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CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Fibians had laid down some sort of hard plasticlike sheeting over the webbing on the floor and their feet rebounded from it with a whoompa whoompa sound, the Fibian's footsteps . . . or clawsteps . . . tac-tacing in counterpoint.

We sound like a tap-dancing tuba player, Raeder thought.

He felt a brief pang for the dignified entrance he'd imagined making into the presence of the leaders of the single nonhuman sentient species yet discovered. But the only other solutions that had come to him were some sort of snowshoe arrangement, an image he'd instantly dismissed, or crawling in like a snake.

Has-sre turned to them as they approached the door of Lady Sisree's private audience chamber. A heavy veil of webbing shrouded the entrance, so that nothing could be seen of the room beyond.

"I will go before you to announce your presence to the lady," he said. "Please wait here."

Peter and his group nodded. Has-sre turned to Sun-hes uncertainly and their teacher responded with an affirmative gesture.

After the first assistant had gone behind the curtain, Raeder turned to Sun-hes. He imitated the gesture the Fibian had made to Has-sre.

"This means yes?" he asked.

Sun-hes nodded and a nervous Peter struggled not to laugh.

"If I had a tailwhip," he said, "I'd have just snapped it."

Sun-hes snapped his. "It seems we share a sense of humor," he said. "Surely with a basis like that for friendship all should go well between our people."

Peter made the gesture for yes.

"The lady will see you now," Has-sre said. He pulled aside the curtain.

Raeder and his party moved forward, walking on tiptoe as they tried, unsuccessfully, to keep the plastic from rebounding quite so noisily.

So much for a decorous entrance, the commander thought. We look like we're trying to sneak up on her ladyship. And it was my idea, too. 

Then he lifted his head and saw her. Through his ear link he heard Ticknor building up to a scream, saying, "Ah—ah—ah—ah," over and over. You screech in my ear, Ticknor, and I'll give you something to be really scared of. 

She was enormous, huge, gigantic, easily twice as large as the males who accompanied them. The males were around five feet tall, give or take three inches, which made the lady who towered over them at least ten feet in height.

And I thought the front door was just for show, Raeder thought.

The lady was slung in a huge web hammock that hung from the ceiling high above them; it creaked slightly with her every move. Gems that looked like emerald, diamond, and tourmaline were woven into the fabric of it and glittered in the soft, omnidirectional light. Behind her was a large screen from which the queen appeared to be looking the humans over.

Raeder wondered if the queen was really that much larger than the lady Sisree, or if it was merely an illusion caused by her appearing on vid—some sort of holographic protocol.

He and his crew held their hands in the position of the first degree of respect and bowed their heads courteously. Sun-hes had told them that bowing from the waist was simply too ghastly looking, for in that Fibian-like position it suddenly appeared to him as though they had been cut in half, with three sets of legs and most of their thorax missing.

Lady Sisree extended her pedipalps to her guests. This gracious gesture was usually only offered to Fibians in the highest favor. Sisree offered it in this case because she wanted to know more about these aliens. The type of information that could easily be gathered simply by touching and smelling them, as well as getting a really close look at them. Their skin, for example, and hair were very intriguing to her, and her mother was most interested in their simple-looking eyes.

Sun-hes froze in astonishment at the magnitude of the lady's condescension, so Raeder knew it was an exceptional moment. He went to stand by her couch and reaching forward gently touched the lady's armored fingers.

"What is this?" she exclaimed in her sweet, wavering voice.

Her great head rushed forward and Peter had all he could do not to jump backwards at the suddenness of the movement. He could almost feel his heart bump up against the top of his skull from the shock. From Ticknor he heard nothing and surmised that the linguist had fainted.

Sisree inhaled and he could feel the rush of air flow from him towards her as she did so.

"Where did you meet with a Fibian child?" Sisree demanded. "You," she gestured towards Sarah, "come forward."

Sarah did so, bowing her head as she reached the lady's couch. Strands of her hair lifted and flowed towards the lady's giant face as the Fibian examined her.

"It is not of our clan," the lady said. "But it is most definitly the scent of a Fibian child."

"Answer," said Queen Tewsee. "Where did you meet with this child?"

"We thought he might be young," Raeder said, "but we had no idea he was still a child. He's easily as tall as our teacher, here."

"An older child, by the scent," Sisree confirmed. "But not yet at his maturity. I smell fear as well and perhaps . . ." She sniffed again. "Hunger?"

"We've done our best with protein paste and fluids," the commander told them. "But we've nothing on board that ordinarily would be part of a Fibian diet."

"Hungry, alone and frightened. You will bring him to me," the queen said.

"He is a child of Clan Snargx," Raeder told her, "and seemed frightened at the idea of contact with Nrgun."

"He is a child. I will make him one with our clan," Tewsee answered.

"He has been helping us to learn your language," Sarah said.

"Sun-hes will help you with that," the queen told her. "You will bring the child to me immediately," she said firmly. "When I have spoken to him I will see you again. This audience is now ended."

The screen went blank, as did the lady Sisree, who sat motionless in her hammock. Raeder and Sarah looked at one another.

Peter opened his mouth to speak and Sisree interrupted him. "This audience is over," she said. "You will go and get the child, then you will return here. When the queen and I have finished speaking with the child the audience will resume."

"I was wondering," Raeder said quickly, "if we might have clearance for another shuttle to bring him down? It would save time."

"Agreed," Sisree said. "Has-sre, see that it is done. You and your party may wait without," she said in dismissal. "We will call for you when we are through."

The humans bowed their heads, backing away with one eye on Sun-hes until he turned his back on the giant female, then they followed suit and left the audience chamber.

"Truon?" Raeder said.

"Here, sir," the XO answered.

Here indeed: along with most of the other senior officers Truon Le had been listening and watching through the same link that Ticknor was using.

"I'm on it," Truon said.

"My executive officer is taking care of it," Raeder said to Sun-hes. "Sna-Fe should be on his way in a few minutes."

"How is it that no one else seemed to notice the scent of this youngster?" Trudeau asked with a lawerly squint at their protocol expert.

"Our ladies have an enhanced sense of smell," Sun-hes answered. "Our scientists have instruments that can also detect odors such as the scent of a child or of another clan: but we had no idea that we would find them lingering about your persons." He changed the positioning of his body, until he looked more foursquare somehow. "Why is it that you never mentioned the prescence of a Fibian on board your ship? Let alone a child."

"It was a matter between Clan Snargx and ourselves," Raeder said after a moment's thought. "We didn't want to involve Clan Nrgun in our troubles."

"A good answer," Sun-hes replied. "In any case I will ask no more; it is not my place to do so. Shall we continue our lessons in the interim?"

"Sir!" Truon said through their link.

Raeder held up his hand. "What is it, Truon?"

"Please wait a moment," Sarah said quietly to their teacher. "The commander has an incoming message."

"We have a problem. When we went to the Fibian's cell and told him that the queen wanted to see him, he went nuts. He's throwing himself against the walls. We've retracted the sink and toilet into the walls and inflated the wall covering to minimize any damage he can do himself, but he's just wild, sir."

Raeder looked at Sun-hes a moment, then came to a decision.

"When my people informed the youngster that he was being taken down to the planet to meet your queen he . . . panicked," the commander said. "We're worried that he might do himself an injury. Is there some gentle way that we can render him unconcious until he's here? Maybe even after he gets here. We don't want to risk his doing her majesty an injury."

"That would never happen!" Sun-hes said instantly. "No Fibian of whatever clan would offer harm to a queen." He snapped his tailwhip weakly. "For one thing, you've seen the difference in size between us. What harm could the child do?"

"I have no idea," the commander said. "But I wouldn't like to see it happen. Nor do I want this child to do himself an injury. How can we calm him down?"

Sun-hes froze for a moment, then said, "Project this sound to him." The protocol expert then began to emit a low and rather pleasing hum interspersed with short sharp clicks of his mandibles.

"Are you getting this?" Raeder asked.

"Yes, sir. Transmitting." After a moment Truon said, "This is amazing! The Fibian is slowing down, he's falling, he's on the floor. I think he's asleep, sir!"

"Keep playing that sound to him as you transport him," Peter said. "We don't want him waking up in transit."

There were a lot of ways an angry, frightened person could hurt themselves, and everybody else, while in a shuttle.

"Aye, sir," Truon said. "He's on his way."

"He's asleep and on his way," Raeder told the group. "Thank you, Sun-hes, you may have saved that kid's life."

"It is nothing," the Fibian said with a negating gesture. "I have fostered many children in my time. Sometimes they become overwrought."

"Does that always work?" Lurhman asked.

"Oh, yes," Sun-hes said. "With a hundred children in care at any given time, we need something that is one hundred percent effective. One would have to overuse it terribly for it to even begin to lose effect. The hum loses its power entirely in adulthood, of course. Which is probably just as well."

"Wow," Lurhman said softly. "A lullaby that really works. We sure could have used that at my house when my baby sister was born. That kid never shut up."

"You have nothing like the hum?" Sun-hes asked. "How do you manage all your children?"

"Well, we're wired differently," Sarah said. "And we have fewer children at a time."

* * *

"I am most upset," Tewsee said as she paced her chamber. She had renewed contact with her daughter as soon as she saw the aliens leave the room. "Why would they withhold such information from us?"

"The child is hungry and frightened," Sisree reminded her mother. "That is nothing to boast about." She waved her pedipalps in a graceful gesture that denoted confusion. "I wonder how they obtained custody of him?"

"The child himself will tell us that," Tewsee answered. "I only hope that I have achieved some degree of calm before he arrives. I would hate to frighten the poor little thing more."

"He will be on the cusp of adulthood, Mother," Sisree reminded her. "Not so small."

"But a delicate time of life, my dear. Or have you forgotten so soon?"

Sisree rotated her head and snapped her tailwhip. No, she hadn't forgotten, nor was she likely to with her mother to remind her.

"I wish I knew of some of your escapades, Mother. I'd rather enjoy having something to throw at you at moments like these."

"What escapades?" the queen asked. "I was always a perfect model of decorum. I knew my place and honored my mother with my flawless behavior."

"Oh, dear!" Sisree said dramatically. "Something is stirring in my digestive sac."

Tewsee clicked her mandibles. "I've told you often enough to chew the proper number of times, daughter."

Tewsee snapped her tailwhip, and clicked her mandibles heartily. Then she grew quiet.

"What will we do if the humans kidnapped the child?" she asked.

"We will find out why. We will find out all that we can." The queen paused. "Their ship is wounded and will probably need extensive repairs before they can return to their own system. We could refuse to help them with those repairs, refuse to let them come to the surface of the clan home. If they then decided to leave, the problem would be out of our hands. If they decided to stay . . . well, I suppose we'd have to feed them."

"And if they stay and then start to have young of their own?"

Tewsee shuddered. "Not a pretty thought, daughter. If that should happen then the children would be treated differently. If we are going to punish them for abusing a child how could we justify abusing theirs?" The queen flicked her pedipalps as though disposing of something nasty. "This unpleasantness has given me an appetite," she said. "I shall have something to eat before the child comes."

"Should I have the child fed before he sees you, Mother?" Lady Sisree asked.

"No. I shall feed him myself. It will help him to imprint on me. Have the child brought to me directly from the spaceport. Don't stop to clean him or speak to him or anything else. I want him here immediately."

"I understand, your majesty," Sisree answered, accepting the order with formality.

Has-sre came in and with a bow to his lady said, "The aliens have released a shuttle, your majesty. It should be at the spaceport within fifty stansis."

"Excellent," Tewsee said.

"The aliens have also asked for permission to greet their shuttle when it lands," Has-sre said.

"Why?" the queen asked suspiciously.

"They said that they wished to assure themselves that the child arrived safely."

Sisree sat forward on her couch. "Do they actually mean to imply that they imagine we would do the child harm?" she demanded.

"I could not say, Lady. I suspect that they wish the reassurance of meeting with their own kind."

"That is a generous thought, First Assistant," Tewsee said. "It does you credit, and it might well be so. Quesh can be a bit overwhelming, I suppose."

Sisree clicked her mandibles. "Visitors from other clans have said so," she allowed.

The queen was silent a moment. Then she said, "I want to think well of our visitors, daughter. But at this moment I don't see how I can."

"You should eat something, as you suggested, Mother." Sisree rose from her couch. "As will I. Let the aliens go to greet their fellows at the spaceport, I can see no harm in it." The lady looked hard at her first assistant. "They will be watched to determine that there is no exchange of weapons or some such. Won't they, Has-sre?"

The first assistant bowed. "Of course, my lady."

"Until later, then," the queen said after a thoughtful pause.

"Until then, Mother."

* * *

"Couldn't resist, eh, Mr. Truon?" Raeder said to his XO. Well, I wouldn't have been able to either in his position. No indeed, he'd have found any means necessary to hit the planet's surface at the earliest opportunity.

Truon smiled a bit sheepishly, but nodded in agreement.

"We've brought some extra food and water with us as well," he told the commander. "Since we didn't know how much longer you'd be here."

"How's Sna-Fe holding up?" Peter asked as he watched some ratings guide a float-pallet down the shuttle's ramp.

"Sound asleep, sir. At least as far as we can tell. He's breathing and he's quiet." Truon shrugged. "For all we know he could be in a coma."

"That would be bad," Raeder said. Bad for him and bad for us. 

It had been a while since he'd seen the young Fibian, and he didn't look good. Not just because he was unconscious and sprawled in an ungainly heap upon a piece of furniture not designed to accomodate his shape. His shell was dull; it even seemed to be flaking apart in places and that couldn't be good.

"Poor kid," Sarah said. She looked at Raeder almost apologetically. "I know it's not our fault. His being with us was the merest fluke. But knowing he's just a boy . . ." She gestured helplessly. "It's just too bad."

"My impression from things our instructor has said leads me to believe that someone Sna-Fe's age on a fighting ship is highly unusual," the ship's lawyer said. "Do we know whether that was a fluke, someone bringing a favorite son along, or is it Clan Snargx company policy?"

Raeder frowned in thought.

"Mr. Ticknor?" he said. "Are you listening?"

"Yes, Commander."

"Well? Did you ask Sna-Fe about this? Is it unusual for someone as young as he is to be on a Snargx warship?"

"I never thought to ask that question specifically, Commander. You'll recall that I told you I suspected he was rather young. But he steadfastly refused to answer any personal questions or questions about his ship, or his friends. He was a clam. I'm sorry."

"That's all right, Mr. Ticknor, not your fault. I'm glad that you asked some questions, though. If her majesty asks if we even tried to find out anything about this kid, we'll be able to say yes. How are you holding up?"

"Better than I thought I would," Sirgay answered. "I, uh, lost it there for a few minutes," he said, sounding embarrassed.

"I noticed." Raeder grinned. "Can't say I blame you. I hadn't expected her to be so big."

"No," Ticknor said in a falling-away voice.

"Okay," Raeder said, not without some sympathy, "catch you later. Keep up the good work."

A crew of Fibians came up to the small party of humans. One of them stepped forward, holding his pedipalps in a very sloppy third degree of respect, almost the fourth.

"We have been sent to gather up the young one and bring him to our queen," he said.

Sun-hes went rigid at the implied disrespect inherent in the soldier's attitude. Raeder noticed it also, and simply dispensed with Fibian courtesies, pointing at the floating pallet.

The soldier gestured his companions forward and they trotted into position around the unconscious figure. The humans kept hold of the pallet and looked to Raeder questioningly. He nodded and the humans stood back, letting the Fibians take charge.

"You should go back to your ship now," the Fibian leader said. "You," he said to Raeder, "should return to the palace to wait on her majesty's pleasure."

"You must give me your name," Raeder answered, "so that I can tell her majesty of your courtesy in the performance of your duties."

The Fibian froze and a full thirty seconds later said, "Sim-has is my name. I am a huntmaster of the queen's guard. She will know me."

"Excellent," the commander said, awarding the Fibian an exaggerated grin. He waggled his eyebrows. "I will be sure to tell her."

The huntmaster spread his chelicerae in unconscious revulsion and backed away a few steps, then quickly spun about and hurried after his soldiers.

"I think you may have grossed him out a bit there, sir," Lurhman said cheerfully.

"Gosh I hope so," Raeder said. He frowned. "Though that's probably unfair of me. From all he knows we're kidnappers and child abusers."

Sarah sighed, then with a shake of her head turned to Truon Le.

"Did you say you brought food?" she asked the XO.

"Yes, I did." He gestured to one of the ratings and the young woman rushed into the shuttle, returning with a large container.

"I didn't know how long you'd be here," Truon said, "so I had them pack enough for this evening and for breakfast."

"Good!" Hu said and took possession of the bin. "I'm starving."

"You'd better get going," Raeder said to the shuttle crew. "Thank you, Truon."

The XO saluted and Raeder returned it.

"Good luck, sir."

"Thank you, Truon. Same to you." After all, my luck is your luck. 

On the way back to the palace Sun-hes eyed the food box curiously.

"If I do not overstep by asking, Commander, what is it that humans eat?"

"Well," Peter said. How do I answer without giving offense? "We humans are omnivorous. Unlike Fibians we make fruits and vegetables a regular part of our meals."

"Some of us," Trudeau said, "eat only vegetables and fruits."

The humans watched their Fibian teacher closely to see if they could discern how this was affecting him.

"You do eat meat, then?" Sun-hes asked.

"Ye-es," Raeder said. "But . . . we cook it."

"We have to," Sarah put in. "Our mouthparts don't handle raw meat very well. Neither do our digestive systems."

"What we're trying to say," said Hu, "is that we don't eat live prey."

"Oh," the Fibian said and became quiet for a time.

Oh? Peter thought. Oh, as in uh-oh, or oh, as in oh, yeah, that's what I thought? 

"You know that we eat our food live?" the teacher said.

The humans nodded.

"Yes," Raeder said. "May I be frank?"

Sun-hes invited him to continue with a gesture.

"We find that terribly disturbing. So we assumed that you might find our eating habits equally disturbing. It would probably be best if we didn't eat in front of each other, don't you think?"

The Fibian made a noncommital gesture. "I'm not a diplomat," he said. "And neither are you, I suspect." Raeder and the others clapped their hands in what they'd agreed would substitute for smiles and laughter and struggled not to change expression. "I will try to find some delicate way to convey this information to her majesty and Lady Sisree. It is definitely something they should know."

"Sun-hes," Raeder said. "I must tell you that Clan Snargx has been making war on us, in alliance with some of Star Command's human enemies. What will happen if this child of Clan Snargx tells the queen something untrue about us? What if he says we deliberately harmed him?"

"He will not lie to the queen," Sun-hes assured them.

"How can you know that?" Lurhman asked. "He might well consider it his duty to Clan Snargx."

"He might if a huntmaster, or a soldier, or I were to question him. But he cannot lie to the queen. She has said that she will make him one with Clan Nrgun. He will not be able to lie to her."

The humans looked at one another.

"How does that work, exactly?" Raeder asked.

"Exactly?" Sun-hes said. "I do not know. This is hardly my area of expertise. But our females can release hormones that cause emotional changes in us males that can change our behavior."

"Even against your better judgement?" Lurhman asked.

"Judgement is the first thing to go," Sun-hes assured them with a click. "Have you humans no equivelent?"

"Well . . . yes, I guess so," Raeder said. "But it's kind of mutual, and not under anybody's control." His glance flicked over to Sarah and he found her looking at him, a fond smile in her eyes.

"You should allow Has-sre to examine the contents of that box," their teacher said. "He will want to, I'm sure. If you offer it would be courteous."

I think I'll just take that as an order from the queen, Raeder thought. However courteously expressed. 

"We'll do that," Peter said.

"It won't take long, will it?" Hu asked. "I'm really hungry."

* * *

The child ate the last bloody slice of meat and Tewsee crooned him to sleep. She sat on her couch and just watched him breathe. After a solid meal and a great deal of reassurance the child was already looking better. His color was slowly changing from red to blue and just now was caught in a violet hue. Rather pretty in its way.

After a few minutes she rose and quietly left the room. Little Sna-Fe had given her much to think about. And all of it was terrible. She was reluctant to even speak about it but knew that soon it would be all that she spoke of, and all that she heard spoken of. So now she retired to her rooms for a last hour of peace. On the way she told Hoo-seh, her first assistant, to see to the child, so that he wouldn't wake up alone in a strange place. The poor little warrior had done that too often of late.

Alone in her room Tewsee huddled miserably, trying to remember what the world had felt like before she'd spoken to a child of Clan Snargx.

* * *

"And, of course, it is considered courteous to praise the goods one has purchased once the bargaining is done. But only with street vendors should one be offering to bargain."

"Surely," Trudeau said politely, "when hammering out a trade agreement a great deal of bargaining goes on."

"Yes," Sun-hes agreed with a click of his mandibles. "But then it is called negotiation."

The humans clapped their hands to show amusement.

After this many hours of practice, Raeder thought, we're all getting pretty good at this no-facial-expressions-show-your-feelings-with-your-hands thing. And it had been a good many hours.

Raeder stood. "Aren't you tired?" he asked the Fibian.

Stopped in full spate of explaining the Nrgun ettiquette of negotiation, Sun-hes stared at the commander for a moment, confused.

"Tired?" he said at last. "I have been enjoying your company." He made an encompassing gesture. "Do I seem . . . ?"

"Actually, you seem as though you could go straight through to tomorrow morning without pausing for so much as a sip of water, teacher. Do Fibians ever get tired?" Raeder stood up from where he'd been sitting against the wall and folded his arms across his chest.

Sun-hes looked around at the humans, then looked at Raeder.

"Yes, I am tired, not bored by any means, but a bit weary."

"Hungry?" the commander asked.

"That, too, Commander."

"Perhaps you should go and get something to eat, then," Peter said.

"I would not feel comfortable leaving you alone and hungry while I ate," Sun-hes said. He looked around at them again. "I will go and inquire what sort of accommodation might have been made for you. Obviously you can't be expected to sleep in the hallway." He moved down the hallway towards the reception area. "I will be right back," he said over his shoulder.

"Thank you, Commander," Mark Hu said. "I'm starving."

"I suspect Sun-hes liked the way you handled that, sir," Trudeau said. "Nothing direct, all very polite, if pointed. I feel like we've learned a lot today."

"Thank you, Trudeau," Peter said. "What I'd really like to learn is what's going on.

"Well," Sarah said, "if what Sun-hes told us is true and the child can't lie to the queen—"

"That's a big if," the commander said.

"Granted. But if it is true, then the queen knows that we didn't kidnap Sna-Fe, nor did we deliberately mistreat him. They probably cleared that up pretty fast," she said. "The way the two females acted I'm sure it was the first thing they asked him."

"What's your point, Lieutenant Commander?" Trudeau asked.

"Her point is," Raeder said, leaning against the wall next to Sarah, "that over the last few hours Sna-Fe must have filled their ears with Clan Snargx's doings for the last few years. And I don't think it made very soothing listening." He resumed his pacing. "It all depends, of course, on the character of Clan Nrgun."

"They seem really nice," Lurhman said hopefully. "Even when that huntmaster was rude to us the reason he was rude is a kind of a respectable one. Don't you think?" she asked Sarah.

"We've been to the spaceport and here," Sarah said. "We've mostly talked to Sun-hes, and a little bit to the huntmaster of the ship that escorted us here." She shook her head. "That's too small a sample to determine the character of a people."

"But we're asking them to do that based on an equally small number of people," Raeder said. "It's unfair, and probably unrealistic, but I'm hoping they decide to trust us."

Sun-hes came hurrying down the hallway towards them.

"You are to be escorted into the presence of the queen herself," he said, visibly nervous.

"Can we eat first?" Hu asked plaintively.

"No time," the teacher said. "Your escort is on its way and the queen's chambers are across the palace from here. It will take a while to reach her."

A small group of six guards appeared and came to a standstill before the humans.

"The queen commands your presence," their leader proclaimed.

Raeder wasn't sure, but he thought he recognized their aquaintance from the spaceport. More respectful this time, though. The Fibian held his pedipalps in a crisp third degree of definitive respect. Or maybe he's just more careful within the palace walls. 

"Okay, people," Raeder said, "let's go."

* * *

Despite Sun-hes' instruction not to bow because of the way it looked, Peter found himself bowing to Queen Tewsee. It was that or fall down. She was bigger than the lady Sisree, unbelievable as that seemed. He found himself fighting down an atavistic terror that wouldn't have been out of place in Ticknor's worst nightmares.

Suddenly he felt Sarah's hand in his and he pulled himself upright and looked the queen right in the eyes. Don't speak, he reminded himself. Royalty speaks first or everyone remains silent. 

"From what Sna-Fe tells me his capture and subsequent imprisonment on your ship was the merest accident."

"That is true, your majesty," Raeder said. His heart still beat fast enough that he imagined it was visible through his uniform shirt.

"He also informs me that your people have cared for him as well as you can. You humans do not eat live food, he tells me."

"No, your majesty."

"What do you know of the affairs of Clan Snargx?" the queen asked.

"Very little, your majesty. They are allied with our human enemies, and we have no idea ourselves how that alliance was formed. Nor do we know why they have made it."

"Why do you think they have made this alliance?" Tewsee asked with a bitter emphasis in her flat and wavering voice.

The humans glanced at one another. I think they're doing it for the antihydrogen, Peter thought. What I don't know is whether I should share that with you. 

Trudeau leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "She knows. Or she wouldn't ask so directly."

True, Peter thought, remembering his sucess in sending Sun-hes off to inquire about their food and lodging. I'm definitely no diplomat or I'd have realized that. 

"Your majesty, our enemies are in possession of a rare and wonderful natural resource that the Commonwealth requires in order to survive. The Mollies, our enemies, do not want to make use of this substance themselves, and they do not wish to share it with us. Their hope is that if they deny us the use of it most of humanity will die, or fall back into barbarism."

The queen froze as she thought that over.

"It seems," she said at last, "that Snargx has found the perfect ally. Beings as mad and cruel and perverted as themselves. I will not ask you why these humans wish all of humanity to die. It is none of Clan Nrgun's affair. Snargx never told you humans that there were other clans out here, did they?"

"I cannot answer that, your majesty," Raeder said. "They may have told our enemies. Though that seems unlikely, given the nature of the Mollies."

The queen leaned forward, putting her face on a level with Peter's.

"Is it true," she asked, "that some of Clan Snargx's representatives have executed human prisoners by eating them?"

Raeder found himself holding his breath. Strangely, though her appearance frightened him still on a visceral level, he didn't feel threatened by her.

"Yes, your majesty, it is true. I have seen vids of such executions."

With a sound like a gasp, she turned and fled the room. Peter stood there and blinked in astonishment.

Now what? he wondered. Do the guards come in and make mincemeat out of us? 

Sun-hes collapsed slowly into a little pile of legs and joints.

"Are you all right?" Sarah asked him. She approached the Fibian cautiously and knelt by his head. "Sun-hes?"

"Intelligent beings," he said weakly, his voice sounding like a squeaking hinge. "How could they?"

The humans, used to centuries of man's inhumanity to man, exchanged glances but said nothing.

"Are you going to be all right?" Raeder asked, kneeling beside Sarah. "Should we call for help?"

A shudder wracked the Fibian's armored body and he struggled weakly to his clawed feet.

"There is no help for such a monstrous thing," the teacher said. "I wish the knowlege of it was not in my head." He shook his head as though to dislodge the unwelcome images it conveyed.

Hoo-seh entered and spoke to them. "Her majesty is too overwrought to continue this audience tonight. She requests that you accept our hospitality for the night, that you may continue your discussion in the morning."

"Thank you," Raeder said. "We would be honored to accept her majesty's hospitality."

"I will leave you then," Sun-hes said. His body still shook with spasms. "I wish to be alone."

* * *

"They're very upset," Hu said when they were alone together in the room that had been prepared for them.

Raeder looked at the heaps of webbing, looked around for some sort of washroom, then looked around for a certain box.

"Anybody see the food?" he asked.

"Here it is," Sarah said.

She bent down behind one of the fluffy heaps of webbing and hoisted it up with a smile. Raeder went over and took it from her.

"Who's hungry?" he asked.

"Sir," Hu said, putting his hand on the commander's arm.

Raeder looked into the younger man's earnest face.

"What is it, Hu?"

"They're very upset about this eating of prisoners, sir," the historian said. "Isn't it possible that they'd like to, maybe, erase that knowledge?"

Raeder closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them he considered Hu.

"I understand what you're asking, Hu," Raeder said. "And I know that in human societies there's certainly evidence of attempts to eliminate bad news by eliminating anyone who knows about it. But, somehow, given their behavior so far, I don't think we have anything to worry about." At least not yet. 

"What happens, happens," Trudeau said. "To be blunt, they've got us whenever they want us, and there's nothing we can do about it. We couldn't even if we were back on Invincible, not with damaged engines and short of fuel."

"So, given that fact," Lurhman said, reaching into the box and pulling out a sandwich, "we might as well eat. I'm—"

"Hungry," Hu said and snatched the sandwich out of her hands. He took a big bite and said through a very full mouth, "If I gotta go, at least it will be with a full stomach."

"Should we watch him to see what happens?" Sarah asked, arching a brow.

"Heck with that," Peter said reaching into the box. "I'm starved."

 

 

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