Chess With a Dragon (14 page)

The applause continued for a few seconds longer, then died in uncertainty.

“Let me say this. It looks good. It looks very very good. But we're going to have to wait to see if it plays. So, please don't start slapping yourselves on the back and congratulating each other just yet. There's one more thing that has to happen, and I'm going to be taking care of it as soon as I finish my report here.” He motioned to the others to sit down, but remained standing himself. “If you'll all be seated—”

Yake waited until everybody had taken their chairs and all eyes were upon him.

“It's very tricky,” Yake began. “But it's all very very legal. That's what's so delightful about it. First, the Dhrooughleem are out of the picture entirely. Because we found our own way of paying the debt, the Dhroo have had to forfeit a very large deposit that they paid to the InterChange for the right of sole acquisition. The deposit, I am told, was considerable—and part of it will be credited against our debt.” Yake had to wait until the applause died down again before he could continue.

“Thank you. I feel that way myself. They bet the store and they lost it. But, you don't know yet just how badly they lost it. The Dhroo were planning to sell human individuals to a race of intelligent praying mantises called the Ki!Lakken. We got this information from the Rh/attes. This is what makes this game so interesting. The Dhroo thought that the Ki! wanted to use humans as food and as larval incubators. The Ki! were already using feral children for that purpose—” Yake held up a hand. “I'll explain the details later; as near as we can figure out, these are the descendants of the lost Nineva colony; the Dhroo seem to have had a hand in that disaster too.

“The thing is, some of the Ki! had figured out that the children could be trained, and they were planning to double-cross the Dhroo and the Fn-rr—” Yake paused. “This is about to get very complicated. The Ki! and the Fn-rr are sharing a planet; the same planet that the Dhroo stole from us. The Ki! wanted to purchase several hundred thousand humans, but not use them for food or incubators; they'd train them to kill the Fn-rr. Apparently the feral humans have been feeding on the Fn-rr. That would leave the Ki! the sole custodians of the planet. With the destruction of the Fn-rr, part of their debt would disappear. Is everybody following this? Good.

“So, we approached the Ki! with a better offer. Actually, we had the Rh/attes make the offer for us—for a small commission, of course. The Rh/attes will supply humans to the Ki!
now. We'll get the fee, not the Dhroo. The contract specifically gives the Rh/attes (agenting for us), custody of all the humans on the planet. They can't be used for food or eggs; they can only be used for training. Nori Kasahara says that the Fifth, Seventh and Twelfth Armies can be trained and on-site within seven months.”

“But wait a minute—” said someone down at the end of the table. “That sounds like we're going to be a party to a genocide—”

“Oh, yes it does, doesn't it. But the contract is only for training, it guarantees nothing else. Of course, the Ki! don't dare say what they want to train the humans to do; that would be illegal.”

“But we're not going to do it, are we?!!”

“Of course not. We have a second contract on that planet. We're going to be the new gardeners for the Fn-rr. Caretakers. Protectors of the dreams. Call it what you will. It's a very attractive contract. Within ten years, the Fn-rr should have incredible forests on every continent.”

“But what about the Ki!? Won't they figure it out quickly enough?”

“Oh, I'm sure they will; but they're going to have some other problems to worry about. It seems that Fn-rr have discovered a very interesting fact; the alternate larval beast that the Ki! use is very susceptible to the measles. To be very fair to our Ki!Lakken employers, we will have to make very very sure that anyone sent to the planet is appropriately inoculated. Otherwise, it may turn out that the Ki!Lakken will not be able to continue into the next generation; and the Ki! have very short generations. Only five to seven years.” Yake let that sink in, then continued, “So, here's how it works out. We're getting paid by the Ki! to eat the Fn-rr. We're getting paid by the Fn-rr to retard the breeding of the Ki!. If we decide to honor
both
those contracts, we can have our lost colony world back. We're getting part of the deposit forfeited by the Dhroo. Furthermore, because the Dhroo were responsible for stealing the planet from us in the first place and selling it to both the Fn-rr and the Ki!, they are heavily invested in both those species. Now that they've lost the rights to our indenture, they are no longer in a position to further exploit the Ki! and the Fn-rr, so they may not be able to meet the payments on their own indenture. So—if this forces an early retirement of the Dhroo, then the Rh/attes will pay us a bonus equal to one-tenth of
their
indenture to the Dhroo. Does everybody follow that?”

Everybody did. And this time, the applause went on and on and on.

Even after Yake left the room.

But there was still, as Yake had promised, one more thing to do.

Yake Singh Browne had a promise to keep. The Dragon was resting on the top of a brown hill. It looked up as Yake approached. It had been eating something wet and gray and slithery. Something that still bubbled and frothed. Pieces of glass and plastic crunched beneath its teeth; sea water dripped from its jaws. “
Yesss?
” it asked.

Yake bowed. “I came to keep a promise.”

“
You came to tell me how it all worked out?
” the Dragon asked.

“Yes,” said Yake. “I always keep my word.”

“
So. Now I will tell you
,” said the Dragon.

“
It worked out deliciously. Thank you for an amusing game. I hope it was interesting for you
.”

“Yes. It was very interesting. Very very interesting.”

“
I am pleased. Perhaps you would like to play again soon?
”

“Ah . . . if you insist.” Yake sweated his answer. How do you say no to a Dragon?

“
Yes, perhaps, we shall
,” said the Dragon. “
Perhaps next time it will be more interesting for me as well
.”

The Dragon yawned and lowered its head to its feast again.

Yake ran like hell.

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