Chapter 116: Predators

“Hey, Uhrrbet,” Charlotte said as she served the Garthra a cup of Lapsang Souchong, “you ever hear of a Garthra named Maaatisha?”

“Can’t say that I have,” Uhrrbet said smoothly, years of running a business and maintaining appearances keeping her voice pleasant and even, “Why?”

“A private detective came around asking about her,” Charlotte replied, handing Uhrrbet one of the man’s cards with a pretty and desperate-looking Garthra on the front. “We thought he was a bounty hunter or something, but Craxi and her boyfriend of doom sat on the poor son of a… what do they say? Bitch. Yes, they sat on the poor son of a bitch and confirmed his story. It turns out that there is actually someone back home who claims that she is in real trouble and wants to help.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Uhrrbet said, successfully keeping herself from smiling.

She pointed at the card.

“That girl’s a Grey, like me,” Uhrrbet said with a little frown. “If she is this far from home and looking like that, she has nobody… just like I do. She has no place.”

“No place?” Charlotte asked.

“Having a ‘place’ is everything to a Grey,” Uhrrbet replied, “It’s important to any Garthra, but the others, the Blondes, and the Stripes, can find a place easily enough if they lose theirs. For us… If you lose your place, especially now, there is no new one. No place means...”

Uhrrbet sighed.

“It’s hard to explain,” she said after a moment as she took a sip of the smoky, delicious tea. “For us, it’s… It’s your livelihood, your place in society… your reason for existing. If you lose it… like I did…”

Uhrrbet looked down.

“You should kill yourself. I couldn’t… because of my boy… I couldn’t kill him…”

She looked into Charlotte’s numerous eyes.

“...but I should have...”

“Ah, you lost your ability to hunt,” Charlotte nodded. “I understand completely.”

“You do?”

“I do,” Charlotte nodded. “When we become unable to hunt, either through illness, injury or age, when we become unable to provide for ourselves, we do much the same.”

Charlotte paused as she started work on her next order.

“In fact,” she said, “It’s the usual way of things. When we become old and infirm, we go out on one final hunt… and never return. We fall as we should, nourishing the world just as it sustained us. It makes perfect sense.”

She handed a human a mug of cafè americano.

“None of us can countenance being fed from another’s claws, not that anyone would do that,” Charlotte smiled. “You go out on your feet, blood on your claws and flesh in your mouth. That is the way it has always been and the way it shall always be. It’s… gratifying… to see that sentiment is not entirely unique out here.”

She paused.

“But you failed to do so because of your instinctive attachment to your offspring?”

“And I was condemned for it,” Uhrrbet sighed. “I was seen as dishonoring my family and my spouse who did do his duty. I… I just couldn’t kill my little one… I couldn’t...”

Charlotte nodded as her butt scribbled notes. This was fascinating.

“So your instinct overrode your cultural values. Commendable.”

“Really?”

“I believe so,” Charlotte replied. “For us, instinct is first and foremost. It is above all things. If your blood tells you one thing and your culture says another, then blood wins. This doesn’t come up for us because they are one and the same. Our civilization serves us, not the other way around as it appears to out here. Your blood commanded that you, for some reason, save your child, and that is what you did. It also makes perfect sense.”

“It does?”

“Yes,” Charlotte said as she started making a cappuccino, “Blood wins, or it should. Your culture’s insistence on something else is… foolish… for your species, but it does serve a valuable purpose, at least in my opinion.”

“What’s that?”

“It filters out the weak,” Charlotte said, “The weak followed the command, killed their offspring, and then perished, completely removing themselves from the sacred bloodline. You did not. Therefore you and your offspring survived, and he will carry those superior genes forward, as it should be.”

“Huh,” Uhrrbet said thoughtfully, “I never thought about it that way.”

“From what you have said earlier and from what others have said,” Charlotte said kindly, “It sounds like your race encountered a ‘great culling’, what the humans call a ‘bottleneck’. The weak died, and the strong survived.”

“My husband was not weak!” Uhrrbet snapped.

“Forgive me for implying that was the case,” Charlotte said, “However, he had a child to protect as well, yes?”

“Well… yes.”

“And he chose not to do so,” Charlotte replied, “That could be because he was ‘weak’ and unable to follow the demands of his blood, or it could mean that he was, in fact, following it. It seems that the burden of raising, nurturing, and protecting the young is unequally distributed among you single breeders. Perhaps his blood demanded something else. Again, forgive me. This is all very new and very alien to my people. We do things very differently.”

Uhrrbet sighed.

“No...” she said quietly, “I think he was.”

“Weak?”

“...Yes,” she said, looking downward, “He was weak! He abandoned us when we needed him the most!… I… I just never allowed myself to think that… I always thought that I was the one in the wrong, that I was the weak one...”

“You managed to keep your offspring safe, a genetic imperative, and travel with little to no means across the galaxy to here, where you have started a business once more. I confess I am not yet familiar with all that entails, but I can tell you with certainty that traveling alone through this galaxy is not… easy… even when one has resources on which to draw. Doing so with no currency, no supplies, and no support would be daunting even for one such as myself.”

“It was hard,” Uhrrbet said as she took another sip, “I never really thought about it. I was either too busy trying to survive or too busy trying not to think about things.”

“You were running on instinct,” Charlotte observed, “The first, best, and purest gift from creation itself. You followed its guiding light and laid a trail for your swarm.”

“My swarm?”

“You still have your child, yes?” Charlotte inquired, “He is your swarm. He will, in time, attract a mate, and then your swarm will grow. As time passes, perhaps others will follow your trail as well. Who knows? All that is certain is that you have clawed out some slim purchase in a new ecosystem and are starting a new commercial enterprise, which seems to be how your species hunts. From my perspective, you aren’t the weak one. You left your hunting grounds, alone, after they were scoured by disaster, traveled alone across a great desert, alone, and forged a new path, alone, to a new hunting ground teaming with game.”

“And I have hunted,” Uhrrbet said with a little satisfied smile.

“Oh?” Charlotte asked cocking her head curiously, “It smells like you aren’t talking about fabric.”

“What?” Uhrrbet said, catching herself, “Oh no,” she giggled, “We just get a little… visceral… when we start thinking about business… that’s all.”

“Of course,” Charlotte smiled.

Uhrrbet didn’t flinch…

...she smiled right back at her.

“Ah,” Charlotte clicked with satisfaction, “Finally, another predator! I greet you, sister of the hunt! I wish you many kills and many bloody feasts… in whatever form they may take.”

Uhrrbet raised her mug in a salute.

“I’ll drink to that,” she smiled.

She paused a moment.

“So, Charlotte,” she asked with a smile, “Where do you get your clothes?...”

***

Later, Uhrrbet walked into her shop and looked around with satisfaction.

The sewing machines, laser cutters, computers, and fabrics had finally arrived!

She was ready to open for business…

...a perfect cash business…

She smiled wickedly.

Everything was falling into place nicely…

...and in more ways than one! It looked like her prey was already in the snare.

It was time to proceed.

She locked the front door, went into the back room, and started setting up.

***

She opened a bottle of rather nice wine and drank directly from the bottle like a mottle as she fussed over the video she was working on…

...Well, it was the background of the video she would soon be starring in.

She chuckled to herself. Who would have known that the “silly hobby” that had occupied a portion of her youth, making Fednet videos, would come in so handy?

Creators! She wished she had a rig like this back then! The Republic truly had some amazing things…

...if you could afford them, which she now could.

She spent the rest of the day and a fair portion of the evening working on her project, adjusting the lighting, the material of the water, the texture of the bridge, all of it. Pausing only to call and check on her child, she ran and reran the background simulation until it was…

...perfect!

She sighed with delight and checked the time. In just a little while, the actual time outside would match the simulation…

...and it would be time to hunt once again!

***

Vikkart paced anxiously back and forth in his apartment.

Those detectives were supposed to be good! How hard could it be to find just one Garthra?

He growled, baring his fangs.

It was nothing but excuse after excuse! They even had the pure gall to suggest that Maaatisha wasn’t even real, that she was some sort of “scam!”

Can you imagine? Maaatisha, a “scam”, a fabrication?!?

He, of course, demanded proof, but they couldn’t provide it without sending the footage for some sort of analysis, which of course cost thousands of credits! They claimed that they had "questions" concerning the video he sent but said that their software couldn’t prove that it was fake. Despite this, they still wanted him to just fork over thousands, most of which they would pocket, no doubt, just because they were incapable of finding her and wanted to save face!

Well, he put a pin in that right away! He was a businessman, after all, and if it was faked, he would most certainly have been able to tell! She was real!

They claimed that they would keep looking as long as he was paying, which wouldn’t be that much longer! There were other detective agencies on that blasted planet, and he would go through them all if he had to! Maaatisha, his Maaatisha, was in trouble, and he was going to find her. It didn’t matter if she was “spoiled” or not! He didn’t care!

He just had to find her! She was the one Garthra that didn’t loathe him…

...or think he was a fucking joke…

Suddenly the phone rang!

It was from Terra!

“H-hello?” he said as he answered.

His breath caught.

It was her!

She was even more beautiful than he remembered! Her hair was washed, smooth and beautiful, and her simple white garment was clean and bright as it shone in the moonlight.

“Maaatisha!” Vikkart exclaimed joyously, “Oh, I have been looking for you!”

“You… you have?” Maaatisha asked in surprise.

“Yes!” Vikkart replied excitedly, “I’ve hired private investigators on Terra! They have been looking all over for you!”

Maaatisha smiled sadly.

“I’m afraid it’s too late, Vikkart,” she sighed. “It’s… too late… I’m… I’m unmarriable...”

“It’s ok!” Vikkart exclaimed, “Don’t worry about that. I’ll save you!”

“You already have,” she smiled. “You reminded me that I am a Garthran. Thinking about you, the time we shared, your kindness… It reminded me what I once was… what I should be...”

Vikkart’s eyes widened as he realized where she was… on a bridge!

“Maaatisha?” he asked uncertainly.

“I will NOT allow myself to fall further!” Maaatisha said, her eyes sparkling proudly. “I shall finally do what I should have done before. I shall be a Garthran, and I shall claim my own fate. I escaped my captors, and I have come here, to this spot, to reclaim my heritage, reclaim my honor!”

“Maaatisha, no!” Vikkart cried out, “You don’t have to do this!”

She smiled serenely.

“But, I have no place… well… no place that I want,” she replied. “I will not be a whore… a plaything for beasts! No. I shall join my family. It’s not the waters of home, but all waters touch. This alien river will wash the stains of my soul away, and I shall be carried to the mists of the beyond, where I shall await you if you will have me.”

“You do have a place!” Vikkart cried desperately, “with me!”

She cocked her head at him.

“Whatever do you mean?” she asked, “I’m… tarnished… broken… soiled… You can have anyone.”

”No, I can’t!” he shouted. “You’re...”

He looked down.

“You aren’t the only one whose honor is… broken…” he said with a deep sigh.

“Vikkart?”

“I’ve made… terrible mistakes...” he said. “And I was made to pay for them… and I deserved it!”

He looked up at her.

“I’ve also dishonored myself, disgraced myself, and for far less reason than you have! Whatever has happened, whatever you’ve had to do, I don’t care! You have a place with me, and if you will have me, I could have a place with you!”

“Vikkart?” Maaatisha gasped, tears welling up in her eyes.

“I’m serious!” he exclaimed, “I will save you, and I will bring you home!...”

He looked downward.

“Maybe I can do at least that with my life,” he sighed. “When you hear of my disgrace, it may very well be you who won’t have me.”

“Oh, Vikkart,” she sighed, “what did you do?”

His head hung low, Vikkart started to explain everything. Everything he did, what… she did to him… The viral video… The complete and utter disgrace that was his life…

“… so you see,” Vikkart replied, “Your disgrace pales before mine! I am the one who is begging you to accept me!”

Maaatisha flopped down, sitting on the pedestrian walkway, with her back to the railing.

“What a pair we are,” she chuckled with a quiet sadness.

“Please… don’t leave,” he pled, “stay. Stay with me… please…”

“It isn’t that simple, Vikkart,” Maaatisha said regretfully, “I want… Oh, Creators, I want so very badly for this dream to be real...”

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“It is real!” Vikkart exclaimed. “It can be!”

“But I’m indebted to some very bad people,” Maaatisha said with a sad little sigh, “There are worse things than the Harkeen here, so much worse… Terra is a nightmare, an unending hell filled with...”

She buried her face in her hands.

“...monsters.”

“Maaatisha,” Vikkart cried desperately, wishing he could magically reach through the screen. “I am so sorry you have had to face all of that.”

“You know what the Terrans are like,” she said, “imagine what their criminals are. That’s who the Harkeen sold me to, Terran mobsters.”

“If they bought you, they will sell you!” Vikkart exclaimed. “Get me in touch with them. Tell them that I want to buy you! I have money! I have so much money, Maaatisha! Tell them that I will pay them whatever it takes!”

“But the border is still sealed,” Maaatisha replied, “Even if they will let me go, there is no way I can reach you.”

“We will worry about that after you are safe!” he exclaimed. “As long as you are safe, we can work out the details later… Even if…”

He took a deep breath.

“Even if I can never have you if you are safe...”

He looked down.

“Then my worthless life isn’t for nothing,” he said. “If I can save you, then I’ve accomplished one good thing in my entire miserable life...”

“Oh, Vikkart!” Maaatisha gushed. “You… you would do that for me?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed. “Get me in touch with them. I will handle the rest!”

“Thank you,” Maaatisha said, completely overwhelmed, “Thank you for… hope… I never thought I would ever feel that again. I will have you, Vikkart. I don’t care about your past. I only care about our future! I will face them once more… for you.”

“Thank you!” Vikkart exclaimed. “I… I won’t let you down, Maaatisha!”

“I don’t have much time left on this call,” Maaatisha said, looking at the screen with concern. “I will go to them at once! Oh, Vikkart! We will be so happy together! I will pledge myself to it!”

“You don’t have to pledge anything,” Vikkart replied. “your safety and happiness will be joy enough.”

Maaatisha stood.

“As will yours,” she smiled. “Oh, Vikkart, you have made me so happy! I—“

The line went dead.

Vikkart shouted with joy and stamped his feet rapidly with excitement.

Wasting no time, he rushed to his computer and started pulling up his assets…

***

Uhrrbet smiled a dark, feral smile as she switched off the Maaatisha simulation, it smiling back at her with the same toothy grin.

“Many kills and many bloody feasts...” she chuckled to herself as she drank straight from the bottle like the feral animal she was.

She stopped by a convenience store across the street from her shop and picked up a whole basket full of ramen, the fancy ones that her boy really loved, the ones she could hardly ever afford before.

On the cab ride home, she pulled out her phone and started looking at gaming consoles. She couldn’t remember which one her boy always gushed about. She would have to try to find out discreetly. His birthday wasn’t that far away.

She looked at the shopping bag full of ramen and sighed with satisfaction.

This was what life was all about.

***

Vikkart paced back and forth with increasing agitation.

It had been hours.

He had already dismissed those incompetent fools he hired. Can you believe that they actually laughed at him when he did so? If they were on Garthra, he would have them blackballed!

They obviously had no idea who they were talking to.

Why hadn’t they called back?

Impatience was replaced with fear. What if something had gone wrong? What if they hadn’t believed her?

What if…

The phone rang!!!

It was from Terra!!!

“Hello!” he exclaimed.

There was a cold, evil-looking human female in a business suit looking at him.

“You Vikkart?”

“I am!” he said, holding himself erect.

“I understand we have something you want.”

“Maaatisha,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “I want her. How much?”

The woman just chuckled.

“Unfortunately for you,” she sneered, “sweet little Maaatisha was… very forthcoming...”

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!?”

“Nothing much,” the woman shrugged, “nothing that will damage the resale value, anyway.”

“If you have hurt her...”

“Oh, we did,” the human female smiled, “We can’t have our livestock just running out like that. Examples have to be set and all of that.”

“YOU… FUCKER!!!”

“I’ll call back when you calm down… maybe...” the woman smiled coolly and reached for her mouse.

“No! Wait!”

The woman paused.

“Oh, you do have it bad,” she smirked, “Are you familiar with the free market, supply and demand?”

“What of it?”

“Well...” the woman said calmly, “We have something that is in very short supply, and there seems to be quite the demand for it. It’s going to cost you.”

“How much did she owe?”

“How much she owed isn’t the issue,” the woman replied, “We bought her. We own her. What she owed the Harkeen is of little consequence. The only thing that matters is how much you are willing to pay for her.”

“What do you want?”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand credits.”

“That’s outrageous!”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand credits,” the woman smiled, ”or, dear, sweet, innocent, little Maaatisha gets to start her new and very short career in film. Are you familiar with a little Terran specialty called a ‘snuff flick’?”

Vikkart remained silent.

“Here,” the woman smiled, “Let me play a little bit of one for you.”

Vikkart’s blood froze as he saw something that would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his days.

“The next one of those you watch will have a certain someone in the leading role,” the woman smiled.

“You… animal!”

“We’re all animals,” the woman replied, “some of us are just more honest about it than others. We've looked into you. Tell me… Vikkart… how many women just as sweet and innocent as little Maaatisha drowned because of you? How many ran from you with torn clothes and tears in their eyes? You are every bit as much of a predator as I am, so cut the bullshit. You’re a predator. I’m a predator. You know exactly what I can and will do. Two hundred and fifty. Now.”

“I… I don’t have that much...”

“Well, that’s a shame...”

The woman reached for her mouse.

“No! I don’t! I can’t get it! I swear!… Please!!!… One hundred and eighty! I can do that! It has to be more than you can make off of… Off of….”

Vikkart hung his head and started to weep.

“...please...”

The woman narrowed her eyes.

“Tell me, Vikkart,” the woman smiled, “Why do you care? Are you that hard up for a mate?”

“I… I love her...”

“You love some rodent you haven’t even met?” the woman sneered, “And you can only come up with a measly one hundred and eighty?”

”It’s all I have!!!”

“That’s unlikely,” the woman replied, “I’ve taken the time to look up your family’s company as well. You are worth a LOT more than that. Here I was thinking I was cutting you a break, for love’s sake, and all you claim to have is that? That little gerbil will bring in that in no time even if I don’t send her over to the ‘media department’.”

“Ok...” Vikkart replied. “I can give you one hundred and eighty now and get you the rest. Just… Just stop… making her… just… stop…”

The woman smiled.

“Ok,” the woman replied, “One hundred and eighty now and the rest later… PLUS a fifty thousand loan processing fee… for a total of three hundred thousand... plus interest... If you keep up the payments, we will keep her nice and safe until we get the balance. Hell, I’ll even let her call you once a week so you know she is being taken care of.”

“Once a day!”

“I’ll set up a darkweb wallet,” the woman smiled, “every other credit that enters it will go to her. She can call you once an hour if you want.”

“Thank you,” Vikkart replied.

“I’ll hold off on sending her over to the film crew,” the woman replied, “for ONE day. If that wallet doesn’t have a hundred and eighty in it by this time tomorrow, expect a special little video.”

The line went dead.

Vikkart just stood there in shock.

How was he going to get the money?

He shook his head.

It didn’t matter. He would get the cash even if he had to hold his shitty parents at fucking gunpoint!...

...he would get it even if he had to kill them.

He pulled out his phone and pulled up his father’s contact info.

He had to play this smart.

“What do you want?” a disdainful voice answered.

“Dad,” he said, “I want to come to work for you… for the company...”

“No, seriously,” the voice laughed, “what do you want?”

***

Uhrrbet switched the "evil mobster woman 1" avatar off and leaned back in the computer chair in her backroom, her fangs bared viciously.

Perfect...

She took another long draw from the wine bottle, the red liquid spilling down her maw.

I almost hope he can’t come up with the money... she thought to herself with wicked glee.

She pulled up her graphics software and selected “start new project”…

… and entered “snufflick1” as the project name…

Before she could even construct the room’s walls, there was a notification.

Someone just made a deposit.

She grinned and closed the project.

Dribbling wine everywhere, she spun happily in her chair.

She quickly accessed the darknet and navigated to the wallet.

Balance 180,000 cr

“Simp,” she snickered as she started a series of transfers…

About half an hour later, she stood up and stretched. She checked the time. It was almost time to open! She tapped an icon on her phone and the front door unlocked and the open sign, crafted from actual neon tubes, sprang to life.

The hard part is having to wait until I can explain the money before I buy Kurr that computer he’s always wanted, she thought to herself happily. Maybe I can “take up” gambling...

The door chimed.

“Hello?” a voice called out.

A customer!

“Coming!” Uhrrbet exclaimed happily as she quickly wiped off her wine-stained jaws and rushed to the front.

Soon she was happily scanning a strange little xeno and cheerfully talking about fabrics and clothing styles from her homeworld.

“I’m so happy you are here!” the xeno exclaimed, absolutely overjoyed. “I had no idea where I could get clothing for my species! I’m telling everyone I know about you!”

“Well, that’s what I’m here for!” Uhrrbet bubbled as she happily immersed herself in her “real job".

As her head danced with flowing cloth and the exotic, strange clothing on her screen, she sighed happily.

This was what life was all about!

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