An Android Dog's Tale
Page 18
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Granny Greenflower gave MO-126 a layout of the village. He went to Movey’s hut as the first stop of his clandestine surveillance effort. As he approached, he heard voices inside and tried to move around to the back where he could eavesdrop inconspicuously. As with so many simple, easy plans, this one did not work.
He almost tripped over the dusty old mongrel sleeping in the shade provided by the hut. The lazing dog opened one menacing eye and growled. The other eye was scarred over, probably in the same fight that cost him one of his ears years before. MO-126 wondered how his opponent faired. Not well, he imagined.
‘Go away, pup,’ the growl warned. The old dog did not get up. Apparently, he did not think the new dog worth the effort.
“Woof?” MO-126 replied softly, which he intended to mean, ‘I wish no offense, but would you mind if I stuck around for a while?’
Another growl, this one showing a few yellow but very long teeth, suggested he did.
A moment later, a bearded man in a knee-length linen tunic and gond leather sandals rounded the house.
“What is it, Brott?” asked a voice from inside the hut.
“It’s just the trader’s dog,” yelled the villager, turning back toward the front of the hut. Even from a distance, MO-126 could smell beer on his breath.
“Did Old Bagger eat it yet?” the man, who must be Movey, said.
“Nah; he’s just laying there. I don’t think he’s hungry.” Both men laughed.
MO-126 failed to find their largely monosyllabic conversation amusing. It might be funny if the old, and possibly cannibalistic, dog did try to eat him. Even if ‘Old Bagger’ could disable him, which was unlikely but not impossible, he would probably break his remaining teeth on the android dog’s cordilith bones. MO-126 saw several drawbacks to testing this theory, so he diplomatically retreated to a spot out of sight of both the old dog and the doorway and increased the sensitivity of his auditory receptors.
MO-126 focused on the continuing conversation inside the hut, filtering out the clatter of crude furniture being shifted and clay mugs being filled.
“Is Jalik going to support me if I call for a meeting?” Movey said.
“It’s hard to tell. When I ask him, all he does is grunt.”
“Hah! He’s gotten too fond of his pigs, I think.”
“Especially the one he married,” the man named Brott snorted.
Additional laughter ensued. Not knowing Jalik or his wife, MO-126 withheld judgment on how much of an exaggeration the comment implied. He doubted that the man in question married a real pig, although humans were notable for doing the unexpected. It seemed far more likely that his wife was human, perhaps a stout, pale woman with an upturned nose.
“What about Yamal?” Movey asked his associate.
“Oh, he’ll support you. I told him you’d take fewer of his chickens for the village pot when you’re the headman. Klamik will cast his vote for you, too.”
“What did you promise him?”
“That his sister’s house wouldn’t burn down.” This comment prompted additional laughter. They were a jovial pair in a crude, unpleasant sort of way.
They continued naming family elders and discussing who they were likely to support and how they might get them to side with Movey. He planned to call for a village meeting in which each family leader would cast a vote for the new headman. He seemed confident that about half of the men would side with him, but enough remained publicly uncommitted to tip the scales.
“It would have been so much simpler if old Dunwood named you the new headman before he died,” Brott commented.
“Well, he didn’t,” Movey said. “And I can’t put this off much longer. Without a headman, the choice will have to be made by the family leaders. I’d like to be sure of more support before we call on them to do it, though.”
“I don’t think we can get any more people to stand firm with you without openly threatening them, and that would probably cause you to lose others. I say we call for a vote. One way or another, you’re going to be the next headman.”
“Yeah. I’d just like it to be easy. I’ll go to see Ranex tomorrow morning. He probably wants this over, too.”
“Do you think you’ll have problems with him after?”
“Probably not if he thinks most of the family elders are behind me. He’ll fall into line, then. If not, yeah, he could try to cause trouble.”
“Nothing we can’t handle,” the other man said.