Suran stiffened at that statement, but continued to leave the talking to her counterpart.
“Outrageous,” Mingatat responded, dropping his scroll to his side. “You allow these aliens access to our technology—”
“Rocket technology is neither useful nor innovative to them,” Pi said, speaking over him.
“—to rub their oily paws upon Domain Moon’s property?”
It was Buoun’s turn to explode with outrage. “Oily paws? How dare you speak of them that way, you disgraceful rock rodent!”
His breath caught as he realized his transgression. Who was he to even interrupt, let alone insult a foreign dignitary? The reactions of most Tluaanto around him transmitted that same question. The foreign warriors narrowed their gazes at him. Both Mingatat and Suran bared their teeth. Pi’s face turned toward him in shock.
He faced her and Naat, ready to apologize—then noticed that Naat’s ears had lowered in amusement, his eyes squeezed shut in pleasure. At least one person had enjoyed the outburst. With chin lowered, Buoun muttered, “I regret my words. But I find the esteemed Domain Surface councillor’s words reprehensible. They diminish our Human guests to the status of animals.”
“They do,” Naat agreed, his gaze once more upon his foreign counterparts. “But it is not your place to say so.”
Buoun returned to his place in the line and kept his head bowed. “As you say, Excellency.”
Louder, Naat said, “But it is my place to say so. And I could not have worded it better than Envoy Buoun’nyimiun’t. Councillor Mingatat, it is my turn to demand something. An apology to the Humans.”
Mingatat snorted. “They can’t even understand me.”
“Your interpreter chose not to translate that into English, but I’m sure they understood your hostility well enough.”
Buoun concurred. He had caught a glimpse of the coloring on Gregory’s face and Pan’s. They certainly did catch the disdain in Mingatat’s manner if not his words.
When Mingatat refused to respond, Naat directed his next question to Suran. “Does it amuse you to allow this whelp to embarrass your Domain so publicly? Do you concur with your ally’s assessment of our guests?”
Suran stirred, her eyes rising to the ceiling as she said, “I would ask the honored Domain Surface representative to please refrain from such hostile words. I also ask you, Naat, and you, our Human visitors, to forgive our domains for any unintended slights. Emotions burn hot. We say things we don’t mean and later regret.”
Mingatat hesitated before saying, “I will choose my words more carefully in future.”
Buoun listened carefully to the other interpreter’s relaying of this, glad for its accuracy, and slow-breathing his own hot emotions away. And then Gregory was speaking, and it was Buoun’s turn to translate.
Somehow, Gregory had to turn fists into open hands. He nodded to the plastipaper clenched in Mingatat’s fingers. “Honored envoys, I see that you have more demands to read. However, I think it’s a good time to make a statement from the human point of view. We came to your system in response to an offer of friendship. It seems that our arrival triggered conflict. But am I correct in saying that the conflict existed long before we arrived?”
“The conflict was managed by the accord for thirty-eight orbits,” said Suran. “The accord is now torn to pieces, not by your arrival, but by Domain Space’s concealment of that fact and by your hasty and dangerous alliance with them.”
“We have no alliance with them.” Naat and Pi shifted at this statement but said nothing. If he had humbled them a tad, then so be it. The statement appeared to shock Suran who stared openly at him. “The Confederation of Human Colonies is interested in friendship with your entire people. All Tluaanto. All four domains. As is the Unitary State of Xerxes who are represented by Colonel Fowler here. We humans standing here represent two human ‘domains,’ united in our desire for peaceful coexistence with the Tluaanto. While humans are far from a perfect species, I hope you see the Confederation-Xerxian cooperation as a model for what your own people can achieve.”
“Cooperation is one thing,” scoffed Mingatat. “We cooperated under the accord. But if you expect us to meld into one domain so you can deal with us more easily, you offend us greatly. And you demonstrate ignorance of the worst kind.”
“We don’t expect that,” Gregory said, keeping his voice level. “The Xerxians are a different culture from the world where I was born. All of the worlds of the Confederation are distinct in culture, but we work hard toward consensus, toward peace, toward mutual benefit as expressed by an ancient English phrase: a rising tide lifts all boats.”
This time, the interpreter had to rely on Buoun’s translation. As the various Tluaanto digested what he’d been saying, Pan leaned closer and whispered, “There’s better sayings in Mandarin than that one, you know.”
“Apologies,” he whispered back. “First one that came to mind.”
Suran gestured for his attention and said, “Ambassador, we find ourselves in much trouble after a violent conflict. Hundreds of Tluaanto died on all sides. None of our domains are as friendly toward each other as the Confederation and the … Xerxians.” She had obvious trouble pronouncing the English words she’d attempted, but perhaps it was a step toward conciliation. “You want to negotiate peace between us? We will pause our list of demands now and listen to yours with interest.”
“No demands, only suggestions. We came here not knowing who we would meet. We met you. And that meeting has not been perfect so far, by anyone’s standards. But we can’t go back to not knowing each other. We must find a way forward that lifts all our boats equally. Now, I will not disclose things we know about any of your domains to the others. But as a gesture of peaceful intentions, I would urge Councillor Naat to disclose the current offer he has made to us.”
He expected anger from Naat. He hadn’t prepared the Grand Councillor for this. Such a surprise comment was like kicking over a hive-rat’s mound and expecting not to get growled at.
But Naat merely sighed and said, “Councillor Pi?” Perhaps he’d expected this after all.
Pi cleared her throat. In her heavily accented English, she said, “We will to tell them about that. If we can ...” She continued in her own language, so that Gregory had to await Buoun’s translation again. “If we can reach some kind of agreement that satisfies our domain and the Confederation too. If that happens, we would be prepared to extend an invitation.”
“To what? For what?” asked Mingatat.
Pi’s throat rippled briefly with colors Gregory was unable to interpret. She said, “Agreement first. Invitation and disclosure after that.”
“What agreement are you seeking?” asked Vren, the Domain Ocean councillor, speaking for the first time.
“Whatever is discovered through the activity we propose is to be managed by our domain. Long term military and scientific oversight will be ours alone. We will find a way to negotiate fair distribution of any wealth that comes from the project.”
Vren’s brow raised in an easily understandable expression to humans. “You’re asking us to agree to something we know nothing about.”
“These are our terms.”
“Tell them,” Naat interrupted, obviously surprising Pi. “The simple version.” His order surprised Buoun too, and he didn’t relay it to the Humans.
Pi’s shoulders slumped a little. Disclosing what she was about to disclose obviously pained her. “Domain Space has exercised its mandate. We have begun to investigate Kh’het.”
“The star?” asked Vren.
Mingatat asked, “Investigate in what way? You have sent some kind of probe?”
“We have sent an expedition,” Naat said, getting to the point.
There was much huffing and puffing among the foreign councillors but nothing either interpreter could translate. The Humans would understand the emotion without it.
Eventually, Naat added, “The project was triggered by the arrival of a human probe to our
system a very many orbits ago. We have had a ship there at Kh’het for many orbits now.”
“An outrageous breach of the accord!” Suran said. “And you tell us now? Like cowards, you tell us this while the humans stand ready to defend you from the consequences.”
Vren waved them to silence and told Gregory, “The accord states that if Domain Space ever begins to exploit the resources of another star system, a new accord must be developed immediately so that all domains may share fairly in those resources.”
“I suspected precisely this when the humans arrived,” Mingatat said. “I told my Council the humans are from Kh’het!”
Buoun had translated all of this as faithfully as he dared with his own councillors present.
Gregory’s reply to Mingatat’s assertion was framed patiently. “We are not from Kh’het.” To Vren, he added, “This is exactly the sort of new agreement I think Councillors Naat and Pi were just suggesting. From the Confederation’s perspective, the demarcation of interstellar territory will eventually become a critical discussion between Humans and Tluaanto, not just between Tluaan domains. Long term, we desire a relationship with the Tluaanto that is friendly and mutually beneficial. But we must deal with one party, not several.”
“You see?” Mingatat threw his arms in the air. “You do desire us to abandon our domains, to meld them? That is against the ways of nature!”
“I repeat, that’s not what I’m suggesting. I mean that your four domains could remain distinct but form what we call a Parliament. Perhaps a combined Council—for humans to communicate and deal with you all at the same time and as equal partners. And, if you will let us, we may mediate between some of your internal disputes. To ensure fairness between you.”
They huffed and puffed some more.
Vren asked Pi and Naat, “Are you offering to share the resources of Kh’het system with us?”
“We are offering to take you with us on a mission,” Pi said with a glance to Naat. “The Confederation representatives have kindly offered the services of their ship to transport us there in a fraction of the time it would take our ships.”
No, they haven’t, Buoun thought as he refrained from translating that last statement. Not yet.
Vren put a hand to her cheek as she retreated into thought.
Suran and Mingatat glanced at each other, conveying some hidden message between them.
Suran said, “Mingatat and I will take this to our Councils.”
At this point, Pan cleared his throat gently.
Gregory picked up on the prearranged prompt. “Before this meeting concludes, I must say something else. And you must all hear this. The Democratic Confederation of Human Colonies has no intention of being a bully. But … we take the survival and the wellbeing of our society and our species very seriously. We hope that the current combative nature of Tluaanto factions is not an indication of the sort of conflict you would spread out there.” He hoped his gesture put them in mind of the millions of unsettled star systems beyond the habitat’s walls. “Because if it is, then we are wary of allowing that to happen.”
Suran bridled at that. “‘Allowing!’”
At the same time, Vren spoke up, her tone milder than Suran’s. “Domain Ocean do not see ourselves as ‘combative.’ We took no part in the recent ‘conflict.’ We are a peaceful people, content to explore the ways of nature and abide by them.”
“And yet you are here,” said Naat before Gregory could respond. “Do not misunderstand me, Vren. You are welcome here. But you are here because, with the rest of us, you are intent on winning favor with the humans. Learning from them. Ensuring the future health of your domain. And ensuring protection from the humans. You fear them. As do you, Ming and you, Suran. And you are right to. The Confederation Domain is more powerful that all of ours combined.”
“And you invited them here!” Mingatat snapped. “Without consultation with any of us. Subjecting all Tluaanto to the greatest danger—”
“We invited them here,” Naat interrupted. “And they came. But have they squashed us like terk’min’yel? Have they taken control of our people? No. They intervened in a war because it endangered their ship and personnel. And now their representatives stand here in this chamber, offering prosperous futures for all our domains. Tluaanto have no star drive. But if we can all trade with the human Confederation to take our species to other stars, then you, Mingatat, would have the surface of other planets. Suran, you would have other moons, some of which may be as beautiful and rich as planets. You, Vren, would have other oceans to settle and explore.”
“I do not want to offend your guests, Naat,” said Vren. “But Humans do not decide our future. Tluaanto decide Tluaan futures.”
Gregory had an answer for that, but again Naat got in first.
“The universe has changed. Now that humans know of us and know us, they are part of the weave of our reality. Tluaanto no longer can take actions that do not account for human thought and human power. Our four domains must heed them. We must consider Ambassador Gregory’s wise words and find a way to reach ... consensus.”
“Consensus,” Mingatat spat. “Consensus between domains so that we are at the mercy of people who don’t care for us. Domains Surface and Moon have enough consensus between us. We two will choose our own paths forward.”
“And will your path forward be paved with the bodies of your warriors? Your civilians? If you provoke humans into swatting you like terk’min’yel, what then?” Naat swept a hand back toward the Assured escort. “If they can best you with one ship and a handful of warriors, imagine if they sent two ships. Or two hundred. Or two thousand.”
We don’t have anywhere near that many, Gregory thought. But he wasn’t going to say it.
Mingatat and Suran exchanged glances again. Suran took the forgotten plastipaper scroll from Mingatat and said, “We will talk more on this. We will withdraw to our transport ship now.”
“You are welcome to do so,” said Naat with a small bow of acknowledgement. “Remember only that we are eager to visit the Kh’het system. Any more delaying on your part will not contribute to the friendly relationship the humans speak about.”
Without further comment, the two allied councillors wheeled around and drew their warriors with them on their way from the chamber.
In counterpoint to them, Vren stepped forward. “I have full discretionary decision-making powers from my own Council. I’d like to stay and discuss this further with Councillor Pi if she agrees.”
“Of course,” she said.
“Envoy Buoun and Warrior Vazak will accompany your group back to your shuttle,” Naat told Gregory. Without further niceties, he too whirled around and strode away.
In a curve-roofed passageway, halfway back to the dock, with Tluaan civilians openly gaping at them as they passed, Pan gave Gregory an amused look. “That went well.”
“Much better than our initial interaction with the domains.” He had dropped his voice to prevent Buoun and Vazak ahead of them from hearing. “This time, we didn’t trigger a war.”
Pan chuckled. “Well,” he said. “Not yet anyway.”
3
They had assigned Buoun an apartment on Liberty many cycles ago. But the busyness of recent times had prevented him from seeing his new home until last night. Yesterday had been the first day he’d even been on Liberty since being snatched from his mining assignment into the craziness of the Human arrival in Chaatu system.
With the Council Chamber meeting concluded and Gregory’s delegation safely aboard its “skiff,” Buoun trudged back to his apartment buried deep inside the spherical habitat. He was looking forward to nothing more than a cup of ve’haat, a short nap, and a long bath. The finely-dressed warrior posted outside his door indicated he would have to wait for all of that.
Grand Councillor Naat sat comfortably on the high-cushion in the center of Buoun’s relaxing room, a cup of Buoun’s ve’haat in hand. Buoun repressed a ripple of resentment—he’d only just opened that bottle for
himself. And he’d only had time to enjoy the high-cushion once since arriving on Liberty.
Forced to move to one of the dining stools, he maintained a polite posture and said, “Welcome to my home, Shining One.”
“Your temporary home,” Naat replied and put down the drink.
Buoun’s hearts beat harder. They’re taking it away from me? They’re discarding me again!
Perhaps anticipating such fears, Naat made a placating gesture. “‘Temporary’ because you’re coming with us to Kh’het.”
“Ah,” said Buoun, relaxing a little on his stool. “You do expect the Humans to transport us there?”
“I am certain of it. They are as curious a species as Tluaanto. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“They are.”
“You won’t need to convince them of their desire to go look at a new star system and its resident aliens. What you must convince them of is the urgency.”
Buoun wrestled to keep a Human frown from his face; it was becoming harder and harder not to emulate them. “You … want me to reveal to them that our first expedition was attacked?”
“Not necessarily that. You can tell Ambassador Gregory that we know very little, since we have only received one transmission. And, because of our lack of faster-than-light communications, that is from early in the expedition’s presence at Kh’het. You can tell them we know the mission ran into some kind of trouble, has sustained losses, and needs assistance.”
“If that is your wish, Excellent One.” Buoun bowed his head ostensibly to show deference, in reality to hide his discomfort at the way his leaders doled out information in tidbits—to Gregory, and to him! “I should point out that Ambassador Gregory remains reticent to favor one domain over another.”
Assured (Envoys Book 2) Page 3
