up the new beat. A tall, elfin blonde caught my eye. I smiled back but made no move to go over. A short conversation in body language. 'You look like fun, come join me.' 'Tempting ma'am, but no thanks.' I beckoned to the bartender to refill my drink. As he did I showed him Miranda's holo. His manner stiffened ever so slightly. 'I've already told the Goldskins everything I know.'
'I'm not a Goldskin, I'm just doing a little unofficial inquiry.'
He relaxed a bit. 'Well, I've seen her of course. Her crowd were all regulars in here.'
'Are they here tonight?' I didn't look around.
'They haven't shown up yet. I don't expect they will, since the news broke about her.' Miranda was on all the 'casts.
'Yah, I understand. Listen did anything unusual happen the night she disappeared?'
'I really couldn't tell you; it was a week ago and I wasn't paying attention. I didn't know anything was wrong.' He looked anguished, as if her death was his fault.
'No, of course not.' Reassuring. 'Listen do me a favor and keep your ears open. If you hear anything, let me know.' I handed him my callcard and he assured me he would call with almost comical solemnity. My work is high drama for the citizens.
On the dance floor, another woman was looking at me, this one was a red-haired Wunderlander. She held my gaze for five intense seconds before whirling away, sensuous as a cat. Not an invitation but a challenge. 'Bet you can't keep up.'
I looked for the blonde. She was on her way out, arm in arm with a UNF captain. Maybe she liked Flatlanders. She was a Belter and I watched her long legs with frank appreciation. She caught me looking and gave me a look. 'See what you're missing.'
I shrugged and went to the edge of the dance floor. The holoshow had become a stormscape, thickened with real fog from a hidden nozzle. The clouds twisted in the virtual wind, forming wraiths for an instant before collapsing back into mist. At the height of the transformation, bolts of lightning formed eyes in the dark folds of their cowls. When the redhead came by, I caught her hand and she pulled me into the maelstrom. Her dancing was precise but uninhibited. I fell into rhythm with the bouncebeat, catching my partner and spinning her back into the crowd. Drowning myself in the deep blue pools of her eyes. I forgot about Miranda-and Holly.
As the music climaxed, she pulled me to her, pressing herself hard against me in the crush. She gave me the merest whisper of a kiss when the drumbeat crescendoed. Then thunder drowned out the music and strobes split the clouds with artificial lightning. She spun away as the new rhythm came up. By the time the spots cleared from my eyes, she was gone.
I was disappointed but intrigued. We hadn't spoken a word but her message was clear. 'Catch me if you can.'
She'd chosen the right man for the job.
The next day I got down to business. Identification had put together a composite holo of our suspect. Interview reports were trickling in as well. I also did a little personal work on UN time. I called up the Inferno's sales files for the previous night, cross-referenced for sex and description and found three women who might be my mysterious redhead. I screened their holos and found a match.
TLU5A169-Suze Vanreuter, 32, unmarried, no dependants, no record. She was a mining engineer, just arrived on Tiamat as a consultant to Corona Exploration. That's confidential information. A lot of speculators would pay high to learn that a prospecting operation has hired a mining engineer.
I wasn't interested in the stock market. The file didn't mention her catlike grace. The holo didn't show the sparkle in her eyes. No matter, I knew where I could find the real thing. I closed my eyes and remembered her taut body pressed against me. And the kiss. She put more erotic energy into that barely-there kiss than most women put into an orgasm.
That thought gave me pause and I thought back to my life with Holly. She'd been more than an enthusiastic bed partner, she'd been my lifemate, my friend. Losing her left an aching void in my soul. Was I now replacing her with Suze? Surely I was too experienced, too jaded to confuse love and lust.
I decided not. Suze wasn't better, she was different. I didn't love her, I didn't even know her, but I desired her more than I'd ever desired a woman before. Even more than Holly.
Hunter came in and looked over my shoulder. I should have closed my door. He gestured to Suze's holo on my screen. 'What is this one's role in the crime?'
I blanked the screen. 'She isn't a suspect, she's just a woman I saw at the Inferno while I was gathering information. I called up her file for…” I hesitated “… personal reasons.”
The kzin nodded knowingly, rippling his ears in amusement. He had dealt with humans, he understood the subtext of the conversation. “You have mated with her.”
I was taken aback. “No, I haven't, I am…” I groped for words “… interested in learning if I want to mate with her.”
The big cat sniffed the air, looking baffled. 'How can you not know if you are attracted to a female? Certainly your pheromones speak of desire.'
Did he have any idea how personal he was being? “I do know I'm attracted to her.”
“Then you have already learned what you need to know.”
“Well… It's not so simple, she also has to… want to mate with me.”
'And this information is available in her dossier?'
'No no no. She's made it clear she's interested in me. I'm looking at her file to get to know her better.'
'Would it not be easier to ask questions directly? And if you both desire sex with each other, why have you not already mated?'
Curiosity might not be killing the cat but it was certainly embarrassing the human. I groped for words, then inspiration struck. 'Among humans, sexual negotiations are often like a hunt. The goal is hopefully achieved, but the real attraction is the excitement and challenge of the chase. The harder the pursuit, the more satisfying the feast is.'
He nodded sagely. 'I understand. This is the violent sex you spoke of earlier.'
'No!' He was making me look like a schitz. 'There is no violence involved.'
'How then do you secure sexual relations with a resisting female?'
'She isn't resisting, damnit! She wants to be caught. More than that, she's actively seeking me as well.'
'This sounds more like a duel than a hunt.'
'Yah, maybe that's a better word.' I was relieved that some understanding had been conveyed. Now maybe we could move on to less personal topics.
My relief had come too soon. Hunter had another question. 'How do you determine the victor in this duel then?'
I wondered if he knew how disconcerting his persistence was. I watched him for signs of amusement but his face showed only curiosity.
I answered carefully. 'There isn't a winner or a loser. If we manage to establish a… relationship… on mutually acceptable terms, we both win, insofar as we have gained something pleasant and desirable.'
The kzin just looked baffled. 'A hunt with no hunting, where neither side knows if it is predator or prey. A chase that ends not with feasting but with procreation. A duel with no winner. Why go through these convolutions? If the scent is right, mate.'
It occurred to me that battle might be a better analogy. I started to sort out how to explain it in those terms but quickly gave it up.
Hunter was shaking his head dolefully. 'I will never understand humans.'
I was content to let him wonder. My concept of kzinti had been formed by holocubes on Earth. I'd learned they were remorseless alien killing machines intent on turning humanity into slaves and game animals. If anyone had told me then that one day I'd be trying to explain the dynamics of bounce bar dating to one, I would have died laughing.
I didn't laugh now. I didn't want Hunter to feel I was making fun of his lack of understanding. Even so, it was hard to keep my teeth from showing through my smile. I cleared Suze's file from the screen and brought up my
