Андрэ Нортон: Beast Master's Circus

Laris changed to her ordinary clothing, spent time with Prauo, and then left reluctantly. She must begin the pulldown. She got it started but managed to disappear long enough to access a newscast. Her mouth stretched in an unpleasant grin. No wonder Dedran had tried to call off tonight's performance. The headlines were screaming about a murder.

Since the murdered man had been not only an ex-beast master trainee but also the nephew of a very influential member of the government, the local surface patrol were out in force. Laris slid through the crowd and returned to her work thinking hard. She dared not let those here find the tissue samples. She'd be implicated. Dedran and Cregar would bribe their way free and up ship. She'd be the one left and blamed.

But she could not allow Dedran to know that she knew of the hunt. Nor could she hide the samples in any place which might alert him that she had other hiding places he had not found. She drifted onto the ship unobtrusively, retrieved the samples, and placed them on the matter turntable under a heap of cage cleanings. Then she went back to her work. It was close to dawn when spaceport security descended upon the Queen of the Circus. Whoever Dedran usually paid off, it hadn't worked this time.

They began at the entry port and worked forward using some instrument which they clearly expected would tell them if anything was to be found. Laris glanced at Dedran. His face was blank but his body language, to one who'd known him four years, bordered on desperation. He caught her eye questioningly. She allowed her lip to curl a fraction in reply. His tense posture slacked a fraction as he nodded at her.

She relaxed. Good. He'd accept the samples' destruction. It was what he wanted, given this over-thorough search. She opened the tigerbat cage as requested, persuaded the four to move to a second enclosure while security began to check the first cage. The fifth tigerbat caught her tiny hand signal. He spun on wing-knuckles and fled down the corridor. She raced in pursuit. They spun past the engine-room door; she slowed, glanced back, good, they were out of sight for a few seconds. Her hand shot out, palmed the door ajar, pressed a switch, and thumbed the door shut again.

Then she was back into their view and she moved up, cornering the animal at the end of the corridor. She pretended to strike him several times while he uttered pitiful cries. It was part of one of their acts and he trusted her. He cowered as he had been taught. Laris led him back to his cage. Security got to the matter chamber and found what they had found elsewhere—nothing. Laris breathed out. Their machine could find no trace of samples, now only component atoms. She watched them leave, Dedran ushering them politely. She'd have to admit what she'd done but she thought he'd accept the loss of samples at this time.

Dedran was coldly furious, but not at Laris. His anger was reserved for those who'd taken his money and failed to keep port security from his ship. He'd lost the samples, and worse, the authorities were still suspicious of him even though nothing had been found. He raged at Cregar in a corner where only the girl could overhear.

"You deadglow, I wanted the man knocked out, unconscious, not killed. That way we could have had a live beast."

Cregar's voice was cold. "Don't be more stupid than you can help, Dedran. He was a beast master. Alive, you couldn't have hidden one of his animals from him anywhere. That's what being a beast master is."

"You could have left him injured. Head injuries would have stopped that."

Cregar snorted. "Fer Crats sake, Dedran. Injuries would have stopped it so long as he was sick. His uncle would likely have been even quicker to start searching with a half-dead nephew urging him on. And I can tell you somethin' else the doctors here would have told Uncle. That the boy would get better faster if the animal was found. And if we killed it and just took samples once they started searching, the boy would have felt it die. He'd have gone crazy. So don't call me names. You were the one who insisted we try here. I told you it was risky."

Laris saw Dedran glance around; she shrank back further into the tigerbat den. "Sure it was risky." Dedran's voice was lowered. "But you know who gives the orders. Want to argue with them?"

Cregar's reply was brief. "No."

"Right, then we try Lereyne. There's one of the original lot there. He was left with only two of his team and he recently lost a beast in some accident. The boss says we try now, before he loses the last one. There's another on Arzor and we do that next."

"Isn't that gonna be a touch obvious? Our ship lands on Meril and a beast master gets killed. Our ship lands on Lereyne, and a beast master's animal gets snatched."

It was Dedran's turn to snort. "No one's that stupid except you." He was half turned from Cregar as he spoke. He saw nothing, but Laris, peeping from the den saw the other man's face. If that was her, she wouldn't be talking to Cregar like that. The man was a killer and right now he'd like to kill Dedran. She drew back deeper into the den. If either knew that she was listening, her life wouldn't be worth a tenth credit.

Dedran continued. "The guild says that with all the fuss on Meril there's been a plan change. We go to Arzor for a few shows, get the lay of the land there. We'll go on to Trastor and set down there for a couple of months. We'll skip Lereyne until afterward."

Cregar nodded slowly. "And I go solo to Lereyne and Arzor and use local talent to help with the snatches."

"Smart man, you got it. And just so's the trail breaks, you leave when we lay over at Port Bhaiat on Yohal for a couple of days." He turned to leave. "An' this time do a proper job. No deaders behind you; in, out, and off-planet while the local yokels are still sucking their thumbs."

Laris drew back as far as she could, putting her eye to a crack in the den wall. Dedran walked away; Cregar was looking after him with a thoughtful look on his face. Laris had seen that kind of look in the camps. It was the slow, careful consideration of one predator wondering if he could, or if the time was ripe yet to take a competing predator down. She shivered. In her mind eyes opened and watched Cregar with her. A thought formed.

*He waits. He may challenge when he returns if he has succeeded. That way he will bring good news to sweeten Dedran's death.*

Laris was stunned. The touch of the mind was familiar but not the blurred mix of picture and emotion she usually experienced *Prauo?*

A feeling of laughter. *Who else, sister-without-fur?* The presence was gone again and she blinked.

After that she hurried through her chores and returned to her cabin. Prauo lay along one of the two bunks, great purple eyes surveying her with calm amusement. For a moment as Laris stood in the doorway it was as if the sight of him was new again. She admired the sharply delineated black-on-gold markings. Prauo's body was gold, lean, with long, thick fur. His face, tail, and legs were sheathed in shorter black fur and light purple eyes looked from the black mask of his face fur.

When Laris had found him he'd been the size of a half-grown Terran kitten. She'd assumed that's what he was, some mutant coloration of one anyhow. Four months he'd remained unchanged, then he'd taken to her bunk and appeared ill for several days. But during those same days he'd eaten and grown hugely. By the time that spurt of growth had halted he was some thirty pounds, long and lean with developing muscles and claws of which no tigerbat would be ashamed.

The second development had been unobtrusive: the ability to look through her eyes and allow her to see through his. That, she had been able to hide from Dedran and Cregar. The next growth spurt had again put weight on him. He'd attained a little over fifty pounds. And to her amusement he could slide through almost any small gap by flexing his shoulders together. Dedran had found a use for that, and for the odd sucker-pads which had opened from small round growths on each of Prauo's mid-leg joints.