mammals the young do not go through a pupal stage where all they can do is passively listen and learn.” Yeicurpilal had evidently done ample reading and research on her own into the habits of these peculiar creatures.
“The break in the fence must be reported so it can be repaired.” Nilwengerex glanced again at the representative of the Grand Council. “Not to keep us from wandering beyond the restricted area, but to keep curious and potentially dangerous humans out. No one wants a repetition of the Amazon hive incident.”
“Certainly not I,” Joshumabad agreed with feeling. He turned back. “It is growing late, and I would rather not be caught outside the compound after dark. You two may be comfortable in the night of this world, but I am not.” Reflecting his agitation, his antennae bobbed and weaved aimlessly. “Yet despite such revelations, all reports indicate that those of you stationed here enjoy your contact with these humans.”
“They are all right,” Nilwengerex conceded. “They simply have a surplus of energy that they have never been able to channel properly. When our relations have become sufficiently close, it is hypothesized by those specialists concerned with such matters that we may be able to offer them some assistance in such matters.”
“
If
our relations become sufficiently close,” a brooding Joshumabad reminded him. “Too much energy, you say?”
“Not I,” Nilwengerex corrected him. “Our students of alien psychology. Though I would not dispute their assessment.”
“
Chrri!k,
at least it has done them well. They have advanced rapidly.”
Yeicurpilal had been silent for a while. Now she spoke anew. “Only technologically.”
Joshumabad eyed her curiously. “Your words are straightforward, but your gestures are circumspect. What else do you mean to say?”
The Grand Council’s second-in-command on Earth regarded the visitor evenly. “You saw the reaction of the adult to our interaction with the larva. It does not matter if juveniles are involved or not, or only adults, or specialists, or even those who seek to help us bond with their kind. Beneath every interaction, whether successful or a failure, hopeful or uncertain, enthusiastic or rote, the undertones are the same. Sometimes they are subtle, sometimes blatant, but they are almost never absent.”
Indicating confusion, Joshumabad turned to Nilwengerex for clarification. “What is she talking about?”
“These humans,” the specialist informed him. “They are indeed technologically advanced. Even a cursory study of their history shows that they have overcome extraordinary odds and exceptional difficulties to reach the place where they are today, having successfully preserved their own world while settling many others. In spite of this, what the senior female says is indisputable. One does not have to be a qualified xenologist to see it.”
“See what?” Joshumabad demanded impatiently.
Nilwengerex regarded the visitor quietly. “That they are not happy.”
6
M inister Saluafata was not nervous about meeting his Pitarian counterpart. Having on occasion dealt with the eminently reasonable yet harrowingly grotesque-looking thranx, he anticipated no difficulty in sitting down at the table with one or more nonhumans who resembled tridee luminaries more than visiting aliens. He looked forward to the forthcoming interaction. Only the outcome concerned him.
This was to be no ordinary meeting. Much more was at stake today than superficial agreements on cultural exchange or travel rights. Such matters could be, and were being, handled by assistant ministers and second-echelon diplomats. Only for something as important as this was someone of Saluafata’s stature personally involved.
That stature extended to his physical as well as mental proportions. Though not particularly rangy, the minister was huge. A legacy of his chiefly forefathers, he was almost as wide as he was tall, and very little of it was fat. A
“The break in the fence must be reported so it can be repaired.” Nilwengerex glanced again at the representative of the Grand Council. “Not to keep us from wandering beyond the restricted area, but to keep curious and potentially dangerous humans out. No one wants a repetition of the Amazon hive incident.”
“Certainly not I,” Joshumabad agreed with feeling. He turned back. “It is growing late, and I would rather not be caught outside the compound after dark. You two may be comfortable in the night of this world, but I am not.” Reflecting his agitation, his antennae bobbed and weaved aimlessly. “Yet despite such revelations, all reports indicate that those of you stationed here enjoy your contact with these humans.”
“They are all right,” Nilwengerex conceded. “They simply have a surplus of energy that they have never been able to channel properly. When our relations have become sufficiently close, it is hypothesized by those specialists concerned with such matters that we may be able to offer them some assistance in such matters.”
“
If
our relations become sufficiently close,” a brooding Joshumabad reminded him. “Too much energy, you say?”
“Not I,” Nilwengerex corrected him. “Our students of alien psychology. Though I would not dispute their assessment.”
“
Chrri!k,
at least it has done them well. They have advanced rapidly.”
Yeicurpilal had been silent for a while. Now she spoke anew. “Only technologically.”
Joshumabad eyed her curiously. “Your words are straightforward, but your gestures are circumspect. What else do you mean to say?”
The Grand Council’s second-in-command on Earth regarded the visitor evenly. “You saw the reaction of the adult to our interaction with the larva. It does not matter if juveniles are involved or not, or only adults, or specialists, or even those who seek to help us bond with their kind. Beneath every interaction, whether successful or a failure, hopeful or uncertain, enthusiastic or rote, the undertones are the same. Sometimes they are subtle, sometimes blatant, but they are almost never absent.”
Indicating confusion, Joshumabad turned to Nilwengerex for clarification. “What is she talking about?”
“These humans,” the specialist informed him. “They are indeed technologically advanced. Even a cursory study of their history shows that they have overcome extraordinary odds and exceptional difficulties to reach the place where they are today, having successfully preserved their own world while settling many others. In spite of this, what the senior female says is indisputable. One does not have to be a qualified xenologist to see it.”
“See what?” Joshumabad demanded impatiently.
Nilwengerex regarded the visitor quietly. “That they are not happy.”
6
M inister Saluafata was not nervous about meeting his Pitarian counterpart. Having on occasion dealt with the eminently reasonable yet harrowingly grotesque-looking thranx, he anticipated no difficulty in sitting down at the table with one or more nonhumans who resembled tridee luminaries more than visiting aliens. He looked forward to the forthcoming interaction. Only the outcome concerned him.
This was to be no ordinary meeting. Much more was at stake today than superficial agreements on cultural exchange or travel rights. Such matters could be, and were being, handled by assistant ministers and second-echelon diplomats. Only for something as important as this was someone of Saluafata’s stature personally involved.
That stature extended to his physical as well as mental proportions. Though not particularly rangy, the minister was huge. A legacy of his chiefly forefathers, he was almost as wide as he was tall, and very little of it was fat. A
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