Topside

The elevator was not impressive. It wasn't anything like the TV shows suggested. It was a little cramped for three people, and it was quite undecorated, and as a final touch it was somewhat dingy and dusty.

Edie considered this. So far Aquarius had been a mind-boggling assortment of failed hype and unguessed astonishments for her. None of the luxury was apparent from underside. The long steel corridors so clearly showed the cost restraints in building a ship the size of a planet- there was a grim fuctionality in their exposed struts and gray unfinished surfaces.

"I never saw anything like this on the TV shows," noted Edie. "On those it was all incredibly luxurious, but I can imagine they'd sugarcoat it a little."

"Oh?" grinned Bill.

"Well, yes. You'd have to be familiar with some of the techniques. The light temperature is a little warmer than it would normally be, it's a flattering sort of light you don't get from flourescents or incandescents. It's a simple trick you can do with color-sync..."

"Warmer?" blinked Bill.

"Kelvin." remarked Walter offhandedly.

"What?" said Bill, and Edie blinked in surprise. "Where did you learn about color temperatures, Walter?"

"I'm a photographer."

"Oh, of course," grinned Bill, "and now that's his cue to persuade you to pose naked for him, right Walter? Works every time."

"What?" stammered Edie, as she and Walter glanced at each other and then looked away.

"Worked with Maggie, and the pictures- wow!" continued Bill blithely.

"Bill, stuff it!" snapped Walter.

Bill seemed unwilling to quit teasing Walter right away. "Well, Edie's already naked, so all you need is a camera!" He laughed awkwardly. "Uh, sorry about that."

Edie bristled slightly in embarrassment. Walter was refusing to look at her all of a sudden, even though she wasn't any different. She surreptitiously checked to make sure her nipples weren't showing through the covering fur, and of course they were not. "Oh, no problem." she said. She felt an odd satisfaction at the thought that Walter was once more seeing her as a sexually arousing feline. It was still embarrassing to have him looking away, though. Anybody would think her private parts were showing. And she was even more careful to brush her fur so it covered that.

The elevator continued to rise in silence for a moment, then Walter broke the silence. "Yeah, you might say the pictures of Maggie were 'wow'. I mean, she was my lover at the time, and that kitten is absolutely shameless. She wanted everyone to see those pictures. It was all I could do to keep her looking fairly artistic."

"Oh, you succeeded, all right." said Bill. "Amazing work."

"A little too amazing." said Walter. "Did I ever tell you what the last straw was?"

"Nope." said the weasel. Both he and Edie relaxed, seeing Walter begin to talk comfortably again.

"Well, you know that picture of her face over my shoulder? With her eyes closed? That wasn't the last straw. It was the only picture like that I ever agreed to shoot."

"You mean.." said Bill.

"Yeah." said Walter quickly. "You get it. Surprised she didn't tell you, she told everybody."

"Told them what?" asked Edie, expecting the answer.

"Let's just say it was 'why is this cat smiling?' and leave it at that, okay?" said Walter, uncomfortably. "The last straw... er... let's say it was 'why is this cat smiling and why is the face over her shoulder smiling?'"

Bill burst out in laughter, which he quickly controlled. "Oh, jeez! I might have known. So that was it, huh?"

Edie blinked, and guessed "She wanted a picture of Walter on her back?"

"Edie..." chuckled Bill, "you don't know Maggie. She wanted a picture of Walter on her front and somebody else on her back."

"Rick." snorted Walter in disgust. "That was the last straw."

"Oh!" giggled Edie. "That's very, er, daring of her, right? Wouldn't it be physically demanding?"

"You don't know Maggie." chuckled Bill. "I can easily believe she'd want to be locked to two males, instead of just one. She's unbelievable."

Edie gulped and looked away, fighting her imagination. Imagination plus memory was a terrible thing, and she desperately wanted to maintain the cozy fiction of prudery. Walter kept becoming more of a friend to her, elbowing out the alternative.

"Bill, you're embarrassing Kid Sister," chided Walter. "Quit it or I'll spank you. We're almost there."

"Yeah," purred Edie, brightening. "You stop that naughty talk or I'll have my big brother beat you up, so there!"

"Okay, okay!" laughed Bill. "Sheesh, you two are impossible."

"So anyway," said Edie, getting back to a safer topic, "were the TV shows exaggerated or not?"

"Seriously?" asked Walter. "You haven't been here very long. Have you ever been topside?"

"No, I came on board through a sort of service entrance, and Peter met me at the docking area. We went straight to your main dormitory, or whatever it is."

Walter chuckled quietly. "You'll have to make up your own mind about that. We're almost there- here we are."

The elevator stopped, and the door opened, revealing another dingy corridor. There was a large sign right by the door, and it said 'POLISH' in large letters. Somebody had scribbled 'Fuck off' over it with permanent marker. Edie boggled at the sign.

Bill noticed her confusion. "Be grateful we get to wear the black sash. The regular topside staff are just about slaves. That sign is to remind them that if they don't behave with polish and refinement at all times, they'll be punished. There's no room for individuality- did you know that some of them are required to speak from phrasebooks? They're paid very well and for that they have to be virtual robots."

"You're kidding."

"Not even slightly. And if we meet any be very nice and be careful what you say. Don't say anything like 'I wish I had a little biplane like this only painted silver to match my fur', if you do it's very possible that somebody will be ordered to paint one or find one like that. If there are pilgrims watching, it becomes almost certain."

"You're kidding!" blinked Edie. "That's crazy!"

They hadn't moved from the entrance of the elevator, and Bill turned earnestly to Edie with a glance at Walter. "It's money, Edie. The pilgrims keep all this going, and you haven't yet seen what that means, not completely. There are a lot of them and when they pay enough to buy a medium-sized building just for a trip to another star system, they expect to be catered to for the duration, all the more so because the trip takes many months, years for some legs of the journey."

"Pilgrims?" blinked Edie. "What are these pilgrims, Roman emperors?"

"To the topside staff, yes, exactly..."

Walter interrupted him. "It's just the topside name for oppies, Edie. You know, old and spiritually delicious and wonderfully enlightened, which is proved by the fact that they own ninety percent of everything not nailed down."

"Oh, god, those." grumbled Edie, her ears going back noticably. "They're not that old, really, they just act superior."

"Yeah, those, and I'm sure we all feel the same way," said Bill, "but they're paying the bills and they know it."

"Okay, so I can see why they have everyone running scared," admitted Edie, "but why call them pilgrims, of all things?"

Walter grinned wryly. "Supposedly it's because they are all on a grand, glorious pilgrimage to other places. The real reason we call them pilgrims is sarcasm. They tend not to notice sarcasm when it's subtle."

"So do we have to kowtow to them too?" asked Edie, less than happy about the prospect. "It sounds like it."

"No, no!" said Walter. "What we do is stay clear of them. If they give orders to you, pretend not to hear. Wear the sash, they do know that black sash wearers don't count. We're supposed to be maintenance people, doing very important things behind the scenes, and most of them understand that though they'll still have you serving drinks if you let them."

Edie glanced down the dingy corridor. "So that's why we're waiting? So you can explain that to me?"

"Mostly to explain what not to do, and to stay out of the way of the topside staff. And the oppies. Hell," said Walter with amusement, "stay out of the way of everybody. We're there to see the sights, and.... oh! Don't tell anybody we were asked to move some bipes. Not a word. We'll just see them and pretend we just decided to fly around a little. I know where to take them so we won't need to ask."

Bill nodded vehemently. "Not a word about the bipes. We're there just by random chance, we'll tell 'em you wanted to see the Z.L."

With that, Bill headed down the corridor, and Edie and Walter followed.

It was difficult for Edie to describe what was happening... as she continued down the corridor the very air seemed to get fresher, and the walls seemed to be better cared for. As they passed a sort of kitchen, suddenly the walls were wallpapered, and the next thing she knew her paws were sinking into thick shag carpeting. There was a twist in the corridor they were approaching, and a distant babble of voices lifted in cheery shouts, loud demands, drunken slurs. The twist in the corridor grew nearer, and then they were upon it.

Edie staggered, catching hold of Walter's arm, as she tried to look everywhere at once. Walter chuckled and continued to walk, and Edie padded along with him, wide-eyed in amazement.

It was just like TV, only a lot bigger- that was her first impression. Everything was built on a grand scale, from the swooping, curving bar to the vast, crystalline windows looking out on dizzying vistas, yet even the smallest details reeked of luxury. Outside the windows, it was fairly dark, for there were no nearby stars, yet somehow great swathes of landscape were lit to dramatic effect by light that made the greenery glow with unbearable perfectness. It was all luxurious enough to cause heart failure. It was full of evidently very rich people chattering merrily to each other. Many of them were traditional humans in form, but Edie spotted several felines, one totemized person who seemed to be a kangaroo type, and a very convincing centaur.

Edie pointed in wonder at a particularly striking use of area lighting, and then gasped and stared at her own arm. The color effects on the TV shows had not been special effects- suddenly her own arm was part of the magical spell. Her silver fur seemed to shimmer bewitchingly, looked too beautiful to be real. Edie looked down at her body and the rest of her was equally radiant. She glanced over and saw that even Walter's shaggy fur had taken on a touch of glamour, and Bill's looked much like her own. She then noticed both Bill and Walter were staring at her, blinked, and drew away from Walter a little, embarrassed.

"Nice lights," she said lamely, and then giggled. "I should come here more often."

Bill elbowed Walter in the ribs, and Walter erked, and stopped staring.

"Get a grip," said Bill kindly, "I thought this might happen."

"Uh." said Walter intelligently. "Well! Shall we go refresh ourselves at the bar, then? Before we go and just happen to find bipes and fly them around?"

"Would they have tea?" asked Edie. "You're not planning to drink and then fly a biplane, are you?"

Bill grinned. "Edie, he's a pilot, what do you think? Walter is an ex-military pilot. If we weren't flying I might have a beer, but where's the need when I'm in such excellent company?"

"So they'll have tea?"

"They have everything. Be careful what you ask for! They'll have something nice on hand, just don't specify." said Walter.

They went up to the bar, which was largely unoccupied, as most of the pilgrims were mingling in the ingeniously designed conversation pits. There were a few humans at the bar, a very scruffy coyote with a ring in his ear and a subtly spiked hairdo, and (Edie blinked) a strange birdlike creature, absolutely emaciated but with very nice brightly colored feathers. Walter and Bill picked stools well separated from the other people, and left a stool between them, obviously for Edie's use.

Before she had even settled her feline bottom on the stool, a bartender was before them, smiling like a movie actor. "Well!" he said. "The usual, Walter and Bill? And..." and he glanced rapidly below the bar, "Edie my dear, what'll it be?"

"Do you have any tea?" asked Edie, taken aback.

"Just name it." said the bartender confidently. Walter caught her eye and, almost imperceptibly, shook his head, reminding her.

"I'd like a cup of tea," purred Edie. "Whatever Earth type you have handy, no special flavorings. Black tea, the regular sort."

The bartender smiled. "Of course. And it'll be coffee for you gentlemen?"

Bill nodded. Walter said, "Actually, I'll try some of the tea. What Edie's having."

The bartender zipped off, returning amazingly soon with their tea and coffee. He then took up a position where he could see the whole bar, his eyes scanning his customers deftly and a little huntedly, the smile of a movie star still habitually on his face. Edie studied him and thought she had never seen anybody look more like a jolly bartender. He was almost too perfect to be real.

"How on earth did he know my name was Edie?" whispered Edie to Walter.

"Go on and ask him," grinned Walter. "He knows we're staff. He can tell you. In fact you might someday have work to do up here."

Edie glanced at the bartender questioningly and the man scooted over, ready to serve her. Edie glanced around furtively, and whispered "How did you know my name was Edie? I'm curious."

The bartender continued to smile, but Edie felt it suddenly become more honest. He leaned over and whispered, "It's our computer system. Brought you up on the database. Walter and Bill have been here before and ordered coffee. I like you people, underside people tend to stick to stuff we have in.. just a moment.."

He zipped over to the coyote, before Edie even saw the coyote lift a finger. When she looked, she realized that he hadn't. He looked up at the bartender's approach, surprised, and then looked at his empty glass, and a coyote grin came over his face, and he nodded.

When the bartender was done serving him, he returned and deftly picked up where he'd left off. "Stuff we have in stock... it's a big help. If you're wondering what happened, a sensor told me his glass was empty. Shows up on the readouts, and it's very useful at busy times. It's a very sophisticated system."

Edie glanced at his grizzled hair, and blinked. "That's not real?"

"Bleached and dyed. Doesn't matter if a sober person can spot it, it's for atmosphere. A real old man wouldn't be as good at handling a drunken centaur if things got physical."

Edie blinked again. "Seems like you're ready for everything."

The bartender chuckled. "I'm paid to be. I should be getting back to ready position unless you need more of my attention."

"Oh, by all means," said Edie, and he faded back to his watchful position, scanning the room.

"Wow." purred Edie softly. "Amazing. I was sort of expecting flunkies."

Walter chuckled, and Bill drooped a little. "I guess we didn't tell you everything." said Bill. "These guys might be absolute puppets, but they are also the best. Period. They're paid very well, but it's not just that which keeps them, it's also the chance to work at the peak of whatever profession they practice. Very few of them quit despite the rigors of the job."

Walter nodded. "Sometimes we make fun of their being such puppets, but it's good to remember where they stand, and why they put up with it."

"But you couldn't get me to put up with it," grumbled Bill amiably.

"Hell, you'd never get through the first interviews!" laughed Walter. "You're underside staff, Bill, there's no getting around it. Look what happened to Maggie!"

"Yeah." grinned Bill. "Just goes to show you."

"Maggie?" inquired Edie, puzzled.

"Maggie originally applied for a job topside," confided Walter. "Red sash. She didn't make it but Peter spotted her records and grabbed her for underside work."

"Oh."

"So," continued Walter, "shall we wander off and just happen to discover some little biplanes that need to be flown around and landed somewhere else?"

They got up and Edie followed Walter and Bill through the clusters of pilgrims, toward a sort of hangar-like area open to the outside air. The room was crowded, and she found it tricky to keep up, wriggling around groups of chatting oppies with a deft swing of her feline hips or a sinous twist of her body, her fur shimmering glamorously in the flattering light. As she got past the last group, and began closing the distance between herself and her friends, a hand gently caught hers, turning her around. She let out an eep of surprise, and stopped, looking up at the hand's owner.

"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." said the man gently. "Please come this way." He spoke clearly and reassuringly, though Edie detected a whiff of alcohol on his breath, and his eyes were too bright.

He began striding calmly toward another door, quite relaxed, still holding Edie's hand. She noticed Bill and Walter, who'd spotted what happened and were trying to rejoin her, but the crowds were in their way and they seemingly didn't dare shove. Walter looked absolutely horrified.

Edie tugged on the man's hand. "Who are you? Where are you taking me? Are you staff?"

The man chuckled. "Oh, you'll like me. And I like you. I've never seen a more beautiful cat. I saw the way you moved, and that was it, I knew what I had to do."

Edie gasped, trying to pull her hand free, as the other door got nearer. "Just what are you implying?"

"I'm going to sink my lovely staff deep in you, kitty." said the man, with a glitter in his eyes. "I bet you are very tight. Do you squirm? I'd like that. I want to make you yowl in ecstacy. And I'm really wired, I'll last a very long time, little one."

Edie squeaked, a little shocked sound, and yanked away frantically. The man whirled. "I like it! Let's play you're trying to escape, that would be..." and then he looked over at Walter, who'd made it past the crowds and was rushing over, bristling horribly. Bill was close behind him. "What the hell is this?" said the man, indignantly, as if he was being cheated.

Walter glanced at the bartender, who was looking very worried. Edie backed away until she bumped into Walter, and shivered as Walter's arm went reassuringly around her.

"Look," said the man, "I'm a passenger here. I wouldn't have hurt her, that would ruin it for other people. What the hell is your problem, Fido?"

Walter drew Edie closer, protectively. "Black sash. Not red sash. Please look more closely next time." His voice was flat and rigidly controlled, his body was tense, and he kept darting glances at the bartender. He turned until his body shielded Edie from the man's gaze, and together they began easing toward the hangar area.

"Same goddamn difference." said the man angrily.

"We're sorry." said the bartender, seeming to relax a little.

The man withdrew, grumbling, to rejoin his friends, and as Edie left the place she could hear them comforting him, saying "No, they're right, Robert, I just didn't want to say anything in case it worked" and chuckling "Can't blame you for trying, ya rascal- reooow! Ha ha ha."

Edie pressed close to Walter, shivering, until they'd put some distance between themselves and the bar. She looked up at him. "I want you to tell me right now what job Maggie first applied for."

"Heh." said Bill. "You can't guess?"

Walter snarled, a shockingly vicious sound that startled Edie, and hugged her tightly to him for a moment. "I could have killed that guy."

"Hey, Walter, take it easy, it was our own stupid fault."

"No it wasn't." Walter glowered. "That guy knew. Same difference, hell." The hulking wolf looked formidable, and his body was still tense with repressed fight reflexes. Edie could feel the tenseness, and Walter seemed to not want to let her go again, though they were safely away from the scene.

Edie shivered again, letting Walter hold her for a little while, but then decided it was time to move past the current mood. Bill looked unhappy, and Walter was unreachable and furious, so it was up to her, but she suspected she could mend things pretty easily.

"Walter?" purred Edie softly, and when Walter paused and looked down at her, she turned and hugged him affectionately, pressing close to him and purring. Her tail flicked to the left, but she let it, this once, and just let herself go, focusing on how big and strong and wonderful he was and melting into a dreamy embrace. When she felt his body relaxing, she looked up into his eyes, and purred "Thank you." with great conviction- and backed off, a little unsteadily.

Walter looked like someone had hit him on the head with a rock. "Er, of course." he said, and then suddenly bristled like mad in embarrassment and turned away. Edie let him, for she knew perfectly well why he had to. She'd felt bulky stirrings against her belly, and had barely broken the clinch in time to spare his dignity.

She padded very slowly away, with Bill by her side, doing her best to regain her own equilibrium, which was shaken more than she cared to admit. As they slowly walked, giving Walter time to catch up when he felt decent again, Bill whispered, "My god. You do understand what you just did to him?"

"Yes." whispered Edie.

"But..." whispered Bill, "well, I know it worked, but are you sure you intended to go that far? I thought you wanted to avoid that sort of thing."

"I do." whispered Edie.

"Then why?" whispered Bill.

"Because I knew it would work." whispered Edie.

"You okay?" whispered Bill.

"Where did that man go?" joked Edie in a whisper. "I seem to be shivering, maybe he could suggest something to help it."

Bill burst out laughing, earning a mild glare from Walter who was bringing up the rear.

"I could point you to a nice room..." whispered Bill very quietly. "I wouldn't mind. I'll go fly bipes or something."

"No," whispered Edie. "I need to think."

"Be good." whispered Bill, and then he called out, "Come on, Walter, get a move on. You look fine."