A Larger Universe (21 page)

"Our custom is to bargain among ourselves while in a
pool.  We will adapt to other arrangements, but since this is my chamber, we
will follow The Peoples' custom, at least for me.  Take off your sandals and
sit on the rock's edge."

Tommy's first thought was how easy it would be for her to
pull him off the rock into the water to drown, then he decided she didn't need
the extra advantage and did as she asked. 

This isn't so bad
, he thought. 
If we were
standing or sitting on land, she would be looking down on me.  This way I have
height on her.  Just remember not to look directly at her!

"Well, feral, the bargain's terms are of your making. 
What is it you want to add?"

On his way from the elevator, Tommy had decided he had to
work his way into this.  He had some ideas about what he wanted, but he didn't
understand Lord Ull well enough to know if he had any chance of getting any of
it.  He still wanted to go home most of all.  The arrangement had to include
that.  Ull said she would help him escape when they returned to Earth, but that
might be years.  He wanted security and a certain amount of freedom--whatever
Lord Ull could give--and he wanted to continue to learn about this ship and its
situation.  And, of course, he wanted to continue the computer work.  Maybe he
wanted that more than the security.  After all, what security could a human
find on this ship?

"Lord Ull, may we talk first about what happened
yesterday?"

The water swirled behind her.  "Why?  Do you want to
rub my snout in my defeat?  Why would I allow that?"

Tommy shifted on the hard stone.  He had to be careful. 
"No, Lord Ull," he said.  "I am confused.  I repaired your ship's
guns.  I stopped your enemies from destroying
The People's Hand
.  I do
not understand why that made you want to kill me.  Without knowing why,
anything I ask for might drive you into another rage."

The water around Ull churned.  "You presume much, feral
human, but I agree with you.  You would do well not to provoke me again.

“You destroyed almost unimaginable resources when you
shattered
The Extended Claws
.  If the rumors are true, they had been
preying on other Nesu ships for hundreds of years, and had used their spoils to
repair every device on board.  With their resources we could have repaired
The
People's Hand
.  We could have made our ship new again."

Tommy almost looked at her.  "But they tried to destroy
us!"

"It may have seemed so, and there was some small risk
that they would.  They wanted to disable us because they wanted what we
have."

"Would it have made a difference to the crew if
The
People's Hand
had only been disabled?"

"They could not have taken the drive.  If we had been
left with enough supplies to survive and the means to calculate transit
coordinates, we could have gone to our Gathering place and waited for help from
our kin.  We would have had a chance, just as the raiders would have had a
chance for survival, except for what you did."

He could feel her gaze on him.  "Never," she said,
"has there been a gunner such as you.  I searched the logs of all of The
People's ships.  In a hundred such encounters, three was the most hits either
side received.  Often, even one hit is enough to cripple.  Most often, one hit
on both sides resulted in mutual withdrawal."  Tommy risked a quick
glance.  Her eyes seemed to glitter, even in the indirect light of the
chamber.  "With you in the targeting room, it is death to attack this
ship."

Tommy risked another direct glance at Ull, "And yet you
seem to think that is bad.  I heard you wonder how they knew we would be here. 
If they knew, so could others.  Does every ship you meet abide by the same
rules you do?"

"No, this is The People's custom.  Others might
not."

That he hadn't known before!  Species other than Nesu had
starships!

"So, you were angry because I destroyed the means to
repair your ship?"

Her tail swirled beneath her, lifting her head to his
level.  "Yes!  You have seen the lists from the guilds. 
The People's
Hand
has so much broken equipment, eventually some small thing will die,
and the ship will die as well."

Tommy watched her in the edge of his vision, trying to read
some expression on that pointed face.  "If you had computers from the raider
to repair the ship's guns, would your next defense be as effective?"

She paused a long time before replying.  "Are you
telling me it would not?"

"Lord Ull, I am not the gunner that did all of the
damage to the raider ship.  I did not aim the guns or tell them when to fire. 
The Earth computers I installed and the programs I wrote did that.  I just
turned the system on and picked the target.  Any one of The People... anyone
trained with the computers could have done the same."

Ull swam to the edge of the pond and leaned against the rock
edge, her eyes fixed on Tommy.  For a long time, the only sound came from the
waterfall splashing into its pool and the waves lapping against the shore.

"Your words offer many possibilities if they are true. 
Are Earth computers so much better than those on this ship?  The broadcasts
from Earth revealed them doing extraordinary things, but I assumed that was
just traders' exaggeration."

"Yes, they are better.  I do not understand why they
are, since you have interstellar travel and we do not, but in comparison to
Earth's, your computers are primitive and slow.  A moment ago you said that
with items from the raider, you could make this ship new again.  What if I told
you that is still possible?  What if I told you
The People's Hand
could
be better than new?"

Ull slapped the water beside her.  "When I traded for
those computers and took you, I hoped only to give us life until we could find
true replacements.  Are you suggesting the temporary replacements be made
permanent?"

Tommy ignored the water on his face and continued with his
argument.  Ull must draw her own conclusions.  "Why were you not able to
jump away from the raider as you did when it attacked before?"

She slapped the water again.  "The first time, we
detected the raider when it exited transit into the system.  While the raider
calculated a short transit to try to move closer, we calculated our transit to
leave.  Since we planned to go much farther, their calculation was less complex
and completed sooner.  If the raider had exited closer, we would not have
escaped.  The second time, the raider was upon us.  We could not set up and
calculate the transit parameters."

"Was this a limitation of the lords doing the work or
of the computer doing the calculations?" Tommy asked.

"Entering our destination's coordinates is done
quickly.  We must then wait for the navigation computer to calculate the
transit parameters."

"So, if you did those calculations with a computer over
a hundred times faster, would that be helpful?"

Ull hesitated.  "You can make that happen?"

"I am sure I can."

After a moment’s hesitation, Ull flipped backward and dove
beneath the water, her tail following in an arc that covered him with water. 
She surfaced again near the waterfall in a gigantic leap, then dove and leaped
a second and third time, circling the pond.  With each jump, she pulled a film
of air under the surface with her that bubbled away as she rolled.  The bubbles
in her fur gleamed beneath him as she passed, and her wake sent waves splashing
over the rock and his rolled up pants legs.  When she reached the trough's
bottom next to the waterfall, her leap took her out of the water to a rock. 
From there, she scampered from rock to rock beside the trough, almost on four
legs, her long back bending double at the start of each jump, until she reached
the top.  Her next jump took her face first, down the S-shaped trough, and into
the pool with a gigantic splash.  Two porpoise leaps out of the water brought
her in front of him, where her head popped up from the water in the same place
as before.

Her long, pulsating, whistle drove through his eardrums. 
"Yes!  If you can do that, it would be helpful!" she said. 
"What must I give you to make this happen?"

Tommy shook off the water and thought about his answer.  His
first thought was to try to drive a hard bargain just to fix the transit
computer, but Lord Ull was not stupid.  She would figure out he was already
making those kinds of improvements.  The truth was he didn't have much to offer
that she couldn't coerce in some fashion.  Somehow, she had to see him as more
than a feral human trading partner. 

"Lord Ull, how can I make a bargain with you?"

"Now I do not understand, wild human, we have already
made a bargain.  We are now engaged in adding additional clauses."

"That was a forced bargain, not a bargain between
equals.  Because of the situation, you were not my equal," Tommy said. 
"I am not your equal now."

"No two parties are ever truly equal," Ull
replied.  "A contract describes an exchange of goods or services and is
not concerned with equality.  Equality, or the lack of it is about power.  If
the disparity of power is too great, the greater takes, she does not
negotiate. 
The Extended Claws
intended that fate for us."  Again
the whistle.  "You showed her the error of her presumptions."

"And what power do I have to keep you from taking from
me?" Tommy asked.  "I cannot point your own guns at
The People's
Hand
."

Again, the only sounds were of waves lapping against the
shore and of water falling into the pool.  Again, Tommy wished he could
understand that pointed face.  When he glanced at her eyes, he saw only
expressionless black beads regarding him intently.  She had emotions.  Her
rage, the whistle, and her frolicking swim proved that.  Beyond those, he
couldn't read her at all.  He thought he understood much of what Potter felt,
and he didn't have a human face either.  Maybe he would learn something of what
Ull felt if he were with her enough.  Until then, he would have to trust in her
words.

"You are correct, of course," she said finally. 
"Are you suggesting I end this and return you to your tasks?"

"Are you certain that would get you what you
want?" Tommy asked.

"From every other human on board, it would.  I am not
so certain of you."  He felt her eyes fixed on his face.  "What would
I get from you if I did that?"

"As little as I could do."

"I could punish you until you did more."

"I would do less," he said.  "You would have
no way of knowing that, of course.  You have no idea of what I could bring to
this ship and to you.  Your reaction to the guns' repair proves that.  How
could you know whether I was cooperating?"

"Our artisans could understand the computers without
you." 

"Your human slaves have learned some things about
Earth's computers.  Given time, they will learn more.  Someday, they will be
able to do what I can do.  Can you wait?"

"No, we cannot," she replied.  Her tail swirled
again.  "You are not powerless, after all.  Your power is in my
needs."

"And my ability to fulfill those needs."

"You have made your point.  So, what is it that you
want?" she asked?

When he first entered this chamber, he hadn't been sure. 
Now, he realized what he must have: to work, to come and go as he pleased, and,
someday, to go home, "Lord Ull, first I want what I have at this moment. 
The ability to speak with you freely about the ship's problems without your
treating me as one of your slaves."

"You would have me treat you as if you were one of The
People?  Were I to do that, I would be removed from the council."

"You asked what I wanted.  Perhaps that is a privilege
you could give when we are alone.  You would gain, too.  My power over you is
in your ignorance.  Open conversations between us could dispel that."

The water above her tail became agitated.  "I will
think on it.  Continue."

"I would like to ask another question first." 
When she didn't protest, he continued, "How were the human guilds
formed?"

"When the humans were taken, they had their own
guilds.  Except for the farmers, they were useless to us.  The histories say we
took their children from them each day and trained them in ship's maintenance. 
The human priests taught the children to read and write in your language.  When
the children began forming guilds at their fathers' prompting, we saw no harm
in it."

"The People were once responsible for ship's
maintenance?" he asked.

"Yes."

Tommy could see how this situation had evolved, but that
wouldn't do any good now.  "I would like to start a new guild with me as
its guildmaster.  The guild would be responsible for all of the computers on
The
People's Hand
, old and new.  You will ensure the other guildmasters'
cooperation, so we that can progress as rapidly as possible in replacing the
old computers on this ship."

"The new guild will need a place to work.  I want the
warehouse where the computers are stored designated as our guildhall.  I and my
new apprentices and journeymen need quarters close by, so we can easily work
together.  Oh, I want your support with the other lords, so I can get all of this
done."

"Is that everything?"

He had almost forgotten! "One more.  I will train
another to be the guildmaster of this new guild with the knowledge to maintain
the computers we install.  In return, when this ship again visits Earth, you
will help me escape."

Ull disappeared beneath the water and reappeared by the
waterfall.  This time, she climbed slowly up the rocks to the top of the slide
before gliding down.  Her reentry was almost silent.  She came back on the
surface, her eyes watching him as she swam, until she faced him again. 
"If I give you these things, I want your full cooperation in repairing
The
People's Hand
.  If you are convinced something should be done, you will
tell me.  I will make the decision whether you should do it or not.  You will
come to me once a week, or when I call you, and tell me of your progress.  You
will inform me before you begin changing any of the major computers, such as
the navigation computer.  The council must be prepared.  And you will continue
to show me the proper deference in public and in private, except for our
agreement to talk freely about the ship's problems when we are in private. 
Even then, you will not look directly at my eyes.  Do you agree?"