"No...."
"We've got them running loose in the streets of Denver. They're called poodles, terriers, retrievers, Dobermans, shepherds, collies, St. Bernards and mutts-but they're still wolf packs. They're hungry and they can kill. We could lose another thirty million people to animals, formerly domestic and otherwise, right there. Probably more. I'm talking about worldwide, of course. And I'm including people packs in that estimate toothose are animals of another sort. We'll probably lose a hundred million people who would not have died otherwise, but there's no longer the medical care to take care of the injuries and illnesses that they'll incur in the next twelve months. Did you know that appendicitis can be fatal? And so on-" He stopped, looked at me and smiled. I was beginning to understand his charm. He never intended anything personally. "So, my young friend-much as I respect your indignation and the emotions on which it is based-what we are doing here tonight is quite probably the most rational thing we can be doing. I notice you haven't tried to excuse your presence here; perhaps you're quite rational too. In fact, there is only one thing more rational for a person to do that I can think of."
"What's that?"
He went soft for a moment, gentle. "Make love to someone you care about. You're not immortal, you know. If you don't take the opportunity to tell someone you love them tonight, you may never get another chance."
He was right. I thought about a whole bunch of someones. Fromkin stood up and offered his arm to the girl. She and another woman both tried to take it. Fromkin smiled and offered his other arm. He smiled at me again, knowingly, and then the three of them moved off and away.
Yes, just like Whitlaw. He got the last word too.
EIGHTEEN
I TURNED to go and almost bumped into a dream. "Oops, excuse me-" I caught her to keep from stumbling, then forgot to let go.
"Hello!" she said, laughing.
"Uh-" I flustered, unable to speak. I was mesmerized-her eyes were soft and shiny gray, and I was lost in them. Her skin was fair, with just the faintest hint of freckling. Her face was framed by auburn curls that fell in silk cascades down to her shoulders. Her mouth was moist and red.
I wanted to kiss her. Who wouldn't?
She laughed again. "Before you ask," she said, "the answer is yes."
"Huh?"
"You are going to proposition me, aren't you?" Her voice was dusky velvet, with just the slightest hint of Alabama in it.
"Uhh . . ." I took a step back. My feet stayed where they were, but I took a step back.
"Are you shy?" Yes, Alabama. Definitely. She spoke each word so slowly I could taste it. And she smelled of honeysuckle and lilac -and musk.
I found my voice. "Um, I used to be......
"I'm glad to see you got over it," she said, laughing. She put her arm through mine and started walking me toward the elevators to the garage levels. "What's your name?"
"Jim. Uh, what's yours?"
"Jillanna. Everyone calls me Jilly."
I felt suddenly embarrassed. I started to speak-"Um . . " and then shut up.
She looked at me, her head slightly tilted. "Yes?"
"Nothing."
"No, tell me."
"Well, I ... uh, I guess I'm just a little startled."
"Why?"
"I've never been picked up like this before."
"Oh. How do you usually get picked up?"
"Um. I don't," I admitted.
"Goodness. You are shy!"
"Um. Only around women."
"Oh, I see," she said. "Are you gay?"
"I don't think so. I mean, I never tried."
She patted my arm. Did she mean that as reassurance? I didn't ask.
"Uh, I'm here on research," I offered. "I mean, I'm with the army. That is, I'm doing research for them."
"Everyone is," she said. "Everyone in Denver is working on Chtorrans."
"Yeah," I thought about it. "I guess so."
"Have you ever seen one?" She said it casually.
"I ... burned one ... once."
"Burned?"
"With a flamethrower."
She looked at me with new respect. "Were you scared?"
"No, not at the time. It just happened so fast.... I don't know-it was kind of sad, in a way. I mean, if the Chtorrans weren't so hostile, they could be beautiful. . . ."
"You're sorry you burned it?"
"It was awfully big. And dangerous."
"Go on," she said. Her hand tightened around mine.
I shrugged. "There isn't much to tell. It came out of the but and I burned it." I didn't want to tell her about Shorty, I don't know why. I said, "It all happened so fast. I wish I'd seen it better. It was just a big pink blur."
"They have one here, you know." Her grip was very intense.
"I know. I heard from the Lizard."
"You. Know. Her?"
"No, not really. She was just the pilot who flew us in. Me and Ted."
"Oh." Her grip relaxed.
"She told us about the Chtorran they have. She flew it in too." We took the elevator down to the third level of the garage where she had a custom floater waiting in one of the private pads. I was impressed, but I didn't say anything. I climbed in silently beside her.
The drive whined to life, cycled up into the inaudible range, and we eased out onto the road. The light bar on the front spread a yellow-pink swath ahead. The bars of the incoming traffic were dim behind the polarized windshield.
"I didn't know any of these had actually hit the market," I said.
"Oh, none of them did. Not really. But several hundred of them did come off the assembly line before Detroit folded up."
"How did you get this one?"
"I pulled strings. Well, Daddy did."
"Daddy?"
"Well ... he's like a daddy."
"Oh."
Abruptly she said, "Do you want to see the Chtorran?"
I sputtered. "Huh? Yes!" Then, "-But it's locked up. Isn't it?"
"I have a key." She said it without taking her eyes off the road. As if she were telling me what time it was. "It's in a special lab. One that used to be a sterile room. If we hurry, we can watch them feeding it."
"Feeding? It?"
She didn't notice the way I'd said it. "Oh, yes. Sometimes it's pigs or lambs. Mostly it's heifers. Once they fed it a pony, but I didn't see that."
"Oh."
She went on babbling. "They're trying to duplicate what it eats in the wild. They're hunters, you know."
"I'd ... heard something like that."
"They don't kill their prey-that's what I find interesting. They just bring it down and start eating. Dr. Mm'bele thinks there's a kill reflex involved. This one won't eat dead meat unless it's very, very hungry, and even then only when it's being moved around so he can attack it."
"That's interesting."
"They say that sometimes they eat human beings. Do you think that's true? I mean, doesn't that seem atypical to you?"
"Well-"
She wasn't waiting to hear. "Dr. Mm'bele doesn't believe it. There aren't any reported cases. At least, none that have been verified. That's what the U.N. Bureau says. Did you know that?"
"No, I didn't." Show Low, Arizona. "Um-"
"There was supposed to be one once," she said, "but-well, it turned out to be just another hoax. They even had pictures, I heard."
"A hoax, huh?"
"Yep. You didn't know that, did you?"