Page 13 of On A Rift's Edge
“Everyone in my family has seen it several times.” Jenny didn’t grit the words out, but it was close.
“Our parents are worried that Kat might not be safe working at Moon Star Ranch.” Naomi gave Kat a mini-hug. It was like an air kiss, all display and little contact. “Maybe the two of you could discuss employment opportunities in the companies you support that work on resource extraction from Riftworld areas. I’m sure his personal experience would be invaluable.”
“I don’t know what resource extraction is, exactly, but I don’t think I like it much.” Kat shrugged off Naomi’s arm, now feeling a little testy, to be honest.
“It’s good to be critical of these types of proposals.” Paul sounded as if he was agreeing with Kat, which was, okay, a little flattering. Then he kept talking. “What’s the risk-benefit ratio? How high can the margins go? Those are the hard questions that need to be asked, whether accepting a senior management position or investing in a company.”
“How about asking if the resources are yours to take in the first place?” Kat was downright uncomfortable now. Being set up with a stranger was bad enough, but Naomi was trying to use this guy to lure Kat away from the ranch, away from Kaveh and Kat’s future career as a veterinarian. “Riftpeople have a right to decide if they want to share their resources with humans, whether those are material goods or knowledge and understanding.”
“My baby brother, the idealist.” Naomi gave an exaggerated sigh, then turned to greet two eager-appearing men coming up to their group. More of her work engineer friends, probably. They edged closer in, as people did when they wanted to jump into a conversation. Kat had seen it done but had no personal experience with the tactic, because he was usually trying to get out of conversations with people he barely knew.
Paul glanced over at them, then leaned closer to Kat, dropping his voice lower. “Many in the Riftworld have the power to protect their resources, I agree.” His grin flashed too many teeth. “Like the now-famous Dr. Kaveh Salehi and the young man he fought a duel over. I understand you might not be interested in switching jobs right now, but I’d like to ask you out for dinner. For personal reasons, not work ones.”
He tilted his wrist, showing the surface of a fancy watch that reminded Kat of the gold Rolex Remi wore as a mark that the alien entity known as the Matchmaker had brought Kaveh and him together. This one was platinum, with a pale blue face. The glass surface rippled, and a pair of antenna emerged, waving at Kat in invitation.
Paul Cicero had a cyberbug, like Bug. Kaveh had told him that few humans had that sort of Riftworld tech. Well, Paul was rich enough to buy anything he wanted, according to Kat’s sisters.
“May I have your contacts?” Paul held his wrist in place, and because Kat didn’t feel he could say no, he automatically responded by hovering his own smartwatch over it.
The full head of an insect came out of Paul’s watch, followed by red wings spotted with black. It looked like an oversized Earth ladybug, and a second later Kat’s watch buzzed with Paul’s information. It wasn’t any different than how Kat usually swapped contacts, except for the interaction of a Riftworld species that could merge with Earth technology.
The ladybug grew until it was as large as Kat’s palm, then flew off to land on Paul’s shoulder.
“We’ll be in touch.” The words sounded like Paul was saying them, but the perfect imitation of his voice came from the cyberbug.
Paul grinned and gave Kat a wink. “Resources. I have a lot of them.”
Then he turned to Naomi and her work friends, and Kat was free.
He didn’t waste any time fading back into the crowd. Jenny tried to follow, but Kat’s luck held when a couple dressed even less conventionally than she was pounced on her, buzzing about gossip good enough that she stopped.
Kat didn’t want to make a scene and run out of the event, so he tried to blend in, taking an offered canape that was shaped like a clown hat. The server informed him the appetizer was made from 3-D printed edible paper, and Kat thanked him as he backed away. He paused to pretend to ponder a few exhibits when the crowd was too thick to pass through. Then he made his escape from the main room.
He slipped through a side entrance into a dimly lit and mercifully empty hallway and paused to catch his breath and set his smartwatch to ‘unavailable, text back later.’ They had come in Naomi’s new car, even though the gallery was an easy walk to the e-trolley. He’d hop onto public transportation and try to recover from this painful event at home alone.
A clattering noise caused him to turn, and he dropped the clown hat onto the floor in surprise. The trash scorpion facing him reared back, as startled as Kat was.
The art gallery’s highest priced item wasn’t an art piece at all.
A live Riftworld animal had been transported here and displayed in a clear trash can.Kat was outraged. They were well outside the rift and the natural laws of the Riftworld. Unlike a phantom, this species could survive more or less unmodified in a fully Earth environment, but it couldn’t get back to the abandoned base it called home.
The trash scorpion scuttled forward, one oversized claw extending toward the clown hat canape. Then it drew back, tilting its shell home up as if to get a better look at him. Kat caught a glimpse of over a dozen small spheres, all a beautiful shade of iridescent blue. He recalled some mollusks having similar eyes.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” Kat supposed that speaking an Earth language with a creature so dissimilar to himself was hopeless, but he wanted to try. “Or put you back on the display pedestal. I think I can get you back home if you follow me.”
As an afterthought, he pushed the 3D-printed appetizer forward with his foot. Maybe the trash scorpion was hungry after hours of watching humans nibbling on snacks and drinking sparkling wine while it sat in a transparent garbage can.
The trash scorpion darted toward him, a quick move that made Kat jump, seized the clown hat, and moved away from Kat with the same unearthly speed.
There was a tense pause. Although the trash scorpion was no larger than an average house cat, he had no idea if it was dangerous to humans.
The trash scorpion waved the clown hat in its dominant claw at Kat, then emitted a string of chittering sounds followed by whistle-like squeaks.
“I come in peace.” Kat had no idea what he was saying at this moment. He gestured down the hallway to a distant outside door a few times, then backed away in the direction of the exit.
The trash scorpion settled the clown hat on an empty spot on its shell, posed like a soldier on patrol with its claw in salute position, and scuttled forward to follow him.
Kat was definitely not going to tell his sisters about any of this.
