The Kif Strike Back

by C. J. Cherryh

  Chi

  Chi are neon yellow sticklike beings who (which?) move with great rapidity and often seem to be in total panic. “Crazy as a chi” is a hani proverb widely understood.

  It is uncertain whether chi are associates of the tc’a or pets. Chi can run ships but are erratic navigators and it is virtually certain they did not invent their own technology. Tc’a are not found without chi, though occasionally chi may nest in communities into which tc’a do not appear to go.

  Natives of Chchchoh, chi regularly accompany tc’a into the most hazardous mining areas. No oxygen-breather has ever reported visiting Chchchoh. Tc’a will not permit it, for what reason is unclear. It is known that chi reproduce by growing a second brain at some point midway along their bodies. Additional leg segments follow; then fission, and the newborn chi races off independently. Gender with a chi is therefore of questionable application. Activities have been observed which may be mating, but this is uncertain.

  Knnn

  No one knows the name of the knnn homeworld. No one knows if their ships have names—except perhaps the tc’a or the chi, who do not say. No oxygen-breather is even sure which star they come from, except that it is on the underbelly of the Compact, and suspicion centers around one star known to be a hub of knnn activity.

  Knnn look like black nests of hair-snarl with spider legs. Packrats of the galaxy, they breathe methane and sing long involved songs over ships’ radio. They are (perhaps) miners and (one supposes) traders, but their idea of trade (as best the tc’a could communicate with them) is to dash onto station or ship, and exchange what they’ve brought for what they want or what they take a fancy to. In the bad old days, knnn simply gutted ships. They go in swarms or solitary, and their ships are the only ships known to change vector in jumpspace. They have a jump boost and turn maneuver that is impossible for oxygen-breathers. They are not popular. One can only talk to them through the tc’a, who can get a kind of general translation—if you can understand the tc’a’s seven-part matrix-sentences.

  Knnn ships observe no lane regulations or instructions, and no one is about to challenge them on the point. It is suspected in some quarters that the knnn may have been the origin of much of the technology of the Compact. No one except the stsho knows whether the stsho actually devised their own technology, and perhaps stsho in general do not know: certainly they do not comment on it.

  Knnn were unknown at Anuurn until Pyanfar Chanur brought them there. Her people are not grateful.

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  DAW Titles by C.J. CHERRYH

  THE FOREIGNER UNIVERSE

  FOREIGNER

  INVADER

  INHERITOR

  PRECURSOR

  DEFENDER

  EXPLORER

  DESTROYER

  PRETENDER

  DELIVERER

  CONSPIRATOR

  DECEIVER

  BETRAYER

  INTRUDER

  PROTECTOR

  THE ALLIANCE-UNION UNIVERSE

  REGENESIS

  DOWNBELOW STATION

  THE DEEP BEYOND:

  Serpent’s Reach | Cuckoo’s Egg

  ALLIANCE SPACE:

  Merchanter’s Luck | 40,000 in Gehenna

  AT THE EDGE OF SPACE:

  Brothers of Earth | Hunter of Worlds

  THE FADED SUN:

  Kesrith | Shon’jir | Kutath

  THE CHANUR NOVELS

  THE CHANUR SAGA:

  The Pride Of Chanur | Chanur’s Venture | The Kif Strike Back

  CHANUR’S ENDGAME:

  Chanur’s Homecoming | Chanur’s Legacy

  THE MORGAINE CYCLE

  THE MORGAINE SAGA:

  Gate of Ivrel | Well of Shiuan | Fires of Azeroth

  EXILE’S GATE

  OTHER WORKS

  THE DREAMING TREE Omnibus:

  The Tree of Swords and Jewels | The Dreamstone

  ALTERNATE REALITIES Omnibus:

  Port Eternity | Wave Without a Shore | Voyager in Night

  THE COLLECTED SHORT FICTION OF CJ CHERRYH

  ANGEL WITH THE SWORD