* * * * *
There was no sense reasoning with her while she was in that mood. And
if she wanted to kill herself that was her concern. I watched her drop
onto Edith's shoulders, wind one hand viciously into the mammal's long
blonde hair and guide the gross body into a shambling walk toward the
meadow. Edith swayed dangerously, but somehow she managed to stay on
her feet as they disappeared into the trees.
I walked over to the six bodies, gave each of them a light stat to make
sure they would remain quiet and sat down beside the nearest one to
think.
Ven's anger had left me a sizeable problem. What on earth could I do
with six human females? I needed them like I needed a broken digit.
Time passed and the sun rose toward the zenith, and finally I came to a
decision. Since we had them on our hands, we might as well make use of
them. Killing would be too dangerous.
And presently Edith came through the trees, a sick, tired, sober Edith
whose face was dirty and tear streaked, carrying a grim Ven whose aura
smoldered a reddish brown.
"What did you do to her?" I asked.
"None of your business," Ven snapped. "She's all right now. Aren't you,
Edith?"
"Yes, Ven--and I won't do it again. Honest I won't."
"You'd better not," Ven said grimly. "Now I suppose we have some work
to do."
"You certainly have," I said. "If it wasn't for your temper we wouldn't
have this mess on our hands. Now get moving! Have Edith carry these
girls to the ship." I gestured at the prone bodies. "And you, get
inside and bring out the control equipment and connect the leads to the
computer." I was angry, too. Under the force of my superior will, the
two females scurried to obey. "I'm disgusted with you, Ven," I said
angrily. "Just because your pet went to a party, you don't have to act
childish. Did you expect she'd behave like a Thalassan?"
"I trusted her," Ven said.
"It just goes to show that you can't trust an animal too far," I said.
"Now get moving. Bring the probes first. We have a lot of work to do
before evening."
* * * * *
It was finished sooner than I expected. The sun was still in the
sky, but close to the edge of the hills. The row of mammalian bodies
slumbered peacefully beside the airlock. Ven looked down at them
speculatively.
"No," I said. "You have one, and that's enough."
"But," Ven said.
"I've humored you," I said. "I've let you act like a lower order. Now
I want to see you behave like a civilized being. For unless you do, I
shall have to take steps. I'm tired of this childishness."
"I'll be all right now," Ven replied. "We've come to an understanding."
She gestured at Edith with her primary digit and the big mammal
shivered. I wondered what Ven had done to her. Edith was thoroughly
cowed--actually afraid of little Ven, who was less than one fifth her
size. In a way, I felt an odd sort of pride in my mate that she should
achieve mastery over such an intelligent and potentially dangerous
brute. I knew perfectly well that I'd never dare attempt such dominance
over Donald unless I was prepared to rob him of the mentality that made
him useful. But I consoled myself with the thought that this female was
peculiarly susceptible to domination.
"We'd better get that car out of sight," Ven said. She nodded to Edith.
The human obediently trotted off in the direction of the car. A few
moments later the sound of the motor rose and fell as she concealed it
in the trees.
As soon as I could, I contacted Donald and told him what had happened.
Fortunately he was alone, so his exclamation of surprise and
consternation didn't arouse any suspicion.
"Ethanol, eh?" he said speculatively.
It was easy to follow the trend of his thoughts. "Don't get any ideas,"
I warned in my best TV villain manner. "I have Edith up here with me.
If you want to see her again, you'd better stay sober."
"I wouldn't think of crossing you," he assured me insincerely. "I'm too
close to being rid of you."
"Well--what do we do?" I asked. "You're the expert on this insane
society of yours."
"You've done it," he said. "I don't think it was smart of you, but
under the circumstances, I can't see how you could have done anything
else. I warned you about Ven and Edith," he added--rather gloatingly, I
thought. "Now you're in for it." His voice was almost gay.
"How?"
"Six women vanishing all at once is going to cause a stir even in Los
Angeles," he said.
"After an ethanol party?" I asked curiously. "Six dancers out of a
production that used a hundred? Your city will never miss them."
"But their families will."
Families! I hadn't thought of that. Mammals had strong family
ties--probably due to their method of reproduction. We Thalassans,
coming as we did from eggs, had none of this. The state incubators and
the creches were our only contact with parenthood. We had no families.
"Hmm," I said. "I hadn't thought of that."
"Well, you'd better start. I hope it gives you a headache."
"You get nastier every time I talk with you," I complained.
"I have my reasons," he said bitterly. "Now, if you're through with
me, little master, I think I'd like to get some sleep. In the meantime
you'd better get them back to their homes before they're missed."
"I can't," I confessed. "The controller isn't big enough to handle
eight of you--not as individuals."
Donald chuckled grimly. "That's your worry. Remember, unless you find
out which of them will be missed and act accordingly, you're going to
be very much in the public eye."
* * * * *