Candidate (Selected Book 4) by Robin Roseau Page A

try to understand the roles in the room."
    "Why are there so many unused screens?"
    "This morning's event is moderately simple. Some are far more complicated and require more technicians."
    "Why are the humans wearing visors, but you are not?"
    "We use other technology. To us, the visors are fairly crude. We stole much of the technology from humans, actually, and you are not far off from reproducing much of these capabilities. Of course, it will be a long time before you could make them this compact with this much capability."
    "And why do you need the monitors at all?"
    "They are more familiar to human technicians," she said. "And a keyboard is a better input device than your visor."
    I nodded. "I understand."
    "You may wander around the room," said the Catseye. "Avoid disturbing anyone, but if she has time to explain what she is doing, she will tell you."
    "Are you training me for any particular job?"
    "Assistant coordinator. That is Dark Skies' role today. But you must understand all the roles in the room and be able to do perform any of them. For now, you watch."
    "Got it."
    "Questions?"
    "What is the event?"
    "Your visor has this information for you, but I can explain briefly. By far the most popular events from the perspective of the challengers are those that involve catching the candidates. For some species it is a species imperative to pursue and capture a mate. The pursuit and capture triggers the start of the emotions related to mating: love, protective instincts, and the like. There are differences from one species to another, but do you understand?"
    "I suppose I do."
    "Today is a third challenge."
    "The last then?"
    "For this pair, yes. The human believes this is a simple challenge. She is being dropped at the south end of one of our large arenas. There is an exit at the north. She has a paper map, simple supplies, and her visor serves as a compass. If she is able to exit the arena, she wins."
    "But the event is rigged."
    "Not the way you think. Her challenger is from a species humans call Implacs. That is short for Implacable. They are the most maddeningly stubborn species known to the federation." She shook her head. "This is the third time for this particular Implac. I ensured his loss the first two times."
    "Why? I thought you wanted the ETs to win."
    "He is at least as stubborn as any of them, and he wouldn't listen to me when I told him he was attempting to win the wrong woman each time. You understand, even if he wins the challenges, he must still woo his mate. He gets three months, and after that, if she wishes to return home, she may."
    "Right."
    "During his first two visits, he attempted to capture very proud women who would not be readily pushed around."
    "I think I see the problem. And this woman will allow herself to be pushed around."
    "This particular woman had a poor childhood and will respond exceedingly well if her mate is able to convince her of one simple fact." Then she paused.
    "You're waiting for me to ask, aren't you?"
    "Yes."
    "What simple fact?"
    "That he will protect her no matter what. And he will not feel fully tested until he is able to demonstrate his ability to do so. They are well matched in this way."
    "This isn't going to be a simple challenge of the candidate escaping the arena."
    "She may escape, but I doubt it. There is not one hunter. There are three."
    "Please tell me you don't have a pride of lions in there."
    "Better. A friend of yours and her brother."
    "You have a couple of Wookies in there?" I raised my voice.
    She snorted. "Yes, I do. And I told them if they are able to catch and keep the human, then I'll let the male have her. Oh, he'll have his own challenges, but he won't face the arena."
    "They're going to be deeply motivated."
    "Oh yes."
    "Soft Rain didn't tell me earlier."
    "This was a last minute change," explained the administrator. "They were still drying from their swim when I messaged I had an intriguing offer for them."
    "Does the Implac know?"
    She