Part 44 (1/2)
”Yeah.” He nodded. ”Sorry about earlier. I guess I just had a bad case of cabin fever. I'll knuckle down and get back to work now.”
”No need. We're done for today.” She patted the rug. ”Why don't you come over and give me back a scratch? Then I'll reciprocate.”
Fiben did not have to be asked twice. One thing he had to grant Gailet, she was a truly fine grooming partner. He shrugged out of his parka and came over to sit behind her. She laid one hand idly on his knee while he began combing his fingers through her hair. Soon her eyes were closed. Her. breath came in soft, low sighs.
It was frustrating trying to define the relations.h.i.+p he had with Gailet. They were not lovers. For most chimmies, that was only possible or practical during certain parts of their bodily cycles, anyway. And Gailet had made it clear that hers was a very private sense of s.e.xuality, more like a human female's. Fiben understood this and had put no pressure on her.
Trouble was, he just could not get her out of his mind.
He reminded himself not to confuse his s.e.x drive with other things. I may be obsessed with her, but I'm not crazy. Lovemaking with this chimmie would require a level of bonding he wasn't sure he was ready to think about.
As he worked his way through the fur at the back of Gailet's neck he encountered knots of tension. ”Say, you're really tight! What's the matter? Have th' d.a.m.n Gu-”
The fingers on his knee dug in sharply, though Gailet did not move otherwise. Fiben thought quickly and changed what he had been about to say.
”... g-guards been making moves on you? Have those Probationers been getting fresh?”
”And what if they had? What would you do about it, march out there and defend my honor?” She laughed. But he felt her relief, expressed through her body. Something was going on. He had never seen Gailet so worked up.
As he scratched her back, his fingers encountered an object embedded in the fur . . . something round, thin, disk-like. ”I think there's a knot of hair, back there,” Gailet said quickly as he started to pull it free. ”Be careful, Fiben.”
”Uh, okay.” He bent over. ”Um, you're right. It's a knot all right. I'm gonna have to work this out with my teeth.”
Her back trembled and her aroma was sweaty as he brought his face close. Just as I thought. A message capsule! As his eye came even with it, a tiny holographic projector came alight. The beam entered his iris and automatically adjusted to focus on his retina.
There were just a few, simple lines of text. What he read, however, made him blink in surprise. It was a doc.u.ment written in his own name!
STATEMENT OF WHY I AM DOING THIS: RECORDED BY LUTENANT FIBEN BOLGER, NEOCHIMPANZEE.
ALTHOUGH IVE BEEN WELL TREATED SINCE BEING CAPTURED, AND I APPRECIATE THE KIND ATTENTION IVE BEEN GIVEN, IM AFRAID I JUST HAVE GOT TO GET OUT OF HERE. THERES STILL A WAR GOING ON, AND ITS MY DUTY TO ESCAPE IF I CAN.
IN TRYING TO ESCAPE I DONT MEAN ANY INSULT TO THE SUZERAIN OF PROPRIETY OR THE CLAN OF THE GUBRU. ITS JUST THAT IM LOYAL TO THE HUMANS AND MY CLAN. THAT MAKES THIS SOMETHING I JUST HAVE TO DO.
Below the text was an area that pulsed redly, as if expectantly. Fiben blinked. He pulled back a little and the message disappeared.
Of course he knew about records such as this. All he had to do was look at the red spot, and earnestly will it, and the disk would record his a.s.sent, along with his retinal pattern.
The doc.u.ment would be at least as binding as a signature on some piece of paper.
Escape! The very thought made Fiben's heart race faster. But . . . how?
He had not failed to notice that the record mentioned only his name. If Gailet had intended to go with him, she surely would have included herself.
And even if it were possible, would it be the right thing to do? He had apparently been chosen by the Suzerain of Propriety to be Gailet's partner in an enterprise as complex and potentially hazardous as any in the history of their race. How could Fiben desert her at a time like this?
He brought his eye close and read the message again, thinking furiously.
When did Gailet ever have a chance to write this? Was she in contact with elements of the Resistance somehow?
Also, something about the text struck Fiben as wrong. It wasn't just the misspellings and less than erudite grammar. Just at a glance, Fiben could think of several improvements the statement badly needed if it was to do any good at all.
Of course. Someone other than Gailet must have written it, and she was just pa.s.sing it on for him to read!
”Sylvie came in a while ago,” Gailet said. ”We groomed each other. She had trouble with the same knot.”
Sylvie! So. No wonder the chimmie had been so nervous, earlier.
Fiben considered carefully, trying to rea.s.semble a puzzle. Sylvie must have planted the disk on Gailet. . . . No, she must have worn it herself, let Gailet read it, and then transferred it to Gailet's fur with her permission.
”Maybe I was wrong about Sylvie,” Gailet continued. ”She strikes me as a rather nice chimmie after all. I'm not sure how dependable she is, but my guess is she's pretty solid, down deep.”
What was Gailet telling him now? That this wasn't her idea at all but Sylvie's? Gailet would have had to consider the other chimmie's proposition without being able to speak aloud at all. She would not even be able to give Fiben any advice. Not out in the open, at least.
”It's a tough knot,” Fiben said, leaving a patch of wet fur as he sat back. ”I'll try again in a minute.”
”That's all right. Take your time. I'm sure you'll work it out.”
He combed through another area, near her right shoulder, but Fiben's thoughts were far from there.
Come on, think, he chided himself.
But it was all so d.a.m.n murky! The Suzerain's fancy test equipment must have been on the fritz when the technicians selected him as an ”advanced” neo-chimp. At that moment Fiben felt far from being anyone's sterling example of a sapient being.
Okay, he concentrated. So I'm being offered a chance to escape. First off, is it valid?
For one thing, Sylvie could be a plant. Her offer could be a trap.
But that didn't make any sense! For one thing, Fiben had never given his parole, never agreed not to run away, if he ever got the chance. In fact, as a Terragens officer it was his duty to do so, especially if he could do it politely, satisfying Galactic punctilio.
Actually, accepting the ofFer might be considered the correct answer. If this'were yet another Gubru test, his proper response might be to say yes. It could satisfy the inscrutable ETs . . . show them he understood a client's duties.
Then again, the offer might be for real. Fiben remembered Sylvie's agitation earlier. She had been very friendly toward him the last few weeks, in ways a chen would hate to think were just playacting.
Okay. But if it's for real, how does she plan to pull it off?
There was only one way to find out, and that was by asking her. Certainly, any escape would have to involve fooling the surveillance system. Perhaps there was a way to do that, but Sylvie would only be able to use it one time. Once he and Gailet started asking open questions aloud, the decision would already have to be made.
So what I'm really deciding is whether to tell Sylvie, ”Okay, let's hear your plan.” If I say yes, I had better be ready to go.
Veah, but go where?
There was only one answer, of course. Up to the mountains, to report to Athaclena and Robert all he had learned. That meant getting out of Port Helenia, as well as this jail.
”The Soro tell a story,” Gailet said in a low voice. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed almost relaxed as he rubbed her shoulder. ”They tell about a certain Paha warrior, back when the Paha were still being uplifted. Would you like to hear it?”
Puzzled Fiben nodded. ”Sure, tell me about it, Gailet.”
”Okay. Well, you've surely heard of the Paha. They're tough fighters, loyal to their Soro patrons. Back then they were coming along nicely in the tests given by the Uplift Inst.i.tute. So one day the Soro decide to give 'em some responsibility. Sent a group of them to guard an emissary to the Seven Spin Clans.”
”Seven Spin . . . Uh, they're a machine civilization, right?”