The Vastalimi Gambit Read Online Free Page B

he was not dressed.
    “But at your pace, it would take much longer than using the cart.”
    “You are too kind.”
    She whickered, that soft, chortlelike noise that passed for a laugh among her people. “You probably haven’t heard the expression ‘Slow as a human.’”
    “No, I have heard ‘Nasty as a Vastalimi,’” he said.
    She whickered again.
    They climbed into the cart. She rattled off an address. The cart’s motor came online, and the vehicle moved away from the curb. Apparently, the autopilot was sufficiently capable to operate the vehicle without Kay’s help; she didn’t offer it any.
    The ride was bumpy, the seat hard and uncomfortable. The city was very clean, with wide streets, and there were more pedestrians than passenger carts though there were larger vehicles carrying what he assumed were necessities, cargo too large or being moved over too long a distance to be managed by a Vastalimi on foot. Most of the cargo vehicles appeared to be automatically operated, no drivers visible.
    More than a few of those on foot were running, loping along at a good pace.
    The air felt, smelled, even tasted exotic to him. Every world had its own feel that way.
    It was all quite fascinating.
    _ _ _ _ _ _
    Cutter looked up from his desk. “Any problems?”
    “We lost three drones; other than that, nothing,” Jo said.
    “Three drones? Do you know how much those cost?”
    “Actually, I do, since I signed the purchase order for them. Hardware gets used up in a battle, that’s what it’s for.”
    “No, it’s there to be used if you
need
it.”
    “We needed it. We took out the attackers, including a couple of APCs that cost the other side way more than the drones cost us. They got some pawns, we got a bishop and a couple of knights. They’ll think twice about trying something that stupid next time.”
    He nodded. He bitched about money all the time, but the truth was, if he kept his people safe, he was willing to spend whatever it took. “Maybe that’s not to our advantage, helping our enemy evolve his smarts.”
    “More fun that way. Set ’em up, knock ’em down, that gets boring.”
    “
You
would get bored falling off a tall building.”
    “Depends on how long it took to get down.”
    “What’s next on your agenda?”
    “We have troops watching the trucks. We are thinking about taking a run to the farming community where they grow these purple rootnips, and seeing if we can figure out things from that end. What are you gonna do?”
    “I’m going to visit the manager of the TotalMart store and see what other intel his ops have developed.”
    “I could do that, and you could go talk to the farmers.”
    “Nah. Nice cool monster-mart with good restaurants and a couple of hundred shops sounds like more my kind of thing than stepping around the ruminant-ungulate pies steaming in the pastures.”
    “I’ll wear my old boots,” she said.
    “Wouldn’t it be easier just to avoid stepping in it?”
    “Never seems to work out that way. And funny, coming from you.”
    He laughed.
    _ _ _ _ _ _
    Kay nodded at her elder brother. They exchanged greetings, ritual face licks. She noted that he seemed happy to see her, and probably not just because he needed her help.
    Well. It had been years. And some major things had happened.
    “Our parents and siblings?”
    “They died well,” he said.
    She nodded. She had already grieved, but it was still a shock. Death came for all, and it was never a matter of “if,” only “when.”
    The way of it. Nothing to be done.
    She and Droc had been close when she had lived here. He had urged her to stay, offering his full support. Brave of him, and she had appreciated it.
    Kay introduced Wink Doctor.
    The two males gave each other nods of acknowledgment. Humans did not lick, they gripped and shook hands on such occasions; Vastalimi did not. The clasping of hands was supposed to show, according to what she had learned, that the humans were giving up a measure of lethality.