Candidate (Selected Book 4) (47 page)

"You're going to do what, Mating Candidate Hayes?"

"I'm going to challenge you on the arena floor."

"I heard that," said Clover. "Do not make me send Dark Skies down there, Andromeda, or I'll have her drug you to the gills and take you right on the sand with everyone watching."

"She's not an exhibitionist," I said. "I'm safe."

"Fine. I'll have her drug you to the gills then beg the males to take you, one after the other. I bet some of them would be happy to oblige."

"She wouldn't do such a vile act," I said. "I'm still safe."

Clover snorted. "Fine. I'll have her drug both of you to the gills and then give you to Jasmine."

I grew quiet then looked over at Jasmine. "She'd probably do that," I admitted. "But I think I'd survive."

"I'm not sure I would," Jasmine said. "Sex with a human? Ug."

"Said the Catseye who practically flayed me alive because I taste so good," I said.

* * * *

The conversation with the women went in a similar fashion to the first one. Five either agreed to accept a willing arrangement or agreed to an offer from one of the aliens who came down to talk to her. That left seven. Six wanted to fight. Julie walked to her four aliens and then looked at them. I was glued to my cameras.

"Dark Skies," said Clover, "Run the other cameras for this. You know Andie doesn't have any spare attention."

"Got it," said Dark Skies.

"Thank you," I whispered.

Julie came to a stop. She looked at all of them. I could read the indecision. "Jasmine Brighteyes told me any of the four of you would accept my ribbon."

The men conferred with a look, and then one of them said, "We would."

"All of you?" Julie asked. So they each confirmed. "Humans don't decide this fast," she said. "I don't really know what to do." She paused. "Andromeda suggested I ask for a hug. Do any of you want to hug me?"

"I do," said one immediately, the one who liked Cajun food. Two of the others agreed right away as well. The fourth one hesitated, and Julie said, "I see."

"No, I don't think you do. My species does not engage in such outward displays of affection in public. We are more private. In private, I would want hugs." He gestured. "This is far from private."

"Well, I'm going to take the three that have offered, then I have more questions." She stepped to the first, and then she took her hugs, one after the other. They looked warm and tight.

And bachelor number two clasped her ass. Julie sort of squeaked, but she didn't stop him. When I caught her expression, she looked flushed. But that could have been from the heat.

She asked the questions I'd recommended. She asked about food and adventure, and a night at home. And I could tell the answers weren't helping. I could also tell at least two, maybe three had at least a chance of being a fit.

I turned to Jasmine. "She needs help."

"She's fine," Jasmine replied. "She is making a choice between four good choices. As long as she gives her ribbon to one of them, it is a good choice."

Finally Jasmine ordered the women to the center. Julie hadn't yet decided. I opened my mouth to complain and found fingers over my mouth.

So I kissed them.

Jasmine caressed my cheek and then turned her attention back to the arena.

I watched Julie. She surveyed all four of them. Then she walked to bachelor number four. "I like you, but I want public affection. I have never gotten it, not even from my parents."

"I am sorry," he said. "I understand."

She walked to bachelor number two. "I like to cook, and we cannot eat the same foods. There is very little feminine about me, but I am proud of my cooking, and I want someone who will let me feed him the things I can make."

"Food is an important ritual for humans," he said. He gestured. "These two are both friends, so if you pick one of them, then you and I will still be friends. Would you like that?"

"I would like that very much," she said. "And I want to talk more to you about..." and then she started spouting mathematics stuff I couldn't begin to explain.

"I would like that," he said.

Julie moved to bachelors two and three. "Do you both really want me?" she asked.

"We do."

She moved to bachelor number three, the one who liked Cajun food. "You mentioned one of my favorite foods, and I liked what you said about children." She looked at bachelor number two. "I liked the things you said, too." But she turned back to bachelor three and held out the ribbon. He took it, and then he pulled her into his arms.

That first day was a really, really long day. But finally it ended, the four waves of women all finished.

Not a one got away, but I wasn't surprised. A few fought well, though, and there had been appreciation from the audience.

Jasmine and I sat in the stands as the people dispersed. I had cameras to stow away, and I think she was working even while we sat there. Clover thanked everyone and terminated the conference we'd held most of the day. I got the cameras stowed and looked at Jasmine.

She was watching me.

"Do we have to work tonight?" I asked.

She nodded. "We have two days and then we begin the first challenges. We need to finalize initial challenge grids, and we need to run the challenge for the Japanese woman and her two Greygreen."

"Is that what they're called?"

"Yes. That is tomorrow. It will be a three-way challenge."

"What if Haruki wins? Does she go free?"

"Do I look like the sort of alien to let a mating candidate go free?" Jasmine asked.

"Why yes, yes you do."

"Appearances are deceiving then," she said. "Besides, I am not so sure Haruki wishes to be free, and I am convinced several of the others do not."

I didn't have a response to that.

"If she wins, she will acquire points for future challenges, nothing more. One of the males will lose, and that is the competition that matters." She smiled. "But I might not tell them that."

I laughed. "Keep them guessing."

"So, the plan?"

"I bet you want a swim."

"I wouldn't mind a swim. Do I owe you one more without a suit?"

"No. Everyone has seen enough. But if I ask in the future, will you do it again?"

"We'll see."

"I'll take you to your cell. You can get your swim then change and join us for dinner."

"Attire?"

"Whatever you find waiting for you when you return to your cell." I nodded, too emotionally drained to spar with her.

"Tomorrow we address those who willingly accepted a match who are not already matched. That is often handled in a single day, but we have more than average this time. And we have the match for Haruki. It will be a long day, and then you have dinner with Sugilite."

"Yes."

And so she collected my chain, fastened my wrists together, and led me to my cell. I could tell she loved pulling me that way, and once she pulled me into the cell, I called her on it.

"Guilty," she said.

"Then why don't you do it more?"

She snuffled. "Are you inviting me to? I think you like it as much as I do."

"I'm only curious."

"Tell me the truth. Do you like it? The truth, Andromeda."

"We don't have the sort of relationship your question implies, Jasmine," I said.

"So you think it's sexy to be my prisoner."

I considered carefully. "Unless you are adding your hat into the ring, we are not discussing what I find sexy."

"And if I were?"

"Then get yourself on my dance card and we can talk about sexy things all you want, assuming you answer as well as you ask."

She didn't say anything, but she stepped forward and released my wrists. She stepped away. "Your suits are waiting for you. I have not cleared the pool, so you can expected a varied audience."

"That's no different than swimming anywhere," I said. "I should message a few people I'll be there."

"It landed on your schedule the moment you said you were going, and the people who care are automatically notified when something interesting happens to your schedule."

I laughed. "How many is that?"

"About two dozen, although you don't know most of them. You have groupies."

"Swell. I always wanted groupies. As long as there aren't any stalkers."

"There might be one or two, but you let me worry about those."

I nodded. "You make me feel safe."

"In spite of letting you do that yesterday. For the record, that is not happening again. Am I clear?"

"Thank you for caring, Jasmine."

"You're welcome, Andie. I'll see you in a while."

"You could join me."

"You've had me all day. I have my own groupies to attend to."

I laughed.

* * * *

The pool wasn't full, but it wasn't empty, either. None of my friends were there, but they would appear over the next fifteen minutes.

I accepted a few well wishes then evaluated the pool. Folks were using it willy-nilly, so I called out, "Could I get the end lane for laps?" That require a few people translating, but they were all very solicitous and cleared the lane, a few with a flourish. "Thank you," I said. "I'm sorry to be a pain."

I didn't wait for a response but dived in and began swimming.

I acquired company as I swam, a few other people swimming laps near me. I switched to swimming the surface from the deep to the shallow end but the bottom from shallow to deep.

Deep Skies arrived, waiting for me at the shallow end. When I saw her, I stopped and exchanged hugs. "Swim with me?"

"I can't keep up, but I'd love to."

Cherish was next, so that was another hug and more company. Then Soft Rain was there with Thick Fog.

We swam for a while, then I gathered all of them at the shallow end, exchanging a few hugs.

"I'd stay longer, but work never ends."

* * * *

In my cell, I found the blouse, skirt, and sandals from earlier. I'd worn them all of an hour, and they were still fresh. I was a little surprised Jasmine wasn't making me wear skimpies, although the blouse was backless. Ten minutes later, I was outside her door, and seconds later she stood in the doorway.

She had changed and freshened up. She was dressed in a black skirt and red blouse and looked quite nice. Her tentacles were free, arrayed about her, and when I entered, I stepped into the hug.

"Thank you," I whispered when she let me speak again. "I needed that."

"I did, too," she said. "Come in. The others will be along soon." She kept tentacles across my back and led me into the living room. We sat on the sofa, but she had me sit in the center, adjusting her tentacles so she could continue to touch me.

"Jasmine, what's up with this?"

"Do you mind?"

"No, I just want to understand."

"I have few friends, Andie. I've told you this. That's all, but Clover is going to do it to. If it's a problem, just tell me honestly."

"It's not a problem. Really, it isn't. I like it, actually. I just don't want to misunderstand."

"Just touch."

"Okay."

"You have about two minutes to tell me what you want us to change moving forward. Small changes, Andie. And don't expect to get them all."

"I want to meet with all the women before the arena event. I told you that. I need two days. I can do them four at a time, but I probably need an hour, and I need someone -- and I prefer you -- to be readily handy if I get to the point of negotiating with someone. I'll get you more volunteers, and the rest won't be as frightened."

"I think we can do that."

"I want you to let them have sandals on the arena."

She paused. "Andie, you're going to get angry about this, but you need to listen."

I sighed. "I'll try."

"I use privileges to ensure good behavior," she said. "You know this. I would much rather reward good behavior than have to punish bad behavior. The women who wore visors today got them because they gave good interviews yesterday. That was the price."

"The sand is hot, Jasmine."

"I know. Just let me finish. I also let the challengers offer gifts. I've taken visors away and had challengers give them back. After a few days of being half naked, the gift of a bathrobe makes some of them cry. It nearly made you cry." I kept my mouth shut, not saying a word. "We make a big deal of it. The challengers give out a pair of boots for the first challenge, if it's somewhere she'll really appreciate it. Some of the women are ungracious about it, but most are so grateful. This is horrible for them, Andie, but a gift of boots can bring them to tears as they ask for a hug or some other form of affection."

"This is why some of the women seemed to like their challengers."

"Yes. It's things like this. The lower they feel, the higher it seems when given something simple. I can't send a woman into a jungle challenge barefoot. But when her challenger gives her those boots, she is so grateful, Andie."

"You're a manipulative bitch."

"Yes, I am," she agreed. "But what would you have me do? I manipulate them into liking their challengers. Most of the challengers are good people, Andie. Most of them are kind and gentle. Most of them are brilliant, absolutely brilliant. But most of them don't understand human psychology, and without a helping head start, this entire program would fail miserably. Do you blame me for taking steps to make people happy in the end?"

I turned away from her, pointing my back at her, pulling my feet up onto the couch with me. But when she started to withdraw her tentacles, I grabbed them for a moment, letting her know she didn't need to. So instead, she massaged my back gently, which felt nice.

I let her soothe me.

"All right," I said after a while. "You made them wait outside, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything we can do so the women who would give a ribbon have more time to decide?"

"Do you have suggestions?"

"Do you have a large meeting room? Or several rooms the size of the ballroom?"

"We can make some sort of arrangement."

"Can we do a meet and greet? It would be by invitation, the women who we decide need it. They don't have to come, but they could."

"I'm going to let everyone in. I want to talk about it in front of them. Turn around and sit like you don't hate me."

I rotated back, and she adjusted. Then a moment later, I heard voices. Dark Skies, Clover, Bay, and Cedar stepped into the room. Clover saw where Jasmine and I were and actually leapt over the sofa to get to the third spot before Dark Skies, taking the long route, could make it. She had tentacles on me a moment later.

"Seriously?" I asked. "I don't mind, but seriously?"

"You
taste
good," she said. "And I miss Peony, Andie. Please."

"I don't mind, I just am not used to this kind of attention. It's nice, just very confusing."

The others settled. "I have a question. Why is Dark Skies here but none of the other technicians."

"I'm special," said the Octal.

"I know you are."

"The other technicians are just technicians," said Jasmine. "They are good at their jobs, but they are human."

"I'm human."

"Yeah, well, you have skills they don't. They won't become event coordinators. Dark Skies may never become a senior event coordinator, but she can substitute. And she's of a primary species of the Federation of Allied Planets."

"And we're just humans."

"Yes. You're just humans."

"Very tasty humans," Clover asked. "That's why you're here."

I laughed. "That's what I thought."

Jasmine brought everyone up to date on the conversation. Then she asked, "What do people think about her request for a meet and greet?"

"And none of this sticking them in the wall and leaving them there thing," I said. "That's just mean."

"I'm not taking that off the table," Jasmine said. "It serves a purpose."

"It sucked and left me pissed off."

"That's because I made a mistake. Would you please forgive me?"

I turned to look at her. "You made a mistake?"

"I made a mistake. It happens every few months."

The rest of the room snickered at that.

"All right," I said.

"We've wanted to find ways to give the women more choice," Clover said. "That's been your agenda since the day you arrived, Jasmine. Of the species that need challenges, only four need the arena."

"But we need enough competition for them that they fill their psychological needs," Cedar added. "And there are some that don't need the competition against others, but they need a fierce physical competition to get their attachment process started, and the human females aren't able to provide it."

"So you don't want everyone handing out ribbons," I said. "But how much competition do you need? They don't need to face 63 other challengers, do they?"

"No, but they also need some choice of their own," Cedar said. "It is not just about the humans having choice. Both sides need to have choices."

"You have 64 at a time, or so," I said. "Of that, you get 5 to 10 that willingly accept, and then 2 or 3 more in each batch once they see the odds."

"1 to 3," said Dark Skies. "6 on average across the 64. And never 10 originally. 10 point 5 total on average, and sometimes a lot fewer."