Free Glory's People by Alfred Coppel Page A

sky of Near Space.
    Mira uttered a trilling call for her brood to assemble. She, knew, beyond any doubt, that there would soon be a hunt and a battle, and that there was work for her and hers to do. But where was the dominant tom? She raised her small head to see more clearly the planet Glory orbited. There , she thought, the dominant tom is there and we are here to face the dragon without him . And though she could not possibly reach him with her call, she began to yowl.
     
    Buele, working in one of the vast holds where the landing sleds and shuttles were stored, sensed Mira’s furious cries. Immediately he abandoned his task of preparing a shuttle for descent to the planet and settled into the lotus position (a move taught him by the skeptical but open-minded Cybersurgeon). It took the boy no more than four seconds to establish contact with Glory 's mainframe. Through the computer, Buele reached out to make mental contact with Mira.
    “Angry rejection. You are not what I want. “
    He made a mental effort to push into the rapport between cat and computer.
    “Stay away! You are not the dominant tom. “ Threat. Image of teeth and claws.
    “Mira! You know me. Hear me. Tell the pride to prepare for hunting. It is what the dominant tom would say to you if he were here. “
    “Sullen disbelief. “ Feline skepticism. Of which there is no greater.
    “Hear me, Mira. Hear me. I am one of you. “
    “You are not. “
    Buele sensed a wish to disengage. He was in danger of losing his contact with the small queen. He cast about for help and found
    Damon Ng. The Rigger had detected the cyberorganisms’ distress and he had hurried to the Monkey House, where he was now fully engaged. Buele cast his search farther afield, found Broni.
    “Help me, Sister Broni! “
    “Buele? Is that you? You aren’t Wired. How have you reached me?”
    “Never mind, Sister Broni. Help me with Mira. “
    Mira snarled her exasperation. Cats did not respond well to being forced to pay attention when they chose not to do so. Both Buele and Broni felt the small queen’s anger. It was far greater than her size.
    Broni and Buele together addressed the cat: “Pay attention, Mira. Hear what we say. “
    Buele once again took control. His thoughts were sharply defined, honed and as sharply delivered as the strokes of a weapon. “Mira. Tell the others. Either we hunt It or It will hunt us. Tell them, little mother. “
    Mira: “Call the dominant tom. Do it now. He will know what to do. “
    Broni: “We cannot. “
    Buele (interrupting): “We can. We will. But we can't wait for his return to prepare. “ The boy and girl felt Mira’s reluctance. There was a moment when her decision rested on such intangibles as the scent of her offspring in Glory 's internal atmosphere, the familiar sound of ancient machinery maintaining the life-supporting systems, the trust she had begun to develop in syndics other than the dominant tom. Buele and the girl on the bridge heard her calling her pride. It was a feral, emotional cry. Though they could not smell the air in Mira’s vicinity, somehow both human girl and boy knew it was filled with pheromones.
    They heard echoes throughout the vast ship as all the cats replied to the summons.
    “Buele,” Broni sent through the computer net. “What’s happening?”
    Though un-Wired, the boy heard Broni clearly.
    Then Mira said, with shocking clarity: Call Duncan.
    Duncan , Buele thought. She called him Duncan .
    The net among Glory 's syndics--among all her syndics--was forming.
    Buele looked around the dark, mainly empty, hold in bewildered wonderment.
    Under his touch, in sight of his inner eyes, Glory was becoming a thing that had never existed before in all the universe. Powerful forces were gathering, using Glory as a matrix.
    Buele felt himself bathed in icy sweat. It was a frightening thing to become part of an angry god.
     
    Dietr Krieg, Wired to the com panel in the bridge, felt a shift in the forces around