Emi nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Baltin had brought a motorized cart with her this time. She led Emi to it when they left the hotel. Apparently their destination wasn’t within easy walking distance. Emi held on and prayed the Moran didn’t wreck them. The open cart didn’t have any restraint belts and either there were no speed limits, or Baltin completely disregarded them. Fortunately, there didn’t appear to be many other carts in use, the citizens using an extensive public transportation system of trams, or simply walking.
Finally, something to take her mind off what she’d witnessed at the stables—fear of death or dismemberment in a Moran cart accident.
“We carefully expand our agricultural lands as our population and needs increase,” Baltin cheerfully explained, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of the wind. “We alternate orchards with fields in such a way as to prevent erosion or overtaxing the land’s ability to support the crops.”
“Uh-huh,” Emi said through clenched teeth as they hit another bump. She tightened her grip on the railing. Apparently road maintenance in this area wasn’t as high on the Moran priority list as erosion prevention and keeping their feral males well-fucked.
“The area we are heading to is in the process of being added. We wall in the section first. Then, once we have thoroughly prepared the area, we can remove the dividing wall and properly develop it for our needs.” They were approaching a barricade. To Emi’s immense relief, Baltin slowed and stopped, putting the cart into park.
“Here we are, Doctor.”
Emi forced a smile. “Great.” Thank the Gods! On wobbly legs, she exited the cart and followed Baltin over to a guarded, sealed access port in the wall.
Baltin turned and pointed at a field behind them, which was being worked by several males, some of them apparently ferals from their collars. “You see over there is where we have already annexed the prepared land. This is why the wall around the city is not…as you say, straight. We add on in the most appropriate area to suit our needs. It makes it irregular.” She spoke to the guard, who nodded. The guard gave Emi a quick bow, opened the port, and stepped aside for them.
Baltin smiled at Emi. “This section is scheduled for final clearance and is to be opened in a few days.” She motioned for Emi to follow her inside.
The guard sealed the entrance behind them. Emi stared around, the new section of wall extending past them several kilometers into the distance through a wide, cleared swath that stood in stark contrast to the thick, lush vegetation they were looking at.
“What will this be used for?”
“Once it goes through final clearance, it will be cleared for farmland.”
Emi frowned. “Why not clear it before you wall it in?”
“Oh, we would never put our males at risk like that.” She turned to speak in her native tongue to someone who’d approached them. Emi couldn’t tell if the person was female or male because of their heavy, protective clothing that covered them from head to foot. The headgear muffled the person’s voice. Emi suspected it was a Moran woman, from everything else she’d seen.
Baltin turned back to Emi. “They are not quite through yet with this section, but it should be safe. Come. This way.” Baltin followed their guide, motioning for Emi to come with.
Emi felt her nerves tingling, on edge. She wondered what was so bad that heavy protective clothing like that was needed.
And she wondered why she didn’t have a suit of her own.
Baltin chattered on about the agricultural operation as they followed their guide down the path. They came to a clearing, where several four-legged, furry animals that reminded Emi of goats grazed next to a small pond. Each animal wore a collar with a sensor on it. Instead of hooves, like goats, they had fingered paws that looked like a cross between a dog and a monkey. The animals also had thick, bushy crowns of coarse hair on their heads.
“These are dau’phnalin,” Baltin explained as she reached out and petted one of the brown animals. “They help clear the area because they are immune. They are the only animal on the planet immune.”
Emi couldn’t stand it any longer. “Immune to what?” She suspected the “what” lay behind the reason for the heavy protective suits. She felt like her skin was about to crawl off her body, even worse than she felt when the jump engines were engaged.
“To the tals’tophk. I am sorry for the confusion, Doctor. I thought I made that clear.”
Emi vaguely remembered hearing something about that at some point in her holding-on-for-dear-life ride out there in the cart. “But what are they?”
“What?”
“The…tals-whatever.”
Then one of the not-goat critters let out a horrific, ear-splitting shriek that made Emi jump. The others joined in, making Emi cover her ears. From out of nowhere, several other workers garbed in protective clothing suddenly converged on them. Four of them surrounded Baltin and Emi, facing out and on high alert.
Two of the workers seemed to be paying attention to the now-screaming animals. They carefully watched where the animals all had their attention fixated. Then one of the workers produced a small metal wand. They touched a button on it, and with a click it expanded into a long spear. The two workers advanced on the focus point of the animals, a section of vegetation at the base of a tree on the edge of the clearing. The one with the spear pounced, jabbing it into the bushes.
Whatever was there started screaming even louder than the animals, who were now cowering around the four workers protecting Emi and Baltin.
The worker with the spear dragged their prey out of the bushes. Emi added her own horrified cries to those of the not-goats. Impaled on the end of the spear was something that looked like a ten-pound spider with a lot more legs. It struggled, shrieking.
The other worker produced a rectangular rod and reached down. The unmistakable sound of an electric zap filled the air.
The beast let out one final shriek and fell still, its legs curling up around it.
Immediately, the not-goats stopped their yelling and went back to peaceably grazing as if nothing had happened.
Apparently, the thing was dead, whatever it was. Baltin, who’d never lost her composure during the encounter, smiled at Emi as the four workers went back to their business. “Their venom can kill an adult in seconds.”
“Holy crap!”
“Would you like to see it?”
“Um, no thanks. I’m good.”
“It is safe once they are dead.”
The worker with the spear helpfully stepped forward and held it up for Emi’s inspection.
Emi took a few steps back, waving her hands in front of her. For good measure, she put one of the grazing critters between her and the dead-spider-thing-kabob. “No, seriously, thanks. I’m good.”
Baltin smiled, but Emi didn’t sense any smugness behind it. “I understand. They can be quite frightening if you are not used to them.”
“Huuuge understatement.”
Baltin said something in Moran and the technician took the corpse away. “You now see why we have to clear sections before we allow our male workers in.”
“Yeah.”
“We do value our males. We do not wish them dead. They are important parts of our society, but they have a different place and role than your males do.”
“What about the beaches and stuff? How do you keep those things away from there?” Emi resisted the urge to constantly look around, including into the canopy above them, for any more of those things.
“We have recreational areas also inside the walls.” She smiled. “Well, we cannot wall in the ocean, can we? We have a system of walls and barriers that protect the beach areas once they are cleared. And the tals’tophk do not go in the water. They will drown.”
“How come they can’t just climb the walls and get in?”
“The walls have…” She frowned, apparently searching for the right word in standard. “They are protected by electricity.”
“E
lectrified?” Emi asked.
“Yes, that is the word. They are killed trying to get over the top of the walls. When we add new sections of walls, we always remove any vegetation that might possibly grow over the walls. We can then be sure of no intrusion into the protected city. The walls are constantly patrolled and carefully maintained.” She said something to the last technician, who began leading them back to the gate.
Emi wished she could encourage them to pick up the pace to a run.
Baltin continued her chatter. “We have few things to fear here on our world, except for the tals’tophk. From the youngest age, our children, females and males, are taught to fear and despise them.”
“So they’re everywhere in your world?”
“Yes, except for where it’s cold. And on the beaches. They need vegetation and shade to survive. Lots of people used to die from them. That is why we domesticated the dau’phnalin. Five out of every ten children born in the old times were likely to be killed by tals’tophk long before they ever reached adulthood. After the Great Wars, we decided it was senseless to spread out when they outnumbered us so greatly. By combining forces and building walled communities that were eventually merged into the great city, we were able to keep them out.”
They reached the gate. Emi jumped when the dau’phnalin started screaming again from somewhere behind them. Emi fought the urge to trample Baltin to get through the port. The door slid shut behind them, also cutting off the sound of the screaming.
“That sound alone is more than enough to give me nightmares,” Emi said.
Baltin smiled. It didn’t look like the experience had fazed her in the least. “I can see how it might take some getting used to. Many people inside the walls still keep dau’phnalin as pets.”
“Yeah, I guess I would, too.” Emi involuntarily shuddered. “You know, the records the DSMC sent me didn’t include anything about killer spiders.”
She laughed. “Oh, we are very careful about making sure our tourists never have to see one. Can you imagine? Who would want to come to a place where they could die? It is best to maintain their ignorance in the matter.” She led Emi back to the cart.
Who indeed? Emi followed her and prepared to hold on for dear life. Compared to what she’d just seen, another wild cart ride should be a piece of cake.
“So now you see why people must get permission to settle outside the walls,” Baltin said as she started the cart, turned it around, and headed back in the direction of the Imperial Home.
Emi nodded. “Crystal clear.”
“I do not understand?”
“Oh, it’s an idiom. It means I completely understand.”
“Ah.” Baltin smiled and looked at Emi. Emi wished her tour guide would keep her eyes on the road and not on her. “I love being able to speak with people who claim standard as their native tongue. I always learn the most interesting things.”
Their course took them past a large complex. “What is that?” Emi asked.
Baltin immediately veered, changing course to head to it and making Emi hold on tightly to avoid falling out. “It is our defense training complex. Every honor-titled woman serves at least two years in our forces. Some make it their career, while others go on to do other things. But it is mandatory.”
They stopped in a courtyard and Baltin quickly pointed out several buildings to Emi before taking off again toward a large structure that looked like a stadium. Baltin drove up to one of the open gates and stopped. Yes, it was a stadium of some sort. Inside on the field of sandy loam, several pairs of women engaged in what appeared to be hand-to-hand combat.
“This is one of the training classes,” Baltin explained. “We are all taught skills to protect ourselves and others during fighting. And weapons. But also in case we have to settle any claims.”
“Claims?”
She nodded. “When there is a disagreement between honor-titled women, the injured party can request a fight to settle the score instead of punishment or fines. We have monthly sessions to settle disputes.”
Emi watched the women sparring. It didn’t look a whole lot different than what she’d learned during her training, except the Morans were larger and fought hard.
“Does it work?”
“Does what work?” Baltin asked.
“Settling scores like that?”
“Oh, absolutely. We do not have…what do you call…prisons. And since owners are solely responsible for the actions of their males, owners tend to keep their males under control as well.” Baltin backed them away from the gate and got them turned around to head for the Imperial Home. “No honor-titled woman would ever let her males get out of control. It is unheard of.”
* * * *
Mauri had her cook prepare a delicious meal for them. Aaron, Ford, and Caph were, as Emi wanted to tease but held her tongue, seated at the kiddy table off to the side. Mauri, Emi, Baltin, Rawin, and Commander Yawlkin were seated at the main table.
“We are very eager to expand our tourist trade,” Mauri said. “I hope your visit has been a pleasant one.”
“Yes, very.”
“Are you sure I cannot interest you in partaking of one of our spas? I can assure you, our pleasure males have been highly trained to accommodate human females.”
Emi heard Aaron start coughing over at the other table. She ignored him, and also ignored it when Caph whacked him on the back.
“Thank you for your kind offer, Mauri. I appreciate it, but I assure you, I’m not in need of the services.”
Mauri shrugged. “Very well, but the offer stands if you wish to take it. But I must insist you allow me to give you some of the best of what our planet has to offer. We export natural health and beauty items, completely chemical-free. They are highly prized throughout many worlds.”
Emi smiled, relived for the subject to be dropped. “I would be honored, Mauri. Thank you.”
Mauri nodded. “I will give your men a voucher. The official store is very close. They can go pick it up while we chat after dinner.”
“Thank you.”
“Mother, may their pilot stay and take part in the discussion?” Rawin asked.
Emi wondered if her face bore the same confusion Yawlkin’s did. The commander looked from her pilot to Mauri.
“Daughter?”
“Well, Mother, he seems to be highly intelligent. I think it would benefit my training to see a different point of view.”
Emi immediately smelled a rat. She was going to say no, Aaron would go with the twins to the store, but Mauri spoke first.
“That is a very reasonable request, my daughter.” Mauri smiled at Emi. “It seems Doctor Hypatia has very talented and skilled males.”
Rawin glanced at Emi before smiling at her mother. “Yes, I believe you are correct, Mother.”
* * * *
Yawlkin couldn’t stay, needing to get back to her ship to take care of maintenance issues. Apparently Rawin, being Mauri’s daughter, was exempt from having to leave right away. After dinner, Rawin briefly excused herself, citing needing to return a message. Mauri took a few moments to take care of official business. Baltin gave Caph and Ford a small handheld with a graphic map on it, as well as a list of items, and a scannable voucher code.
Baltin explained it to the two men. “You will not have any trouble,” she assured them. “I would take you, but I must get home to my daughter. She is home from school now. It was very nice meeting all of you.”
“Thanks for your help,” Emi said. She pulled all three men close for a quiet confab. “You sure this is a good idea, Aar?”
He shrugged. “We’re under orders.” He looked at the twins. “Best behavior. No screwing around, got it? Get there and get back.”
“No worries,” Caph said. “I’m not looking forward to doing this any more than you are looking forward to us going.” He looked at Ford. “Do you feel it?”
“The something-fishy feeling? Fuck yeah.” He glanced at the doorway Rawin had left through. “I don’t like that pilot
woman. She keeps looking at Aaron like he’s a side of beef.”
Emi felt worry from all three of her men. “Agreed,” Emi said. “We get through this as fast as possible and I’ll claim I don’t feel well and we’ll beat feet back to the Bight. Okay?”
Caph and Ford nodded and were shown out by a guard.
Rawin returned and smiled. “My apologies, Doctor Hypatia, but it is taken care of.”
Mauri looked up from her desk. “Oh, good, we’re all here.” She rose and walked around to the sofa they’d occupied before, but Emi wasn’t sure if males were allowed on the furniture. Aaron chose to stand off to the side, solving her problem. Emi sat on the sofa, while Rawin took up a chair across from them.
“So did you enjoy Baltin’s tour today, Doctor?” Mauri asked.
Emi nodded. “Very educational.”
“Perhaps you can speak to the DSMC about increasing traffic to our planet? We would welcome the chance to have more visitors.”
“I can certainly do that,” Emi lied. She wasn’t going to turn into a free promo wonk for the Planet of the Oversexed Amazons.
Mauri’s smile beamed. “Excellent!” She started to say something else when a tone sounded at her desk. “Oh, forgive me. I must attend to that.” Mauri returned to her desk and spoke into what passed for the Moran version of a phone.
Rawin stood and got her mother’s attention. “Shall I take Doctor Hypatia for a quick tour to my house to give you some time? We will return shortly.”
Mauri nodded, waving them out.
Rawin grinned. “Please, come with me, Doctor.” She looked at Aaron. “And you, too, pilot. My home is here on the grounds. Just a few minutes away.”
Emi exchanged a frantic glance with Aaron. He pressed his lips together and gave a nearly imperceptible shake of his head. His message was clear. Don’t argue with her.
“Okay,” Emi said. “Sure. Sounds interesting.”
Rawin led them through the Imperial Home and out yet another entrance. Emi wondered how many the large structure had. As Rawin had said, her house was only a short walk down a shaded path. When they reached her door, she turned and smiled.
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