Part 2

When even their laughter had subsided, Tira spoke.

"It is amazing to me how much I love you, Tika."

"And I love you very much, Tira-Mother."

"So, do you have any questions about today?"

"Yes Tira-Mother. What is 'wealthy'?"

"Well Tika, you have traded pretty stones with others when you were on the infants ground, right?"

"I have seen others doing that, Tira-Mother."

"All right. Most trade is done with things called 'credits'. When we take the animals we have hunted to the trading post, the techs give us credits for them. Then when we want a knife or a screen or some other tech thing, we go to the trading post and trade them as many credits as the thing is worth, and they give us the thing we want. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Tira-Mother, but what do credits look like?"

"They are small metal discs, but if you carried your credits around you could lose them, and if you had many they would be very heavy, so everyone leaves their credits in what is called an 'account', where they are safe. You can check your account on your screen to see how many credits you have.

"Now, you own your image on screen, and nobody can watch it if you forbid it. If you do not forbid it, they can watch it if they put credits in your account, in trade for using what is yours. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Tira-Mother."

"Good. Now the techs spend much of their time watching other people's recordings on screen. The more unusual the recording is, the more interesting it is, and the more people watch. Many techs find Tiger People very interesting, and no one except you has ever become Serious in their first training fight, so I am sure many people watched the recording of your fight today, and gave you many credits. To have many, many credits is to be wealthy."

"Are you wealthy, Tira-Mother?"

"Yes child. By the standards of the techs, most Tiger People are wealthy, because the things we get from the trading post are not worth many credits. The only other things we trade for are the treatment we get from the med, calls on our screens, services on the web, and those of us who are adults who hold territory give some credits every year to the account of all the people for the use of the land, because the land is owned by all the people.

"A million credits is called a mega, and it takes the average tech twenty years to get a mega in trade for the tasks that they do.

"After all the credits I have spent on things from the trading post, trips to the med, the use of my territory, travel to tournaments, and two trips to the city before you were born, I still have about two and a half mega left from the credits I have made in trade for the animals I have hunted. Hunted animals are luxury items to the techs, and they give us many credits for them.

"And, I have about thirty-five Mega from people who watched me in recordings. Mostly recordings of my fights, some of my hunts for very dangerous animals, and some of sex that I had before you were born. Since I am Magnificent, many find me interesting.

"Also, when my mother died, I got two hundred and seventy-one Mega that was hers. Most of that she got from her mother, and she from hers, and so on back through the many generations of our family.

"Until you become an adolescent, I pay for your med and your goods from the trading post, so you have about three thousand credits from the animals you have hunted and brought to the trading post."

Tira took out her screen and called up Tika's account.

"And from people watching the recordings of your fight today, you have ... Gods!" Tira gasped in amazement.

"What is it, Tira-Mother?"

"Look, Tika. This is your account. Do you see this number?"

Tika looked, and tried to read the number.

"Two one comma six four three, no, two one comma six four four, no..." she gave up in confusion and looked at her mother for explanation.

"It says," Tira said, "That you have made more than twenty-one Mega today, and now, two hours after your fight, you are still making more than one thousand credits every three seconds from people watching the recording. That is why the hundreds are changing faster than you can read, and the tens and ones are just a blur. Though she lost, Jena is getting the same. Davdan, Jela and I will get about a hundredth of that for being in the recording and speaking. Those in the crowd who can be recognized in the recordings but did nothing are called 'extras', and will receive about a thousandth of what you made. Right now, about six thousand people are watching your recording, as it costs about two credits to watch a recording that long. A few are buying their own copy of the recording, which will cost them about twenty credits, so they can watch it as much as they want."

"So I am wealthy?" Tika asked.

"Yes child. Anyone who has more than ten mega is considered wealthy. For a child, even a child of the Tiger People, you are very wealthy indeed."

"Good." Tika stated. "Tira-Mother, how old is Davdan?"

Tira thought a moment. "Davdan is one hundred and thirteen years old, Tika. She will probably only live another thirty years."

"Oh. Tira-Mother, what is a bet?"

"A bet is a guess about what is going to happen, and you risk something on whether you are right. Here, you take these twigs, and I will take these twigs. Now, I am going to throw my screen in the air with many spins. I will bet you two twigs that it lands on its back. You could bet two twigs that it will land on it's front. If you agree to bet with me, and it does land on it's back, you will have to give me two twigs, because that is how much we bet."

She threw the screen. It landed on it's front.

"Now, I bet you two twigs that it would land on its back, but it landed on its front. So now I have to give you two twigs. Do you understand?"

"Yes Tira-Mother."

"Good. Many adult Tiger People bet on fights with their credits, because they do not really need them, but you have to be an adult to bet with your credits."

"So, Naz bet that I would win today? I heard him say he won three Mega, and that he would never bet against your kin."

"Yes Tika, Naz bet that you would win, and he won extra credits because he bet that you would win before he knew who you would fight against."

"Oh." Tika thought for a minute, then said: "I like Naz. He seems nice."

Tira laughed.

"I like Naz as well," she said, "And he is nice. He is as close to being my friend as anyone in the zone.

"Now, have you noticed anything unusual in my territory since we returned?"

"Ummmm..." Tika thought about what she had seen as they walked through her mother's land. "There are too many ground rodents?" she guessed.

"Good girl!" Tira congratulated. "Midor, Dern, and Baya have only done an acceptable job of hunting this land while we were gone, and did not hunt enough ground rodents. Probably because there is no glory and few credits in hunting rodents, or they were lazy. We will have to hunt about seventy rodents today to bring the land back into balance. Come, while there is still enough light left, I will teach you the best way to throw rocks at rodents."

December 3rd, 2154

A year later Tika sat on a big root outside the den studying her lessons on her screen. She looked up and realized there was a woman crouched in a tree across the clearing. There had been a few adults who had visited before, people Tika knew from the trading post, but this woman was someone Tika had never seen before. Besides that, visitors walked into the clearing and called greetings. They did not crouch in trees, staring.

"Where is Tira?" the woman asked.

"She is taking half a crocodile to the trading post. She should be back soon." Tika replied.

"I will wait." the woman stated.

For fifteen minutes Tika tried to continue studying, but found she could not concentrate with the feel of the woman's eyes upon her, so she turned off her screen and sat staring back at the woman. After a minute of this Tika was unnerved, and went into the den to try to resume her lessons. Five minutes later her mother arrived.

"Tira-Mother, there is a..." Tika began.

"I know." Tira interrupted. She took off her pack and went back outside, Tika following.

The woman jumped ten feet out of the tree and landed lightly, rising slowly to her feet and removing her backpack. She was of native Indian stock, about twenty years old, and around five feet, ten inches tall. Her muscles rippled, each well defined. She looked as fierce as any woman Tika had ever seen.

"I am Paginna, Magnificent, of the Central Zone. With honor I challenge you for status, territory, and rank."

"Rank?" Tira asked in surprise. "I have not challenged for rank in eight years!"

"It does not matter." Paginna replied curtly. "Your child is no longer an infant; you are eligible for the challenge. And you are still ranked."

"I see." Tira returned. "And where do I stand?"

"Two hundred fifty-second among Tiger women, six hundred eighty-third among Tiger People, one thousand four hundred sixteenth among all fighters." Paginna rattled off, having obviously memorized the stats from studying her opponent.

"That is flattering. Two hundred fifty-second after eight years. So you want my place in the tournament?" Tira asked.

"Yes. And your territory is beautiful. You have many high status animals, good location, pure springs, river access."

"I see." said Tira. "You have studied me. Will you tell me your records?"

"I will tell you my record in challenges for rank. Undefeated in twelve fights, all with claws." Paginna stated. "I will give you ten minutes to prepare."

"Fair." Tira said. "With honor I accept the challenge."

"One more thing. I wish to record three views. Will you and your child participate?" Paginna asked.

"Yes. I wish that as well. Shall we flash it? I will set my screen to alerting those who used to watch my fights. I had many fans. We may want to wait a while for the word to spread. There are many credits available in this." Tira advised.

"That is a good idea." Paginna stated with a smile, "I had not considered the interest this fight might generate. In that case, shall we make it an hour?"

"An hour then." Tira agreed. She turned and ducked into the den. Tika watched Paginna take out her screen, then followed her mother.

Tira sat cross-legged with her screen in her lap. Tika began to speak but her mother held her hand up for silence.

"General Broadcast." Tira's screen activated at her command words. "Notice of Accepted Challenge. Challenge by Paginna, Magnificent, Tiger Woman of the Central Zone of the Vishnu Region of the Great Indian Forest, with Honor, for Status, Territory, and Rank. Accepted by Tira, Magnificent, Tiger Woman of the Northern Zone of the Vishnu Region of the Great Indian Forest. Fight starts at 14:20 today. Third view by Tika, daughter of Tira. Personal Message, all who have watched previous fights of Tira, Tika or Paginna. Same Notice. Transmit.

"Records request. Fights by Paginna."

The screen listed all 43 fights Paginna had had in chronological order, marked those that had been recorded, and marked them won or lost.

"Playback in order from most recent." Tira stated, and the screen began showing Paginna's last fight in a three-way split screen. The top half of the screen was split vertically and showed the view as seen by the two fighters. The bottom half showed a third point of view that showed both fighters.

"Listen, do not talk." Tira told Tika as she watched the fight. "I can guess your questions. This challenge is as serious as it gets. It will end when the loser submits, or is unconscious, or is dead. If I lose, we will have to move to Paginna's territory, or I will have to challenge for another one. None may interfere until the challenge is done.

"You will record the fight with your screen. I will tell you more before the fight. Now let me study her." With that, Tira gave her full attention to what she was watching.

Tika came and sat beside her, and took out her own screen. She wrote: 'On show Tira's screen'. Her screen began showing the fight her mother was watching, and duplicating Tira's view commands as well.

Tira watched the fight at half speed, occasionally zooming in on a small section of one of the views, usually that from Paginna's opponent. She would slow the zoomed view to one tenth speed, and watch a single move by Paginna several times, then return to the half speed three-way view.

After a few moments Tira noticed her daughter duplicating her actions, and put an arm around her with a smile. She began thinking out loud for Tika's benefit.

"We are Tiger People, but our fighting style is more like people. Most of the moves I have taught you have been used in the fighting arts for hundreds of years. Some for thousands.

"Paginna is different. Her fighting style is more like a tiger. She is quick and vicious and attacks with an all out snarling screaming style like a tiger. She fights on instinct, simply unleashing nurtured aggression. It is a Gift. Very few can fight effectively that way. She uses claws. They are shaped like a cat's claws, they are steel, and sharp on the inside curve. They can be no more than half an inch long and are worn on molded rings that are glued to the fingers. They can be worn on any of the finger bones or the fingertip, and facing in or out at any angle. Paginna wears them on her second finger bones facing out, and outside the thumb joint. This allows her to make a semi-closed fist and use them much as a tiger uses its paws. She does have some skill with a knife, and is not above taking her opponent's knife and using it on them. I consider claws a sadistic weapon. It is hard to kill or disable with them, but it is easy to use them to cause many very painful shallow wounds. Most who submit to them do so because of blood loss and pain overload rather than wound severity. They allow the wearer an almost unbreakable hold on their opponent once they are sunk in. A knife fighter has the advantage on the knife side and the disadvantage on the open hand side, so I will put my knife in my left hand."