by Robin Roseau
"No, honey," Mom said.
"That's what I want," I said.
"Agreed," said Azalea. "Carmen, if your daughter wins, then we will pay for one of the modifications we're allowed to give to humans. You should know the list, as it's already available to you through your work."
"I've..." Mom paused. "I've never really looked at it."
"I'm sending your visor a list," said Jasmine.
Mom stared into space for a while. I looked over at Azalea and mouthed, "Thank you." She nodded to me.
Finally Mom focused on us. "I wouldn't know which one to pick."
"Then if your daughter wins," Azalea said, "We'll sit down with Jasmine and perhaps one of her experts, and we'll help guide you."
"Thank you," said mom quietly.
"My turn," said Violet. "What do you want from me if you win?" she asked me.
"You already give me anything I ask for," I said.
"And you never ask," Violet said. "Which is, I will point out, deeply frustrating. If I win, then you will allow me to taste your face."
If I allowed that, she would leave marks. She'd done that a few times during our more passionate moments, and while I hadn't been angry, the marks embarrassed me.
"I don't know what to ask for in return," I said quietly. "And I think that's a small thing for you but it's kind of a big thing for me."
"I would only taste with the tips," she added. "The marks would be small. Your face won't look like your back does."
I thought about it for a while, then I brightened. "Is it your intention to have us do this again sometime?"
"I think it might be."
"Then if I win, we will do this again, but you will be my mating candidate. You can get stuffed into that cell, and Jasmine will let me decide if I'm going to relieve your boredom."
The Catseye all snuffled their amusement, and Violet agreed.
"Then we seem to have agreement," Jasmine declared. "Any further questions?"
* * * *
We were returned to our cells, which I still found irritating, but Jasmine gave me nearly complete control over my visor. I immediately initiated a call to Posey.
"I thought you would call Violet."
"I wanted to know if we should discuss strategy."
"I have no idea what we'll be offered for making traps," she replied.
"Do you even know how to make a trap?"
"Not really, but I think Jasmine knows that. I suspect she has a plan for that."
"All right."
"What did you pay for the visor?"
"I'm not supposed to say," I said. "I can't believe none of you warned me to wear more clothes. You know I'm going to have to pay you all back."
She laughed. "How are you going to do that?"
"One word. Pajamas."
"Pajamas."
"Scratchy pajamas," I added. "Every slumber party."
"You wouldn't."
"Why didn't you warn me?"
"Why would we do that?"
"To avoid paybacks, of course."
She laughed. "You know aren't going to pay us back. You like being held as much as we like holding you."
"I might like delivering paybacks even more."
"Skye, this was Jasmine's price. We weren't to interfere."
I sighed. "All right. But to be clear, don't do this again. Once is funny, but twice won't be. Do you think the humans can win?"
"I really don't know. I am going to be trying very hard to catch Audra. But I know the Moms are, too."
"What about catching your mom?"
"They made us a good offer, but frankly, if I had to pick, I'll catch Audra, and I know Violet really wants to catch you."
"If she eludes you both, what do you have to pay?"
She sighed. "We don't get to use boredom as an excuse any longer, either. I think they want all three of us at their events, and they won't let us hang out together, either. They'll make us mingle."
I laughed. "That's not so bad."
"You don't understand. Azalea gets stuck having to attend some of the worst events. She can make us attend the opera. I like a lot of human music, but opera isn't in the list."
"This seems one-sided, then. What will Bluebell make us attend?"
"I don't know. She doesn't end up with the same sort of obligations. I think she's doing it for Azalea. Now, you really want to talk to Violet."
I laughed and let her hang up.
Violet and I talked until the guards came to take me to set our traps.
* * * *
Jasmine let us change clothes. I wasn't looking forward to going into the jungle in my undies. She gave us appropriate jungle clothing, including boots. Then we were all blinded and led to a jumper for the ride to the battleground.
We were each set down in a different location. Then our visors came alive again, but Jasmine talked to us. She told us the nature of the traps and gave us rules how we could use them.
The two big rules: no traps within one hundred meters of our base, and no more than two traps within a square fifty meters on a side. We couldn't just make a ring around the base and call it a day.
We had an overlay of the territory, and we even had our location as a dot on the map. Our hands were bound again, so we had to stay together.
"You have four hours beginning now."
"Let's plan," Posey said. "We know our opponent has to come here and then she has to go to the next base."
"And she knows that we know," I said.
"Right, but there are two paths leading away, one towards the center and one towards the next base."
"Right, and trapping both of them is the obvious choice."
"Right. So I think we should make it look like we trapped the trail, but actually put a trap on either side. Maybe she'll skip the trails entirely. But if we really do trap the inbound trail and make it obvious, then when she sees the same thing later, maybe she'll skirt around it.
I laughed and agreed. So we headed clockwise around the circle and set two traps on the trail, one just at the edge of the allowed range, and then we jogged almost to the edge of our territory and set the other one. We marked the edges with broken branches and even drew a line across the trail.
After all, we had to be able to avoid it ourselves later.
Then we did the opposite using four traps total on the trail leading to the next marker counter-clockwise and two more on the trail leading towards the middle. We had five traps left, so we did a similar setup on an inner trail and then added the last back near our own marker, just legal from all the other traps and the marker itself.
We finished with a half hour to spare.
"Let's explore a little more," said Posey. "I need to see what I want to do to capture Audra."
"I can't believe I'm going to help you catch my sister."
"She's helping to catch you."
"Yeah, but my agreement with Violet is more playful."
"If she wins, she just gets to ask questions."
"Oh, if she wins, I want you to repeat those words a year or two from now."
Posey laughed. "She's going to have an active social life."
"Maybe," I said.
* * * *
I had enough control over the visor to help me sleep. That helped a great deal. I slept through the night and woke up shortly before breakfast.
I rose and looked over towards Audra. She was in her cell, sitting on the bed with her back against the wall, staring straight ahead. I sent her a message. "How are you doing, Squirt?"
It took her a moment until she turned to look at me. Then I got an incoming voice chat request from her.
"We're going to kick your asses," Audra said, and across the corridor, she was grinning.
"Squirt, you know Violet will play to win, but you heard what Mom gets if I win."
"Yeah, but I didn't understand."
"You know the visor? Well, the Catseye eyes are fake. They're like a visor. Mom could get those. I don't know what else they could do, but
you know she's getting older. She doesn't complain, but maybe she's getting arthritis in her hands or back. They could cure that."
She looked at me. "Violet really, really wants to catch you."
"I know."
"We could have asked for something like that. Why didn't you ask for yourself?"
"I didn't ask Azalea. I asked Azalea to do something for Mom, and she offered. And you heard what Azalea said. It's stuff Mom could get from work, but maybe she has to pay for it or something. I don't know. I'm not sure we could have asked."
"That's a big prize for Mom, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but maybe not as big as it seems, if Mom could get the same things from Jasmine. I don't know. Maybe we should have asked."
"Can we make a conference call? We could ask Violet."
"Sure. Just a second." I accessed the visor and asked Violet to join the call. A moment later she did, but she turned it into a video call. She was dressed, and I was still in undies and camisole.
"You know I'm going to get you for this, Violet," I said. "When you last expect it."
She laughed. "You do know Posey and I compare notes."
"How come I have to be in this cell?" Audra said. "I understand locking up my sister, but why me?"
"Honestly, I don't know," Violet said. "Jasmine insisted."
"Well, it kinda sucks in here, but the visor helps."
"Maybe she wanted an excuse to let you play with a visor."
"Maybe," Audra said slowly. "We wanted to ask you about something."
"Violet, can you tell us about the prize Mom gets if I win?"
"You're wondering how big a deal it is."
"Yeah."
"And wondering if you can guilt me into letting you win."
"Yeah," I said again.
"I'll answer the second question first. No, you can't."
"Yeah, I didn't think so."
"What Mom offered Carmen sounds like a big deal, and in a way, it is. She offered from the list your mom could get from Jasmine."
"She said she'd pay for it. I bet most people can't even get them."
"Every human who works for us receives the same offer with small changes. You have to sign a binding contract, and the terms are long. The simplest things are within the realm of human doctors now, and the term is short. I don't know the rules here, but at the Testing Center in Boston, replacement eyes are a ten year contract."
"Without pay?"
"No. They still get paid, but they probably won't get raises unless they take a really big increase in responsibility."
"So Azalea is offering to waive the employment contract."
"It's a little more complicated than that. Your mom signed a contract when she came here, and curing her cancer was an extension. I don't know the terms, but curing Audra would have been a really big deal and probably a very long contract."
"You made her extend her contract for curing her cancer?"
"I didn't," Violet said. "But right now there are only two ways humans get access to this type of technology. Either you sign a contract or you marry. And don't yell at me. I don't make the rules."
"Will you explain why?" I asked quietly.
"There are a lot of reasons. We don't give the technology away, because if we do, then humanity loses incentive to develop it yourselves. It is necessary for you to continue to develop your science, so we're careful."
"I knew that part."
"We also can't possibly put a price on any of this. How can we put a price on Audra's life?"
"You could have just cured her," I said.
"We could, but frankly, we can't cure everyone. And see previous comments."
"Is there more?"
"The sort of human who would willingly work here, knowing what happens here, aren't the sorts of humans we want working here."
"What happens here is-"
"Don't say it. Every Catseye agrees with you. We want changes. Okay?"
"Okay," I said.
"What happens here and at the Testing Centers is necessary," Violet said. "How it happens could be different. Will you agree about that?"
"Yes," I said. "I understand." I sighed. "You and I will never be equals, will we?"
"It will be a long time before humanity holds an equal place in the federation as Catseye," Violet said. "You and I are partners, Skye. Our personal relationship is distinct from these issues."
"But you're rich, and you have all these things, and I have what you give me." I paused. "Am I a whore? Am I selling myself to you?"
"Oh, Skye," she said. "If the only reason you were with me was for these things, then yes. But is that really why we're together?"
"No. I like the way you treat me, and I don't mean gifts and trips."
"I know you do. And I'm pretty sure you're head over heels in love with me, aren't you?"
"Yeah," I said.
"Okay," said Audra. "You guys are turning sappy now."
"I suppose we are," Violet agreed. "Skye, we couldn't have made that offer to just any human. We can't make it to either of you, at least not yet. But your mom works here, so we can offer. We don't give away the store. These are better than simple trinkets, but for us, this is, well, it's our equivalent of Lasik surgery."
"Thank you for explaining," I said. Her answer left me subdued, though, as I considered the implications.
"Skye, how hard would you have tried to win without something meaningful like this? You couldn't come up with something big to ask me."
"Tell me that when you're locked in one of these cells."
She laughed. "Answer my question."
"I'd play to win," I said. "But-"
"Right. Now you'll play almost as if your life depends on it."
"Yeah," I said. "Sorry."
"Don't be sorry," she said. "I intend to win, but I wouldn't want you to just give up."
"You won't throw it for Mom, hmm?"
"I'm afraid not. I'll see you soon, Audra, and you not that long after, Skye."
I laughed. "Not if I can help it."
* * * *
Breakfast came, and shortly after, our outfits. It was exactly as Jasmine promised. I received fresh undies, a full body suit, and boots. The undies looked familiar, but the rest of the outfit was alien. And to top it off, a floppy hat.
I changed, and when I turned to look, Audra had beaten me to it.
When had she grown into a beautiful young woman? The last time I'd paid attention, she'd been a gangly teenager. We both moved to the glass to look at each other, and she offered a thumb's up.
Then she initiated another call. "How are you doing?"
"Nervous as hell," I admitted.
"Yeah, me too. Why did Jasmine suggest she'd force me to marry someone?"
"Jasmine plays mind games," I said. "But I think she wanted you to know this was serious, that we weren't playing for who gets to hold the remote after dinner."
"Why does Posey want me to go on dates?"
"Squirt, did they tell you the results when they Tested you?"
"Yeah. Jasmine and Bluebell said I'd be a mating candidate, if Jasmine posts the results. Why didn't she? She could have made me marry someone."
"I don't really know," I said.
"Is it because of you?"
"I don't know that, either."
"So why does Posey want to force me to go on dates? I don't know if I want to go out with the people she'll pick."
"I think she wants you to find someone before Jasmine is forced to post your Testing results. She can't keep you out of the system forever, but maybe she can keep you out long enough."
"To marry someone."
"Yeah."
"I'm too young to get married."
"Yeah. But you're not too young to decide what kind of person you want."
"I know what kind of person I want," she replied.
"Maybe Posey wants to be sure you've considered all the angles."
"I have."
"Maybe you're sixteen, and even if you think you've
considered the angels, maybe she doesn't believe it. And I bet her moms put her up to that. You know how Mom always treats us like we're five years younger than we are. You're sixteen, Squirt. That's still a kid in their eyes."
"And twenty is ancient?"
"No. I'm still a kid, too."
She laughed. "All right. I can handle that. Do you think I'm going to win?"
"I think The Moms are going to be formidable. And I don't think Jasmine is done meddling. You heard her say it. She's going to help the hunters."
"Do we have a chance?"
"Sure."
"Will you tell me what you did with your traps?"
"Will you?"
I watched her think about it. "I think I'd feel like we cheated if we did," she said finally. "Do you want me to win?"
"Squirt, win or lose, you're going to college. You know that, right?"
"I didn't know the stuff Bluebell said yesterday."
"And your big sister will help. You know that, too."
"That means you want me to lose?"
"I don't know, Squirt. Cause if you win, then I won't have to help." I grinned. "But letting Posey send you on dates should turn into a lot of amusement for me. I think I win either way."
"You suck."
"Honey, you know I'm on your side."
"Except today, and you had a lot of fun throwing me into the obstacles in the arena."
"True," I admitted. "But I didn't see you holding back, either."
"I'm just a little kid. I should have had a bigger handicap."
"Yeah. The ETs aren't real interested in handing those out. You've seen how they stack the deck against the mating candidates."
"Yeah, and Jasmine is treating us that way, too. Is she stacking the deck against us?"
"Are you going to get mad if she does?"
"I don't know. I hope not, but sometimes she really cheats. I want a fair game."
"Yeah, me too. Squirt, you and I aren't competing with each other. You're competing with one of The Moms and with Posey. Same for me, but Violet. You heard Jasmine. There's no time limit."
"I suppose."
"So I won't help you, because you're right. That's cheating. But I can wish you luck."
"Yeah," she said. "You, too." She paused. "Skye, will you answer something, even if it's really kind of embarrassing for you?"
I laughed. "We'll see."