“Once we landed here, we hid ourselves. We learned this was the site of an ancient battlefield. We found artifacts and began an occasional trade with the people you call Kandalorians, who moved in some centuries after we did.
“That trade provided us with some things we could not make ourselves. It eventually led Jaelle to us, which was fortunate, and then the others, this Lostra and the Thieves Guild, which was less fortunate.”
“What brought Jaelle here,” Maauro began, “were ancient, high-technology artifacts. What brought me was an image on a piece of ancient hull metal. It was the image, painted in the last few hundred years, of my ancient enemy, what we called an Infestor.”
The elder looked at her in puzzlement. Maauro turned to a nearby wall and from her right eye a light flashed. Projected on the wall was the image of the panel that Jaelle’s father had shown us.
The elder clapped his hands together, a gesture of mirth among his kind. “This is an old piece of mine. I painted it based on a creature that our surveyor’s hooks dragged up. We had never seen its like before or since. We used it as a scarecrow to frighten away Kandalorians who came too close to our lands. It finally disappeared. No one knows where it went or why anyone would steal such a thing.”
I looked at Maauro. I now knew what she had found in the Tar Sea, why she’d come out so much stronger and why this area was of use to her. Her look warned me to silence.
***
“While we are a long-lived race,” the elder continues, “none of us now alive came in the ship or know how to repair the cloaking machinery. Its failures come more often. It may seem peculiar to you strangers, but secrecy and obscurity have been our culture for so long that they are bred into us. We dread exposure, as few and as weak as we are. We wish only to live quietly here, enjoying our hills, the jungle and even the swamps, which we do not find as distasteful as others do.”
I walk past the others to examine the mechanism to the evident distress of the attendants. The Elder quells them with a gesture.
I extend a hand toward one panel, my finger splits into a dozen filaments, which enter ports on the panel.
“What?” the elder gasps, moving forward.
“Don’t move,” Jaelle barks. “She’s immune to your weapons and can tear you all to pieces.”
“I mean no harm,” I say. “I am only trying to understand the mechanism. Leave me to study this and I will let you know if I can help.”
The elder looks in distress at Jaelle and me. Wrik gives them a reassuring nod though whether the gesture means anything to either of them I do not know.
“Leave her be,” Jaelle says. “She’ll help if she can. There’s nothing you could do to stop her in any event.”
Jaelle and the elder retreat a distance and he gathers the attendants, to keep them out of my reach, I assume.
I examine the mechanism and can now apply all of my processing power. It takes an eternity of 79 seconds. The control mechanisms for manipulating the shielding are simple, taking a mere .035 seconds to map. The remainder is spent analyzing the new physics revealed in the Murch’s holographic science. Even at their height, my Creators had not mastered these applications. The engineering skill in the Murch machinery equals my own design. I wonder about the nature of the “horror from space” that destroyed them.
Some of the damage is simple misalignment over the centuries. There are burnouts and circuit failures such as had plagued me earlier. With many of my own functions now restored, I believe I am equal to the task of repairs.
I remain at the console for an extended period of time—the biologicals will not credit my quick mastery of the cloak otherwise. I must constantly remind myself that I live in a universe of these lifeforms and success in my new life will depend on how well I can understand them
Wrik walks forward to my side. “Can you help them?”
“Yes,” I whisper back.
He raises an eyebrow at me, which I have learned means a question.
“Might this be a good time for you to teach me about commerce?” I ask.
***
Maauro repaired the Murch’s cloak and they were as grateful as Jaelle expected. With the Kandalorians gone, the Murch needed new trading partners. This suited me as Maauro and I were to be the conduit to Jaelle’s antiquities business. We agreed to move only a small number of artifacts and to send most of those off world. Maauro would not discuss what she’d found in the Tar Sea, but her capabilities were so much greater than before and she assured me the sclerosis was a thing of the past.
So the three of us made our way back to Wayfarer with a skimmerful of trade goods. From there, it was a short hop at our best speed back to Vanceport, where we secreted our loot in a locked warehouse.
Then it was time to collect our reward. This time we rented an aircar and flew in comfort to the Watering Hole.
We grounded the car and walked in. Jaelle had been silent on the way over. I could feel tension building in her as we walked up to the door. The same Nekoan female who greeted us weeks before stood behind the grill. She leapt up at the sight of Jaelle. She shouted over her shoulder in Nekoan. Another female came up, started at the sight of Jaelle and us, and raced off.
“Mistress,” the first Nekoan said. “Welcome home. Your father will be overjoyed at your return.”
“No doubt,” Jaelle said. “Take us to the old Ratcatcher.”
The girl smiled nervously. “Please follow me, Mistress. I will take you to your father.”
We found ourselves in the same room our adventure began in. Just before we went in, Jaelle put her arm in mine. Maauro gave her a curious look but said nothing.
Nenan Tekala rose from behind his table. “Daughter, you are returned.”
“Yes,” Jaelle said, placing her head on my shoulder. “I’m so lucky you sent such a handsome young man to find me.”
“Uh, Jaelle,” I began.
“Daughter?” Tekala began, with more of a growl than usual.
“Yes,” Jaelle continued, “handsome and with so many skills and abilities.” She almost purred, rubbing against me. “I’ve decided to enter into an arrangement with Wrik in regard to my business. He’s going to help me move artifacts. Of course I’ll be paying him—”
“Pay him?” Tekala howled. “Move artifacts. You’re going to share my wealth with him?”
“Your wealth?” Jaelle said. “Which wealth would that be?”
“Surely you understand a daughter’s duties—“
“The artifacts and their trade were found and developed by me, over your opposition and without your help, as everything else in my life has been!”
“This human has been corrupting you, leading you away from our family traditions.”
“This is the 10th century, Father. You don’t own a daughter in this century. What I do and who I lavish my affections on is my own concern.”
“Lavish your affections?” Tekala sputtered, quite a trick with fangs. “This human? Do you mean you—”
“Actually,” I interrupted, “I’m here about a little matter of a reward.”
“Reward! Reward, my ass. You’ll get nothing for seducing my daughter.”
“I seduced him! And how dare you offer a lousy 100,000 standards for my safe return! Is this the value you put on your daughter, Ratcatcher?”
“Perhaps we should wait outside,” I suggested. I turned to find that Maauro had already disappeared. Jaelle and her father were shouting in Nekoan and beyond noticing whether I came or went. So I went.
In the courtyard, I looked up at the stars and wondered where Maauro had gotten to. I noticed the rest of the staff had vanished too. It told me that this was not the first father-daughter battle to disturb the neighborhood.
Fifteen minutes later, silence fell. Jaelle walked out. She was carrying a card comp and walked up to me triumphantly, showing me the
figure, 115,000 confederate standards glowed on it. She clicked the button and sent it on to my account.
“The Tekala family keeps its promises, despite what my father thinks,” Jaelle said.
“We’re thankful,” I said.
“You and Maauro?” she said. “I don’t quite trust her, Wrik.”
“I’ve never known her to lie.”
“Well, she does seem to care for you.”
“We’re in a kind of alliance,” I said. “We rely on each other.”
Jaelle gave me a curious look. “I said she cares for you.”
I laughed lightly. “Jaelle, she only looks like a female. She adopted gender when she adopted that appearance.”
“So you say,” Jaelle said. “But she does care. I’m not quite sure how or why, but I need to know. Nothing’s as dangerous as traipsing through another female’s territory.”
I shrugged. “It’s not like that. I’m not quite sure what it is, but it’s not like that.”
“Well,” she said. “I’m more likely to be killed by my father for being with you.”
“Jaelle,” I blurted out. “You deserve better than me.”
“More hints, Wrik?” She placed her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to face her. The animal warmth of her hands struck through my clothes. “Why not just tell me what it is that you are so afraid of that it rides your nights?”
I stared at her silently, unable to give voice to my feelings.
She sighed. “Keep your secrets for now. I wasn’t planning on settling down and having kits with you, though I’m tempted every time I think of my father’s face. Still, if sometime you want to be more to me than an idle experiment, I’ll have to know who and what you really are.”
Her lips burned on mine, then she was gone, walking into the Watering Hole.
“What if I don’t know myself?” I whispered to the night air.
A sound came from behind me, a footstep. It made me smile. Maauro moved silently unless she consciously moved otherwise. I turned to see her standing in a shadow.
“Jaelle came through for us,” I said, “115K in the account. All our debts eliminated and a lot left over.”
“I did not doubt her. She does not like me, but I find I approve of her.”
“What makes you think she doesn’t like you?”
“Her statements, or do you forget the acuity of my hearing?”
“She doesn’t know you as well as I do…that was pretty silly, wasn’t it?”
“Silly?”
“Do I know you at all, Maauro?”
“You know as much of me as there is to know. I am only eight years old.”
I laughed. “Maauro.”
“Yes?”
“Are you my friend?”
“Yes, Wrik, I am. Please do not doubt that.”
“I don’t. You’re the first friend I have had since I disgraced myself. I didn’t think…I didn’t think there’d be another.”
“I spent eons alone on a rock. I did not think that I would ever see another living being.”
“Maybe we’ve both short-changed ourselves on hope?” I said. “Hope. I can’t remember using that word since…since then.
“This calls for a celebration. I’m thinking a fine meal, a little wine for me. What would you like?”
“I would like to go to the top of the Sala Haga and see the view.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Will Jaelle come with us?”
I hesitated. “Not tonight. This evening I’ll spend with my friend.”
“Thank you, Wrik. It is good to have friends, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Maauro, it surely is.”
Chapter 12
“I’m still not used to doing it with a girl with a tail,” I said, stretching lazily, a sense of well-being filling me.
Jaelle lay next to me on her large, round bed. I still found it disconcerting how at certain angles she looked so human, and at others so like the plains cats of her ancestry. Her face, turned toward me, was her most human feature. She looked at me from big golden eyes, but it seemed there was a shadow in them.
“Once again, Human, you’ve talked me horizontal and out of my clothes when I was on the verge of learning something about you.”
“It’s not that interesting a subject,” I said, rolling onto my back to stare at the broad-leafed fan stirring the air. Jaelle’s apartment had a good view of both the old and new cities in a neighborhood that I’d never been able to visit, much less afford, before our recent run of luck. The rooms were a creamy yellow, with high ceilings, well-furnished with the sort of overstuffed furniture favored by her species.
“Very well,” she said. “You could at least tell me about how different it is from being with a human woman.”
“Did you ever hear how curiosity killed the cat?”
“Don’t be silly. There wouldn’t be anyone left on my planet if that was true, not that we are actually cats. Quit ducking my questions.”
I smiled as we moved back to safer ground. “It’s similar. You’re smooth-skinned overall, so that isn’t that different. Of course, oral sex is out of the question with fangs like yours.”
“Silly idea sticking something that size in my mouth anyway.”
“You can do interesting things with that tail of yours.”
“Yes,” she said, dragging her tail across my inner thigh.
“And you?” I asked idly.
“The fact that you have only one is rather unusual, but you make up for it in other ways. You don’t bite me, which is a plus. You’re more interested in my needs then Nekoan males. So, overall, quite a plus.”
“Thanks…I think.”
“Wrik.”
“Yes.”
“One day I’ll insist on some answers.”
I lay with my eyes closed and breathed slowly and deeply.
After a few seconds, I felt Jaelle’s head rest on my shoulder. Then I really did fall asleep.
I left later that afternoon. I had to ready Sinner for another trip to the valley of the Murch. There were artifacts waiting to be picked up. In the three months since we’d returned from the Tar Sea we’d done a small but steady and very lucrative trade in ancient artifacts. We sent them off-world as there was little market on Kandalor itself and we wanted to keep that in reserve. Plus the offworld sales meant fewer questions and less investigation about our sources. We wanted no attention from either the Guild or the Confederacy.
I took an aircar back to the spaceport. It was safer than a pedicab and I could afford the rental now. The trip took mere minutes, and then I was circling down over Sinner’s chrome-yellow shape. I had no worries about security once I arrived. Maauro was down there. While she had her own entertainments and diversions, it was her turn to guard the ship. This gave me a plausible reason to keep my girlfriend and Maauro apart. There had been no overt hostility between the two and wouldn’t be on Maauro’s side. Maauro had two settings for conflict, off and kill. Jaelle viewed the ancient android with fear and suspicion. She believed me naive for accepting as a friend a being I could never truly hope to understand.
Maybe she was right. When I wasn’t around Maauro, I still entertained dark thoughts and doubts about the android. After all, wasn’t everything about Maauro’s appearance calculated to endear her to me, from the tiny, teenage girl shape, to the huge aquamarine eyes? Without Maauro, though, I would be dead already. I lived on time she’d borrowed for me.
I touched down and rolled the aircar back into the rental lot, then walked briskly over to the hangar. This one had a small apartment built into it and was much more convenient than our old quarters. Maauro walked out to greet me. She’d tied back her long hair with her usual cadmium-yellow silk bow.
“Hello, Wrik. Welcome back. Did you enjoy your date with Jaelle?”
/>
“Yes, we had fun.”
“That is good. She’s been a excellent addition to our network.”
“Uh, yeah. I suppose so.”
“I’ve preflighted the ship as you requested.”
“Great. Hey, is that coffee I smell?”
“Yes. I made some and warmed up some rations.”
“Maauro, you keep this up and Jaelle will get very jealous.”
Maauro cocked her head at me in a gesture I’d learned meant, “What the hell are you talking about?”
We walked into the machine shed next to Sinner from which the wonderful smell of coffee came. Two cups sat there. I poured for both of us. Maauro did ingest food and drink, but it could be anything from fuel oil and paper, to wine and steak. She converted them to energy on a low level. Topping off the batteries, she called it.
I took a cautious sip of the coffee, and then drank deeply and appreciatively. “Damn, that’s good.” Maauro brought over some local breads and spreads, and we enjoyed a little breakfast together.
“Given everything that you can ingest,” I said, “do you have preferences?”
“Nothing poisons me, of course, barring some exotic substances that do not exist in nature. I do prefer easy-to-breakdown compounds that you use for foods, even though the energy is minimal. But I have a fondness for scrambled eggs.”
I dropped the cups in the washer and everything else in the recycler. “Shall we get going?”
Despite Maauro’s assurances, I did a walk around, if only to stay in practice. She watched me with some amusement. Then I clambered aboard, and we took off, rolling down the runway after getting clearance from the tower. Sinner handled like a fat, lazy airplane in atmosphere. I could take her straight up, but it cost fuel. While money wasn’t tight right now, I saw no reason to be a spendthrift.
We quickly left the air control of the spaceport, and I dropped to low altitude to stay off the port scanner. I triggered the homemade ECM Maauro had made. Now it would take a warship using their sensors at full power to pick us up.
“We’re going to take the northern route this time,” I said. “It will knock an hour off the trip. I told Jaelle we’d be back by midnight.”
My Outcast State (The Maauro Chronicles Book 1) Page 10