Ull whistled. "Will I be able to stop you?"
"If you are not interested," Tommy said.
"Yes, I will hear your suggestion,” Ull replied. “You are much too serious."
"What is the most valuable change we have made to your ship? What will generate the most in trade?" he asked.
"Restoring the living areas," she replied. "Almost every ship you see has the same problems we had before you arrived."
"That may be true, but they will not see that unless they visit the ship. From the outside, the most spectacular change we have made is the accuracy of our transit drive. If they see that, they will want to visit to see how we did it. The other improvements will sell themselves."
Tommy finally saw an expression on Ull's otherwise immobile face. Her lips pulled back from her fangs in a way that, on Earth, would have been called wolfish. "Have I ever told you, wild Earthling, that I like the way you think?"
Ten minutes later, the Nesu Tol emerged within fifty kilometers of the nearest ship, moving in the same direction, but making no attempt to match its acceleration. A few minutes after that, they were near the second closest ship. Ull continued the game until every ship driving in for the Gathering had been "tagged," then returned the Nesu Tol to the third planet and resumed orbit.
"Is that what you had in mind?" she asked Tommy.
"Exactly."
"There is also another benefit," she said. "Any raider who discovers our next destination will hesitate to follow." She turned to listen to the sudden eruption of inquiries coming from the radio.
# # #
By custom, no one traded until the third day of the Gathering. The People spent the first two days exchanging greetings and visiting old friends and family on other ships without the pressure of commerce. Late in the evening of the third day, after all the visitors had left and he could come out of hiding, Tommy decided five days without a bath and swim was long enough. Sisle could just go somewhere else until he finished.
The door opened to his palm.
He put Potter down and called "Sisle?" He got no reply. Good, maybe she's out. I’ll get my bath and swim and be on my way. He had a pair of cutoff pants for the swim, but he would watch for her while he was bathing.
He found her lying by the bathing pool, one hand trailing in the water. At first he thought she was asleep, but saying her name again didn't rouse her. Neither did a tentative touch to her shoulder. He finally gave her a firm shake to make her open her eyes.
She struggled to a seated position. "You came back, Lord Tommy,"
"Were you waiting for me?" was all he could think to say.
"You locked me in, Lord Tommy."
"I did what? How could I have done that? You let yourself in, didn't you?"
"No, Lord Tommy. Lord Ull opened the door for me the first day. She said it would be up to you to give me access to the door."
"Can we drop the Lord Tommy stuff for now?" He understood. "You haven't eaten in five days, have you?"
"No, Lord Tommy."
"I didn't know. I wouldn't have done that. Let's get you some food." He was almost stammering.
She lost her footing on the way down the hill and fell onto his back, almost forcing them to the ground. She stumbled again as they walked to the door. She's too weak to get there on her own. How am I going to make this up to her? That she would never expect him to, didn't occur to him. He reached around her and put his hands under her forearms, ignoring her protests. Potter was nowhere to be seen. Something to worry about later. For now, getting her fed and ignoring her body pressed against his were his concerns.
In the elevator he had to put down a feeble rebellion when she saw what deck he had chosen.
"You're taking me below the Commons!" she said.
"I'm taking you to a meal room. The two I know of are below the Commons."
"We never go below the Commons. I could eat in the warrior meal room."
"I've never been there to eat. They might not serve me there, and I need to eat, too. Anyway, whose opinion matters in this?"
Her gaze, which had been on the deck numbers flashing by, dropped to her feet. "Your opinion, Lord Tommy."
All of this is turning me into a jerk. Tommy's mom used to talk a lot about men who were jerks. Life was different here, but that didn't mean he had to be different.
The elevator stopped. "I'm sorry, but we're here now," he said. "The meal room isn't far, and I can get you served right away. I do have some influence down here, after all. I promise everything will be all right."
Throwing a bomb into the artisan meal room might have caused its occupants to scatter faster than a warrior's entrance, even a female warrior, and one leaning weakly against Master Tommy. Valin, alone, remained seated in front of his half-eaten breakfast.
"I was about to leave, too, until I saw who was with her," Valin said. "You've taught me to expect surprises, Master Tommy."
"Valin, I left her locked up in my quarters above the Commons for five days without food. She needs to eat."
"You have quarters above the commons? They did accept you as one of the Nesu! No matter. Sit her here. I'll bring something for her."
Tommy sat across the table from Sisle and watched as she ate until her pale face took on a greenish cast.
"You'll probably still feel weak for a while," Tommy said. "I want to tell you again how sorry I am to have done that to you. I'll try to make it up, somehow."
That brought a tentative smile to her face, which quickly disappeared. "I am yours to do with as you please, Lord Tommy, though perhaps you wouldn't have liked the smell of my dead body, either."
Where did Ull get this person, and why did Ull think I should have her? If she has an attitude like that after what she has been through, she must have been giving someone a lot of trouble.
"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. T
his 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.
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