.

Thor chatters away about his success the night before. We’re in the open air and there’s no one to overhear us.

‘Remember, I slept with this Lavinia once and she’s always lurking around wanting me to go with her again.’

There’s no accounting for tastes. As it happens I don’t remember her. Not my type, I guess. I can’t be expected to keep up with all Thor’s conquests.

Thor burbles on. ‘Last night there she was there waiting for me, outside my dormo-cube. I told her I’d spend the night with her if she would do me a favour in return. It was as easy as that.’

He’s all puffed up, full of himself and I praise him for his efforts and tell him how much I rely on him. ‘There’s something else I may want you to do.’

His eyes light up in anticipation.

I explain that I’m going to see someone I knew years ago who has just had a baby on Hos-sat.

He nods. It seems he knows about that. It’s pretty common knowledge.

‘It seems that she may have taken the wrong baby back to Earth by mistake – a complete. If so, I will try to persuade her to return it to Oasis. If she refuses then I may need you to kidnap it and put in the transporter. I’ll provide you with the code.’

Thor is on a high, only too willing to carry out this task too. He strides out, keen to arrive at the compound. As we approach, we see the golden warriors on the parade ground outside. Some of them are sparring with each other with foils; others are at a shooting range and yet others are exercising on heavy-duty gymnastic equipment. An impressive sight.

‘You can stay here and watch,’ I say, ‘but do try to be unobtrusive.’

Almost an impossible task for someone his size, but the
warriors are so focused on their work out, they take no notice of us.

‘Squat down here behind this wall,’ I tell him, ‘and don’t talk to anyone.’

I look around and note that since my last visit, the funeral of Brahmin, quite a bit of building work has gone on.

Nothing to equal the grandeur of my tower and city, just purpose-built stores for equipment and weapons and basic living quarters for the warriors, all austere, serviceable square structures.

Durga has decided to house the warriors in barracks outside the compound, no doubt to make sure they concentrate on their training.

Inside the compound The Great Hall offers the same barren welcome. With no one there, it is just a huge empty space.

Durga appears looking regal, unsmiling. I auto-mailed her earlier to ask permission to visit Isis. The two of us stand isolated in the centre of the hall. She welcomes me formally with a touch of cynicism.