Return

by Blaze Ward

  Human flesh was strange. Scaleless. Furless. Normally a little less moist than this, from the times she had done the same with Lazarus in practice. She had steeled herself for the man potentially gripping and squeezing in an attempt at dominance, but his grip was perfunctory. He released and introduced himself to Aileen.

  There, there was at least fur to distract him, because she could see in his eyes the strangeness of her scales.

  Good, let us establish a working relationship of equals as strangers, Eduardo Martìnez.

  Quickly, the others did the same. Eha memorized the names and faces, but of the men, only Eduardo seemed interesting, and two of the women, both of whom paused to kiss Oluchi Pryce on both cheeks warmly, before doing the same with Lazarus. She and Aileen got simple handshakes as well, although both Leena Hernández and Fernanda Flores had the look that they might have welcomed brushing faces with fur or scales.

  Humans grinned with teeth, but Eha just smiled back at them, unwilling to show her sharper fangs.

  Eduardo Martìnez led the group into a room across the building, which had been set up for communal dining. The staff had set out a series of tables against the far wall next to another wetbar and put out food in large troughs with heating elements.

  Eha breathed a sigh of relief. Communal generally meant mild, especially as older Humans frequently didn’t have the digestive tolerance that younger ones did. Or maybe anything left to prove. This group looked like the latter.

  The funniest thing that she kept behind a façade of reserve was establishing precedence in eating. Eha could tell that the group themselves, without any outsiders, would fall into a rough pecking order that saw Eduardo at the front, with the others in declining relevance, but Oluchi had thrown everything awry.

  As had Aileen, being so much shorter than the others. Someone had apparently run out and located enough wood to build a small walkway next to the table in front of the food, so a Yithadreph didn’t have to stand on her toes when inspecting the offerings.

  Nobody had asked about food sensitivities, but Oluchi gave her a nod that suggested he might have warned the staff to go easy, even before arriving.

  That Human liked his surprises, apparently. Something else to keep in mind.

  “As we are merely guests tonight, it would never do to impose on our hosts, sir,” Lazarus stepped up and bowed politely to Eduardo, gesturing for the man to precede them. “Please, we will need a moment as I explain the dishes to the others.”

  And it made a fast way for the others to get at the food while it was fresh, and see if anybody avoided anything.

  The Humans gave way and ate, some gorging and others taking a few choice bits. The food seemed heavy on seafood dishes, with shrimp in a sauced pasta, fish cuts wrapped up and deep fried or baked. Various vegetable side dishes. Bread, which had been an interesting discovery, as the Human wheat flour gave it a different taste and amazing rise over the kinds they got back home.

  There was more food than this group would eat in a day, but she supposed the staff prepared an overabundance and ate the leftovers, or something. Eha chose to be dainty tonight, sampling from several of the troughs in the same pattern as Lazarus had, with him giving both of them a quiet, running commentary on ingredients and occasionally asking one of the helpers additional questions.

  They ate at another table that appeared to be two rectangles pushed together under a cloth. There were two such in here, and the groups divided into those sitting close enough to engage in conversation, and those on the far side of the other where they could watch.

  Again, the dynamics had Eduardo Martìnez on her immediate left, with Oluchi beyond him and Aileen on her right, with Lazarus beyond that. Good, Aileen could have some degree of privacy, and she and Lazarus could handle questions, although the two women, Leena and Fernanda, had had their own battle, with Leena ending up around the same corner from Lazarus and Fernanda across from him.

  She had little doubt what those two were about. Some looks transcended species.

  “Did I understand you correctly, Mistress Dunham?” Eduardo asked. “Churquen Ambassador?”

  “That is correct,” she replied, only taking small bites of things.

  She had already eaten enough today, but Lazarus had explained how meals tended to be as much social event as anything.

  “Is Churquen a world or a species?” he asked the obvious follow-up she had dangled in front of him.

  “Species,” she smiled with her eyes. “Aileen is a Yithadreph. I’m originally from Gowook, and most recently have been working on Dormell and Zhoonarrim. Those are planets.”

  Nice to also dangle out there that she came from a rather large place. She didn’t say hundreds of worlds, but perhaps implied it by casually mentioning just three.

  How bad do you want to trade with us, Human?

  “And what will those coordinates cost us?” he smiled primly. “I presume that Lazarus’s purpose in going to Brasilia is to establish diplomatic ties with the Rio Alliance, but we’re outside of that space. And those rules.”

  The others made similar noises of agreement.

  Eha had never really processed that a planet could exist on its own, without formal ties to a larger organization, but the Innruld controlled everything ruthlessly. Even more ruthlessly than she had previously imagined, since no colonies could be built except where the Innruld chose, with overlords and the bureaucratic infrastructure already in place.

  That was what made the Humans and their allies so dangerous.

  Freedom from oversight.

  Worlds might choose to join the Rio Alliance, and they might not. Same with Westphalia, although many of the worlds they controlled now had not been theirs originally.

  “There are complications,” Eha replied, turning to stare at the Human directly. “I’m given to understand that a Human civil war rages in this sector of the galaxy. We would prefer that it not embroil us as well.”

  Eduardo nodded at that, not accepting that as a rejection, so much as tabling it as an opening bid and answer, part of a much longer and potentially profitable conversation.

  A relationship.

  How bad do you want to trade with us, Human?

  “How many species are there in your sectors?” Fernanda asked.

  She had the look of an adventurer about her, compared to Leena.

  Lazarus had suggested that very pale skin on a Human usually indicated someone who was rarely out in the sun, with the skin darkening. Eha also understood that most of the Humans at the table represented an ethnic variance from what she knew, being already darker than Lazarus or Oluchi and tending towards a reddish-brown skin tone and black hair. Fernanda had wrinkles around her eyes and spots on her skin suggesting advanced age, but a youthful vitality about her anyway.

  “Many,” Eha turned to her and smiled. “Living in a more peaceful existence over a fairly compact region of space.”

  As in, you can’t just start looking and hope to find us randomly. If nothing else, the nebula between us will slow you down for decades, without better maps than Lazarus had had available.

  “But you are here for trade?” Eduardo asked, drawing an underline on the only thing that interested him.

  “Actually, technically we are here to return Lazarus to his home,” Aileen spoke up. “The law makes it incumbent on a ship when they rescue a marooned sailor. Aceanx just wasn’t acceptable as a destination, for reasons that should be obvious.”

  Eha liked the way the Yithadreph woman smiled at everyone, reminding them that the two of them represented an interstellar nation of laws, and not just a potential feeding frenzy of commerce to be had.

  Eha had originally had her doubts about bringing Aileen Enjehn along, but every single hour, she became better convinced that Lazarus had been right to do so. None of the other crew had the calmness around strangers, and the intellectual curiosity to handle this mission.

  “So Rio will get all the trade?” Eduardo continued to probe.

 
“Certainly not, sir,” Eha smiled at him. “However, we also don’t need Human pirates in our space, and I did not notice any significant military or police forces in this system that could be called upon to protect commerce. And well-armed merchantmen might present their own problems, necessitating that our own vessels be capable of dealing with them if they turn out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

  Eduardo seemed to take that at face value. Or was willing to be deflected. These men and women might not be pirates themselves, but they also chose to live in a place outside the Rio Alliance and those laws. Most probably had a host of smugglers in their employ, as well as a few pirates, under some other legal and social classification.

  Lazarus had been an encyclopedia of information, once Eha had decided to empty his brain about the Rio Alliance and places like Yisan. She certainly was far better prepared for this dinner than anyone else might have been.

  Instead of pursuing things, Eha got the others to talk about themselves, their hobbies, and their trade houses. Relationships into Rio space or Westphalia. Useful things she might learn or need, while making it clear that she would keep them all in mind favorably when it came time to establish trade.

  To deal.

  Eha could see the need to funnel some goods through here, if only because that would let her engage with a wider swath of Humans than just the Rio Alliance. Yisan wasn’t directly on the route to Innruld space, but it wasn’t that far out of the way, either.

  Especially if she could lay her hands on Human star drives.

  That would break open the entire galaxy when the Humans broke the Innruld for her.

  Twenty-One

  Lazarus

  Lazarus was exhausted, but didn’t dare show it. Even in the vehicle leaving the poker event to return to the port, he still had an audience in Oluchi Pryce. Still, the man had been helpful, above and beyond anything Lazarus had expected of bringing the women to Yisan.

  They had gotten a first class introduction to Human society, and made enough contacts here that he could see a significant amount of trade eventually flowing this way.

  Would that make Yisan eventually turn into its own place? Right now, it was outside of Rio Alliance space and control, and provided enough of a pressure valve that significant trade could pass through here on the way to Westphalia, as long as everyone behaved.

  Innruld space would suddenly cast Yisan and a few others like it into middlemen geographically, instead of just socially. Was he in the process of forcing a third stellar nation to be born?

  Interesting, in and of itself, but what would that mean to the Rio Alliance, to potentially have a new neighbor between them and new allies? Lazarus wasn’t sure, but he also didn’t think it would be something solved in his lifetime, unless things went terribly awry one way or the other.

  Ajax couldn’t break Westphalia, but the design might make them behave better. As might adding dozens of new species. None of those groups were big enough to threaten Human domination anywhere, at least not in the short term, but it opened up options if he threw open the floodgates.

  How did he want to go down in the history books? Up until now, Lazarus had never expected to be more than a random footnote, forgotten for the most part. Now he would be the subject of books, movies, and slander.

  Pryce was studying him closely as the car rolled along. Far more than the occasional looks the women were getting.

  Lazarus decided to confront the situation head on. He’d been on the planet for all of a day at this point, and could easily depart tomorrow, after sleeping enough to feel safe taking off. Aileen looked even more ragged, but she’d been keeping up her social persona for too long with too many people to suit her.

  “What’s your game, Pryce?” Lazarus asked.

  “Oluchi,” he said quietly.

  They were literally touching shoulders in the back of the car.

  “Oluchi,” Lazarus accepted.

  “You’re big,” Oluchi said. “All of this is just the tip of some iceberg. And it goes deeper than just two alien women hauling you to Brasilia to meet with big shots. I’ve played enough poker against top-notch players in my time to recognize that.”

  “And?” Lazarus prompted him.

  “And I want a cut of that,” Oluchi said. “I want in on the action. I’ve already showed you that I can get you into the room with a bunch of people who might not have given you the time of day. And keep them interested enough to talk, but deflected enough to keep it polite.”

  “And the one man who left early?” Lazarus played a hunch. “Ardna? What’s your history with him?”

  He watched the man, but Oluchi Pryce had a face that gave nothing away. After a moment, the gambler relaxed, perhaps relented, and Lazarus saw the first emotions in those eyes he’d seen all day.

  Whether or not they were honest was a different story. Lazarus wasn’t a poker player, but he’d known enough of them in his time to appreciate that they were all actors.

  “Strav Ardna might have lost a considerable sum of money to me over the last few evenings like tonight,” Oluchi’s face screwed up sideways into a partial grin. “Enough that even someone like that would notice the amounts. Plus, he’s always thought of himself as a ladies man, and both Leena and Fernanda sort of iced him out in favor of the new kid.”

  “So jealousy, across a wide swath of issues?” Eha spoke up. “Were you aware that he would be utterly terrified of Churquen?”

  Oluchi turned to her and Lazarus saw some of the man’s mask spall off pieces, showing the person behind it. Not much, but not the cold, ruthless purveyor of bonhomie that had sat at the table and made a small fortune tonight.

  Not just him, anyway.

  “That was as much a surprise to me as it was to you,” Pryce admitted. “I had planned to use you to distract everyone, which you did, and to deflect his pique away from me, because I didn’t figure I’d be invited back again after pulling a stunt like this.”

  “Blaze of glory?” Lazarus asked.

  “Exit stage left, pursued by a bear,” Oluchi grinned. “Never make a mundane entrance or a forgettable departure.”

  “So now what?” Lazarus circled him back to the key topic.

  “So you’re lifting off soon,” Oluchi said. “That much is obvious from the way the three of you are sitting right now. You came to Yisan to learn some things, found them whatever they are, and are bouncing out of here for points deeper into the Alliance. Maybe tonight. Probably tomorrow. If I don’t move right now, you’ll be gone and I’ll be on my own.”

  “And?” Lazarus let his voice convey a chill now.

  “And I don’t want to overplay my hand and say you need me, because you don’t for what you have planned, Lazarus of Bethany who has been raised from the dead,” Oluchi turned more serious now. “But you will need someone like me, because this is bigger than just the Rio Alliance government. Am I right?”

  The latter addressed to Eha. Lazarus turned to her now.

  Oluchi had guessed right about one thing. Lazarus had never lived by his wits on the streets. He was an expert on bureaucratic warfare in the halls of the military and how to properly fawn over government officials with purse strings in their hands. He could fake some savvy, but Oluchi Pryce exuded it like an expensive cologne.

  “It has the potential, Oluchi Pryce,” Eha replied, her voice taking on a much deeper and more serious timbre now than he could remember before. “Why are you the man to explore it?”

  Lazarus caught the stutter as the man bit back the first pithy reply that wanted to emerge. Watched him chew over the words more carefully while studying the three of them.

  Finally, a thumb came up to indicate Lazarus, but the eyes stayed on Eha.

  “That’s his one weakness, if he has any,” Oluchi said in a voice so deadly serious that Lazarus thought an imposter had taken over the man’s body. “He screams military, but he was marooned in your space.”

  Lazarus blinked in unconscious surprise that this stranger had b
een able to place him so well. Had any of the others, or was it something special about this gambler?

  “That makes him a Rio Alliance explorer,” Oluchi was continuing. “Probably an officer off doing things nobody was supposed to know about when he had a problem and you rescued him. You, Eha Dunham, want more trade and communication than the Rio government might be willing to allow, so you’ve hedged your bets with Martìnez and the others here, but you’re about to drop into the maw at Brasilia and then all of Human space explodes. Close?”

  Lazarus found he had stopped breathing. Eha and Aileen maybe, as well. Oluchi watched all of them, smiled, and leaned back.

  “Close enough,” he said, back to the happy-go-lucky gambler who’d sat down at their table in a tea room and introduced himself.

  Nobody spoke for a few moments.

  “I’ve folded a full house on the fifth card,” he offered, voice returning to serious for a moment. Almost deadly. “Knowing that the man across the table is sitting on four queens just by the way he’s breathing. Lazarus, you might be the big king shit on the bridge of a warship, but you’re an open book. I want to be her middleman to the trade houses. One of them, anyway. Even a slice of a percentage is likely to turn into a swimming pool full of coins I could swim in, like the ancient cartoons.”

  Lazarus didn’t have words. He’d never met a clinical psychologist who was a mind reader as well. Certainly never expected one to dress so snappily.

  He turned to Eha. She’d been working the room with promises of trade. Lazarus understood that Ajax and friends were what she would need to knock the overlord Innruld off their perch, but without Human trade, the species over there were all galumphs just waiting for the butcher to come round. They would need Human tech, Human trade, Human help outside of official channels.

  Westphalia would never go for it, but the Rio Alliance might be getting maneuvered into a position where they had to help with open hands, because trying to close a fist would squish all the mud between their fingers.

  “You’re close, Oluchi,” Eha said. “But there are things you don’t know, and probably can’t read on any of us well enough yet. There are secrets yet, because those trade caravans must wait for a time.”