Back in his room, he showered and lay down, exalted, confused and afraid. Why did I ask her to reach around me like that, he asked himself. I’ve never done anything like that before. He recalled the sensations of her touch. She’s wonderful! I’ve never felt anything like that before. What do I do? What’s happening to me? What does it mean? The memory both elated and frightened him. Even now his body reacted to her memory in a way that embarrassed him.
“No human woman would want to lie with an animal like you,”Colonel Cady taught him. “It’s against nature and it’s against all human morals. If you want a mate you must do as I say and go to Val as my agent. If you do a good job I’ll get one of their women for you. But only if you obey me!”
What she was doing with him was wonderful beyond description. He didn’t want it to stop but how to control it? He felt like a blind man walking on a razor blade over a deep chasm. One wrong step would slice him in two, plunging him into the morass of human hatred and bigotry. He didn’t know the parameters, what was expected of him, what was right and what was wrong for him to do. All he knew was what he’d been trained to do. He pounded the pillow in frustrated anxiety, sending feathers floating into the air.
She lay awake, her nerves humming with pleasant tension. It felt so good, having him caress me, she thought. He did not understand what I was offering. Perhaps, with his people, it is different, somehow. I must be careful with him. I do not want to do something wrong and drive him away.
I wish I could have had him but, for him, I can wait, she thought as she began to touch herself. He wants me, but he is so shy, so scared. I think he has not had very much experience with a human woman. Perhaps the women avoid getting close to him. The silly geese, not to see past the differences to the true person beneath, so gentle, caring, dependable. And so very afraid! I must be very gentle with him and not push him too fast. I think he has been hurt too many times. She sighed and turned over, pulling the sheet over her body, curling up and going to sleep.
Ears folded back in fear and anticipation, Tracker swallowed hard before knocking on her door next morning. Beside him, Red hummed to himself, unaware of the nervousness in the fox beside him. Antoinette opened the door.
”‘allo, Tracker.” She hugged him and rubbed her cheek against the fur of his chest. Red broke off and stared at Tracker in surprise.
”Well, fox,” he exclaimed with a laugh. “What did you do right?”
Tracker looked at him over her head, his ears sagging even lower.
”‘allo, Red.” She smiled at him as she slipped her arm around Tracker’s waist and held out her other hand to Red. “Tracker gave me a beautiful new guitar last night.”
Red eyed Tracker speculatively, running his fingers through his auburn hair, several shades brighter than Tracker’s own russet fur. “So that’s why you never showed up for your swim! Well, fox,” he praised, “you are turning out to be a better opponent than I would have thought.”
Tracker’s ears folded back defensively, prepared to fight or flee. Antoinette felt his muscles tightening.
”Red, non,” Antoinette said, raising her hand beseechingly. “Please, do not tease him about this.”
Red grinned and took her hand. “10-4, pretty lady.”
He turned and clapped Tracker on the shoulder. “Round one to the fox,” he said with another laugh.
Tracker lifted his lip in a silent snarl, then visibly took control of himself as he realized he wasn’t being challenged.
She sat next to Tracker in the dining room, her shoulder brushing his. Several times during the meal she leaned over and rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. Red watched with amusement and a certain amount of chagrin. Each time she did so, Tracker’s ears sagged, but, although her display of affection made him uneasy, he tried not to let it show and forced his ears up again.
She was working with Doctor Carter in Mentalism when a call came through for him. After a moment, he apologized and dismissed her early, explaining that something had come up that required his immediate attention.
She ran down the stairs to the Plaza, her steps light in the joy of her temporary freedom, then paused. I wonder where Tracker would be now, she thought. She looked around. Jerry sat by the pool, his huge figure hunched over a chess set on a table. As she approached, he moved one of the figures, frowned, shook his head, and moved it back again.
”Ah, Jerry?” she said.
He looked up. “Huh? Oh! Hi, Antoinette.”
”Jerry, do you know where I might find Tracker now?”
He glanced at a clock on a nearby pole. “Uh, he’s probably working out in the gym.”
”Where is the gym?” she asked eagerly.
He pointed. “Over there. Above the diner, on Level Two.”
”Thank you,” she said as she smiled at him.
He blushed. “You’re welcome.” Antoinette ran to the stairway near the dining rooms and up to the next level.
The gym was large, larger even than the dining rooms below it and smelling faintly of antiseptic and sweat. Along the walls she saw doors and windows opening into other areas, one a basketball court and others for handball, tennis and even an weight room. In this room, however, a maze of bars and small platforms hung from the ceiling forty feet above and ended a full ten feet above the floor. The floor was covered with thick green rubber mats that added spring to her step. Tracker stood in the center, back to her and sword out as he fenced in a series of fluid motions. She slipped in silently and settled herself in the corner to watch.
He moves with grace, speed and precision, she thought with approval. He would make a good dancer.
The pace of his workout increased steadily. Then he froze, going from blinding speed to total immobility. He raised his sword in a salute, then sheathed it. “Hello, Antoinette,” he greeted as he turned and walked towards her.
”‘allo, Tracker,” she said in surprise. “How did you know I was here?”
”I heard you come in and recognized your scent.”
She stood up. “That is very good! I thought I had made no noise.”
He shrugged in self-deprecation. “I have good ears.”
She smiled and reached up to caress his head and ears. “Oui, you do. I like them very much.”
He pulled away uneasily. “Why aren’t you at the Mentalists?”
She let her hands slide down his arms. “Doctor Carter was called away. He let me go early. What will you do now?”
”Normally, I work out on the bars.” He gestured towards the ceiling.
”May I watch?”
”If you wish.”
”Bon.” She smiled and hugged him, then returned to her corner. With a sudden spring, he grabbed a bar and pulled himself up into the maze. He wove his way through it, leaping from bar to bar with the confidence of excellent coordination and long practice. When he dropped down to the mat again, she sprang to her feet, clapping her hands.
”That was tres magnifique! Can you teach me to do it? It is like dancing in the air!” Her mobile hands underscored her excitement.
He nodded.
She stripped off her clothes, then watched him as he moved slowly through the lower level. With a short sprint, she leaped and caught one of the bars. She hung at full extension for a moment, then swung her body and jackknifed, to end up belly-down across the bar. She held the upright as she stood, then began to follow him through the maze.
She could walk along the bars fairly easily, though she felt it would take years to equal Tracker’s easy balance. Leaping from bar to bar was altogether different. Even small jumps required so much effort that keeping her balance was difficult. She fell several times. The first time, Tracker sprang from his perch to her side, but she rolled with the fall, saving herself from injury. She scrambled to her feet with a muttered “Sacre!” and leaped back up into the maze.
”That was so much fun, Tracker,” she said, panting, as she toweled down afterwards. “And hard! You make it look so easy but it is very hard.”
”Practice,” he said, tossing her towel into the laundry chute. “I’m stronger than you are. And my tail helps me keep my balance.”
When they left the gym, she said, “Tracker, is there a church, or a chapel, in here?”
”Uh, yes,” he replied.
”Would you show me where it is?” He nodded and led the way.
The chapel was a fair-sized but simple room on the same level, marked with several different religious icons. A small altar stood in one corner with a kneeling rail in front of it and a number of folding chairs set up facing the altar and the cross behind it. Other corners held their own icons and seating, including one that faced just off from the corner and presented kneeling mats rather than chairs. While Tracker sat near the door, she went up to the altar and knelt at the railing.
Thank you, mon Dieu, for my new friends and my new home, she prayed silently, and for Tracker. He is so sweet, mon Dieu. Help me to get to know him better. Thank you. She crossed herself, then rose and went back to Tracker to take his arm.
