“I wish you very good luck,” Kren said, and perhaps he actually meant it.
When she fell asleep, he carried her bloated body back to her room and put her to bed. Then he went to bed himself.
He awoke to the sound of a fusion-powered helicopter, and ran out to see it setting itself down near the door under its big, counterrotating blades.
The pilot climbed down and said, “Is here all right?”
“Yes, I suppose that would be fine.”
“I’ve got another delivery in this area in two days. I’ll pick up the cage on the way back, if that’s okay.”
“That would be good, yes,” Kren said.
“Fine. You are the recipient?”
“No, that would be Bronki, but she’s in a stupor just now.”
“Yes, she said that she was injured. You’re Kren?” the pilot asked.
“Yes.”
“She said that you could sign for this girl. Also, there’s this syringe of anesthetic she ordered. It has to be injected into a major muscle two hours before the event. Do you know how to do that?”
“I’m a qualified military medic,” Kren said.
“Good. The anesthetic will stay effective for two weeks, and will help out with the headaches as well. Just make sure that the young one eats the muscle that you shot up,” she said and pressed a button on a pendant control that lowered to the ground a cage of heavy metal bars containing a starving, young carnivore.
“The cage is quite simple,” she continued. “The new girl is back here. Put the old one in the front of the box, strap her in, and lock the door. Then pull these pins, and the wall between them will fold away. Once the new one has finished and has gone to sleep, put her someplace safe. She’ll wake up in a week or two, a new person.”
“That sounds simple enough,” Kren said.
“Good. Sign here.”
The pilot climbed back up into her craft and flew away.
Kren looked at the bare needle of the syringe in his hand and decided that there was no time like the present. He went into Bronki’s room, to find her lying on her back, with her extended stomach bulging in the air.
The Mitchegai digestive system is quite elaborate for a carnivore. The first stomach, located just below the diaphragm, is used for little else but storing brain cells until they can be taken up by the blood stream. The second stomach is a hugely expandable storage bag, permitting a Mitchegai to consume a being even larger than herself. Only in the third stomach does actual digestion start to take place. The intestines are smaller than in a human, requiring more frequent defecation.
The buttock contained the largest muscle in the Mitchegai body, but the upper thigh was almost as big, and Kren saw no point in rolling her over and possibly waking her.
She didn’t even murmur as he injected the anesthetic deep into the muscle. Of course, it wouldn’t occur to a Mitchegai to apply an antiseptic before an injection.
He spent the next two hours reading a book concerning the life of a university student, hoping that it was more accurate than the one about military life.
When the clock in his study showed that the time was up, he carried Bronki out and strapped her in the front half of the cage, while the new girl screamed with hunger.
Using his sword, he cut off the top of Bronki’s head, and making frequent reference to her sketch, he sliced out and ate precisely those portions that were agreed upon. They were delicious, and he was tempted to take a bit more, but he decided that it might be dangerous to do so.
Then he replaced the skull cap, locked the front door, and released the screaming young carnivore, before going indoors to rest for a bit.
He had intended to only relax for a few hours, but when he awoke, he found that he had slept for over two days. Dizzy and confused, he went out to check the cage.
He was relieved to find that all was well out there. The youngster was sleeping undisturbed. If the housekeeper had been by, she had touched nothing.
It was not easy to get the new Bronki out of the cage and into her old room. The new carnivore had eaten all of the old Bronki, who had been swollen with the large juvenal she had previously eaten. She weighed well over twice what she originally had. Feeling weak himself, Kren had to drag her most of the way.
He had just completed the job when the helicopter arrived to pick up the cage. He waved to the pilot, glad that he did not have to think up a plausible lie for Bronki’s presence in the cage. In truth, he wasn’t thinking very clearly just then.
Then he locked the door, went to his room, and slept for another three days, troubled by strange, mathematical dreams. It was the first time that he had eaten a major portion of brain without also eating the body as well. He felt surprisingly hungry. He resolved that if he ever did this again, he’d eat a juvenal along with it, and go into a proper stupor, if he could somehow figure out a safe way to do that.
He rectified that problem now by going out, killing, and eating a small juvenal. He didn’t want to be in a stupor when Bronki awoke, because he still didn’t trust her.
Returning to the house, he noticed that Bronki’s old study was devoid of dried blood. The housekeeper had apparently come, cleaned, and left.
Eventually, while Bronki still slept, he picked up the book on mathematics that he had been struggling with for so long. No longer was it incomprehensible to him. In fact, it all looked childishly simple.
Obviously, the operation had been a success.
He spent the next few days going over every book on mathematics that he could find in his new house. He was elated to find that he comprehended it all, from corporate accounting to advanced matrix theory, even the most complicated texts.
The housekeeper came every two days, as silent as before. She must have had some hint as to what was going on, because she stayed away from Bronki’s room. As before, he stayed out of her way and let her get on with her job.
Once Bronki was awake, they would somehow explain to the servant that he was now master of this house.
Kren started in on the sciences. With his now superb knowledge of mathematics, he made it through the introductory text in only three days, and four days after that had completed a book on basic physics.
He was well into his first chemistry text when Bronki finally woke up. She staggered outside to relieve herself, and then went to the living room for a long drink of water.
“I always hate this part,” she said.
“Is there anything that I can do to help?”
“You can do nothing but leave me alone. I’ll be another week getting myself reintegrated.”
With that, she staggered back to her room and closed the door.
Kren soon started into biology, a subject far different on a Mitchegai world than in any other place in the universe. They had, after all, only two species to study. But what they lacked in breadth, they made up for in depth. Billions of worker years had gone into the study of their limited subject matter. Every single gene was completely known and understood. Every single chemical used in either species was accurately classified, and all of its functions were completely explained.
Every possible drug that could have any effect on a Mitchegai was carefully cataloged and understood. The vast majority of them had been made illegal, since anything that could cause a short-term improvement inevitably caused a long-term disability. Anything that would result in a long-term benefit had already been bioengineered into the race. Also, any illegal product provided the legislators with an opportunity for considerable personal profit.
He was finishing up his first book on biology when Bronki made her next appearance.
“You are a lot slimmer than you were a few weeks ago,” he said.
“Integration is a high-energy process. I need a few days to get my course outlines at least started, then we have time for a last good meal on country food before it’s time for us to start for the university.”
“I’m not sure that going to the university would be such a wise move for me. The identification scars on my arms are fraudulent, and if an officer of the duke’s army were to study them, and make a few inquiries, I could be in big trouble,” Kren said.
“So wear your cloak until we get to the university. You’ll be safe enough once you’re there. The University of Dren is an independent academic corporation. It’s located at the intersection of four dukedoms, and it pays taxes to all four of them, but it’s not under the jurisdiction of any of them. If any one of the dukes were to force his way in, the other three would feel threatened and attack him immediately. You’ll be safe.”