Part 18 (2/2)
The muttering below intensified. Here and there Fiben saw faces wearing sudden frowns-chims looking about the room in what he hoped was dawning embarra.s.sment. Brows wrinkled with uncomfortable thoughts.
But then, out of the babble below, someone shouted up at him.
”Wha.s.samatta? Can't ya' get it up?”
About half of the crowd laughed uproariously. There were follow-up jeers and whistles, especially from the front rows.
Fiben really had to get going. The Gubru probably didn't dare shoot him down outright, not in front of the crowd. But the avian had doubtless sent for reinforcements.
Still, Fiben couldn't pa.s.s up a good straight line. He stepped to the edge of the plateau and glanced back at Sylvie. He dropped his pants.
The jeers stopped abruptly, then the brief silence was broken by whistles and wild applause.
Cretins, Fiben thought. But he did grin and wave before reb.u.t.toning his fly.
By now the Gubru was flapping its arms and squawking, pus.h.i.+ng at the well-dressed neo-chimps who shared its box. They, in turn, leaned over to shout at the bartenders. There were faint noises that sounded like sirens in the distance.
Fiben grabbed Sylvie for one more kiss. She answered this time, swaying as he released her. He paused for one last gesture up at the alien, making the crowd roar with laughter. Then he turned and ran for the exit.
Inside his head a little voice was cursing him for an extroverted idiot. This wasn't what the General sent you to town to do, fool!
He swept through the beaded curtain but then stopped abruptly, face to face with a frowning neo-chimp in a cowled robe. Fiben recognized the small chim he had briefly seen twice this evening-first outside the door to the Ape's Grape ' and later standing just outside the Gubru's balcony box.
”You!” he accused.
”Yeah, me.” the panderer answered, ”Sorry I can't make the same offer as before. But I guess you've had other things on your mind tonight.”
Fiben frowned. ”Get out of my way.” He moved to push the other aside.
”Max!” the smaller chim called. A large form emerged from the shadows. It was the huge, scar-faced fellow he had met at the bar, just before the zipsuited probationers showed up, the one so interested in his blue card. There was a stun gun in his meaty grasp. He smiled apologetically. ”Sorry, chum.”
Fiben tensed, but it was already too late. A rolling tingle washed over his body, and all he managed to do was stumble and fall into the smaller chim's arms.
He encountered softness and an unexpected aroma. By Ifni, he thought in a stunned instant.
”Help me, Max,” the nearby voice said. ”We've got to move fast.”
Strong arms lifted him% and Fiben almost welcomed the collapse of consciousness after this last surprise-that the young-faced little ”pimp” was actually a chimmie,-a girl!
25 Galactics
The Suzerain of Cost and Caution left the Command Conclave in a state of agitation. Dealing with its fellow Suzerains was always physically exhausting. Three adversaries, dancing and circling, forming temporary alliances, separating and then reforming again, shaping an ever-changing synthesis. So it would have to be as long as the situation in the outer world was indeterminate, in a state of flux.
Eventually, of course, matters here on Garth would stabilize. One of the three leaders would prove to have been most correct, the best leader. Much rested upon that outcome, not least what color each of them would wear at the end, and what gender.
But there was no hurry to begin the Molt. Not yet. There would be many more conclaves before that day arrived, and much plumage to be shed.
Caution's first debate had been with the Suzerain of Propriety over using Talon Soldiers to subdue the Terragens Marines at the planetary s.p.a.ceport. In fact, that initial argument had been little more than a minor squabble, and when the Suzerain of Beam and Talon finally tipped the scales, intervening in favor of Propriety, Caution surrendered with good grace. The subsequent ground battle had been expensive in good soldiery. But other purposes were served by the exercise.
The Suzerain of Cost and Caution had known that the vote would go that way. Actually, it had had no intention of winning their first argument. It knew how much better it was to begin the race in last place, with the priest and the admiral in temporary contention. As a result both of them would tend to ignore the Civil Service for a while. Setting up a proper bureaucracy of occupation and administration would take a lot of effort, and the Suzerain of Cost and Caution did not want to waste energy on preliminary squabbles.
Such as this most recent one. As the chief bureaucrat stepped away from the meeting pavilion and was joined by its aides and escorts, the other two expedition leaders could still be heard crooning at each other in the background. The conclave was over, yet they were still arguing over what had already been decided.
For the time being the military would continue the gas attacks, seeking out any humans who might have escaped the initial dosings. The order had been issued minutes ago.
The high priest-the Suzerain of Propriety-was worried that too many human civilians had been injured or killed by the gas. A few neo-chimpanzees had also suffered. This wasn't catastrophic from a legal or religious point of view, but it would complicate matters eventually. Compensation might have to be paid, and it could weaken the Gubru case if the matter ever came before interstellar adjudication.
The Suzerain of Beam and Talon had argued that adjudication was very unlikely. After all, with the Five Galaxies in an uproar, who was going to care about a few mistakes made on a tiny backwater dirtspeck such as this?
”We care!” the Suzerain of Propriety had declared. And it made its feelings clear by continuing to refuse to step off its perch onto the soil of Garth. To do so prematurely would make the invasion official, it stated. And that would have to wait. The small but fierce s.p.a.ce battle, and the defiance of the s.p.a.ceport, had seen to that. By resisting effectively, however briefly, the legal leaseholders had made it necessary to put off making any formal seizures for a while. Any further mistakes could not only harm Gubru claims here but prove terribly expensive as well.
The priest had fluttered its allochroous plumage after making that point, smugly certain of victory. After all, expense was an issue that would certainly win it an ally. Propriety felt it would surely be joined by Cost and Caution here!
How foolish, to think that the Molt will be decided by early bickerings such as these, the Suzerain of Cost and Caution had thought, and proceeded to side with the soldiery.
”Let the ga.s.sings go on, continue and seek out all those still in hiding,” it had said to the priest's dismay and the admiral's crowing delight.
The s.p.a.ce battle and landings had proved extraordinarily costly. But not as expensive as it all would likely have been without the Coercion Program. The gas attacks had achieved the objective of concentrating nearly the entire human population onto a few islands where they might be simply controlled. It was easy to understand why the Suzerain of Beam and Talon wanted it that way. The bureaucrat, also, had experience dealing with wolflings. It, too, would feel much more comfortable with all of the dangerous humans gathered where it could see them.
Soon, of course, something would have to be done to curtail the high costs of this expedition. Already the Roost Masters had recalled elements of the fleet. Matters were critical on other fronts. It was vital to keep a tight perch-grip on expenses here. That was a matter for another conclave, however.
Today, the military suzerain was riding high. Tomorrow? Well, the alliances would s.h.i.+ft and s.h.i.+ft again, until at Jast a new policy emerged. And a queen.
The Suzerain of Cost and Caution turned and spoke to one of its Kwackoo aides.
”Have me driven, taken, conveyed to my headquarters.”
The official hover-barge lifted off and headed toward the buildings the Civil Service had appropriated, on headlands overlooking the nearby sea. As the vehicle hissed through the small Earthling town, guarded by a swarm of battle robots, it was watched by small crowds of the dark, hairy beasts the human wolflings prized as their eldest clients.
The Suzerain spoke again to its aide. ”When we arrive at the chancery, gather the staff together. We shall consider, contemplate, evaluate the new proposal the high priest sent over this morning concerning how to manage these creatures, these neo-chimpanzees.”
Some of the ideas suggested by the Propriety Department were daring to an extreme. There were brilliant features that made the bureaucrat feel proud of its future mate. What a Threesome we shall make.
There were other aspects, of course, that would have to be altered if the plan was not to lead to disaster. Only one of the Triumvirate had the sureness of grasp to see such a scheme to its final, victorious conclusion. That had been known in advance when the Roost Masters chose their Three.
The Suzerain of Cost and Caution let out a treble sigh and contemplated how it would have to manipulate the next leaders.h.i.+p conclave. Tomorrow, the next day, in a week. That forthcoming squabble was not far off. Each debate would grow more urgent, more important as both consensus and Molt approached.
The prospect was one to look upon with a mixture of trepidation, confidence, and utter pleasure.
26 Robert
The denizens of the deep caverns were unaccustomed to the bright lights and loud noises the newcomers had brought with them. Hordes of batlike creatures fled before the interlopers, leaving behind a flat, thick flooring of many centuries' acc.u.mulated dung. Under limestone walls glistening with slow seepage, alkaline rivulets were now crossed by makes.h.i.+ft plank bridges. In drier corners, under the pale illumination of glow bulbs, the surface beings moved nervously, as if loathe to disturb the stygian quiet.
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