| |
––––––––
SOME MIGHT SAY I got off easy, but I didn’t think so. I had to shell out bigtime to get my crew out of trouble. Argue, kick up a fuss, lean on my authority, and sometimes also use magic, bribes and promises. Well the Relict, of course, was also a big ace up my sleeve. Everyone was intrigued by Urgeh Pu-Pu Urgeh. They all wanted to see the reborn legend with their own eyes. Without the Relict, I can’t say if I’d have been able to pull it off. As it was I was walking a razors edge, getting away with just a fairly severe fine in the millions although I risked much worse. Taikhirhh-o-Tsykh was famed for its absolute security for guests and total lack of criminality. Fraud just so happened to be a criminal activity, and that was nearly our undoing. But my hard work was finally paying off. I had spent a long time working on my reputation, and now my reputation was working for me. If some unknown Free Captain had come to the law enforcement department to bail out his crew, he’d have been summarily dismissed. But no one could work up the courage to just chase off a prominent Leng, especially one accompanied by a living member the Relict race.
“Our Relict has become a Gerd!” my business partner Uline Tar told me with pride, as if she had been cranking up the Technician’s Fame herself. “Urgeh-Pu is in the casino now and he’s on a hot streak!”
“Yeah, the casino owner promised me today would be the Relict’s lucky day — to the tune of seven hundred fifty thousand. That’s his down payment for filming the ad. After that, the Technician will be delivered under guard back to our frigate. Uline, would you get in the pilot’s seat?” I asked the Geckho woman, “my head is just splitting after that long nerve-wracking day. Has our ‘distinguished’ threesome returned to the ship yet?”
“Yes, captain, all three are already back on the frigate. I have assigned each of them fifteen chores as punishment. I’d rather have them scouring the ship than robbing another casino!”
I mustered up a smile, then turned to the Chef-Assassin sitting behind me:
“Amati-Kuis, great job today! You held your own with dignity, just as a Leng’s companion should. You translated everything clearly and confidently. I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you!”
The last part I said out loud in Trillian. Yes, the seemingly endless negotiations had been enough to teach me around fifty words. It was quite the easy language to learn, in fact. Much easier than Miyelonian or Geckho. No complicated constructions or grammatical cases. Word order was unambiguous, so there was no need to worry that you might say something that meant the exact opposite of what you intended just because you put the words in the wrong order. My Astrolinguistics skill was up to one hundred and eight by the close of the never-ending day. My Psionic, Mental Fortitude and Mysticism skills had also been pulled up a decent amount.
I must admit, I don’t remember flying back to the space port — I dozed off in the shuttle. Uline even had to wake me up. After I heard out the senior Engineer and made certain the repairs were going full swing, I headed off to get some rest. I had barely enough strength to make it to the captain’s berth. I thought I’d get my sleep right in the game, but the clang of cutting metal and shouts of the repair workers were too loud even through the hull, so I opened the menu and selected “Exit Game.”
I habitually dismissed the suggestion to review my statistics for the session — all that experience and level data only interested me at the very beginning. With time, it stopped seeming quite so informative and significant. I already knew all of my Gnat’s stats by heart, so seeing everything summed up again was pointless. I lifted the virt pod lid and headed to my nearby deluxe apartment on the Kasti-Utsh III station.
The electronic key didn’t work right away for some reason. At first the denial code lit up a few times, then I saw a message glimmer back from the wall panel: “Occupant identity verified. Attention! The security system detected an unauthorized entry to your room and changed the lock code.”
Interesting. I wonder who dropped by? Was it Gerd Ayni? Or had Valeri come for a visit? Or maybe someone else wanted to meet with me? I did a quick walkthrough. Oh! This was new — in the middle room on the top of a big white table I found a message written by hand in Miyelonian with dark blue marker:
“I scolded the special services for their indiscretion and ordered all surveillance gear removed from your apartment. Gerd Lekku checked himself — you’re all clear now. Pretty cute place you’ve got here. Maybe I’ll drop by some time, pay you a visit. Be ready to make that cocktail, the one I love.
Keetsie.”
There it is! Not everyone can boast that their residence has been blessed with a visit by one of the most famed rulers of the Miyelonian race. But I didn’t know whether to be happy about that or not. After all, I knew perfectly well what the Great One wanted — the mobile Relict laboratory. However, I was not yet ready to part with it, and I was frankly afraid of how Kung Keetsie-Myau might react if I turned her down.
* * *
THIS TIME I WAS ABLE to get a good night’s rest. Either there was some fancy schmancy “restful sleep” gadget in my bedroom, or ten hours was just enough, but I was actually surprised to find myself fully rested when I woke up. I took a contrast shower, just about scalding my skin off in the process when I tested out the shower setting, “electric pulse fur cleanse.” I went over to the data terminal and ordered a light breakfast delivered to my apartment, then sat back in an armchair in a bath robe with a can of hot invigorating beverage and put on the local news on the big screen.
There were two main stories: the coming of a living Relict to Trillian space with Free Captain Leng Gnat, and the military decorations given to Miyelonian troopers that had distinguished themselves in the recent military campaign against the Meleyephatian Horde. In the second, I saw Kung Keetsie-Myau constantly flickering past on screen. The commander of the Fourth Fleet personally gave the awards to the most valiant captains and commandos before herself receiving the highest decoration of the Union of Miyelonian Prides from the paws of a different ruler. It consisted of a platinum cocarde in the shape of a tailed comet mounted on a piece of headwear. She got it in honor of her being the most successful fleet commander of the Miyelonian race. Meanwhile, Kung Keetsie was shown so much in every story on every channel that I started to get the sneaking suspicion that Miyelonian society was being gradually prepared for my acquaintance to soon become their sole ruler, having overshadowed all others with her popularity and influence.
At a certain point, my attention was drawn by a suspicious noise from the hallway. Someone was stamping their feet outside the front door, seemingly even screeching their claws, then jerked at the handle. Was this the food I ordered? I brought up the feed from the door camera on my screen. Well, well! I didn’t even recognize her at first — it was just too out of the ordinary to see Valeri not in an antiradiation space jumpsuit. Instead she was decked out in some fancy long golden dress with a glimmering ornamental collar around the neck.
I jumped up out of my chair, opened the front door with the remote and hurriedly started grooming myself, using my fingers to smooth out my disheveled and still wet hair, fluff up my robe and quickly kick the empty self-heating can under the couch.
“Little Sister, come on now, what’s this?!” I pushed the huge Shadow Panther away as she tried to fall on me with affection, nearly knocking me off my feet. “Come in, Valeri. Just give me a minute to get myself into something more presentable.”
This was the first time I had seen Valeri outside the game and, I must admit, I was struck by the extraterrestrial girl’s beauty, both literally and figuratively unearthly. The Tailaxian’s huge eyes, skillfully underlined with cosmetics, looked three times bigger than normal human ones. Unusual, even somewhat shocking, but still so deliciously fetching! A light tattoo of four wavy lines on the swarthy skin of her left cheek (the symbol of the Great Hunter if memory served) did nothing to detract from this native of a different planet’s uncanny beauty. In fact, more the opposite. Instead of wearing her black hair in a rubber-banded ponytail or waist-length braid as usual, Valeri-Urla had put it up in an intricate style, distantly reminiscent of the one Princess Minn-O wore.
“Well Minn-O taught me to do it like this,” Valeri said with a smile, demonstrating her ability to read my thoughts and relishing my abashment with clear satisfaction. “By the way, thank you for the compliments! They’re very nice to hear!”
While I changed clothes in a different room, she looked over the big guest room, walked up to the full-wall panorama window and took in the view of the local star and open space.
“Nice place you got here...” she said, then gave a happy chuckle. “And looks like, I’m not the first to notice.” Seemingly, Valeri had read the marker scrawling on my table. “Keetsie... Keetsie... Is she the Miyelonian that’s all over the news?”
“The very same!” I confirmed, already changed into a stylish suit and back out in the main room. “Kung Keetsie-Myau, commander of the Union of Miyelonian Prides’ Fourth Fleet. I just so happen to be on friendly terms with that ruler of the Miyelonian race.”
“I see just how ‘friendly.’ You apparently even know the Great One’s favorite cocktail. By the way, I wouldn’t mind a drink myself. But that isn’t what I came here for. Gnat, I am deeply indebted to you for getting me out of prison and removing all the implants and implements of control from my body. And so, I challenge you to a mental duel!”
I smiled, thinking it was a joke or that my guest had misspoken. But no, the alien beauty wasn’t smiling at all and in fact looked supremely serious. Just to be safe, I asked:
“Wait, wait. There must be something I’m not getting. You’re grateful to me, and so you want to challenge me to a duel? Have I got that right?”
Valeri-Urla nodded, not taking her enormous hazel eyes off me, then finally tried to explain:
“Gnat, you have done a great deal for me. You strung along the Prelates of Tailax and leaders of the Horde. You took a risk for me. For my sake, you even did something that was once considered impossible — you devised a way of removing Tailax’s implants. A feat such as that surely merits the most generous of rewards. I spent a long time trying to think of a way to repay you and came to the conclusion that the most precious thing I have to offer is myself. But you see, Gnat, I was born and raised on a wild world, the quarantine planet Zeta Reaper III. And it has its own particular traditions and laws. On top of that, I am the Urla. The Great Huntress, the only one of my entire planet. I serve as an example for the hunters of all villages and so I am obliged to uphold ancient tradition like no one else. Only a man who can prove himself worthy of the Great Huntress may have her. So, prove yourself worthy! Defeat me in a mental duel! And note that I am not challenging you to an archery or dart throwing competition — those are the skills hunters are most proficient in on my primeval planet. Instead, outdo me in the domain you are proficient in!”
That cleared things up somewhat. Valeri-Urla hard yet again decided to test me. Just like our first psychic duel back on my old Tolili-Ukh X frigate. Like when she persuaded me to come bathe in the ocean teeming with Naiads. However, the fact she hadn’t even asked if I wanted to be with her came as no surprise. But what if I didn’t?
Valeri-Urla chuckled, again reading my thoughts with ease:
“Well, isn’t that exactly what you want? How long have we known each other, Gnat? About two months. How many times have we conversed mentally? And how often have I lent you support psionically? I’ve lost count. Your mental defenses have long since let me through unimpeded because you have very warm feelings toward me and consider me a close friend. So, I have read your intimate thoughts about me many times and know what I’m talking about. But if I am mistaken after all, all you have to do is tell me. I’ll leave your room at once and never pester you with this ever again, either in the game or the real world!”
I took too long to answer, she turned with dignity and silently headed for the exit. I had to call out to her, and even stopped the already opening doors with telekinesis:
“Wait a minute, Valeri! I admit, you are not wrong. I really have liked you ever since the first day we met and have dreamt of a woman as fantastic as you. And I agree, tradition must be upheld. And so, if a mental duel is the only way I can have you, let us have a duel!”
Before I’d even finished talking, Valeri-Urla attacked with no courtesies or warnings of any kind. I doubled over, my body stopped obeying me, my eyes went dark. Woah... I had no way of resisting such a harsh concentrated psychic attack. If at that moment she ordered me to run headfirst into the wall, I would have had no choice but to obey her command. But my mystified and helpless state only lasted for five seconds. Then a sense of spite started bubbling up within me. How could this be??? I was a powerful psionic, not to mention a Leng with heightened Intelligence and magical abilities. How could I not deal with some huntress from a primitive planet?!
“Because I’m not any old huntress, I’m the very best,” Valeri’s voice rang out in my head. “Gnat, you have no idea what I’ve been through. I have survived in places where all others perished. I spent my first night in the deadly Forest of the quarantine planet Zeta Reaper III at age thirteen. And that is generally a test used to confirm the mastery of senior hunters. I have collected twelve hunting trophies from the Horrors of the Forest, even though every encounter with one is thought to be lethal even for the most seasoned warriors and hunters. And I was only able to accomplish so much because I was aided by the psionic gift, which I have been honing and making more powerful ever since I was a child.”
Nevertheless, while Valeri told me about her eminent psionic abilities, I was gradually taking back control over my body. It’s hard to explain what our struggle consisted of to an outside observer — to me it felt like I was shaking off an invisible sticky film the Tailaxian had wrapped around my entire body, pushing it away. Finally, I broke free and stood up straight. My vision also came back.
Valeri was standing five paces away — proud, independent, dangerous. She was ablaze with the power overwhelming her and looked deliciously gorgeous! Behind her then stood a perplexed young Miyelonian food delivery boy, frozen stock still and holding a tray in his paws. He tried to say something, but I commanded the Miyelonian to freeze and not distract us from the crucial showdown.
So then, I had repelled my dangerous guest’s first attack. What next? Time for me to attack! I could of course have applied one of my new abilities — disorient the Tailaxian or use telekinesis to throw her off balance, breaking her concentration, then take control of her mind. But I was trying to fight fair and follow all the rules of a mental duel: only psionics, nothing else!
So, for the next few minutes the Tailaxian and I competed in brute mental force. It was like I was gradually pushing a heavy, invisible yet fully palpable wall away from myself and toward the Tailaxian. At first I was barely making progress, just millimeter by millimeter. But then the wall started to give more and more easily. Obviously, my rival’s strength was gradually failing her. Either that or I had rallied from her surprise attack and was finally back to full strength. In terms of raw magical power, Valeri-Urla was inferior to me, and seemingly she understood that herself. I was pushing my rival back further and further, and yet my victory was still pretty dang far away!
When suddenly...
“Little Sister! I need your help!” I broke through some invisible barrier and was finally able to reach Valeri’s thoughts.
“What do you need, big sister?” hearing the panther’s thoughts came as a complete surprise.
“Knock Gnat off his feet. Or just jump up on him and start licking him. I really need you to distract him. Otherwise I won’t last long and will lose this key duel.”
What now?! My rival was about to do something underhanded! I got ready to use an energy blast to fling the big cat away from me. However, the Shadow Panther just kept lazily licking herself and lying on the plush couch:
“No, Val. Gnat stinks of power, and I don’t want to get involved. Plus, I like him more than other people. So, don’t bring me between you and handle your male on your own. And let me also remind you that you told me yourself that you wanted to lose!”
“Not lose but make certain that Gnat is powerful and worthy! Hey!”
The look of unhidden horror on my rival’s face led me to guess that Valeri could now tell I was reading her thoughts. Her resistance sharply diminished, the invisible wall between us started creeping noticeably quicker toward the Tailaxian. Thirty more seconds and victory would be mine!
However, my victory was not in the cards. Gerd Ayni appeared in the doorway wearing a bright festive outfit — a violet vest with shorts and sandals of the same color. The Miyelonian stopped short and cast a gaze over the pictorial composition: the Miyelonian delivery boy frozen still, two people next to him with their arms splayed and staring one another down wrathfully while the air between them sparked with tension.
“Looks like I came at a bad time... Tell me, what are you two fighting about?”
I looked inquisitively at my rival and the Tailaxian gave a barely perceptible nod in return. Finally, I lowered my thrust forward hands, which were noticeably tired after pushing the invisible wall. My rival unclenched her tension-whitened fists and I saw a green stone talisman Valeri-Urla usually wore on a cord around her neck in her hands. It must have been an amulet conferring confidence and strength.
“Everything’s fine. We were just practicing,” the Tailaxian explained our strange behavior. Meanwhile Valeri’s voice rang out in my head: “Looks like our psychic duel ended in a draw!”
I didn’t argue, magnanimously agreeing even though I was just about to win. I let the young Miyelonian go as well, paying him a generous tip for the trouble. Just after the courier left, Ayni opened up the box he was carrying and winced in disgust:
“Which one of you was going to poison yourself with fast food? Throw this into the trash incinerator at once! One of the best restaurants on Kasti-Utsh III is right by here. Its menu has a rich variety of options for members of any spacefaring race. But most importantly — they serve authentic Miyelonian cuisine! Let’s go, I’ll take you on a culinary tour.”
Both Valeri and I agreed eagerly. The Tailaxian and I came to an unspoken agreement not to discuss what just took place between us. Or why we’d been dueling.
