Frankowski & Grossman Tank 3 Kren of the Mitchegai

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He gave the child a casual kick in the head to silence her, and then pulled out his spear.
The overlapping, flexible plates of the Mitchegai cranium make for a much weaker skull than that of
humans. Furthermore, the motile brain cells are less firmly connected to each other than those of any
earthly species.
This results in making Mitchegai rather easy to knock unconscious. At the same time, the motile brain
cells readily reconnect, and thus a blow to the head will rarely kill a Mitchegai.
With humans, the force required to knock one unconscious is very nearly that required to knock him
dead.
Kren said, "Did you want this one? Or should I kill you another?"
"I had thought that she would be big enough for both of us."
"I can see that academicians have smaller appetites than soldiers do. How would you like the small one
out there?" He pointed at another juvenal as far away as the first had been.
"I think that I would prefer the little boy down there." She pointed to one half again farther.
Mitchegai eyesight is extremely good, superior to that of an earthly eagle.
"That's really pushing it, but I will try."
Luck was with him, and Kren caught the little fellow cleanly in the neck.
"Truly, you are a great master! Let me pace off the distance of that throw. I shall E-mail the university's
athletic director about you right after we wake up."
"Thank you. I hope that I will be as lucky in my demonstration for him as I have been in this one for
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you."
"Kren, you must learn to cease hiding your light under a basket. Come on, let's carry these children
closer to the house before we eat them. Otherwise, we'll end up sleeping it off in the fields, and wake up
chilled to the bone."
Mitchegai are nominally cold-blooded. However, through the use of clothing and various behavioral
traits, the adults usually maintain a body temperature slightly higher than humans do.
It was two days before Kren felt up to doing more reading, and a week before he finished his first book.
A semi-sentient housekeeper came by every other day, shook out the carpets, washed all of the floors
and windows, and trimmed back the barely encroaching grass, but never touched anything on a table or a
desk. She never spoke a word, but brought fresh linen, changed the beds, and took away Kren's cloak
for cleaning. She had an arrangement with Bronki, which involved getting the use of a small, nearby house
with the utilities and taxes paid.
Kren simply moved to another room whenever she appeared anxiously at his doorway, and that was
sufficient.
Bronki spent most of her time writing a book on her general-purpose computer, rattling her claws on the
hardened metal keyboard. She had contracted to finish the last volume of her history of the computer
before the next semester, and she was worried about fulfilling it.
As with all contracts among the Mitchegai, there were severe penalty clauses for late delivery. In the
worst cases, they would sometimesnot eat you alive, a bad end for a Mitchegai.
Kren was struggling through a book on mathematics, something which none of his victims had prepared
him for, when there was a shout from outside the front door.
He went to answer it, but Bronki got there first. Two older ladies with large heads were standing there in
brightly colored academic cloaks. They had a naked young girl tied at wrists and ankles, slung under a
long aluminum pole that they supported between them on their right shoulders.
"Bronki! We heard you were back! We've come to welcome you home to the civilized world!"
"Zoda! Sava! Come on in! And what is this that you have brought me?"
Zoda shouted, "Party food, of course! Isn't she lovely? Just the right age, soft and tender, and not a
mark on her! It took us all day to find one this good!"
"Sheis lovely! She looks almost too good to eat! Maybe, I'll keep her and have her eat me when her
time is right!" Bronki said.
"Not a chance!" Sava said, "We've carried her for three miles, and we're going to eat her! Who's your
friend?"
"Have it your way," Bronki said, and introduced Kren to her friends. They were both university
professors on ten-year-long sabbaticals, and living a few miles away.
The Mitchegai neither smoked tobacco nor drank alcohol, probably because they lacked tobacco plants
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and the yeast to make beer or wine. A wide variety of illegal, synthetic drugs had been developed, but
these were frowned upon by polite society.
Yet all intelligent beings need to get together to talk and socialize.
During such functions, some method to release the inhibitions is desirable, and with drunkenness an
impossibility, the Mitchegai used the stupor brought on by eating. Eating a very large meal put you to
sleep too quickly, but snacking lightly throughout the evening proved efficacious.
"How is the book coming?" Sava asked Bronki.
"Poorly! It's way behind schedule!"
"Mine too! What's more, I'm stuck. I don't know what to do next, but at least I've got a year before it's
due. Tell you what. How about if I stay here and help you out, and then if you have time, you can do the
same for me?"
Bronki said, "You'd do that? You're a blessing from the duke! Yes, by all means! Help me! Help me!"
The two academicians brought their gift straight into the living room, and tied the struggling girl to a low
ceramic tiled table with raised edges that was obviously made for this purpose. Several small, decorative
knives were put on the table as well, and the group sat down on couches around it.
"So, Bronki, will you do the honors of the first cut?" Sava said.
"But surely, it is your gift, so you should do it."
"No, no. You know the rules. You are the hostess."
"But Kren is a special guest. He should have the honors," Bronki said.
"I am but a soldier, and unfamiliar with civilized ways," Kren said. "I would probably do something
improper, and flub the whole thing."
"No, you won't," Bronki insisted. "We're all friends here. Just take a knife and cut off some small part.
Actually, most party goers start with the fingers and toes, and work inwards as the night goes on. Just
don't let her die too soon."
"As you wish," he said. He took a knife which was none too sharp and stretched out one of the girl's [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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