Free Morte by Robert Repino Page A

few inches. The movement made the roof of the stone building bob up and down in his vision. The yellow-green eyes of the cats moved along with it. Once in a while, Culdesac joined the others, towering over them. Luna would sometimes stand next to him. When they both folded their arms in unison, Sebastian counted it as a small victory.
    Right on schedule, Tiberius arrived with more food. “Come on, stop that,” he said. Sebastian continued to rock the pole, feeling it move slightly more each time.
    “They’re talking about shooting you,” Tiberius said. “Luna really thinks you’ve lost it. Late-stage EMSAH.”
    Sebastian did not respond.
    “Culdesac overruled her,” Tiberius said. “It’s a good thing the boss got here in time. Luna would have asked me to kill you. Itprobably would have earned me my name. But I wouldn’t have liked it.”
    Sebastian picked up the pace, grunting as he shifted his weight.
    “I can’t promise that this food will still be here in another hour,” Tiberius said. “Everyone’s wondering why we’re even giving you anything.”
    He waited a full minute for a response, during which time he examined the base of the pole. Apparently content that Sebastian was making no significant progress, Tiberius told him to shout when he was ready to eat. Then he left.
    WITH EACH INHALE, Sebastian pressed his body against the unforgiving wood. It tipped backward, pointing his face directly at the blue sky, where the clouds congealed and spread out toward the east. And then, with his exhale, he thrust his chest forward, his flesh and fur digging into the ropes, forcing the pole to dip far enough for him to look down at the asphalt and the plate of food on the sidewalk. The sight of it shriveled his empty stomach.
    Then he heard it, and felt it: a slight crack, like Daniel popping his knuckles at the dinner table. That one sound, vibrating through his spine, cured him of his hunger. He moved faster now, shoving his body side to side rather than front to back. This caused the pole to move in an ever-widening circle. There were other cracks, sometimes followed by a dull groan as the wood began to yield. All the cats were watching now. The bobcat’s hands rested on his hips. The spinning made Sebastian vomit onto his coat. A line of saliva and bile hung from his mouth and whiskers. Still, his eyes remained fixed on the Red Sphinx. They would not stop him from finding Sheba.
    The sun began to go down. The gold-and-purple worldcontinued to sway to and fro.
    IT WAS THE middle of the night when Sebastian noticed a bright red dot dancing on the side wall of the building like a glowing ruby. The dot was from a light of some kind. Sebastian followed the beam until he spotted the human again, perched on a nearby roof. He had switched positions to a hospital farther down the street. The man stood behind a tripod, which propped up a device that focused the dot onto the building. If there had been a fog, the red light would have been noticeable. Only Sebastian was in a position to see it.
    He imagined the man as his former master, somehow still alive, using this alien technology to plot his revenge under the cover of night.
    With his strength renewed, Sebastian continued to shake the pole until his wrists and shoulders burned from the friction. The wires connecting the other poles rippled with each movement. He was so engrossed in it that he did not notice at first when some of the cats gathered at the base of the pole. All of them had guns. Luna and Culdesac stood at the front. Sebastian kept at it. Maybe one more motion will snap this thing , he thought. Maybe then he could scramble away.
    “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” Culdesac said. “We just want to talk. To find out what’s wrong with you.”
    “I am tied to a pole,” Sebastian said. “That is what is wrong.”
    “Come on down.”
    Sebastian searched the rooftops for the human again. The tripod and its device were still in place.