The Game of Rat and Dragon

  THE SHUFFLE

  Father Moontree and the little girl named West entered the room. Theywere the other two pinlighters. The human complement of the FightingRoom was now complete.

  Father Moontree was a red-faced man of forty-five who had lived thepeaceful life of a farmer until he reached his fortieth year. Onlythen, belatedly, did the authorities find he was telepathic and agreeto let him late in life enter upon the career of pinlighter. He didwell at it, but he was fantastically old for this kind of business.

  Father Moontree looked at the glum Woodley and the musing Underhill."How're the youngsters today? Ready for a good fight?"

  "Father always wants a fight," giggled the little girl named West. Shewas such a little little girl. Her giggle was high and childish. Shelooked like the last person in the world one would expect to find inthe rough, sharp dueling of pinlighting.

  Underhill had been amused one time when he found one of the mostsluggish of the Partners coming away happy from contact with the mindof the girl named West.

  Usually the Partners didn't care much about the human minds with whichthey were paired for the journey. The Partners seemed to take theattitude that human minds were complex and fouled up beyond belief,anyhow. No Partner ever questioned the superiority of the human mind,though very few of the Partners were much impressed by thatsuperiority.

  The Partners liked people. They were willing to fight with them. Theywere even willing to die for them. But when a Partner liked anindividual the way, for example, that Captain Wow or the Lady Mayliked Underhill, the liking had nothing to do with intellect. It was amatter of temperament, of feel.

  Underhill knew perfectly well that Captain Wow regarded his,Underhill's, brains as silly. What Captain Wow liked was Underhill'sfriendly emotional structure, the cheerfulness and glint of wickedamusement that shot through Underhill's unconscious thought patterns,and the gaiety with which Underhill faced danger. The words, thehistory books, the ideas, the science--Underhill could sense all thatin his own mind, reflected back from Captain Wow's mind, as so muchrubbish.

  Miss West looked at Underhill. "I bet you've put stickum on thestones."

  "I did not!"

  Underhill felt his ears grow red with embarrassment. During hisnovitiate, he had tried to cheat in the lottery because he gotparticularly fond of a special Partner, a lovely young mother namedMurr. It was so much easier to operate with Murr and she was soaffectionate toward him that he forgot pinlighting was hard work andthat he was not instructed to have a good time with his Partner. Theywere both designed and prepared to go into deadly battle together.

  One cheating had been enough. They had found him out and he had beenlaughed at for years.

  Father Moontree picked up the imitation-leather cup and shook thestone dice which assigned them their Partners for the trip. By seniorrights, he took first draw.

  * * * * *

  He grimaced. He had drawn a greedy old character, a tough old malewhose mind was full of slobbering thoughts of food, veritable oceansfull of half-spoiled fish. Father Moontree had once said that heburped cod liver oil for weeks after drawing that particular glutton,so strongly had the telepathic image of fish impressed itself upon hismind. Yet the glutton was a glutton for danger as well as for fish. Hehad killed sixty-three Dragons, more than any other Partner in theservice, and was quite literally worth his weight in gold.

  The little girl West came next. She drew Captain Wow. When she saw whoit was, she smiled.

  "I _like_ him," she said. "He's such fun to fight with. He feels sonice and cuddly in my mind."

  "Cuddly, hell," said Woodley. "I've been in his mind, too. It's themost leering mind in this ship, bar none."

  "Nasty man," said the little girl. She said it declaratively, withoutreproach.

  Underhill, looking at her, shivered.

  He didn't see how she could take Captain Wow so calmly. Captain Wow'smind _did_ leer. When Captain Wow got excited in the middle of abattle, confused images of Dragons, deadly Rats, luscious beds, thesmell of fish, and the shock of space all scrambled together in hismind as he and Captain Wow, their consciousnesses linked togetherthrough the pin-set, became a fantastic composite of human being andPersian cat.

  That's the trouble with working with cats, thought Underhill. It's apity that nothing else anywhere will serve as Partner. Cats were allright once you got in touch with them telepathically. They were smartenough to meet the needs of the fight, but their motives and desireswere certainly different from those of humans.

  They were companionable enough as long as you thought tangible imagesat them, but their minds just closed up and went to sleep when yourecited Shakespeare or Colegrove, or if you tried to tell them whatspace was.

  It was sort of funny realizing that the Partners who were so grim andmature out here in space were the same cute little animals that peoplehad used as pets for thousands of years back on Earth. He hadembarrassed himself more than once while on the ground salutingperfectly ordinary non-telepathic cats because he had forgotten forthe moment that they were not Partners.

  He picked up the cup and shook out his stone dice.

  He was lucky--he drew the Lady May.

  * * * * *

  The Lady May was the most thoughtful Partner he had ever met. In her,the finely bred pedigree mind of a Persian cat had reached one of itshighest peaks of development. She was more complex than any humanwoman, but the complexity was all one of emotions, memory, hope anddiscriminated experience--experience sorted through without benefit ofwords.

  When he had first come into contact with her mind, he was astonished atits clarity. With her he remembered her kittenhood. He remembered everymating experience she had ever had. He saw in a half-recognizablegallery all the other pinlighters with whom she had been paired for thefight. And he saw himself radiant, cheerful and desirable.

  He even thought he caught the edge of a longing--

  A very flattering and yearning thought: _What a pity he is not a cat._

  Woodley picked up the last stone. He drew what he deserved--a sullen,scared old tomcat with none of the verve of Captain Wow. Woodley'sPartner was the most animal of all the cats on the ship, a low,brutish type with a dull mind. Even telepathy had not refined hischaracter. His ears were half chewed off from the first fights inwhich he had engaged.

  He was a serviceable fighter, nothing more.

  Woodley grunted.

  Underhill glanced at him oddly. Didn't Woodley ever do anything butgrunt?

  Father Moontree looked at the other three. "You might as well get yourPartners now. I'll let the Scanner know we're ready to go into theUp-and-Out."