Juna led the Tendu up a sloping rise to the top of the cliffs, threading their way between colonies of nesting birds, their chicks nearly grown. The birds honked and hissed at her, clacking their beaks together, wings spread, the feathers on their necks and backs raised threateningly. Crushed and mummified corpses of baby birds crunched underfoot. The stench of bird shit and death was overwhelming. Juna fought back a wave of nausea. The Tendu held their mittened hands over their noses.
Already the incredible numbers of birds were thinning. When Juna had visited the island the week before, she had had to wade through a solid tide of black, white, and grey, hissing and fighting furiously at the disruption of their territory. Waves of squabbling birds had spread in their wake, some bloodied from fighting. The noise was deafening. Now you could actually see the ground between the nesting birds, and it was possible to walk between the nests.
They reached the top of the cliff and paused. Spread out before them was a wide plain of packed brown soil, covered with nesting birds. The island had once been a live volcano. Now the crater was entirely filled with guano, which one of the geologists had estimated was over three hundred meters deep. Ukatonen pushed up his sleeves, exposing his spurs, and grabbed a struggling, hissing bird. It threw up on him, its vomit bright pink from the crustaceans it had eaten. He sank a spur into it, and the bird went limp. The other enkar followed suit, picking up birds, and sticking them with their spurs.
“What are they doing?” asked the pilot, as Ukatonen released his captured bird.
“Sampling the cells of these birds. They do that when they see a new or interesting plant or animal. Now they’ll have enough information to build a whole new bird if they wanted to.”
“Why are they doing it?”
“If you had a chance to fly a new kind of plane, would you do it?” Juna asked the pilot.
He nodded.
“Well,” Juna explained, “that’s why they do it. No Tendu has ever seen birds like these. They’re new and strange to them.”
The bird Ukatonen had released woke up and waddled back to its nest, braying in alarm.
Juna found a. rock outcropping that sheltered them from the cold wind. She opened the front of her warmsuit, letting in an icy blast of wind, and began explaining the guano mining operation, pointing out where the Survey was going to dig, and how deep they were going to go. The Tendu watched her words intently, then huddled together, conferring among themselves. When they were through, Anitonen turned to her.
“The damage to the rookery will be small. The birds should recover within a year, and the Tendu will profit greatly. This is not perfectly harmonious, but I accept on behalf of the enkar. We ask that you seek approval from the lyali-Tendu, as well, since this negotiation will affect their trade. We also ask for some of the fertilizer as part of our fee for helping to negotiate this trade. We also thank you for taking us here. We have learned much today.”
Juna sighed with mingled regret and relief. The treaty was almost concluded, bringing her closer to going home. She glanced at Moki, longing for a solution to his need for her.
The next day the lyali-Tendu came to the landing dock to negotiate their portion of the agreement, floating on their backs so that Juna could see their words. Juna sat with her legs in the water, listening and translating for the suited human negotiators. The sea people were tough traders, and they drove a hard bargain. At last they agreed to accept an amount of fertilizer equal to half the amount the people of Lyanan received, to be delivered to their trading islands up and down the coast. It meant more work for the Survey, but it was certainly possible. Besides, Juna thought with a smile, it was time the Survey did a little work.
The treaty was finalized two days later, at a meeting on the beach attended by representatives from all the concerned parties. The Survey signed a document agreeing to the provisions of the compact, and Anitonen rendered a formal judgment that the Tendu would accept it, signaling this by drawing her name sign on the treaty.
Juna returned from celebrating with the Tendu several hours after sunset. Bruce picked her up in the boat. They rode back in silence. The tropical night air felt like warm milk against her skin. It was a rare, clear night, and the stars shone so brightly that it seemed as though she could reach up and pluck them out of the sky. Night birds flickered like shadows across the stars.
Juna glanced up at Bruce. He was watching her. She closed her eyes, aware of a growing warmth between her thighs, feeling a flush of golden arousal stealing up her back. She stroked her arm; her skin was wet and warm and slimy. She remembered Bruce touching her skin, and flinching away, and her arousal vanished. She had done her best to avoid him since then. The worst part was that she still wanted him.
The boat pulled up j:o the dock. Juna got out, and started up the steps.
“Juna, wait a minute,” Bruce said.
“What is it?”
“I— It’s just that you’ve been so busy with the talks lately. We haven’t had much chance to talk. I’ve missed you.”
Juna ducked her head, feeling her skin turn brown with awkward embarrassment. “Thank you, Bruce. I’ve missed your company too. I like you very much.”
“I thought, maybe, there was more to it than just liking me,” Bruce said, putting his arms around her. In the darkness, his face was a pale shadow inside his face plate.
“Oh, Bruce,” Juna said, fighting the urge to rest her head against his shoulder. “Not while I’m like this.”
His embrace tightened. “Why?”
“Because I’m ugly, slimy, alien.”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Yes,” Juna said. “You tried to hold my hand, just after I got out of quarantine. I saw the look on your face when you flinched.”
“I’m sorry, Juna,” he said. “It just surprised me. Give me a chance. I’ll get over it.”
Juna shrugged and looked away. “I don’t want to be something you have to get over.” She slipped out of the warmth of his arms and fled up the stairs. She dogged the lock behind her, stripped off her clothing, and stepped into the soothing warmth of the shower. Finished with the decontamination process, she dressed and headed for the lonely refuge of her cabin. She lay awake for a long time, listening, irrationally hoping that Bruce would come, would apologize, and would hold her.
With the reparations to Lyanan resolved, it was time to turn to negotiating a Contact treaty between the humans and the Survey. The enkar had learned a great deal from the reparation negotiations. They understood what the humans would accept, and they had enough information to begin to define their own needs. What they chiefly needed was time in which to learn more about humans. The Tendu wanted a short-term, highly restricted Contact treaty, allowing very limited and supervised research on the planet, with an emphasis on linguistic and cultural research. All contact with the Tendu would be supervised by the enkar. Trade would be strictly prohibited for the first five years. A second research base could be set up off the coast of one of the enkar reserves. Exploration of the area outside Tendu control required the consent of an enkar in charge of human contact, a position currently shared by Ukatonen and Anitonen.