The Colony - Lyin’ and Taurger and Bare (Oh My!)

The Colony - Taurger by the Tale
Book 1 - I of the Taurger
Chapter 3 - Lyin’ and Taurger and Bare (Oh My!)
By Wayne Cook (aka EarlWerks) © 2004

Set in The Colony by Verina Ducain
Based on Forest Tales by Bernard Doove

Taurger lay curled up in his den, tears dried on his furry face. He’d wanted to try to figure things out, but alone, scared, upset, and angry with himself he fell into an exhausted sleep instead. As he slowly returned to consciousness, he entered the lucid dream of his ‘conversations’ for the third time since being transformed into a chakat and dumped with over five hundred other former humans onto an alien world.

<dream>

"..."

"I’m not in the mood."

"Don’t try to make nice with me! Where have you been?"

"No, don’t change the subject! First, there’s you, a ‘new person’ to go with this ‘new body’. Then you show up twice in three days. Now you wait four days to come back! What’s your problem?"

"Well, you’ve got lousy timing. I’ve needed somebody to talk to lately."

"I can’t."

"No, I just can’t talk with hir. This is kinda about hir."

"It’s... ah..."

*sigh*

"I guess I’m gonna have to tell you about the last four days..."

</dream>

Taurger awoke in darkness. For chakats, darkness doesn’t have the same meaning it does for humans. But it was before sunrise, and the small, pear-shaped chamber he’d claimed for his den was quite dark. He was about to get up when he remembered where he was. Pitty-Pat, the calico chakat who’d been staying near him since the day they’d arrived, lay half beneath him, embracing him with both arms as shi used hir body as a cushion for his head and shoulders. Hir right foreleg was lying across him, not quite touching his own right foreleg. That reminded him of what had happened to that limb.

The previous day (*Assuming I haven’t been out longer*, he qualified) he’d been stupid enough to be stung by a local vermin that could pass for a scorpion. His leg had swollen up, pained him as if it was being cooked, and he’d ended up sleeping off some very sick feelings. He wasn’t feeling sick right now, and his leg didn’t hurt so much as feel just... odd. *I’ve been turned into a chakat, is this another transformation starting?* he wondered.

Experimentally he tried to raise his injured leg. It moved, but it felt like it weighed too much and it definitely didn’t feel good to do it. *Still, I can feel it. Guess I’m not going to lose it. Maybe it’s just aftereffects.* He experimented, this time moving the fingers on the handpaw. They worked too. Too bad it set his entire leg to aching again.

*Go back to sleep,* he chided himself. *You’re not going anywhere until Pat gets up and lets go, anyway.* Closing his eyes, he tried to drift off. It didn’t work. His thoughts wouldn’t quiet down, and they began to wander over his situation. *Why am I still thinking of myself as a guy? I know I’m a chakat, I know chakats are herms, so why...?*

*Could be rut, I suppose. Don’t feel any different, though, so prob’ly not. Gad, what would I do in rut? Are we even gonna have rut, or heat? I mean, we seem to be chakats, but how close are we, really? Over five hundred of us, twenty-four day cycle, two days each rut and heat, say twenty, no, twenty-one people each in twenty-four groups... forty-two in a two-day group... There should be eighty-four of us in rut or heat at any time. That’s what, one in six? Why isn’t anybody going off yet? Are we all in sync? Everybody goes in rut and heat at the same time? That’d be a mess!*

*Whadda we gonna do about heat, anyway? We’re gonna almost beg for sex, and that’s when we’re most fertile. More than a dozen times a year. Gonna be hard to resist. No contraceptives, so... No latex – means condoms from animal parts... What’d they use? Sheep intestine? Yuck! Maybe some plant or something that’ll change the hormones... ‘The pill’ in natural form... Like we’d be so lucky.*

*All those babies. Cubs. No, kittens. Cub is when they’re older. So when do they become adults? Put ‘em through a right of passage? Trials? It could justify making ‘citizenship’ something to be earned. So then who decides the conditions?*

*Stupid leg. Whadda I do if it doesn’t heal? Leg brace? Wheelchair? Not on rough terrain. And no way they’d make a litter for me and carry me around. So whadda we do about cripples? This ain’t exactly farmland. Plenty of dangers. We’re gonna lose fingers, hands, legs... What happens to them?*

*Oh man. My mouth feels like its growing fur. No toothbrush. So we chew on bones? Rawhide? Oh, what was it they did in Ancient Egypt? Yeah, they chewed on sticks. Tip feathered... That’ll do until I figure something out. How to fluff the end... Hand claws are too small... Maybe I can use a handpaw claw...*

*So much stuff we’ll need just to take care of ourselves. Toothbrushes, combs, claw trimmers... mirrors, I suppose. Scissors, if we want a haircut. Maybe I should call it a ‘mane cut’. Heh. Pat would laugh at that, call it a pun.*

*Can’t believe Pat’s a punster. Marine – what was shi – office clerk? Can’t imagine a Marine tossing puns. Did they let hir on duty?*

*So much to do. Where do we start? Guess we got shelter, sort of. So water, salt – got that, food – I suppose, defense... Really need a source of metal. Iron, at least. Copper might do, if we can make bronze. Whadda ya mix to make bronze? Zinc? Tin? How we gonna find ‘em?*

*What else is there to find? Coal? Wood? Geez, what if we find gold? Or diamonds? Everybody’s gonna think of them as valuable, but what can we really do with ‘em? Would diamonds make good points, or would they be too hard to work? Gold would make a good weight. Too soft for a knife, except maybe as an alloy. Cups? Mirrors? Silver’d be better. How low do they melt? Where did I read about a gold frying pan? Not much practical use for soft metals, and not much point in decorations until we’re sure we can survive here long-term...*

In time, he noticed his den brightening, and he opened his eyes. The light was coming in from overhead. Not a direct shaft of light, but a glow reflecting out of a hole at the top. It must have originally let water in and hollowed out the chamber.

"Pretty, isn’t it?"

Taurger started when Pat spoke, because he hadn’t realized shi was awake. "Uh... sorry. Did I wake you?"

Pat chuckled. "No, our private alarm clock did that," shi said, gesturing to the glowing hole above them.

"Didn’t do that before."

"Yes it did, two days ago. We weren’t here to see it yesterday."

Taurger turned his head. "It did?"

"Yep. But you were out... looking for a bathroom, wasn’t it?"

"Ah... yeah." Taurger settled back against Pat, embarrassed by the results of that search.

Pat chuckled again. "I wonder how long it’ll do that? Maybe we should tell someone." But shi lay still, with no indication shi meant to get up.

"Somebody’s already sun gazing. Saw ‘em when I was... uh..."

"You saw hir while you were missing this show, right?"

"Yeah," he said. He felt like he wanted to curl into a ball and turn invisible.

Pat hugged her denmate with one arm while playing with Taurger’s unruly mane with the other hand. Shi put hir nose in his hair and whuffed softly, trying to be comforting. He relaxed for a few minutes, and then stiffened suddenly.

"I gotta go."

"Wha... Why?"

"I gotta go!"

"Oh... oh!" Pat helped Taurger roll upright to his belly then scrambled to hir feet. "How’s your leg feeling? Think you can stand?"

"Better. Not gonna get carried out." But when he tried to stand, he quickly dropped back to his belly. His injured leg had refused to bear his weight.

"You wait right here," Pat admonished, waving a finger at him. "Don’t try it on your own!" Then she squeezed out the den’s narrow entrance.

Alone for at least the moment, Taurger realized something else he needed to do. His first attempt to clean himself ended abruptly when, while trying to double over, he pinched his aching foreleg. The second try was more successful, and quickly finished. *Better not try to clean under my tail just yet,* he thought. *Hope somebody’s found something to wipe with. Hope Pat gets back soon!*

By the time Pitty-Pat returned, leading Katherine, the former veterinarian now in charge of all medicine for the group, the sunrise glow had faded and Taurger had a chance to compose himself. All three squeezed in to the small den, which left little room for anything else. It was so close, in fact, that Katherine had to walk with her forelegs over Pat’s back just to turn around and face Taurger’s injury, which prompted hir to tell Pat, "Maybe you’d better wait outside."

Once Pat had exited, Katherine examined the suffering leg. "Still slightly swollen. How does it feel?"

"Kinda aches, ‘specially if I’ve moved it."

"Everything moves, though?"

"Yeah. Screams about it, but it moves."

"Let’s try putting some weight on it." Katherine helped Taurger to stand without using his injured foreleg. Then, keeping him supported, shi had him carefully shift his weight. Shi stopped him almost immediately.

"No, I’m okay," Taurger hissed through gritted teeth.

"No you’re not. It’s pretty obvious that still hurts too much." *The talk about chakat ‘empathy’ can’t be a complete fiction,* the former veterinarian thought. *I could almost feel that pain myself. I don’t know how shi kept from crying out.* "I don’t want you putting any weight on that leg yet," Katherine admonished him.

"But I gotta go, Doc."

"Then you’re going to need a crutch." *A forked tree limb would be a ready-made crutch, but I don’t think we’ve found anything like that, yet. Maybe we could make one out of bamboo?* Then shi saw Pitty-Pat’s anxious expression as shi peered into the den. "Pat, do you think you can be a crutch?"

"Yes!" Pat replied eagerly as she immediately began to re-enter the den.

"No, stay out there. I’ll pass hir to you."

With surprisingly few complications Katherine and Pat got Taurger through the narrow entrance to the den. Pat, who was average in size for an adult chakat, found hir shoulders came only slightly higher than hir bigger denmate’s armpit. By tilting a bit, shi was able to support the entire length of hir denmate’s arm, keeping him upright as he limped slowly forward. Side by side, they went to the Main Cavern, Katherine trailing after. *Those two make a nice couple,* shi thought, watching as their tails played an intricate, if unconscious, game of tag.

<dream>

"Pat stopped for directions to the latrine on the way out. That was really embarrassing."

"Yeah, I made it. Then Pat walked me back in and the day got worse..."

</dream>

Breakfast consisted of a couple small fruits and a slice of some sort of melon. Not what Taurger would have preferred, but it seemed eggs over hard with grated cheese, wheat toast and fish sticks were going to be in short supply. Not to mention milk. Sausage, maybe. In fact, the kinds of things Taurger liked for breakfast required...

"What are you looking for, tiger?" Pitty-Pat asked.

"Just wondering what I missed yesterday." Slightly disgusted with himself, he noted some people next to what was apparently becoming the kitchen. They were working on polishing some sandstone blocks. *Have ta come up with something else to do,* he decided. *Why’d I think they’d leave it to me, anyway?*

May, who’d originally been a flight attendant and now was part of White Tip’s inner circle, had joined them for breakfast. Between bites and comments, shi and Pat were talking like office workers. Shelves, supplies, procedures...

"You’re talking ‘bout a library, right?" Taurger asked.

"Yes," Pat answered.

"Why?"

Pat grinned. "Because if we plan it out now we’ll be ready for when we have paper and ink."

"I know that," Taurger said testily. "I mean why you?"

May answered. "Because White Tip asked, on Colonel Deering’s recommendation."

"Remember, I told you I was a Marine headquarters clerk. I do know something about managing paperwork."

Taurger said to Pat, "So you’ll run the office." Turning to May, he asked, "And you’ll be the librarian?"

Pat laid hir arm across Taurger’s withers in an intimate gesture. "More like I’m the staff and May’s the boss. With hir memory shi doesn’t really need a library."

Taurger sought a good analogy. "That makes you librarian, and May minister of information."

"I never thought of it like that," May said, surprised.

Chuckling, Pat grinned at Taurger and said to May, "Don’t worry about it. Everything’s can stay pretty informal as long as it’s just volunteers. Besides, we can’t do too much until we get something to write with."

"Parchment and ink," Taurger commented, nodding.

"Probably paper," Pat said. "Somebody was looking into that yesterday."

"Night Runner," May said. "He ran it past White Tip after supper."

"Might do better with parchment," Taurger said, for once too preoccupied to correct the use of a gendered pronoun. "I think it keeps longer, and we’re already getting hides. We’ll wanna be tanning, anyway. And it didn’t look to me like there was a lot of wood around here."

"I’ll mention it," May said. "I’m sure someone knows how to tan leather."

"Sorry, tiger," Pat said, "But I don’t think we’ll be using much parchment."

"Why not?" he asked.

Pat ticked off counter-arguments on hir fingers. "First, leather and parchment are slightly different processes."

"Anything we do here is going to be a new process, at least as far as doing it here is concerned."

"True," Pat agreed, "but there’s a big difference between trying to recreate something you’ve done before and doing something you’ve only had described to you, even if we have to find out what does and doesn’t work here. We’re more like to have someone who knows about making leather than making parchment. Second, paper can be produced in quantity, parchment can’t. It’s limited by the supply of appropriate hides, because you can’t make parchment out of just any hide. Third, parchment is actually more sensitive to moisture than paper. And lastly, we’ll probably be able to start making paper in about the same time it would take to start making parchment." Shi put her arm around Taurger and gave a little hug. "Now if you know how to make parchment already, I’ll get you whatever you need."

Taurger shook his head, trying to put yet another idea out of his thoughts.

"Then let’s let May pass it on as a suggestion. You already have a job." At Taurger’s puzzled look, Pat nuzzled him and said, "Getting better."

Before Taurger could react to his embarrassment the moment was broken by the exuberant Blue bounding up and all but pouncing on Pitty-Pat’s back. "Good to see you up and about!" shi said, hugging both of hir friends.

"And what have you been doing?" Pat asked.

"Out with Goldie." Seeing the last of the trio’s breakfast, shi said, "Ooo, those blue ones are good!"

Although he wasn’t very fond of the bluish fruits himself Taurger held his last piece of breakfast aside, afraid the grey chakat might think of snatching it away. "Doing what?" he asked.

"Out at hir target range," Blue said. Seeing Taurger’s blank expression, she grinned and said, "You know, ‘watching the submarine races’."

Taurger opened his mouth to ask, "What submarines?" when he suddenly realized what Blue meant. His mouth snapped shut as he winced and turned his face away.

Blue giggled briefly until shi saw Pat’s silent head shake ‘no’. Retreating to a more polite position in front of the others, shi asked, "So what are you three doing, besides breakfast?"

"They’re planning a library," Taurger said. "And I’m just supposed to sit here."

"Library, huh?" Blue said. "Sounds like you need to talk to Rodney."

"Who?" Pat asked.

"Rodney Davies," Blue explained. "He was a grad-ass handling records for Doctor Shing when DiVargin tapped him to do that for the whole expedition."

"And shi knows library science?"

"Well, it wasn’t hir minor or anything, but yeah, shi knows it. A bit of an attitude with new people, but shi figures out who shi can trust pretty quick." Conspiratorially Blue leaned in and whispered, "And you gotta take a look at hir. You won’t believe it." Shi refused to elaborate, but offered to send Rodney over when shi found hir.

<dream>

"Then Blue went off to find this Rodney, and May and Pat excused themselves when Doctor Wong stopped by to check my leg."

"The whole morning went that way. A whole string of people stopping by to see my leg, say ‘hi’, ask me if I wanted anything... I thought everybody’d seen my leg the day before..."

"Since they were coming by anyway, I got a few of them to bring me some stuff. Had an idea for something that’d be useful in the back caves, so I wanted to try an’ make one. All I needed was something like a bowl, a barrier, some cord, and some kinda oil, maybe a stone or two for a hammer to shape it. Had no idea where to get oil just then, but I’d knew there’d be some eventually, probably by the time I had everything else done. Was gonna use a skull to make the bowl, maybe some small spine bone for a neck, and I figured I already had the wick on me."

"‘Course I hadda do that between people interrupting and asking questions or telling me what they were doing. And when I finally got a break from the gawking and gabbing, somebody else showed up..."

</dream>

Taurger dropped the bowl he’d trimmed from a skull and nearly jumped to his paws when somebody surprised him by brushing hir fingers just under his tail, but his sore leg reminded him to stay down. Instead, he tucked his tail down and turned to the prankster. Expecting Blue, Pat, or someone else he knew teasing him again, he planned to chastise them by saying, "That’s not funny," but when he turned, he was looking at a nearly pure white longhaired chakat he’d never seen before.

"Well!" the newcomer said. "I thought you’d never be left alone." Shi actually slinked along Taurger’s left side until they were nose to nose. "You’re pretty popular. I can see why."

Taurger shied back. The white chakat slipped a little closer and settled down beside him, one foreleg over his withers. *What’s going on?* Taurger thought. He leaned away from hir until his swollen leg complained.

"Big, too," the white said, smiling and leaning into him. "I like big." Shi brushed back a disobedient lock of hair from Taurger’s face, and then reached across to pull him closer. Hir breast pressed into his side and shi licked hir lips. "Mmm," shi murmured as shi began to purr.

Too stunned at first to say anything, Taurger could only listen as the white chakat whispered, "I heard you’ve found yourself a cozy little den. Nice and – private."

Then the white chakat raised hir other hand toward Taurger’s breasts. That ended it. Taurger blocked the move with his own upraised arm, fist clenched. "Get off me," he said, enunciating each word strongly.

"Oh, don’t be like that," the white chakat said, trying to brush Taurger’s arm aside.

He could feel the small claws on his fingers digging into his palm, so he opened his hand. His finger claws seemed longer for some reason. "I said," he growled, "‘Get – off – me!’"

The white chakat pulled back slightly, but didn’t move away. "What’s wrong? I’m only suggesting we have a little fun." When Taurger didn’t respond immediately, shi leaned in again and whispered, "A little ‘exploration’, finding out what we can..." Then shi saw the look in Taurger’s eyes and stopped.

Taurger’s eyes were narrowed angrily. His ears were flat, and his lip began to twitch into a fang-baring snarl. His tail snapped from side to side in agitation. More and more people were turning to look at the disturbance, as they found it harder to ignore the agitated feelings flowing from the pair.

The white chakat was just beginning to rise when shi yelped and sprang away. Pitty-Pat had charged in and stood over Taurger’s back, snarling. Hir hands were spread, claws extended, and shi was even angrier than Taurger. Shi glared at the white chakat, who cowered belly-down a full length away.

"What is your problem?" the white chakat asked.

"Keep away from Taurger!" Pat spat. "Shi’s still recovering!"

"Shi can be with anybody shi wants!"

"Shi doesn’t want you!"

"You just don’t want to share!"

Pat would have attacked the white chakat at that point, but Taurger put a hand on hir foreleg. "No," was all he said, but it wasn’t clear to whom because he wasn’t looking at either.

The white chakat stood up. "There, you see? I..."

"Go – away," Taurger said, and this time there was no misunderstanding that he meant the white chakat.

"But..." shi started to say. One glance at Taurger’s face silenced hir. Shi looked at Pitty-Pat, then back at Taurger. With a "humf" and a toss of hir mane shi walked stiffly away.

May, who’d trotted up during the confrontation, dispersed the small crowd who’d gathered to watch. "All over now," shi admonished them. "Nothing to see. Go back to what you were doing."

Pat had immediately wrapped hir arms around hir denmate and buried hir nose in his hair. Shi could feel him trembling, as shi asked, "Are you okay?"

Taurger, his eyes squeezed shut, nodded. "I... who..." he tried to say.

"That," May explained, "was Purrsia."

Pat lifted hir head. "Purrsia? The one who..."

May nodded. "She seems to have taken a real liking to being a chakat. Especially to being hermaphrodite."

Taurger groaned and slid forward from Pat’s arms. He dropped his face into his hands and propped his head up with his elbows, once again not correcting May’s pronouns.

"What’s wrong?" Pat asked, gently stroking hir denmate’s shoulders.

Through his hands, Taurger said, "First day out and I’m molested by the local perv."

May couldn’t keep from smiling. "Don’t worry about it," shi said. "There are a couple others who have chased her off, too. Just growl at her if she gets too close again."

"Shi."

"What?"

Pat grinned. "Shi’s a stickler on the new pronouns. Hang around hir long enough and shi’ll drill them into your head." Leaning down to hir denmate, shi said quietly, "Blue said shi’d be around all day. I’ll ask hir to keep an eye out. Make sure Purrsia doesn’t come back."

Taurger sighed and lowered his hands, but still leaned forward on his elbows. "Thanks."

"In fact," Pat added, "here shi comes with Goldeneye and what looks like lunch. But who’s that with... oh my!"

Taurger hung his head with eyes closed until Pat gave him a little shake. He looked up at hir, but shi was watching something else with a peculiar expression. When he turned, he saw Blue and Goldeneye, and someone else with gold-in-black spots on a dark red coat. When he took a closer look at the spots, he could only stare at their intricate, twisted-teardrop shapes.

"People, I’d like to introduce you to Rodney Davies," Blue said, gesturing. "Rodney, this is May, Pitty-Pat and Taurger."

"Hi."

"Hello."

Taurger blinked and looked up to Rodney’s face to say, "Uh, hi," then back down at hir coat.

Rodney, for hir part, seemed resigned to the looks shi was getting. The six chakats made themselves comfortable and shared out the food Goldeneye had brought. "Well," Rodney said, "Isn’t anyone going to say it?"

"Say what?" Pat asked, avoiding looking directly at Rodney. Taurger, once he’d put his little project aside and been handed his meal, had stopped staring and devoted himself to eating.

"They’re being polite, Rodney," May said.

Rodney sighed. "It’s kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop," shi said. "Everybody ends up saying something. I look like—"

"Paisley," Taurger said without looking up. He continued as if he was reading it from a book. "Pattern named for the British city that originated it in the nineteenth century. Probably one of the first patterns to take full advantage of programmable looms. Based on Arabic designs. Real popular with the Victorians." He showed he was finished by stuffing a roasted tuber in his mouth, whole.

After a moment of stunned silence, Goldeneye quipped, "That was succinct."

Rodney snorted in amusement. "I was going to say I look like upholstery."

Everyone relaxed for the rest of the meal.

"Blue told us you know something about libraries," Pitty-Pat said to Rodney later, as the sextet was finishing.

"I’d been keeping Doctor DiVargin’s records organized," Rodney said. "He’s already told me I’ll have to handle any documents here."

"Shi," Taurger said, as May and Pat exchanged looks.

"What? Oh," Rodney shrugged. "I suppose. Kind of a silly word, if you ask me."

"You got something better?" Taurger asked.

"She."

"You feel female?"

"Ah..." Rodney said, squirming slightly. "Guess not."

"Back to libraries," Pat said. "Do you have a KOS in mind?"

"A..." Rodney said, unsure what Pat meant.

Pat grinned, and then explained. "Knowledge Organization System. We’ll want to be able to archive and retrieve not only what we learn about where and what we are now, but everything we can remember about Earth and science. Plus pictures, samples, maps..."

"Okay, so maybe I’m not a Library Science major. But it’s not like we’ve got anybody else to do it."

"Maybe we can help," May said.

"Oh? How?"

"White Tip’s relying on May for information because of her memory," Pat said. "And the Colonel offered me to help hir because I was a Headquarters clerk, effectively the office manager."

"Clerk?"

"Lots of information flow and yes, a small library," Pat explained.

"So you were what, a sergeant?"

"Marine corporal. My promotion was in process." Pat shrugged. "The Colonel wanted me to take over the office, so shi was fast-tracking me through the ranks. One of the few perks about doing a good job in the military."

"I don’t know if DiVargin would like a military records system."

"We were talking about that this morning," May said.

*They’re double-teaming hir,* Taurger thought, having seen this before during endless years of office politics. *They’ll keep going back and forth so shi can’t concentrate on either of them.*

Pat nodded to May’s comment. "The Marine system is pretty specific, and not well suited for exploration or scientific experimentation. We also realized we’d need to store models and samples as well as written or drawn records. Neither of us could think of a perfect match, so we’ll probably develop our own KOS."

"But we can start with one of the standard systems," May said.

"Have you ever worked with UDC?" Pat asked.

"Uh... I don’t think so," Rodney said hesitantly.

"Dewey Decimal?" May asked.

"Some."

"Library of Congress?" Pat asked.

Rodney chuckled. "I think DiVargin would throw a hissy if we did anything Congress."

"Too bad," Pat said, deciding that the dirty pun shi’d immediately thought of should be left unsaid, at least around Taurger. "They managed to include a sizeable collection of artifacts using their system."

"It shouldn’t be too much of a loss. Like you said," May told Pat, "we’ll probably end up making our own."

"Maybe we can adapt just that much into Dewey."

Rodney seemed a little less sure of hirself now. "Maybe," shi said. "But I think shelves and furniture will be a bigger problem. At least somebody’s working on paper."

Pat grinned and glanced at Taurger, who was the only one oblivious to hir expression. "Oh, I’m sure we’ll come up with answers to everything. We’re a very creative lot."

"We’ll be making furniture, sure," Rodney said. "But where will we put it? I mean, have you looked around? There’s no way to put up shelves in a place like this."

"Why not?" Taurger asked.

Rodney gestured to the wall. "Just look around! All curves and odd shapes. Not a straight vertical anywhere to put a shelf."

"So don’t put ‘em on walls."

Rodney looked at Taurger as if he were an idiot. "I may not know much about knowledge systems, but I do know that we’ll need shelves on walls."

Pat waved Rodney to silence. "What are you thinking?" shi asked Taurger.

"Well, there’s a big chamber back in a ways," said Taurger. "And if you..." He paused, trying to work out a shape with his hands.

"The one we saw while looking for a den?" Pat asked.

"Yeah," answered Taurger. "It’s... here," he said, and he swiped a hand over the sparse dirt on the floor of the cavern to smooth it. With a finger claw, he started to sketch out his idea. "It’s a big, oval kinda shape. The floor’s not perfectly flat, but that can be fixed with dirt, or concrete, or whatever. But there’s plenty of room in the middle for free-standing shelves."

Rodney pointed to the edge of Taurger’s drawing, where the oval separated from the lines showing where shelves would go. "And just waste all the irregular space out here, right?"

"No," Taurger said, and began drawing small rectangles to line the inside of the oval. "Here you put desks, chairs, workspaces, reading pits – anything you want near the stacks. So you go in, get your books, come out of the stacks, and read. No corners to get stuck in, you can rearrange the shelves anytime you want, and all the weird shapes are in stuff that doesn’t have to be so organized."

"The furniture would have to be custom built to the walls, maybe even permanent," Rodney said, still doubtful but beginning to appreciate the idea’s potential.

"We’re not going to be mass producing for a while," Pat countered, "so no problem there. And I can see some real possibilities with this." Shi made some marks of hir own at one end of Taurger’s oval. "Reception, book return, check-out, maybe reading and viewing rooms in side chambers. Or a conference room, if there’s something big enough. And if it’s the one I’m thinking of, it’s tall enough inside for a balcony or second level, and a natural depression that would make a very nice public meeting pit." Almost to hirself, shi added, "Probably should have Ramirez look it over."

May pointed to the boxes on the edge of the oval and said, "Some of those could be display cases."

"Yeah," said Rodney, leaning in for a closer look. "And maybe..." Shi glanced up and noticed Pitty-Pat beaming at Taurger, who was staring thoughtfully at his sketch in the dirt. Shi righted hirself and said, "I’d like to see this big room."

Still grinning, Pat turned to Rodney and said, "No problem. Is now good?"

Rodney blinked. "Now’s fine."

"I’ve got to get back to the practice fields," Goldeneye said. Before he headed out, he asked Taurger, "When you’re walking again, will you come out there?"

Taurger looked dubious. "You really don’t want me throwing or shooting things."

"Well, some of us are mentoring anybody who doesn’t have outdoor experience," Goldeneye explained. "Even if you don’t shoot, I’d like you to come out. There’s some things I’d like to show you."

"I’ll think about it," said Taurger.

Pat put a hand on hir denmate’s shoulder. "I’ll walk you, if you want," shi told him.

Taurger looked at hir. "Learn something so I don’t do something stupid again, right?"

Pat hugged him and whispered, "You’re not stupid. You’re just not used to living outside a city." Stepping back shi asked, "Do you need anything?"

"No, I’m going to try and nap."

"I’ll be in earshot if shi does," Blue said. Shi grinned as shi gestured over hir shoulder toward the cooking area and, rolling hir eyes, told them, "They think they’re going to build an oven today."

As May, Pitty-Pat and Rodney walked toward the back of the main cavern, Rodney caught Pat looking back at Taurger. "So you two are an item?" Rodney asked.

"Sort of," Pat said, grinning as shi led the other two through one of the passages deeper into the ridge.

"How can you be ‘sort of’ an item?"

"Well, Taurger’s... not too sure about some things." Pat sighed.

"But you like her."

"Hir. And yes, I knew how I felt the moment I saw hir."

"You realize that on the plane Taurger was—" May began.

Pat cut hir off. "I’ve got a pretty good idea what Taurger was before. I don’t think that’s the problem, but if it is, we’ll deal with it."

Rodney said, "But you said you were a Marine. I thought there weren’t any women posted at that base."

"We had female Marines, but I was Corporal William Patterson," Pat told hir. "And before you ask, no, I wasn’t. But from the moment I saw Taurger three days ago, I couldn’t care less. I can’t imagine how I’d have felt if we met as humans, but as chakats..."

"Isn’t ‘denmate’ supposed to mean you’re lovers?" May asked.

"In the stories," Pat explained, "or so Taurger says. But we’re sharing a den, so what else would we call ourselves?"

"Maybe ‘roommates’?" Rodney offered.

Pat grinned. "Tell that to Taurger. Shi’s the one who scratched ‘Taurger’s Den’ in the wall. There’s the place we want, on the right."

As the approached the large archway into the proposed library chamber, May had a last question. "I saw a Sergeant Ramirez on the passenger list. Why would you want him – hir – to see this?"

"Ramirez is what they called a ‘tunnel rat’ back during Vietnam," explained Pat. "A lot of experience with underground areas and small spaces. Amateur spelunker, too, although shi’s ‘amateur’ like the old Soviet Olympians."

"A good person to have around in this place," Rodney said. "So let’s see this big room."

The three chakats entered the large chamber Taurger suggested for a library. Even in what little light managed to reach so deep it looked big enough to serve their needs for their lifetime. And when Pitty-Pat decided to check the acoustics shi gave them a completely different surprise.

<dream>

"I managed to go to sleep after lunch. Got back on my four-nap schedule again. People may say I’m weird for taking long naps, but now that I’m a chakat it’s better than trying to sleep a full night, or stay awake all day. It gets kinda hot right after lunch, an’ it’s almost impossible to see in twilight, despite chakat night vision."

"Of course I wasn’t thrilled about what I woke up to – or what woke me up..."

</dream>

A sudden pain in his right leg brought Taurger awake with a start. Something was weighing him down and had disturbed the lingering swelling. He tried to turn to push it off, but whatever was on top of him was still there. *Pat,* he reasoned. *Shi always ends up using me as a pillow or something.* So when he heard multiple voices and separate movements from at least three different people he was quite surprised.

"Wha’ happen?" someone asked groggily.

"Shi moved," was the answer from someone else.

"Somebody’s on my sore leg," Taurger told the voices testily.

"Sorry," a voice on his right said, and the weight vanished.

The weight on his shoulders moved, too. It felt like someone had shifted lower across his withers. Whatever the reason, he was now able to come upright and see what was going on.

Taurger was surrounded by several lounging chakats ranging from cubs to adults, with one kitten curled up on his broad back, all piled together with him in the middle. It was obvious they’d all been sleeping, although most seemed to be waking up. Comments of "that was good" and "God bless the siesta" mingled with the yawns and stretches. The person to his right, a traditionally colored tiger-pattern chakat, said, "Sorry about that. Is your leg okay?"

He flexed his right foreleg experimentally, and felt a twinge as the abused tissues objected. "No worse than before," he said.

The other tiger-stripe sighed with relief and said, "That’s good. I’m Tigris, by the way."

Taurger took the offered hand and shook it. "Taurger," he told hir. Turned to see the sleeping kitten, he could see the empty space where he’d put his bone project before lunch. Someone had walked off with everything, probably to throw it out.

Looking over the slowly dispersing sleepers as shi hirself stood up, Tigris said, "Looks like you started quite a pile."

"Yeah."

"You sound pretty bummed out. Because of your leg, or getting buried?"

"No... kinda." Taurger sighed. Tigris was silent, but somehow encouraged him to continue. "Trying to find something I can do, but everything I’ve come up with’s being done or I can’t."

"Frustrating."

"Yeah. Thinking too much again, I suppose. Been warned about that."

Tigris tried to keep from smiling. "I’m sure there’s something that needs to be done that will come to you," shi said. Then Taurger’s comment registered. "Who said you think too much?"

"Besides my boss? Therapist. Long time ago." He closed his eyes and recited what he’d sometimes used as a chant when things got rough. "‘Thinking becomes frustration. Frustration becomes anger. Anger becomes violence. Violence becomes blood.’ Said when I get frustrated I should just stop thinking."

That didn’t seem right to Tigris. "Your therapist isn’t here, I take it," shi said.

Taurger sighed. "Haven’t seen anybody since those first few sessions."

"Why?"

"No money. Company dropped coverage right after I started. Which was stupid, because they sent me."

*Before they were finished,* Tigris guessed. *There’s no way any ethical therapist would leave a patient thinking like that.* Aloud shi said, "Well, don’t worry about it anymore. If you don’t have something to do, you think about what you can do when your leg’s better. Or what someone else can do right now."

Taurger gave an amused snort and pulled yet another lock of hair from his face. "Looks like right now my job is ‘mattress’," he said, looking over his shoulder at the kitten still curled up on his back. When he turned back his mane was in the way again. Angrily, he took both hands and pulled all of it back then held it there, his eyes squeezed shut. Eventually resigning himself to the inevitable, he sighed and let go. Some of his mane fell across his face again.

"Quite a mop you’ve got," Tigris commented, amused.

"I think I’d feel better maneless."

"I can fix that," someone to his left said.

Both Taurger and Tigris turned to the speaker, a young reddish-brown chakat with black markings. Taurger took the offending hair between two fingers and held it out as he asked, "You got a pair of scissors?"

"No," the young chakat said, laughing. "Braid it."

Taurger looked at Tigris, who shrugged. He looked back at the young chakat and said, "Show me."

As the cub (a teenager, if hir size was any indication) started to work on the left side of his mane, Tigris said to Taurger, "I’ll leave you two," glanced at the kitten still on Taurger’s back, then continued, grinning, "three alone. There’s somebody I want to check on."

"Bye, Tigris," said Taurger.

"I’ll stop by for another nap sometime," shi said as shi walked away. "And you better have some ideas to tell me!"

Taurger would have shaken his head, but the young chakat was holding a fair chunk of his mane. Instead, he closed his eyes and let hir work. When it seemed to be taking some time, he asked, "I’m Taurger. What’re you called?"

"Black Tail." Shi continued braiding, uninterrupted.

Taurger opened one eye and looked squarely at Black Tail’s face. "Your parents let you change your name?" he asked.

Black Tail paused a beat, then continued braiding and said, "My parent’s weren’t on the plane."

"Oh. Sorry." He closed his eyes again.

Black Tail braided for a while in silence, and then said, "White Tip said shi’d take care of us."

"Good. Better than having everybody on your case."

"Yeah. But I still have to deal with the pest."

"Who’s that?"

"My little sister, Melissa."

Taurger made an amused noise and said, "I’ve heard they can be a real problem."

"You’ve heard?" Black Tail said, and paused.

"I was an only child."

"Oh." And Black Tail went back to braiding. A moment later shi said, "White Tip won’t call me Black Tail."

"What does shi call you?"

"Brandy."

"That was your name before?"

"Yeah," Brandy said.

"Can I call you Black Tail?"

Brandy grinned. "Really?"

Taurger nodded, just a little. With his eyes still closed, he couldn’t see Black Tail’s smile.

Black Tail tied off the braid and cheerfully said, "Finished."

Taurger opened his eyes and looked for his mane. There were a few stray hairs on his right, but his left was completely clear. He shook his head, something that always brought hair to his face, but it only appeared on the right.

The broad grin on the big chakat’s face spoke volumes to Black Tail. "I’ll do the other side, too," shi said.

"Please! Just don’t step on the leg," Taurger warned hir as he closed his eyes again, a habit he’d picked up during haircuts as a human.

"That’s the one the scorpion got, right?" Black tail asked.

"Yep."

"They made me come in and look. Made me smell one of those things, too. Did it hurt?"

"Like a needle when it happened. By the time they got me back it hurt a lot."

"Eww."

"Yeah. Eww."

"How’d you keep from smelling it?"

"I didn’t even know it was out there!"

Black Tail braided in silence for a moment, and then said, "They’re talking about starting classes about living outdoors. Maybe you should go, too."

"Think I was already asked."

"Oh."

Just then, another young chakat came trotting up. "Whatcha doin’, Brandy?" shi asked.

"Shi’s helping me with my hair," Taurger said.

"It was falling all over hir face," Black Tail said. "Taurger, this is Buffy. Buffy, Taurger. Taurger said shi’d call me Black Tail."

Taurger opened his eyes and waved at the tan chakat with red tail and mane. "Hi."

Buffy bobbed hir head and said, "Hi," then flopped down beside Black Tail. "I thought chakats were supposed to hug when they said hi," shi asked.

"Not while my hair’s being knotted," Taurger said, closing his eyes again. "And some people aren’t gonna be ready for that. And I’ve got this leg."

"Eww," Buffy complained, "It’s still swollen? Does it hurt?"

"Twinges if I move it."

"Ya know, that Katherine doctor said if it’d been one of us, we’d’a been killed."

"Unlike me, who just wanted to die."

"Yeah, I guess!" Buffy watched Black Tail work on the braid, then said, "Uh oh. Pest alert."

"Your sister?" Taurger asked.

"No," Black Tail said, "the Vampire."

"Shi’s cub-sitting again," Buffy said with a giggle. "Shi’s got Michelle with hir. Hurry up, Brandy!"

Taurger peeked out of one eye and saw Professor Van Peer approaching, hand in hand with a small cub. The little cub had very similar coloring to Buffy, only a little darker. Shi was also a lot less animated, hir tail almost dragging on the ground.

"Done!" Black Tail said.

"Let’s get out of here!" Buffy said, and the two older cubs scrambled away.

"Brandy! Buffy!" Van Peer called after them. When they didn’t respond shi shook hir head and stepped up to Taurger.

Taurger looked up at Van Peer and, trying to be civil, said, "Hello, Professor. Something I can do for you?" Van Peer stopped in front of him, an odd expression on hir face. *Sometimes these feline faces seem so strange,* Taurger thought.

"I don’t suppose you would know where those two were headed, would you?" Van Peer asked.

"Sorry," Taurger said. Van Peer was looking down at the cub beside hir now, hir expression different but just as confusing to Taurger. "You gonna go look for them?" Taurger asked.

"White Tip..." Van Peer started, but shi fell silent as shi turned to stare in the direction Buffy and Black Tail had left.

Taurger sympathized with the Professor. "Not exactly a great start for either of us, is it?" he said.

"What do you mean by that?" Van Peer asked coldly.

Taurger shrugged. "First you and I go head to head. Now I’m out with this leg and they’ve got you cubsitting." Without looking at Van Peer he added, "Your background is at least of some use. All I ever learned was computers. Even if I were walking I wouldn’t be of much use."

Van Peer opened hir mouth to say something, but couldn’t think of anything. *Damn you! You embarrass me in front of everyone, and now you’re commiserating! I can’t even make myself say something to cut you down! Why can’t I say something to hurt you?* Shi knew several appropriate slights that had proven very reliable in the past, but here in front of the big chakat shi could only stand and watch as he shifted slightly to try and make himself comfortable. *Those braids do frame your face nicely,* shi thought. *No! Stop that! This is the opposition, not a prospective date!*

Taurger looked up at the Professor. Mistaking the meaning of hir frustrated expression, he offered, "Why don’t you leave hir with me? Maybe you can catch those other two." To the cub he asked, "What’s your name?"

"Michelle," was the quiet reply.

Coming to a decision, Van Peer started, "Stay with..." before realizing shi would normally use a pronoun, something shi was loathe to do in front of the person who embarrassed hir on that very topic. "Stay with Taurger," shi finally managed. Shi headed off after Brandy and Buffy, trying to decide exactly what it was that was affecting hir.

Michelle sat on Taurger’s left, staring at the ground. Taurger took this to mean shi was sad about something, but wasn’t sure he should bother hir for the reason. Instead, he twisted around to check on the kitten that was still curled up on his rather extensive back. *Somebody once told me, ‘Don’t talk down to children.’ And that doesn’t mean height,* he reminded himself, glancing at the top of Michelle’s head.

"I’m surprised anybody c’n sleep in this place," he said as he gently stroked the kitten’s mane. Shi seemed to enjoy it, and shifted slightly but didn’t wake up.

"It’s not so bad," Michelle replied.

Taurger stopped and looked directly at Michelle. "Would be for me, if I hadn’t found a den of my own."

Michelle shrugged.

"Ya know, I read some of the chakat stories, and they had a saying. ‘Tail high.’ I only mention it ‘cause yours seemed ta be draggin’ a bit."

Michelle still didn’t speak, but shi sighed and leaned against Taurger.

He reached around hir and put his hand on hir shoulder. "I suppose for a little wisp like you it gets pretty boring."

"’Spose."

"Yeah." Taurger didn’t press the issue. If the cub wanted to talk, shi’d talk. If not, it was none of his business.

After a long moment of silence, Michelle asked, "What do you do when you’re bored?"

"Oh, I’d watch a video, or play a game on my computer, or surf the web."

"What kind of games?"

"I liked the world-building strategy ones. You know, ‘build up your country, take over the world’. Stuff I could do differently when I came back to it next time."

Michelle was quiet a moment, and then said, "I liked to draw. Can’t do that, either."

"Oh? Why not?"

Michelle looked down again, scratching a finger claw idly in the dirt. "They’re going to keep all the paper for the grownups."

"Well then, we’ll find you somethin’ else."

"Like what?"

Taurger inhaled, and let it out slowly, thinking. "Well... the Indians would paint on leather. And the Egyptians made papyrus out of reeds. And I think the Chinese did something with bamboo. Of course, I saw slate out there before I got this." He gestured idly to his injured leg. "And there’s the Seminoles’ solution."

"Who’s the Seminoles?"

"They were a tribe of American Indians who came out of Florida. They were the only tribe that came up with their own written language, and they didn’t have any paper."

"What’d they do?" asked Michelle, a lot more interested than when shi arrived.

"They used birch bark."

"Birch trees?"

"Yep. They peeled it off trees, flattened it out, and it was almost as good as paper. Oh, Indians used it for lots of stuff. Canoes, buildings, baskets..."

Professor Van Peer chose that moment to return, alone. As if on cue, the kitten on Taurger’s back woke up at the same time. Shi stretched and jumped down, but the Professor caught hir before shi could scamper off. "Oh, no you don’t," shi said as shi lifted the kitten to hir shoulder. Shi held hir hand out to Michelle and said, "Time to go."

As Van Peer and Michelle left, the cub turned back and waved, a grin on hir face, hir tail waving proudly behind hir. Taurger could also see the kitten’s face peering over the Professor’s shoulder.

<dream>

"The rest of the afternoon went pretty much the same as the morning, but without Purrsia, and a few times I could just try to think things through. I did a kinda crude abacus with pebbles and circles on the ground, but it didn’t take much for the numbers to get outa hand, since I didn’t have too many pebbles. Really need a spreadsheet to do that kinda population projection. Then my pebbles walked off with somebody for some game or somethin’. But I did manage to get some stuff I took back to the den after supper."

"Pat noticed my new braids and said they were ‘cute’. Shi kept tapping them, making them swing. Blue called hir a real feline for doing it."

"On the way back to my den I realized we were getting better at hobbling. Didn’t hurt as much as it did in the morning."

"What stuff?"

"Oh, yeah. Right. The stuff I took back with me..."

</dream>

True to his "four nap" schedule, Taurger was awake a few hours after he and Pitty-Pat had laid down. The calico had cradled his head in hir arms again, so he didn’t want to disturb hir by moving around too much. Otherwise, he’d have shifted to the other side of the small chamber to work.

In the scant light of his den at night, Taurger fiddled and twiddled with what someone had told him were bamboo leaves. Long, thin, and surprisingly flexible for having been off the plant for at least a day, he’d made sure to get some when he found out they were being used to weave baskets. But a basket was not what he had in mind.

*The problem’s the middle limbs,* he pondered. *Arms are just a crossbar, head a loop, split the back three ways for legs and tail... Right angle in the middle? Can the legs come down from that? How to make the bend stay put...*

Somewhere around midnight, he napped again. After he awoke he found the answer. *Start with the hind legs. Inverted "U" to the fronts. Double over straight up to the head and loop back. Bend at the withers and... Yeah, that’ll hold. And if I don’t make it too big, I’ll have plenty left for the tail, and hold the rear legs down against that! Hmm, maybe too much tail. But if I trim it right... That’s too long for the arms... Ties. Nope, too short. Stick with the stuff I’d set aside when I started. Make paws, hold it together, feather the top for... No, has to be just the back. How? Ah, the scraps. Stick it in and feather it out for a nice mane. Yeah. Check that everything’s tight... and...*

Feeling like he’d finally accomplished something, even if it didn’t have a practical use, Taurger carefully used his tail to put his little chakat figure out of the way on one of the narrow stone ledges his den had been carved through and went back to sleep until dawn.

<dream>

"The sun lit up that roof hole again, so I guess Pat was right. Nobody’d sleep late in that den. Not that you could fit anybody else without making a second layer."

"The next morning I limped back into the big room, where I eventually found out somebody’d pulled a nasty trick on me..."

</dream>

Pitty-Pat had gone off to see if shi could help on the papermaking project after a quick breakfast, leaving Taurger to rest in a different part of the main cavern than the day before. At first, he didn’t realize others were gathering around him. Then White Tip, Katherine and May settled in next to him.

"You should have heard him," May was saying. "It reminded me of how different your roar was from your speaking voice."

"We’ll have to ask hir to perform for the rest of us sometime," White Tip replied, with only the slightest emphasis on the pronoun. To Taurger shi said, "Hello. You must be Taurger." The white tiger chakat just nodded and shook the offered hand.

"How’s your leg feeling?" Katherine asked, placing hirself between Taurger and White Tip.

"Better, I think," Taurger told hir.

"I’m glad you feel up to joining us," said White Tip, settling in. "I think everybody should attend at least once."

Taurger shrugged, blinked, and asked, "Whadda ya mean, ‘attend’?"

The other three chakats looked at each other, mystified. White Tip turned to the big chakat and said, "You’re here for the morning meeting, right?"

"No, I..." Taurger started. His expression changed from confusion to surprise to disgust as White Tip’s words registered. "Oh, geez."

"You don’t like meetings?" May asked, grinning.

"Meetings don’t do anything. It’s just bosses ragging on staff."

"That sounds like too many organizations I’ve seen," White Tip said.

Taurger closed his eyes and turned away. "I’ll... keep my mouth shut."

"If there’s something you think needs to be said, I expect you to speak up," said White Tip. Shi wasn’t convinced by Taurger’s automatic nod. Another thing shi’d seen too often in hir previous career.

Others were still gathering as Katherine leaned over to Taurger and said quietly, "I thought you were going to close your mouth." When Taurger gave hir a questioning look, she said, "You were going to try breathing through your nose."

"You really don’t know how bad this place smells, do you?" Taurger muttered.

"Five hundred felines in even this big space is going to leave an odor," said Katherine. "You’ll get used to it."

Taurger continued breathing through his mouth, although he tried to keep it open only a slit so people wouldn’t stare. He also tried to ignore the discussions that passed in front of him, concentrating instead on coming up with something he could do himself. A couple hours later and the third time people from DiVargin’s and Deering’s camps had a disagreement that, despite efforts to change the subject quietly, began to devolve into political or religious ideologies, his restraint failed.

"Give it a rest!" Taurger interrupted.

"You’ve had nothing to say all morning, so I don’t see how this..." one of the debaters started.

"I’m right here!" said Taurger, cutting hir off before White Tip was able to intervene. "I don’t have earplugs, so you’re making it my business."

White Tip stopped Katherine from getting Taurger’s attention.

"Then why don’t you leave?" the second debater said.

In the awkward silence that followed, Taurger’s head turned slowly until he was staring directly into the eyes of the offending speaker, who was immediately uncomfortable. The person next to hir elbowed hir and whispered something that made hir look down. Taurger’s right foreleg, while seemingly normal on its own, was still visibly swollen when side by side with his healthy leg. Hir embarrassed blush showed on the inside of hir ears.

"There won’t be enough of us for anything but staying alive to be top priority for years," Taurger was saying, a dangerous growl in his voice, "so drop it! If you’re so worried about politics," and he spat out the word as if it could contaminate his mouth, "then plan ahead, for the next generation. Design a system that’s gonna work. Not just could, if everybody supports it, but will, because it uses what we want anyway to make us do what’s right."

"You’re talking about a utopia," someone countered.

"I’m talking about getting it right the first time! It took eleven years to come up with the U.S. Constitution, and that was the second try, and just something they could agree on, and that from the best and brightest from nearly four million colonists! You want a government? Go design one. Don’t argue. Just go work on it. We’re small enough that we don’t need one right away, so you’ve got time. And when you’re done, it’d better be good, because if we don’t want it, you’re out! You can go off with your friends and form your own little tribe, and live any way you want. But remember this. If we want anything to survive us, we have to think hard and fast, because right now, these first years, is going to define everything that comes later, and we get only one chance at it. And we aren’t going to get that far if we don’t deal with what’s right in front of us first! I’m... sorry," Taurger finished, ducking his head and covering his eyes with one hand. "I said I was gonna keep quiet. Sorry."

"No, you’re right," said White Tip, who’d been watching everyone cringe in the face of Taurger’s outburst. Shi had noticed it building in the big chakat, but when it happened, it was as if everyone had felt it personally. Addressing those assembled, shi said, "We need to deal with the problems facing us, not create more with pointless bickering. As Taurger said, eventually we will need a formal government, but don’t let speculation blind you to our current issues. Such as disposal of waste ..."

Shortly, after White Tip resumed the meeting on a more productive topic, Katherine leaned over to Taurger and whispered, "See, you do have something to offer."

Taurger, however, was watching the meeting with unfocused eyes, as if he were trying to see all of them at once. "We’re over the limit," he murmured.

"What limit?" Katherine asked.

"The..." Taurger started to say, and then focused on Doctor DiVargin. He bit back a question and looked away.

Katherine, sensing a lull, spoke up. "Doctor DiVargin, can you answer a question?"

DiVargin opened hir mouth before realizing the question would probably be coming from Taurger. Remembering what shi’d been told of Van Peer’s encounter with the big chakat, she quickly rephrased hir response. "If I know the answer, of course."

As DiVargin expected, Katherine nudged Taurger. Still stinging from his earlier embarrassment, Taurger asked quietly, "How big do hunter-gatherer groups get?"

"How big?"

"Yeah. You do anthropology, right? You’ve studied those types of societies? How large did they get on Earth before they starting splitting up?"

*Why did shi have to bring this up? I was hoping to spring it on White Tip later,* DiVargin thought, and tried to hedge hir answer. "Well, that would depend on the fertility of the area, the efficiency of the hunters..."

"Just ballpark figures, Doctor," interrupted Taurger. "Fifty? A hundred?"

Realizing Taurger already knew the answer, DiVargin sighed. "Among humans, most tribal societies fragmented into smaller groups and new hunting grounds when they exceed fifty to a hundred people, including children," shi admitted.

"And we’re an order of magnitude over that already," Taurger said. A murmur passed through those listening. "And as chakats we need more food than a human?" he asked Katherine.

Katherine nodded. "Apparently, from what I’ve seen. Although I’m told we can also cover more ground."

"You’re thinking we need to split up into smaller groups," said White Tip.

"We could," Taurger admitted. "Or we change strategies."

"How so?"

"No matter what we do we can’t have communities bigger than an area can support, because we don’t have a way to distribute food from supply to demand. But if we start farming, we increase the number of people an area can support by up to two orders of magnitude, giving us the excess we’re gonna need."

"Excess food for lean seasons."

"No, I’m not talking about supply fluctuations. I mean non-producing population."

"You want to encourage people to be unproductive?" Colonel Deering snapped.

"Well, I don’t really know the right word for it," Taurger admitted. "I’m remembering something I read about why there were so few ancient inventors. It was because mostly everybody was working to stay alive. If everybody’s needed to get enough to eat, raise cubs, and fend off threats, then there’s nothing and nobody to spare to try something new. You have to have more than you need if you’re going to risk doing experiments, and that means supporting people who aren’t producing food or survival, as well as resources beyond that for use in the experiments. Now I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t want to live in the dirt the rest of my life." Several people laughed at Taurger’s last comment.

"But we’re not trying to invent anything new, are we?" someone asked.

"Yes, we are," countered White Tip. "We are working with unknown plants and animals. We are rediscovering skills that we know about, but may not have actually used. And we are hoping to recreate over three thousand years of technological development. Even learning is a form of experimentation."

Colonel Deering spoke up again. "I hope you’re not saying it’s going to take us three thousand years."

"Prob’ly Eighteenth Century," Taurger said.

"Eighteen centuries?"

"No, Eighteenth Century."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You asked how fast, right?" Taurger asked. When Deering nodded, he continued, "We can prob’ly recreate anything they had in the 1700’s in... maybe the time it takes a new cub to grow up. Nothing with a big labor force, like canals, and we have to find the stuff to make it with. But I bet we can figure out how to make the tech, at least. That leaves only about three centuries, and we know most of that pretty well."

"Why the Eighteenth Century? Why not the Nineteenth?" White Tip asked.

"’Cause after that you kinda lost the ‘Renaissance Man’ who could go from what he dug up or cut down to a finished product. Once the Industrial Revolution hit, people started relying on what someone else made to make their own stuff, and that kinda production needs infrastructures, and has to be supported by people feeding a lot more than their family. That’s also when shipping started to haul more than luxuries. We build up our resources and maybe we can start doing summa that."

"So you want to become a farmer," said DiVargin.

"Shi’d make a pretty poor one," Pitty-Pat snorted, surprising Taurger, who hadn’t noticed hir circling the group to come in behind him. Pat reached around and held up hir denmate’s hands to show off the stripes. "Look. Black thumbs."

That pun elicited a chorus of groans and laughs, and a disgusted look from Taurger. Doctor DiVargin winced as if in pain, and Colonel Deering just rolled hir eyes and sighed, suppressing a grin.

As they laughed, Pitty-Pat squeezed in beside Taurger, placing him between hir and Katherine, and gave him a quick hug as shi whispered, "Sorry." Shi used hir interruption to ask a question of hir own. "Speaking of food, has anyone found substitutes for cows and chickens yet?"

"Not that I have heard," White Tip replied.

"Tired of wild game already, Sergeant?" Deering asked.

"Thinking dairy, Colonel," Pat said. "Uh, don’t you mean Corporal, Shir?"

"Call it a field promotion. Not that it means much here, but anybody in charge of a library should have some rank."

Before DiVargin or anyone else could voice an objection to Deering’s words, Pat corrected hir. "We’ve formed a coalition, Shir. Rodney’s going to manage the archives and I’ll make order out of chaos from the desk. And then May’s going to point people to us if they have something or need something." With a nod to hir denmate, shi grinned and added, "Taurger’s dubbed hir ‘Minister of Information’."

Deering raised an eyebrow, but on seeing the big chakat wince, didn’t pursue the subject. Instead, shi asked, "Who is Rodney?"

"Rodney Davies, one of the graduate assistants. Shi kept their records."

While not pleased with having one of DiVargin’s people involved, Deering said, "Sounds like you’re on top of things." DiVargin, too, seemed ready to accept the fiat accompli.

"Yes, Shir," Pat said with a grin. "Anyway, getting back to food, I was wondering where we’ll get calcium without dairy."

"If the plants are enough like Earth, from leafy greens," one of DiVargin’s people answered. "Barring that, organ meats."

Katherine offered hir own opinion. "If we actually end up lacking any nutrients, I expect we will get cravings for foods that have them, and then our noses will lead us. Right now, I’m more concerned about carbohydrates. We have not found any proper grains yet and precious few types of nuts. We may have to make tubers a staple, or eat a chakat version of Atkins."

This spawned speculation about diets and which plants might be domesticated – and would grow in the badlands immediately around them – before drifting to other topics and eventually the end of the meeting. As the group began breaking up, White Tip addressed Taurger.

"So what did you think? Not as bad as you feared, was it?"

"Except for those politicians, I’d say it was almost productive." Taurger replied in a weary voice. Pat tried to cheer him by stroking his back.

"Still, I am glad you were here, and hope you can sit in on more. That is the first time somebody has kept those political debates from coming back."

"Wasn’t me," Taurger said, and then sighed. "Food’s always more popular than politics, except to hacks. I wouldn’t be much use anyway. I’m at least a couple days behind."

"That is not useless. Sometimes it only takes fresh eyes to see what everyone else is missing."

"I’m a tech, not a ‘consultant’."

*And yet you have been offering suggestions to anyone who would listen,* White Tip thought. "Would you mind testing that assumption? Look around. What would you change?"

"You gotta be kidding!"

"No, I would like to know."

"Look, first of all, I was a tech, not a manager. I wasn’t supposed to think. I wasn’t supposed to have ideas. And as I’ve been repeatedly reminded, what few ideas I do have either can’t work or require someone else to put a lot of effort into finishing them." Almost to himself, Taurger added, "I haven’t even found anything I can do yet. I’ve just been useless."

"That’s not true!" Pitty-Pat said, defending hir denmate against his own bad attitude. "You were making something yesterday."

"What?"

"With the bones. You must have finished it, because you didn’t bring it back to the den with you."

"Oh, that. It’s gone."

"What? How?"

"It got thrown out, okay?"

"What were you working on?" White Tip asked.

"A lamp," Taurger said quietly.

"A... lamp?"

"Yes, a controlled flame! Good for illuminating, or heating something you’re working on, or..." Taurger closed his eyes and sighed. *Not good! Just stop thinking. Thinking becomes frustration... frustration becomes anger...*

"You haven’t gone through the back caverns," Pitty-Pat told White Tip. "There are plenty of places where there’s no light at all, and our ears and noses can only do so much."

White Tip was looking at nothing, considering the idea as shi mused aloud, "And as shi said, there are other uses for a small, controlled flame." Touching the big chakat’s shoulder to get his attention, shi asked, "What would you need to start over?"

Caught off guard, Taurger hesitated. "I... uh... A lamp’s just bowl, wick, and something to keep the flame and fuel separate, like a collar or neck. I, uh, was trying to turn part of a skull into the bowl."

"Wouldn’t clay be better?"

"Probably, but I haven’t seen any."

"I saw that somebody was working on a kiln. They should know where to find clay. Would you rather work with that?"

Taurger sighed. "Maybe you’d just better give them the whole thing. It’s not like I was getting very far with it anyway."

"What was the problem?"

"I spent a whole morning tryin’ to trim down a skull to just a bowl. The edge was still pretty sharp, so I was gonna hafta find somethin’ to file it with."

"What about the wick and – what did you call it, a collar?"

"Had some small animal vertebras I was gonna string on the wick to make a neck. Hadn’t found anything to act as a shield."

"And the wick?"

Taurger held out one of his braids. "Figured to make it outa hair. Prob’ly woulda burned like a fuse insteada being a wick."

"What did you have in mind for fuel?" asked Katherine.

Taurger shrugged. "Vegetable, nut, animal... We’d find something oily enough. Or maybe just render fat for tallow candles."

"That sounds like another use for the griddles," White Tip said, and couldn’t understand why Taurger’s reaction was not the sense of pride shi expected from a mention of one of the big chakat’s ideas. "Are you sure you want to let someone else make a lamp?"

"Yeah, I’d only mess it up."

Rising, White Tip said, "Then I’ll be interested to hear what you come up with next."

As White Tip, Katherine and May walked away, May whispered, "I told you."

"You did," White Tip replied. "But not at the meetings. Not until shi is a little more willing to speak up. And maybe some lessons in public speaking. Shi tends to let hir topics wander, and shi has some serious confidence issues."

"Right now is when shi’ll sit still for the meetings," Katherine said. When White Tip gave hir a questioning look, shi added, "Pitty-Pat said Taurger’s restless. No one would have faulted hir for staying in hir den and recovering, but shi’s trying to find something to do. I doubt you’ll get hir to stay in one place when shi can walk again. Shi seems the type."

"I noticed that, too. DaVinci was the same way, always moving on to the next idea instead of finishing the first. Tell that to Pitty-Pat. Suggest shi try to break hir of that habit."

"I’ll tell Goldeneye, too," May said. "He seems the grounded one in that foursome."

"Shi."

"Not you, too!"

Elsewhere others were also discussing Taurger. Professor Van Peer was watching cubs again when Doctor DiVargin approached hir. "I need you to do something for me, Henry," DiVargin said.

"Of course," Van Peer replied, eager for an excuse to avoid more cub watching.

"I need you to make friends with Taurger."

"You can’t be serious! The two of us..."

"You’ve had the most contact with hir, Henry. Moreover, you’re a psychologist. You’ll have a better idea how to do it than anyone else."

"I can advise Doctor Shing..."

"It’ll have to be you, Henry. Everyone else is busy."

"Then you..."

DiVargin shook hir head. "No, I’ve got a project of my own. This is important, Henry."

"Taurger is not that important."

"Shi’s a thinker, Henry. I want hir on our side when White Tip’s song and dance comes crashing down."

"I... I’ll do what I can."

"Good man."

*Can this get any worse?* Henry Van Peer thought as shi watched DiVargin leave. *Now I’m supposed to be near hir? And shi used my name like that! I have to do it!* With that thought, Van Peer turned to look at the black striped white chakat and hir calico partner across the cavern. A queasy feeling shi was afraid to try and identify made hir close hir eyes and turn back to the cubs when shi realized Taurger was looking back.

Beside Taurger, Pitty-Pat followed hir denmate’s gaze. "That’s Vampire," shi said with a bitter tone. "Stuck cub watching. Serves hir right. What do you want with hir?"

"Nothin’," Taurger said. "Shi stopped by yesterday morning, looking for a couple of the older cubs."

"I’m surprised the two of you didn’t go at it claws out."

Taurger shook his head. The fact that he didn’t have to brush hair from his face afterward delighted him. "Arguments are one thing," he explained, "but there’s not enough of us to survive having a real enemy. We have to at least be civil."

"You’re more charitable than I’d be in your place." Pat cuddled against hir denmate, who tensed for just an instant, as usual. *Get used to it, tiger. I’m going to be beside you a long time!* Then shi remembered something shi’d seen on waking up.

"Taurger?"

"Hm?"

"Where did that little figure come from?"

"What figure?"

"The chakat; the one in the den. Did you make that out of the bamboo leaves you brought with you last night?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"Last night."

"I didn’t see you do it."

"You were asleep."

After a long moment, Pat asked, "How much are you sleeping at night?"

Taurger shrugged. "Couple hours, I think, when we first lay down. Couple hours just before sunup, and a couple more in the middle."

"You’re awake a few hours at night... twice?" When Taurger gave hir an uncomprehending look, Pat understood. "Your naps! You’re taking long naps four times a day, instead of one long sleep at night!"

"Yeah. I said that, didn’t I?"

"It didn’t really sink in until now. So what do you do at night when you wake up?"

"Think. Between this," and Taurger gestured at his leg again, "and you half on top of me I can’t exactly go anywhere or do anything."

"Well, not anymore. From now on when you nap, I nap. When you’re awake, I’m awake."

"To do what?"

"We’ll think of something."

"Like what?" Taurger insisted, worried about the tone he heard in hir voice.

"Right now, lunch," Pat said, waving someone over. It was Blue and Goldeneye. The Siamese-colored chakat waved back with a non-food object shi was carrying.

When they were closer, Taurger saw what Goldeneye was holding was a heavy stick. Shi offered it to Taurger. "What’s this for?" he asked.

"A cane," Goldeneye explained. "Should let you get around on your own. Katherine gave hir approval."

"Thanks," Taurger said sarcastically. "Now all I need is somewhere to go."

"Got that, too," Blue said as shi passed out chunks of melon and cooked meat. "You’ve got class with me this afternoon."

Puzzled, Taurger asked, "For what?"

"Outdoor training," Goldeneye explained. "You and some of the others who’ve lived in cities all your lives and the older cubs. Not survival training," shi added, seeing the look on Taurger’s face. "Just some warnings about living outdoors. Although..."

"Idea?" Blue asked.

"Well, it wouldn’t hurt to introduce them to some survival skills. Just to see if any of them have some natural talent, and so they’re not scared to try if they have to. There’s always the chance of something sneaking in and catching us napping."

"Ah, you just want to get more people to the target range."

"That, and a little tracking. Maybe even try their hand at butchering and cooking."

"I’ll wait ‘til somebody builds a real stove," said Taurger.

"Afraid to cook?" Pat asked.

Taurger shook his head. "Cooked for myself all my life," he explained. "Just used a kitchen, not a fire pit. And it’s not like we’ve got anything to work with."

"We’ve got more than you think," Blue said. "And I can teach you camp cooking."

"Brought a cookbook with you?" Taurger asked, challenging hir. Blue just grinned back.

"So you cook?" Pat asked. "I figured you as a microwave and diner eater."

"On my income? Yeah, right! Learning to cook was the only way I could eat cheap enough."

"I thought computer people made good money?"

Taurger almost answered, but caught himself. "Look, that’s getting into a whole lot of things I don’t want to remember. I’m out of there, and I’m better off, even if it did mean giving up beds and floors and clothes and bathrooms."

"Bad?" Goldeneye asked.

"Yeah. Kept trying to find a way out and this did it."

"Then let’s hope we weren’t just brain-copied, like you’d suggested, or there’s a ‘you’ still stuck back there."

For a moment, Taurger was stunned to realize someone had remembered something he’d said. Then he grunted and said, "Hope they left replacements, then. Serve ‘em right to get stuck where I was."

"Replacements?" said Blue. "You mean like a ‘we’ll send our people snooping disguised as locals’ infiltration from a sci-fi movie?"

"Probably not," Pat disagreed. "I can’t imagine what they’d hope to accomplish with any of the people who were on board. None of us had unmonitored access to sensitive information, not even the Colonel. And it’s not like we can do anything about it now. So what’s this afternoon’s class going to be on, Goldie?"

Goldeneye grinned in response to the nickname Pat had saddled hir with shortly after the two Marines had met. "Well, it’s not exactly a formal class, yet, mostly one-on-one mentoring. Some of DiVargin’s ‘experts’ are lost causes. But once we get some of the grad-asses up to speed..."

<dream>

"After lunch, Pat did exactly what shi said. Shi lay right next to me and we went to sleep. Woke up in the middle of another pile. Prob’ly should have gone back to the den. Least nobody lay on my leg."

"Goldeneye’s cane seemed to work okay. I was at least able to limp on my own, instead of having Pat pawing me. ‘Course Pat tagged along for ‘class’ that afternoon, so it wasn’t much different."

"Class turned out to be me being dragged around outside by Goldeneye and Pat while they talked about plants and animals and tracks and a lot of other stuff, when they weren’t making me smell something or other. Blue was off doing something, but shi’d come bouncing in and out for no reason to add hir own two bits. ‘Course we also gathered stuff. Mostly roots and such. Nobody was going outside just to wander about. At least my limp meant I wasn’t ‘pack mule’ again."

"Anyway, I made it through that, and supper. Then when I woke up that night, Pat woke up, too. Shi dragged me outside and did what shi called ‘night school’. Said shi was trying to get me up to speed. So I limped around, smelling things, looking at things, trying to give hir the answers shi wanted. And bringing back more stuff."

"It wasn’t until the next day I got to do anything on my own again..."

</dream>

Now that Taurger had a cane, Pat had excused hirself, saying there were some people shi needed to meet with. Taurger took the opportunity to go back to his den and clean himself, working thoroughly to make up for missing his last two planned sessions. *Probably can miss sometimes without causing problems,* he decided. *Did that with showers. Don’t want it to become habit, though. Doc said I should rinse my coat once a week, too. Don’t look forward to trying to dry off, though. Wonder if we can do anything with shed fur?*

The first thing he wanted to do today was go see the doctor. With the cane, he seemed to be putting more weight on his leg, and he wanted to be sure that it was okay, despite Goldeneye’s claim. There was something else he wanted to ask, too; something stemming from yesterday’s meeting.

He eventually found Katherine in a side cavern, using a big, heavy, feathery leaf as a sort of crude broom to sweep out wind-blown debris. "Hey, Doc, got a moment?" he called out.

"Hello, Taurger," Katherine said. "Welcome to the hospital. I see Goldeneye came through with a cane. How is it working?"

"Well, I don’t have to be carried anymore. Could you check my leg, though? Make sure I’m not putting too much weight on it?"

Katherine grinned at Taurger’s caution. Aside from a slight limp, the big chakat hadn’t seemed to have any trouble when he came in to the chamber Katherine had selected as their center of medicine. Dutifully shi ran hir fingers over the leg, noting that not only had the swelling nearly vanished, but the impression shi’d had of pain the last time shi’d examined it was gone as well. "Could you sit belly down, please?" shi asked. "I’d like to compare both forelegs."

From a couchant position, shi had Taurger push against hir hands first with one leg and then the other, and then checked the grip of his handpaws. In what shi though would be a good "bedside manner" shi tried to make conversation with hir patient, something shi rarely had cause to do while working on animals.

"I see you have solved your hair problem. Did Pitty-Pat braid those?"

"No, Bl... uh, Brandy did."

"I’ll be sure to tell White Tip. Go ahead and push hard, now."

His face screwed up in anticipation of pain, Taurger pushed.

"Now the other one. Pitty-Pat said you had read what was on the Internet about chakats."

"Looked it over. I was looking for hippocentaurs, really." In response to Katherine’s questioning expression, he explained, "Horse centaurs. Classical Greek. Half human, half horse. They’re called equitaurs if they’ve got horse heads." When the doctor nodded, he added, "Nobody remembers the word, but everybody knows what they are."

"Okay. So did you read about chakat empathy?"

"The stories had several psychic powers."

"Other power? Such as?"

Taurger shrugged. "Telepathy, telekinesis... the stuff people usually think of as psychic."

"And chakats could do all of them?"

"Naw, just empathy. Why?"

"I’m wondering what we are supposed to be able to do with it. Now squeeze my fingers."

"Oh. Well... they’re supposed to be able to sense the emotions of almost any animal, or at least people. Different people would have it to different levels, and some of them were supposed to be able to project feelings, too. Stronger empaths could even send physical sensations. All pretty short range stuff. I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout that."

"And what have you decided?"

"Maybe it’s not psychic. Maybe it’s pheromones."

"Oh?"

"I know a lot of people are saying stuff about being turned into ‘fictional creatures’. Figure they’d really hit the roof if anybody started talking psychic powers. So what if we don’t feel emotions, but smell ‘em with these fancy noses?"

Katherine paused, looking thoughtful. "It is possible. Body chemistry is supposed to change with emotional state. That should affect scent, too. And it would certainly be short range." Shi smiled at Taurger. "You may have found a way to make some of the more incredulous treat empathy seriously. And your leg is doing fine. A little weak, maybe, but as you start using it again it should regain its strength."

"So no more laying about?"

"No," shi said with a laugh. "Get up and do something, unless you sit in on one of the meetings."

"Could you..." Taurger started to say, and then halted.

"What is it?"

*Nobody’s around, stupid,* Taurger told himself. *Better ask now.* Aloud, he asked, "Could you check something else, too?"

Katherine looked over the black-striped body of hir patient. "What is the problem?"

"Under my tail. My, uh..."

*Embarrassed, maybe just a little prudish. But shi did manage to ask,* thought Katherine. "Of course," shi said. Taurger was helpfully keeping his tail out of the way. The outside of his vagina appeared clean and healthy. "I don’t see anything wrong."

"Do you know what’s normal inside?"

"You want me to look?"

"Please."

Katherine paused a moment, hir fingers on the skin surrounding Taurger’s vaginal sphincter. Finally shi said, "You will have to open it for me."

"Sorry. Ah..."

"That is better. A little wider, if you can."

"Sorry."

"Don’t be. You have not done this before, have you?"

"Never."

*Not very dissimilar to a big cat’s vagina,* Katherine thought. "I don’t see anything abnormal. What were you feeling?"

*Now or never,* Taurger decided. "If you had to, do you think you could do an abortion?"

Surprised, Katherine took hir hands away from Taurger. "Abortion?"

"It’s... ah..." Taurger stammered, still trying to decide how to explain. Then it all came spilling out. "Ya see, Chakats are supposed to go in heat two days out of twenty-four, all year long. We don’t have the pill, or condoms, or anything to stop it."

"You are worried about a population explosion."

"I don’t think we’ll starve, if that’s what you mean." Taurger gave a snorting laugh. "We’ve got predator bodies, omnivore digestion, and sentient minds. We’ll out-fight, out-eat, or out-think almost anything. But if we have more cubs than we can feed or care for as a group, they’ll go off and go wild. And that’ll make it even harder to get technology back, ‘cause we’ll have competition."

"You think we will have to practice abortion to avoid that."

"They’ll like feral cubs or drowning kittens even less. Ask Doc Wong to look for something, would ya? The Romans were supposed to have something herbal that was so good they used it to extinction. Maybe there’s something like that here."

"I will think about it. Don’t mention this to White Tip."

"I... yeah. It’s a hot potato on Earth. Won’t be much better here. No point in dumping hir in the middle a’ that."

*Worse, I have the feeling White Tip would be offended by having it suggested,* Katherine thought. "Is there anything else?" shi asked.

"Well, mentioning Doc Wong, I was wondering if there’s any sticks safe to put in your mouth."

"For what?"

"I just remembered that, uh, they used to beat the end of some kind of stick into shreds and use it like a toothbrush. Only not too many people know that because everybody thinks of toothbrushes as plastic."

"And you thought that a flayed stick would be good enough until we can make proper brushes."

"Yeah, kinda. Sometimes it seems like everybody’s forgotten people did without plastic and metal for thousands of years. You’d think none of them had ever seen a tortoise shell brush or an ivory comb. Heck, the first real toothbrushes were made in Ancient China with boar’s hair bristles and bamboo handles."

"Really?" Katherine said, remembering when, as a child, shi would explore hir grandmother’s vanity table and all the fascinating things on it.

"I read that someplace. Don’t know if it’s really true. Not that it’d do my mop any good. I’m tempted to cut it all off and give it to somebody for rope," Taurger said, getting to his feet.

As the big chakat began to make his way out, Katherine considered his question. *A wandering mind, but shi touches on some very practical topics. Besides, shi wasn’t asking if I would, only if I could. Should I tell hir?* Taurger was almost in the passage back to the main cavern when Katherine said, "To answer your question. Yes, I believe I could."

Taurger nodded. He left without any other reply.

<dream>

"Didn’t have much of a plan after seeing the Doc. No project, no goal."

"Didn’t really feel right, either. First day, after I remembered about the safety muscle under the tail, I tried it out; just to be sure it was there. It worked pretty easy, but just then with the Doc I’d had some real problems with it. If I’d known why, I’d’ve gone back to my den, crawled in, and stayed there. Instead I wanted some fresh air."

"I don’t know where I was going. I just went back to the main cavern and headed outside. That’s when I got ambushed..."

</dream>

Van Peer had just sent several cubs scampering after an inedible dry gourd standing in as a ball when shi saw Taurger coming out of the cave. Shi also saw an all-white chakat catch up to the white tiger from behind. The bigger chakat’s anger was almost palpable, and the other quickly retreated. *You’ve soured things with that one, Purrsia,* Van Peer mused. *The right approach now would be to... No! I will not think like that!*

Shi shook hir head to be rid of the thought, which is how shi spotted the kitten who’d strayed. Scooping up the six-limbed bundle of fur, shi set it on hir shoulder and made a decision. *I’ll have to try at some time, or DiVargin will throw a fit. May as well be now.*

Taurger had limped out into the open after chasing off Purrsia, but hadn’t seen Van Peer because he was watching for uneven ground under his cane.

"Still having trouble with Purrsia?" Van Peer asked.

"Wha...? Oh, hi. Uh, still?" Taurger asked in reply.

"I heard about the first time."

"Yeah," Taurger scowled. He continued limping away from the cave, Van Peer walking beside him.

"An interesting reaction to becoming a chakat. Possibly the most extreme I’ve seen. I’m still surprised nobody’s panicked or attempted suicide. With some of the religious fanatics among us, I’d have expected at least a dozen."

"It’s been almost a week, long enough that it doesn’t seem strange anymore. I think we’ve all calmed down now."

"Yes, and much more quickly than I’d have expected from a human group this size. Even plastic surgery doesn’t have responses this reserved, and patients are expecting the changes! No, whoever did this to us definitely tampered with our minds."

"Kinda had to, didn’t they?"

"What do you mean?"

Taurger shrugged. "Far as we know it’s us in new bodies. But soon as we wake up we can see, hear, talk, walk... Somebody has a big accident or something an’ they gotta relearn that kinda stuff, don’t they?"

"I see what you’re getting at. Yes, it takes a great deal of physical therapy to relearn even basic motor skills. And, if I remember the results of certain sensory experiments correctly, on the order of days to acclimate to a change in eyesight. So a certain amount of mind alteration had to have occurred." Van Peer sighed. "I wish I had proper documentation tools. Even just a notebook would help. There are so many small signs I’m certain I’m misinterpreting."

"Maybe talk to somebody who knows cats?"

"You mean like the veterinarian, Katherine? I doubt I’d be welcome after what happened when they brought you back. I had a student assistant who liked cats, but I haven’t found her yet. Hir, I suppose she’d be, now. Wouldn’t she... ah, shi?"

Stopping, Taurger just stared at the tuxedo chakat. Hearing hir use the new pronouns was like a warning flag. Van Peer looked back, nervously stroking the kitten on hir shoulder. Taurger sighed. "Okay, whadda ya want, Professor?"

"What do you mean?" Van Peer asked. Inwardly shi cringed. *I blew it! Shi’s on to me!*

"I mean first we try to shut each other down. Then its keep your distance. Now you’re talking like we’re buddies or somethin’."

"I... ah..." Van Peer stammered. *Calm down! This time you have the truth on your side!* Taking a deep breath, shi said, "Last time we talked you made a gesture of peace. I decided to reciprocate."

Taurger closed his eyes and sighed. *Shi’s right,* he thought. *I said to Pat we could at least keep from bating each other.* Opening his eyes and looking at Van Peer, he relented. "Okay. Truce?"

"Truce," agreed Van Peer, smiling. *Step one in establishing a relationship, open a dialogue. Done.*

The kitten in Van Peer’s arms chose that moment to squirm. Restoring hir hold on the tiny chakat, Van Peer said, "I’d like to pursue this further, but at the moment it seems I have other priorities. Look, if you find my student assistant, would you have her – hir – find me?"

"What’s shi called?"

"Louise. Louise Bridger. She – shi’s a good typist and an expert camper, which is why I had hir along. Plus shi likes cats."

"Louise. I’ll remember." *Sounds a lot like Blue, except for the typing. Better ask hir before I say anything about it.*

<dream>

"...Then I poked around a bit, trying to come up with something to do. Eventually I decided to try and find where that hole in my den’s ceiling went, so I found myself a path up to the top of the ridge. Marked it, ‘cause I didn’t have a map..."

</dream>

The small pile of stones he’d made would probably be okay so long as nobody tried to come through the bush he’d put it beside, Taurger had decided, when a voice startled him. "That’s interesting," the voice asked. "What’s it for?"

"Oh, just a... cairn, I suppose," Taurger said as he turned unevenly with his cane. "Marks where I got up here so I can get back down." When he’d turned far enough, he could see the speaker was a dark-coated, cougar-marked redheaded chakat he’d never seen before.

"That’s not a bad idea, but you might want a second one to frame the head of your path," said a second chakat, coming up from behind the redhead. This one looked more familiar.

"You’re, uh..." Taurger said, trying to remember the name of the second chakat.

"Call me Sungazer," shi said, offering a hand.

"That’s where I’ve seen you! You were up here two days ago, watching the sunrise!" exclaimed Taurger. "Oh! uh..." He hesitated upon noticing Sungazer’s hand, until he realized shi’d extended hir left in deference to the cane in his right. He laughed nervously as he gave a cursory shake and offered his own name.

"I’m Copperhead," the redhead said, making the same gesture. "So, why are you up here, Taurger? You can’t be just going for a stroll with that limp."

"Picked a den with a hole in the roof," Taurger explained. "Figured I’d find where it went."

Copperhead shook hir head. "That won’t be easy," shi said. "With all the caves and holes around here how are you going to tell which is yours? Assuming, of course, that it even comes out somewhere."

"Yeah, it’s pretty Karst, isn’t it?"

"So, you know something about geology. How do you plan to find your particular hole?"

"Well, it’s kinda glowed ‘bout sunrise every day so far."

Copperhead and Sungazer exchanged looks. "Really?" Sungazer said. "Where’s this?"

"Thought it’d be over here somewhere," said Taurger, as he hobbled over to the east part of the ridge top. "Assuming I got my proportions right, which is pretty rare without a map."

As the three of them looked for any obvious holes, Sungazer asked, "I know I’m going to sound ignorant, but what did you mean by ‘Karst’?"

"Cave regions usually have what’s called a Karst landscape," Copperhead explained.

Taurger elaborated as he tested the ground with his cane. "Sinkholes, disappearing streams, arches... anything to do with the kind of erosion that makes caves. Except ice and volcanoes. Named after a German guy."

"Oh," Sungazer said. "So we’re probably looking for a water inlet."

"Not if it’s only showing morning sun," Copperhead theorized. "It’s more likely to be on an eastern face."

"I’m not even going to try and check there, but it’d explain why it hasn’t leaked in the rain." Taurger said.

"So the light comes through a crack?" asked Sungazer.

"No, more like a drip hole." Taurger answered. "Looks like where the water came down to hollow the whole thing out."

"When can we see it?"

Taurger stopped and looked up. "I don’t think we’d all fit. It’s pretty small."

"Yeah, but if it’s a natural solar position..."

"That’s the spot you marked as ‘Taurger’s Den’, isn’t it?" Copperhead interrupted.

"Yeah," admitted Taurger.

"But..." Sungazer began.

"But," Copperhead interrupted again, "its hir bedroom. Of course, if you ever want to move, I hope you’ll offer it to us first."

Shrugging, Taurger agreed, "Sure. So, what are you two doing up here?"

"Solar observations," Sungazer said.

"For a calendar?"

"Got it in one."

"That your medicine wheel?" Taurger asked, gesturing to an unnatural arrangement of stones on a large area of bare ground.

"Our observatory."

"Same thing, isn’t it?"

"Geology and astronomy?" asked Copperhead.

"Bits and pieces," Taurger countered. "Trivia, mostly. Don’t touch, keep out of the light. You’ll be doing more Stonehenge then Palomar, though."

"Our telescope hasn’t arrived yet," Sungazer joked.

Taurger snorted dismissively. "People have been measuring the stars since they could see. Egypt, Persia, India, China; Incas, Aztecs, Greeks, Arabs... Everything from Indian medicine wheels to Kepler and Brahe. Those two did a lot with not much of a telescope. You’ll know about how long a year is in a little over half that."

"Half a telescope?"

"Half a year."

Copperhead nudged Sungazer and winked at hir. "And how would that work?"

Taurger raised his head with a puzzled look. Sungazer seemed confused, too, but Copperhead had a different expression he couldn’t read. "Solstice and equinox; ‘bout a quarter year apart. Can’t take more than half a year to find one of each, even if you start right after one. ‘Course you’ve probably got some kinda fancy equation to figure it early."

"Well, maybe," Copperhead conceded, with another wink to Sungazer, "if we had some accurate instruments."

*I get it!* Sungazer realized. *This is who Copperhead said was rattling off comments on everything the past two days. If we keep Taurger talking, we might get some ideas we can use!*

Taurger shrugged. "You’re only measuring angles for now, so the bigger the better."

"Do you know how hard it is to make a big circle accurately? It’s not like anybody’s made more than some short strings so far. And it’s not much use without level ground," Sungazer complained, trying to follow Copperhead’s lead.

"Oh, come on. The digging may be slow, but you could have level ground and an artificial horizon before you know the length of the year! They could do that back in Ancient Babylon!"

"How?"

Taurger was starting to wonder just how much these two actually knew. So he tried to explain some of how the Ancients did things, with a few twists of his own. "A filled water channel will give you a level. Build a short wall in a circle with a channel on top and you’d have a level horizon; better than all those hills. And if you want level ground, just grid out some connected channels, pour in some water, and dig down to it."

"That’s a lot of water channels if we want to level everything," said Copperhead.

"It would be if you don’t use a straightedge."

"You’ve got one?"

"No, but it’d be pretty easy to make. Just trim a long branch to a plumb line. Be easier with a chalk line, but we don’t have any chalk yet."

"Same question. What’s a plumb line? And how does drawing freehand with chalk make a straight line?"

"How old are you two? Never mind." Taurger rubbed his forehead and muttered, "Take it out of the store for a year and it’s like it never existed." He looked back up and tried to explain. "Okay, a chalk line is a string rubbed with chalk. Stretch it tight across a surface and snap it and it marks a pretty straight line. Now a plumb line – ever heard of a plumb bob?"

"Plum – bob? I think I saw one once, in a hardware store," Sungazer said. "Metal, with a knob on one end and a point on the other?"

"Yeah. The knob’s made to fit around a knot on the end of a string, so the point hangs down directly in line. But all you want’s a straight line, so you can use almost anything for the weight."

"Which would not only give us a straight line, but a vertical one. Parallel to gravity, and the water’s perpendicular. Not bad. Now all we need is to measure out a circle."

"Measuring positions in space is statistical, right? Lots of measurements and you average them out? Sort of like the uncertainty principle, right?"

Sungazer spoke to Copperhead’s raised eyebrow. "It can work like that, especially when dealing with crude instruments like ours will be. The more measurements, the more accurate the estimate."

"So do the same thing for a circle." Now both Copperhead and Sungazer appeared uncomprehending, so Taurger said, "There’s an old saying in construction. ‘Measure twice, cut once.’ Measure your circle a whole lot of times, and build on the average."

Copperhead asked, "That easy to say, but what would we measure with?"

"Anything. It’s not like you gotta meet some kinda standard. Use yourself."

"What?"

"Use yourself as the measure. You can start your outside level trench at the same time."

Honestly unable to follow Taurger’s idea, Copperhead and Sungazer exchanged shrugs. "Maybe you’d better show us," Copperhead said.

"It’s simple," said Taurger, looking around. Spotting a fist-sized stone, he picked it up. "Here. What do you want for a center?"

"Somewhere around here, maybe," Sungazer suggested.

"Hm. Put your hand here. No, palm down, arm up. Like that. Now..." Stone in hand, Taurger stepped a few limps away from Sungazer, then, hooking the tip end of his tail around Sungazer’s wrist, he stretched out to get the maximum distance from tail to stone. As he rapped his stone on the hard ground, he said, "It shouldn’t matter if you’re perfectly straight, because it’ll take a lot of blows to leave a decent mark. Arm arc, body arc, everything should blur together and give you a big circle."

"And by using the outer edge, we can be pretty sure we’ve got it reasonably accurate," Copperhead agreed.

"Still a little small," Sungazer noted. "Big enough to walk around in, but we’d do better with something even bigger. And we’d better do our own measuring."

Taurger looked up. "Huh? Why?"

Copperhead gestured for the stone. "Let me try and you’ll see."

Relinquishing the hammer stone, Taurger hobbled back a few steps, leaning heavily on his cane. His leg was throbbing from the unusual effort. Then he saw what Copperhead and Sungazer meant.

Copperhead was just as stretched out as Taurger’d been, but hir reach was significantly shorter. When Copperhead and Sungazer traded places, their reaches were almost identical. Taurger was just too big.

"If you want bigger, that should be easy," said Taurger, trying to recover from his earlier gaffe. "Just measure out from the first circle."

"We’ll want some stakes, first," Copperhead noted, rubbing hir arm as shi stood.

"A lot of them, if we want to measure a second circle," Sungazer added. "A length of cord would be faster, though. And I still wish we could make a decent ruler."

"So make one," Taurger said. "It’s not like anybody can argue with you about how accurate it is."

"Maybe not, but the more accurate it is, the better our measurements will be."

"And how long’s a meter?"

"About..."

"No, you said accurate. What’s the definition of a meter?"

"The distance light travels, in a vacuum, in just over three and a third nanoseconds," Copperhead recited. "I can quote you the exact figure, if you want."

"And how are you going to measure that kind of distance, or that kind of time?"

"Sounds like a Catch-22," said Sungzer. "We can’t measure a meter without good electronics, and we aren’t going to make good electronics without accurate measurements."

"It gets worse," Taurger told them. "A meter was supposed to be based on the Earth’s circumference."

"Which isn’t really consistent," Copperhead said.

"And which they got wrong," added Taurger. "The good news is it doesn’t matter."

"Why not?" Sungazer asked.

"‘Cause this isn’t Earth. And until we meet humans, all we need is something consistent and useful."

"You’re saying we don’t need to know how long something is?"

"No, we just don’t need to know how many meters it is." Taurger saw the two blank looks facing him. "It doesn’t matter what unit of measure we use, so long as we can understand it. And since we can’t recreate an exact meter right away, what’s wrong with coming up with our own definitions? Something to measure a day’s travel. Something to measure the size of a room. Something for body size, or making tools, or cooking, or hunting, or any of the other stuff we’ve gotta do. We call it a meter and we’ll confuse ourselves when we can actually measure one out. So we make something new, and save the definition of meters and miles and everything else for later."

Copperhead chuckled. "I can think of a few people who’d complain every time they measured something if we did that."

"So can I," Sungazer agreed. "But it’s a good argument."

"I’ll tell you something else, then," Taurger said as he began to limp back to his way down. "You two are going to be defining it."

"Whoa! Don’t volunteer us!" Copperhead objected.