“We’ll have to act under the assumption the gloves are off then.” The woman Marine sighed. “If Galactic opinion doesn’t matter to them, they may even turn to using space weaponry down here on the planet. We’d better disperse as widely as possible.”
“Hmm, yes.” Athaclena nodded. “But if they use burners or hell bombs, all is lost anyway. From such weapons we cannot hide.
“I cannot command your troops, lieutenant, but I would rather die in a bold gesture — one which might help stop this madness once and for all — than end my life burying my head in the sand, like one of your Earthly oysters.”
Despite the seriousness of the proposition, Lydia McCue smiled. And a touch of appreciative irony danced along the edges of her simple aura. “Ostriches,” the Earth woman corrected gently. “It’s big birds called ostriches that bury their heads.
“Now why don’t you tell me what you have in mind.”
104
Galactics
Buoult of the Thennanin inflated his ridgecrest to its maximum height and preened his shining elbow spikes before stepping out upon the bridge of the great warship, Athanasfire. There, beside the grand display, where the disposition of the fleet lay spread out in sparkling colors, the human delegation awaited him. Their leader, an elderly female whose pale hair tendrils still gleamed in places with the color of a yellow sun, bowed at a prim, correct angle. Buoult replied with a precise waistbend of his own. He gestured toward the display.
“Admiral Alvarez, I assume you can perceive for yourself that the last of the enemy’s mines have been cleared. I am ready to transmit to the Galactic Institute for Civilized Warfare our declaration that the Gubru interdiction of this system has been lifted by force majeur.”
“That is good to hear,” the woman said. Her human-style smile — a suggestive baring of teeth — was one of their easier gestures to interpret. One as experienced with Galactic affairs as the legendary Helene Alvarez surely knew the effect the wolfling expression often had on others. She must have made a conscious decision to use it.
Well, such subtle intimidations played an acceptable role in the complex game of bluff and negotiation. Buoult was honest enough to admit that he did it too. It was why he had inflated his towering crest before entering.
“It will be good to see Garth again,” Alvarez added. “I only hope we aren’t the proximate cause of yet another holocaust on that unfortunate world.”
“Indeed, we shall endeavor to avoid that at all costs. And if the worst happens — if this band of Gubru are completely out of control — then their entire nasty clan shall pay for it.”
“I care little about penalties and compensation. There are people and an entire frail ecosphere at risk here.”
Buoult withheld comment. I must be more careful, he thought. It is not meet for others to remind Thennanin — defenders of all Potential — of the duty to protect such places as Garth.
It was especially galling to be chided righteously by wolflings.
And from now on they mil be at our elbows, carping and criticizing, and we will have to listen, for they will be stage consorts to one of our clients. It is only one price we must pay for this treasure Kault found for us.
The humans were pressing negotiations hard, as was to be expected from a clan as desperate for allies as they. Already Thennanin forces had withdrawn from all areas of conflict with Earth and Tymbrim. But the Terragens were demanding much more than that in exchange for help managing and uplifting the new client race called “Gorilla.”
In effect, they were demanding that the great clan of the Thennanin ally itself with forlorn and despised wolflings and bad-boy prankster Tymbrimi! This at a time when the horrible Soro-Tandu alliance appeared to be unstoppable out on the starlanes. Why, to do so might conceivably risk annihilation for the Thennanin themselves!
If it were up to Buoult, who had had enough of Earthlings to last him a lifetime, the choice would be to tell them to go to Ifni’s Hell and seek their allies there.
But it was not up to Buoult. There had long been a strong minority streak of sympathy for Earthiclan, back home. Kault’s coup, allowing the Great Clan to achieve another treasured laurel of patronhood, could win that faction government soon. Under such circumstances, Buoult figured it wise to keep his own opinions to himself.
One of his undercommanders approached and saluted. “We have determined the positions taken up by the Gubru defense flotilla,” he reported. “They are clustered quite close to the planet. Their dispersement is unusual. Our battle computers are finding it very hard to crack.”
Hrnm, yes, Buoult thought on examining the close-in display. A brilliant arrangement of limited forces. Even original, perhaps. How unlike the Gubru.
“No matter,” he huffed. “Even if there is no subtle way, they will nonetheless see that we came with more than adequate firepower to do the job by brute force if necessary. They will concede. They must concede.”
“Of course they must,” the human admiral agreed. But she did not sound convinced. In fact, she seemed worried.
“We are ready to approach to fail-safe envelopment,” the orficer of the deck reported.
Buoult nodded quickly. “Good. Proceed. From there we can contact the enemy and announce our intentions.”
Tension built as the armada advanced closer to the system’s modest yellow sun. Although the Thennanin claimed proudly to possess no psychic powers, Buoult seemed to feel the gaze of the Earthling woman upon him, and he wondered how it was possible that he found her so intimidating.
She is only a wolfling, he reminded himself.
“Shall we resume our discussions, commander?” Admiral Alvarez asked at last.
He had no choice but to comply, of course. It would be best if much was decided before they arrived and the siege manifesto was read aloud.
Still, Buoult planned to sign no agreements until he had-a chance to confer with Kault. That Thennanin had a reputation for vulgarity and, well, frivolity, that had won him exile to this backwater world. But now he appeared to have achieved unprecedented miracles. His political power back home would be great.
Buoult wanted to tap Kault’s expertise, his apparent knack at dealing with these infuriating creatures.
His aides and the human delegation filed out of the bridge toward the meeting room. But before Buoult left he glanced one more time back at the situation tank and the deadly-looking Gubru battle array. Air noisily escaped his breathing slits.
What are the avians planning? he wondered. What shall I do if these Gubru prove to be insane?
105
Robert
In some parts of Port Helenia, there were more guard drones than ever, protecting their masters’ domains rigorously, lashing out at anyone who passed too near.
Elsewhere, however, it was almost as if a revolution had already taken place…The invader’s posters lay tattered in the gutters. Above one busy street corner Robert glimpsed a new mural that had recently been erected in place of Gubru propaganda. Painted in the style called Focalist Realism, it depicted a family of gorillas staring with dawning but hopeful sentience oat upon a glowing horizon. Protectively standing beside them, showing the way to that wonderful future, was a pair of idealized, high-browed neo-chimpanzees.
Oh, yes, there had also been a human and a Thennanin in the picture, vague and in the background. Robert thought it really nice of the artist to have remembered to include them.