Children of Steel (17 page)

"I guess shipboard life does tend to make you
act kind of goofy when you're on leave. But then leave always goes
by so quick." Said Balizar as we walked inside. "Well, so much for
our dignity."

Sharazad made a rude noise at that. "Lighten
up dear, I seem to recall you were young once."

"And crazy, yes dear,” he smiled as he led us
to a large room.

There was a Leopard inside, and he walked up
to Balizar.

"Bal!, Shar! Glad you could make it!" he gave
them both a hug, then turning to the rest of us he continued, "Come
on in folks. This is just a quick presentation to show you what's
here, what the local wildlife is, and what's edible if you're so
inclined." I noticed a few in the group smiled at that remark. "And
a few other things. Sit down or lay about and relax."

I noticed that the room had no chairs at all,
there were cushions on a padded floor and some elevated platforms,
this place really was set up for cats. We all got cozy and watched
the presentation. They showed us a map of the area, where our cabin
was, the local lake, river, and some pools along it. There was a
quick show of the local animals, and which predators to keep an eye
on. All in all it lasted maybe fifteen minutes, and then we were
shown to our cabin.

It was actually a pretty good size. It had a
main dining area, a lounge, a very large whirlpool, and about a
dozen rooms, each with a spa. I was impressed, this didn't look
cheap.

"When's dinner?" Somebody asked.

"There's a phone over there," said our host
pointing, "if you want to order room service, a kitchen back
through here if you want to cook something, and the door's over
there if you want to go catch it yourself!" He laughed as he said
the last.

I know some people find the idea of us
actually hunting kind of perverse. These same people think nothing
of going out with a gun or a shopping cart and doing the same. Hey,
it doesn't matter who catches it, or how he kills it. Everybody
still eats it and as I see it we're all equally guilty. But that's
life on the food chain and I'm rather happy to be at the top.

Franz took a poll then grabbed the phone and
put in an order for all of us. As he ordered I turned to
Balizar.

"How long we staying?" I asked, "And what's
this costing us?"

"I was planning on staying until Thursday
evening or Friday morning, depending on what everybody else felt
like. As for cost, it's fifty a piece, plus meals."

"Not bad," said Herza, "this place could make
a lot more than that off the human market I'd bet."

"Not really," said Balizar. "This place is so
far out, and so spread out, that the common tourist wouldn't enjoy
it, too ‘rough’. Also the owners would rather not put up with
them."

“Plus” Sharazad added "Those predators they
showed us may not be too much trouble for us, especially as they're
good eating. But they scare most humans half to death.”

We all nodded to that and settled down to
wait for lunch and started making plans for the afternoon.

I had a rather enjoyable couple of days there
and it appeared that everyone else did as well. I got a little
hunting in, and there was quite a lot of horsing around. Everybody
knew that we'd be back in space in just a couple of days, so we all
got a little manic at times.

At one point I did manage to talk privately
with Banner about Terease. We had both gone to the kitchen to get
another drink, and I dragged him outside for a minute.

"What's up Raj?" he looked out across the
hillside.

"I wanted to ask a couple of questions about
you and Terease." I kept my voice low; I didn't want to sound
nervous.

"I'm not sure that that's any of your
business," he gave me a dangerous look.

"Look," I said, gathering my thoughts and
trying to take a non-threatening stance. "Terease is kind of like a
member of my own family to me. I know she's really falling hard for
you, and I want to know your feelings towards her."

"Why?" He looked at me icily and started to
slide into a fighting stance.

"Because if you hurt her really bad," I could
feel my palms sweating, and took a better stance myself. "I'll beat
you to within an inch of your life. You know how innocent she still
is; I won't sit around and let her get hurt!" I hissed out the
last, my heart was racing. I was pretty good in an all out fight,
but I knew I wasn't as good as him. At least not yet.

"Think you can?" was all he said.

"Think I care?" I growled back.

"Probably not," He said suddenly relaxing,
"and it's nice to know she's got a real friend in you Raj."

"Well then? What's the story?" I tried to
make myself relax; it didn't look like I was going to get my head
beaten in tonight after all.

"I love her too, that's the story." He smiled
at me. "I'm just a little worried as to if it's too soon for her. I
wish she had more experience, I'd hate for her to have any regrets.
We're the only two lovers she's ever had."

"Don't look at me!" I said grinning, "I never
did that with her, not once!"

He looked at me surprised, "You serious?"

"She was a virgin when you slept with her,
wasn't she?"

"Well yeah, but I just assumed you had later.
She spends a lot of time with you after all."

"I know I care a lot for her, and I hope she
does for me, but I just don't see us ever doing that. Our
relationship just never went in that direction I guess."

"Well then," he asked looking me in the eyes,
"do you think she's ready for it?"

"All I know," I replied stopping to look up
at the stars, "is that if I had Cassandra here, I'd give up the
others in a flash. Haven't you already done that?"

"Yes, I have." he replied somewhat
uncomfortably, "It's been driving the girls nuts too."

"Well then, what makes you think she feels
any different?"

"Why haven't you and your girl become
lifemates yet anyway?" he looked at me closely, "If you don't mind
my asking."

"No I don't mind," I replied quietly, "we
knew it'd be years before we saw each other again and many more
before we could work out a mutual assignment." I looked at the
stars again, "And either one of us could die long before that.
Truth is we were just too young."

"You miss her a lot don't you?"

"I miss them all, but her the most. We were
especially close. I know the company psychologists felt it would be
better for us to be apart for awhile, being from the same crèche
and all, idiots." I spat out the last word vehemently.

"Well it is a Leopard thing," he said with a
shrug, "Lifemating wasn't that uncommon in our ancestors, and when
you combine it with the human part, well you don't ever see any of
us getting divorces do you?"

"No, and I bet that's just another thing
about us they can't stand." I said laughing, "Right up there with
our good looks!"

"Let's go back inside," he said grabbing my
arm, "I want to have a talk with Terease, and I don't want to see
you standing out here getting morose.

"You know," he continued smiling as we
walked, "I was waiting for this talk."

"Oh, then why the fuss?"

"Because Balizar is the one who said you'd be
around."

"Balizar?" I asked with disbelief.

"Yup, right after we had the same talk this
morning." He laughed then.

We went back inside and he stopped for a
second to whisper something to Katrine, then got Terease and they
both disappeared for the rest of the evening.

Katrine was especially nice to me that
night.

So it came as no surprise when Banner and
Terease made the announcement that they had both chosen to
lifemate. No surprise to me that is. Several of the others were,
though I think that Herza, and Katrine had already figured out what
was up.

So once they told us it was pretty much a
done deal. We all drank a few toasts, and even had a little party
that night, having decided to leave Friday morning. It was nice to
know that they wouldn't have to worry about being split up
either.

That was another one of the nice things about
Tri-star. Once you had five years in, if you found a lifemate they
would do everything possible to give you a joint assignment, even
though few places and fewer corporations legally recognized
lifematings. If they couldn't it was usually short-term, and while
Terease didn't have five years in yet she wasn't indebted, so if
they didn't give her what she wanted she could just threaten to
quit and go there anyway.

So everybody was in an up mood when we left
the next morning, even Lyle who had sprained his arm falling out of
a tree. We all teased him about that one, believe me.

I called Kathy when we got back, she wasn't
in, but it was early yet, so I left a message. I had to report for
duty at noon the next day, actually everybody from the Astra did.
We were supposed to load around the clock until Sunday evening.
That was when the Astra was due to leave. I was going to miss
Hobson's planet, it had been one of the most exciting and
interesting weeks of my short life.

Kathy called me back about one, I told her I
was leaving tomorrow, and would she like to go out again tonight?
She agreed, and I was to meet her at four, at the cafe. I tried to
look up Gabe or Dave, but they were both out. I did run into Rudy,
and we had a couple of beers while I was killing time.

I told him about the place Gabe had taken me
to and he seemed pretty interested in going there. When I told him
of my little run in later on that night, he decide to get a friend
or two as well. So I wished him luck and left to keep my date.

I walked into the cafe, and immediately spied
Kathy sitting in a booth by herself.

"Hi Kathy," I said sitting down across from
her, "been waiting long?"

"Just a few minutes," she smiled at me across
the table. "I just wish I had the nerve to have you meet me at the
dorm."

"Why? What's wrong with this?"

"Oh, I'd just like to show you off a bit,
even if some people wouldn't understand."

"Afraid that they'd tell your father?"

"A bit," she laughed. "I don't want him
disowning me just yet, until I'm twenty he can still make some
trouble for me," she admitted.

"Come on, let’s go for a walk." I took her
hand and we got up and went outside. "Mind walking? It's early
yet."

"No actually that's fine, where are we going
anyway?" she asked looking up at me.

"A nice place I stopped by a couple of nights
ago, if I can find my way back there again that is," I laughed.

"Fine with me." she said snuggling up against
me. I put my arm around her and we walked off towards the center of
the ani quarter.

"Aren't you worried about anybody from school
seeing you like this?" I teased.

"Not really, the ones that would squeal to my
dad wouldn't be caught dead around here."

"Not good enough for them?"

"No, too scared!" she laughed, "Most of the
people who don't approve of this sort of thing are either cowards
or bullies at heart." she smiled again, "But what about your
reputation, won't anybody say anything?"

"Most animen don't care, and any that do ..."
I flexed my arm around her, "had better be smart enough to keep
their mouth shut."

"You wouldn't really, would you?"

"Of course, why not?"

"But it's not civilized!" she stated
indignantly.

"Oh? What's civilized? Letting people go
round saying bad things about me and spreading nasty stories? That
kind of thing can do more harm than a knife."

"Yes, but you could take them to court."

"I don't know anything about law." I stated
flatly.

"So that's why you get a lawyer, like
me."

"Listen," I said softly, "not to demean your
profession or anything, but why should I have to spend money to
defend my reputation? It's a lot simpler, and more fun, to just go
pound a few heads. Anyway, as I recall animen can't sue around
here, not even each other."

"I know that, but still it sounds so crude.
You'd be having fights everywhere; people could be getting killed
too."

"When was the last time you saw two animen
having an argument that turned into a fight?" I asked bluntly.

"I really can't recall to be honest." she
said after a couple of moments.

"That's why we're polite to each other, well
at least most of the time. Because you never know when you'll be
called to task for what you say." I smiled at her while we
continued walking through the streets.

"But don't you end up with a lot of people
being killed?" she frowned.

"Not really, why should we kill each other?
Our jobs will probably do that for us." I laughed.

"I guess you have a point there, is it really
that bad?" She asked concerned.

"I honestly don't know for sure, I mean, they
tell
us it's fairly safe. But then you hear stories from
some of the older hands and other things, like the Takeover Wars,
that are in the history books."

"So don't you worry at all?"

"Sure, I worry all the time, but not about
that! I like what I do. I worry about if the girls like me," I gave
her a little squeeze, "I worry that I might get fined, I worry that
I might say something stupid and have everyone mad at me."

I looked around, we had come fairly far into
the ani quarter by now and most of the people on the streets were
animen. I even saw several mixed couples like us, and felt better
about that. It was really a very nice part of town. The streets and
shops were clean and everybody seemed happy and friendly.

I spied a shop that sold jewelry and we both
stopped to look through the window. Kathy pointed out a ring made
of some dark metal that was in the likeness of a leopard's
head.