"Get some rest, Zay;' Gino said and made shooing motions with his right hand. "You, too;'
Kris looked around for Press and Coo. Surely they'd need some rest as much as the others, but neither Rugarian was there.
"They zonked out as soon as we made orbit;' Gino said. "Move up i here, Kris, and I'll give you a rundown of all we did and what Zainal managed, smooth as a baby's butt."
A DRASSI CLERK NOTICED THE EXCESSIVE CHARGES and ill; assorted cargo registered against this particular vessel. When he checked through to administration, holding the com line open for nearly an hour, he was told that the ship had sufficient credit to cover the expenses. There was no problem. He was to return to his duties. Being a Drassi, he did so, felt more abused by his superiors than ever. There were no rewards for being diligent on behalf of his Emassi. But what choice had he?
"I HAVE TO TELL YOU, KRIS," GINO began, "I wasn't all that keen on seeing a Catteni there on Botany, but…:' and Gino whistled expertly and shrilly through his teeth, "when you see how that guy operates, I'd walk through fire for him now."
"He does have a way about him," Kris admitted with a grin, "so how did he operate?"
"Blizte was a boondock of a berg, all Rassi in godawful hovels, just staring at us. Or to be more precise, staring at nothing really. Two Cat-teni vets-one had both legs missing and the other was minus an arm-managed the one-get it the one eatery in Blizte. They were sitting on a bench as we went past. Zainal got a wave. A few klicks on and we came to a surfaced road.
Don't know with what but there were few ruts in it and that old banger could move when you put your pedal to the metal." Gino executed a joint cracking stretch, and Kris wondered if she couldn't possibly manage the bridge and let him sleep, too. "No, I'm fine," he told her, hands back on the armrests. "I can sleep anywhere and be fresh with half an hour's catnap. I slept on the way back from the city.
"And that was an eye-opener." Again that distinctive whistle of respectful awe. "Like something from future worlds 'n' stuff. Beautiful layout and even the important buildings weren't squared-off in plate glass but…" he mimicked a commercial voice-over, "'ecologically situated so as not to mar the natural beauty and making good use of flora and fauna." Nothing higher than one story. Mostly because the buildings are built down rather than up. Zainal says some of them go down a good hundred plegs."
"What do the Eosi live in?" Her curiosity got the better of her dislike of the overlords.
Gino raised his eyebrows. "Only for Zainal pointing them out, I wouldn't have guessed. Though they do enclose their properties with high walls and force screens. Saw a bird-like thing get fried trying to land on one.
So we didn't get to see anything inside the compounds. They're also scattered all over Cattena-which is what they have so imaginatively named the city. Still, if it weren't for the neighbors, it'd be better than Beverly Hills.
Or even Carmel.
"Zainal showed us where his family home was, and it's spread out over quite a hunk of real estate. Zay says it's because so many Eosi hosts have come from his lineage, or pedigree or whatever you want call it."
"Did you see an Eosi?"
Gino's shudder was not faked. "Four of them. Big bastards, even when you know the poor damned Catteni that got stuck with being subsumed was big to start with. Crazy eyes! Scare the shit out of me… begging your pardon."
Again his whistle. "Sure was glad Zay got out of that living death.
Worse than a zombie in my opinion.
"However, he stops at a place where there're public com units and made a half dozen calls, while we ambled over to the eatery."This time Gino grimaced. "They don't know a damned thing about good eating. Cram into their mouths, but Zay had told us what to order and we did and that was pretty good. Almost as good as what we regularly eat on ' Botany." He said that with an air of condescension.
"He couldn't reach all the guys he wanted to see, but he said that these four were the best and he was just lucky to find any one of them at Cat.We did the secret hand signs and passwords and stuff and met at what for a service station here. Sort of Catteni-style garage sales." He grinned impishly at her for his witticism. "We made as if we were trying to sell the transport so much of the conversation between Zainal and the others appeared to be discussing the condition of the truck and the engine it uses. That engine is stuck above one of the ground level panels. Zay hiS.
'! parked obliquely to the station so no one could see any one coming or going. One of us was there to keep the mechanics or whatever they were from closing in when inconvenient. There were two or three other vehicles being inspected so it was a good cover to use."
He paused, rubbed the side of his nose.
"And?" Kris prompted him.
He chuckled a smug "he he he he" of satisfaction. "There seem to be a lot of Catteni Emassi fed up to here," and he levelled his hand with his nose, "with Eosi domination. Especially…" and he paused again for emphasis, "since Mentat Ix-that's the one Zay's brother's lugging around and Co and Se have been agitating every one of the other Eosi about demolishing Botany, diverting all naval forces to that end."
Gino looked worried. "No one has ever seen the Mentats-they're the leaders among the Eosi-going so ballistic. They've got to penetrate or burst or explode or implode the Bubble-because it's there, I think, and has them stumped. And stumped, they don't like to be;'
"Anything said about Earth?"
"Yeah, and it's not good. They haven't stopped mind-wiping specialists so those who were lucky enough to escape being caught have had to go into hiding. And hiding places are getting filled up and harder to find… especially as we have no air transport at all. And very few working trucks or cars.
The Eosi have found another use for petroleum products-all theirs. It's not as if they can burn the Bubble away-no oxygen in space, thank God.
"And the Emassi Zay talked to are not the only ones beginning to get ideas from the rebellion on Earth." Gino nodded in satisfaction. "Evidently we've really got 'em going, Catteni and Eosi. Never had so much opposition before. We might not be as technically advanced as Eosi, but I'll tell you, there're not enough Emassi to deal with what we're giving 'em back on Earth."
"So we could actually rebel enough to get Earth back?" Kris felt a surge of triumph flow through her.
"I didn't say that," Gino replied cautiously, tilting his head to show his skepticism. "In the first place," he held up one finger, "Emassi and Drassi like Earth and want to keep it-just get rid of the troublesome population.
Meanwhile they're looting everything that isn't cemented into the ground and sometimes they jackhammer loose what they fancy. In the second place, they have stopped ruining manufacturing complexes and keep some of the specialized companies working nonstop… which means until the workers drop from exhaustion. I mean, shift work was never like that. Nor those sweatshops in India and Asia we were hearing so much about. We do have some items high on the list of acquisition and they're being turned out in bulk. While there might not be enough good Emassi to help a worldwide coup, I'll tell you one thing: the Eosi invasion sure stopped all the petty squabbles and got all Earth working toward one real good goal-getting rid of the invaders."
"I always did think a really bad extraterrestrial menace would unite the world," Kris said.
"It sure has. Palestinians join Israelis; the Northern Irish have allied with the Brits in covert actions against any Catteni on the British Isles. Even North and South Korea are cooperating against the mutual enemy. The African nations got some real rough treatment-because they're black fer Gods' sake and the Catten/tried to make Rassi out of them;' Gino snorted.