Candidate (Selected Book 4) (56 page)

"I'm sucking up," I said. "Just in case you were in there thinking of nasty tricks the next time I'm in an event. Please sit. Have some tea."

She stepped into the room and took her own seat. There was a cup waiting for her, so I poured for her. She collected it and leaned back. "I already know what's wrong."

"Do you?"

"You are a deeply honorable woman and don't know how to throw your next event."

She lowered her gaze and nodded.

"Do you really think I'm going to let you win, Ms. Tsukino?"

"You told us we could win."

"You could," Jasmine said. "It happens. Most of the time it happens, it's because I know this would be a horrible match. Maybe I do not like the male. Maybe I just feel it is a poor match, and I am willing to let a candidate go to prevent the long term difficulty that would ensue if they become mated. But who makes the challenge grids, Ms. Tsukino?"

"I won my first and almost won my second."

"Proving you are a formidable mating candidate and worthy of Neon Blue. You will not win your third. Do you doubt me? He only needs one handicap. One. I don't care what event it is. One handicap. How well do you see in the dark? He sees into the infrared. Do you think I will let you win?"

"So you lied to us when you said we could win?"

"My sense of honor is different than yours," Jasmine replied. "I am willing to cheat to achieve the best final result. The final result for you is to lose your event, but to go down doing your best, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Well then, are you going to be angry if I make sure that is what happens?"

Haruki smiled. "No. But it must be an honest competition! He must begin to feel mated. Won't he know that you cheated?"

"I won't have to cheat. It would be a real shame if you fell into the pit Andromeda mentioned a few minutes ago. Do you think you could maintain your focus with all those giant ants crawling on you? They look just like real ants, but if that's not enough, half of them can fly."

"Thousands," I said. I shuddered.

"If this were a poor match, or an indifferent match," Jasmine said, "Then we would provide a grid that is as fair as we can, and with your points, you would have a real chance. As is, we tried to be sure you lost the first challenge, but my assistant under-estimated your skills and made it too easy for you."

"Hey!" I said. "She earned that."

"She did," Jasmine said. She smiled. "Whatever your challenge is, you're going to have the fight of your life. But if it looks like you're about to win, I'll cheat. You may not see it. He definitely won't see it. Now, who wants some ice cream?"

"You're going to eat in front of her, Jasmine?"

"Are you upset by this conversation, Ms. Tsukino?"

"If we're having ice cream, could you call me Haruki?"

"Good." I heard an unzip.

"Don't scream," I said.

And the tentacles began poking out. Haruki stared, and soon they were on full display. Haruki stared, and then she turned to me. "Why would I scream?"

"Excellent question," I said. "What kind of ice cream do you have tonight, Jasmine?"

"I'm sorry, I only have vanilla."

"I like vanilla," I said. "Haruki, do you like vanilla?"

"I love vanilla."

"I'll retrieve it," Jasmine offered. "You two can talk about your date, Haruki."

"Do you need a hand?" I asked with a grin. Jasmine waved a tentacle at me. I turned to Haruki. "So. Good date?"

She leaned back on the sofa. "The best. The best, Andie."

"Tell me. Where did he take you? What did you both wear? Did you kiss? Do Greygreens even kiss?"

"Yes," she said. "As a matter of fact, they do." She looked at me. "Are they drugging me, Andie? I've never felt like this before, and... Are they drugging me?"

"Well, if they are, I don't know about it, but let me tell you about the Octal."

* * * *

She lost, but it was a little close for comfort. I think Jasmine cheated, but I didn't catch her. Haruki and Neon Blue certainly didn't. After the event, it was difficult to tell who was the most pleased.

* * * *

In the end, all my charges lost, but that wasn't surprising. They weren't all as happy as Julie and Haruki were. But most were accepting affection, and Jasmine told me that at this stage, that was the most important part.

"And that they lose."

"Oh please. I told you, I don't let mating candidates go. Just remember that."

Clover was able to go see Peony for four nights, returning very late on the fifth day. She came to me in my cell, pulled me to my feet, and hugged me for a good ten minutes. When I looked later, my back was deeply marked. I didn't care. I was nearly as happy about it as she was.

I had my event with the two Wookies. They hunted me as a pair, and I even gave them a run for their money. Oh, not a long run. I never got even close to the finish. But it was fun.

And then they proceeded to scare the shit out of me. The competition between them was to see who could get me to scream the longest. Not that I knew that going into it. Let me just say this: they were inventive.

Thick Fog won, but it took Dark Skies to calm me down at the end. Under her influence, I became, shall we say, quite agreeable, and it didn't wear off for hours. Thick Fog got her bath, and then the three of us stayed up late, the two of them touching me a great deal and me frustrated because there wasn't more than touching.

In the evening two days later, Soft Rain asked to meet with me in my cell. Together we sat on my bed facing each other. It was a little funny to see the Wookie sitting with her legs crossed.

Then she looked down at her hands and wouldn't look at me.

"Are you in love, Soft Rain?"

"Yes," she rumbled.

"Are you both my friends?"

"Yes," she said more loudly.

"Does she love you?"

"Yes."

"Good. You're good together."

She looked up. "We talked about asking you to be our third. It is not the same as the Tutor do. In fact, we don't really do that. But we thought we might want to keep you."

"You don't want me the way I want to be wanted," I said. "You want a pet human because I'm fun to play with."

"Are you mad?"

"I'd have been mad if you tried to force a relationship you didn't really want. We can still play, Soft Rain. Do you live on Earth?"

"No, but we visit sometimes. Not often."

"Well, I don't know where I'm going to be in six months. Who knows? We could become neighbors. I'll be disappointed if we aren't friends. I'll be disappointed if you didn't find ways to earn a bathing."

She rumbled. "I do enjoy that part."

"When are you leaving?"

"She's waiting for me now."

"She didn't want to say goodbye?"

"She says she hates goodbyes."

"All right. I want to tell you something. What happens here is hard for us. It was going to be very hard for me. Then I met you. You didn't want anything from me but friendship, and you offered so much. Do you have any idea how amazing that is? You're a Wookie. Do you know how many people would die to get a hug from a real, honest-to-goodness Wookie?"

"I am not your Chewbacca."

"So? You're an amazing person, and our stories are filled with wondrous creatures that we never get to really see. You're a wondrous creature, and you've become my friend. I'm glad I'm here, and you're a big part of the reason. My heart is going to break knowing you're gone, but I'll be fine now. You got me through long enough to make more friends, unlikely friends. I don't know how I would have made it without you."

And then she was rumbling. A moment later she held me to her, but she was warm and gentle. She rumbled and she rumbled. And then, when she calmed down, I reached a hand up to the back of her head.

"Do Wookies kiss?"

"Not like humans."

"Well, this human kisses, even Wookies that don't kiss back." And I pulled her to me. We had a soft, sweet, surprising kiss. "Thank you, Soft Rain. Promise me this is not goodbye forever."

"It's not," she said. "And the next time I see you, there will be more challenges."

"Good. Tell Thick Fog congratulations for me. And give her this for me." I kissed her again.

A minute later, she was gone. I waited another minute then began sobbing. And a minute after that, Jasmine was there, holding me tightly. I cried for a long time.

"Do you hate us for putting you through this pain?" she whispered to me.

"Don't be stupid," I said. "She doesn't live on the space station, does she?"

She didn't answer immediately but then said quietly, "No."

"Am I ever going to see her again?"

"I don't know. She didn't lie when she said she visits. But this is only her second since we arrived. I'm sorry, Andie."

"It's fine. I'm richer for having known her."

* * * *

Two nights later, Dark Skies ambushed me, quite literally. She snuck into my cell before I arrived and filled it with her scent. And she programmed my visor so I couldn't see her. I walked right in and smelled her right away, but the door closed behind me.

Then I heard in my ears, but I couldn't tell from where, "I want you, Andie. You're going to last about a minute. I will let you say no, but otherwise I am keeping you until morning."

"I'll never say no to you, Dark Skies. Take me home with you."

She did, but only after I was completely obedient to her. I spent hours worshipping her, and hours more in utter ecstasy.

* * * *

Our next batch arrived. We did it my way. I convinced sixteen to volunteer, although I had to work on some of them. I'll explain.

I took them four by four, one each from Bay, Cedar, Clover, and Jasmine. They picked the order I would see them, but in time I would learn to do the batch selection my way.

Most of the meetings went the same. The four women were brought to me all at once, at least until we reached the ones that fought enough to require four guards. They were placed in chairs and locked in, and then their hoods were removed.

For each, I stood in the room, turned away, and I waited until at least one of them asked me who I was. There was typically swearing.

But I was dressed the same way they were. I had four tablets set up, one in front of each of them, and I played the video of my own arrival here.

After that, I turned to them. I didn't sit, not yet. I wanted them to work to watch me. "I came here much the way you did. I actually was put through a second Testing, and they took me at the end. Most of you were taken from your homes."

"I was taken from Testing, but it was my first." I'd hear that a few times, but not often.

Some spewed anger at me. Some cried. Some just wanted to know what was going on. Most swore, some more loudly than others.

Then finally I would sit down. "This meeting can go one of several ways. You can all shoot the messenger. You can scream and yell at me. You can do that for an hour. Then the guards will come and take you away, and you'll have lost the opportunity."

And invariably, one would ask, "What opportunity?"

"For my help."

With almost all of them, that was all it took. They listened. Oh, there might be some screaming, but they listened. I'd tell them what was going on, but I wouldn't tell them how I could help. Invariably, eventually, one of them would ask.

"I can't send you home. They won't let me go home. They're not going to let you go home unless you beat them."

Then I would lay out the choices. After that, I watched, and I skimmed their bios, and I talked about the good parts, the opportunities. I didn't downplay the unfairness, but I pointed out we owed the aliens, that humanity owed the aliens, and yeah, it sucked we're forced to pay that bill. But we'd be paying it, and now it was time to make sure we came out ahead on the deal.

"We're not going to beat them in the arena," I said. "But we can beat them by making them give us what we want. I know this isn't what you wanted, but sometimes life isn't fair. Now, let's talk about making the most from this."

Then I would talk a little longer.

In the end, I got sixteen to volunteer from those meetings. Eight told me flat out they wanted to fight, but they might offer ribbons. Twelve offered ribbons. And eight more accepted willingly when facing the reality in the arena.

Clover got another five days with Peony.

* * * *

I do want to talk about one unruly woman, however. And I would have one or two of these in every batch afterwards.

The four were brought in. This woman fought her entire way, so it had taken four male guards to bring her in, and if she'd fought more than that, they'd have had to use extreme measures. But she struggled in her chair, even once it was hopeless, and I knew she was going to be trouble.

We removed the hoods. The guards left. And it took her about three seconds before she was screaming at me. I tried to wait her out, but she continued to scream horrible things at me. So finally I marched down to her end of the table and screamed, "Do I look like I'm dressed any better than you are?"

That shut her up for about three seconds. "I don't see you locked into this fucking chair, and what's that over your eyes?"

"I've been in that chair. Well, not that one, but I've been in that one-" I pointed, "More times than I can count."

"But now you're some sort of collaborator."

"Let me ask you something. Do you want to know what's going on? Because I can have the guards come back and get you, and you can find out when it happens. Or do you want to know ahead of time?"

She actually shut up for a while, but it didn't take long before she was telling me, "This is bullshit! I know my rights." She went on and on about that. And I didn't blame her.

"You can shut up, or you can let me finish and then tell you how I can help. If you don't want to know, I bet these other three do."

That got me another five minutes. But at that point, she began telling everyone else what to do. When one tried asking me a question, she shouted over her. "Why are you asking her? She's with the enemy! We're going to fight. We're going to stand together, and we're going to fight. They aren't going to take us like this."

Blah, blah, blah.

"You know," I said. "You're as bad as the aliens. No one in this room has very many choices to her. I'm not going home. I don't know when I'll see my parents again. None of you are going home, either, unless you win the challenges. We're all in this together with only limited choices. But you're as bad as them. You're trying to take away the rights of these three to make any choices at all. If you want to fight, great. Then fight. But these three women deserve the chance to make up their own minds without having you screaming at them. So shut the fuck up."

"Go to hell." Then she began browbeating.

"Jasmine Brighteyes," I said. "I need you and a squad of Ardents, if you can assemble them."

It turns out she could, and I was sure she had them waiting, as they walked in the room only a minute or so later.

The woman hadn't shut up.

I pointed. "I don't care what happens to that one, but I would really like her to shut up."

Two of the Ardents stepped forward, and they had some sort of alien gag. It took them about a second and a half. The woman went insane, but she was a lot quieter about it.

"Now," I said calmly. "You three. If you want to listen to more of what she has to say, I will arrange it. Do you?"

One said, "No," and the other two shook their heads.

"Fine. Administrator Brighteyes, please have that woman removed. I do not care what you do with her, but I absolutely hate women who bully other women."

The Ardents had her out of there seconds later. I breathed heavily for a moment, Jasmine watching me. "Thank you," I said. "She ate all my time. I need my next group delayed. These women deserve the chance to discuss their options." I paused. "And I'm sorry. Everyone, this is Jasmine Brighteyes. She is the administrator here. She is a Catseye. Do you want her to stay so you can ask her questions, or should I ask her to leave?"

Then I plopped down in the nearest chair.

"What's going to happen to that woman?"

"She won't get any privileges," Jasmine said. "She'll go into the arena. She'll try to fight. She won't fight very well. She'll go into a cage. She'll have her challenges. She will lose."

"Are you going to hurt her?"

"We don't do that here," Jasmine said. "We deny privileges. But no matter what you do, we feed you. We take care of you. We won't hurt you, but if you twist an ankle or something like that, we fix it. We take the pain away and we heal it for you. But understand that you will be here for some time. The cells are very boring. Very, very boring."

"I can vouch for that," I said.

"I can, too," said one woman. "Please don't put me back in there."

"There are privileges that make it less boring," said Jasmine.

"I'm wearing one of them," I said. "It's basically the best computer on the planet, and I get all the television shows without commercials. Not that I have time to watch television, but that's just a detail."

"Those glasses?"

"Yes," I said. "It's called a visor. It's like one of those virtual reality devices you hear about coupled with military night vision goggles. I can make phone calls, surf the Internet, and see in the dark."