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"He's big, Carl!" she cried.
And he grew, and grew, and grew uneasy...
"_Now!_"
He looked down.
He looked down, as the god of our most ancient ancestors might have looked down. Fear, shame, and mocking laughter rang in my head. Her head, too?
"Now!"
She looked up at the nascent earthquake.
"I can't!"
It was going to be so damnably simple this time, now the rabbit had died. I reached out.
I stopped.
"Push it yourself."
"I can't. You do it. Land him, Carl!"
"No. If I do, you'll wonder for the rest of your life whether you could have. You'll throw away your soul finding out. I know you will, because we're alike, and I did it that way. Find out now!"
She stared.
I gripped her shoulders.
"Could be that's me out there," I offered. "I am a green sea serpent, a hateful, monstrous beast, and out to destroy you. I am answerable to no one. Push the Inject."
Her hand moved to the button, jerked back.
"Now!"
She pushed it.
I lowered her still form to the floor and finished things up with Ikky.
It was a good seven hours before I awakened to the steady, sea-chewing grind of Tensquare's blades.
"You're sick," commented Mike.
"How's Jean?"
"The same."
"Where's the beast?"
"Here."
"Good." I rolled over. "...Didn't get away this time."
So that's the way it was. No one is born a baitman, I don't think, but the rings of Saturn sing epithalamium the sea-beast's dower.
The Keys to December
BORN OF MAN and woman, in accordance with Catform Y7 requirements, Coldworld Class (modified per Alyonal), 3.2-E, G.M.I. option, Jarry Dark was not suited for existence anywhere in the universe which had guaranteed him a niche. This was either a blessing or a curse, depending on how you looked at it.
So look at it however you would, here is the story:
It is likely that his parents could have afforded the temperature control unit, but not much more than that. (Jarry required a temperature of at least -50 C. to be comfortable.)
It is unlikely that his parents could have provided for the air pressure control and gas mixture equipment required to maintain his life.
Nothing could be done in the way of 3.2-E grav-simulation, so daily medication and physiotherapy were required. It is unlikely that his parents could have provided for this.
The much-maligned option took care of him, however. It safe-guarded his health. It provided for his education. It assured his economic welfare and physical well-being.
It might be argued that Jarry Dark would not have been a homeless Coldworld Catform (modified per Alyonal) had it not been for General Mining, Incorporated, which had held the option. But then it must be borne in mind that no one could have foreseen the nova which destroyed Alyonal.
When his parents had presented themselves at the Public Health Pla
When Alyonal caught fire and went away, those Coldworld Catforms covered by the option who were scattered about the crowded galaxy were, by virtue of the agreement, wards of General Mining.
This is why Jarry grew up in a hermetically sealed room containing temperature and atmosphere controls, and why he received a first-class closed circuit education, along with his physiotherapy and medicine. This is also why Jarry bore some resemblance to a large gray ocelot without a tail, had webbing between his fingers and could not go outside to watch the traffic unless he wore a pressurized refrigeration suit and took extra medication.
All over the swarming galaxy, people took the advice of Public Health Pla
When the man from the Galactic Civil Liberties Union had come around, expressing concern over the pre-birth contracts involved in the option and explaining that the Alyonal Catforms would make a good test case (especially since Jarry's parents lived within jurisdiction of the 877th Circuit, where they would be assured favorable courtroom atmosphere), Jarry's parents had demurred, for fear of jeopardizing the General Mining pension. Later on, Jarry himself dismissed the notion also. A favorable decision could not make him an E-world Normform, and what else mattered? He was not vindictive. Also, he owned considerable stock in G.M. by then.
He loafed in his methane tank and purred, which meant that he was thinking. He operated his cryo-computer as he purred and thought. He was computing the total net worth of all the Catforms in the recently organized December Club.
He stopped purring and considered a sub-total, stretched, shook his head slowly. Then he returned to his calculations.
When he had finished, he dictated a message into his speech-tube, to Sanza Barati, President of December and his betrothed:
"Dearest Sanza--the funds available, as I have suspected, leave much to be desired. All the more reason to begin immediately. Kindly submit the proposal to the business committee, outline my qualifications and seek immediate endorsement. I've finished drafting the general statement to the membership. (Copy attached.) From these figures, it will take me between five and ten years, if at least eighty percent of the membership backs me. So push hard, beloved. I'd like to meet you someday, in a place where the sky is purple. Yours, always, Jarry Dark, Treasurer. P.S. I'm pleased you were pleased with the ring."
Two years later, Jarry had doubled the net worth of December, Incorporated.
A year and a half after that, he had doubled it again.
When he received the following letter from Sanza, he leapt onto his trampoline, bounded into the air, landed upon his feet at the opposite end of his quarters, returned to his viewer and replayed it:
Dear Jarry,
Attached are specifications and prices for five more
worlds. The research staff likes the last one. So do I.
What do you think? Alyonal II? If so, how about the price?
When could we afford that much? The staff also says that an
hundred Worldchange units could alter it to what we want in
5-6 centuries. Will forward costs of this machinery shortly.
Come live with me and be my love, in a place where there
are no walls....
Sanza
"One year," he replied, "and I'll buy you a world! Hurry up with the costs of the machinery and transport...." When the figures arrived Jarry wept icy tears. One hundred machines, capable of altering the environment of a world, plus twenty-eight thousand coldsleep bunkers, plus transportation costs for the machinery and his people, plus...Too high! He did a rapid calculation.