move into a neglected field, less crowded than information shunting. Lawrence Halloran Jr., after the death of his mother in an earthquake in Alaska, had bounced from school to school, promising to be a perpetual student, gadding from one subject to another, trying to lose himself…
And then peace had ended. The kzinti not the first visitors from beyond the Solar System, but certainly the most aggressive- had made their presence known. Presence, to a kzin, was tantamount to conquest. For hundreds of thousands of kzin warriors, serving their Patriarchy, Earth and the other human worlds represented advancement; many females, higher status, and lifetime sinecures, without competition.
Humans had been drawn into the war with no weapons as such. To defend themselves, all they had were the massive planet- and asteroid-mounted propulsion lasers and fusion drives that powered their starships. These technologies, some of them now converted to thoroughgoing weapons by Belters and UN engineers, provided what little hope humans had…
And there was the bare likelihood unconfirmed as yet that humans were innately more clever than kzinti, or at least more measured and restrained. Human fusion drives were certainly more efficient but then, the kzinti had gravity polarizers, not unlike that found on the Pak ship piloted by Jack Brennan, and never understood. The Brennan polarizer still worked, but nobody knew how to control it or build another like it. Gradually, scientists and UNSN commanders were realizing that capture of kzinti vessels, rather than complete destruction, could provide invaluable knowledge about such advanced technology.
Gravity polarizers gave kzin ships the ability to travel at eight-tenths the speed of light, with rapid acceleration and artificial gravitation… The kzinti did not need super-efficient fusion drives.
Halloran waited patiently for the Fixer-of-Weapons to awaken. An hour passed. He rehearsed the personality he was constructing, and toned the image he presented for the kzin. He also studied, for the hundredth time, the black markings of fur in the kzin's face and along his back, contrasting with the brownish-red undercoat. The kzin's ears were ornately tattooed in patterns Halloran had learned symbolized the intermeshed bones of kzinti enemies. This was how the kzinti recognized each other, beyond scent and gross physical features; failure to know and project such facial fur patterns and ear tattoos would mean discovery and death. The kzinti's own mind would supply the scent, given the visual clues; their noses were less sensitive than a dog's, much more so than a human's.
Another hour, and Halloran felt a touch of impatience. Kzinti were supposed to be light and short-term sleepers. Fixer-of-Weapons seemed to have joined his warrior ancestors; he barely breathed.
At last, the captive stirred and opened his eyes, glazed nictitating membranes pulling back to reveal the large, gorgeous purple-rimmed golden eyes with their surprisingly humanlike round irises. Fixer-of-Weapon’s wedge- shaped, blunt-muzzled face froze into a blank mask, as it always did when he confronted Halloran-Kzin, who stood on the opposite side of the containment room, tapping his elbow with one finger. Distance from the captive was imperative, even when he was 'restrained' by imaginary bonds suggested by Halloran. A kzin did not give warning when he was about to attack, and Fixer-of-Weapons was being driven to emotional extremes.
The kzin laid back his ears in furious misery. 'I have done nothing to deserve such treatment,' he growled. He believed he was being detained on a kzinti fleet flagship. Halloran, had he truly been a kzin, would have preferred human capture to kzinti detention. I can’t say I like the ratcat, he thought, with a twinge of guilt, quickly suppressed. But you've got to admit he's about as tough as he thinks he is.
'That is for your superiors to decide,' Halloran-Kzin said. 'You behaved with suspected cowardice, you allowed an invasion cruiser to be disabled and captured '
'I was not Kufcha-Captain! I cannot be responsible for the incompetence of my commander.' Fixer-of- Weapons rose to his full two hundred and twenty centimeters, short for a kzin, and flexed against the imaginary bonds. The muscles beneath the smooth-furred limbs and barrel chest were awesome, despite weight loss under weeks of captivity.. 'This is a travesty! Why are you doing this to me?'
'You will tell us exactly what happened, step by step, and how you allowed animals plant-eaters to capture War Loot.'
Fixer-of-Weapons slumped in abject despair. 'I have told, again and again.'
Halloran-Kzin showed no signs of relenting.. Fixer-of-Weapons lashed his lone pink rat-tail, sitting in a tight ball on the floor, swallowed hard and began his take again, and again Halloran used the familiar litany as a cover to probe the kzin's inner thoughts.
If Halloran was going to be a kzin, and think like one for days on end, then he had to have everything exactly right. His deception would be of the utmost delicacy. The smallest flaw could get him killed immediately.
Kzinti, unlike the UN Space Navy, did not take prisoners except for Intelligence and culinary purposes.
Fixer-of-Weapons finished his story. Halloran pulled back from the kzin's mind.
'If I have disgraced myself, then at least allow me to die,' Fixer-of-Weapons said softly.
That s one wish you can be granted, Halloran thought. One way or another, the kzin would be dead soon; his species did not survive in captivity..
Halloran exited the cell and faced three men and two women in the antechamber. Two of the men wore the new uniform barely ten years old the UN Space Navy. The third man was a Belter cultural scientist, the only one in the group actually native to Ceres, dressed in bright lab spotter orange. The two women Halloran had never seen before; they were also Belters, though their Belter tans had faded. All three wore the broad Belter Mohawk. The taller of the two offered Halloran her hand and introduced herself.
'I'm Kelly Ysyvry,' she said. 'Don't bother trying to spell it.'
'Y-S-Y-V-R-Y,' Halloran said, displaying the showoff mentality that had made his social life so difficult at times.
'Right,' Ysyvry said, unflappable. 'This,' she nodded at her female companion, 'is Henrietta Olsen.'
Colonel Buford Early, the shortest and most muscular of the three men, nodded impatiently at the introductions, he was an Earther, coal-black and much older than he looked, something Ultra Secret in the ARM before the war. Early had recruited Halloran four years ago, trained him meticulously, and shown remarkable patience toward his peculiarities..
'When are you going to be ready?' he asked Halloran.
'Ready for what?' Halloran asked.
'Insertion.'
Halloran, fully understanding the Colonel's meaning, inspected the women roguishly.
'I'm confused,' he said, smiling.
'What he means,' Ysyvry said, 'is that we're all impatient, and you've been the stumbling block throughout this mission.'
'What is she?' Halloran asked Early.
'We are the plunger of your syringe,' Henrietta Olsen answered. 'We're Belter pilots. We've been getting special training in the kzinti hulk.'
'Pleased to meet you,' Halloran said. He glanced back at the hatch to the cell airlock. 'Fixer-of-Weapons will be dead within a week. I can't learn any more from him. So… I'm ready for a test.'
Early stared at him. Halloran knew the Colonel was restraining an urge to ask him, Are you sure?, after having displayed such impatience.
'How do you know Fixer-of-Weapons will die?' the black man said.
Halloran's smile stiffened. He disliked being challenged. 'Because if I were him, and part of me is, I would have reached my limit.'
'It hasn't been an easy assignment,' the cultural scientist commented.
'Easier for us than Fixer-of-Weapons,' Halloran said, smirking inwardly as the scientist winced.
There would be many problems, of course. Halloran would never be as strong as a kzin, and if there were any sort of combat, he would quickly lost…
Halloran, among the kzinti, thinking himself a kzin, would have to carefully preprogram himself to avoid such dangerous situations, to keep a low profile concomitant with his status, whatever that might be. That would be difficult. A high-status kzin had retainers, sons, flunkies, to handle status-challenges; many of the retainers picked carefully for a combination of dim wits and excellent reflexes. An officer with recognized rank could not be challenged while on a warship, punishments for trying included blinding, castration, and execution of all descendants all more terrible than mere death to a kzin. Nameless ratings could duel as they pleased, provided they had a senior's permission… and Halloran-Kzin would be outside the rank structure, with no protector.
