Reunion,, Part 8 · Part 1

Reunion,, Part 8 · Part 1 (1/2)
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Reunion 153 / 0918

Garth awoke slowly to light filtering in through the thin material of his tent. The sounds of birds accompanied the morning insects in a light if chaotic sort of sonata. He rolled over, taking care not to disturb… who was it today? Kiza. She moved, very slightly, as he eased himself out of his sleeping sack and crawled out into the morning air.

Looking across the small, rocky clearing he saw that Skii's tent was still closed and it's occupant still enclosed. He felt the urgent need of his bladder and stepped down the slope a couple of meters off the trail and relieved himself. Then, walking back to collect his boots, he stopped to look around.

From where he stood two geological features were most apparent. The first was Marbletop Ridge, a low hill, projecting at most twenty meters above sea level, that ran the shore of the Vinyare' Sea for as long as his eyes could make out features. The other was the Rocchodain Mountain Ridge, the geologically young and dramatic collection of mountains that, less then thirty kilometers from Marbletop, ran the same path from Pendor North to Pendor South. Garth had learned early on that Pendorians thought of North and South in terms of their sun because on a ringworld, especially one so electromagnetically maintained as Pendor was, such "magnetic" terms were pointless.

Garth had been shocked to learn that Pendor was not "geologically stable." But his reading on the spaceflight had said as much; while Pendor did not possess "lava" in its understructure, the ferrofluidic (it really used suspended neodymuim crystals, but the "iron" technical term for a magnetically susceptible fluid stuck, much like the phrase "surgical steel" is used for substances which are these days primarily ceramic) 'base' of Pendor, which among other things provided large-scale climate control, also provided a constant, geological 'ebb and flow' to the surface of Pendor, in some places causes land masses to shift as much as a centimeter a year! The book he had been reading explained that the measure was necessary to prevent Pendor from becoming "a flat land of eroded sand" during it's many millions of years of evolutionary control.

But as he looked out over the beautiful, mist-shrouded valley, even as the mist broke up under the hammer of summer sunlight overhead, he appreciated this massive construction effort for what it was… an effort to keep mountains young and beautiful. Old mountains had their place in a world, but once he knew what they were, they even looked worn and old. Spectacular constructions like the American Rockies, which were relatively young, held his attention.

A birdcry made him jerk his head around, and he saw what was either an eagle or a falcon carrying some small rodent in its beak. He smiled, wondering if a Neorat would feel any empathy. As a Katckin, he was pleased to be able to say that he had no prejudice against Neorats, no matter what the popular literature might imply on the subject.

"Good morning!" Skii's voice interrupted him, and he turned and smiled at the naked Felinzi. Skii was completely shameless, more then anyone else he had ever met. While at times Skii's antics had made his whiskers droop, at other times, he admitted, it made his erection rise. He had never been serious about playing with males before; the last two times had really been moments of convenience, not attraction, and while he still found himself much more attracted to Kiza (or any female, for that matter), repeated contact with Skii's gleeful mannerisms and skilled sexuality had made him appreciate males more then ever before.

"Good morning!" he replied in kind. "You sound alive this morning!

"Oh, I am! I am!" Skii scratched at his chest and then, almost unconsciously, at his crotch. "It's a beautiful day out, not a cloud in the sky. We should be home by eleven or so. What do you think? A good time to get home?"

"Fine with me."

"Well, let's wake Kiza up and get rolling," Skii said.

"I'm awake! Don't you dare do anything, you two!"

Skii laughed. "Well, I guess that takes care of that little problem. In any event, we really should get moving. So come on, Kiza, get out and take your leak and eat your breakfast bar. There's a lot of mountain and fifteen klick of road ahead of you today."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Kiza crawled out of her tent and blinked into the summer sunlight. "It's bright."

"It's summer. You said so yourself just a week ago, and every day since," Skii pointed out. "If you want winter, well, there are other sections of the ring you can travel to where the insulation is much thinner."

Kiza shook her head. "That's okay. I keep forgetting that PST is aligned not only with GMT but also with Terra's Northern Hemisphere in terms of seasonal climate."

"Used to be," Skii pointed out. "We lose a a second or two every year. It's finally caught up with us. We're almost half an hour behind."

Garth nodded, then shrugged. "Makes no difference. Has Shardik thought about altering the rotational speed of the ring to make up the difference?"

"Are you nuts?" Skii asked. "Well, I imagine he's thought about it. But think about the sheer number of pendular and other mechanisms that would be altered by even a minuscule change. No, Pendor's rotational speed has not altered by one hundred thousandth in over six million years. And there's a reason for that."

Garth nodded. "I kinda figured."

"Now, altering Terra's speed, that's different."

"What?"

"Just kidding." Skii laughed as Kiza returned from wherever she had disappeared to. Together the three of them picked up their tents and supplies and packed them away. "This way!" the Felinzi shouted, and down the mountainside he went in leaps and bounds.

"Idiot," Kiza said. "He'll burn up kilocalories doing that, and if he hurts himself the Shatha will probably kill him trying to put him back together again." She took a bite of the fourth highly dense breakfast bar she had dug into that morning. Garth was starting to appreciate just how much food it took to keep a Pendorian "running." Most of the ones who led any sort of active life seemed to eat almost constantly, or at least voraciously when they had an opportunity. It seemed to be a major, or at least significant, drawback.

But the lovely day drew his attention back and he wished, idly, that he could whistle as humans did as he walked down the meandering but always-headed-downwards path that eventually bottomed out in a small gutter, on the other side of which was the Spinward March. To his left would be Rocchodain, and on his right, Shardik Castle. He knew that this range and the accompanying primordial forests were not the oldest in Pendor, but that didn't matter. Nothing on Terra conveyed the sense of antiquity and isolation that this narrow ribbon of green of stone managed to say.

Skii leaned over and whispered in Garth's ear, "They say that sometimes Pardalets come down from the southern part of the mountain range, especially when they learn to enjoy the taste of sentient flesh."

"Wha… What's a Pardalet?"

"It's a small feline. They don't get much bigger then around 15 kilograms. But they hunt in packs of six or more, and like the Pamthreats, they make telepathic hunting gestalts." He grinned, then hit Garth on the arm playfully. "I'm just giving you a hard time, Garth. There's been only one Pardalet attack on a sentient in all of recorded history."

Garth nodded, swallowing his fear. "But that means that they have attacked. And there's always room for a second occasion."

Skii shrugged and laughed. "You're paranoid. Don't worry about it. They attacked a child."

Much to Skii's amusement, Garth spend most of the day scanning the treeline, fearful of an attack. Just as the trees parted and the rising wall of the eastern face of Marbleridge came into view, Skii said "You know, there's a better chance of a wolfpack attacking a walker along this part of the march then there is of pardalets." He laughed. "We get wolf reports about once a year."

"And you didn't warn me?"

"Come on. Once a year is nothing. Nobody ever actually gets killed by those things. Usually the wolves have just had the bad sense to set up a pack's perimeter within reach of the road, and the sentients and the wolves get to alpha each other around." He laughed as if enjoying the idea.

They walked through the long, dark tunnel that led into the Lagoon area of Shardik Castle. Garth recognized the two people lying on the sand under the shade of one of the peculiar blue palm trees that lined the southernmost wall of the lagoon crater. "Furry! Kolya!"

"Garth!" They both jumped up and ran towards him, their arms wide. Both of them were smiling. "It's so good to see you!" Nickolai said, hugging his old friend as they collided.

Garth stepped back and examined Nickolai. "You got sunburned."

Nickolai shrugged. "It happens when you walk all day in the sun."

"Guess you should have worn some sunscreen," Garth laughed. "You look red. Let's get you into the shade. I don't want to make your burn any worse."

They retired indoors to the third floor of the Castle, a small common room that lined the western wall and faced out over the ocean. Nickolai recounted his tale of his trip through the Hall and Garth caught Nickolai up on his adventures with Kiza and Skii. "More like misadventures."

"Something wrong?" Nickolai said.

"Ehhh." Garth waved his hand flat before him. "It's not like I'm not enjoying myself. It's just that both of them are, well… It's hard to say. Pushy, I guess."

"I could have told you that about Kiza," Furry admitted. "She gets like that when she thinks she's got something. And Skii is just competition."

"He's worse in some ways. He knows he's not going to have me around for long, so he's trying to get in as much as he can. It's not such a bad thing. Kinda fun, really. Just wish it didn't all feel so hectic." Garth sighed. "I guess that's the biggest thing. I mean, come on, Nickolai, I used to whack off to things like this back when we were in Redbridge. Now it's real and I'm getting burned out."

Furry reached over and pulled Garth towards her. He startled, surprised, then allowed her to hug him tightly. He laughed softly as he wrapped his arms around hers. "You know, that's the really surprising part."

"What is?" Furry asked as she let him go.

"You two. I've actually missed you two. I… Kiza and Skii are just company, you know, just 'fun.' Nickolai's been my roommate for almost two years now and he's sorta like family. And he's talked about you so much I think that you're part of the family too."

Furry nodded. "Thanks."

"So," Nickolai said quietly, "What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. I mean, I don't want to get into the politics. It makes sense for me to walk the Hall, Nickolai, it really does. But I just don't know."

"Why does it make sense, though?"

"Because it does. I mean, look at this place. As much as I hate to admit it, this is the center of the universe as far as we know. We don't have a thing that matches up to the power of Pendor. It's time we realized that evolution points us in this direction."

Furry shook her head. "I don't agree. I think Pendor's solution is one direction for evolution. But at this point to say it's the direction is foolish." She sat back in her chair. "Listen. I'm an archeologist and my specialty is end-time cultures. Well, that's what I'm studying at any rate. But to classify a cultural period as 'end-time' is a bit unfair because the culture doesn't just vanish usually; it breaks up into lots of smaller cultures that don't fall back all the way to the state the original one was in when it started." She stopped to collect her thoughts. "All I'm saying is, Terra fell apart about six centuries ago. You know it and I know it. We live so long, though, that it's taken us this long to figure it out. Pendor's just one of the many lines that, culturally, Terra took on it's long, slow rise out of the gravity well."

"So…" Garth said, looking puzzled. "What are the others?"

"Who knows? Pendor is steeped in rationalism. There are planets obsessed now with monoculturalism. Take a look at the 'Empire' with its blatant racism. You and I think it's funny, but really it isn't. That stupid argument about food imports a few years back is a great example; when they had a famine we offered them grain support but they refused it. Because, they said, their stomachs were different and wouldn't accept our food. And all for their pride they let their population starve." Furry shook her head. "Of course, they could care less about most of their population."

Garth knitted his eyebrows together, his whiskers twitching. "I don't scan. What does this mean to me? Should I walk the Hall or not?"

"That's still up to you," Furry said, putting her hands in the air.

"I guess it comes down to, would it be the best thing for you to do," Nickolai added. "Think about it, Garth. What are the benfits and disadvantages?"

Garth propped his head up in his hand, chin to palm. "Hmm. We've been over this before. About the only disadvantages I can think of are that I would need more to eat. That and I'd lose a couple of days of vacation time."

Nickolai laughed. "You're always so practical, Garth. Think about it that way. You were good to me two years ago. I guess it's time you thought about what was good for yourself."

Garth nodded. "I'm trying not to add in all the little things about Kiza and Skii and Pendor in general that bother me. From an external view, I can't see a reason not to."

"Tell Ken," Nickolai said. "He'll want to know. You're his guest now."

"And what are you?"

Nickolai looked out the window. In the reflection, Garth could see he was smiling. "I'm family."

"You're what?"

"I guess I'm family. I… " Nickolai sighed, looking abashed but still smiling. "I'm accepted here. And you know what? It doesn't mean anything to me. It makes me feel good to have a place to go to, but it's not really the important part. What is important is that I have Furry."

She turned and smiled at him as he said it. "Thanks."

"What?" he said. "It's true. I used to think, a long time ago, that I wanted you. Then I realized Ken Shardik wanted to know me and I got all starry-eyed and… and it took me a long time to realize that doesn't matter nearly as much as you do. I love you."

She slid an arm around him and pulled him to her. "I love you too. And I'm glad you feel that way." She turned to Garth and held out one hand, gesturing in a 'come hither' sort of way. He rose and fell into her arms, and she hugged him tightly, holding him against her and Nickolai, and then she kissed his nose. "You're neat, Garth. I won't tell you to never change, but when you do, try and retain your neatness.

Surprised, he took a moment to find something to say. Finally he settled on the familiar. "Thanks, Furry."

"You're welcome. Now go tell Ken. You still need to tell him."

"You're serious about this?" Shardik asked him.

He nodded. "I thought about it for a long time, and I got Nickolai and Jofuran's advice. I… No offense to your household, Ken, but I don't think Skii's a great adviser for life-changing decisions."

"No, he isn't," Ken agreed wryly, standing up and looking out the plate glass windows that formed the doors of his porch. Beyond, the curving surface of the Vinyare Sea glistened. "You know," Ken said, "I used to worry that the Vinyare would be black and unfriendly. From the center, everything in a ring gets reflected back upwards. I keep forgetting about winds and waves." He turned around. "You should do that, too, Garth. Remember the winds and the waves." He pointed out over the ocean. "They make what could have been lifeless vibrant." He shook his head. "Sorry, I get strangely philosophical." He sat down in a wooden chair and crossed his legs. "Garth, no matter which choice you make, you'll have to live with yourself and your decisions. I can't make them for you. I try not to make them for anyone."

Garth nodded. "I'm going to do it."

"Morphing off." It was not a question.

"Yes, sir. Morphing off."

"Dave, run Garth through the usual options. See to it that he's fully prepared for tomorrow."

"Of course," the AI replied calmly.

"So the decision is done," Nickolai observed calmly, taking a bite of salad with his fork and chewing thoughtfully. With his mouth full he said a muffled "Congratulations."

"Don't congratulate me before its done," Garth said. "I might back out."

"You won't," Furry replied softly. "I have faith in you."

"That sounds weird, coming from you. 'I have faith.'"

"What?" Furry said. "It's true. I don't have religion. 'Faith' may be a religious word, but it's also a personal one. I have faith in you as a person, Garth."

Garth understood what she meant, but still felt slightly uneasy. He looked around the Castle rooftop at the assembled diners for the evening meal. He had learned the names of most of them in the past couple of days and felt more at ease with the denizens of Shardik Castle. He wondered if that was a permanent thing.

"Furry?" Kiza's voice pulled his eyes up until he was looking at her. She was looking down at Furry however.

"Yeah?"

"Could I… could I talk to you?" Kiza's voice halted and started, sounding more than a little fitful.

Furry smiled and said "Sure. Be right back, you guys." She stood up and the two of them walked away, disappearing behind some of the smaller trees that occupied the easter face of the rooftop garden.

"What do you suppose that's all about?" Garth asked.

"Furry mentioned earlier that she felt bad about the way she and Kiza broke up. It bothers me too." Nickolai put his plate aside and leaned back against a large rock. Garth thought he looked oddly peaceful. He felt at ease himself, despite his own big adventure tomorrow. "I mean, on the one hand I do understand that they agreed a long time ago that this was a temporary arrangement. On the other, I don't like the idea of leaving anyone in a lurch."

Garth nodded. "I haven't been very good for her. I'm going home soon too."

"We all are, in our own ways. Or, we're already there. In any case, Kiza feels like she's being left behind."

"How do you feel about her?"

"About Kiza?" Nickolai asked. "Good question. I've never been jealous of her, and I'm proud of that fact. I believed Jofuran when she told me where her loyalties lay. God, I hate wording it that way. There's got to be a better way to describe this."

"Try," Garth urged.

"She's… Well, Kiza's a little less mature than Furry, a little impetuous. She's very pretty, but I've already got my interests firmly assigned to Furry." He laughed. "Aside from that, I don't know. I'd like to know her as a friend. She's Furry's friend, at any rate."

"They're coming back," Garth said, noticing the two fems walking down the stone path.

Furry spoke first. "Listen, Garth, tomorrow you're going to be walking the Great Hall, and almost as soon as you come back you're leaving for Terra again. Kiza and I are, well, I guess we're friends again, although I don't see why we ever thought otherwise."

"It's called jealousy and it happens to the best of us," Kiza said.

"I guess," Furry shrugged. "Anyway, I guess I want to ask you, both of you, if you wanted to spend the night together. All four of us, just sorta being friendly and getting along."

"And making love?" Nickolai asked.

"That could happen," Furry admitted, smiling and kissing Nickolai softly. "If you want it to."

"I want," Nickolai replied. "Garth?"

Garth glanced at Kiza, then at Furry, then at Nickolai. "I… Sure, I guess."

Reunion,, Part 8 · Part 1 (1/2)
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