Eliot clasped Mozu's hand warmly and introduced himself and his friends. Dutironomy beamed at them, then stood up and delivered the evening prayer. The four Terrans and Jemymah sat together to eat.
"So, how bad does the engine room look, Eliot?" Pavel asked suddenly.
"Not too good, Pav," Eliot replied, shaking his head. "The fire did a lot of damage. I guess you know that one of the plasma conduits ruptured."
"Yes, I was aware of that," Pavel said grimly.
"What's a plasma con-doo-it?" Mozu asked curiously.
"It's like a pathway in a space ship where plasma goes from one place to another," Pavel told her.
"So what's plasma?"
"It's something very, very hot, hotter than fire," Eliot said, opting for simplified terms that someone with an eight-year-old's grasp of Terran standard could understand. "It helps make the ship go."
"How can something be hotter than fire?" Jemymah wanted to know.
Eliot tuned the rest of the conversation out as Pavel began carefully explaining how something got to be plasma. The young Russian was very bright and intelligent, and probably could have had a nice, honest career at a university somewhere if he hadn't followed his siblings into smuggling. The Ruskies, as their associates called them, were quite well known in the underworld; they were very close-knit and efficient almost like a Russian mafia. Pavel, the youngest of the clan, and brilliant with computers and all things mechanical, was "on loan" to Eliot for about a year.
Eliot was startled out of his reverie as an involuntary shiver shook his whole body. "Whatsa matter, El?" Jabez asked, polishing off the last of his meat. "Someone step on your grave?"
"Yeah, whatever," Eliot muttered, surreptitiously scanning the area for the channeler who had caused the shiver. Whoever it is must be very powerful, he realized. His gaze came to rest on a young black male Coricat with white face, breast, and forepaws, who stood surrounded by most of the kittens, among them Vyktorea, Etsetera, Rumplteezer, and Mungojery. The black and white cat didn't look any taller than Eliot himself, but he had the undivided attention of the kittens as he produced a little show of magic and light above their heads. They gave cries of surprise and delight as strange translucent flowers and winged creatures that were probably birds flitted just above their ears.
As Pavel's plasma lecture wound down, Jemymah nudged Mozu and pointed over to the mini magic show. Pavel followed their gaze and asked, "Who's the magician?"
"Mistoffelees," Mozu sighed, with a look of adoration in her big brown eyes.
"He is Vyktorea's older brother," Jemymah added.
The two females crept over to the group of kittens that surrounded the young magician. Mistoffelees spotted them and formed an exquisite magical blossom in his paws, which he then let drop in Mozu's lap. The little Terran gasped in delight and delicately picked up the blossom, holding it up for the others to see. Mistoffelees blew on it, causing it to burst into a thousand sparkles, which showered down on the giggling kittens before fading away. Then he smiled at Mozu, who blushed and looked down.
Eliot frowned hard at the black and white magician. That makes two so far of these people who can channel, he thought. I wonder how many others can.
Then he noticed another young male nearby, watching. It was the black and leopard spotted youth who had snatched Etsetera away during the dancing the previous evening; he seemed rather put out by all the attention Mistoffelees was getting. After watching for a moment, he stalked quietly over to the mesmerized group and launched himself at the much smaller black and white male, causing the kittens to scatter.
"Stop it, Tughar! Leave him alone!" Mozu cried in annoyance, grabbing the tall black and leopard Coricat by the ankle.
Mistoffelees had landed on his back and bent all his extremities so that his claws protected his belly. He laid back his white tipped ears along his head and hissed at his aggressor.
Tughar gently but firmly pushed Mozu away with his foot and pounced. The two cats turned over a couple times, ending with Mistoffelees on his back and Tughar on top of him, the loose skin on the former's neck gripped firmly in the latter's teeth. Mistoffelees yowled angrily and kicked at Tughar's head and chest, but the big cat seemed oblivious. Then…
"Ooh!" Eliot gasped as a rather violent shiver convulsed him.
"You cold, El?" Jabez frowned at his friend.
Eliot just shook his head absently as he watched the fighting pair. Mistoffelees pushed Tughar off roughly with a foot to his chest, flipped him onto his back, and pinned him with his knee on his chest and his claws at his throat. Tughar yelled in surprise and struggled to get away, but Mistoffelees held on tightly with his claws, his teeth, and a magical fist.
Tughar's yelling quickly attracted Dutironomy's attention. "Mistoffelees!" he boomed.
The black and white male gave a guilty start, and Tughar took the opportunity to get in a quick swipe before scrambling away. Mistoffelees responded by shooting a lightning bolt at the retreating figure, hitting him square in the rump, and causing him to shriek like a thing possessed.
"Stop it, Mistoffelees!" Alahnso yelled angrily, putting his arm around Tughar in an attempt to comfort him.
Dutironomy rose from his seat, and Eliot could see that he was genuinely angry. "Both of you, come here," he growled.
Reluctantly the two young cats obeyed and Dutironomy motioned for them to follow him, leading them out of the hall.
"It's not like Tughar didn't have it coming to him," Mozu grumbled at Eliot's elbow.
"What?" Eliot started.
Mozu gave him a hard look before continuing, "You saw what he did. He's always doing things like that, teasing and tormenting and being a bully. He's such a jerk!"
The Terran men exchanged bemused glances at this outburst and Pavel asked, "Is Tughar jealous of Mistoffelees or something?"
"Maybe a little," Jemymah agreed.
"He's so big-headed," Mozu added, "but his magical powers can't begin to compare with Mistoffelees', his younger brother."
"Magical powers?" Eliot said with sudden interest and turned to Jemymah. "Do all of you have magical powers?"
"Oh, yes," Jemymah replied, as if she thought this should be obvious, "but Old Dutironomy and Mistoffelees are the most powerful."
At that moment Dutironomy returned with the two brothers trailing, looking as if they had both received a good scolding. Mistoffelees joined his parents, Alahnso and Cazondra, while young females soon surrounded his older brother. Then the music started (it was coming from somewhere up in the trees, Eliot realized), and the dancing began.
Vyktorea asked Eliot to dance with her, but he had other things on his mind. "Tell me about your magical powers," he said to her.
"All right," she smiled and sat down beside him. "What do you want to know?"
"Well, do you all have them?" he asked weakly.
"Of course," she said innocently. "Don't you?"
"Well, actually, yes, I do," Eliot admitted quietly, after looking around to make sure neither of his two crewmates was nearby. "But I'm in the minority. In the rest of the galaxy it's called channeling and only a handful of people are capable of it."
Vyktorea's mouth formed a surprised "oh". "But you are?" she asked after a pause.
"Yes."
"Then can you mind-send, too?"
"Do what?"
"Mind-send," Vyktorea repeated. "Like, ummm…talking with your mind."
"You mean telepathy?" Eliot said skeptically.
"Is that what you call it?" Vyktorea asked. "Tele-pathy?"
"Yeah, I guess," Eliot replied. "And no, of course I can't mind-send. It invariably follows that telepaths can't channel and channelers can't…do telepathy."
"Why not?" Vyktorea asked.
"I don't know," Eliot shrugged. "That's just the way it works out somehow." He looked at Vyktorea's puzzled face, remembered the mental speech Munkustrap and Alahnso had used to communicate with at first, and realization dawned. "Good grief! You're telepathic, too, aren't you? You're all telepathic channelers!"
"Of course," Vyktorea smiled.
She looks so pretty when she smiles, Eliot couldn't help thinking. He leaned closer and said, "That makes your entire race pretty unique. I'd love to learn about your other…unique qualities."
"And I would love to teach you," she whispered before he kissed her.
The kiss didn't last long; it was certainly a unique sensation, Eliot reflected later, to kiss a woman with fangs. As he drew away, he saw Plaetoh standing behind her, and the big cat did not look happy.
"Vyktorea," Plaetoh said evenly, carefully choosing his words in Terran so that Eliot would understand. "If you're finished talking to the furless one, I want to dance with you."
Vyktorea nodded and allowed herself to be led into the dance, but she kept her eyes on Eliot as long as she could. Jabez and Pavel sat down next to their friend and captain to watch the dancing.
"I think that little Vyktorea babe really likes you, El," Jabez said, nudging Eliot hard in the ribs.
"Yeah," Eliot murmured, "but I don't think we should get too close to any of the Coricats, guys. As soon as the Phantom is ready, we're leaving, and that's the last we'll see of them."
"But couldn't we come back when we have more time?" Pavel pleaded, thinking of the playful Jemymah.
"I don't think we should," Eliot said quietly as he watched Vyktorea and Plaetoh dance. "I think we've disrupted their lives enough already."
©1999 Delilah