"Truly," Preed agreed. "Allow me, if you will, to detail ssome of the sspecific ssuggestionss I am authorized to make, and to elaborate upon how they might be implemented to our mutual advantage."
"I would enjoy hearing them." Smiling encouragingly, Sertoa turned fully toward his reptilian guest, admiring the play of the tanning lights on the AAnn's gleaming, iridescent scales.
When in the course of the next morning's casual conversation an acquaintance happened to mention that Jorge Sertoa had spent the entire previous morning and well on into the afternoon in the company of a visiting, high-ranking AAnn envoy, Fanielle Anjou began a frantic search of the compound for the pair. She was more than a little exhausted and out of breath when she was eventually directed to the diplomatic compound's gymnasium and health complex. At first thought, it seemed an unlikely venue in which to pursue diplomacy between differing species. It did have the virtue of comparative privacy, however. That in itself conjured unwelcome possibilities she tried but was unable to put out of her mind.
She thought about mentioning it to Toroni, but without anything more to go on than suspicions of suspicions, she could hardly go barging into his office with eyebrows raised and arms flailing. She would have to bring something more to such a confrontational meeting than a personal dislike of the reptilian bipeds.
It was midafternoon when she found herself peeling off her clothes as she strode determinedly through the changing room. A few users she knew spoke to her. She returned their hellos and greetings as amiably as she could, even though her mind was elsewhere.
It was almost worth forcing the encounter just to see the look on Sertoa's face when, as naked as anyone else in that end of the complex, she pushed her way into the otherwise deserted tanning room to confront him and the AAnn envoy. Ignoring her open-mouthed colleague, she directed her attention to the alien, whose shimmering, leathery scales served to frame an otherwise interesting if unremarkable anatomy.
"Fanielle . . ." More than a little nonplussed, the unabashedly uncomfortable Sertoa struggled to keep his eyes on her face. Though she paid little attention to him, his efforts to appear resolutely uninterested amused her. She was far more interested in the AAnn. Seated on one of the long wooden benches, his tail switching from floor to wall, the envoy regarded her with curiosity. That his slitted eyes roved freely over her nude form unsettled her not a bit. Being utterly nonhuman, there was nothing in his gaze to affect her.
Bypassing Sertoa, she approached the alien and extended a hand. Not as her colleague had done, but with fingers upraised, crooked at both joints and parted, nails pointing forward. The AAnn did not rise, but gracefully met her gesture with his left hand. Their fingers interlocked, her soft ones separating his tough, leathery digits. She felt the strength of the highly evolved carnivore held in reserve. Then he released his grip. The not-unpleasant sensation reminded her of letting go of the strap of a particularly well made leather handbag. As he leaned back against the molded wall, she introduced herself. Nearby, Sertoa was stammering something as he tried to regain control of the situation. AAnn and female ignored him. For a brief moment, he was unsure which of the two was the more alien.
"I am Fanielle Anjou, second assistant undersecretary for thranx affairs on Hivehom."
Slitted, reptilian eyes met her own. Neither pair fell; neither pair wavered. "I am Baron Preed NNXV, sspecial envoy at large for his Imperial Majessty Hezenezzk V. I greet you as an equal, and wissh you all the natural warmth that doess not exisst in thiss place." One clawed hand gestured second-degree irony. "Except in thiss peculiar but mosst welcome inner chamber. While my quarterss are ssatissfactory, if the facilitiess would allow it, I would gladly sspend the remainder of my sstay right here." Before Anjou could respond, he added, "Does not thiss sstrong light burn your pale, unprotected sskin?"
"If one spends much time in here, yes, it does," she admitted.
Double eyelids blinked. "But you come in here to do thiss voluntarily."
"I already told you; it's necessary for our health," an increasingly impatient Sertoa reminded his guest.
"Most remarkable." The AAnn's gaze traveled unapologetically up and down Anjou's nude form. Not only did it not trouble her, she found it instructive to reciprocate the action. "I was enjoying a usseful chat with your good friend and colleague here concerning the lamentable sstate of human-AAnn relationss, and how it would be agreeable if more attention could be devoted to improving the nasscent relationsship that pressently exisstss between our two peopless. But it sseemss that certain of your associatess feel ssuch time iss better sspent attempting to win over the affection of thesse reeking, sswarming bugss."
"The government of Earth and its colonies manages the development of all interspecies relationships with equal care and attention. I'm sorry if the AAnn feel neglected." Off to one side, Sertoa was looking unhappy.
Preed's jaws parted, showing very sharp theropod-like teeth. "It iss not that we feel neglected. Intersstellar, intersspeciess conssanguinity cannot be fasshioned overnight. It iss merely that ssome of uss feel your people are devoting overmuch in the way of diplomatic energiess to attempting to create ssome kind of association with thesse hard-sshelled creaturess that goess beyond the ussual diplomatic formalitiess. As you musst know, the Empire hass had ssome ssmall differencess with the bugss in the passt. Therefore, it iss only natural that we would pay sspecial attention to anything that would ssuggesst the bugss are attempting to misslead another, powerful sspeciess ssuch as yoursselves as to the true nature of our hisstorical relations."
"I can assure you that is not the case." Perspiration was beginning to pour in tiny rivulets down her body: her cheeks, her shoulders and breasts, down her belly and thighs and back. She ignored the damp stickiness. "My government respects all sentients, and treats equally with all. As to any quarrels you and the thranx may have had in the past, that is none of our business and does not affect our relations with them or with you."
Preed's hands wove patterns in the superheated air, indicating contentment and - something else she could not interpret. "It iss alwayss reassuring to hear ssuch words, particularly from ssomeone sso clearly verssed in the realitiess of intersstellar diplomacy as yoursself, Ms. Anjou. While I have time left here, I would look forward to converssing with you at greater length on ssuch interessting matterss."
"So would I." She blinked sweat from one eye. "Unfortunately, I have to travel to Daret tomorrow."
Sertoa frowned. "I don't recall your being scheduled for a visit to the capital this week."
"You can't know everything, Jorge. You know how these things come up. I'm not happy about it myself." She returned her attention to the AAnn diplomat. "I regret that I will not be able to talk with you further, noble Preed."
He gestured his disappointment. "We musst each of uss follow our directivess. My own sschedule iss ssimilarly inflexible. I wissh you a ssafe journey. I undersstand there wass a ssorrowfully fatal accident recently in your local transsport ssytem that affected you perssonally."
She stiffened slightly. "Yes, it did."
He tilted his head to one side as he gestured balletically with his left hand. "I would disslike hearing that a ssimilar fate had befallen one sso charming and knowledgeable as yoursself."
"I'll be careful," she assured him evenly. "As for you, have a care with your room's climate control. It can sometimes get quite chilly up here at night. And chilly for us could mean forced enervation for you." Somewhat against her better judgment, she allowed herself a small smile. "I would dislike hearing that your stiffened form had to be shipped back to Blassussar in a crate because you forgot to check your room's temperature settings."
Again the AAnn's head and hands danced in concert. This time she could not tell what, if anything, he was gesturing. "I will remember your cautioning with thankss."
Turning, she exited purposefully from the tanning chamber. Sertoa watched her for longer than he intended before resuming his interrupted dialogue with the AAnn.
/> "I fear that where human-thranx versus human-AAnn relations are concerned, my colleague is of a different mind than you or I. She has developed not only a working relationship with the bugs, but something suspiciously like affection. I'm afraid she's allowed her admiration for the local culture to cloud her professional judgment." He resumed his seat on the wooden bench. "She and I often find ourselves on opposite sides of discussions. It's all very polite and professional, of course, but each of us knows where the other stands."
Swinging his long tail around, Preed used the tip to scratch under his left leg. "It iss of no import. My government undersstands that opinion among your kind iss sstrongly divided over how to proceed with human-thranx relationss. It iss my tassk, and that of my compeerss operating on other worldss, to enssure that human-AAnn relationss are not overlooked in thiss headlong russh that iss being advocated by ssome of your people to erect an unnecessarily intimate association with the bugss. In the coursse of normal negotationss it would be unreassonable to expect that everyone in your diplomatic sservice would believe as ssenssibly as yoursself. But that iss all right; that iss acceptable. We musst ssimply work harder to convince Ms. Anjou of the right way of thinking."
Sertoa let out a derisive laugh. "You've only just met Fanielle. You might as well try to move the local star to another system as change her mind."
Preed gestured, expanding to soak up the wonderful parching heat of the chamber. "My people were engaged in the bussiness of intersstellar diplomacy long before your kind took itss firsst tentative sstepss into deep sspace. We have made it, if not a sscience, at leasst a very well honed tool. With great experience and patience, many thingss originally thought impossible have come to pass. Perhapss thesse achievementss might even extend to recruiting your redoubtable Ms. Anjou to our way of thinking." Lowering his spread arms and upraised tail, he settled himself as best he could on the bench opposite the human.
"Now let uss sspeak of comely thingss, of what pleasses you and what pleasses me, and for a while at leasst, talk no more of diplomacy and matterss portentouss."
But while Sertoa nattered on, a portion of the noble's thoughts were devoted to the female human who had so recently departed. She was bright, that one, and determined. An unhealthy combination. Despite what he had told Sertoa about the experience and expertise of the AAnn diplomatic service, and the skill of its operatives, she would be difficult to convince of the right way of seeing things. Procedures lined up in his mind like spikes in an advanced game of jyss-ul-nacch .
If she could not be convinced, she would have to be persuaded.
11
As the most populous of the thranx colonies and the first to be settled from Hivehom, the prideful inhabitants of Willow-Wane had worked to conceive and erect an exceptionally interesting pavilion for the fair on Dawn. Situated in the northern section of the grounds, on a slight rise, it offered much to interest both human and thranx visitors alike. Incidental to its design, its builders had created a place where members of both species could relax in one another's company in ways only the most dedicated adherents of closer ties could have envisioned years earlier.
The pavilion's purpose was entirely nonpolitical. Its exhibits were intended to entertain, amuse, and delight, not proselytize. That they had unintended effects on their audiences, both mammalian and insectoid, might have been predicted but was not considered. Certainly those families, groups, and individuals who found themselves wandering among the displays were not conscious of being bombarded with preconceived propaganda. Nevertheless, a number of innocuous messages managed to manifest themselves amid the more immediate.
We can enjoy one another's company, the several eating and drinking facilities declared wordlessly. We can appreciate each other's art, multiple slash sculptures and background music insisted. We can band together to accomplish that which we cannot do by ourselves, the build-and-climb exhibit demonstrated.
That there were differences could not be denied. For example, the pavilion contained no playground for children, because thranx larvae existed in a state of limbless attention. Their amusements were wholly nonphysical. As a result, there were dozens of visual and aural displays entirely controlled by voice. Larvae could speak, but were otherwise completely dependent on the resources of the modern nursery.
This realization and the accompanying demonstrations had an unintended effect: They generated immediate sympathy on the part of visiting human children for their temporal thranx counterparts. Those larvae who had been chosen to participate in the exhibition found themselves the recipients of sympathetic attention from sad-eyed young bipeds who were already fully capable of movement. Many of the subsequent discourses between the young of both species were recorded for later study and proved highly revealing in the understanding of future developments.
As for the incipient as well as the fully mature adults of both species, they were enthralled by the excellence of the elaborate displays. One of the more popular involved demonstrations of human martial arts and their thranx equivalents. Both species had evolved from warlike ancestors. Humans who were embarrassed by a past now seen to be irrational if inevitable were startled and often overcome by the history display that showed entire hives of ancestral thranx engaging in endless primitive warfare.
As for the martial artists, humans were larger and heavier, and faster over a short distance. But thranx had more endurance and eight limbs to utilize in fighting instead of four, although the delicate truhands were not of much use in hand-to-hand combat and were usually kept folded close to the body and out of the way. Still, clever and well-trained thranx could often hold their own against combative humans. Built closer to the ground, they were harder to get off their feet. A judo leg sweep was not of much use against an opponent who could stand on six legs, and the bodies of the chitinous insectoids offered few soft spots to attack.
Such demonstrations were carefully choreographed and all in good fun. At other exhibits, the individual inclinations of humans contrasted sharply with the thranx tendency to perform tasks through cooperation. Human gymnasts tended to flip and fly by themselves, while their thranx counterparts built astonishingly stable pyramids consisting of dozens of individuals interlocking their hands and feet. These latter edifices were judged not only by their size and by the number of thranx involved in each structure, but by the aesthetics of the completed design.
But it was at the food stations where inhibitions really dropped away, as thranx discovered numerous human foods they could consume and humans luxuriated in the literally hundreds of new juices and soups concocted by thranx food preparators. Great scientific discoveries interest people, as do entertaining new works of art or exceptional demonstrations of physical skill, or ways to improve an individual lifestyle. But nothing enthralls quite so homogeneously as a new flavor.
Briann and Twikanrozex wandered through the pavilion, drawing fewer and briefer stares than they had elsewhere. Everyone was too intent on the exhibits, or on trying new foods and drinks, or on laughing at the wandering thranx sniggle poets, to pay special attention to one roving human-thranx pair. As for the two padres, they did not comment on the obvious lack of attention being paid them. They were too used to each other's company.
But they did observe, with pleasure, the unconscious ease with which their respective species had begun to relax in one another's presence. Seduced by the exotic surroundings of the pavilion, by its engaging food and drink, marvelous exhibits, unusual demonstrations, and the multitude of singular diversions set before them, few visitors had any time left in which to remark unfavorably on the mere physical differences between them.
"Observe," Twikanrozex remarked, "how the essence of shapeism vanishes when everyone involved is having a good time."
Briann nodded. "It's hard to hate when one is laughing too hard. Barring a very few isolated incidents, everything I've seen so far at this fair bodes well for better relations between our species. Amid such good feelings, the Church should prosper."
Twikanrozex indicated second-degree concurrence. "Criill, we need to nurture these good feelings, and to be available to succor and assist those whose inner emotions are conflicted. There is still an enormous amount of work to be done."
They rounded a slowly rotating disc on which thranx body-poets were arranging themselves in ever-more-complex patterns. Ancient traditions that had once been employed in the service of constructing impressive underground chambers had been transformed into a wondrously intricate kind of performance art human acrobats could only hope to emulate, but never duplicate.
"Myself," Briann declared, "I'll know we've achieved our goals when I see a human outside the Church consent to be ministered to by a thranx."
With delicate movements of head and antennae as well as hands, Twikanrozex insinuated a fusion of understanding and general bemusement. "It is a puzzle to me how sentient beings can feel more relaxed in the presence of a hostile but similar shape than in the company of a sympathetic but differently constructed intelligence."
Using their rigid exoskeletons like pieces of sculpture, the body-poets had erected a complex geometric structure that reached almost to the polarized roof of the pavilion. A mixed audience of complimentary thranx and perspiring humans stridulated and cheered in unison. As always, the reaction of the human children was particularly heartening. To them - to those children whose minds had not yet been poisoned by prejudiced or chary parents, Briann reminded himself - the thranx were a beautiful mystery, aromatic and alien, like oversized toys that could talk back. As Twikanrozex had pointed out, there was much work to be done.
The Church intended to be in the forefront of such work. There was no place in its self-deprecating structure or formal hierarchy for shapeism or any other kind of species bigotry - only for souls. And as far as anyone had yet been able to determine, scientifically or theologically, all souls had the same shape. Exactly what the "soul" consisted of was a question both humans and thranx had been dealing with for thousands of years. Despite enormous advances in the technology of quantification, it remained an abstract, something that still could not yet be measured or weighed. The taxonomy of metaphysics was still in its infancy. In that sense it was akin to the never-ending search for the ultimate building blocks of matter, which every fifty years or so seemed to shrink a little farther in the direction of infinite smallness.