“I’ll have to put the matter to the Amalgamated Worlds Administration on Earth before we can discuss this further,” Sumitral was saying. “In the meantime, I am glad to see we continue with the spirit of cooperation that has characterized this world of Rraladoon for over thirty years.”
“Pardon me,” Todd said, edging adroitly between the two diplomats, “I see little evidence of cooperation in your faces but a lot of wariness. Speaker Hrrto, would you like to know what the Gringg asked for in our talks?”
“Reeve, no!” Markudian cried, outraged.
“Markudian, yes!” Todd said, rounding on him. “I see this as a real test of Rraladoonan integrity, not Hayuman/Hrruban competition. Consider this,” he went on urgently, looking around the circle. “One of the reasons the Gringg thought we were a single species was the way we worked together. I was delighted by that because it showed we’d learned to trust each other. But the first stir of the pot from outside, and we separate into distrustful—and greedy—strangers.” Todd stared at each one in turn, his glance gliding over Greene’s smug expression. “So let’s reinstate the honesty we have always used in dealings on Rraladoon.”
“Prrrhaps if we begin again,” Hrrestan suggested, “knowing zat we arrre among friends, who will not judge against you no mazzer what occurred?”
Sumitral was silent for a long time, then bowed deeply to Second Speaker. “Hrrto, old friend, I don’t know whether I’ve been gulled or not. The Gringg asked us to ship them tons of comestibles from Earth and its colonies. They want fish, and beef, and chicken. Oh,” he added, with a wry grin at Todd, “and popcorn.”
Hrrto cleared his throat and ground his back teeth a moment before he could bring himself to reply. “From us”—and the words seemed reluctant to leave his mouth—“zey wish fine cloth, leather, and jewels for zose collars zey prize so much.”
“You worked the more equitable bargain.” Jilamey said. “Jewels cost more than popcorn and fish.”
“Only on Earth,” Ken Reeve said, grinning. “Here we pick ’em up like popcorn.”
The tension in the room melted away like fog. Todd relaxed and grinned at Hrrestan.
“You should not have admitted such,” Mllaba said, glancing at Hrrto but careful not to let Todd or any of the others catch her eye.
“I agree with the little lady,” Barnstable said to Sumitral.
Todd grinned. “The truth is, we all feel a little absurd. Right?”
“Ze Gringg do not wish Hrruban technology,” Hrrto said, his tail giving an emphatic switch.
Sumitral grinned. “They didn’t want any of ours either. Not even for purposes of comparison. I admit that I’m a little puzzled.”
“Maybe they are satisfied with the technology they have,” Grace Castleton suggested from the fringe of the group. Neither of her superiors seemed to agree. Todd thought it was a fair assessment.
“Don’t be so naive, Grace,” Greene put in acidly. “Any objective observer could see that by asking for such trivia they are determined to allay suspicion.”
Todd glared at him. “Greene, you’re not what I’d call an objective observer,” he said. “On the other hand, you’ve been extremely suspicious from the get-go. Have you any reason that you’re not sharing with us?”
“Grrrene is not ze only one who does not believe zeir asserzhons of peace,” Hrrrv said, breaking in. “To me”—he put his fist against his chest—“zey are so very not curious about our technology, zat alone makes me suspicious. Or have zey been given prrivate brrriefings?” He stared a challenge at Todd, who felt his hands balling involuntarily into fists. Hrrrv stared coldly, awaiting action.
Hrrestan immediately stepped between them, putting a hand, claws sheathed, on each.
“Captain, I find such an accusation as insulting as Zodd does,” Hrrestan said in High Hrruban. “For this one Hayuman, the safety of this planet has always come first, nor would he ever, ever, jeopardize it. You will withdraw the remark. Now!”
Unobtrusively, Hrriss had moved to one side of his friend; Hrrin, the other. For one tense moment, Hrrrv looked as if he would disobey, but then, with minimum courtesy, he indicated his withdrawal by nodding briefly.
“We beg your pardon for the intrusion,” a booming voice said from the door. Hrrestan’s hand fell away, and Todd spun around. The Gringg had returned. Honey stepped forward, gesturing to two of the other males to enter the dining room. Between them dangled a Spacedep lieutenant, struggling and angry. His uniform was mussed and he had a bruise on his cheek. “We return this Hayuman male to you. He had unaccountably found his way onto our ship.”
“He what?” Todd exploded.
“He was concealed behind a storage hatch,” Kodiak said. “But we smelled him. I knew immediately which Hayuman he was. I had smelled him before. He walks behind that one.” Kodiak pointed at Greene.
Putting up his hands to quiet the room, Hrrestan came toward the Gringg. He touched the arms of the two holding Greene, and they released him. With a tight grip on the Spacedep lieutenant’s arm, he bowed to Honey and Kodiak.
“We thank you for rrrsstoring him to us. He surely became lost and disoriented. We will see zat he does not wandrrr again.”
Fortunately, the Gringg chose to accept Hrrestan’s explanation.
“Then we wish you good day,” Honey said with a toothy smile at the assembly. The Gringg left, and the room seemed suddenly larger.
As soon as the door closed, Lieutenant Bouros shook off Hrrestan’s grip and stood at attention. Greene eyed him with annoyance.
“Detected by smell,” Hrrrv said in disgust. “A fine job of concealment, Terran-male. No Hrruban would have been so stupid.”
“What in hell did you think you were doing, concealing yourself on the Gringg shuttle in the first place?” Todd demanded, looming over him.
“I don’t answer to you, sir,” the officer said, staring straight at the wall ahead of him.
“Reeve, this is a Spacedep matter,” Barnstable said, pulling Todd aside and lowering his voice. Greene and Ken closed in on them.
”If he answers to you,” Todd turned to confront Barnstable, “did you order him to penetrate the Gringg ship? Spying on them is no way to establish trust between our two peoples.”
“The more we know about them, the more secure we feel in forming closer relationships,” Barnstable said, his brows drawing down over his eyes.
“Ev, that’s Alreldep’s job, not yours,” Sumitral said, mastering his irritation. “And to allow him to go without neutralization of body odor?” Sumitral rolled his eyes. “Have you learned nothing about the Gringg? Even the kids here know the Gringg have a keen sense of smell. Or don’t they issue deodorants in your navy?”
“Reconnaissance seems an obvious course with unknowns like the Gringg,” Bouros said, still staring straight ahead. “The ship wasn’t secured, sir. It was easy to do a recon.”
“A recon might have been acceptable,” Sumitral said, though his expression was dubious.
“But you had hidden, hadn’t you,” Todd said, “intending to remain on board. For what purpose? To fumigate them into submission by overpowering them with your body odor?”
“Now that was uncalled for,” Barnstable said, indignant, though clearly he wasn’t happy that one of his men had been apprehended.
“So was this marine’s illegal entry,” Todd said, then addressed the lieutenant. “You may be under the Admiral’s orders, but by all that’s holy, while you’re on this planet you are also under mine as planetary leader.” Todd went on, his fury unabated. “The next time you overstep yourself, mister, you’ll be subject to my authority.”
“And mine,” Hrrestan said with equal threat.
The marine kept his face carefully expressionless.
“Have we made ourselves clear, Admiral?” Todd added, turning to Barnstable but looking at Greene, too. “We�
��re trying to forge an alliance with these beings, and there are to be no more juvenile war games during the proceedings.”
“Has it never occurrrred to you,” Hrrestan added, “zat ze Gringg will likely tell you morrre zan you could ever discoverr by spying?”
“With all respect, Leader,” Greene said, “I doubt that very much.”
“I wish zo know morrre about ze Gringg zen zey have told us,” Hrrrv muttered sulkily. “As yrrr prrrecious Hayumans say, ‘Know yrr enemy.’ ”
“Better, recognize who is your enemy,” Todd said to the Hrruban captain, and swung a fierce gaze toward the Spacedep officers, which gave him the satisfaction of momentarily startling Hrrrv. He did catch the odd glint in Hrrrv’s eyes, but he couldn’t interpret it. “If you’d realize there are no enemies here at all, we could progress on all fronts!” He eyed the Spacedep officers with the same fierce gaze, but clearly, he’d taken much of the wind out of their sails. He allowed his temper to cool. He’d said enough, and to the point, for one day. He’d best withdraw.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to.” With a bow to the assembly, Todd left the dining hall.
“A little strong, was that not?” Hrriss asked mildly, following Todd toward the grid. His naturally quicker pace kept him abreast of the Hayuman, who was still dissipating his anger.
“Aargh!” Todd said, stopping and twining his hands into his hair. “I wish they’d all pack up and go home, and let us handle the diplomatic relations. We’d achieve fair terms and a treaty, and they’d never have to leave Terra!”
“Or Hrruba,” Hrriss said thoughtfully. “I don’t know how zings went with ze trade discussions, but ze spaceport talks were constantly interrupted by Barnstable’s objections. I zought he was an advocate.”
Todd grinned. “Only if Spacedep’s allowed its little bureaucracies. And with the Gringg a new factor, he’s likely to insist on a heavy Spacedep presence.”
Hrriss shook his head. “No, it’s somezing else. We know zey do not trrrust the Grringg, but zeir paranoia is worse zan just mistrrust.”
“And probably all a part of why Greene had an agent infiltrating the Gringg shuttle.” Todd flattened his lips into a grim line. “I shouldn’t have been so glad to see Greene leave our trade talks—where, I might add—he and that Markudian lackey of his were doing their damnedest to mess things up.”
“He objected to selling zem food?”
“As much as Hrrto objects to selling them ornaments from Hrruba.”
The two old friends grinned at each other.
“Greene had a notion that perhaps they wanted us for food,” Todd said, with a shadow of distaste at being reminded of that incident.
“Ho! So long as you promised zem Rraladoonan snake, you skinny creatures are safe,” Hrriss said with a laugh.
“All fooling aside, Hrriss, I think the Spacedep personnel bear closer watching. But come on,” he said, with a sudden lightening of mood. “We’ve got to get the lists of Teams drawn up for the Hunt, or you’ll see a hell of a hullabaloo when the snakes swarm!” He grinned at his best friend. “I wonder if the Gringg would like to participate. Not that we’ve a horse up to such weight.”
“Ze way zey move, zey don’t need a hrrss,” Hrriss replied.
Todd’s eyes twinkled. “Speaking of moving, c’mon! Race you to the grid!”
Forgetting for the moment that they were adults, with children and responsibilities, the two abandoned themselves to the familiar contest of their childhood. Todd was laughing by the time he caught up with Hrriss at the pillars.
* * *
After Todd had stalked out, most of the other delegates found excuses to leave. Jilamey Landreau collared Admiral Sumitral and led him away, talking excitedly about the tons of fish and snake which the Gringg would need. Hrrestan was deep in discussions with the crafts folk about the availability of large quantities of well-tanned leathers, and they all left together. Only Castleton, Barnstable, Greene, Second Speaker, Hrrrv, Mllaba, and Bouros remained.
Greene spoke to Bouros. “You’re dismissed, man. Report back to Earth.” He turned to Barnstable. “We can’t use him again now that Reeve and the others have seen him.”
“Stupid way to be caught,” Castleton said with a half-smile. “Especially after we saw them use their olfactory senses to differentiate between us.”
“Bouros is not a clumsy operative,” Greene replied, annoyed at her comment. She shrugged.
“Well, Castleton, see what your specialists can do to overcome that problem,” Barnstable said, giving her a sour glance. That startled her, but she nodded her head in acceptance of the commission. “Somehow or other, we have got to gain more evidence against the Gringg that will hold up in the World Court. Grace, have we gotten anything new from the exploration ship?”
“Nothing yet, Admiral,” Castleton said. “I renewed the request with an urgent tag on it through secured transmission again this morning.”
“Confound it, we need that data.” Barnstable pulled a chair away from the dining table and sank into it.
“Trivia!” Second Speaker burst out suddenly. Grace stared at him, wondering if he was accusing them. The Hrruban began to pace, showing all the agitation he had concealed while Sumitral and the others were present. His tail lashed back and forth. “The Gringg ask us for trivia. What does it mean?”
“It means,” Barnstable said, “that they intend to keep up this charade until the last minute. The pretense is wearing my nerves to a nubbin.”
He sat back in his chair and wiped his face with a handkerchief. Castleton knew precisely how he felt. After weeks of maintaining the Hamilton in a continual state of Yellow Alert, she was tired. Shore leave to the surface of Doonarrala was limited, and the crew were taking it hard. Frail Frill, one of her most loyal officers, had asked to be released from his duties planetside because it was causing jealousy among the personnel who had been denied permission to downside. Grace had been grateful for the presence of Jon Greene, who had lent her his deep well of strength during the alert. His consideration was only part of his attractiveness. He was the most zealous patriot she had ever met. All his actions and decisions were considered in the light of what was best for Humanity. Grace admired him, but found herself unable to agree completely with him about the treachery of the Gringg. Her own observations belied what the archive tape had shown; her own instinct disagreed with that proof. Still, she watched the computer scopes every day, tracking the approach of the Spacedep squadron. It was still too far away to be picked up on sensors. Nor was anything else closing in, which took care of the notion that the Gringg were waiting for reinforcements. Perhaps they needed none, whether for peace or war.
“What are the Gringg waiting for?” Mllaba asked, her yellow-green eyes wide.
“A display of physical aggression?” Castleton suggested. “They don’t act, they react. If we don’t press them, they might never attack us.”
Barnstable waved away the notion. “How far off is the fleet now?”
“Six to seven more days, sir.”
“Right. From now on, tighter security. But I still want a look at what they’re hiding on that ship!”
“I have an idea how to accomplish that, sir,” Greene said. “If you’ll allow me a free hand.”
“What? All right, Greene. Carry on.”
Castleton paused, wondering how to phrase her feelings. “Sir, after having listened to them today, I hesitate to admit it, but I . . . I like the Gringg. Hearing them talk, it’s hard to believe that they caused the destruction of an entire planet. Their behavior differs so greatly from what appeared on that tape. If I hadn’t seen it, I’d never be convinced that they are dangerous.”
“Besides that tape they are so big!” Hrrto exclaimed. “And so loud!”
Barnstable planted a firm finger on the tabletop. “Cunning, too. All that openness and cha
rm . . . right up to the moment they’re ready to take over this planet!”
Such an emphatic pronouncement silenced the others.
“Only a week, maybe less,” Hrrrv said in a tone of some desperation, “and we’ll have a superior force in Rraladoonan skies. Zen we will ze authority”—he paused and drew his lip back from his teeth—“zat will wring ze zruth from these ‘bears’!”
“Reeve and Hrrestan can be removed as planetary leaders,” Barnstable said, rubbing his hands together in anticipation, “as unfit to govern . . . since they’ve extended hospitality to so clearly a menacing species, endangering the citizens of both species.”
“Speaker Hrrto and Captain Hrrrv, you would of course support this move for any doubting Hrrubans,” Greene put in. “With an intelligent and dedicated administration, we’ll soon put things to rights. We might even consider removing the Reeve family from Doonarrala as subversives, detrimental to the well-being of the colony, since they seem to be forever leading it into dangerous situations.”
Just giving voice to that possibility gave Greene a certain measure of satisfaction. Grace Castleton regarded him with shock. She had no idea his dislike of the young planetary administrator went that deep.
“And Hrrestan with him,” Mllaba said, “since he also espouses zese same courses.”
“I do most respectfully suggest that you act only on provocation,” Grace Castleton said carefully. “This is an independent and autonomous planet. We still don’t have proof that these Gringg pose a threat to the planet or either of our worlds.”
“I don’t like hearing such sentiments from you, Castleton,” Barnstable said, eyeing her fiercely.
The captain inclined her head a moment. “I am of course required to comply with any orders you may give me, Admiral,” she said in a colorless voice, “but I would not be acting in your best interests if I did not play devil’s advocate.”
“Oh? Well, there’s that,” Barnstable said, mollified. “The Gringg protestations of their pacific nature are hypocritical,” he went on, “and the basis for trade with them ludicrous. Only consolidates my distrust of ’em. I’ll have conclusive proof all too soon that they’re dangerous! Why, the size of them alone makes them physically superior . . . I mean . . . well, you know what I mean! We’ve got to make these fool Doonarralans see that these bear types are the most dangerous species Mankind has ever encountered. Why, they could dominate the known galaxy. That cannot be allowed!”
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