Candidate (Selected Book 4) by Robin Roseau Page B

snorted again. "No. If the Wookies catch her first, I'll tell him. Otherwise he won't find out until the Wookies intercept him."
    I laughed.
    "I do not like this Implac," she continued. "If he loses today, it won't break my heart. This way, I don't have to let the human go. The Wookie would take care of her far better than the Implac would. Oh, she'd have a good life with the Implac, but she won't have love. Implacs don't understand the word. But compared to where she was living two weeks ago." She trailed off, shaking her head. "Andromeda, you may think what happens here is barbaric, but it isn't remotely barbaric compared to what humanity does to itself."
    "I haven't done anything like that to anyone."
    "What have you done to help the situation, Andromeda? Wait. Don't tell me. It's not your responsibility." Then she made a sort of snuffle noise. "I'm sorry. You don't deserve that."
    "You care," I said quietly.
    "Of course I care! I'd like to put half of humanity over my knee and spank you bloody."
    "Am I in the list deserving such treatment?"
    "No. Again, my apologies." She made the snuffle sound again. "A few more details. The human has a compass and a paper map. The Implac gets a proper map with his location marked and a compass. Periodically, he gets a brief flash of where the human was, but it's offset by five minutes."
    "Does he know that?"
    She laughed. "No."
    "You really don't want him to win."
    "I don't want to hand him an easy win. If he knew exactly where she was, this event wouldn't last long enough. The Wookies have a similar map. They get a flash of the human half as often as the Implac, but they have a constant indicator telling them where he is. If they catch her first, then I'll add them to his map, and we'll slow the Wookies down so he can intercept them."
    "Is anyone going to get hurt?"
    "Probably. Not the human, but would you want to fight two Wookies?"
    "They're going to fight?"
    "Unless he is able to exit the arena a lot faster than I expect him to. Of course, they may encounter each other and forget about the human. She could escape. I hope she doesn't."
    "You want to marry her off."
    "She doesn't know how to take care of herself. If I am forced to release her..." She shook her head again. "I'll think of something."
    "Are you one of those people who thinks a woman needs a man to take care of her?"
    The Catseye began laughing. It was sort of a bark, sort of a snort, sort of a snuffle, but it was clearly a laugh. "You do know that Catseye don't have males. I don't think we're even able to entertain the thought you just suggested. No. This human needs a mother ."
    "I'm 34 and still quite capable, but there are times I need my mother."
    "To make breakfast for you?"
    "Well, no. I know how to stop by Starbucks."
    She laughed again then sobered. "Questions?"
    "I think I've got it. I'm sure I'll have more at some point."
    "I want you to hold them during this event. We'll have time to talk before the afternoon events."
    "All right."
    * * * *
    After that, she released me, returning to her chair. I roamed the room. Little was happening, but I looked at the screens. When I drew near one of the human women, she felt my presence and turned to face me.
    "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you."
    "You aren't. I'm Sal. I wondered if you'd like to sit and see what I'll do."
    "Oh. Sure."
    She gestured to a chair, so I grabbed it and pulled it over.
    "Today it's my job to watch the mating candidate. Gene--" and she gestured to the one of the men, "-will watch the challenger."
    "The Implac."
    "Right. That's Danny," she said, indicating the other human. "He's watching the two Wookies."
    "What do you mean by watch?"
    "We have cameras. I'm controlling 16. Gene has another 16. Danny has his hands full with 24."
    "Oh, wow. Okay."
    "They're like those drones the kids fly," she said. "Here, I can show you." She gestured to a screen. It was like a bird's eye view. The image climbed up through the trees, whizzed around above the