Nostrils flared; the smile became a hiss. Experts called that laughter. “There have been misunderstandings, reverence bai Koch. One, for instance, between subordinates . . . .”
“You refer, perhaps, to my missing ship.”
Eyes flickered; no, that was not what the bai had meant, but he covered with a widening of the grin. “I refer to matters between ourselves and your ship Flower, to which we have asked access. I seriously urge that we arrange closer cooperation . . . for mutual safety.”
“You have not answered my question, bai.”
The nostrils shut. That was anger. “Youngling matters and not at all productive. Are we responsible for ships which come and go without our knowledge or the courtesy of consulting us? I would prefer to continue this meeting; but if we persist in raising extraneous matters—”
“You persist, bai, in ignoring data which has been given you repeatedly: that our species is adult at a considerably earlier age than regul. We do not slaughter our younglings; we do not consider hazard to ships flown by young adults of our species . . . to be a minor matter.”
“I repeat: I would prefer to continue this meeting.”
It was there, on the table, toss them out or abandon the issue. Koch considered, scowled. “Then I think that you have answered my question all the same, bai Suth.”
“No. I have ignored it, reverence bai. Assumptions between species are hazardous. I return to the previous matter under objection. You have interfered with our operations and seem offended that we want to enter yours.”
“Your own bid likely to interfere with ours; you will not have our leave to approach Flower, take our strongest warning of that. Any ship that approaches will not be safe.”
“Impasse.”
“Impasse, bai Suth.”
The regul shifted his weight in his sled, slowly finished off his soi, wished more of it of a youngling servitor which panted about immediately to satisfy him. “Bai Koch,” Suth said when he had received the cup, “it is a matter of concern to us, this widening gap in our cooperation. We find difficulty reasoning in the unfortunate absence of the bai Sharn and the bai doctor Aldin, who had established useful rapport—” He rolled his eyes toward Averson, gaped a smile. “But we rejoice in the new elevation of this person to your councils, reverend bai doctor Averson.” The eyes took in Degas, lingered there, rolled back again, the whites vanishing. “We are appreciative of any move toward understandings. We are allies. You agree. We cannot pursue differences and remain allies; I suggest we pursue cooperation. I have not mentioned the murder of an elder. I have not mentioned the discourtesy in treatment of bai Sharn’s body. I have not mentioned the collapse of firm contracts between us. And I do not think it productive to mention these things. But if certain things are raised between us, rest assured that these other things can be objected . . . justly objected, now and in the future of our two species. We have, you are aware, long memory. But let us pass over these matters. Indeed, let us pass over them. Give me the benefit of your imagination, reverence bai. How will the mri respond to the situation you have posed?”
Koch did not let his face react. What situation? he wondered, not sure how much was known to them. “We hope for peaceful settlement with them, bai Suth.”
“Indeed. Regul experience counsels that this is a vain expectation.”
“Our experience counsels otherwise.”
“Ah, then you are relying on records. Records from mri?”
“Of many situations, bai. Human records.”
“Our experience of mri is two thousand years long; and it argues against yours, of recent duration. Mri are intractable and inflexible. Certain words are beyond their understanding. Negotiation is one such. The concept does not exist with them. Observed fact, bai. Where concept does not exist . . . how does action?”
Koch considered this, not alone of mri . . . glanced at Averson and back at Suth. “A question you have evaded, reverence: do you have a mri expert among you?”
The mouth gaped at once into a hiss, amusement. “He sits among you, bai Koch. I am that expert. I am, you may mark for your memory, a colonial of doch Horag. Horag has employed mri as guards for most of the two thousand years in question. Doch Alagn misled you; they were amateurs and newcomers, and you believed them expert. My adulthood has put into authority . . . a true expert in these matters. And a new doch. You are very prudent to inquire.”
“Are you fluent in their language too?”
“There are two languages. I sorrow, bai, but the languages of mri were always a point of stubbornness with them. They persisted in coercing the regul language into their sluggish memories and speaking it badly.”
“Meaning that they would not permit outsiders to become fluent.”
“Meaning whatever that means within their mental process, reverence. These leaps of analysis are perhaps a natural human process, or you are withholding data. It means what the mri wish it to mean; we are patently not mri, neither you nor I. Are you withholding data?”
“No. No, bai Suth.” Koch reflected on that matter, staring at the bai, nodded finally. “You are an authority on mri. Without access to their thought processes.”
Nostrils shut and flared in rapid succession, “I contain information, bai, but without it you may deal in errors and experimentations at hazard of life. I tell you that we have never been able to translate the concept of negotiation into the mri understanding; and that should be marked for memory. I tell you that at any time a mri was hired to fight, there was no deviation from that path; he would kill or be killed and no offer would sway him. Trade concepts are not in their minds, reverence bai. They hired out their mercenaries, but hired is our word for the process and mercenary is your word. We deal in regul and human words; what do they think?”
“The bai is right,” Averson interjected. “There is no exactitude between species. Regul hocht and our mercenary aren’t the same either.”
Nostrils expanded Koch watched and wondered how much of his own expression the bai had learned to read. “You’ve come here for some specific purpose, bai. Perhaps we could have some definition of that.”
“Understanding. Mutual protection.”
“We do not desert our allies, if you are concerned.”
That hit the intended mark; the flutter was clearly visible. “Bai, we are delighted to know that. There is of course reason that the mri should bear a grudge against us. And how will you deal with that matter in this peaceful solution you seek?”
“We will not desert our allies.”
“Mri do not back up, as regul do not forget.”
“Mri forget; perhaps regul can back up.”
Again the flutter of emotion. “Meaning, bai Koch?”
“That mri may be persuaded to forget this act of yours at Kesrith if they have assurance that regul will not act against them here.”
“Your leaps of process bewilder me, bai Koch. I have been led to understand that forgetting is not a precise act.”
“We use it with many meanings, bai Suth.”
Suth’s nostrils heaved and flared. Suth’s great fist banged the re-emptied cup against the sled and the youngling nearest raced in stumbling steps to fill and return it. Suth drank in great gulps, seeming in physical difficulty.
“Forgive us,” Koch said. “Have we disturbed you?”
“I am disturbed, indeed I am disturbed.” Suth drank heavily, set the cup down on his sled’s rim. “I perceive great threat based on real experience and my allies leap like insects from one precarious point to the next.”
“We are constantly monitoring the situation. We do not believe the threat is immediate. Information indicates we are dealing with a declined and nomadic group.”
“Nomads: unstable persons.”
“A stable but mobile community.” He reflected on the difficulty of translating that to a species which regarded the least walking as agony. “They have no arms or transport sufficient to damage us. The cities are purely automated fire.”
&
nbsp; Suth’s nostrils flared and shut, flared again. “Do not be angry, human bai. But can mri lie? This is a human possibility. Is it also mri? Does your experience or your imagination . . . judge?”
“We don’t know.”
“Ah. Do you imagine?”
“We don’t have sufficient data.”
“Data for imagining.”
“It does take some, bai Suth. We operate at present on the premise that they can.” He considered a moment, made the thrust. “In our experience, bai Suth . . . even regul can be dishonest.”
“Dishonest, not honest, not . . . truthful.”
“What is truth, bai Suth?”
Nostrils closed. “According to fact.”
Koch nodded slowly. “I perceive something of your thinking, then. —Is there, Dr. Averson, a regul word for honest?”
“In business, the word alch . . . meaning evenly balanced advantage or observation, or something like. Value for value, we say.”
“Mutual profit,” Suth said. “We can spend much time at these comparative exercises, reverence. Favor, consider our position in orbit about this world. We are in range of these cities, which you imagine to be safe. I strongly urge a reconsideration.”
“What would the regul wish?”
“Negation of the hazard here.”
“Ethical considerations forbid. Or is that another word that doesn’t translate?”
There was a silence from the other side. Koch looked at Averson. Averson muttered a regul word.
“We understand,” said Suth. “We also respond to instincts.”
“Sir,” said Degas, “I think abstracts are in the way.”
“Yes,” said Suth, and grinned broadly.
Koch frowned at Degas, nodded slowly. “So the bai is concerned for our safety and that of home space. So are we.”
“How much time, bai Koch, how much time? This youngling Duncan . . . how much have you given him?”
“A human matter, bai.”
“We are allies.”
“We are waiting.”
“Humans walk very quickly. This youngling has taken far more days than needed to reach Flower after the attack. This evidences misfortune . . . or lack of cooperation on the part of this youngling. True?”
“Do you have information on him, bai?”
“No. Nor do you. Fact?”
“We simply wait.”
“How long do you wait?”
“Does it matter?”
“Mri have had time to prepare response, bai Koch. Does this seem wise, to afford them this? They have weapons.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.”
“You balance all home space on this perhaps, bai.”
“We are aware of the hazard.”
“If they fire—”
“We adjust policy.”
Suth clamped his bony lips shut, exhaled long and softly. “We are your allies. We, we are not a fighting people. We are your very safe neighbors, rich in trade; in mutual profit. And will you trade us for mri? Go home, bai. Leave this matter to us if your instincts forbid you to settle it You know that we do not lie. We have no interest in hiring mri.”
“It isn’t likely that you could, is it, reverence?”
“The situation does not make agreement likely.”
“Doubtless not. Nor was the fact that bai Sharn destroyed peace messages from them and deliberately deceived us.”
“The messages themselves were deceptive.”
“I thought regul did not hypothesize.”
“We do not leap across dateless voids. The intent of the messages was to delay your response and encourage your near approach to the world without firing. You are alive; you might now be dead. Consider this hypothesis, bai.”
“We do, in all aspects.”
“How long will you wait on this youngling?”
“Our patience is not yet exhausted.”
“We remain, then, in danger. The dead worlds: think on them; and what if there is a mri fleet loose; and what if it comes on us here?”
“Regul imagination?”
“We make hypotheses based on data and experience. Both indicate mri are apt to wild actions which do not take into account their personal survival. We suggest you set Saber a little farther out in the system; one of our two ships can hover over Flower for its safety since you insist on its remaining on the surface; one of us can scan the other side of the world. We have not been sharing data. I suggest we do so, to our mutual benefit.”
“We at least have a basis for discussion.”
Suth let go a great breath. “So, indeed, I invite the human bai to my ship.”
“No.”
“Basis?”
“Nature of human patterns of command, bai; I have to stay near my own machines. We’re not as highly automated.”
Suth’s nostrils puffed. Whether he believed this or whether a regul could doubt a plain declaration . . . remained uncertain.
“Compromise,” Suth said. “We discuss through channels. We may also consider opening channels between Flower and our own onworld mission.”
“You do have an onworld mission.”
“Why not, reverend ally? Why should we not? A closer cooperation, I say.”
Koch frowned. “I shall take it under advisement, bai Suth. I think we are at that point. —What regul activity onworld?”
“When we have Flower data, we shall give you ours.”
“When we have yours we will consider the matter.”
“Simultaneous exchange?”
That put it untidily fair. Koch felt the burden on himself, denied it with a hissed breath the regul might understand. “What might you have? Scan data? Our own is highly efficient.”
“You have more?”
“Might.” Regul feared not knowing, Averson had advised him; it seemed valid, for Suth showed discomfiture at that suggestion.
“Neither of us knows what the other has,” Suth said.
“I will consult with my own staff, bai Suth. Doubtless you will want to consult with yours.”
Suth’s nostrils puffed back and forth, back and forth. Suddenly the grin reappeared. “Excellent, reverence bai. Soon, another conference, in which we hope specific proposals. —Younglings, move. Your favor, bai.”
“Favor, reverence.” Koch leaned elbows on his desk, stared at the flurry of motion as the massive sled trundled toward the door and the waiting escort, and the younglings hastened after. Koch shifted a glance toward their own two superfluous aides, dismissing them to join the group outside. They understood and went without oral command.
The regul left a musty scent behind them. They had gotten it cleared out of the ship and it was back again. Koch had not begun by hating it, but it produced now a tautness in his gut, memories of tense encounters and regul smiles.
He slid a glance to Degas as the door closed, pushed away the cooling cup of soi, the taste of which he associated with the smell. Degas offered nothing, discreetly blank. He looked at Averson.
“Advice,” he said.
“My advice.” Averson wiped at his mouth and felt after some object in his pocket, patted it as if to be sure it was there. “I have given it, sir.”
“Your opinion on what you just heard.”
Averson moistened his lips. “The maneuverings of their ship . . . this forward and back, forward and back, the eluding of watch: this is what I said . . . bluff. They have a word for it, somewhere between status and assertion. They are here to assert themselves after their crisis.”
“Or they’re screening some operation. They’re very anxious to have us move.”
“Assertion. Ask more than you can get; provoke and study the reaction.”
“That can get men killed down there, doctor. Or worse.”
“This is a new doch, this Horag. A new power. A totally new entity in control. They’re distressed by this silence on our part; they lost an elder here, and that confounded all bargains, because that elder was replaced by a different doch entirely. They
deal only in memory; and the murder of an elder . . . they remember vividly. They need some current reaction from us, some approach, some substance against which they can plan policy. Remember that they can’t imagine, sir. And we don’t know what Horag remembers.”
“What difference?” Koch asked impatiently. “They were all on one ship.”
A lot of difference, sir. A great deal of knowledge was lost with Sharn. This youngling comes out of a different pool of knowledge. His entire reality is different.
“I leave that to the psych lads. My question is what specifically will he do? What is he likely to do in the matter with Flower?”
Averson’s hands were visibly trembling. He extracted a bottle of pills from his pocket . . . Koch stared at the performance critically; jump-stress, maybe. There were younger men in that condition among them.
“You have to give them data to convince them of cooperation,” Averson said. “But no, sir, they haven’t gone down there because your threat is believed. They believe the line you’ve drawn.” Averson tucked the pill into his mouth, put the bottle away, an annoyingly meticulous process with shaking hands. “If they fear too much they could also leave this star. Break down the whole treaty arrangement by going back to home space and reporting a human-mri alliance. Fact is, we don’t know that mri and humans are the only sapient life regul are in contact with. We don’t know that any exist. We don’t know anything about what lies inside or the other side of regul space. And we know this one direction, where all the worlds but this one are dead; and we need to get back, sir. If no one gets back—who’ll tell it?”
Koch leaned chin on his locked hands and frowned. There were things not spread to Averson’s level . . . that Saber might not be the sole mission; that Kesrith would send out another, and another . . . desperate to have an answer. The way to the mri homeworld was the mri’s secret, and humanity’s, and regul . . . when Shirug reached home . . . their secret too. And if a human marker were not in place broadcasting peace to ships which came . . . human ships would move in with force. It might take time; second missions might go world by world, years upon years in searching dead worlds: they had followed mri, quick and desperate. But come they would, if humans feared enough, if men and equipment sufficed to hurl out here.