Colonization_ Aftershocks Part 2

As a senior researcher, Ttomalss stayed busy on a wide variety of projects, some his own, others a.s.signed him by his superiors. Staying busy was what he got for being an expert on the Big Uglies. Of course, his research on Ka.s.squit remained an important part of his work. Now that she was an adult, though, he did not have to give her constant attention, as he had when she was a hatchling.

He still recorded everything that went on in her compartment. He would do that as long as she lived (unless she chanced to outlive him, in which case whoever succeeded him would continue the recording). She was far too valuable a specimen to let any data go to waste. Even if Ttomalss couldn't evaluate all of it, some other a.n.a.lyst would in years or generations to come. The Race would be a long time figuring out what made the Tosevites respond as they did.

Because he had been involved in her life so long and so closely, Ttomalss still evaluated as much of the raw data as he could. Ka.s.squit's interactions with Jonathan Yeager had taught him as much about the Big Uglies' s.e.xual dynamics as he'd learned anywhere else. Those interactions had also taught him a great deal about the limits of cultural indoctrination for Tosevites.

"Well, you are halfway to subverting me," Ka.s.squit had told the wild Big Ugly a couple of days before Ttomalss reviewed the audio and video. Both Tosevites had used their barking laughter, so Ttomalss presumed she was making a joke.

Hearing it hurt even so, because he feared truth lay beneath it. You cannot hatch a beffel out of a tsiongi's egg You cannot hatch a beffel out of a tsiongi's egg was a proverb older than the unification of Home. He'd done his best with Ka.s.squit, and had improved his chances of turning her into something close to a female of the Race by not allowing her any contact with wild Big Uglies till she was an adult. was a proverb older than the unification of Home. He'd done his best with Ka.s.squit, and had improved his chances of turning her into something close to a female of the Race by not allowing her any contact with wild Big Uglies till she was an adult.

As he pondered, the recording kept playing in his monitor. Before long, Ka.s.squit and Jonathan Yeager were mating. Watching them, Ttomalss let out a small, irritated hiss. He'd known how corrosive a force Tosevite s.e.xuality was. Now he was seeing it again.

He moved the recording back to Ka.s.squit's telling Jonathan Yeager she had not mated with the other Big Ugly aboard the starship. Ttomalss had wondered whether she would; he'd made a point of not mentioning the subject so he could avoid influencing her actions. Since she'd become acquainted with the pleasures of mating, he had rather expected that she would indulge herself. But no.

"Pair bonding," he said, and his computer recorded the words. "Because Ka.s.squit is presently satisfied with Jonathan Yeager as a s.e.xual partner, she seeks no other. These bonds of s.e.xual attraction, and the bonds of kinship that spring from them, create the pa.s.sionate attachments so characteristic of Big Uglies-and so dangerous to the Race."

The trouble is, he thought, he thought, that Big Uglies calculate less than we do. If they are outraged because of harm that has come to individuals for whom they have conceived one of these pa.s.sionate attachments, they will seek revenge without regard for their own safety. Preventing damage from Big Uglies willing, even eager, to die if they can also hurt us is very difficult. that Big Uglies calculate less than we do. If they are outraged because of harm that has come to individuals for whom they have conceived one of these pa.s.sionate attachments, they will seek revenge without regard for their own safety. Preventing damage from Big Uglies willing, even eager, to die if they can also hurt us is very difficult.

Ttomalss wondered if that hadn't been the motivation behind the Reich's Reich's attack on the Race. More than any of the Big Uglies' other independent not-empires, the Greater German attack on the Race. More than any of the Big Uglies' other independent not-empires, the Greater German Reich Reich struck him as a Tosevite family writ large. The not-emperors of the struck him as a Tosevite family writ large. The not-emperors of the Reich Reich had always stressed the ties of kinship existing among their males and females. They had also stressed the innate superiority of the Deutsche over all other varieties of Tosevites. Ttomalss, like other researchers from the Race-and like non-Deutsch Big Uglies-was convinced that was drivel, but the Deutsche really believed it. had always stressed the ties of kinship existing among their males and females. They had also stressed the innate superiority of the Deutsche over all other varieties of Tosevites. Ttomalss, like other researchers from the Race-and like non-Deutsch Big Uglies-was convinced that was drivel, but the Deutsche really believed it.

And, believing in their own superiority, believing in the wisdom of their not-emperors because those leaders were perceived as kin, the Deutsche had charged off to war against the Race without so much as a second thought. Ttomalss wondered if they-the survivors, a decided minority-still relied so blindly on the wisdom of those leaders.

But he did not have to wonder, not with a Deutsch Tosevite aboard this very starship. He paid another visit to the compartment where Johannes Drucker was housed. The Big Ugly who had almost destroyed the ship saluted him and said, "I greet you, superior sir." He did not make a difficult captive, much to the relief of every male and female of the Race aboard the starship.

"And I greet you," Ttomalss said. "Tell me, how do you feel about the leaders of your not-empire who took you into a losing war?"

"I always thought anyone who wanted the Race to attack was a fool," the Big Ugly replied at once, his syntax strange but understandable. "I have in s.p.a.ce been, after all. I know, and always did know, the Race is stronger than the Reich. Reich. I blame my leaders for their ignorance." I blame my leaders for their ignorance."

That was a sensible answer; a member of the Race might have said much the same thing. "If you believed them to be fools," Ttomalss asked, "why did you and the other Deutsche obey them without question?"

"I do not know," Johannes Drucker said. "Why did the males of your conquest fleet, when they saw Tosev 3 was so different from what they had expected, keep on saying, 'It shall be done,' to your leaders, even after those leaders ordered them to do many foolish things?"

"That is different," Ttomalss said testily.

"How, superior sir?" the Deutsch male asked.

"The answer should be obvious," Ttomalss said, and changed the subject: "What will you and your fellow Deutsche do if your new not-emperor tries to lead you into further misadventures?"

"I do not believe he will," Johannes Drucker said. "I have known him for some time. He is an able, sensible male."

Ttomalss doubted Drucker's objectivity. In any case, the Big Ugly had been too literal-minded to suit him. "Let me rephrase that," the psychological researcher said. "What will you Deutsche do if some future leader seeks to lead you into misadventures?"

"I do not know," Johannes Drucker answered. "How can I know, until a thing happens?"

Seeing he wasn't going to get anywhere on that line of questioning, Ttomalss tried another: "What do you think of the female, Ka.s.squit?"

Johannes Drucker let out several yips of Tosevite laughter. "I never expected a female Tosevite aboard your starship to meet, especially one without any... wrappings?" He had to cast about to find the term the Race used. "It made life here more entertaining than I thought it would be."

"Entertaining." That was hardly the word Ttomalss would have used. "Did you find yourself interested in mating with her?"

The Big Ugly shook his head, then used the Race's negative hand gesture. "For one thing, I hope my own mate is still alive down in the Reich. Reich. For another, I did not think Ka.s.squit was interested in mating with me." Ttomalss wasn't so sure Johannes Drucker was right about that, but gave no sign of what he thought. The Tosevite continued, "And I did not her attractive find, or not very. I like females with"-he gestured to show he meant hair-"and with faces that move more." For another, I did not think Ka.s.squit was interested in mating with me." Ttomalss wasn't so sure Johannes Drucker was right about that, but gave no sign of what he thought. The Tosevite continued, "And I did not her attractive find, or not very. I like females with"-he gestured to show he meant hair-"and with faces that move more."

"Ka.s.squit cannot help the way her face behaves," Ttomalss said. "That seems to happen when the Race raises Tosevites from hatchlinghood."

"You have it with others tried?" Drucker sounded accusing. Ttomalss hoped he was misreading the Big Ugly, but didn't think so. Before he could answer, Drucker added, "I suppose it is a wonder that she is not more nearly insane than she is in fact."

In a way, that casual comment infuriated Ttomalss. In another way, he understood it. Judged by Tosevite standards, he couldn't have done a perfect job of raising Ka.s.squit, despite his years of effort. He said, "She is satisfied with her life here."

"But naturally. She knows no other," Johannes Drucker said.

"If she did know another life, it would be as a Chinese peasant," Ttomalss said. "Do you think that would be preferable to what she has now?"

Johannes Drucker started to say something, then hesitated. At last, he answered, "I asked her this myself. She could not judge. I do not find it easy to decide, either. If you raise an animal in a laboratory, is that preferable to the life the animal would in the wild have led? The animal may live longer and be better fed, but it is not free."

"You Big Uglies value freedom more than the Race does," Ttomalss said.

"That is because we more of it have known," the Big Ugly said. "Your males of the conquest fleet have seen far more freedom than the males and females of the colonization fleet. Do they not prefer it more, too?"

"How could you know that?" Ttomalss asked in surprise.

With another loud, barking laugh, Drucker answered, "I listen to the conversations you of the Race among yourselves have. Radio intercepts are an important part of the business. You, now, you know us Tosevites pretty well, so I would guess you are from the conquest fleet. Is that a truth, or not a truth?"

"It is a truth," Ttomalss admitted.

"I thought so," the Deutsch Tosevite said. "You have a good-sized piece of your life here spent. It is natural that we have changed because the Race came to Tosev 3. Is it so surprising that coming to Tosev 3 has changed the Race, too?"

"Surprising? Yes, it is surprising," Ttomalss answered. "The Race does not change easily. The Race has never changed easily. We changed very little when we conquered the Rabotevs and the Hallessi."

"Were those conquests easy or difficult?" Johannes Drucker asked.

"Easy. Much, much easier than the conquest of Tosev 3."

The Big Ugly nodded again, then remembered the Race's affirmative gesture. "You did not need to learn anything from them. When fighting against us, you have had no choice." He paused. His face a.s.sumed an expression even Ttomalss, with his experience in reading Tosevite physiognomy, had trouble interpreting. Was it amus.e.m.e.nt? The look of a Big Ugly with a secret? Contempt? He couldn't tell. Johannes Drucker went on, "You may end up finding that freedom causes you even more trouble than ginger."

"I doubt that would be possible," Ttomalss said tartly. Johannes Drucker laughed yet again. Ignorant Big Ugly, Ignorant Big Ugly, Ttomalss thought. Aloud, he continued, "Anyone would think you were a Tosevite from the snoutcounting not-empire of the United States, not from the Ttomalss thought. Aloud, he continued, "Anyone would think you were a Tosevite from the snoutcounting not-empire of the United States, not from the Reich, Reich, where your not-emperor has more power than the true Emperor." He cast down his eye turrets at the mention of his revered sovereign. where your not-emperor has more power than the true Emperor." He cast down his eye turrets at the mention of his revered sovereign.

"We still have more freedom than you do," the Deutsch Tosevite insisted.

"Nonsense," Ttomalss said. "Think of what your not-empire does to those of the Jewish superst.i.tion. How can you claim you are more free? We do not do anything like that to members of the Race."

That hit home on Johannes Drucker harder than Ttomalss had expected. The Big Ugly turned a darker shade of pinkish beige and looked down at the metal floor of the compartment: not in reverence, Ttomalss judged, but in embarra.s.sment. Still not looking at Ttomalss, Drucker mumbled, "The rest of us have more freedom."

"How can you say that?" Ttomalss asked. "How can any be free when some are not free?"

"How can you say you are free when you tried to conquer our whole world and enslave us?" the Tosevite returned.

"It is not the same," Ttomalss said. "After the conquest is complete, Tosevites will have the same rights as all other citizens of the Empire, regardless of species."

"Whether we wanted to join the Empire or not? Where is the freedom in that?"

"You do not understand. You willfully refuse to understand," Ttomalss said, and gave up on his interview with the obstreperous Big Ugly.

Sam Yeager called out to his wife: "Hey, hon, c'mere. We've got an electronic message from Jonathan."

"What has he got to say for himself this time?" Barbara asked, but she was waving a hand when she hurried into the study. "No, don't tell me-let me read it for myself." She adjusted her bifocals on her nose so she could more readily see the screen. "He'll be home pretty soon, will he?" She let out a long sigh of relief. "Well, thank heaven for that."

"You said it," Sam agreed. He'd been sighing with relief every day since the Germans surrendered. He hadn't thought the n.a.z.is would start their war against the Lizards. He knew the Reich Reich was fighting out of its weight against the Race, and so he a.s.sumed the n.a.z.i bigwigs knew the same thing. That hadn't proved such a good a.s.sumption. Jonathan had been up in s.p.a.ce when the war started. If a German missile had hit his starship... was fighting out of its weight against the Race, and so he a.s.sumed the n.a.z.i bigwigs knew the same thing. That hadn't proved such a good a.s.sumption. Jonathan had been up in s.p.a.ce when the war started. If a German missile had hit his starship...

Barbara said, "I don't know how we could have gone on if anything had happened to Jonathan."

"I didn't think anything would," Sam answered. If anything had happened to his only son after he'd encouraged Jonathan to go into s.p.a.ce, he didn't know how he'd be able to go on living with Barbara, either. For that matter, he didn't know how he'd be able to go on living with himself. "It's all right now, anyhow." He said that as much to convince himself as to remind his wife.

And Barbara did something she'd never done in all the weeks since the war between the Reich Reich and the Race broke out and endangered their son: she put a hand on Sam's shoulder and said, "Yes, I guess it is." and the Race broke out and endangered their son: she put a hand on Sam's shoulder and said, "Yes, I guess it is."

He leaned back in his swivel chair and reached up to set his hand on hers. If she was going to forgive him, he'd make the most of it. "I love you, hon," he said. "Looks as if we're together for the long haul after all."

That as if as if was a tribute to the long haul they'd already put in. Barbara had done graduate work in Middle English before the fighting, and was as precise a grammarian as any schoolmarm ever born. And, over more than twenty years, her precision had rubbed off on Sam. He wondered if they did have as long a haul ahead as behind. He'd just turned fifty-eight. Would they still be married when he was eighty? Would he still be around when he was eighty? He had his hopes. was a tribute to the long haul they'd already put in. Barbara had done graduate work in Middle English before the fighting, and was as precise a grammarian as any schoolmarm ever born. And, over more than twenty years, her precision had rubbed off on Sam. He wondered if they did have as long a haul ahead as behind. He'd just turned fifty-eight. Would they still be married when he was eighty? Would he still be around when he was eighty? He had his hopes.

"So it does." She smiled down at him as he was grinning up at her. "I like the idea," she said.

"You'd better, by now," he said, which made her smile broader. But his own grin slipped. "On the other hand, you know, I'm liable to softly and suddenly vanish away, because the Snark I found d.a.m.n well is a Boojum."

He spoke elliptically. Whenever he spoke of what he'd found with the help of some computer coding from a Lizard expatriate named Sorviss, he spoke elliptically. He didn't know who might be listening. He didn't know how much good speaking elliptically would do him, either.

Barbara said, "They wouldn't," but her voice lacked conviction.

Sam said, "They might. We know too well, they might. If they do, though, they'll be sorry, because if anything happens to me the word will get out one way or another." He chuckled. "Of course, that might be too late to do me a whole lot of good. The story of Samson in the temple never was my favorite, but it's the best hope I have these days."

"That we should need such things," Barbara said, and shook her head.

"I just wish you hadn't squeezed it out of me," Yeager said. "Now you're liable to be in danger, too, on account of it."

"Think of me as one of your life-insurance policies," Barbara said. "That's what I am, because I'll start shouting from the housetops if anything happens to you. That's the best way I know of to get you out of a jam, if you should get into one. They can't stand the light of day-or maybe I should say, the light of publicity."

"That's true enough," Sam agreed. And so it was... to a point. If he and Barbara both softly and suddenly vanished away, she wouldn't have the chance to start shouting from the housetops. Presumably, those who might be interested in silence could figure that out, too. Yeager didn't mention it to his wife. Anybody could foul up; he'd seen that. A foul-up on the other side's part could well give her the chance to play the role she'd talked about. He said, "We're liable to be worrying over nothing. I hope we are. I'm even starting to think we are. If they'd found out where I've been, I'd think they would have dropped on me by now."

"Probably." Barbara looked poised to say something else on the same subject, but a crash from the kitchen distracted her. "Oh, G.o.d!" she exclaimed. "What have those two gone and done now?" She hurried away to find out.

"Something where we'll need to sweep up the pieces," Sam answered, not that that counted for much in the way of prophecy. He got up from his chair and followed Barbara.

He was in the living room, halfway between the study and the kitchen, when he heard a door slam in the back part of the house. He started to laugh. So did Barbara, though he wasn't sure she was actually amused. "Those little scamps," she said. "There they'll be, pretending as hard as they can that they're innocent."

"They're learning," Yeager said. "Any kid will do that kind of thing, till his folks put a stop to it. And we're the only folks Mickey and Donald have."

The shattered remains of what had been a serving bowl lay all over the linoleum of the kitchen floor. Barbara clucked in dismay at the size of the mess. Then she clucked again. "That bowl was in the dish drainer," she said. "They're growing like weeds, but I don't think they're big enough to reach it, not since I shoved it back sideways against the wall there."

Sam examined the scene of the crime. "No chair pushed up against the counter," he said musingly. "I wonder if one of them stood on the other one's back. That would be interesting-it would show they're really starting to cooperate with each other."

"Now if only they'd start cooperating to clean up the messes they make. But that would be too much to ask for, wouldn't it?" Barbara rolled her eyes. "Sometimes it's too much to ask for from Jonathan, or even from someone else I might mention."

"I haven't got the faintest idea who-whom-you're talking about," Sam said. Barbara rolled her eyes again, more extravagantly than before. But when she started for the broom closet, Sam shook his head. "That'll wait for a couple of minutes, hon. We can't let Mickey and Donald think they got away with it, or else they'll try the same thing again tomorrow."

"You're right," Barbara said. "If we read them the riot act, they may wait till day after tomorrow-if we're lucky, they may." Sam laughed, though he knew perfectly well she hadn't been kidding.

Side by side, they walked to the bedroom the two Lizard hatchlings they were raising called their own. Up till a few months before, the door to that bedroom had been latched on the outside almost all the time: the baby Lizards, essentially little wild animals, would have torn up the house without even knowing what they were doing. Now they know some of what they're doing, and they still tear up the house, Now they know some of what they're doing, and they still tear up the house, Sam thought. Sam thought. Is that an improvement? Is that an improvement?

He opened the door. Mickey and Donald stood against the far wall. If they could have disappeared altogether, they looked as if they would have done it. Even Donald, bigger and more rambunctious than his (her?) brother (sister?), seemed abashed, which didn't happen very often.

Yeager held up a piece of the broken bowl. By the way the hatchlings cringed, he might have been showing a couple of vampires a crucifix. "No, no!" he said in a loud, ostentatiously angry voice. "Don't play with dishes! Are you ever going to play with dishes again?"

Both baby Lizards shook their heads. They'd learned the gesture from Barbara and Jonathan and him; they didn't know the one the Race used. Neither one of them said anything. They didn't talk much, though they understood a startling amount. Human babies picked up language much faster. The Lizards would have been amazed that the hatchlings were talking at all. Yeager chuckled under his breath. Barbara and I, we're bad influences, Barbara and I, we're bad influences, he thought. he thought.

Though behind in language, Mickey and Donald were miles ahead of human toddlers in every aspect of physical development. They'd hatched able to run around and catch food for themselves, and they'd grown like weeds since: evolution making sure not so many things were able to catch them. They were already well on their way toward their full adult size.

Sam remained a towering figure, though, and used his height and deep, booming voice to good advantage. "You'd better not go messing with Mommy Barbara's china," he roared, "or you'll be in big, big trouble. Have you got that?" The young Lizards nodded. They had a pretty good notion of what trouble meant, or at least that it was a good thing to avoid. Yeager nodded at them. "All right, then," he said. "You behave yourselves, you hear?"

Mickey and Donald both nodded some more. Satisfied he'd put the fear of G.o.d in them-at least till the next time-Sam let it go at that. He didn't spank them save as a very last resort. He hadn't spanked Jonathan much, either... and Jonathan hadn't had such formidable teeth with which to defend himself.

"Maybe the Lizards have the right idea about bringing up their babies," Barbara said as she and Sam went up the hall.

"What? Except for making sure they don't kill themselves or one another, leaving them pretty much alone till they're three or four years old?" Sam said. "It'd be less work, yeah, but we've got a big head start on civilizing them."

"We've got a big head start on exhaustion, is what we've got," Barbara said. "We were a lot younger when we did this with Jonathan, and there was only one of him, and he's human."

"Pretty much so," Sam agreed, and his wife snorted. He went on, "The one I take off my hat to is the Lizard who raised Ka.s.squit. He had to be mommy and daddy both, give her attention all the time, clean up her messes-for years. That's dedication to your research."

"It wasn't fair to her, though," Barbara said. "You've talked a lot about how strange she is."

"Well, she is strange," Yeager said, "and no two ways about it. But I don't think she's nearly as strange as she might have been, if you know what I mean. In the scheme of things, she might have been a lot squirrellier than just wishing she were a Lizard. And"-he lowered his voice; his own conscience was far from clear-"G.o.d only knows we're going to raise a couple of squirrelly hatchlings."

"We'll learn from them." Barbara had a lot of pure scholar left in her. "The Lizards have learned a lot from Ka.s.squit," Sam answered. "I wonder if she thanks them for it." But he didn't wonder. He knew she did. If Mickey and Donald ended up thanking him, maybe he'd be able to look at himself in a mirror. Maybe.

.2.

When Monique Dutourd had fled down into the bomb shelter below her brother's flat, Ma.r.s.eille, like all of France, had belonged to the Greater German Reich. Reich. She and Pierre and his lover, Lucie, and everyone else in the shelter had had to dig their way out, too, when they ran low on food and water. She and Pierre and his lover, Lucie, and everyone else in the shelter had had to dig their way out, too, when they ran low on food and water.