The Totems of Abydos (23 page)

Brenner handed the letter back to Rodriguez.

He lifted it up, and looked at it again, and then put it back on the table.

The blonde was in consternation, but she dared not reach over to snatch it up, nor, I think, given the temper of Rodriguez, would this have been a wise action on her part.

“Hide it,” she whispered, frantically. “Do not let him see it!”

But Rodriguez left it lying before him, on the table.

Brenner glanced at the brunette. She, too, seemed frightened, though apparently not for herself. Brenner noticed that she had her hands on her thighs, as he had once, earlier, ordered her to place them. The dark collar looked well on her neck, the chain dangling from it, running to the ring on the floor. He recalled he had put it on her. He did not feel for it, but he remembered the key was in his upper, left-hand shirt pocket, away from her.

“You planned to use this fellow, the one to whom the letter is addressed,” said Rodriguez to the blonde.

“He wanted to paw me,” she said.

Brenner thought the locution was an odd one, considering that the fellow in question was doubtless of her own species, and, accordingly, would be highly unlikely to possess paws. On the other hand, he was willing to grant that the usage was intended to be metaphorical, and derogatory. As such, however, it seemed demeaning to various sorts of life forms, which possessed paws. Did she not realize the equivalence of all life forms, and their equal merits, regardless of such trivial differences as size, weight, quantity of population, frequency of gene replication, nature of consciousness, emotional development, and intellectual capacity? Too, he supposed that the females of some species, at least, might find the touch of paws, and even those which contained claws, as most did, interesting, and even tactually stimulating. Certainly several rational species pawed one another in play and love, and so on. Indeed, he knew, beyond this, that the lovemaking of certain species tended to be quite rough, and even violent. Her use of the locution, however, Brenner decided, was largely internal and subjective, not so much indicative of an external reality, suitably appraised, as expressive of her aversion to sexuality.

“Surely,” she said to Rodriguez, “as a gentleman, you can understand!”

Brenner considered the matter. Things were doubtless more complex than the blonde’s locution suggested. He decided to dismiss, at least for the time, the expression ‘pawing’, which in this context seemed to function more emotively than cognitively. Suppose one took another expression, one somewhat more literally intended, but nonetheless certainly explicit, such as ‘handling’. He then regarded the blonde and the brunette. Certainly it seemed their bodies invited handling, holding, grasping, seizing, touching, caressing and such. Indeed, it seemed likely, given the selections of nature over countless generations, that they had been designed to be handled, and well. It was natural then that they might be of interest to men, regardless of the danger, or inconvenience, of this to the maintenance of certain political arrangements. If moons were political, thought Brenner, they would perhaps disclaim their effects on the tides. If flowers were political they would perhaps scold bees for having been lured to their nectar. Did the blonde not know she was a female, and an attractive one? Brenner looked at her. Yes, thought Brenner, she has been designed to be handled. Her present brief garmenture, of course, left little doubt as to the matter.

“You wished to use his interest in you,” said Rodriguez to the blonde.

“No!” she said.

“You put him off,” he said.

“Of course!” she said.

“You wished to whet his appetite,” said Rodriguez. “What was it you were out to buy?”

“Nothing!” she said.

“What?” he asked.

“Promotion!” she said, angrily.

Rodriguez leaned back, regarding her.

“The company is not like the home world!” she said.

Rodriguez nodded.

In the company, as in most such companies, men remained important. There were a number of reasons for this.

“A woman must do her best for herself,” she said.

“You do not think it is an accident that you were stranded on Thasos, do you?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “Not now.”

“Nor that the agent there was so cooperative, and such?”

“No,” she said, bitterly, putting her head down.

“It seems, from your letter,” said Rodriguez, “that you have rethought your original position in this matter.”

“Yes,” she said.

“And now,” said Rodriguez, “if I am not mistaken, you are willing to crawl back to this fellow on your hands and knees, begging his forgiveness.”

“On my belly,” she said, bitterly.

Rodriguez fingered the letter, idly.

“You must have it delivered!” she said.

“Why?” asked Rodriguez.

“I must be rescued!” she said.

“And you think this fellow will do so?”

“Of course,” she said.

“But I gather from your letter,” he said, “that your contract was sold on Damascus.”

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“Why not on Chios or Thera?” he asked.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“Both are closer to Thasos than Damascus,” he said.

“Yes?” she said.

“Doesn’t it seem strange to you then that your contract was sold on Damascus? Indeed, why was it not sold even on Thasos?”

“I do not understand,” she said.

“You could not be traced from a sale on Damascus,” he said.

She regarded him, frightened.

“Your fellow on Naxos surely knew that,” said Rodriguez. And so, too, incidentally, would have the agent on Thasos.”

“What are you saying?” she asked.

“Is it not obvious?” asked Rodriguez.

“No!” she said.

“You have been thrown away,” said Rodriguez. “Your fellow on Naxos, obviously, has no interest in getting you back.”

“No!” she said. “That cannot be!”

“He has doubtless dismissed you from his mind,” said Rodriguez. “He has doubtless forgotten about you.”

“But I am different now!” she said. “I am contrite! I am willing to do what he wants!”

“You will now do what any man wants,” said Rodriguez.

She shrank back, in the collar and chain.

“Quite,” he added.

“He can’t have forgotten me!” she said. “He wanted me!”

“Your contract was sold on Damascus,” Rodriguez reminded her. “He has rid himself of you.”

“No,” she said.

“Doubtless he has others,” said Rodriguez.

“No!” she said.

“Do not be naive,” said Rodriguez.

“It is only necessary that I let him know my whereabouts,” she said. “He has doubtless, by now, regretted his decision, and will hasten to arrange my rescue!”

Rodriguez smiled.

“Yes!” she said.

“And what do you think you would then be to him?” he asked.

“I do not care what I would then be to him!” she said.

“Do you think he will restore your freedom, your position, your salary, such things?”

“No,” she said.

“At most what could you be to him, a maid under contract, at a walled country house, on a world occasionally visited? Perhaps you would be assigned as a hostess in a company resort on some world, where he might, on some vacation or another, see to it that a certain portion of your time was reserved for him.”

She looked down, her small fists clenched.

“He might even have you embonded,” said Rodriguez. “He might find that amusing.”

“No!” she said.

“You might become a brothel slave,” he said, “chained to a bed on Sybaris.”

“Please see that the letter is posted,” she whispered. “I must be rescued!”

“Doubtless,” said Rodriguez, “you stole the paper and the ink used in this letter, and the use of its writing implement. I expect such things are not commonly at the disposal of contractees.”

“Please,” she whispered. “He can hear! He can understand!”

“And since he has this concession,” said Rodriguez, “and must deal with humans here, he is undoubtedly literate, as well.”

“Hide the letter,” she begged.

But Rodriguez left the letter where it was.

“I must be rescued!” she whispered.

“There are many women under contract on Abydos,” said Rodriguez, “for example, the maids at the hostel. What of them?”

“Let them fend for themselves!” she said.

“But what if they are unable to do so?” asked Rodriguez.

“Then that is their misfortune,” she said.

“To all fours,” said Rodriguez, “and come closer.”

She did so, the chain then going back a little, and under her.

“Now lift your chin,” said Rodriguez.

Frightened, the blonde did so. Rodriguez then, with the back of his hand, in a swift, sweeping motion, struck her on the right cheek.

“Rodriguez!” protested Brenner.

“To all fours, again,” said Rodriguez, angrily.

Quickly the blonde, the side of her face red, doubtless stinging, tears in her eyes, hastened to comply.

“You have a room upstairs,” said Rodriguez.

“One I am permitted to use,” she said.

“You are normally slept below,” said Rodriguez, “in cages or kennels?”

“We are not slaves,” she said. “We are put in small rooms, separately, with a straw mat, and blankets, and locked in!”

“You look well on all fours,” said Rodriguez.

A tear fell to the floor.

“What do you say?” asked Rodriguez.

“Yes, sir,” she said. “Thank you, sir.”

“You are ready, it seems, to crawl on your belly to your friend on Naxos,” mused Rodriguez.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Is there a whip in the room?” asked Rodriguez.

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Will it be necessary to use it?” he asked.

“No, sir!” she said.

“Do you know what I am going to teach you?” he asked.

“No,” she said.

“I will teach you to crawl on your belly to any man,” he said.

She looked up at him.

“Speak,” he said.

“Yes, sir,” she whispered.

The zard had his head lifted, in an attitude of interest. But then he returned to his work.

“I will release you now,” said Rodriguez, removing the key from his vest pocket and opening the lock clip which had been secured through the staple on the blonde’s collar. He then removed the clip from the staple, swung back the hasp, clearing the staple, fastened the bolt of the clip about the staple, inserted the key in the lock clip, these things then as they had been originally, and opened the collar. He let the apparatus lie on the floor. The blonde, frightened, took the key from the upper lock clip and freed the lower lock clip, and put the key back in the upper lock clip. Then, with a look of fear at Rodriguez, and on her knees, she curled the chain inside the collar, and put both items back on the shelf. Neatness, Brenner gathered, might be important to the zard. His own species, as he recalled, was regarded as one of the most slovenly in the galaxy. Brenner, seeing what Rodriguez was up to, similarly freed the brunette, but unlocked the lower lock clip first that she would continue to wear the neck chain longer. He was not certain why he did this. He then let the brunette, on her knees, as had the blonde, put the custodial apparatus back on its shelf under the table. The brunette then went to all fours, following the example of the blonde. “You may clear,” Rodriguez informed the women. “Then you may precede us upstairs, each of you bearing a desert, a coffee and a liqueur.”

“Yes, sir,” said the blonde, from all fours.

“I am returning to the hostel,” said Brenner.

“No, no!” whispered the brunette to him. “Please, do not! Go upstairs! You do not need to do anything! Please try to understand! If you do not send me upstairs before you, it will be thought that I have not been found pleasing! I do not want to be beaten, or tied outside in the cold! I know that I did not treat you well earlier today, but I am truly sorry, truly! Do not hold it against me! Forgive me! Please be merciful to me now. Indeed, punish me, if you wish, in the room. There is a whip there. But do not send me away now. Order me upstairs, before you. I beg it! Please be kind! Please!”

“All right,” said Brenner. And to be sure, on some level, he was pleased, and exceedingly so, to have this woman, so exposed and scantily clad, who had been angry with him earlier in the day, now, somehow, apparently so much at his mercy.

The women, working together, quickly cleared the table and then hurried to the back. When they reappeared, each bearing a small tray, Rodriguez and Brenner rose up from the table and went to the foot of the stairs leading upward, not far from the desk of the zard. The women were there, at the foot of the stairs, to the right of the zard’s desk, as one would face it. Rodriguez brought the letter, opened, with him, and looked at the blonde. She shook her head, wildly. She turned white. The articles on her small tray trembled. He must hide the letter!