Cats in Space and Other Places by Bill Fawcett (best book recommendations txt) 📗

"It was history, honorable Mr. Smith, our knowledge of history that defeated him," said the Japanese archeologist, reverting to the ancient politeness of his race.

The Pride

Todd Hamilton and P.J. Beese

The blade flashed down, swift and hard, severing the umbilical. Captain Ki Lawwnum watched the small spurt of blood, then lifted the blade in salute to the new child. Taking a small square of silk, he wiped the blade carefully, then turned to the Empress. Her ladies were attempting to make her comfortable, so he did not approach. She was tired, tried to her limits. Even so, he thought she was the most regal human woman alive. It had not been an easy birth. Even Ki, Lionman of the Imperial Guard, was tired, the hours having taken their toll, and yet his only job had been to watch and wait. And still Elena Accalia, Empress Imperia of the Gran Imperium Alligantia, after her pain and exertion, retained all of her grandeur. A squall from the new infant drew Ki's attention. A nurse held the babe on an open blanket in outstretched arms for the Emperor's inspection.

Royal lips pursed in distaste, bringing the Emperor's full sensual mouth into a tight circle. His dark brows drew together over muddy brown eyes giving him the look of a hunting bird of prey.

"Unsatisfactory, Elena. Most unsatisfactory."

The dragons embroidered on his golden robe writhed around each other as he swirled out of the sterile sea-foam green chamber.

Ki's hands, the right one natural, tawny as the rest of him, strong-nailed and fine-fingered, the left mechanical, grey metallic, automatically straightened his meticulous uniform.

"Your Majesty," he said, the sorrow he felt for the Emperor's reaction thickening his deep, rich voice.

Elena Accalia regarded this Lionman carefully. The distaste he felt for the Emperor's reaction did not escape her, even now in her extreme weariness. How long had he been with her? Ever since she had been sent from her own planet to the Homeworld to be the wife of the Emperor. He had been among those sent to escort her. His mane had been totally dark then. It seemed the years spent in this Emperor's court took their toll even on the long-lived Lionmen. The grey-white streaking his mane now was not unattractive, however, and Elena remembered the many kindnesses to her that had probably added to the streaks as she took his metallic hand in hers.

Ki "felt" the pressure of her touch, the softness of her skin, through his sensory receptors, but none of her warmth. That was not one of the hand's capabilities.

"Ki, the child is a girl. Firstborn, and a girl. Her life is in danger from her first breath." Elena took the square of silk and lifted it into his line of vision. "Her blood and mine are tied to your sword, Ki. Protect her. Love her. Stay with her as long as you can. Teach her the things she needs to know. Ki Lawwnum, I put her in your care." Elena tucked the silk into Ki's hand.

Ki bowed to his Empress, acknowledging her wishes, awed by the responsibility and the trust placed in him, and inserted the square of silk carefully into his sash. He felt unworthy in spite of his long association with the Empress. He gently withdrew his hand from her grasp, promised again with his eyes to do his best to obey her command, and backed respectfully out of the room to go to the royal nursery to stand guard over his newest charge until utter fatigue forced him to seek rest.

The door slid aside into its pocket and Aubin stepped back involuntarily, startled, as a rumbling war cry reverberated down the palace corridor. Looming over him, glowing menacingly in the bright yellow light from the hallway was a wild Nidean dressed in the deep desert robes of his people, untamed golden-brown mane free to the winds and stippled with braided-in beads. The warrior's face, with the ochre and scarlet tattoos that denoted his Pride, was a hardened mask of determination. The outstretched, gently curved hoj, the longer of the two blades Nideans traditionally wore, swept past Aubin's face. He shied as he felt the cold breath of air that followed it, too late, though, to have avoided the stroke had it been intended to be deadly.

Then, from behind the Nidean, Aubin caught a flash of blue-white skin, and he sank heavily against the wall of the wide palace hallway, shaking with warm relief.

"That's a damned puppet!" he exclaimed as his heart rate slowly began to recede to normal. "Ki Lawwnum, how could you do that to me?"

Lawwnum answered with his rumbling Nidean laugh, and dropped the massive puppet's head and built-in harness from its place on his wide, well-muscled shoulder.

"I was a little homesick, and the 'General' here was helping me to practice my Pridecaft. Surely you remember 'General' Haarwaa?"

Aubin forced himself away from the wall and tugged at the royal blue skinsuit he was sporting on his stocky frame. "I'm afraid I don't," he said, with just a little acidity.

Ki grabbed the puppet's hair and raised the face so that it peered down into Aubin's. "Look again, my friend. He's been hanging on my living room wall ever since I took over these quarters."

Aubin studied the mask. Now that it was not animated, and therefore decidedly less vicious, he recalled. He nodded to Ki, then, drawn by this masterwork of the carver's craft, reached out to touch the heavily defined features with a tentative finger. He leaned in closer, and the distinctive odor of the wallumnar wood from which such puppets were traditionally carved reached him. It was an odor he loved, rich and clean, and it brought a smile to his world-weary face.

Ki gently pulled the puppet back. Aubin followed and Ki closed the door.

"You remember who Haarwaa was, don't you?" he asked Aubin.

Slightly embarrassed, the Lunar Envoy answered, "Sorry. I'm not up on such things."

Ki seated himself on one of