Tally Road Original Story- Chapter 3

"No, he doesn't work here anymore."

"Thank you. Where could I reach him?"

"How the hell would I know?" said the restaraunt manager. It was an awfully fine restaraunt- Estrai, Nerre, even some Vorsi cuisine, but the manager was as crusty as the manager of any low-budget dive. They were alike all over, and Rairate treaded carefully as he tried to dig for information.

"There is of course no reason you would have to tell me..."

"Good!" growled the manager, and with that he turned and left, leaving Rairate standing in the doorway of the kitchen staring after him, and being stared at in turn by the kitchen staff, all Runge, all continuing in their prep work in spite of the unexpected entertainment. Rai was left with no dignified option but to pad quietly away himself, away from the kitchen, past the rows of reach-in freezers, and out the loading dock, where he found Boodins playing with a drone.

Boodins waved his hand near the tiny flying thing, watching it swerve away from the contact, and return to hovering unsteadily in front of him. There was an audible hum from its tiny, bee-like wings as they held it in the air, supporting it with the vortex lift that was the most useful method for subminiature drones- wings and even fans and turbines lost effectiveness when the scale became that small. "Did it work?"

"No," said Rairate quietly, running a practiced glance over the several Runge who were also hanging around in the loading dock area. On the Runge homeworlds, there were few places that weren't crowded, and in the cities you'd hear the sound of brief fights and the yelps of the injured as the pecking order wore relentlessly on, even within the ranks of homeless derelicts. The Runge hanging around here didn't look like a threat. Boodins, of course, seemed oblivious, and still hadn't been rolled, which only underscored the lack of threat.

Boodins was still playing with the drone. "Why's this thing hanging around me? It acts like it's smart, but it's only interested in me!"

"It probably is. Intelligence is cheap." said Rairate. "And you're not Runge, but you're hanging around back here without delivering anything or doing anything. I'm not surprised it's curious. I daresay it has filed me under 'delivery boy' since I was allowed into the kitchen."

"Why isn't it interested in the other people here?" asked Boodins.

"I wondered if you'd noticed them." purred Rairate with gentle sarcasm. "They are probably homeless or loitering, and that drone has seen them before. If one of them made a move towards the entrance... just a moment. Be still, please, Boodins."

"What?" yelped Boodins, alarming the stray Runge. "Something else attacking us?"

"No! Calm yourself, 'aons! I want to see how good the drone is."

Rairate carefully moved his paw until it was behind the drone as it watched Boodins with silicon attentiveness, and then made a sudden, feigned grab at the little flying thing. It dropped away from his grab, and as soon as it was clear of Rairate's paw, it resumed hovering in front of Boodins.

"Is that good?"

"I am sure it is good enough." said Rairate. "However, it is a very primitive drone. There's a similar type that will twist to the side under those conditions, forcing it to recover with a sideways evasive manuever, and a still more expensive one that would have the sense to take up a more distant observing position once I'd grabbed for it. Those are dangerous."

Boodins blinked. "How? I could squish it between my fingers."

"You could try. Though yes, if you could catch it, you could destroy it with a touch. If I'm not mistaken..." said Rairate, trailing off, and he began peering around the loading dock. "Aha!"

The little feline caught up a small piece of metal that had once been the lid of a jar, staring expertly at an area of the ceiling. "Watch this!" he whispered. With that, he carefully held the jar lid over the drone, which still hovered in front of Boodins. In a moment, the drone began to waver, and Rairate quickly palmed the jar lid, glancing at the watching Runge. His whiskers drooped. "Chos! I should not have done that."

"What?" said Boodins, distressed. He had learned to recognize his companion's reaction to seemingly minor infractions.

Rairate whispered, "I interrupted the power source to the drone. Sometimes there are also energy weapons built into the ceiling tracking the drone. The dangerous ones I mentioned can burn out their power reserves all at once firing micro-lasers to blind you- you can't see where they are unless you look at them, and if you... Chos!"

A Runge from the kitchen had appeared at the doorway, and the stray Runge from the street quickly made themselves, if not scarce, then numerous elsewhere. Rairate visibly bristled, alarming Boodins worse, and the Resten asked "What's happening, are you going to fight that guy?"

"No. Chos! You may come. I must go apologize for playing with the drone when I knew it was working." Rai sounded miserable, but utterly determined, and he began padding over to the restaraunt worker, Boodins tagging along, the drone cheerfully following and watching Boodins.

When he got there, he was surprised. The fellow pulled him aside and said, "Is it okay if I talk to you a moment? I can't stay long, I have to get back to the kitchen, like, now."

Rairate made a very creditable recovery, partly because everything about the Runge's body language said he was asking a favor, not delivering a reprimand. Apparently his indiscretion with the drone wasn't the problem- most likely, the street derelicts already knew how to disrupt its power source, and simply didn't bother. His fur unbristled slightly, and his ears came forward with instinctive attentiveness. "Of course you may. You have overheard my conversation with your supervisor?"

"Yeah, and you wanted to know about Finn."

"Can you tell me anything about Finn?" asked Rairate, politely.

"Shit, man, I was hoping you could!" replied the Runge.

Rairate's ears flattened only the slightest amount at the salty language- but he'd been around cooks before and knew what to expect. "Then please trade me information- you go first. When did he leave here, and under what circumstances?"

"Okay, okay. He got shitcanned for being late after staying up all night with his girlfriend. Finn always had a girlfriend but not always the same one, know what I'm saying?"

"Only being late?" asked Rairate.

"You don't work here, you don't know. Etze, that's Etwirgs our head chef and for God's sake don't tell him we call him that..."

"Indeed not," said Rairate. "Isn't that a small food animal?"

"It's a sort of crab. We use them. Great flavor but the bastards pinch you to death with their claws, you don't EVER let one get near your body parts or you'll lose them but anyway, what's this about Finn?"

"Are you a friend of his?"

"Yeah! And what's happened to him? He isn't returning my mails, when I scout the video feeds of his usual hangs he's not there..."

"Did he ever tell you where he might go?"

"Hey... are you trouble, man? I mean, you're not telling me anything, maybe I don't want to say another fucking word, hear what I'm saying? What are you?"

Rairate considered for a moment. He was in a serious bind. Tell this cook that he was Hse-Nerre and the fellow might jump to the worst conclusions. He couldn't tell the cook he was police, as he wasn't and it wouldn't be reassuring anyhow- and telling the cook that he was hunting Finn as a kidnapper seemed like a misstep. Rai thought fast, for he had to, and blandly explained, "We are looking for a woman who has gone missing, one whom Finn may have... known."

Presumably, 'violently kidnapped' counted as 'known' in some way. The cook didn't know that part, and relaxed visibly, beginning to chatter.

"Oh, yeah, that would be just like him. He's always doing that, he's a wild man that way- if it isn't a wild wolf lady from around here it's the posh one or once he had a cat like y... well, no, I guess she wasn't like you, was she? I know that much. We kept having to hide her when proper Nerre came around and she'd curse us out and we'd all have to do her later before she'd drink with us again. He said he wanted to try an Aintar one day and we kept telling him there'd be feathers all over the walls, man, that would just be cruelty..."

Rairate retained his expression of politeness but his ears were well back from the effort of not hearing the parade of wild living being recounted- the inclusion of an expat Nerre alone had made him very uncomfortable, and everything about this Finn seemed appalling. Then, he noticed that the cook had stopped talking, and was perking his ears and looking huntedly out the loading dock entrance.

"Shit. Do you guys need to step in here until they go by... well, I suppose maybe you don't, do you... um, don't know how to put this... gotta go! Good luck bye!"

He was gone, and the door closed. Then, Rairate heard the noise of the door being locked.

"What was that about?" asked Boodins.

"I don't know. Did it seem to you that he was listening?"

"It seemed to me like he heard something that scared him to death."

Rairate quirked his own ears. "But, there's nothing like that to hear. It's normal city sounds."

"Listen real hard," said Boodins, spooked. "I know you guys hear better than us."

"I'll try, but there's nothing at all. It's all normal."

Boodins whimpered. "He said 'until they go by'. Something's coming. Try harder!"

"I tell you, Boodins, there is nothing! It's a normal city! The sound of wind around the buildings. The ground vehicles on their rounds. There was a dominance fight a few minutes ago but it must have been blocks away. The fl..."

Rairate froze. It was the things you were used to that got you.

He was hearing Nerre fliers, the tiny ducted-fan personal helicopter-packs that thronged Nerre cities, but although the highpitched whoosh and whine of these craft were normal there, this wasn't a Nerre city. It was a Runge city- Runge simply did not have the cultural qualities to adapt to this form of transportation like the disciplined and orderly Nerre- and here, the machines were illegal.

The sound grew, and now Rairate could hear the note of mechanical stress. He wondered if Runge modified the fliers, or simply wore them out and replaced them when they burned up. The tiny turbine engines were geared to Nerre weights. Here, they would have to run flat out just to hold their passenger in the air.

Boodins whimpered, "Rai!" and at that sound, Rairate relaxed. His fur un-bristled entirely, and he brushed at it gently with a paw here and there, as if expecting to entertain company and not wishing a hair out of place.

"Rai!"

"Be quiet, Boodins. Stay behind me, between me and the wall. Do not go nearer than six feet to the wall, or nearer than three feet to me. Do not move unless you must, do not flee under any circumstances." Rairate considered adding, "unless I am dead" and decided that the panicky Resten was better off without that advice.

A shadow passed across the adjacent building, and then the threat appeared, and Rai thanked any and all deities, even the unbearably nasty Tompar ones- sure enough, when you put a Runge on a Nerre flier, there wasn't enough weight allowance for much additional weaponry. Heavy projectile weapons might have been a problem- but they were expensive, and blades, specifically plastic-ceramic blades, were lighter, and wouldn't get used up. And there was the element of style and attitude...

A gang of Runge, almost naked and armed with exposed blades as if they were playing at being historical Estrai, began to pass by the open loading dock. Rairate stood quietly, well back, willing Boodins to be quiet as well. It seemed to be working...

"Hey! Hey, look in there!"

Or not.

Rairate stood, quietly, as the gang milled about at various hovering heights, their fliers whining under their excessive weight, and then came in to land. Few of them were even good enough to navigate into the loading dock in hover- it was tricky, only at higher travel speeds did the fliers produce much centering force.

There were only about eight of them. They swaggered in, weapons clenched in their furry hands. Rairate noted one that led, two that came next, five more that straggled.

"Hey, man, got any money?"

Rairate watched the leader. Runge-like, he did not close immediately- he was looking over his prey from a distance.

"Did you hear me, asshole? Got any money?"

One of the second-in-commands was apparently getting messages from movies he had seen. "Uh..."

"Shut up, Kran! Hey, asshole, are you a good kitty? Hey, you're kinda cute for an asshole without any money."

"Uh... man..."

Rairate tired of the byplay. He didn't approve of the slant it was taking, and it was obvious the Runge wasn't going to get bored and go away. Behind him, Boodins whimpered, once. Before the wolves could pick up on that and turn their intimidation to the young Resten behind him, Rairate spoke, calmly and quietly, almost apologetically.

"Vrironste."

The second-in-command blanched, his eyes widening and his ears laying back. "Dude!"

"Shut up, Kran!"

Rairate watched. The leader wolf's temper was nearing the breaking point, while behind him, the five followers were visibly nervous and the two just behind the leader were exchanging looks. The smart one hissed to his compatriot, "When I say now..."

"Shut the FUCK UP, Kran!" bellowed the leader, whirling on his subordinates, and Rairate sprang.

"NOW!"

Boodins couldn't shut his eyes. For one thing, it was too dangerous and he was too terrified. For another, it was wonderful and horrible to see.

The five followers and the two subordinates fled for their lives, rushing outside, grabbing their fliers and running with them rather than pause to rev up the turbines.

The leader tried to whirl back, roaring, swinging his deadly blade with all his force, and it flew from his grasp and clattered against the wall, and he collapsed onto the hard loading dock floor, gushing blood from throat, from wrists, from belly... and died.

Rairate had unsheathed a set of claws, cut the tendons in the attacker's wrists, opened his throat, and sprang free again in a whirl of motion. He'd hit the guy sideways, in mid-air, and used the force of his own blows to spin around, landing on his shoulder, rolling quickly and springing to his feet. Now the Hse-Nerre stood quietly again, waiting and watching, tail twitching as if electrified.

Boodins approached him, nervously. "Is he.. uh!" He'd looked into Rairate's eyes for a moment and it had frightened him. Rai's little feline face remained calm, but the eyes burned with predatory fire and a distinct green glint.

There was a siren, and Boodins watched Rairate hear the siren, watched those animal eyes settle down and return to their normal state of limpid serenity and seeming innocence.

"Vranorche." said Rairate, quietly.

The siren was police- two Runge in uniform walked in. "Whoa! Okay, what... yeah. Okay. Please step away from the body and stay where you are." Very quickly, the Runge cop had sized up the situation and was holding Rairate at gunpoint. "We got another one here too, looks Resten."

"He saved my life!" said Boodins. "We were attacked!"

"Hold it, guy... hey Berh, roll that guy over will ya? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. We're gonna want to get your names, you guys..."

"I am Rairate Tais, and this is Boodins Earncy."

"That'll do nicely, guy. Hold still please- thank you, that and your pictures should be all we need."

"Are you going to put us in jail?" asked Boodins.

"We're gonna give you a warning."

Boodins blinked at the incongruity of this. "You've got to be kidding."

"What," said the cop, "you want to go to jail? What the hell's the matter with you, guy?"

"But... didn't you come because of the fight? Rai got attacked by that Runge..."

"He ain't the first. That guy there... let's just say you did us a favor. We know him real good. We know what he was probably trying to do. I admit to being impressed by your friend... Hse-Nerre? I mean, really?"

Rairate nodded, once.

"Figures. But the reason we came here was to investigate a routine interference with the functioning of a security drone. All the time, assholes are fooling with the things. We get here and there's a dead guy we know real well, and we've got your names and we can find you if we need to. Here's your warning. Go home. Go home now and stop playing around in loading docks. Okay? Because we gotta go, there's twelve other calls piling up while we hang around here petting the kitty."

Rairate's eyes glinted for a moment, and the cop caught it. "Sorry, guy. Er, Rairate. Look, stay out of trouble for the rest of the night, will you? Um, 'vraonse'. Please."

Rai spoke, quietly. "Have you a handkerchief, or tissue of some sort?"

"You got it. No, keep it, least I can do since you took this guy off our hands. Go home. Okay? Berh, grab the kitty flitty, will ya? Uh, sorry, that's just what we call them... You know they're illegal here, right? I know it ain't yours, it was his."

Rairate nodded, and began padding home with Boodins by his side.

The cop called after him, "I don't think anybody's gonna bother you after this- or your friend."

Rairate turned. "I am sorry to have caused a mess."

The cop chuckled. "You may have caused one here, but this guy caused a lot more, every fuckin' night- I think we'll let you off the hook this time."

Rairate nodded, and kept walking, licking his claws carefully and using the handkerchief to clean Runge blood off them. He hesitated, remembering the drone and wondering if he must apologize for interfering with it, but of course it didn't belong to the cops- they were essentially hirelings and he'd stopped interfering well before they came on the scene, and he had no intention of doing it again. As he had been within territory of the restaraunt, they had a claim on him but the cops didn't have the same degree of claim, and the restaraunt worker hadn't mentioned the drone when he might have. All in all, thought Rairate, wiping a razored claw with the handkerchief daintily, there weren't any tangles left in the situation.

He shook out the now reddened handkerchief, looked for a trash container to throw it away, remembered that Runge cities didn't specialize in those, and hung onto it to dispose of later. Beside him, Boodins wrinkled his nose at the scent.