Page 15 of On A Rift's Edge
“Junk, junk,” Snow supplied. The parrot flew up to the solar tree, broke off a photovoltaic cell leaf, and flapped down to present it to the trash scorpion. The Riftworld crab mounted the reflective piece on a small empty spot on the front of its shell and gave the bird a wave of its giant claw.
Then the trash scorpion reached up and plucked off the small piece of black fabric that was the thong. After waving it at Kat to get his attention, the creature moved closer to Lyall and placed the undergarment at his feet. It rotated its shell to reveal its myriad of spherical eyes first in Kat’s direction, then in Lyall’s.
The trash scorpion retreated a short distance and gave them its version of a salute.
“Okay, I don’t think the crab’s a threat.” Lyall used one of his short swords to pick up the thong. “Is this what I think it is?”
“Yes, it’s underwear.” Kat’s heart was pounding, and he felt like he couldn’t get in enough air. “A guy on the trolley gave it to the trash scorpion when he was trying to get my contacts. But that doesn’t matter right now. We need to?—”
Lyall interrupted with yet another question. “You were at a party on a date with a guy your sisters picked out for you, and then a different guy gave you his thong?”
“Lyall, please.” Kat couldn’t take this any longer. “I artnapped an art exhibit at the gallery, and I need to get myself and the trash scorpion back to the ranch right now. We can figure out how to return it to the military base later.”
Lyall gave a brisk nod, then sketched glowing red sigils into the air. The portal reopened with a sizzle.
It was a measure of how anxious Kat was that this rare display of Riftworld technology didn’t even pique his interest.
Getting everyone into the portal took far too long. After an argument with Snow about how vandalism of public property was a criminal offense, Kat managed to get the parrot off the solar tree and onto his arm. Lyall lured the trash scorpion into following him by dangling the thong in front of it. Sirens were blaring in the distance by the time they all passed through.
Their return to the ranch was anticlimactic, which was fine with Kat. Lyall’s portal deposited all four of them onto the outdoor patio near the ranch’s mess hall.
Remi strolled out of the building, took one look at the scene in front of him and doubled over in laughter. “Kat, I’m impressed with your first foray into illicit activity. Tell me all the juicy details.”
6
Lyall stood by as Kat gave Remi a full account of the circumstances that had led to him being left alone with a potentially dangerous Riftworld invertebrate, after not one but two men had hit on him.
Kat stood silhouetted in the light of a summer sunset, the sky purple and orange behind him. As always, the young human was beautiful, with his black hair falling to shoulder length under a cowboy hat, his body slender but muscular in a white shirt and dark pants. Lyall wasn’t good at picking up the subtleties of human fashion like Remi was, but Kat appeared to have dressed more formally than usual for the art gallery event.
Or perhaps for the man his family had wanted him to meet.
Lyall tried to tamp down a flood of furious jealousy. Kat wasn’t from the Riftworld and understood the Matchmaker only as a strange alien force that made riftpeople abduct humans and carry them off. He had every right to date another person, even if the thought made Lyall want to break something. A random guy with a thong on public transportation was bad enough. A potential romantic partner hand-picked by Kat’s family was far worse.
Remi nodded along to Kat’s story, then gave Kat multiple reassurances that the police were not likely to go looking for Riftworld-type trouble, and if they did, he would handle it.
Then the half-ratkind psychically projected a verbal message through Lyall’s mental shields.
Tell him he’s your Matchmaker match, dipshit.
To Kat, Remi smiled and said, “I’m going to see if Kaveh’s in the main building. I’ll chat with him about what to do with the trash scorpion while you two get caught up.”
He succeeded in getting the Riftworld arthropod to follow him by showing the creature his Rolex, as Snow encouraged the crab-like animal with a series of whistles.
That left Lyall alone with Kat, with no idea what to say.
He would have preferred that Remi stick around, because as much as he enjoyed ogling Kat, he didn’t want to have this conversation. He also knew he couldn’t get out of it. Arimanius had too many ways of getting information for Lyall to be confident the ratkind boss wouldn’t find out the Matchmaker had chosen Kat for him. Remi was right. He had to tell Kat the truth, if only so the human could watch out for himself.
“Kaveh has given me his permission to visit both the ranch and monstertown.” Lyall began with that, hoping to reassure Kat that he hadn’t just walked back onto drakone turf without an invitation. Even if Kaveh was on the outs with his family, the Saguaro Rift drakone clan had formally agreed to extend their protection to the ranch and the humans who lived and worked there. “Remi also said I should check up on you.”
Kat straightened his shoulders. “I don’t need Kaveh’s permission to talk to anyone.”
Lyall mulled over those words. Kat was annoyed by the mention of Lyall following clan protocols, for some reason.
“Also, I don’t need a check-up from you, no matter what Remi thinks.” Kat wasn’t bristling, exactly, but he didn’t act happy to see Lyall, either. “I’ve decided I’m not wearing a heart on my sleeve anymore.”
Lyall hadn’t heard of that custom, but humans did tend to try out new fads all the time. “I’d recommend putting a fresh heart in a box with revive jelly rather than tying it to your clothing. Less messy that way.”
“It’s a metaphorical heart.” Kat had two spots of color on his cheeks, and he enunciated each word with a good deal of force.
