I Was An Alien Cat Toy (36 page)

metres west and looking entirely cat-like. “No! Don’t kill them...they’re harmless! Please...they’re just big

dumb animals. Don’t hurt them!” He waved at his friends to get the sheft away, but they didn’t move.

The guy smiled, a little embarrassed. “Don’t get bent out of shape, man. I won’t hurt your pets. I just

thought they might attack or something.”

“No, they won’t. They’re just slow and harmless. Can I come on board, or did you just want the

podpod?” He smiled to show no hard feelings, but the sooner this guy stopped looking towards the day-neh,

the better. He turned to Jeng. “And how the sheft did you find me anyway?”

“Long story. Get inside, and I’ll tell you everything.”

A few more minutes while the podpod was secured, and then Jeng gave the order to lift off. Temin

was able to get one last look towards the ground and the rapidly diminishing figures of his friends before the

blast shields closed and they were ascending hard and fast through the atmosphere.

Once they’d cleared the gravitational pull of the planet, Jeng put them into FTL mode, set the

autopilot and undid his harness. The crewman, Hiso, wandered off to check on the podpod but Temin stayed

put—he was feeling a little numb. After so long, it had all happened so fast, and everything felt strange and

wrong—the human-scaled dimensions of the cargo ship seemed too low and cramped after months in the tall

ceilings and wide rooms and halls of the day-neh houses.

Jeng came over and knelt at his feet, taking his hand. “Hey, are you all right? You’re looking a little

shocky. Sheft, I didn’t think...should have brought a medic. Are you hurt? Sick? I could....”

Temin touched Jeng’s lips, relearning their texture. “No, I'm not hurt. Just...still getting used to it.

You, lover, have some explaining to do. How the shefting crack did you find me? I thought there wasn’t a

chance in hell that anyone would pick up my signal on the FTL lanes...you dropped out to look for me, didn’t

you? Jeng, did you break regs?”

Jeng smiled, and Temin’s heart flipped again. He had really missed that gentle smile. “No, actually, I

didn’t. Did you work out why you crashed?’

It was so long ago he’d almost forgotten the reason he’d ended up on Ptane in the first place. “The

podpod—someone sabotaged the FTL drive. An explosive. I nearly didn’t make it. The sublights were fried

in the landing.”

Jeng squeezed his fingers. “Did you know you were carrying quiladia in the payload?”

“No! The labels said...um, something like farnom?” He’d taken so little interest in the cargo, once

he’d realised it was useless for survival purposes. “Nothing exciting, I know that. Quiladia? Really?” The ore

was one of the rarest and most valuable substances in the galaxy, mined only on Polmara and in incredibly

miserly amounts. “What the sheft was it doing on my craft?”

“It was a secret trade deal, made at government level with Polmara—you weren’t told so attention

wouldn’t be drawn to the shipment. I was bloody furious when I found out they’d used you for that. They

said you’d stolen it—that you’d made off with it and were holed up somewhere, maybe on Oxit.”

Temin rubbed his forehead. “How could I steal it when I didn’t know what it was? And I wouldn’t do

that!”

Jeng nodded. He got more comfortable, but still held Temin’s hands tight. “No, I know, and when

word came of your late arrival and then your disappearance, and this crap started flying around that you were

a thief, I knew it was a lie. Your mother, sisters, me, we all kicked up a stink. Commander Ling, he did too,

and pushed for a second investigation. We retraced your steps on Nixal, found out who knew what about the

shipment, and eventually we turned up someone who was prepared to inform on his conspirators—for a

price. When we found out what they’d done, I was able to work out approximately where your engines would

have failed, and then we could start to search that area. Still took me too shefting long. They said to give up

after we tried the first contact, but Commander Ling let me drop out of hyperspace whenever I had a run in

that area and that’s when I got your message.”

‘Let’ was probably a exaggeration, Temin thought, laying his hand on Jeng’s head and stroking it.

“Wait...conspirators? To kill me? What the sheft would anyone want with me?”

“Not you, love. Your payload—more specifically, what the payload was for. DCIR were on the verge

of mass-manufacturing an anti-cancer agent which would make hormonally-linked cancers a thing of the

past. It was worth billions and billions of yien to our economy.”

“’Was’?”

Jeng grimaced. “The whole thing got shut down—without the quiladia, the manufacture wasn’t

viable, and Polmara wasn’t willing to sell any more to Venshu because we’d allowed the last lot to disappear.

The government was severely embarrassed and the President came this close to resigning. Some of the

cabinet actually did resign.”

“Over this? Over
me
?”

“Yeah. You were declared a traitor and a price was put on your head. You were worth a fortune, dead

or alive.” Temin blinked at him. Jeng was smiling, but it was hardly funny. “It’s okay—that was lifted

months ago when we found who was really behind it. Anti-Federationists.”

“I don’t understand. Why would anti- Federationists want to blow me up?”

“To do what they did—embarrass Venshu, cause tensions between its government and Polmara, sow

suspicion. There’s been other stuff going on, assassination attempts, fomenting dissent...they want a war.”

His face screwed up in distaste. “They think if they can cause instability, people will disavow the Federation

secularism and demand a religionist influence in government. They weren’t happy about Oxit joining the

Federation and accepting the same laws, because they thought Oxit would hold out against them and give

them a wedge to strike the secular laws down.”

“So you’re saying I nearly died because of politics. Great.” He’d never been one to pay any attention

to that stuff. All he’d ever wanted to do was fly....

“Oh, and I’ve saved the best bit to last.” Jeng grinned, as he bent to kiss Temin’s wrist. “The press are

following this rescue minute by minute. You might want to clean up so you look your best when we hit the

dirt in Xixan. You’re about to become famous for all the
right
reasons.”

Temin groaned. “Why did I send that shefting signal? Life was so much easier this morning.”

“Not for me, love.” Jeng leaned up and put his arms around Temin. “This morning, you weren’t with

me. Now you are. So things are already better. Did I mention I missed you? Like every single shefting

second of every single shefting day?”

“You might have hinted, yeah. I kinda missed you a bit too.” He bent and kissed Jeng on the

forehead, then on the mouth, savouring his clean taste. “This better not be some whacked out dream, or I'm

going to be seriously pissed.”

But he knew he wasn’t dreaming. Jeng was really holding him, really kissing him, and Gredar really

was millions of klicks away. This was his life now

~~~~~~~~

Gredar couldn’t seem to make himself move even long after the amazing craft that had swallowed up

the podpod, and then T’meen, had disappeared into the endless blue of the sky. He stared up after it,

unblinking. It had been so quick, in the end. It didn’t feel real.

“Gredar?”

He shook himself as he felt Martek’s tail twine with his. “How will you record that? How do you find

words to describe it?”

“Ah, if you knew that, then you’d be the historian and not me. I can’t tell you all my secrets, kitling.”

Martek nudged him with his shoulder and Gredar smiled a little. “It’s better this way. You know that. We

could never have really ensured his safety—not such a frail, small creature among us, in our world.”

“Not so frail. Not so small either. I....” He placed his hand over his heart. “This pain...I don’t

understand it. It’s not like T’meen is dead.”

Martek rubbed his face against Gredar’s shoulder, licked his muzzle. “I think the feeling’s different

because
he
was different. But now he’s gone.” His tail curled around Gredar’s body and he leaned against

him. “Come with me, my friend. We’ll drink pkite and talk, and take pleasure in our remembering.”

“I have work to do. I can go to the gathering now—there’s no need to put Lerin out.”

Martek nudged him again. “No, there’s not. But let’s take a strike or two anyway. Your work will still

be there when we’re done.”

Gredar cast one last look up at the sky, and then he turned and followed Martek back to the

settlement.

~~~~~~~~

When Temin was a boy, he’d heard his mother describe someone to his Dad as a ‘hero’. When he’d

asked his Dad what the word meant, his Dad had smiled and said, “the kind of guy I’d like to be when I grow

up.” Which confused Temin since his Dad was already all grown up, but since he wanted to be just like his

father, he’d decided then and there he wanted to be a hero too. Then his Dad had got himself killed racing,

and his mother had had to cope with her grief and three kids, and Temin thought that maybe being a hero

wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

After the circus that had greeted his arrival back on Xixan, he was even more sure of that. If he hadn’t

had Jeng there beside him to push for Temin to be allowed some breathing space, he’d probably have

suffocated (and at times, literally, given how many people turned up to meet the shuttle.) Jeng had managed

the press and charmed the President’s people, got Temin’s mother in to see him, and insisted to the doctors at

the clinic where Temin was rushed for a check over that, no, Pilot Pyr did not need to spend his first night

back on Venshu in hospital, yes, he’d come back for more thorough tests in the following days, and what he

really needed more than medals and thanks and adulation was a hot meal, a shower and a night in a familiar

bed, which turned out to be his own in his mother’s house. His sisters had spoken to him by mobile and

promised to come over the next day, with the families. Tsuji told him that Jeng had warned them about the

likely press attention even before he’d left to pick Temin up, and that all she needed to know was that he was

in one piece. He grinned and assured her he was, and said he wanted to see them as soon as he’d got some

rest.

His Mum accepted that Jeng was essential to Temin’s sanity, so it was just the three of them who ate

an early supper that night, in blessed quietness after the turmoil of the day. It was a simple meal but Temin

stuffed himself, the flavours shockingly intense and rich after months of bland day-neh cooking. “You’re

acting like you’ve never seen food before,” his mother said, smiling and ladling more stew onto his plate.

Jeng shoved some more buttered bread over at him and grinned as Temin snatched up a slice.

“Well, you know...nothing like home cooking. I missed this, Mum. I missed you, everyone. I still

can’t believe I’m home.”

She looked so worn even when she smiled—he’d done this to her, he thought guiltily. “You and me

both. I think you and I need to have a little talk about this career of yours. I don’t recall any mention of

bombs when you graduated the Academy.”

She was only half-joking. “Mum, you knew it wasn’t a risk-free job when I took it on.”

Her gaze held his eyes for long seconds. “Your life is yours to do what you choose, Temin. But your

choices affect other people. We have a right to say we’d rather you didn’t die.”

“Yes, you do, and so would I. Dad got killed right here on Venshu. Danger’s everywhere.” He made

himself smile. “And hey, I’m here, so what are you complaining about?”

She sighed just a little. “No complaints, except for the fact you seem to have left half your body mass

behind somewhere. Now eat up, and Jeng, you let him get some rest. You can get down to monkey business

when he’s caught up.”

“Mother!”

Jeng just laughed. “Yes, ma’am. Do as your mother says, boy.” Temin kicked him under the table for

that.

He’d showered earlier, a little reluctantly because he was washing Gredar’s scent from him, but after

days without a bath, he really did pong. Sitting in his dressing gown in front of the window, he still didn’t

feel properly clean. He missed the feel of a warm, rough tongue, the curious slickness of a wet leather on his

skin. The shower had felt all wrong.

Jeng came out of the bathroom having had his own shower, and plopped himself behind Temin on the

bed. Temin shivered as Jeng’s damp hand curled around the back of his neck. “Why did you cut your hair?”

“Uh...it got caught in some bushes. I had to cut it off to get free. It was more practical for it to be short

anyway.” He hated to lie to Jeng but he couldn’t talk about the rape, even if he’d allow himself to talk about

anything that had happened on Ptane.

“Hmmm. You look very different without it. You look different anyway. Thinner—older.” Jeng put

his arms around Temin and pulled him back against his chest. Temin snuggled happily against his warmth,

trying hard not to miss fur and tails and big paws. “You’re carrying some bad scars. It was pretty rough for

you, wasn’t it?”

He began to comb his fingers through Temin’s hair, baring his nape so he could kiss it. Temin sighed.