“Only when a girl agrees, usually. There are laws—”
“Very well. Dress it up pretty.”
Yael was glad to oblige. Melody relaxed and let the girl use her own notions, ordering flimsy underclothing followed by more substantial overclothing. There was a two thousand Solarian year spread in human clothing fashions, and any dress within that range was currently acceptable. So Yael chose apparel approximating the style of her namesake, who had resided in pre-Spherical times on Planet Earth. She wore a white blouse with images of flowers printed on it, and a short black skirt that showed the lower half of her legs. Light slippers covered her feet. Her hair flowed free, behind and to the sides.
Melody really didn’t understand the nuances of Solarian dress; Mintakans and most other sapients did not use clothing. But she was satisfied that this sufficed. As she kept reminding herself, it would not be for long.
3. Society of Hosts
COUNCIL INITIATED PARTICIPATING * — / oo
—where is quadpoint?—
*perhaps he swallowed a hard rock*
AMUSEMENT
—some obstructions developing in selected segments prior report of successful infiltration premature three segments appear to have become aware of our effort—
/bungling cannot be tolerated which segments?/
—knyfh, etamin, weew—
oo detail? oo
*(duocirc, your elements are misangled)*
oo ? sorry, recent recombination confuses oo
/if we are finished with the personal hygiene/
—etamin agent discovered and circumvented by locals this indicates that natives are aware of our purpose and are attempting to prevent our knowing they know no real problem as we have alerted our discovered agent, but any spread of resistance would be awkward knyfh is sophisticated magnetic culture resembling oo status there uncertain bears scrutiny lest they countertrap us at moment of action weew may be a misreport investigation proceeding—
oo no adverse indications from lodo or bhyo? These also are formidable center-galaxy cultures oo
—no adverse indications suggest delay of overt strike until investigations completed primarily knyfh—
*concurrence?*
— / oo CONCURRENCE — / oo
*POWER*
— / oo CIVILIZATION oo / —
The door-panel slid open, and she stepped into a hall. A human man stood there. Sure enough, as Yael had reassured her, he did not leap to impregnate her, though he looked as though the notion had crossed his mind.
“Greetings, Mistress Melody,” he said. “You have adapted very well. Do not be afraid; we shall take good care of you.”
The information was in her mind, but Melody hardly cared to delve through the layers of cultural meaning. She spoke silently to Yaeclass="underline" “Why does he call me ‘mistress’? Why does he think I am afraid?”
“I don’t know,” Yael admitted. “Unmarried girls are Miss, and Mistress means a concubine—”
“He’s going to impregnate us!” Melody cried, alarmed.
“He wouldn’t dare. All we’d have to do is scream.”
So the Solarians did use sound for defense, just as Mintakans did. “How would a mere scream stop him?”
“Other men would come—”
“Because they wanted to be first to do the impregnation?”
“To enforce the law. Alien transferees aren’t supposed to be molested.”
“Oh. That makes sense. I was afraid—”
“But now I remember,” Yael interrupted. “Mistress also means a rich lady, or maybe even a child, I think.”
“Or an alien lady?”
“Maybe.”
So the address confused the native too. Odd note. How had the Solarians achieved such galactic influence when their language suffered from such imprecision? But she knew the answer: A thousand years ago Sphere Knyfh had brought the secret of transfer to Sol instead of to one of the larger Spheres, for reasons that were opaque to those other Spheres, and this had given Sol a phenomenal start. But Sphere Sol had not been able to handle galactic matters effectively; thus the Fringe planet of Outworld, which possessed strong Polarian currents, had moved into prominence. Outworld’s system of Etamin had taken over the segment without ever forming a sphere; perhaps that was one reason the Spheres were willing to accede to it. Outworld’s interest was the segment, nothing else. If the segment fell apart, Outworld would be nothing.
The man guided her to a larger chamber set with plush chairs contoured for Solarian torsos. “Sit down, my dear,” he said. “The Colonel will arrive in a moment.”
Melody plumped down. The man looked away.
“Better close your legs,” Yael advised.
“Legs? Why? They’re comfortable.”
“The dress—it spreads when you sit, so he can see up inside your thighs. That’s not supposed to happen.”
“Why not?”
“Well, it—he—it just isn’t—”
“Girl, you’re dischordant!” Melody was aware that she was invoking another imprecision of the language; to her a musical chord was good and a dischord unpleasant, but the human “discord” was unrelated. Well, she could not be held responsible for the inadequacies of human speech! “What exactly are you trying to say?”
Yael was obviously embarrassed; Melody felt her reactions. “When a man sees up a girl’s legs, he gets all excited, unless he’s a doctor. Same as when he sees into her blouse. Sex, you know.”
“Oh, that’s right! Solarians are sexed entities,” Melody said, remembering. She had been acutely conscious of this all along, yet had overlooked it because she had been thinking in terms of mammaries. “They cover themselves so carefully to avoid visual stimulation.” She pulled her legs together.
“Didn’t you know?” Yael asked, surprised. “You were so worried about impregnation—”
Melody was amazed. “You mean sex is connected with impregnation?”
“Well of course!” Yael laughed with embarrassment “How else can—”
“Do you know, I never really made the connection?” Melody said. “I knew the sight of mammaries caused the male to impregnate the female, but the concept of sexuality itself—I mean as an aspect of looking at the genital organs—well, Mintakans are basically neuter, and the genitals are always exposed. We don’t have sex play in that sense.”
Now Yael was amazed. “Then how do you—make more Mintakans?”
“We bud them, of course. Sex has nothing to do with it, except as sex is affected by reproduction. And most buds are produced by paired males.” Then, as an afterthought: “But if seeing up legs has the same effect as seeing mammaries, I’ll certainly keep my legs covered. Why didn’t you choose a longer skirt?”
“Well, a girl wants to have some sex appeal—”
“I don’t understand that at all!”
“I don’t understand Mintakan sex either!”
“But I explained it!” Obviously the girl’s limitation of intellect was the problem here. “Still, I should have grasped the pervasiveness of human sexuality from my Tarot studies. This shows how ignorant an entity can be, despite intensive study.”
“But aren’t you female? Transfer can’t change sex…”
“I am female now. However, if—”
“I’m getting confused again.”
The Colonel arrived: old, brisk, suave, sure. “So the little girl is with us at last,” he remarked, glancing down at Melody. “Orderly, fetch some ice cream.”