Dinner With Family

by Hiroyuki Morioka

“Right,” Jint concurred ardently.

  “Even if I did put in the effort, and learned Baronh, what would I get out of it? The credentials to work for you? Compared to the perks of being a UH citizen, that’s a hard sell.”

  “I mean, you get to work for me, yeah. But also, don’t you want to see the world outside Delktu at least once in your life?”

  “Sure, a little. But I think there’s a bunch of places of interest in Delktu I haven’t seen yet.”

  “Que Durin... You really don’t feel like working alongside me, huh.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to work alongside you. The only problem is the workplace. If you stay here, on Delktu, I’ll work with you any day of the week. Actually, I’m thinking the time is ripe to strike it out on my own soon. I plan to leave my uncle’s company before long. And I’d be ecstatic if you could be my business associate.”

  “Hold your horses, my friend. I don’t even know what you’re doing, or what you’re planning to do once you’re on your own.”

  “I could say the same. ‘Servant vassal’ is so vague; I’d have no idea what I’m doing.”

  “It’s the same as running a company. I think I can secure the engineers. All you’d need to do for me is bring together the people who handle the deskwork and operations.”

  “Then it really is the same work either way.” Then, a devilish curl of the lips. “The only difference is who’s on top. But I don’t mean to place myself above you, necessarily. I’d just have you learn the ropes under me on a temporary basis. Or you can just be my equal partner on paper. Oh, and there is one other difference: how much work it’d take to get up to speed. For a dumb-ass outsider, you do know a little about Delktu, whereas in my case, I’m the wisest man in the land, but I don’t know the first thing about the Abh world. Learning the ropes for me would take about as much work as adding the salt to all the seas.”

  Though reluctantly, Jint nodded. After all, Jint himself had next to no experience with any of this administrative stuff. He had a vague understanding, but had no inkling of the finer points of magistrates’ work. That was the reason he was on the hunt for people who had technical know-how, if not experience.

  “Besides, I haven’t got any intention of working in the Abh world,” said Durin.

  “Then why didn’t you tell me that from the jump?” said Jint, raising an eyebrow.

  “I hadn’t martialed my thoughts yet. But now I have.”

  “You could’ve dropped me a line after you’d decided.”

  “But I really did want to see ya, man. If I’d turned you down before, you wouldn’t have come, right?”

  “Not at all. Work is work. I told you I wanted to see you just to hang out, too, didn’t I?”

  “Damn. And here I was pleased with myself, thinking I’d sent you on a fool’s errand.”

  “Poor baby.”

  “In any case, if we’re gonna be building a lovebirds’ life together, you’ve gotta come here.”

  “A lovebirds’ life with you is not on my mind,” said Jint.

  “I figured,” said Durin, nodding lightly. “A man’s gotta be proud of his work. All right, enough talk of work. Let’s call the boys over.”

  “Sure thing, but first, let me hear why you don’t want to become an imperial citizen?”

  “I mean...” Durin faltered with uncharacteristic hesitation. “Have you got Abh friends?”

  “Well, a few,” he said, putting it mildly.

  “Then promise you won’t get mad at what I’ve got to say, all right?”

  “As if you care whether or not you’ve pissed me off.”

  “You blockhead, we’re having a party later. And you’re our guest. If this were some snot-nosed kid’s birthday party, the kids might be able to make merry even if the kid being celebrated got all sulky. But we ain’t kids anymore. How’re we supposed to let loose if the guest of honor’s off fuming in the corner?”

  “Okay, okay. I promise that even if I get upset, I’ll just take it out on the cats after getting back. I’m going to be smiling like an idiot all party long, even if somebody sticks a finger in my food.”

  “Then I’d feel sorry for your cats.”

  “Don’t worry, they’re Abh cats.”

  “Oh, guess it’s fine, then. They must be odious and revolting.”

  “Wanna see?” Using his wristgear, Jint projected a photo of Sercruca and her litter, right under Durin’s nose.

  Durin instantly amended his previous statement. “Cute! You’re gonna take your anger out on them? After all these years, and right this second I learn you’re a complete brute bastard.”

  “You’ve got it all wrong. I’d actually be taking it out on another cat that’s not as cute.”

  “I don’t really think cuteness is the issue...” Durin took in the photo with his eyes, thoroughly enchanted.

  When Jint switched out the photo for a video with audio, however, his friend’s expression reverted to normal.

  “Whaddya think? If you work with me, you get to spend your days with these little guys.”

  “It’s a mighty tempting offer... but I’m a man of my convictions.”

  “Shame,” said Jint, switching off the projection.

  “Wait, you can stand to show me a little more,” Durin objected.

  “Say, why don’t you take one of the kittens off my hands?” said Jint.

  “Dude, for real? I can?”

  “Yeah. Not immediately, mind you. They’re still too small to want to leave their mother’s side, and ripping one away would put it in danger. But in around two months’ time, they’ll start being more independent, and once that happens, I’d be grateful if you could look after one of them.”

  “You’re not trying to bribe me, I trust.”

  “Nope. Like I said, taking one off my hands would help me out. Although I’m not above bribing you with a kitten if it’s that valuable.”

  “I may be an idiot, but I’m not enough of an idiot to be deciding where the rest of my life takes me based on a kitten.”

  “And what a boring, kitten-less life you’ll lead, Durin.”

  “Just leave me and my life be, would you? So, are you really giving me a kitten?”

  “I certainly don’t mind. Which do you want?”

  “Wait, wait. First I need you to tell me which are male.”

  After a while, Durin selected a ctilüarh (striped-fur) that looked just like Dyaho.

  “I’d have liked to bring him to you in person, but I doubt I’ll have time. I’ll send him over,” Jint promised.

  “Thanks.”

  “So why don’t you like Abhs, anyway? Especially when they raise such cute cats?”

  “Their cats are cute, I’ll give you that. But I’m sorry to say Abhs have gotten really creepy to me.”

  “I didn’t know that about you.” This wasn’t the first time he’d met somebody with prejudice against the Abh, so he was hardly shocked to his core. But there was something about the way Durin put it that drew his notice. After a moment’s thought, he realized: “They’ve gotten creepy? As in, they weren’t before?”

  “Yeah. Used to be I was pretty much uninterested, in fact.”

  “I see. So the enemy’s propaganda has had results.”

  “Hey, man, it’s not like I’ve been brainwashed.”

  “I don’t think you’ve been ‘brainwashed.’ But I will say it’s a little weird. You’ve never met an Abh before, right? So why do they feel creepy to you?” he asked, deciding not to go into the fact that he was technically an “Abh” now, too. After all, Durin clearly meant Abhs-by-birth. Bringing that up would just muddy the waters of their conversation.

  “Lately, I’ve been taking an interest in a little thing called history.”

  “I’m surprised. I thought for sure that for a meathead like you, even the contents of your skull were pure muscle.”

  “You’re not wrong. But ever since I saw you off at the spaceport that day, the clump of muscle in my skull started
thinking about a bunch of stuff. You and me, we’re carrying completely different histories on our shoulders. But if you rewind far enough, those histories converge. When I realized that, I got a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I started hitting books on the history of Earth. My mom was so shocked she nearly sent me to the hospital; I hate hospital beds, so I kept saying no. But who cares about that — the point is, the more I learned, the stranger it all seemed. Then your enemies came along. They were a depressing lot, and they claimed to be our dear friends even though they came without an invitation, but they did do one good thing for me. They cleared up something that had been gnawing at me. And it’s not like I asked them about it; they told us.”

  “What was gnawing at you?”

  “The fact that the Abh are so damned friendly with each other.”

  “Uh, duh. They’re of the same race.”

  “People can be of the same race and still hate each other. Hell, sometimes people in the same family hate each other. My father got killed by his own brother.”

  “I didn’t know that...”

  “It happened before you immigrated. Everybody who’s known me for longer knows, but they don’t talk about it out of consideration. So the oldest brother killed the second oldest, and the third oldest, my uncle, is working me, the son of the one who got killed, like a horse. Obviously I despise my piece of shit uncle for killing my dad. A life sentence is way too good for him. I’d love to rip him to pieces with my bare hands. I hate my murderer uncle with every fiber of my being. But that’s not the point. We’re talking about the Abh.”

  “It’s not that rare for an Abh to hate a blood relative, either, you know.”

  “Really? But then, where are the civil wars? The feuds in the imperial court? The only revolts that ever happen in the Empire are the ones Landers stoke from time to time. Abh history is so dull. It’s like dinner without the spice.”

  “I guess you’ve got a point,” said Jint, as conversation filler.

  “Listen, my dad lost his life over who would take over the tiny-ass company. The company whose only saving grace is that it’s got a long history. But there are people out there who’d kill the little brother they grew up with just to get their hands on a company like that. Then you’ve got an entire empire. If you look through history, it’s full of the kind of gruesome stories that are my cup of tea. Think about all the people who, to grab hold of a crown, killed their fathers, their siblings, even their kids. I think there was even this one awesome empire that had each possible heir to the throne slaughter each other for the right. And the new emperor’s first task was to murder the little brothers and nephews who’d been too young to participate in the killing game. What I’m trying to say is, all the history surrounding thrones and crowns reeks of blood. Sometimes, they’ll throw in a story of imprisonment or exile instead of murder, but I’m sure that’s just out of regard for the reader. You’ve gotta punctuate all the bloodshed with some heart-warming fluff once in a while. Mind you, I dunno who ‘they’ are. In any case, that’s the human condition. But the Abh, they never kick down their fellow Abhs in a bid for the throne. And that’s unheard of in history; I’ve certainly never heard of such a thing. At first, I thought they were just really good at hiding it.”

  “In other words, since there’s no conspiring for the throne, the Abh are creepy to you?” asked Jint, cocking his head. “I’d say that’s just because the imperial system’s that refined.”

  “That ain’t it. The Abh, they’re born that way. It’s in their blood,” spat Durin. “You know that, don’t you?”

  “No, what are you talking about?”

  “They don’t oppose their social superiors because they can’t, on an instinctual level. That’s why they’re so powerful as a unit.”

  The Abhs that Jint had come to know came to mind. No way that’s true. “You’ve got it all wrong. There’s a ton of Abhs who make it a life mission to make fun of their social superiors. I learned during history class that an emperor way back when made it illegal to disrespect the crown. But if they actually enforced it, then half of all gentry and almost every noble would get arrested, so everyone pretends it’s not on the books.”

  “Lynn Jint, buddy, making fun of someone is a sign of affection. Do you think I tease you in order to hurt you?”

  “Nah,” said Jint. “I realized your teasing is probably a sign of affection.”

  “Right, see? That’s not the same as disobedience, or hostility. Or hurting someone deliberately. Lots of the time, people need to squash others lest they be squashed.”

  Jint mulled it over. It was certainly the case that the Abh were, at root, orderly and disciplined. An Abh could stand face-to-face with the Empress herself and criticize or tease her, but that would never evolve into any serious opposition.

  “Now do you see? It’s in their blood, man. Do you really not know that?”

  “I never paid it much attention. I’m not that interested in history, myself. Besides, the society on my home planet was tiny. Any conspiracy on Martin would’ve been positively adorable in scope.”

  “Well, you should pay attention. You’re the one who told me, on that day at the spaceport, that your kids would be blue-haired Abhs. That that was the rule.”

  “I might’ve said that,” said Jint, who couldn’t recall all that clearly. “It’s true that that’s imperial law.”

  “And you’re fine with that? Wait, don’t tell me you’ve already got kids?”

  “Nope, not yet,” said Jint, smiling wryly. “Haven’t even really given the matter serious thought.”

  “Give it some thought, then. They’re not just gonna be blue-haired. They’re gonna be genetically incapable of resisting authority. You sure you’re okay with that?”

  “I...” Jint didn’t know what to say.

  “You can’t be okay with that. It’s not okay. You know what those soldiers used to say? The Empire’s just a giant machine. And each individual Abh’s a component in that machine. I agree with those words.”

  “They’re not, though,” said Jint, taking care not to raise his voice. Lafier and all the other Abhs Jint knew were unique human beings with personalities.

  “Let’s leave it at that. Otherwise we’ll never stop,” said Durin, an earnest look in his eyes. “I don’t intend to convince you here and now. There are some who misunderstand my way of talking things out as pushy, but they’re all blind as bats. In reality, I hate pushiness. I’m just asking you to think about it. If you still think I’m wrong after giving it some thought, then I don’t mind if you come over and explain why that is. Maybe watching those kittens got me a little excited. But if you realize that you’re the one who’s wrong, then don’t forget that I, Que Durin, always have a place for you here.”

  “I’m grateful for that,” said Jint, from the bottom of his heart. “But...”

  “Good. You should be grateful. You should stay for a whole week, too. You can’t put on a game of minchiu in the Abh world. Let’s have ourselves a few amateur matches.”

  If Durin had accepted his request, Jint had intended to stay for a while and recruit more people alongside Durin. After all, the Baucbiruch wouldn’t be back for another week. As such, Jint would have liked to take Durin up on his kindness, but...

  “I can’t,” said Jint, Lafier’s face floating to mind as he shook his head. “I can’t afford to take it that easy.”

  “Don’t be so vague. How about you stay for three days, then?”

  All right, might as well meet him halfway, thought Jint. “Sure. If it’s not a bother.”

  “If it’s not a bother? If it were, I wouldn’t have offered, stupid. I think you’ve got a bad case of space-brain.”

  “I just forgot how Delktunians do things, that’s all,” said Jint.

  “Yeah, and that’s what we call space-brain. Besides, what’s the rush? You got a lady waiting for you up there?”

  “Kind of,” said Jint.

  “Don’t front with me,” said D
urin disbelievingly. “Admit it, you’re just bound up by some dumb schedule. You’re a fancy-shmancy noble and you can’t even make your own plans? What was the point of becoming a noble, anyway?”

  “In the Empire, the higher up you are, the less freedom you have.”

  “And you still want to be one? You’re a real dope sometimes.”

  “I thought you said we ought to leave the subject at that? Otherwise we’ll never stop.”

  “C’mon, man, are you really that dense? I swear, you’re so dense you can’t tell the difference between a dog and a hog. I meant we were leaving the serious discussion at that. What I’m engaging in right now is yet another sign of affection.”

  “That was a sign of affection?” said Jint, feigning surprise. “You’ve lost your touch, Que Durin. ‘Dope’? That was so tame, it was barely mosquito bite-level.”

  “I pulled my punches on purpose, on account of your space-brain. Tsk, tsk, you oughta express some gratitude for my thoughtfulness. Now then, I’m gonna call the boys. Wait here, will ya?”

  While Durin got out his own mobile computer to contact the others, Jint turned his back and gripped the memchip in his hand tightly. All this time, Jint had operated under the impression that he could no longer live as “Jint Lynn” or “Lynn Jint.” And now that he knew that wasn’t true, he realized he wasn’t the least bit shaken by that revelation. He’d already resolved to live as Linn Ssynec Raucr Dreuc Haïder Ghintec.

  Lafier felt the flow of charged particles on the left half of her body as she spurred the ship on. She accelerated even more, wondering what would happen. Her back sank into her seat, and, fingers pinned, she found she couldn’t control the ship very well. This was the limit.

  She let up on the acceleration, though she kept flying at a pace that would make any Lander lose consciousness. She violently changed course, hull screeching.

  She was aboard the single-seat intrastellar ship owned by the House of Vorlash. Though an old model, it was in good condition, with both power capacity and responsiveness unchanged since the time of manufacture.

  At first, she felt a slight bit out of place, since it was her first time piloting this ship, but that discomfort had dissipated in a matter of minutes. After all, she’d been flying this type of traffic vessel since childhood. Now it fit her body like an extension of herself. When an Abh closed her eyes and switched to frocragh slona (beyond-ship spatiosensory perception), a ship was like a piece of clothing.