The Pet Plague

by Darrell Bain

  “That sounds good now, but I'll sure hate to get up later."

  “I'll roust you out, never fear. Right now, let's try to get a nap.” She lay down and snuggled her back up to him, spoon fashion. He put an arm around her, placed an undemanding hand over her breast and fell quickly asleep.

  It felt as if he had hardly closed his eyes when he had to open them again. Kristi's shaking interrupted a dream in which he and Jeannie and Kristi were being chased through the corridors of a giant spaceship by huge bobcats, keeping ahead of the pursuing animals only by throwing them bloody rabbits which they stopped to devour. He came sleepily from the dream state to reality, blinking several times to assure himself that no bobcats were in the shelter with them.

  Lady and Conan were already outside. Woggly yawned and got to his feet, deciding to accompany his friends even though he had no specific duties. The cats slept on, undisturbed.

  The stretch of guard duty passed slowly enough to cause Jamie to doubt the accuracy of his thumbnail watch, and the sleepless hours were compounded by a cold wind whipping at the hood of his coveralls. It was still blowing from the north, though not so fiercely.

  “I hope Fuzz and Princess keep the shelter warm,” Jamie said at length. “I'm not getting undressed until it is."

  “After tonight, we sleep dressed anyway. This is our last stop before we enter unknown territory, and we have to be ready to react at a moment's notice to dangers we haven't encountered before. That's why the shelters are transparent,” she added.

  “You mean we have to wear these suits constantly from now on? We'll get kind of rank, won't we?"

  She reached back and patted his leg. “Not all the time, but certainly while we're sleeping. Remember how much trouble I've had waking you up?"

  “No, but I'll take your word for it."

  “Troy will tell Wolfgang to try to find us a stopping place every day or so safe enough to let us get cleaned up, but it's not guaranteed. I remember times when we've been out that I would have made a pact with the devil to be able to sleep upwind of myself. And remember, we're concentrating on speed, so don't expect us to go out of the way for unimportant things like taking a bath. Besides, just think about how good it will feel when we can get clean again. I'll let you scrub my back."

  It was something to think about. After only two days on the trail his hair already felt greasy and his skin itched with the need for water. He hated to contemplate what it would feel like after a few more days.

  There came a loud bark in the night, followed by a pregnant silence; then an eerie yowl shattered the stillness, like the death knell of a banshee, washing over them from nearby like a sudden tsunami. It brought them both to their feet, weapons drawn. An instant cacophony of barks and growls echoed from the guard dogs. Jamie thought he recognized Woggly's voice in the melange and cursed inwardly. Damn it, Woggly was a city dog, no match for whatever monster could make a sound like that. He had no business getting mixed up with the ranger dogs. Immediately, he began to worry.

  The noise came again, high and shrill this time, but with a rasping, grating undertone that vibrated in his ears, blurring direction. Jamie waved his weapon nervously. He could feel his heart thudding in his chest, jolted by enough adrenalin to make a sloth do acrobatics. More barks and growls assaulted his ears, then died away. Brush rattled off to his left. He turned, weapon up and ready.

  Kristi's hand met his forearm, forcing the laser gun down. “That's a dog coming in. Relax. Whatever it was, it's leaving now.” The accuracy of her reply was proven by a third cry, undeniably more distant.

  “What in hell was it?—and Woggly! I thought I heard him bark. If anything happened to him—” He broke off, unable to continue.

  “It didn't sound like any of the dogs got hurt, but I'm not sure what it was. Some kind of big cat, probably. Maybe a tiger. A lot of those were enhanced in the old days. Every zoo and circus had them. But be quiet, now. It's just barely possible that it was a diversion to let another one sneak in and drag off a kill."

  Jamie shivered, wondering whether she was referring to humans or pets in terms of a kill.

  A white blur broke into the open and loped toward them. Kristi hunkered down and took Lady's head in her hands, ruffling her thick fur. The dog whined and growled in a low voice before speaking. “Cat. Big cat. Gone now."

  “Good girl. Tell Woggly to come."

  The command was unnecessary, as Woggly arrived even as Lady was turning to fetch him. Jamie hugged his dog, digging his hands into his shaggy hair. His throat constricted, preventing him from speaking even had Kristi already not admonished him to silence. He had loved Woggly since he was a clumsy fat puppy, but his love was usually expressed in casual banter and friendly insults. Just now he realized how deep his affection for the pet went. “Go stay with Conan,” he whispered, patting his rump. Conan was restricted by the edict of his importance from straying far from the confines of the camp area. He should be safe with him.

  After an interval, Kristi said, “I guess it's safe to talk now. Just keep it low."

  “Are there many of those things out here? Damned if I want to meet one by myself, if it's as big as it sounded."

  “There are more of them than there used to be. Like I told you before, this is getting to be cat country. I'm at a loss to know what they live on, though. There aren't many deer left, nor wild cattle, either. There never was much of a call for enhancing their intelligence, and without that, they can't survive long among the smart carnivores."

  “So far as that goes, humans aren't doing such a damn fine job of surviving, either."

  Kristi had no answer for that comment.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 14

  Five full days had passed since Jamie's departure and Jeannie was feeling lonely and bored. She missed him, more than she ever thought she would. Of late, he had been occupying more and more of her attention. She found her thoughts turning to him at odd times during the day, and especially at night when they were not together. His going had left a void inside, like an unfulfilled promise. She imagined he and Kristi making love out in the wilds, but those thoughts were more in response to the desires of her own body rather than any sense of jealousy; Kristi had put those fears to rest. Her present attitude was a healthy reflection of the prevalent mores of Enclave society. She had had no expectations of remaining his only sexual partner. Neither did she seriously think he would be her last lover, either, although she had no current interest in any other man right now, nor did she expect to develop one in the near future so long as she continued to feel so strongly bound to him. She knew also, with the age-old intuition of women, that he had begun to care deeply about her, notwithstanding the typical male response to Kristi's overt sexuality.

  She worried incessantly about Jamie's safety, imagining all kinds of horrors and disasters overcoming him in the wild country outside the Enclave. She had never lived anywhere else, of course, and was as subject as anyone else to believe the more exaggerated versions of conditions on the outside. She called Whitmire's office every evening to inquire about him, feeling foolish for doing so, but unable to resist the temptation. John Whitmire, being a kindly man, took the calls himself, assuring her gently that he was indeed safe and that the expedition was progressing satisfactorily. Also, being somewhat Victorian minded by present standards, he made no mention of Kristi, having noticed the obvious signs of her interest in Jamie. He suspected with good cause that the interest had been fairly consummated by now. Jeannie wouldn't have reacted adversely in any case. During the very short time she had known the older woman, she had begun to like and admire her, despite the initial juvenile possessiveness she had shown.

  On this day, Jeannie was feeling a sort of directionless ennui as she left the agsection offices and walked reluctantly toward her sled stop, dreading the prospect of another night alone. On a sudden impulse, she reversed her steps and headed back to the office, thinking she might pull some of Jamie's progress notes on his latest project from
the computer and use her home terminal to tidy them up for him. It was not really necessary work, but she thought that it might allay a little of the loneliness she felt in his absence. As she neared the front entrance, she saw a man entering and recognized him as Don Cadena, Alvarez's administrative assistant. His small frame and the incipient bald spot showing through his thinning hair was unmistakable. She was surprised to see him; he had left the office earlier, claiming a headache, and had stated specifically that he was leaving for the day. Curious, she lagged behind and followed him into the building.

  As with most newer office buildings, there were few inside doors. During the day, opaque projections protected the privacy of the occupants when desirable and were keyed to individual body computers to allow selective entrance. Most of them were kept in the non-functional mode at night or when the offices were unoccupied; access to private or confidential data was usually protected by the individually coded body computers. Jeannie saw immediately that Alvarez's office was occupied and presumed that Cadena's headache had abated and he had returned to complete some unfinished work. She passed it by and entered her own small office, not bothering to activate the entrance barrier. She quickly transferred the data she wanted into her body computer, then decided it would be polite to visit with Cadena for a moment. She liked him even less than she did her boss. There was something about the man which repelled her, like an aura which had lost it's color, but she was naturally friendly and made it a point to try to get along with him. The privascreen Cadena had erected recognized the entrance code from her body computer, and she stepped silently through the projection. Had she not been authorized entrance, a mild tingle would have warned her off.

  Cadena's back was turned; he was concentrating intensely on a projection in front of him. Jeannie recognized the format immediately as belonging to Alvarez's personal files; she was frequently given access to them long enough to record or delete data, or more usually, straighten the files so that they could be used more efficiently. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it without speaking. Was Cadena authorized to look into his superior's private notes? She wasn't sure. He might have been given permission without her knowledge. Alvarez might have called and sent him over to look up some data, but that didn't seem likely; he could just as easily have accessed it from home, given his rank. Uncertain of Cadena's motives, she silently withdrew, still unnoticed, and hurried quickly from the building.

  On the way home, she thought some more on Cadena's unexpected presence in the office and decided that the next morning she would advance the normal computer maintenance schedule by a few days. Soon after taking over it's management, she had installed a silent monitoring program which stored a record of all accesses. It was no real secret: she had noted it's installment and access code in the maintenance file, but she doubted that anyone else had paid attention to it. It was not designed to prevent entry into the computer memory, being merely a tool to help with debugging if necessary. It would be interesting to see which of Alvarez's personal files Cadena had been after.

  * * * *

  Cadena departed not long after Jeannie, brows puckered in a frown. He was irritated that he had found nothing new in Alvarez's files; after his initial fortuitous involvement with the feral dog, he was now obviously out of the loop. He could not reasonably expect to find out anything else from that source. He felt frustrated, as he had much of his adult life, ever since failing to pass Moon City's stringent immigration requirements. He had not been told that the psych tests had eliminated him from consideration even had he passed the others. He had a mean little soul, no bigger than his slight body, and an ambition which far outweighed his talents. An analysis by Moon City of the psychological profiles of applicants had turned up his name, and a space shipping coordinator passing through the enclave had recruited him with a promise of eventual transport to the moon in return for clandestine activities. That the promise had so far failed to materialize he blamed on the lack of sufficiently important intelligence to pass on, and it preyed on his mind. However lacking in talent (other than for cracking computer codes), his perspicacity was acute; he could visualize the Houston Enclave falling in his lifetime, and he desperately wanted out. He had a deadly fear of the wilds and hated all animals impartially. Now, with the startling events of the last few days, he thought he might earn a chance to leave, but nothing other than the one description he had gleaned from Alvarez's files, and a single overheard conversation between Jeannie and Whitmire which told him nothing useful, had so far become available. He needed more information, and so far, he wasn't getting it.

  There was one more possible avenue open to him, but he hated to try it. Going into Alvarez's files had scared him silly, but getting caught there risked only his job and privileges; breaking into a private home constituted burglary—he could be exiled for that. On the other hand, there was certainly no possibility that Da Cruz would catch him in the act if he risked it, not when he was scores of miles away in the wilds! He came to a decision.

  * * * *

  Several miles away, Jeannie also came to a decision. Just perusing files with Jamie's name on them failed to satisfy the empty feeling within her. What little work actually needed to be done on them, she finished quickly, then was at a loss for any other mind diverting activity. She ate a desultory meal. All the news on the holo was bad, and the entertainment was worse. Annoyed with herself, she decided to go for a walk; maybe she just needed some exercise. Once outside and walking in the evening air, she felt her spirits rise, especially as the weather had turned better after the brief norther. Warm enough for swimming even, she thought. That's better exercise than walking, and I can get into Jamie's apartment to dry off. Maybe I'll even sleep there. Considerably buoyed by the thought, she re-traced part of her path back to the familiar sled stop.

  It was already well past dark by the time she arrived at Jamie's complex. There were only two swimmers in the lighted pool, both male, neither of them more than vaguely familiar. She decided to go in immediately, then carry her clothes into Jamie's apartment and dry off there. She stripped and dove in, ignoring the admiring glances from the two men. She lapped the pool back and forth, pausing occasionally at one end or the other to rest. She fended off polite advances from each of the men in turn, although she couldn't help but feel a little quiver inside at the thought of sex. Celibacy wasn't one of her strong suits, but it was Jamie she wanted, not some other man.

  Satisfied with the swim, she slithered out of the water and bent to pick up her discarded apparel, wishing it were Jamie admiring the naked wetness of her body rather than the two strangers. She waved casually to them and left the pool area, carrying her bundle of clothes. There was no problem in entering Jamie's apartment. Just as the pool had read the access code Jamie had entered into her body computer, so did his apartment door. He had shared them with her several weeks ago, as well as some of the inside amenities. Not really happy, but feeling much refreshed, she stepped through the entrance.

  “Oh, God Damn! What are you doing here?” Cadena jumped up from Jamie's computer alcove with a cry of rage at being discovered.

  Startled almost out of her wits, Jeannie gasped and brought both hands up to her face, clothes falling unnoticed to the floor. Before she could react, Cadena moved swiftly to block the entrance. He might possibly have bluffed away his presence in Jamie's home by claiming he had been granted access and at least gained a day or two to find a hiding place in the small Enclave underworld, but he reacted badly, thoughts of exile hammering in his skull. He drew his laser gun and pointed it at her still dripping figure. He grabbed her arm and threw her forcefully across the room onto the big lounger. Jeannie's teeth clicked painfully together at the impact.

  “Don't yell or I'll burn you. Goddamn nosy bitch, you would have to show up here!"

  “Mr. Cadena, what are you doing?” Jeannie implored. She was as innocent of political intrigue as a goldfish.

  “Shut up, damn it.” Cadena breathed heavily, strivin
g for control. Now how in hell was he going to get out of this situation? He could tie her up or knock her out and gain time to get away and hide, but that still left the possibility of discovery and certain exile into the wilds. Or he could kill.

  Cadena had committed murder once in his youth when passion had overcome restraint. The girl's face still haunted him sometimes, not in the guilty sense, but at how close he had come to getting caught.

  “Please, Mr. Cadena, tell me what is going on. Is Jamie in trouble? Is he hurt?” Her mind was whirling, knowing abstractly that Cadena was doing something terribly wrong, but her concern for Jamie and the conviction that whatever Cadena was up to somehow involved him overrode any other consideration. The fact that she was lying completely naked while a desperate man pointed a lethal weapon at her really didn't hit her until he spoke again.

  Cadena licked his thin lips and eyed her nakedness. “They can't hang me any higher,” he muttered to himself. He pressed one hand along the closure of his suit and waved his laser gun at Jeannie with the other. “Get up. Go into the bed room. Walk slow, I'll be right behind you."

  Jeannie realized then that the man was desperate and that her life was in imminent danger. But she knew something that Cadena didn't. Or at least she hoped he didn't. How long had he been here, and how much of Jamie's computer data had he seen? Not enough, she hoped. In fact, that was her only hope.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 15

  Just before being prodded into the bedroom by the unsuspecting Cadena, Jeannie screamed out the defensive code Jamie had entered in her body computer. She cringed as she cried out, fearing that he would shoot her in the back, but hoping desperately that he would hesitate before firing. The scream alone might have been enough to activate the defensive system, but she couldn't be sure she had gotten enough emotional overtones into her voice at the time she and Jamie had laughingly practiced against a possible intruder. It worked, though, just as Jamie had designed it to.