Fear grew thick on this dockside: it was evident in the set of hani ears, in the way kif and mahendo'sat moved. In the way that Tully stayed right at their side, and no human advanced beyond the mahen perimeter.
There was another thing in the system. There was a very real knnn and a tc'a out there, singing to each other in harmonics of which the computer-translators which were supposed to handle such things, made no sense but positional
data. It was significant and ominous that the matrix of the harmonics had the position of Gaohn station in it.
The knnn were interested. That was more than enough to account for the fear.
But the representatives from downworld would hardly comprehend that much: they would, most likely, be getting their first look at a mahendo'sat, let alone kif or humans. And perhaps they had a resolution in their hands; or perhaps the debating was still going on, and Naur and Tahy Mahn par Chanur and others of that worldbound mindset were still arguing protocols and policies. Gods knew. If she let herself think about it she grew cold, killing mad.
They had set out a huge table, for godssake, a table and chairs there on dockside, the Llun's council furniture moved out, that was what it was, hani council furniture, as if all these factions could be gotten together, as if in all the chaos and amid ships moving in with major damage and injured, some fool (from Anuurn surface most likely) had time to insist on tables and chairs which would hardly even accommodate the anatomy of some of the invaders. With knnn running around the neighborhood, and ships still at standoff out there in the zenith range, over fifty of them determined to force an issue and get passage through, others determined to move kif who would literally die of the shame, and kif who were as doggedly determined to resist.
Gods-cursed groundling fools. If that knnn out there comes calling, we won't survive it. Do your resolutions understand that?
Humans have fired on them. Tully says.
Jik's played politics with the tc'a. Gods! does he know what that is out there, is it something that's come for him, for the mahendo'sat?
Tables. My gods, we're lucky to get these species within shouting distance of each other! The kif never do anything without the scent of advantage, they're here on a thread, on the least thread of a suspicion that I'm their best way out.
And Jik and Goldtooth aren't talking, they're not looking at each other, the crews don't mix-and who in their own hell is the Personage Pasurimi came in with?
Came in with the ships out of mahen space, not the Kura route. Came in, my gods, from Iji, that's where he's from. That's someone from the homeworld.
That's Authority. That, with the Voice and the badges and the robes. And he hasn't introduced himself. The Voice hasn't spoken a word. The han's been insulted and they don't even know it.
They're frozen. No one's not moving. It's the kif they distrust.
"Skkukuk," she guessed, taking the risk. And the foremost kif lifted his face the least degree, then lowered it, belligerence and manners in two breaths. Even amiability. For a kif.
“Mekt-hakkikt,'' that one said. So she knew it was Skkukuk. But he took it for a summons, and a panic seized on her, instinctive aversion as that band of kif crossed the deck plating and got between her and the mahendo'sat and the humans. And swung their weapons into line as they went.
''Weapons down, for godssake.'' The panic made her voice sharp. Skkukuk instantly hissed and clicked an order to his company. Weapons lowered. She grabbed the chance two-handed. "There's not going to be any shooting. On any side." One of the Llun came too close and she flattened her ears and rumpled her nose. "Get back, gods rot it." But the mahendo'sat had come closer too. Suddenly there were a great many guns, her own crew with their own rifles slung conspicuously toward level. "Back off!" Haral snapped at a gray nosed hani who moved in with foolhardy authority. And shoved with the gunbutt.
"Chanur!" that hani shouted.
And faced three kifish rifles.
"Hold it! Sgokkun!" Her heart all but stopped. She physically struck a kifish rifle up, out of line; and that kif got back and stood clicking and gnashing its inner teeth, its fellows likewise confused.
"Mekt-hakkiktu sotoghotk kefikkun nakt!" Skkukuk snapped; there was quick silence.
Quiet then. Even the downworld hani had it figured how precarious it was.
"We don't need any shooting," Pyanfar said, her own heart lurching and thumping and her knees shaking. Her
voice gathered itself somewhere at the bottom of her gut. Khym was by her, close by her; between her and the hani, thank gods for his wits and his instincts. She waved a hand to clear the kif back and get a view of where the humans were, where the various mahendo'sat had gotten to; and the humans had stayed where they were, a good distance back. Goldtooth and his armed group had followed up all too close and Jik maneuvered to the side, both of them between the kif and the Personage. "Use your gods-be heads! Skkukuk, just stand there. Just stand. Goldtooth. Ana. We're all right here. You're not going to be using those guns; let's just all calm down, can we?"
"We come here talk. Same settle this mess;." Goldtooth's dark brow was knit. He waved a hand indicating the perimeters. "We got knnn out there all upset. You got lousy mess, Pyanfar. Now I talk with you, you make big mistake."
"Yeah. I found out about that. Nice of you to tell me what you were doing. Nice of you to tell Jik, too.",
"Jik got no choice. Got important hani, got human, all same mess at Kefk. Try to pull you out. You got go pull Tahar out, we don't 'spect same. Bad surprise, Pyanfar. Bad surprise. All same come out. We got Sikkukkut, got Akkhtimakt, both. We got no more worry with kif, a? So you let these fine kif go back to ship. They want go home, we let go. Best deal they got."
"Have no dealings with this person," Skkukuk said, beside her. "Our ships are the defense of this system. We are faithful, mekt-hakkikt."
No threats, no untoward move. The hair prickled down her back. It was not subservience in this kif. Just quiet. The intimation of power, but not quite enough power: the kif was here, talking. It was a move Sikkukkut excelled at, but this kif was smoother, and Goldtooth was giving good advice, O gods, if there were a power that could shove the kif back to their borders and keep them there.
That power was standing right in front of her. A mahen-human association.
If she did not know what she knew, from Tully, about what humans stood to gain. About human powers currently at each others' throats, and spread over an area that would,
could! (a single look at the starcharts told that) dwarf the Compact.
"I have to know," she said, quietly, reasonably, to Goldtooth, "what happened to the stsho." Like it was gentle concern. It was desperation. It was suddenly their bulwark on that side, their trading-point. Without them-
Does he see? Does he suspect why I ask? He's no fool, was never a fool, O gods, this is one of half a dozen minds that rules the whole godshelpus Compact, he always was, he's one of those the mahendo'sat just turn loose to do things on the borders, things that echo years across civilized space. He still is. Even with a Personage here.
"We do fine." An unlooked-for voice.' Jik had pulled out one of his abominable smokes and was in the process of lighting it, as if those dark eyes of his were not alert to every twitch from hani and kif. "Ana tell me he get there number one fine, three, four day fight. Chew up Sikkukkut good. Fine for us here. Our friend Sikkukkut-" He capped the lighter and drew in a second lungful of smoke. "He know then damn sure he got trouble. We owe damn lot to Banny Ayhar. Same you, friend. Same all hani come spread alarm."
"The stsho-"
"Little damage. Lot confuse. Methane-folk take care real good." A gesture with the back of the hand with the smokestick, vaguely outward. "Same knnn. Offi-cial, a? With tc'a interpreter. Same be tc'a been long time with."
"The same from Mkks?"
"A. Same all way from Kshshti. Tt'om'm'mu been real co-operative."
"Then it is your agent."
A wave of the fingers, amid a hani
and a kifish murmuring. "Same talk lot people, a? I tell you, Ana-shoshi na hamuru-ta ma shosu-shinai musai hasan shanar shismenanpri ghashanuru-ma shesheh men chephettri nanursai sopri sai."
Dialect, thick and impenetrable. It had as well be coded. But Goldtooth's face went guarded, his eyes darker, with the least small shift toward the left.
Toward Tully. Just that little twitch.
It was a guess what Jik had said. Or how much. A second shift of the eyes, that little degree that showed a white edge around the brown. Back to her this time. "Nao'sheshen?"
"Meshi-meshan." Jik tilted his head back, a gesture behind him. "Meshi nai sohhephrasi Chanuru-sfik, a?"
It did not please Goldtooth, whatever it was. "Shemasu. We talk. We talk plenty. We tell Personage. You tell these kif go. Now. We deal with methane-folk. You fix stuff here.
"Fix stuff!" She caught her breath and her wits in the same gulp after air, saw backs stiffen left and right and lowered her voice instantly. The han was back there. The Llun. There was a deafening silence.
"Kkkt," Skkukuk said. "Kk-kkt. This mahe does not dictate here. There will be no escort. There will be no mahen ships in our territory. Do not be deceived."
"We talk later," Goldtooth said, and got one step.
Weapons came up. In one move. So did mahen weapons.
"Hold it!" Pyanfar yelled, and shoved a rifle barrel. A kif’s. It was momentarily safer.
"Chanur," a hani voice began.
"Shut up," Tirun said.
"Let us begin it here," Skkukuk said. While Jik put himself between the kif and Goldtooth. Carefully.
"Let's not." Out of the peripheries of her vision she saw a human movement, a quiet melting away of certain of that group toward cover. "Tully! Stop them."
Tully shouted out, instant and shockingly alien and fluent. With an uplifted hand. And that motion stopped.
"Cease this!" the Voice snapped, and said something else in mahensi, too fast and too accented to follow.
"Withdraw them," a hani said. Downworlder, graynosed. Elderly and overweight. My gods, Rhynan Naur. That gray, that old. The voice rang with something of its old authority in the han. "We will not have our space violated. We will not countenance-"
Skkukuk's rifle swung that way. "Don't," Pyanfar said sharply. "Gods rot it-shut up, Naur. Everybody. Don't anybody move."
"You Personage," Jik said at her left, at Skkukuk's. "You want stop, you got stop. Shemtisi hani manara-to hefar ma nefuraishe'ha me kif."
"Trust that we will do that," Skkukuk said, all hard and with jaw lifted ominously. "We do not intend to take any voyage in your company."
"We got solution." Jik winced and pinched out the smokestick that had burned down to his fingers. "Pasuru nasur. Kephri na shshemura, Ana-he. Meshi."
"Meshi ne'asur?"
"Lot better. Same I say." Jik looked her way. "We got spacer hani, same. Sikkukkut be damn fool doublecross you, a? Damn fool. All time I say you lot smart. Got whole lot sfik, whole lot stuff, Pyanfar Chanur-same like I say. Same Ana here find you, same Sikkukkut want you-damn good. Now you got say like Personage, you got make decide."
"Decide, decide, fgodssakes, there's no decide. We got you and the kif trying to blow each other to the hereafter all through our solar system-"
"You Personage. You got kif. You want deal for the han?"
"I don't deal for the hani I'm telling you, me, Pyanfar, you talk to your Personage and tell him what Tully told us."
"I do." Jik looked at her in a strange and maddening way. "You not be han. You be Personage. Send hakkikt back to kif-how you guarantee, a? Stoheshe, Ana." With a glance at Goldtooth. And back again. "The han decide this, decide that. You do what you want with han. But the han be for Anuurn. You be Personage for hani, Personage for kif, same Tt'om'm'mu want save you life. You got the Person-thing. Born with. You understand this?"
"What are you talking about, for godssakes?"
"You no damn fool. You see. You see clear. Sikkukkut get power by create little hakkikt and take what they got. Let them do work. He lot smart kif. Till he make you hakkikt and try take what you got. You got the Person-thing. He think he got more, he damn lot mistake. We don't mistake. This kif here don't mistake. You got whole thing in you hands. Me, / recognize. Same like this kif. Long time."
"No. My gods, no!" She waved her hand, cast a look at the hani behind her, at her crew and back again.
"War, friend. What I tell you happen? Not war like ground war. War like new kind thing. Like crazy thing."
"Then send your gods-be human friends home! Out! Turn those ships around, restore the balance, for godssake!"
"How you guarantee Anuurn be safe, a? How you heal stsho? How you 'splain these human we got change mind? How you deal with knnn, a?"
A sense of panic closed in on her. Not alone because it was all logical, and the pieces were there. She looked around again at the hani lines, at her own people, at some faces gone hard and ears gone flat. At others, spacers, who just looked worried. Like her crew.
Like Goldtooth.
And not a sound from the kif.
The politicians would hang her, eventually, when all the furor died down. It was the last shred of Chanur's reputation they asked for.
"Yeah," she said. "Well, it's clear, isn't it? We just tell these humans they have to leave. That you consulted with some high Personage and there's a lot of trouble and they just have to turn those ships around and get back the other side of that border. Which we can do, can't we? It just might give Skkukuk here a good chance to go home in style, number one fine-a whole shift in policy, a new mekt-hakkikt, a new directive. I'm not real interested in going into kifish space, Skkukuk my friend: I'm just real pleased for you to be hakkikt over all the kif you can get your hands on. And all you have to do is hold that border tight once the humans cross it outbound."
"Kkkt." Skkukuk drew in a hissing breath. "Mekt-hakkikt, you justify my faith in you."
"You won't cross into mahen territory."
"They won't cross into ours."
"They won't." Looking at Jik. And Goldtooth. Goldtooth lowered his small ears and bowed his head slowly, with reluctance.
"I hear," he said quietly. And made the same gesture to Jik, and to the Personage as he turned away.
Something's wrong with him. Something mahen and crazy, and something I don't know: I've done something to him. I've beaten him.
Two plans. Two treaties. The mahendo'sat rise and fall on their successes; and they disown the failures.
"If I've got to run this business for a while," she said to Jik, "I want him. What would he think about it?"
Jik's eyes flickered and something lightened there. "He tell you you got damn fine fellow."
"This Personage of yours-" She tilted a careful ear toward the robed mahe with the Voice. "Iji?"
"Same. I talk for him. He don't got good pidgin. Same his Voice. He also Personage, see you got same Person-thing, lot strong. He say-God make Personage. He-" Jik gave a helpless gesture. "He say God make lot peculiar experiment."
She laid her ears back, trying to put that on one side or the other. "Tell him-gods, just tell him I'll do what I have to. First thing-" She put her hands in the waist of her trousers. They were icy; her feet were numb from the decking. And it was still raw fear. "Tully."
"Captain?"
The humans were first. She kept her shoulder to the han representatives and to the Llun; and felt a dull shock to find Skkukuk's armed presence a positive comfort on her left, where it regarded breaking that news.
"What we do, we talk a little trade, talk up all the trouble they got to watch out for. I figure maybe they've seen enough to worry about. Maybe we just tell them it gets worse up ahead."
"They go," Tully said finally, coming out of that small fluorescent-lit room on Gaohn dockside, where mahendo'sat and kif and humans and hani argued. Armed. Every one of them, since the kif were worse without their weapons at hand than with. And they went at it in shifts, till Tully came o
ut in a waft of that godsawful multispecies stale air, and leaned against the doorframe. "They go." He looked drowned. Sweat stuck his hair to his forehead and his eyes looked bruised. After three days at this back-and-forth, herself out of the room for clean air and a new grip on her temper, agreement was like the floor going away.
"Go? Leave? They say yes?"
Gods, who threatened them? What happened? What went wrong? Belligerence was not the strategy she chose. Discouragement was. She had hammered this home with Skkukuk until the deviousness and the advantage of the tactic slowly blossomed in his narrow kifish skull, and his red-rimmed eyes showed a distinctive interest, which, gods help them all, might turn up as something new in kifish strategy.
"They say yes," Tully said, and made a ship-going motion with his flat hand. "Go way home. Kif and mahendo'sat go with. First mahendo'sat, then kif, with few hani. You got find hani ship go. Make passage 'long kif territory."
"That bastard." Meaning Skkukuk, who had ulterior motives in running a parade of exiting humans right through kifish territory. It was also the shortest route. And Tully just hung there against the wall blinking in his own sweat and smelling godsawful no matter how much perfume he dosed himself with. He picked it up off the others. They all did. But overheated human still had its own distinctive aroma.
"Good?" he asked.
"Gods." She drew a deep breath and took him by the shoulder on her way to the door. He had to go back in. They still needed him. The mechanical translators were a disaster. And he looked all but out on his feet. "Yes. Good. Thank gods. Can you go a little longer? Another hour?"
"I do." Hoarse and desperate-sounding.
"Tully. You can go with them. You understand. Go home."
He blinked at her. Shook his head. He had that gesture back. "Here. The Pride."
"Tully. You don't understand. We got trouble. We're all right now. After this-I can't say. I don't know that Chanur won't be arrested. Or worse than that. I have enemies, Tully. Lot of enemies. And if something happens to me and Chanur you'd be alone. Bad mess. You understand that? I can't say you'll be safe. I can't even say that for myself or the crew."
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