“Not directly. She mentioned that she was working with an alien whose interest in such things was considerable. She surely knew I heard.”
He could test this. “Do you want to do it now?”
“Yes. But I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because such efforts are not allowed among those who have not yet raced. We would both be disqualified from the race. I might live with that, as I have very little chance there anyway, but you would not care to pay such a price.”
“You care about my future among your kind?”
“Yes. Our contact with Earth is paramount. It would be dreadful for me to spoil it.”
“Then why exactly did you intercept me here?”
“To introduce myself to you, in the hope that after the race you will seek me out for this kind of diversion.”
This was more than interesting. A female who cared about the inter-world contact, and was also hot for sex. He didn’t trust it, tempting as it was. In fact that very temptation alerted him. She could be here to test his mettle, or to eliminate him from the race. Or to find out his strategy for the morrow, so that it could be nullified. But it would not be expedient to suggest that openly. He would simply have to be careful.
“I wish to explore the last section of the layout, in case there is anything there that might help me tomorrow, despite the change that will occur.”
“I will be happy to help you in any way I can.”
“But you’re another competitor in the race.”
“No. Not against you. You must compete against males. I compete against females. Any help I render you will not adversely affect me.”
“But if you help me instead of helping yourself, and I should win, you will have forfeited your own chance. Why would you want to do that?”
“Because after the race, whatever the outcome, erotic activity will be allowed. I hope you will have a favorable opinion of me.”
It did seem to make sense. Well, he would give her a chance to help him, and see. “Then let’s explore this last cranny of the layout.”
“Gladly,” she said, literally brightening. She was even more attractive when she did that, like a pretty woman smiling.
They made their way around the isthmus and into an isolated shallow pond with a single large tree growing from its center, a virtual island. In the tree was a huge nest made of branches and foliage. It was surely for giant flying creatures, protected from land predators by the surrounding water, and from water predators by its height. And there were water predators; shark-like creatures swarmed, causing both Quincy and Explora to elevate their spines in warning. The big fish sheered away, disappointed, but did not retreat far. They were watching their chance.
“Well, now we know,” Quincy said as if disappointed. Actually he had an idea, but did not share it.
“I am curious why this is part of the layout,” Explora said. “There must be a reason.”
She was correct. Quincy saw a reason, though he doubted he understood enough of the setting to take advantage of it. “We can explore it further, if you wish.”
“I do wish. I think that tree means something.”
They moved to the base of the tree under the water. It was covered with thick moss. The roots spread widely, radiating out to take up the greater part of the pond before delving into the soil below. The tree was well anchored despite growing in muck.
“This is insect repelling moss,” Explora said. “I study plants and recognize it. It can be harvested and used to protect creatures in water or on land from bites.”
“So if there’s an ambiance, the birds are protected too,” he said, intrigued. “If I were a bird, I think I would consider this to be an ideal nesting site. The chicks would be protected from all matter of dangers.”
“Yes. But we are not birds, and we would not want to stay here any length of time. We have a race to race. So I don’t understand its presence here.”
“There must be a reason.” And he thought he knew what it was.
“We had better return. We will need rest tonight.”
“Yes.”
“Do you wish to work together in the race?”
“I hadn’t thought of it. You wish to?”
“Yes. I think I can help you, and make a good impression.”
And be near enough to interfere? Yet suppose she was sincere? Her information about the moss was indeed useful. He did not want to wrong her by misjudging her. His empathy related to her too: she stood to gain by associating with him.
Quincy made a decision. “Meet me here tomorrow, if you wish. We can work together.”
She glowed. “I will.”
They made their way back around the isthmus, then separated, because their bases were at opposite ends of the layout. Quincy went on home as dusk closed.
Aliena was there. “I wonder,” he said as they ate and prepared for the night. “I’m sure you won’t tell me anything about the race. But are you free to tell me about a person?”
“You wish to know more about Explora?”
So she knew about that already. He had suspected as much. “Yes. It is in my mind that she could be a plant, someone sent to discover my plan and torpedo it.”
“Torpedo?”
“That word must be in your dictionary. I mean to stop me from winning.”
“Do not be concerned. Explora is exactly what she said. Starfish are not much into deception. She has an intense interest in the mechanics of reproduction, matching that of the typical human male. This is highly unusual in our species and threatens to disqualify her from participation in our society; both males and females are wary of her remarkable obsession. Yet in other respects she is a good and competent person. She does want to make a good impression on you, in the hope of being able to indulge that interest at a later time. You can trust her.”
“I am relieved to learn that. She’s pretty.”
“She is that,” Aliena agreed without rancor. “You would enjoy interacting with her in that manner. This is why I mentioned you in her class, knowing that she would pick up on it. She may, after all, be useful.”
So Aliena had set it up. No jealousy at all. Quincy wasn’t sure how to react to that.
“You are thoughtful,” Aliena said.
She was being honest with him. He had to be honest with her. “You said that if I won the race, and wished to breed with you, you would be amenable.”
“I did.”
“That implies that you are developing some feeling for me.”
“True.”
“Yet you are setting me up with another female who wants to breed.”
“Yes.”
She didn’t get it? “Among humans, breeding is a very personal act, normally restricted to married couples or those in love.”
“Yes.”
“So if you wish to breed with me, why set me up with another female?”
“I am not human. With starfish, breeding is done primarily for the continuation of the species, and few in any generation get to do it. There is pleasure in it, but no more than in other things, like eating, eliminating, or surviving. Your host body is an excellent one, quite fit for breeding, as is mine. So it is reasonable that we do it, on one occasion, and then move on. But since you are human, your desire to do it will continue, in contrast to mine. It seems likely to interfere with our relationship. So when I found a starfish who could accommodate you in this respect, I arranged for the two of you to meet. That should prevent this matter from interfering with your mission.”
“My mission?”
“To help teach emotion to starfish, so that we can better relate to other human beings.”
That made cynical sense. “So your feeling for me is not possessive, or in the manner of a human romance.”
“Correct. My human romance is with Brom.”
“Who is fucking Star.” Even as he spoke, he regretted saying it.
She did not hesitate. “Of course. They need to breed, as well as maintain a
loving relationship.”
“And you’re not jealous?”
“Of Star? I am. I wish it could be me with him. In human form I enjoyed repeated breeding with him. Yet I know that our separation must be, and that Star desperately needs Brom. So I am happy that he agrees to accept her and maintain the family. That secures the place of my daughter, Maple, too.”
He shook his head, which translated to a slight bobbing of his midsection. “You have a remarkably mature perspective.”
“This is my starfish nature. I am not clear: you expected otherwise?”
Again, he forced himself to be honest. “I had thought you might be a little jealous of any relationship I might have with Explora, especially with respect to breeding.”
“As a human would be,” she said, flashing surprise. “Oh, Quincy, I apologize. I did not think of that. I was being practical and missed the human complication.”
She was indeed. He was embarrassed for thinking she would react in the human manner. She had no romantic interest in him, only in securing his well being in his new host, and in properly propagating the species. “My fault.”
“Not at all. I should have considered it. Brom would have been jealous if I had tried to seduce another human man when I was human. I do know of the phenomenon. I simply overlooked it, and should not have.”
“Let’s let it go.”
“That is best. But I do need to clarify that though my love is elsewhere, and my breeding instinct is practical, I do care for you, Quincy. Merely not in precisely the way you might have assumed.”
“I understand.” But it was a comedown, for all his love remained with Lida.
“I know that I can never be with Brom physically again, and must move on emotionally. You are the obvious prospect for that, because I will remain attached to the idea of a human relationship. So in time, as we both adapt, there should be a more emotional relationship between us.”
“And Explora will not interfere with that?”
“Explora should facilitate it. Any relationship you and I have will not be clouded by your obsession with breeding, because she will abate that.”
“My obsession,” he muttered, flashing darkly.
“Am I being insensitive again? How should I phrase it?”
Again, what could he do? She understood emotion intellectually, but not emotionally. “Maybe this way: you are the female I might like to consider as my wife, when the time comes for us each to move on. Explora I might consider as my mistress.”
She paused, evidently riffing through her mental vocabulary to assimilate the term in this context. “That is apt. A wife is not jealous of a mistress. Rather she finds her useful, to absorb the excess sexual energies of the husband.”
That was a way of putting it. “Then we understand the matter sufficiently. In the interim, what we have is a friendship.”
“Friendship,” she agreed, touching the tip of his arm. And he was abruptly asleep. It seemed that not only did touching facilitate sleep, it could also cause it when one of the parties felt it was time to end a dialogue.
When he woke in the morning, Aliena was gone. It must have been her departure that ended his sleep. She, of course, had things to do: running the ship and supervising the race.
He quickly took care of his morning chores and went to the site. The other male contestants were gathering, awaiting the formal start. Aliena was there, making sure that all were duly present, the lone pink person in a group of blue. They could see across the line of the layout that it had entirely changed. On this side the water was still; on the other side it was swirling, with hills, depths, and menacing swimming creatures.
Only then did Quincy realize that he would have a problem meeting with Explora, because neither of them now knew where the bird tree was. They would both have to search it out, hoping both found it. They should have arranged a better system to meet. He had started making mistakes before he even started the race!
“It is time,” Aliena said. “Enter your emulation boxes and proceed. You will have a day and a night to pass the finish line to the north, this being the southwest section; if no one completes the race within that time, no one wins. If there is a win within that time, this horn will sound.” There was a blast of sound coming through the water and ground and, he was sure, the air above. No one would miss that.
Was it possible that no one would win? That depended on the toughness of the course. Meanwhile he just had to hope the horn would not sound before he got there.
They went to their boxes, which looked like simple round tents big enough to hold one starfish each. Quincy entered his box and let the entrance flap drop down. Then he moved forward, through the material without disturbing it, emerging outside in the manner of a ghost. He saw the other starfish emerging similarly. They looked real, but they were emulations controlled by their bodies in the boxes. This was technology Earth did not yet have, but surely soon would, thanks to the generous starfish. In fact, Earth economies were booming because of the advances the starfish facilitated.
There were no other formalities. They all hurried past Aliena, the lone physical person remaining, and plunged into the larger emulation. The moment Quincy crossed the line, he was in a new world. He knew that Explora was entering similarly from the southeast section, some distance away. Was she similarly dismayed by its unfamiliarity?
A shark came at him. It was emulation, and he was emulation, but if it chomped him, he was out of the race. He raised his protective spines, coated with poison, and flashed warning. The shark sheered away. Could he have bluffed it, saving the expenditure of the poison? Maybe, but it was a gamble.
The shark dived at one of the other starfish, similarly flashing. And got it; in a moment an arm had been bitten off and swallowed, and another arm was being chomped. That starfish had bluffed and lost. Somehow the shark had known.
Quincy moved on, maintaining his spines, and the sharks left him alone. He needed to find that pond with the tree, and had no idea where it was. But his guess was that since it had been at the north end of the emulation before, it would now be elsewhere, most likely somewhere in the center. He simply had to zigzag in that general area hoping to find it. If he failed, then he would lose the race even if he didn’t get eaten by a predator.
Now the landscape deepened. He recognized the feature: it was an old sinkhole containing a squid-like animal that would grab and consume any unwary intruder. The spines and poison would balk it, but there was no point in tangling with it anyway; it was merely an obstacle to progress.
Quincy turned left, to circle around the hole. But there was a sharp cliff, a wall going all the way to the surface, impenetrable. There was a narrow ledge between it and the sinkhole, but that was blocked by a patch of seaweed whose fronds waved hungrily: a kraken. It would be immune to both spines and poison. No passage there.
Annoyed by the waste of time, Quincy retraced his route and circled the sinkhole to the right. Another starfish was there before him. Significantly ahead because he had had the luck to take the correct turn. And of course luck counted; Quincy knew the enormous power of sheer chance. But over the course the breaks should tend to cancel out.
There was a rise, suggesting a choice of paths: left beside the sinkhole, right into a forest of tall seaweed, or over the top. The other starfish took the right path and disappeared into the forest. So Quincy took the left path, not wanting competitive company. This led precariously close to the sinkhole, but the footing was firm, and he proceeded at a tilt until he was around.
Only to encounter another gulf. This was not as deep as the first, but he saw the scraping tracks of giant lobster-like creatures whose pincers could nip off an arm without being deterred by the spines or poison. That was not worthwhile. So he backed off again, annoyed by the further waste of time, and took the climbing path. This led to the surface, another balk.
Or was it? This might be a narrow band of land that he could cross without dehydrating dangerously. He lifted an arm and looked around
, adjusting to the changed perspective of air rather than water. Yes, it was thin, and he could cross it and return to water. He heaved himself up onto it—only to become aware of a stirring to his right. He hastily backed off, returning to the water.
The stirring turned out to be a serpent-like creature that slithered rapidly along looking for prey trapped on the narrow spit of land. It snapped at Quincy’s retreating arm, and got a lipful of spines. It retreated, plunging its head into the adjacent water to clear the poison. And while it did, Quincy moved on up over the ridge and down into the water on the other side.
But the threats continued. A giant turtle-like creature swam toward him, another whose armor was largely immune to spikes or poison. But Quincy tried a new tactic, one he had privately rehearsed. He used his suckers to pick up a waterlogged stick and hold it aloft sideways. The turtle could not bite him without getting a mouthful of wood. It tried several times before giving it up as a bad job.
Quincy resumed his travel, this time proceeding directly across the center of the pool. Only to encounter a school of piranha-like fish, who it seemed had been waiting for him to get too far into it to escape their attack. But he was ready for them. He exuded thick bright yellow slime. They attacked anyway, but their teeth got caught in the taffy-like slime and became ineffective. They soon gave up, and he continued unmolested. The next starfish who came this way would have the advantage of the lesson he had taught the fish.
The far side of this pool rode into an isthmus he recognized: here was the bird-tree pool! He had found it. But what of Explora? She was not here.
He navigated it and verified that the complete setting was here, including the giant nest. That was what he wanted. But he would have to wait until dusk to implement his plan. If Explora didn’t find this site by then, he would have to proceed without her. This would not be bad faith on his part, but recognition that she could have been taken out by one of the intervening hazards.
He settled down in the muck to wait, largely concealed from other predators, so he did not have to fight them off. That saved energy he was likely to need later. While he waited he pondered: did he really still love Lida? Yes he did, but acceptance of their situation was growing in him. Just as Aliena loved Brom, but valued his relationship with Star, he realized that he valued Lida’s relationship with Gloaming. He wanted her to be happy and fulfilled; he could not do that for her himself, but Gloaming could. He simply had to divorce himself from the physical and sexual aspects, as Aliena had done. He could have sex with Explora.