Dirge

  "There are no hesitations." The female cut him off softly. "There are no objections. The Dominion of the Twin Worlds does not object to the settlement of the world known as Treetrunk by the people of Earth."

  Having prepared himself and his staff for lengthy, difficult negotiations, for an extended period of give-and-take, for argument and dissention, the minister was more than a little taken aback by the unexpected and to all intents and purposes unqualified grant of rights. He stalled for a few moments to gather his swirling thoughts.

  "I need to make certain we understand one another." He addressed the female. For him her companions had ceased to exist, though not for Ymir or HoOdam. "You are saying that you grant us permission to settle as many colonists as we wish on the one habitable world of the system in question, without restriction or covenant?"

  The male on the left of the woman with the look of a shallow sea replied. "Without restriction or covenant, yes. You may begin whenever you wish. We will not interfere."

  "I don't understand." HoOdam felt compelled to speak up. "The extremes for favorable existence of your species fall within the same tolerances as ours. You could settle Argus Five as readily as we. Furthermore, it lies much nearer your homeworlds than does Earth or any of its developed colonies. Why are you leaving it to us?"

  As they so often did, the three Pitar put their heads close together and conferred in whispers that were even softer than their usual speech. When they moved apart again, the woman in the middle explained.

  "We explore, as your first ship to visit Treetrunk discovered. But we do not settle. We do not colonize." She smiled, and her countenance far outshone the light from the overhead glowstrips. "Our population is stable and has been so for some time. Believing as we do that the Twin Worlds are the most perfect of all habitable places in this galaxy, or at least in this part of this arm, we see no reason to stray from them.

  None of our people would willingly do so, even if our government was to offer incentives. They are quite happy where they are, and know that their offspring will be as content there as are they. We do not seek to spread ourselves more widely throughout the firmament."

  The other male spoke up. "The stars are home to dangerous, uncouth, uncivilized creatures. We wish to know they are there so we can defend against any that might prove hostile. Among those we have met only yours suits our limited desire for offworld contact. We want as little as possible to do with the others." He shivered visibly. "Such as these overbearing AAnn and hideous thranx."

  Frowning, Ymir piped up. "The thranx aren't so hid - umph!"

  Turning a hurt face to Saluafata, the secretary used the bottom of one foot to rub the other where the minister's heavy shoe had descended. Discarding laborious diplomatic niceties in favor of alacrity, Saluafata had cut the secretary off in mid objection.

  Let them find every space-going sapient species except homo sapiens abhorrent, the minister mused. Unreasonable and xenophobic such an attitude might be, but it only increased humankind's leverage in relations and negotiations. Still, he could hardly believe his good fortune. Not only would the council be delighted, such an astoundingly successful arrangement could only enhance his personal prospects for advancement.

  Still, he could not escape the feeling that he was overlooking something significant. He sought certitude.

  "Though colonizable space on Treetrunk is limited due to the conditions that prevail over much of the northern and southern portions of the planet, there is room for settlement by more than one species. You are certain your people do not want to share? We already have such an arrangement with the thranx, both here on Earth and elsewhere."

  "No thank you," replied the female evenly. "In addition to the reasons I have already given, we find Treetrunk both too cold and too barren to be enticing. Also, our present thrust of exploration lies in the direction of the galactic center, away from your Earth as well as the Argus system. Even if we sought it, there is no reason for potential conflict."

  "Better for you to concern yourselves with the expansionist AAnn, thranx, and other aggressive colonizing species than with us," the male on the right proclaimed. "Bearing such considerations in mind, you would do well to begin your settlement of Treetrunk as quickly as possible."

  "I'm sure that when I convey the results of this conference to my government it will want to do just that," the minister assured the Pitar. "Local climatic considerations on Treetrunk will keep the pace of development below that of such worlds as Amropolous and New Riviera, but I know that as a first step the scientific outpost that is there now will be expanded as rapidly as possible." Putting both massive hands together, he leaned forward and rested them on the table.

  "Now that I have your most gracious concession on the principal matter at hand, we can proceed to a discussion of congruous minutiae. Specifically, how much and what sort of compensation does your government want in return for allowing us unrestricted settlement privileges on Treetrunk? I would imagine that trade credits would prove the most amenable, provided we have anything you want. If there is something else you wish that is within my government's power to grant, I have the authority to recommend that it be given to you."

  For a second time the three Pitar conferred, giving Saluafata and his cohorts the opportunity to gaze long and lingeringly at their fetching alien counterparts.

  "I am not sure we understand," the female finally declared. "We want nothing from you."

  "Nothing?" HoOdam blurted. "No compensation at all?" So stupefied was she by the response that bordered on the ingenuous that she did not even notice Saluafata's disapproving glower.

  "How can we claim compensation?" The female concluded with one of the few, restrained Pitarian body gestures. Saluafata recognized it and enjoyed it. "Treetrunk is not ours to give. It is an empty world. We wish only to see you, our friends and close relations, settle and enjoy and populate it. The coincidence of stellar proximity grants us no special claim to it."

  Saluafata took the risk of pointing out something now in the hopes of avoiding disagreement or confusion later. Everything said at the conference was being recorded. Neither he nor the council wanted the Pitar or anyone else coming back years later insisting that a certain right had not been granted, that specific permissions had not been obtained.

  "By galactic standards the Argus system lies much nearer the Twin Worlds than it does to Earth or any of its colonies. Members of the scientific team that you encountered there were told that your people had visited Treetrunk previously. To our way of thinking, that does give you the right of prior claim. Yet you wish to waive this privilege without recompense?"

  "Quite," the male on the right stated. "We have no use for the place. We are certain your people will find much success there, will multiply and fill the narrow ecological niche that is suited to mammals. We encourage you in this."

  "After all," the other male added with an inviting smile, "why waste it? You want the place; we do not. Take it and welcome, and in friendship."

  "We will of course make periodic visits to monitor your progress ."The female's smile, aimed exclusively at Saluafata, melted any lingering concerns. "It should be interesting to observe how your people spread themselves across a new world, since it is something we do not do and have never done ourselves."

  The minister found himself beaming back. "Naturally your people will always be welcome on the world you have so generously yielded to us, as well as here on Earth."

  "Then if there is nothing more to discuss..." The Pitarian representative left the implication dangling.

  "Your people are fond of markings on documents," one of the two males pointed out.

  Saluafata would rather have spent the next hour staring into the amethyst windows that were the female's eyes, but while he might be feeling like a love-struck schoolboy, he was not one. With regret, he broke the hypnotic connection and sat back in his seat. The buttressed chair groaned as he shifted his weight.

  "Yes, I'm afraid it's a tradition even
a contemporary government adheres to. If you do not object, that is," he added hastily, wondering what he would do if they did.

  "We do not," the female replied, to the minister's relief. "We only find it a curious but harmless anachronism." Again the supple smile that could melt lead. "We will be happy to put the written equivalent of our names to any material of your choosing."

  The official signing of the settlement agreement took place in the rooftop assembly chamber, a dome of iridescent, polarized glass that provided a much more dramatic backdrop to the ceremonies than the tiny conference room in which the unexpectedly meteoric negotiations had taken place two weeks previously. Given the presence of not one but several of the glamorous Pitar there was no shortage of media coverage and attention.

  Though outranked by several more prominent signees, a restrained Saluafata dominated the proceedings with his sheer presence, his royal dimensions invariably singled out for comment by the tridee commentators. And when senior representatives of the world government returned to their homes and offices in distant Zurich, Washington, Beijing, and Delhi, it was the minister who remained behind to conclude the ceremonies and to see to the ultimate satisfaction of the visiting aliens. This appeared to be as much to their liking as to his.

  Much as he luxuriated in the presence of the seductive Pitar, it was not all pleasure. There was business to be conducted. There had to be, or the aliens would have ignored him. Frivolity and fun did not seem to be part of their interspecies lexicon. Polite, pleasant, ingratiating even, they drew the line at convivial intimacy. It was a wall that the immensely gregarious minister was determined to break down. Within the government, subordinates and superiors alike were fond of remarking that Saluafata's girth was exceeded only by his charm. The contrast between sharp mind and boyish charisma struck everyone who came in contact with him, if one could call a man who weighed nearly two hundred kilos "boyish."

  Yet his most sincere efforts to break down their inherent reserve resulted in nothing more than courteous smiles from the Pitar. Masking his disappointment, he persisted in his attempts, all the while conducting the people's business.

  This was difficult to do on a beach, where accompanied by Ymir he met four of the Pitar for an informal discussion on issues of mutual interest. It was difficult because one of them was the female who had presided over the negotiations that gave rights of colonization of Argus V to the people of Earth.

  Slightly more hot natured than the average human, the Pitar enjoyed relaxing if not stiffly basking in the tropical sun. This they normally did in the absence of clothes. Even though the beach lay within the diplomatic compound and was screened and guarded, they had reluctantly agreed to make concessions to the inexplicable vagaries of contemporary human culture. Swimsuits had been provided for all four. The most they would tolerate were small swimsuits. Very small. Guards and privacy screens notwithstanding, the utter absence of these strategic strips of fabric might well have provoked a riot among the ever-hungry media.

  Focusing on the business of diplomacy, or anything else for that matter, in the presence of the gem-eyed, statuesque female was not easy. Despite the envy others might feel at his perceived good fortune, Saluafata actually worked harder at such times to earn his stipend than he did in more formal surroundings.

  As they sat in folding beach chairs that were the property of the government and gazed at the unruffled silken surface of the lagoon, the minister confined his comments to matters of mutual interest. He did not try to make small talk. The Pitar did not engage in small talk, a characteristic that had been noted and remarked upon as early as their initial contact with the crew of the Chagos. But that did not mean that a speaker as voluble as Saluafata could not insinuate casual queries into an otherwise formal diplomatic conversation.

  Noting that Ymir was cavorting in the water with a pair of support personnel from Administration, the minister leaned into the sun shadow of the female Pitar's shape. "The water here is safe and warm, but I don't see any of your people enjoying it."

  Piercing eyes turned to meet his, and she smiled at him: the standard polite, noncommittal Pitarian smile. "We see oceans as a resource. There is no other reason to enter them except for harvesting and development."

  To someone like Saluafata, raised on an island in the middle of the Pacific, such an opinion constituted a kind of heresy. Or would have, had it come from a human. Still, he found it hard to believe that the oh-so-similar Pitar did not even indulge in recreational bathing. It was an observation, however, that allowed him to segue to a minor but curious point of diplomatic contention.

  "You know that my government has now made more than several appeals to allow some of our representatives to visit the Twin Worlds." Though his smile was far more open and genuine than hers, it won him no response. "Reciprocal cultural exchanges are a useful way of building and cementing long-term friendships."

  "We have no objection to such exchanges," she reminded him. As she shifted in the seat, her barely covered golden alien backside only centimeters above the hot sand, he struggled to keep his thoughts focused on the current business. "We have already concluded numerous agreements permitting such contact."

  "Yes, but all of them call for Pitarian cultural groups to visit Earth, or one of the colonies. No permission has yet been granted allowing the equivalent human organizations access to either of the Twin Worlds."

  "It is just a matter of time." This time when she smiled, it struck him as just a smidgen more genuine and less academic. Or was he reading into her expression that which he wanted to be there? "Your people have to understand, Minister Saluafata, that the natural reticence and shyness of my kind far exceeds their own. Confined as we are to the two homeworlds of our origin, we are intimidated by races that have spread themselves to other worlds, other star systems. This feeling is not restricted to humankind. We have yet to allow the thranx or any other newly contacted species access to the Twin Worlds." Still speaking, she turned away from him to face the lagoon.

  "I am sure it will come with time. But your government has to understand that access to the ancestral home of the Dominion is for us a most sensitive matter. Your people must be patient and not try to force the issue, especially when relations between us are maturing at such a satisfactory pace." Reaching over, she touched the side of his forearm with long, lissome fingers. Though manifestly casual and anything but overtly erotic, the contact sent a shock through his entire expansive frame.

  "It's just that we don't see any reason for your hesitation." Despite his pleasurable unease, he refused to be distracted. "If true friendship is to be extended across the parsecs..."

  She touched him again, and this time her fingers ran down his exposed skin from elbow to wrist. "Please, Minister Saluafata.

  It is very much such a pleasant day, and so good to -how is it said? - take a break from the relentlessness of duty. Do not spoil it by pressing me or my colleagues for a response we are not authorized to give. I can only reiterate that your people must have some patience with us." This time he chose to believe that the scintillating smile came from the heart. "After all, we have not even been aware of one another's existence for but a short time. Allow us our privacy."

  He grinned back. "It's not for me to take away. I'm just doing my job by conveying the petitions of my superiors. Myself, I don't care if your people choose to keep your home-worlds cloistered forever, so long as you come and visit us once in a while and we maintain amicable relations."

  "You are a gracious and understanding representative of your kind, Minister Saluafata. I can see why your people appointed you to such a significant position."

  "I've seen how your kind favor formality in interspecies relations." He gestured amiably in the direction of the sand, the sea, and the tropical sky. "But just here, just now, couldn't you break with your tradition for a few hours? Long enough to call me 'Api'? It would please me." His grin widened irresistibly. "Think of it as a diplomatic concession to improved relations."

&nb
sp; "'Api.' " She considered him thoughtfully. "A small name for so large an individual."

  "It's a common trait among my particular, very small tribe."

  "You are a tribe all by yourself, Api."

  It was the first time he, or perhaps anyone else, had heard a representative of the Pitar make a joke. He was encouraged beyond reason.

  "I'm not involved with the extensive studies that have been undertaken and are still ongoing in attempts to resolve our respective biologies, but I have read the reports - at least, the informal ones. I have neither the time nor the training to delve into the scientific literature. One thing I believe we've had some trouble resolving is the matter of aging. You seem to do it so much better than us."

  She executed a Pitarian gesture of understanding. "It is not something we work at. Biology is what it is. It does not play favorites. Believe me, there are aspects to it where your abilities far exceed ours."

  "There are millions of humans who, after seeing you, would disagree. Take yourself, for example. Unlike with most human females, it's impossible to tell if you've had or have not had children."

  The look she turned on him was so sharp and sudden it shocked him. "What makes you ask that?"

  He hastened to recover. "Nothing particular. I was just making conversation." His smile seemed to settle her. "I did not mean to intrude, or to violate any social taboos. Remember, we are still learning about each other."

  "That is true. You should excuse me. I should not have reacted the way that I did."

  But she had, Saluafata reflected, and he could not help wondering why. He proceeded gently. "Then if I'm not probing an area that's restricted or off-limits, may I ask if you have had children?"

  "No, I have not given birth to any offspring." She smiled as she said it, but to the perceptive Saluafata she still seemed sensitive about the matter.