Avaming had exchanged his ceremonial finery for a loosely belted lounging robe. He received Sabor’s gift with a superbly aristocratic response: he recovered his control of his facial muscles seconds after he heard the news and he immediately offered to return the favor.
“That’s a most generous gift,” Avaming said. “I must admit you’ve quite taken me by surprise, Honored Sabor.”
“It’s our pleasure, Possessor.”
“I hope there’s something I can do for you. I would be embarrassed if there wasn’t.”
“There’s no reason for you to be embarrassed. The opportunity happened to come to my attention and it seemed like the appropriate thing to do, given the fact that your deposits have made such an important contribution to the capital formation that keeps our planetary economy functioning. You and your colleagues have created a tradition that sets a high standard of courtesy.”
“But there must be some way I can display my appreciation,” Avaming said. “I realize the theorists are undoubtedly right. We large landowners will eventually be supplanted by the masters of capital, just as our counterparts were on Earth. But that day hasn’t come yet. We still have some influence.”
The three enemy cats had located one of Choy’s mauled cats and ganged up on it. Choy inserted a transmission from the cat’s optic nerve in the upper left corner of the map display. The cat rose to all fours seconds before three furies leaped across the bushy fallen tree it had been using for cover. The glistening black skin of the cat’s assailants filled its visual field. Trees and sunlight rolled past its eyes as it tipped back its head in response to the wounds it was receiving.
Choy had placed another cat where it could act as a reserve. It popped out of its hiding place ten meters behind its doomed teammate and Choy switched to a direct transmission from its nervous system. Sabor peered through its eyes as it bored toward the heaving bodies in front of it. It lunged at the hindquarters of one of the enemy cats and apparently closed its jaws around part of a leg.
The display shifted to map-and-symbol mode. The symbol that represented the second cat broke contact and angled away from the fracas.
I think we should go, Choy transmitted.
Sabor’s fingers danced across an imaginary keyboard. Go.
“As a matter of fact,” Sabor said, “I have been thinking about a problem I have. I discovered your interest in the aquatic chase, in fact, when I was researching the problem.”
“Feel free to tell me what you need.”
“I believe you and Possessor Makajida have had some disagreements.”
“You could say that. I think most impartial observers would inform you we’re not on the most cordial of terms.”
“As you may be aware, his military forces are somewhat smaller than normal at this moment. He has rented about fifty of them to another Possessor. It would be very helpful to me if you could place some of your military personnel on your southern border—enough that he would feel he had to bolster his own defenses.”
Avaming smiled. “As I understand it, he’s rented his soldiers to Kenzan Khan.”
“That’s my understanding, too.”
“I can see how that could be of value to you, Honored Sabor. I’ve received two rather boastful messages from Kenzan.”
The widemounts had trudged away from their feast and settled into line. The cats that had attacked the left flank were sweeping toward the widemounts unopposed. Had Choy realized the cats would move that fast when he had made his tactical calculations? Did he really think the widemounts could pull away from the cats before the cats closed in.…
“As a matter of fact,” Avaming said, “I’ve been thinking about conducting an alert exercise. There’s no reason why it can’t take place on my border with Possessor Makajida.”
Avaming smiled again. “I would have to notify Possessor Makajida I was conducting an exercise, of course. I wouldn’t want him to misunderstand my intentions.”
Sabor smiled back. “That would certainly be the most prudent way to go about it. I hope you’ll be able to schedule it soon.”
“I’ll get onto it as soon as we terminate this call. I gather it would be most helpful to you if it were done promptly.”
“That could make a significant difference, Possessor.”
“Consider it done. I’m only sorry you didn’t ask for something that required more of my resources.”
The enemy cats had dropped back to marching speed. The tactician on the other side had earned another burst of applause from Choy. The cats had aborted their attack at the first sign the widemounts were pulling ahead.
“Our widemounts have now lost six minutes of refueling time,” Choy said. “Four this feeding period, almost two last period. I can’t keep them moving at their maximum pace if they don’t get a full feeding period soon.”
“We have no idea how long Possessor Avaming is going to dally,” Purvali said. “I can understand why you didn’t want to give him any sense of the time constraints we’re working with. But he could spend the next three hours wandering around his domains admiring his building projects.”
“He said he would get on it as soon he terminated the call, Purvali. I’m inclined to think he will—given his personality structure. I should also note that we aren’t the only combatants who are testing their limits. Our pursuers are driving themselves, too. As you yourself have advised me.”
Sabor turned his attention to the material he had downloaded from the databanks. Now that they were being pursued on the ground, he could assume their pursuers knew where they were. He could transmit and receive without worrying about security. He could turn away from all the stresses and tensions of their situation—including the tensions Purvali was creating—and lose himself in profit projections, trading opportunities, brilliant-but-unworkable ideas for new projects, gossip that might tell him something about the character of possible customers, and all the other details that made his working life so endlessly fascinating. He had never understood people who thought “getting and spending” was an empty way to fill your days. The numbers and facts in his databanks absorbed him in the same way the interactions of individuals fascinated dramatists and the intricacies of natural systems fascinated ecologists.
He could probably claim, in fact, that he had a better understanding of human relationships than most of the creative minds who had tried to depict them. A dramatist’s errors might be overlooked by some segments of the audience. His cost him real purchasing power.
He kept on working after they stopped for the next fueling period. He didn’t call up Choy’s displays until the halt had reached the five minute point. This time Choy deliberately left one flank wide open. Choy’s opposite number committed his forces to an all out attack on that side and Choy responded with a precisely timed counterattack. Three of Choy’s remaining cats threw themselves into a melee in which they were hopelessly outnumbered. Choy lost one cat but he achieved his immediate objective. The widemounts placidly completed a full fifteen minute feeding.
“Quite good, Choy,” Sabor said. “You had that timed to the second.”
He waited for a nag from Purvali but she apparently decided to fume in silence.
Choy now had six cats left. He grouped four in a loose formation in the center the next time they stopped. The other two were positioned further out, one on each flank.
The opposition came in fast, in an attack that seemed to be spread across Choy’s entire front. Then, just when Sabor thought they were committed to a straightforward linear assault, they behaved like the kind of highly trained, purpose-shaped soldiers they were. Four hardbodies and four cats coalesced into