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Chapter Three

Nightlife

Kandria Shaemon walked cautiously along the narrow catwalk hanging above the aquarium. Her thick curls of dark brown hair were tucked behind her pointed, elfin ears, and hung down to her shoulders. An unflattering, bulky, crimson environmental suit covered her body to keep her from overheating. Behind her, Ruulraar carried a large trunk on his shoulder. The Leosian was more sure-footed then the young Alakán woman he followed, but his tail still twitched nervously. Much more accustomed to warmer climes, the felinoid wore only a pair of short trousers and a cargo vest over his sandy colored fur.

Some one hundred fifty feet below them, violent waves crashed against an outcropping of rocks that jutted from the artificial sea. Bocean snapping-seals waited patiently on the rocks for flying eels from Mleena to leap into the air. The seals would then spring off of the rocks, attempting to catch the eels in mid-air with their powerful jaws. However, successful or not, the seals would have to immediately retreat to the rocks, less they become a meal themselves for the giant Karthian sharks that circled the area.

Kandria and Ruulraar approached an intersection in the catwalks that met in a large circular platform suspended above the rocks. However, before they reached the platform, Ruulraar's sensitive feline nose finally succumbed to the salty spray from below, causing him to sneeze violently. He lost his balance with the heavy load he was carrying, and grabbed the catwalk's fragile wire railing to steady himself. This only succeeded in shaking the catwalk, as he fought to keep hold of the heavy trunk.

"Watch it, you imbecile!" Kandria screamed as she clung to the railing for dear life, "I'm not in the mood to become a meal for Odi's beasts!"

Ruulraar hoisted the trunk back to the catwalk and glared at Kandria. A low rumble emanated from deep within the feline. "Ruulraar isss not fond of Odi'sss petsss either," he snarled.

"You forget yourself, slave," she stated coldly. Her eyes narrowed and she locked her gaze with Ruulraar's.

Ruulraar let out an agonizing roar and dropped to his knees. He clung to the catwalk with one hand, while the other clutched his belly. His roar turned into a pitiful howl as he curled up into a fetal position.

Kandria left him lying there for another minute, until she reached the platform. She turned and watched him writhe and moan as she mentally twisted and contorted his inards.

"Have we learned our lesson yet, slave?" she asked in a haughty, light voice, as if she had merely given a child a smack on the wrist for stealing a piece of candy.

"Yesss!" Ruulraar managed to hiss out as he clenched his teeth against the pain.

"Yes?" she asked as if confused, "Yes, what, slave?"

"Yesss, missstresss," he gasped.

"Good boy," Kandria smiled and released her mental grip on him.

Ruulraar gasped and rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. He coughed every now and again, and spat blood down into the roiling sea.

Kandria let him lay there for a few minutes to recover. Finally she said, "Come along, pick yourself up. We haven't got all night."

"Yesss, missstresss," Ruulraar acknowledged with renewed obedience. Still too weak to carry the trunk as before, he dragged it behind him the few yards to the platform. At the center of the platform was a lift that extended all the way down to the rock mesa below. He set the heavy trunk in between the guide rails, and then stepped back and waited for Kandria's order to send it down.

Kandria relaxed and stretched her mind out beneath the waves, Odi... Odi, we have another deposit.

I am coming, Kandria, came the reply in her mind.

The two waited patiently for the next ten minutes or so. It usually took Odi a bit of time to swim the hundred fathoms to the surface. Kandria and Ruulraar watched the sea creatures engaged in their predatory circle until a new figure finally emerged from the turbulent waters.

Were it not for his bipedal posture and deliberate purpose of movement, an outside observer might think that the aquarium's Varlosan caretaker was simply another one of the governor's menagerie. Indeed, many a guest of the governor had mistaken Odi Domevoe for merely a giant arthropod from some exotic locale.

This was an understandable mistake, for not only were Varlosans rare in the Martian Hegemony, but they were quite unique among the galaxy's sentient lifeforms. While there were many aquatic races throughout the galaxy, descended from fish or shark-like creatures, or from aquatic mammals, and there were also many insectoid varieties of arthropods, the Varlosans were the only known sentient crustacean race in the galaxy.

Resembling large bipedal crabs, the Varlosans' most impressive features were their almost impenetrable exoskeletons and an extra pair of arms that ended in massive, powerful gripping-claws. Like the rest of their bodies, Varlosans' heads were helmeted in exoskeleton. A small T-shaped opening, from which their jaw mandibles, eye stalks, and several sets of antennae extended comprised the Varlosans' face. The color patterns of their exoskeletons were varied and beautiful.

Odi was an example of the largest ethnic sub-group of Varlosans, with a white chest, arms, and legs. His back and head were a deep navy-blue, fringed by ruddy crests. His claws, forearms, and shins were also the same reddish-brown tone.

Odi climbed a stone stairway carved into the rock mesa at a leisurely pace, totally unconcerned by the multitude of vicious creatures all around him. When he reached the top of the mesa, a bull snapping-seal was busy devouring an eel. The animal bared its fangs at Odi and growled a warning. Without a second thought, Odi simply shooed the dangerous animal away as if it were a common house pet.

When the seal was clear of the lift's landing point, Odi sent his thoughts up to Kandria, I am ready, Kandria. Send down the deposit.

Kandria turned to Ruulraar, "Send it down, slave," she ordered him.

Still clutching his belly in remembrance of the recent pain that was inflicted upon him, Ruulraar obediently sent down the lift, carrying with it the trunk. Servomotors whined dully as the lift dropped the seventy-five meters to the mesa's peak. Odi retrieved the trunk, easily handling it with his large claws, and trekked back down the rock staircase, disappearing once again into the depths of the gigantic aquarium.

Ruulraar hit the retract button on the lift, and followed Kandria, who had already started back along the catwalk.