Maxwell's Demon Ch. 15-21

"Leo, what does a girl mean by honoring her?"

Leo laughed, "That's a good one... oh, wait, you're serious? Growl-Hmm. Well, she has to be in a clan, because if she is not, that is getting into some weird stuff."

"Let's assume it's a clan."

"Most clans have a leader, someone who knows the most, brings the most resources in, or is the oldest. It can be any reason, really. Maybe she has recruited the most members, that kind of thing. The clan leader expects to have her choice of males. If they present to her, or she chooses them, and they do not resist, that is called honoring her."

"So a male can refuse?" Greg said.

"I suppose you could, if you wanted to make your life difficult, or get disowned. If you want advice, don't go for the first clan offer you get. If you are getting one offer, then you'll be getting more, that is the way the world works. Do not sell out early."

Greg concluded they had a tailor in the mining settlement, and one who'd been busy, because when Litra and Nira arrived, they no longer wore their loose fitting mining clothes. They left their jackets on, which they usually took off indoors. Instead of loose baggy clothes, and multiple vests underneath, there was just one, drawn and laced with strings at the top. Without the second and third vest underneath, there was no ambiguity about the alien anatomy.

It was hard enough not to stare at the aliens, whether it be their teeth, their monocolor eyes, or their ears; the list went on. Now there was this, another target to not stare at. The odd combination of human and animal features upset his visual processing. The cleavage was one step too far, and sheesh, they were big, too. He had enough to deal with already. This weird planet was starting to get to him. He decided the best way to deal with this was to ignore it. His purpose was a trip to the Raphael, he'd focus on that. Maybe the emergency locator transponder was still running, it would be easy to locate if they could get over the initial terrain blocking the signal.

"Hi Krek, anything you want to tell us?" Nira said.

"No. I won a few credits playing cards last night, and I'm paying you back for all your help." Greg put two tokens on the table. It was double the amount of the coin Nira had given him for the train.

"I do not want them," Nira said, leaning back on her stool away from the table, "He is paying me; he is not thanking me." The thin strings on her vest strained against the obvious heft of her chest beneath. It challenged Greg's resolve to ignore the situation.

"Nira, do not be so stubborn," Litra said.

"Fine," she said, sweeping the token from the table. "You are a smart boy, having earned this money. Smart boys are difficult."

"This crashed ship of yours, do you still wish to take parts from it?" Litra said.

"Yes. Is it possible?"

"I have thought on this, foreigner Greg. Litra pulled a map out. Show me on the map: How much farther from where we found your party is your ship? This is where we found you," she said, pointing. He struggled to orient on the map, but once he understood the scale, he showed her where he thought the Raphael went down.

"This is doable. Kyapu attack mostly at twilight before Mother sets. You were unfortunate in your timing. If we leave on Mother's first light, the trip will be easier. Many in the mining settlement are saving for their futures and do not relish adventure just for the sake of adventure. They will not help unless it puts money in their pocket. Jola and Loni will take us in the tractor if they are rewarded." Litra stared at the coins Greg had sitting on the table. "That is Two gold for the tractor; Nira and I, our price is one gold," Litra said.

Nira growled indiscriminately at Litra.

"I am not willing to help unless there is something in it for me. We should be pooling our resources; if he does not want to be in our clan, then we earn money. It is like a second job, tour guide into the mountains," Litra said.

The amount was more than Greg had. "I need your help. I'll pay you back somehow," he said.

"Then rest well. We'll leave at first dawn," Litra said.

-*-

The red of Proxima was hidden behind the mountains, but it had driven off the dancing green curtains of aurora that marked night. Greg traveled north from the small mining town with his alien helpers, up the valley, attempting to retrace the path to his initial crash landing. It took over eight hours, but Greg was certain he spotted the burned trees where John had attacked the kypau with his gyrojet.

"Stop here!" he yelled over the engine noise, tapping the drivers box with his arms and waving around. The tractor stopped.

"I think this is it," he mumbled in English, dismounting the platform. His enthusiasm waned shortly afterward. Everything looked the same, and the ELT from the Raphael was not transmitting. It was wishful thinking to believe the batteries would last this long.

"I remember we scrambled down a rocky section on the west side of the ravine. There were some tall rock spires, but it seems like that's not uncommon. I don't know if this was the one or not," Greg said.

He turned around and looked to the south, trying to recreate the pictures and angles John used to navigate them toward the mining town. He tried to locate the peaks of mountains Kassy and John had named; without them, there was no way to judge his distance better than a few kilometers. There were dozens of rocky scrambles up the embankment just in this location alone. It could be any of them.

"We have five cycles, then we must return here. None of us are trackers, Greg. We cannot help you find your previous path. We will protect you, but you must choose your path," Litra said.

They worked their way to the top of the ravine and there was nothing, no treetop that looked damaged from the ship, no foot marks, no trace. Next, they went north along the ridge, taking every side path that Greg thought could have a chance of taking them to the crash site. When he'd exhausted his patience, he backtracked, and headed even further south.

In front of Greg was a gray and orange fabric cube, a standard ADXP soft pack. The edges were tattered and chewed, the fabric pierced from sharp teeth. Greg picked it up.

"What is that? Is it from your ship?"

"Yes," Greg said, opening it. It was John's personal effects, inside was the medicine he lost, the immunosuppressant for his neural implant.

"I suppose this means we're in the right area. It looks like this has been carried around by an animal, who knows how far."

"Those are kyapu teeth marks," Nira said.

"We should not spend too much time up here... caves. Kyapu sleep in caves; if we wake them, they will defend their territory," Litra said.

Nira stood next to her, scanning the terrain.

"Just a little farther this way, I remember we walked north, maybe we're on the right path," Greg said.

He squinted into the distance, hoping to see a glint of the Raphael's hull. There was a rock outcropping ahead, he stumbled in his footing, kicking a rock loose that tumbled into a cave opening, alerting the lone kyapu that maintained watch for its pack.

The kyapu made no noise. Without a pack to communicate with, there was no need. It slinked out from its resting spot, assessing the three interlopers. Not happy with its low ground position, it darted around the back side of the outcropping, gaining height, out of direct sight. It did not, however, escape the peripheral vision of Nira, who saw something -- though she wasn't sure what it was.

"Kyapu, laoa!" Nira said.

Nira stood still, her bow raised, Litra stopped, listening.

"It waits for us. I will not be stalked," Litra said, pulling her pistol sized crossbow and crouching down.

"There," she said, pointing at a break in the rock outcropping to their left which the kyapu was using to shadow their progress and hide behind. Litra motioned Greg to stay while she moved diagonally up the hill, putting distance between her and the outcropping, gaining elevation until she could see clearly through the opening.

As soon as the kyapu saw Litra, it leaped from the side of the opening into the clear and sprinted, taking full strides at gallop with its powerful rear legs before launching itself to strike.

Litra loosed the seven inch pistol bolt into the kyapu's throat then dropped her weapon and caught the beast by its neck mid air with her opposite hand, using the force of its attack to spin and slam it into the ground. She arrested the animal's flight with a punishing landing, smashing its skull to the jagged rocks and jumping back to avoid what would have been a devastating rending by its rear claws. The animal howled, dark blood was rushing from its neck. Though grievously injured, life had not departed it yet.

Greg drew and aimed his SX4 true on the animal, but not before a whoosh and thump, as Nira's crossbow rifle dispatched its bolt into the beast's chest.

Litra closed and stabbed the animal with a hunting blade she pulled from her belt, gutting the animal in anger.

"You are brave. Would your weapon kill the kyapu?" Nira said, standing behind Greg.

"Oh yes. It does not have the advantage of reusable ammo like yours though," Greg said.

Litra sliced two long pieces of muscle from the animal's legs, lean with little blood, and stuffed them into a pack before standing. Nira retrieved her bolt from the animal, wiping it clean and inspecting it for damage before returning it to her quiver.

"There will be more if we do not leave the area. The pack is awake. They will be sleepy at first; we must leave now," Litra said.

Greg didn't question their wisdom; they were his paid tour guides. The crew barely survived this area the first time. How could he have been so far off his tracking he wondered? What had he missed? He couldn't come back here looking for the Raphael again, it was a dangerous journey, and cost favors he would not be able to earn again.

"I am sorry you did not find your ship, Krek. It is difficult terrain to locate in." Nira said.

-*-

Back at the Brightstar tavern, in Anukina, Greg took a long drink from his red wao, the human buzz inducing drink, not the lemony kool-aid that did Centaurans in.

"I have to go to Mainlights," Greg said after staring into his mug.

Nira looked agitated. "You cannot survive alone there. It is forbidden for an unsettled male to enter Mainlights. I do not want you becoming a prostitute. The Telluki there are not like Litra, they are sneaky and manipulating. Things could happen to you," Nira said.

Greg wouldn't know a good street from a bad street. "Is it really that bad?" He said, turning to Litra for confirmation.

"There is good... in some parts of Mainlights, but much, perhaps most of what Nira says is true."

"You are trying to make this thing, something for your radio. I know what smart boys are like. You think you can get by on your own, that you don't need girls. You'll need money to buy your parts, and build your thing. Where will you get that from? Be my first clan mate. I will take you to Mainlights, help get your things," Nira said.

"Nira, if you go back, they will push you, bribe you, lure you, make it irresistible for you to go back into the ring. You were their favorite. They just want to see Teolid bruising and blood, pad their ticket sales. They do not care for you, or the Teolids. They'll use you," Litra said.

"No!" Nira said, pounding the table with her clawed hand. "I am tired of waiting. We wait and we do not work on our plans, Litra. We have no clan."

"Nira, I am your clan..." Litra said, trailing off -- hurt; if Greg dared attributed emotion to the aliens.

"It is temporary, to find a way to build this thing that Krek wants. Maybe you are right, but if I did, I could make enough money that we could both leave. We could go to Northlights. Isn't that what we wanted?"

"You're saying I won't even be able to get passage into the city without clan colors?"

"That is correct," Nira replied.

"I guess I don't have a choice then. I don't even know what I'm saying yes to, but I accept your offer," Greg said.

Nira pounded the table and stood, making her challenge whoop. "I take you as first," she said, boastfully looking down at him with something disturbingly more than enthusiasm in her solid green eyes. Around the tavern other groups tapped and clinked their mugs.

-*-

Late in the last cycle, before it was time to go to sleep, Litra sat on a steel crate in the middle of a rectangular room, little more than what would pass for a walk-in closet on Earth. A purposeful hole in the rusty metal wall allowed a light in from outside. She watched with mixed feelings while Nira pulled a drawing of the pashmina she'd made for her own clan from a wooden chest, the only furniture in the room. She'd carried with her for as long as Litra could remember.

Litra had been there every day and every night, tending to Nira's bruises, or her broken bones, stitching up cuts and feeding her when she had no money between fights because she'd spent it all to train at the gym, paying double the price for no other reason than she was a Teolid. A 'filthy tail dragger' was the name they called her in the streets on her first fights outside of the slums where she grew up, destined to be a slave as all Teolids were until they were dead, or earned their freedom.

When the crowd saw she could throw a punch and play by their rules, she became that which they loved to hate. Fight ticket after fight ticket came in. Crowds loved watching the spunky, overmatched Teolid be beaten and punished by Telluki bigger than Litra, but Nira never gave up. She told Litra it was her ticket out of the slums. She was right.

She kept training, learned how to out maneuver the bigger opponents, how to use her tail for more than an appendage to show 'stupid' boys as she called them, or an excuse to get called names by the tailless Telluki.

The crowds loved it, and times were good, until the one time she went too far, did too well, caused some big players to lose too much money. They trapped her in a back alley and paid off her escort to turn their back. They beat her. They broke her tail with an iron pipe, then left her there. When she came home that night, Litra howled the most mournful cry any Telluki had ever heard. She nursed Nira back to health and became her trainer. Nira wouldn't go back to the gym where they had betrayed her.

Promoters still loved Nira, as did the crowds. Litra talked to dozens of people, every person she knew in the city, wrote a hundred letters. It had been their intention to send Nira into the ring broken and bruised, with half a tail, to go against the current champion, but Litra changed all that.

She talked to the papers and managed to get a piece done on her, the T'Terror they called Nira. They made such a noise that the match was postponed for ten days. Money had moved around by then, whatever happened, it would be a fair fight, as much as any fight in the arenas of Mainlights could be.

Seven rounds Nira went, enduring two after the bell punches that would have given any Telluki a concussion, but Nira wouldn't give up. Her beautiful green eyes were so cut up she could hardly see; she said her timing was off from the broken bones not healed in her tail, that she couldn't snap it correctly anymore when punching, that it hurt -- and Nira never complained.

She landed punches through the champs guard that would have flattened her had she been able to muster her full power, but everyone could see her struggling. Her spirit was indomitable. If she won, she would have enough money to get a ticket to Newtown, and that night, in her corner, Litra told her she would go with her, that she would never leave her side, that even though they had not a single male desiring them; she would always be clan with her on that day, no matter when that day was. They were poor and broke: the Filthy trail dragger and her friend from the slums. Litra never stopped believing in her.

Nira won the match by score, not by a knockout.

Oh how they cheered, but Litra knew their time in the town was limited. It was only expected that a rematch would be granted. That next Proxima night, they took their money and bought passage on a barely seaworthy boat to Newtown. Mayana welcomed them. The papers eventually found them, letters poured in... even generous offers, but Litra knew there was as good a chance of being rich as being killed, if they went back, if Nira were to fight again.

Mayana suggested they should go north to the free frontier mining town of Anukina, that it would be unlikely they'd be bothered there. They came and worked as free Centaurans, happy but lonely. Nira was so young; she felt the youthful fire of wanting her own clan, to be honored by a male, and Litra agonized for her. There would be no unsettled males up here, only full clans came to Anukina -- to work, and maybe have families one day. It was the perfect place for them, outcasts on the edge of civilization. They resolved to live cheaply and save up enough money to go to Northlights one day, where Teolids were not discriminated against, and with the hope of other jobs than the mines, perhaps even a clan of their own.

"Are you happy, Nira. I've not seen you so happy. Your challenge growl, I could have identified you from up at the mines had I the ears there."

"I am. They will take our request to make pashmina now that we have a male. We can go to the tailor and he will make them for us," Nira said.

"Yes, he will, Nira. Do you think Greg is a Lani like he says? He is very silly, and speaks a language I have never heard. The world is a big place though. Ships bring people and things I have never seen to our shores."

"I do not care where he is from. He is a smart boy; I always wanted a smart boy. He doesn't hang around us because we buy him clothes, take him on trips, or own expensive flops in the big city. That's all boys ever want: how much stuff can you give them."

"Yet those are the very things you are trying to win him with?"

"What else could I do? I don't know how boys think. He asked for help. We helped him find things. It seemed a small and honest thing to ask of us."

"Indeed, it was unconventional. I am not disagreeing with you. Smart boys may take different things from you though."

"What do you mean, Litra?"

"What he doesn't take from you in money, he may take from your heart. What will do when he leaves? He said they will go home one day. Do you not believe him?"

"I don't care. If he stays with us only a month, or a year. We will have been clan. It is better to have been clan and lost than never been clan at all; even if he never honors me."

She wasn't crazy. Litra felt that too. It'd been drummed into her from a young age.

"He should honor you. No male deserves you, and no female has ever been more deserving."

Litra paused. They both knew the next question she was going to ask.

"Are you going to fight? Even Greg said you shouldn't, and he knows nothing. Will you not listen to either of us?"

Nira bared her teeth and slammed her tail on the floor. "How long, Litra? How long would it take to save up enough credits to travel to Northlights?"

"A hundred journeys, who can say?"

"And when the railroad is open, and our wages are cut in half, maybe double that?"

"Perhaps, Nira, or perhaps it would not happen that way."

"I can win; and if I do, I will have enough for all of us to go."

"Or they could kill you. I cannot lose you."

"If that is what is to be, then I accept it."

"That is selfish, Nira. I do not wish to howl into the night when you are gone, with no one to answer me but the hungry kyapu."

"It is who I am."

"I know, Nira."

"I will not take table scraps from Mother's Eyes anymore. If Krek doesn't want to stay with us, then we will have any males we want."