But the ARM weapon was in Sharrol's hands –
«But Carlos jumped into the boat and roared off, and Feather screamed at him, and you were all blood and sprawled out like — like dead — and I, I can't remember.»
«Yes, dear.» I took her hand, greatly daring. «But I have to know if she's still chasing us.»
She shook her head violently. «I jumped on her back and cut her throat. She tried to point that tube at me. I held her arm down, she elbowed me in the ribs, I hung on, she fell down. I cut her head off. But Bey, there you were, and Carlos was gone and the kids were too, and what was I going to do?» She came around the counter and put her arms around me and said, «We're the same height. Futz!»
I was starting to relax. Feather was nowhere. We were free of her. «I kept telling myself you must have killed her. A trained ARM psychotic, but she didn't take you seriously. She couldn't have guessed how quick you'd wake up.
«I fed her-into the organics reservoir.»
«Yeah. There was nowhere else all that biomass could have come from. It had to be Feather —»
«And I couldn't lift your body, and you wouldn't fit anyway. I had to cut off your h-h-«She pulled close and tried to push her head under my jaw, but I wasn't tall enough any more. «Head. I cut as low as I could. Tanj, we're the same height. Did it work? Are you all right?»
«I'm fine. I'm just short. The 'doc rebuilt me from my DNA, from the throat down, but it built me in Fafnir gravity. Good thing, too, I guess.»
«Yeah.» She was trying to laugh, gripping my arms as if I might disappear. «There wouldn't have been room for your feet. Bey, we shouldn't be talking here. That kzin is a cop, and nobody knows how good their hearing is. Bey, I get off at sixteen hundred.»
«I'll shop. We're both overdue on life gifts.»
«How do I look? How should I look?»
I had posed us on the roof of the Pequod, with the camera looking upward past us into the green seaweed forest. I said, «Just right. Pretty, cheerful, the kind of woman a man might drown himself for. A little bewildered. You didn't contact me because you got a blow to the head. You're only just healing. You ready? Take one, now.» I keyed the vidcamera.
Me: «Wilhelmin, Toranaga, I hope you're feeling as good as we are. I had no trouble finding Milcenta once I got my head on straight —»
Sharrol (bubbling): «Hello! Thank you for Jan's life, and thank you for teaching him to sail. I never could show him how to do that. We're going to buy a boat as soon as we can afford it.»
Me: «I'm ready to face the human race again. I hope you are too. This may help.» I turned the camera off.
«What are you giving them?» Sharrol asked.
«Silverware, service for a dozen. Now they'll have to develop a social life.»
«Do you think they turned you in?»
«They had to. They did well by me, love. What bothers me is, they'll never be sure I'm not a murderer. Neither will the police. This is a wonderful planet for getting rid of a corpse. I'll be looking over my shoulder for that kzinti cop —»
«No, Bey —»
«He smelled our fear.»
«They smell everyone's fear. They make wonderful police, but they can't react every time a kzin makes a human nervous. He may have pegged you as an outworlder, though.»
«Oop. Why?»
«Bey, the kzinti are everywhere on Fafnir, mostly on the mainland, but they're on site at the fishing sources too. Fafnir sea life feeds the whole Patriarchy, and it's strictly a kzinti operation. Shashters are used to kzin. But kids and wimps and outworlders all get twitchy around them, and they're used to that.»
He might have smelled more than our fear, I thought. Our genetic makeup, our diet … but we'd been eating Fafnir fish for over a month, and Fafnir's people were every breed of man.
«Stet. Shall we deal with the Hand of Allah?»
Now she looked nervous. «I must have driven them half crazy. And worried them sick. It's a good gift, isn't it? Shorfy and Isfahan were constantly complaining about fish, fish, fish —»
«They'll love it. It's about five ounces of red meat per crewman — I suppose that's —»
«Free-range life-forms from the hunting parks.»
«And fresh vegetables to match. I bet the kzinti don't grow those. Okay, take one —»
Sharrol: «Captain Muh'mad, I was a long time recovering my memory. I expect the 'docs did more repair work every time I went under. My husband's found me, we both have jobs, and this is to entertain you and your crew in my absence.»
Me: «For my wife's life, blessings and thanks.» I turned it off. «Now Carlos.»
Her hand stopped me. «I can't leave, you know,» Sharrol said. «I'm not a coward —»
«Feather learned that!»
«It's just … overkill. I've been through too much.»
«It's all right. Carlos has Louis and Tanya for awhile, and that's fine, they love him. We're free of the UN. Everything went just as we planned it, more or less, except from Feather's viewpoint.»
«Do you mind? Do you like it here?»
«There are transfer booths if I want to go anywhere. Sharrol, I was raised underground. It feels just like home if I don't look out a window. I wouldn't mind spending the rest of our lives here. Now, this is for Ms. Machti at Outbound, not to mention any watching ARMs. Ready? Take one.
Me: «Hi, John! Hello, kids! We've got a more or less happy ending here, brought to you with some effort.»
Sharrol: «I'm pregnant. It happened yesterday morning. That's why we waited to call.»
I was calling as Martin Wallace Graynor. Carlos/John could reach us the same way. We wanted no connection between Mart Graynor and Jan Hebert …
Visuals were important to the message. The undersea forest was behind us. I stood next to Sharrol, our eyes exactly level. That'd give him a jolt.
Me: «John, I know you were worried about Mil, and so was I, but she's recovered. Mil's a lot tougher than even Addie gave her credit for.»
Sharrol: «Still, the situation was sticky at first. Messy.» She rubbed her hands. «But that's all over. Mart's got a job working outside in the water orchards —»
Me: «It's just like working in free-fall. I've got a real knack for it.»
Sharrol: «We've got some money too, and after the baby's born I'll take Mart's job. It'll be just like I'm back in my teens.»
Me: «You did the right thing, protecting the children first. It's worked out very well.»
Sharrol: «We're happy here, John. This is a good place to raise a child, or several. Some day we'll come to you, I think, but not now. The changes in my life are too new. I couldn't take it. Mart is willing to indulge me.»
Me (sorrowfully): «Addie is gone, John. We never expect to see her again, and we're just as glad, but I feel she'll always be a part of me.» I waved the camera off.
Now let's see Carlos figure that out. He does like puzzles.