Pinny, Slaying
Part Six
by Eric Jablow
Synopsis: Pinny, first Slayer for Flatland, has had a
second dream about a hex-monster, and she has resolved
herself to go on her first hunt. First, she has to
survive a dinner with the decagon her father wants her
to marry, and then she needs to sneak out of her
house. In her society, that is not easy.
Rating: PG-13.
Warning: The misogyny Octavian, Norris, and Declan
exhibit in chapter is canonical for Flatland. Edwin
Abbott wrote that book partially as a math lesson and
partly as a Victorian social satire; these attitudes
were part of what he was decrying. They're upsetting
to any modern readers, though. I'd hate for "Flatland"
to get the same treatment "Huckleberry Finn" does these
days.
----
Pinny took stock of her few possessions; she saw no
possible use for pong disks and carrier loops in her
hunt, and they would make her stand out to the populace
anyway. "Actually, my being outside in late evening
will stand out. I'd better be able to hide," she
thought. She moved to the west wall of the room and
flattened herself against the wall; a distracted or
unobservant poly just might miss her in such a
position. She waited; Pinny was patient.
"Miss Pin, Miss Pin!"
"Come in, Penfield."
The servant slid the door open and looked in. "Miss
Pin, where are you?"
"I'm sorry, Penfield. I was just playing around." She
moved to the center of the room.
"Hide and seek, Miss Pin? I'm sorry, but my eyesight isn't
what it used to be."
"How long have you served my father?"
"I have served him for the last twenty years, Miss, and
his father for twenty years before that."
"Will you be able to retire, Penfield?"
"I don't know, Miss Pin. I don't know what I would do
or where I would stay."
"I understand, Penfield." "The isos are treated almost as
bad as us," she thought. "I doubt he could save much."
"Miss Pin, your father has returned with his guests, and he
wishes you to join them in the main hall."
"Thank you. Please wait for me."
---
Pinny and Penfield entered the parlour. Pinny was
whistling at the lowest acceptable level; she was in
her own house, and she'd be damned if she put on a show
for the visitors.
"Ah, daughter. Here are my friends Norris and Declan."
"Pleased to meet you."
"I am pleased to make your acquaintance," said Norris.
"And this is Declan." Declan gave her a short nod.
"Speak up, Declan."
"Hello, Miss Pin," Declan finally said.
"Hello, Declan." "A dot," she thought. "A callow
dot."
"We're very proud of our daughter and our son," said
Octavian. After hearing that, Pinny shook and let out
a tuneless whistle, and mentally counted the lies
encoded in her father's statement.
Declan finally spoke on his own behalf: "You look
lustrous today."
"Thank you, sir." Pinny noticed Norris and her father
slowly circling her. "Still checking me for
straightness. How undignified, but I can't afford to
react," she thought. "I understand you work for the
Constabulary."
"Yes I am. I'm a trainee in the--oh, you wouldn't find
it interesting."
"No?"
Norris and her father had finished their circle of her;
she saw Norris nod his approval. Then, Penfield
entered the parlour and announced, "Master, Guests,
dinner is served."
---
Cook had done well; the dot chutney was quite tasty.
Pin had a moment of amusement when Norris had trouble
with his eating channels; finally, Penfield had to glue
them to Norris's front.
"So, Miss Pin, what do you like to do during the day?"
"I like to visit with my friends, Declan; sometimes we
go out to the play areas and p--watch the mothers and their
children." "Shh," she thought. "No talking about
ponging today."
"That seems pleasant." Norval added, "Sometimes I wish
I could do that."
"You have to learn to be responsible, brother. That's
what Father says."
"Yeah." Norval seemed sad. There was hope for him
yet.
"We have to work hard, Norval. We're called to lead,"
said Declan. "Oh, well. I'm doomed. Will this dinner
ever end?"
Soon enough, Penfield brought the tea service, and then
dinner ended. The men went into the parlour, and
Mother told me, "Well, that went well, didn't it?"
"I guess. I'm tired, Mother. I shall retire now."
"Good night, then."
---
Pinny rested in her room and cursed her fate. "Fifty
years of Declan would make me suicidal. Five years
might do it." She waited by her door and listened,
hoping that Norval would fulfill his promise to help
her escape the house.
As she concentrated, she noticed that her hearing had
also improved. She heard the scullery men talking as
they cleaned the dining implements, her mother
tunelessly whistling in her quarters and then she heard
the men talking in the parlor.
---
"So, what is your daughter like, Octavian?"
"She's a typical marriageable girl, Norris. Somewhat
high and flighty, and still a romantic about marriage."
"I think I can abide her, Father," said Declan.
"Good, son. She'll make a fine mother for your sons.
I pray she has few daughters."
"I wish you every blessing," said Octavian.
"Thank you, Sir."
"Please, call me Octavian."
"Is there anything else I should know about Miss Pin?"
"She said something at dinner yesterday about wanting
to marry someone she could talk with," Octavian said.
"I'm sure she'll do a lot of talking, " said Norris.
He laughed.
"I am quite sure that I can fake interest."
"Aside from that, she's an ordinary girl, dumb as a 1°
iso."
Norval spoke up: "I don't know, Father. She certainly
seems smarter than that."
"Oh, she has a certain degree of low cunning, but no
more. After all, no girl has ever had the intelligence
to prove that isosceles triangles have two equal
angles."
"I have trouble with that," replied Norval.
"Besides, what do you think would happen if women were
actually intelligent?" said Octavian.
"That's why I'm in the constabulary. I'll be
monitoring them."
"Good. Welcome to my family. You'll do well."
Only a supernatural act of will kept Pinny from
screaming. She had heard of women who snapped and
murdered their entire families; now she understood
why that could happen. "I have more than just low
cunning; I have high cunning, and one day I shall break
you," she swore to herself. She heard the men finish
with their drinks; polys tend to slurp. Soon they
started talking again, and she waited to hear them
betray themselves again.
Norris asked his son, "Declan, what do you know about
this rogue iso?"
"We don't know much, Father. We're busy measuring
everyone who lives or works nearby, but I fear we will
fail to find the murderer."
"It hardly matters, son. One rogue iso or irreg hardly
threatens us. In fact, a scared population is more
likely to follow our lead."
"So, you're not going to try to find him?" Norval
seemed surprised.
"Of course they will try," said Octavian. "But it
doesn't really matter if they succeed or not. You have
to look at the complete situation. You can't be too
sentimental, Noral. Perhaps you've listened to Pin too
much."
"I suppose so, Father."
"Octavian, Declan and I shall take our leave of you
now. Our solicitor will meet with yours tomorrow.
Please accept our thanks for accepting our alliance."
"You are very welcome. I shall see both of you soon."
Pin heard doors open and close, heard Octavian's final
goodbyes to Norris and Declan, and heard Norval say, "I
think I need to study for an hour. Why don't you
retire, Father."
"I'm pleased by your dedication, son. Until tomorrow."
Pin waited a few minutes, and then she heard two quick
taps on her door. She waited for a minute, and then
she slipped out of her room and left through the
women's door.
---
Pinny had crossed town nearly to the business district
when she had her first problem. Few polys were on the
street at this time of night, and even fewer lines.
She realized that the only women she saw were what her
mother had once described as the "type of dissolute
woman no one should emulate". Come to think of it,
Mother had never told her what they had done to be
considered dissolute.
Then, she reached a main intersection, and she listened
before she tried to cross. She heard two polys
talking, and she moved close to the wall.
"Cool night."
"Cool night."
"Any sign of the killer?"
"No. They're still looking for 'rogue isos'."
"Insulting. You think they trust us?"
"No. I'm not going to look very hard to find
the killer then."
"Neither will I."
Pinny waited patiently around the corner from the
constable post; if she moved, she might have to explain
herself. Ten minutes later, she saw her opportunity.
An iso porter was pushing a stack of containers the
same way she was going. She waited until he passed,
and then she circled around him and went through the
intersection using him as a shield, rotating so her aft
would not be visible to the guards. She would never
have dared to try that during the day; any line rushing
like that would find herself in gaol or Bedlam in short
order.
---
A couple of streets away, the porter turned onto a side
street. He had never spoken a word--a stolid iso if
she had ever met one. Pinny glided alone the two
blocks to the location she had dreamed about. When she
was a street away, she saw a square paused in front of
an alley; her dream was about to come true!
Pinny rushed forward toward the square as he began to
enter the alley. On her way there, she had the
unmistakable feeling of something being desperately
wrong with the world, as if she had just seen a
triangle with three 90° angles or two straight lines
meeting twice. She turned the corner and saw the
square and the hexagon, the hex with a small
rectangular package laying in front of him.
"Excuse me, but can you help me load this package?"
asked the hexagon.
"Of course," said the square. Pinny interrupted him,
saying, "I'll do it. You polys are always so clumsy."
The square rotated toward her, and Pinny said to him,
"You go home. I'll help Father." The square looked at
her and then back at the hexagon, who was quivering
with anger. The square fled.
"What are you?" asked Pinny.
"I am your death, little girl."
"Just try it, you coward."
The hex howled, "Coward!" Then, his body changed exactly
as Pinny's dream had shown, and the hex-monster charged
at her. Desperately, she sidestepped to her right and
tried to pass the monster as it charged, but the
monster turned toward her and pressed his attack.
"This isn't good; he'll pin me against the wall," Pin
thought, and she increased her speed, hoping to evade
the monster's trap.
The monster's spike hit her near her aft, and that
propelled her into a spin that was interrupted only
when she struck a building wall. She whistled with the
pain as her spin then sent her tip into the wall, and
then she bounced across the alley. "This hurts far
worse then that pong disk. But, I'm alive!"
By the time she stopped herself, Pin was far down the
alley, and the hex-monster was still turning to face
her. She took stock of herself; she seemed unimpaired,
but she slowly moved forward toward the hex. Had the
monster any imagination; she hoped not.
The hex rushed toward her again, and she slowly
sidestepped again, but this time as it turned on her
she rotated to parallel the side of its spike and she
body-slammed him the way she had done to Hector. The
monster bounced back with a "Oof!" sound, and she said,
"Not used to that, are you. Against someone who can
fight back, you're just a stupid irreg." Pinny moved
nearly to the street and turned to face the monster
again.
"And you're just a girl. Why am I wasting time on
you?"
"Because I'm the one chosen to kill you."
The monster barked out a laugh and charged her again.
She went to pass him on the left side, but he suddenly
checked his assault and backed up; now Pin was
uncomfortably close to a building wall close to the
monster's spike. She backed away and he turned to face
her again.
Pinny moved fast to her right, and the monster turned
to follow. Then, she moved fast, aiming for the
monster's right rear side. the monster charged her and
hit her near her aft, but this time her spin caused her
to slap the monster's spike yet again. Winded, both
battlers backed away, and Pin found herself near the
package the monster had discarded.
"I'm going to end this and you now," hissed the hex.
"I don't take men's promises seriously."
The hex moved slowly toward Pin, and she moved next to
the package placing her aft just behind it.
"That won't protect you," said the monster. It charged.
Pin twitched her aft, The package shot toward the
charging hex, hitting it at the spike Its front
shredded, but the rear stayed continuous, and part of
it stuck to the side of its spike; the hex had been
using household glue for its disguise! Scraps of
container covered the hex's eye dot, blinding it for a
while, and Pin sped past the hex. The hex turned
toward the sound, and Pinny suddenly backed up,
piercing the hex with her aft. It was a killing blow
if ever Pin had known one.
The hex howled in pain as a full nine inches of Pin's
aft was embedded in its body. The hex started to turn
grey, and Pin vibrated a little to add to the hex's
pain. Finally, Pin extricated herself from the
hex-monster. "Die already," she thought.
Suddenly, the hex-monster shook a bit, and the pinhole
in its side began to close up. "I'm immortal," cried
the hex, as Pinny backed out of the alley and fled.
--
Respectfully,
Eric Jablow
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