“That’s not at all likely.” He gave them a gentle squeeze.
“I don’t know about that,” she replied, still teasingly. “After all, the experiment is concluded. What use are we now?”
“Oh?”
“Oh, yes,” Alper said, and he felt her move against his shoulder. “We’ve been consulting with Dee, I mean Deela,” she said, and impishness was present in full force.
“How so?”
“It appears that operation of the fighting-ships is not indicated for women in a certain condition,” Ander said. “The doctor has a way to determine immediately if the condition exists.”
“Yes,” said Alper, “and so simple, too! Deela brought us slips of paper and told us to urinate on them and wait a moment. Incredible. It used to take many llor, and even then was uncertain for a zul or so.”
“You mean—”
He felt her nod, and Ander stirred again. “Yes,” Alper said. “Both strips turned a bright blue. You’re an ordinary male in at least one way, John… you’re crying.”
“They are tears of joy. I hope you are equally pleased.”
“More so, if possible,” said Ander. “Among other things, it means that we won’t be totally among strangers. The connection between ferassi and human is now fully established.”
“Which raises some important questions,” Alper pointed out.
“Which we will not consider at the moment.” He paused, and the two women relaxed against him once more. “I find myself incredibly pleased and satisfied.”
“So you should,” said Alper, and he felt her grin. “You are depa’olze in earnest, and your pa’ol is growing very satisfactorily.”
“I see no reason why this should not be suitable,” Peters said as he surveyed the apartment. “Dzheenis, do you observe a deficiency? Khurs?”
“I see no deficiency in the space itself,” Dzheenis said, rubbing his chin. “The furnishings are deficient, of course.” In fact they were entirely lacking. The space had been intended as an apartment for a single person or mated pair, and comprised a large chamber directly off the corridor, an inner room which would normally be used as a bedroom, toilet facilities, and storage. “The inner chamber will be satisfactory as your office, I believe, and Khurs and I will have ample space for our activities in the front room,” the big Grallt went on. “I consider it nearly ideal for the purpose.”
“I concur,” Khurs noted. “Dzheenis can have his desk here, facing right, which leaves ample space for passage and allows him to use the wall for the charts and records he will need. Mine can face the door, where I can greet visitors with my well-known blinding smile, and a pair of chairs can sit against there, one on either side of the entry. Unless your affairs require files and storage beyond the space available, we can arrange all needed with neatness and despatch.”
“Yes,” said Tullin. The zerkre had charge of space allocation and rent collection in this zone of Llapaaloapalla. “I see you have experience in the ordering and operation of office space. The scheme requires three desks of the appropriate types, suitable seating, and a few cabinets for storage of files and correspondence. I’ll see to it at once.”
“Hold a moment,” said Peters. “This is moving too quickly for my comfort. I never intended to take part of the space myself, certainly not to sit in solitary grandeur in a separate office.”
All three Grallt grinned broadly. “You are too new to the affairs of the exalted to have a proper opinion, Peteris,” Tullin said with a sly sideways glance. “It is one of the few matters finding universal agreement among the kree: the one with ultimate authority sits in splendor behind a closed door, emerging from time to time to visit doom and destruction upon those who displease him. You may as well accede. Your underlings will be uncomfortable with any other arrangement, and their efficiency will thereby suffer.”
Khurs laughed. “Kh kh! Your phraseology puts the worst possible face on it, Tullin, but the basis of your argument is sound. Depa’olze Peters, you must consider plans and strategems. The process requires ratiocination, which goes much better in quiet solitude with a modicum of comfort.”
“Yes,” Dzheenis nodded. “If you attempt to perform this function in the midst of the hurly-burly of an open office, or worse, in your quarters, where a myriad of distractions are available at the whisper of a garment, your plans will be incomplete or faulty, and will not succeed.”
Tullin nodded vigorously. “And if the plans fail, the employees must put themselves to the vexation of finding another way to support their vices. They therefore offer this rationalization of what is in reality simply the natural order of affairs, and I congratulate them on their contrivance. Next they will be striving to concoct closely-reasoned explanations for space being black or stars shining, and you will have your first opportunity to emerge in thunderous rage, demanding that they return to productive labor.” He set his hands on his hips and produced another sly grin. “It is cause for real optimism. If your own formidable powers are coupled to such devoted attention to effective procedure, it is difficult to see how the enterprise can fail to perform prodigies.”
“I hope you are correct,” Peters said amid laughter. After a pause the Grallt began discussing styles of desk and types of filing cabinet, and he shook his head, walked to the door of the inner chamber, and peeked inside. Call it four meters by five… he had never imagined himself with an office. The farthest his ambition had extended was to a desk in a cubby, with himself as Chief directing sailors and signing reports. Almost against his will his imagination began supplying details of decor. Wood paneling, not too dark, and a sideboard with a glass top, upon which the statue of defiant enkheil would sit in splendor…
The two ferassi-Grallt had leaped upon his proposals of employment with enthusiasm. “Ideal,” Khurs had said when the concept was made clear. “An intriguing blend of ferassi and Grallt practices, satisfying the norms of both at once.”
Dzheenis had nodded. “And furthermore,” he had noted, “it precisely fulfills the spirit of Candor Zin’s intentions. With such an inventive and creative spirit at our head, we can fall short of greatness only by failing to contribute our own best efforts. Direct me, depa’olze; Peters pa’ol will shine like a star.” Peters’s jaw had dropped. The other four had been smiling like the sun coming up.
To the proposal that they move to larger quarters and install Khurs and Dzheenis in their own establishment Peters had issued an unqualified No. All four of the ex-residents of Trader 1049 had voiced protest, but he had been firm, and supported his argument with calm reasoning and details of human and Grallt practice. In the end he had risen, assumed the mantle of depa’olze, and issued forceful instructions. The result had been broad smiles and the speedy implementation of his directives; Tullin’s remarks came to mind, and he recalled Dreelig’s comments upon leaving Chief Joshua’s room.
Khurs and Dzheenis now occupied apartments not unlike this one, on the same deck as his own quarters and conveniently nearby. When the office was set up they would begin to order his affairs. Astonishing to have affairs that might require two assistants to order. Prethuvenigis had nodded benignly.
Peters had had somewhat less success in the matter of insignia. “No, no!” Ander and Alper had chorused when he demurred. “Khurs and Dzheenis can’t go around blank forever, and we are no longer privileged to display the devices of Trader 1049.” His proposal that they adopt whatever design suited their fancy fell on deaf ears. They wanted, in effect, a uniform that would tell all who saw them that they were part of Peters pa’ol.