Candidate (Selected Book 4) (49 page)

"Very good. Doctor?"

"You know," said Julie. "I'm a doctor, too."

"Oh no," I said. "I'm so sorry. You're right."

She smiled. "Don't worry about it. I hate being called doctor, unless I'm trying to be pretentious."

"And I prefer being called Ben," said the Luxan.

"Well then, Ben, Julie spent a point to give you smaller targets to hit."

"Then I shall spend a point to give me larger targets to hide behind."

"Very good," I said. "We're settled. Except, Julie, Ben has a present for you."

"Really?"

"Yes," he said. "A few, actually."

Jasmine had them ready, sitting on the floor under the table. She reached underneath the table and then set them in front of Ben. They were all wrapped.

"I won't be able to open them."

I looked at Jasmine. She nodded. "Julie, you're not going to do anything foolish if I let you out of the chair, are you?"

"Of course not."

"Excellent," I said. It took a moment to release her. "We don't do that with just anyone," I added. "But I know I can trust you."

"Of course," she said.

"Julie," Ben said. "As your future mate, it is my responsibility to protect you. This is just a small symbol of a promise for the future." And he slid one of the boxes across the table to her. I already knew it was the boots.

But she was a kid at Christmas, and when she saw the boots, her eyes grew wide. She looked across the table at Ben. "Thank you, Ben. They're perfect."

"Try them on," he said. "I think they'll surprise you."

She had to move the ankle shackles, but she pulled up on, then the other, and they automatically sealed to her feet.

"They're alien technology!"

"They are," I said. "I've worn a similar pair a few times now, and they're amazing. Now, here's the downside. You're still stuck in pajamas when you're not in a challenge. You don't get to wear those except for challenges. But they'll protect your feet from the hot sand, and if you do one of the other big arenas, you'll be especially happy to have them."

"Thank you, Ben," she said again. "I love them."

The hat was next. It was a simple hat, although quite clever at the same time. Ben explained the sun was hot, and she would need its protection. I thought she was going to cry.

Then he gave her a tube of sunblock. She laughed and thanked him.

The last gift was a necklace. "This is from my home world," he said. "It has traveled very, very far, and I want you to have it."

At that, she did cry then stood, Ben with her. The Luxan moved around the table, and the two hugged tightly. Jasmine caught my eye, and I knew what she would say if we were alone.

"Julie," said Jasmine. "You have also earned another privilege. You already have the visor, but we have one more. If Ben wishes, he may visit you in your cell. These are not overnight visits, but we'll dim the glass to give you privacy. If you have religious or moral objections to being alone with a man in this fashion, we can make arrangements to meet in a more chaperoned fashion."

"I don't have any objections," she said. "If he wants to visit me, I hope he will."

"I will, Julie," he said. "The visor is nice, but in person is nicer."

Five minutes later, Julie's guards were leading her away. Ben turned to me. "I don't know how to thank you, Andromeda. She's amazing. I wish she could see that. All she sees is that she doesn't fit human standards for body shape. But she's amazing."

"She knows she's smart," I said. "And she's proud of it. That gives her a basis. I want to ask you something. Are you willing to lose the second challenge."

"It's not in my nature to let her win."

"Perhaps not. But the second challenge is mental in nature, and I thought you might like to know that I slipped a cook off challenge into several areas of your grid."

He laughed loudly.

"I can remove them, or some of them, if you would rather I do so."

"No. You leave those right there."

"Ben, you're a good man."

I hoped he wasn't acting.

I did get a brief nap, and then a package arrived for me via the nook. I wasn't expecting anything, so I was surprised to find a wrapped present with a note.

Andromeda,

It would please me if you wore this tonight.

Sugilite

I opened the box and was rather surprised by the contents. It appeared the Kitsune enjoyed leather. There was a pair of leather leggings, a leather vest, although there was a white blouse to go with it, and a new pair of slippers.

Then I had a laugh. The blouse and vest were backless, and I wondered if the Kitsune and Catseye had a similar fetish.

To add to it, the leather was in broad, jagged stripes in colors very close to that in Sugilite's fur. It was a little bright, but the pattern was pretty at the same time.

I caressed the material. I like leather, but it wasn't my normal style. Still, I didn't think it was wise to deny the Kitsune's gift. And so when it was time, I dressed carefully. Everything fit quite well, and I thought I likely looked dashing, in a Kitsune kind of way.

I stood when the guards arrived. They stared at me.

"When a Kitsune asks you to dress in a particular fashion," I said. "You dress in that fashion. I'm not sure what to make of it myself, but it's very comfortable." Then I turned around slowly for them so they could see the back.

"We don't get many Kitsune here," Dilly said. "You look very..."

"Colorful," suggested Piper.

"It's comfortable," I said, "even if the colors represent choices a human wouldn't make. But she is dressing me to, in a way, resemble her own coloring, so I suspect there is a message in these choices. Wouldn't you say?"

"I'm not sure we could," replied Piper with a look at Dilly. Then she held up the shackles. I sighed and held out my wrists.

* * * *

When next I could see, the guards were gone, the restraints with them. I was in another of the alien apartments, and Sugilite was looking at me. I thought perhaps her expression was one of amusement, but she was a Kitsune. How could I be sure?

"Good evening, Sugilite. Thank you for the clothing. Is there symbolism beyond the obvious?"

"Welcome to my little home," she replied with a wave. "There is, but I will save the explanation for later. Please turn around, so I may see."

And so I slowly turned, giving her the full view. Then I smiled. "And will I also receive a full view?" I made a twirling gesture with my finger.

"Well, aren't you a cheeky thing?" she said. But then she added, "All right." And she also turned slowly, her hands away from her sides, until she was facing me again. "Do you like what you see?"

"I do, actually. I liked your looks from the moment I first saw you. Do you believe dressing in your colors enhances my appearance?"

"I am not sure, from a purely aesthetic perspective. But for other reasons, yes, I do, and I would very much enjoy seeing you dress this way quite often."

I was sure there was a message in that, but I didn't want to spend effort guessing.

"Well, Sugilite, I want to admit my ignorance."

"About why I dressed you this way?"

"Well, I already expressed that ignorance, and you have suggested you may explain later. No, I am ignorant in many different ways."

She offered a squeak. It was not unlike the Loris laughter, but decidedly her own. "That was a laugh?"

"Our equivalent, yes. So, your ignorance."

"I would like to know what my role is here tonight. It will help me decide how to behave."

"You are the mating candidate," she said.

"Ah, then perhaps I need to better understand your role. I treat the guards one way, Jasmine Brighteyes another way, the other mating candidates yet a third way, and some of the other women here a fourth way."

She squeaked again and stepped closer. "I am a potential patron," she said. "Older, powerful. You wish to charm me."

"I have never had a patron," I replied. "And we are of disparate species. I may make mistakes."

"We all make mistakes," she said. "It is how we learn from them that matters."

I decided she wanted me to flirt with her and perhaps flatter her. I'd had that role before, sometimes for Gerri. I didn't always like it, especially not in the work place. It fed certain stereotypes. But I thought in this particular case, those stereotypes were actually quite accurate.

I was here to have my body auctioned off to the highest bidder, so to speak, and while I didn't like that, I did like some of the potential bidders. So I could be charming and flirt with her if it kept me out of trouble.

So I smiled, stepped forward, and collected her arm in mine. She allowed me to do so. "I am very glad to be here, Sugilite. How are we to spend our time?"

"We begin with conversation." She set her free hand atop mine and turned us both. It was a short walk to the sofa, and she pushed me down into place, then sat next to me. We turned partially towards each other, and she very deliberately pressed her knee against mine. I set my hand back on her arm, and she shifted so mine passed under hers, my fingers just touching her wrist.

"I wish to know all about you," she said. "Regale me, Andromeda."

"Well, let us start with my name. You may, of course, call me Andromeda, but you may also call me Andie."

With her free hand, she caressed my fingers. "I like Andromeda," she said. "I looked at the history of the name. I find it interesting that she was a princess of Ethiopia in the northern reaches of this continent, but the art of her all displays her as decidedly from northern Europe."

"Ah, you just told me several things," I replied. "Amongst them, you told me you recognize the regional differences in human appearances."

"Over time, those differences will merge, and merge further. But it takes longer than the few centuries your species has begun to remix after your ancient diaspora."

"And so there are no regional differences amongst Kitsune?"

"There remain some, but that is at least in part to where we wish to settle. Kitsune from our warmer climates do not enjoy the cooler climates, and so there is less mixing in these directions than there may have been. But these differences disappear. We also populate more than one world, and it is possible this will increase differentiation again. But evolutionary changes like this take time, and it is through accent and mannerisms that we can tell ourselves apart based on planet of birth."

"I understand," I replied. "You invited me to regale you, but I know almost nothing about you, and you know much about me already. Could you perhaps tell me at least a little about yourself? It will give me perspective."

"I will tell you a little now, but then you will amuse me for a time." At that, I nodded. "You know the obvious. You know my appearance. You have been told or can guess I am powerful. You can perhaps tell I am deemed intelligent. You have experienced that I can be equally as judgmental as anyone, and curt besides."

I said nothing to any of that, but only waited.

"I am many things. One of them is a politician. The Federation of Allied Planets is a very loose federation. Interstellar travel is slow. Communication is quicker. It is far easier to send messages across vast distances than people. Do you see?"

"I believe I understand."

"However, when we work together, such as we do here in your region, we form a tighter government, so to speak. There is a council, and I am upon it."

"Will you tell me more about that? How many others are upon it, for instance, and anyone else I know?"

"Jasmine Brighteyes is a member, but her voice is not as loud as mine. Each of the primary species has a seat on the council. Some have more than one based upon their power and numbers in this region. There are twenty-two species in the region. Well, twenty-three if we count humans. But of those twenty-three, nine come from the primary species. There are thirty-two on the council, with two seats representing the species without a dedicated member of their own."

"I am told you are married."

"Yes. We'll discuss that later, when we discuss your clothing. If we discuss your clothing."

"All right. Why is someone as powerful as you spending time talking to someone as, well, as much a nobody as me?"

"You are not a nobody."

"I am certainly not the President of the United States or the Secretary-General of the United Nations. I was an assistant to a vice president of a grocery store chain."

"You are an experiment," Sugilite said. "And currently unique amongst humans. You are Jasmine Brighteyes' experiment, and while that woman's voice is not as loud as mine, it is not a quiet voice, either. Understand that Jasmine Brighteyes is on the council entirely because of her position here. I would be on the council regardless of my position elsewhere."

"Will you tell me this: are you and Jasmine at cross purposes?"

"No. I offered my voice to hers in the matter that turned you into this experiment. I did not do so loudly, and it is unlikely I will. She states she can achieve better results if given more freedom, results that are in keeping with my goals."

"Would I be pleased if you shared these goals with me?"

"Do you wish humanity to become a primary species in the Federation?"

"I believe there are significant implications in that question," I said. "But I believe I would like that."

"Then you would like my end goals. You would probably not always care for my methods or my intermediate goals."

"But if we discussed this at length, you feel it likely I would be an ally."

"Yes. To be fair, unless either humanity makes significant medical breakthroughs, which is certainly possible, or we were to extend your lifespan quite dramatically, you will not see the day humans are offered primary membership. There are individual humans that could be considered valued members of the Federation, but humanity as a species is not ready."

"Will you explain why?"

"There are two basic reasons. You must achieve interstellar space travel without assistance. And you are not sufficiently mature as a species. As individuals, yes, but you allow the less mature amongst you to have far too much political influence."

"I certainly agree with you on that, and not only political influence."

"Humans do so many stupid things. You imbibe drugs that ravage your body. You gamble your life savings. You rape and kill. You exhibit extreme bigotry. You wage war against each other for the most ridiculous of reasons. You believe in imaginary gods. While raping each other, you also rape the planet, coming to the brink of your own extinction for such shortsighted reasons."

"I don't do any of those things."

"Which is why I said there are individuals that would be valued in the Federation, but your species as a whole needs a great deal more maturity."

She let me think about it. "Everything you have said is fair. I am embarrassed, but it is fair."

"It is not your embarrassment to hold. You are one of seven billion." Then she made a sound. "Seven billion on one planet." She made the sound again. "Kitsune were spread across sixteen planets before we reached seven billion."

"For the record, my parents had one child, and I have had none."

She stroked my hand. "You promised to regale me."

"Will you tell me just a little more about yourself? Do you have children? Hobbies?"

"I have children and hobbies. I will perhaps discuss them later. Now, do not make me ask a third time."

"Of course not, Sugilite." She knew much about me already, of course, and so I didn't repeat dull facts she undoubtedly knew. Instead I told her a little about what I was like as a girl. I talked about my parents, and I let my love show. And I told a few self-deprecating and rather embarrassing stories about myself. She squeaked her pleasure several times. It was cute.

Finally she stroked my hand again. "You are forgiven for making me work. It is time to eat." She stood, pulling me with her and not releasing my hand, then led me into the dining room. When we arrived, the table was already set, and there were several covered platters already on the table along with a pitcher of clear water. I led her to her chair, holding it for her, then asked if she wished me to serve.

"Oh, that would be lovely," she said. "The purple covers are mine, and the blue covers are yours."

"We do not eat the same food."

"I am afraid not, although that could be remedied. I will explain shortly."

"All right." There were several platters on the table. I removed the covers from all of them, then looked under the table and found the shelves used to hold the covers.

"Ah, you have answered a question," said Sugilite. "You have shared a meal with a Catseye."

"This is a Catseye invention?"

"They are not the only ones, but it is a Catseye custom, and Jasmine Brighteyes has placed her mark on this place for those shelves to be there. Of course, in a Catseye household, you would sit, and we would lift the covers together. But this is not a Catseye household. Please continue."

Her food looked perfectly fine, although I didn't know what any of it was. There was some sort of meat in a sauce and two different unidentified vegetables. I served the amounts she requested then filled her water glass. Then I moved to my own seat and served myself.