"I can clarify the situation if you wish," Cat said.
"Yes, we wish," the man said. "I am Dar, and my companion is Col. We are Human nulls."
"But no neuter?" Pussy asked, then put her hand to her mouth, realizing that she had spoken impulsively.
"No neuter," the girl agreed. "We are Special Purpose androids."
Of course they knew the Feline names, as all animal nulls were identified similarly, but Cat introduced them anyway. "This is Tom, our male, and Pussy, our female, and I am Cat, our neuter. This is the situation: eight teams of Animal nulls are competing to obtain a silver flag. The team that brings it back will qualify for a special mission on a Virtual Mode. There are no rules, which means that the competition may become ugly. We understand that one of you knows the best route, and the other knows the location of the flag, so we need your cooperation if we are to prevail."
"Why should we help you?" Dar asked.
"I will answer," Cat said carefully. "But first I must inquire what fate awaits you after this mission is done."
"It is unspecified, but we assume that we will be melted back into the pool."
Cat nodded. "If you would prefer to keep your present identities, we might be able to encourage that—if we win the contest."
"Why should we trust you?" Col demanded.
"Trust is difficult between strangers," Cat said. "But motives are more reliable. We are in bad repute, and wish to redeem ourselves. The mission for which we compete should accomplish that. We are prepared to do what is required. We believe that your willing cooperation is our best chance. How can we obtain it?"
"You can't," the girl said. "We don't care about your mission."
"Then perhaps you will at least trust our motivation," Cat said. "Name your desire."
"We want to go with you on the Virtual Mode."
Cat shook its head. "We can't promise that. It would be meaningless. Even our plea on your behalf may not be effective."
"Then let us go now," Dar said.
"We can do that. But we doubt it would help you. This is an established competition range, well guarded. I doubt you could escape it."
"We could if we had the pain button," the girl said.
Cat wore the button on a cord around its neck. It lifted it off and proffered it to her.
"It's a trick!" she said, shying away from it.
Cat offered it to Dar. The man took it.
"It's a dummy," the girl said.
Dar touched the side of the button with his thumb. Cat, closest to it, felt sudden burning pain across his front. His breath hissed inward as he stiffened.
"You're faking," Col said.
Dar swung the button toward her. Cat's pain eased, while the girl stiffened. Now she believed.
"Where's the catch?" she asked.
"We believe that just as our success depends on your willing cooperation, your success depends on our success," Cat said. "We ask you to help us, and tell us how we can help you."
"It makes sense," Dar said. "I think we'll have to trust them."
"Okay," Col said. "We'll risk it. At least this way we'll have a chance to avoid the melting pot."
"Then, perhaps, we should move rapidly," Cat said. "The other teams are already well on their way."
"We will accompany you without duress," Dar said. "But you are not yet ready. This is as much as I can say."
Cat hesitated. He believed the man. These two were surely programmed to react in prescribed ways, depending on circumstances. The effort to gain their cooperation seemed to be successful, but they remained limited. What was the key?
It was Pussy who caught on. "You want to help, but can't volunteer!" she cried. "We have to ask you."
"You got it, puss," Col said. "We can answer some questions, and I don't have to tell the truth. But we can't warn you of what you don't suspect."
Cat nodded. "If we want to be sure of truth, we must ask Dar. But you are the one who knows the route. So we will have to trust you."
"I can lead you into disaster," Col agreed.
"But if we don't trust you, we will lose," Pussy said. "So we have to."
"Did we start right?" Tom asked Dar.
"Yes. There are other ways, but yours is the most likely to succeed."
"The first portion of the course is a deep forest," Cat said. "I doubt that it is safe to cross without preparation. What is its danger?"
Col's answer was surprisingly complete. "There are teams of null predators, one for each contestant team. If you defeat the beasts, you will not be attacked again within the forest; you will be able to move swiftly through it to the next obstacle. Each team consists of a raptor, a snake, and a bear. They will attack simultaneously, one to a Feline. We Humans will be ignored. If you die, we will be free to return to our base."
"Is this the outcome you prefer?" Cat asked Dar.
"No."
Cat wasn't quite satisfied. "You answer truthfully, but do you have to tell the whole truth?"
"No. Not unless asked."
"What is the whole truth?"
"If you abuse us, we would prefer to see you die. If you treat us well and keep the faith, we prefer to see you win. Thus the case will differ between contestants, depending on their treatment of their prisoners."
"But you aren't prisoners any more," Pussy protested.
"We nevertheless remain bound," Col said.
"We do mean to treat you well," Cat said. "We gave you the pain button."
Tom had a concern. "You say the predators won't attack you. So why do you need the pain button?"
"We don't," Dar said.
"What is the whole truth?" Cat asked.
"The pain button works only on human-based nulls. Since you have agreed not to hurt us, it does not matter who possesses it."
"It won't work on the predators?" Tom asked.
"True."
"So we have no use for it either," Cat said. "Keep it. If we die, you may be in danger from other contestants. It may enable you to escape them."
"You really are trying to befriend us," Col said. "May I kiss you?"
Surprised, Cat agreed. She embraced it and kissed it firmly on the mouth. Cat was of course not given to sexual feeling, but her gesture was pleasant. Had she kissed Tom that way, he would have wanted to hump her.
"Does this action have significance?" Cat asked Dar.
"Yes. It signifies Col's acceptance of your friendship. She will now help you actively, without deceit."
So they had achieved another level of cooperation. "What is the distinction between active and passive help?"
"Now she will be alert for threats, and advise you of what she sees," Dar said. "This may be helpful if you are distracted. But we still cannot assist you physically, or tell you how to handle threats."
The man's responses were becoming more helpful; evidently the girl's signal of friendship applied to him too. "Thank you. We appreciate your commitment." Cat turned to Tom. "How will we handle a raptor, a snake, and a bear?"
"We must have weapons," Tom said. "Raptors swoop down from cover and attack before the prey knows it. Then it is too late. The snake will likely be poisonous, and strike without warning. The bear will probably be our best warning, because it will have to charge us. Then we will know that the other two are about to strike. But maybe the others will strike first, diverting us while the bear charges. Each of us will have to handle one attacker. I think Pussy should take the raptor, and you should take the snake. I will take the bear, which will be the most dangerous attacker."
"But the bear will be too strong for you," Cat said.
"I will distract and delay it while you deal with the others," Tom said. "Then the three of us can handle it."
"I hope so," Cat said.
"How can even three Felines handle a savage bear?" Pussy asked. "That thing may mass as much as all of us together, and be able to dispatch any one of us with one swipe."
"The right weapons can do it," Tom said. "Together with a plan of combat
. It will not be easy, but is possible. Have courage."
"I'm not strong on that," she said.
"Fortunately Tom is," Cat said. "Let's get our weapons."
Neither Dar nor Col commented, but Cat saw Dar nod. They were on the right course. How many of the other trios were?
They left the cube and walked toward the forest. There was a scream that sounded Equine. A team was under attack within the forest.
Tom took charge. Physical combat was his specialty, just as physical appeal was Pussy's. "Pussy, find a branch with foliage. That will foul the wings of the raptor, and then you can claw it to death. Cat, find a forked stick. That will enable you to pin the snake's head to the ground, and then you can throttle it with your hands. I will seek more formidable weapons."
They got busy, while the two human nulls watched. There were many fallen branches of different sizes, and soon Pussy and Cat had suitable implements. Meanwhile Tom gathered a number of sticks and stones and made a pile of them.
There were too many for the three of them to carry, especially if they had to be ready to fight at any instant. "You may not help us fight, but will you carry our weapons?" Cat asked Dar.
"Yes."
This time it was Tom and Pussy who nodded, impressed. Cat had found a way by using its mind. "Thank you." The Human nulls were becoming increasingly useful.
They set off into the forest. "Col, I would be grateful if you would help me watch for raptors," Pussy said with the niceness that came naturally to her.
"I will."
"And I would be similarly appreciative for help in watching for snakes," Cat said to Dar.
"I will."
That would leave Tom free to focus his full attention on the bear. Tom as the combat specialist would be aware of the creature before any of the rest of them were. It was the predators who would lurk motionless until striking that were the most immediately dangerous, as Tom had suggested.
They moved cautiously through the forest until they came to a glade. Tom paused, wise in the ways of the hunt. "This is dangerous; the bird has room to swoop, and the grass conceals the snake. We'd better go around."
But thickets surrounded the glade, and extended some distance to either side, into marshy regions. "We'll have better footing here," Cat said. "Maybe we should try to trigger their attack, and be done with it."
Tom nodded. "Maybe they'll go for a ruse." He threw one of his stones into the grassy center, hard.
It worked. A viper rose up and hissed, searching for its target. Cat leaped forward with his forked stick, trying for its neck.
Pussy followed him, waving her bushy branch. Col cried out "Raptor!" Sure enough, a hawk came diving down, trying for the back of Cat's neck. Pussy intercepted it with her branch, foiling its attack. That gave Cat time to trap the snake's head with the fork of the stick, pinning it to the ground.
Meanwhile the bear appeared, as if from nowhere. Tom hurled a makeshift spear at it. His aim was good, but the wooden point was not sharp enough to do much damage. The bear shook it off and continued its charge toward Cat. Cat realized that their choices of creatures to fight did not match the assignments of the predators; the bear was coming after Cat, not Tom.
But that meant that Tom could attack it from the side. He did, running in close and bashing it across the head with a heavy wooden club. That had more effect, but still didn't stop the solid creature.
Cat had a wild notion. It pounced on the viper and hauled it up between its paws, clasping it by the neck. As the bear bore down on them, jaws gaping, Cat whirled and hurled the snake into its face. The viper hissed and wrapped part way around the bear's nose. Surprised, the bear bit through its body. The snake fell in two pieces, both twitching desperately.
Seeing that, Pussy pounced on the entangled bird, wrapping it in foliage. She shoved the package at the bear's snout. The bear lifted a paw and batted the branch so hard that it flew far across the glade. The bird fluttered weakly and did not fly again; it, too, had been taken out by its own ally.
Dar and Col, watching, both nodded.
Now the three of them concentrated on the bear. Cat danced before it, leaping backwards, so that it continued to orient on him. Pussy got stones from Col and hurled them at the creature's head. Several bounced harmlessly off, but then she got lucky and scored on its eye. Half blinded, it still came after Cat.
Then Tom scored on its delicate nose, taking out another important sense. Pussy circled behind it, got more stones, and aimed for the remaining eye. Soon she scored, for the range was very short and she had mousing reflexes. Now the creature was reduced to hearing. But it did not know its prey by that sense alone, and started going for anything that made a sound.
Cat called out to Tom. "I see little point in slowly killing this creature. I doubt it will be much further danger to us. Let's let it go, and be on our way."
Tom, in the throes of battle fever, didn't want to break off, but Pussy joined in. She could enjoy playing cat and mouse as readily as any Feline, but had a gentler temperament. "Please, Tom—we can save time."
Grudgingly, Tom agreed. He backed away, leaving the bear to snarl in one direction, then another, trying to locate something to obliterate. They threw stones ahead of it, and as it went in pursuit of their noise, quietly circled behind it and on beyond the glade. In the process they came across the tattered body of a Bovine null, a bull whose belly had been ripped open. A swipe of the bear's paw must have done it. There was no sign of the other members of that team. Obviously it was no longer in contention, even if the cow and steer survived.
"You handled that obstacle well," Col remarked.
"Our first requirement is survival," Cat said. "Our second is swiftness. We surely started slowest of all the teams, but your warning enabled us to survive well. We do appreciate it."
"You had the wit to make a fair deal with us," Dar said.
And evidently the Bovines had not, and had been caught unprepared. "Are you allowed to warn us of the next hazard?"
"Yes. Col knows all the geographical obstacles."
That was an interesting qualification. There would be more than geographical challenges. But for the moment, those were what they faced. Cat addressed the girl. "What is it?"
"A raging torrent you must cross. There will be several means to pass it, but each has its liability. That is all I know."
They heard a vague sound ahead, and as they advanced toward it, it increased in volume, becoming a sustained roar. That would be the torrent. It was evidently a river crossing the full area, and there would be no feasible way around it.
They reached the bank, and were daunted. The stream was a good four man-lengths across, and its flow was ferocious. There were rocks in it making tiny islands, but in no pattern suitable for crossing. It might be possible to wedge or roll one stone to another place, to make a stepping stone, but that would entail struggling in the fierce current. Cat took a stick and poked it into the water—and a toothy fish darted in to bite at it. There would be no wading there.
They walked along the bank. A short distance downstream there were several large logs, possibly suitable for making a raft. "We could lash those together with vines, and pole across," Tom said. "The current would carry us downstream, but a few good shoves would get us to the far bank."
"That's a bit too obvious," Cat said. "I distrust it."
"Oh, come on," Pussy said. "We can do it quickly, and be across before any other danger threatens."
"Perhaps. Still, I recommend caution." Cat, covertly watching the human nulls, saw another slight nod.
Pussy shrugged. Guided by Cat's hesitancy, they concealed themselves in brush and watched the logs.
It was just as well, for soon a Canine hound appeared, carrying an armful of vines. Evidently the logs had been collected by the Canines, who now were scrounging for vines. If the felines had tried to take them, they would soon have been in a scrap with the Canines. The natural challenges were enough; it made no sense to fight with other trios
.
The hound began tying the vines around the logs.
"I could distract him," Pussy whispered. "So that you could overcome him and take the raft."
Surely she could, for male nulls liked female nulls of any persuasion except their own. They were made that way so that there would be no sexual interactions within persuasions. But Cat did not trust this either. "Canines are not stupid. Hound may be aware of us. Note that their human nulls are not in evidence."
"Which means they have been parked elsewhere," Tom agreed.
So they waited longer. Then an Ovine female appeared from the down-river side. "Hello, Hound," she said in a dulcet bleat.
"Hello, Ewe," he replied, seeming nonchalant.
"I seem to have lost my way," she said, sitting on the edge of the raft. Cat, from the vantage of the neuter kind, noted how artfully Ewe's firm thighs parted toward the male and how firmly her breasts moved with her breathing. She was making sure she compelled his attention. And where were the Ovine trio's human nulls?
"You sure have," Hound agreed. He moved so suddenly it was a blur, knocking her backwards so that her dainty hind hoofs flew up. He pinned her beneath him, working his body around to get between her legs.
"But I would give you a hump willingly," she protested. "There is no need to rape me."
"I'm in a hurry," Hound said as he shoved into her cleft. Cat saw that she was not resisting at all.
There was the beat of charging hoofs. Ram appeared, evidently from hiding, his horns lowered. Hound heard him and tried to get out of the way, but Ewe held him in place with arms and legs wrapped around his body, not nearly as helpless as she had seemed. She had evidently set out to distract Hound, exactly as Pussy had thought to do, to set him up for Ram.
But even as Ram connected, Bitch appeared from a lair under the logs. She had a crude net of vines, which she threw over Ram, entangling him. She tried to bite him as he fell. It was a countertrap.
Sheep, the neuter Ovine, appeared. It grabbed Bitch from behind, hurling her to the ground. Counter-countertrap.
Then of course Dog appeared, swinging a club at Sheep. Sheep ducked down and butted Dog in the belly. Meanwhile Ram was working his way free of the net. Neither trap had worked perfectly; they were canceling out.