Treaty at Doona

by Anne McCaffrey

  “And Admiral Sumitral,” Castleton added.

  “Those confounded, optimistic hand-in-friendship fanatics won’t believe it,” said Barnstable, dismissing, the leaders of Rraladoon with a gesture. “Alreldep is full of fools who can’t see a real threat when it weighs half a ton and has claws.”

  “Yes,” Greene said promptly, “but showing them the tape buys us time. They’ll demand proof of its authenticity and we can drag that out as long as we want to. Let ’em rant and rave a while. That’d be to our benefit. And I’ve arranged one more delaying tactic. Those should eat up the hours we need for the fleet to get into position.”

  Everyone nodded in agreement, and nervously settled back to wait.

  * * *

  As soon as they were safely past the crowd, Teddy started to whimper, having managed to control his terror until the safety of the Treaty Center was in sight.

  “Here, Teddy,” Jilamey said, stroking his shoulder, handing the cub a handful of peppermint humbugs he happened to have in his pocket. “Can’t imagine how those layabouts got here! Must be some fringe nuts.”

  Far more reassured by something to put in his mouth, Teddy stuffed in as many candies as he could and so forgot his earlier fright.

  Having emerged unscathed from that incident, Todd was dismayed to find an even more substantial number of onlookers surrounding the meeting hall. But this time there were neither placards nor stones. Disconcertingly there were people, carrying tri-d cameras and flashing seemingly legitimate reporter idents, who wanted to ask the Gringg questions—a tiresome but necessary interview. Todd tried to appeal to them to wait until after the formal signing, but the protests were so loud that he relented. Voders were passed over to the reporters, which Todd hoped would prove so irksome to use that the news-gatherers would depart. Instead there was a barrage of inane questions, the kind of tripe that made Todd’s innards roil.

  “Captain Gringg, how did you feel discovering not one but two sentient races inhabiting this planet?” “Do we differ from other species you’ve encountered?” “How long was your journey here?” “From what part of space do you originate?” “What’s your homeworld like?” “How many cubs would you have in a life span and doesn’t it interfere with your professional duties?” “Why was Middle Hrruban used as the bridge language?”

  “I wasn’t informed that news-gatherers had landed here,” Todd murmured to Hrrestan.

  “Nor was I, but it is never wise to annoy zose who broadcast news,” Hrrestan said.

  “If such broadcast is ever aired on Earth and Hrruba,” Todd said, feeling uneasy about the unexpected delay. He glanced down at his wrist chrono. They were already late for the scheduled arrival time, but he agreed with Hrrestan that it wasn’t politic to irritate news-gatherers. How many of those quickly flashed credentials might prove bogus? And how did so many arrive so propitiously? As if he needed to go far to find an answer to that question. What did Barnstable and his crowd think they’d achieve by these delaying tactics?

  However, when he and Hrrestan suggested that the interview had gone on long enough, there was immediate protest.

  “This isn’t half enough of an interview, Reeve,” protested one of the more aggressive Human interrogators.

  “Our people, too, need to know ze facts,” a Hrruban of very narrow Stripe chimed in.

  “What news channel do you represent?” Todd asked, holding out his hand for their credentials. “My office was not informed of your arrival, and any interview should have been cleared first with me or Hrrestan. We could then have allotted sufficient time for a proper interview. Now, we’ve given you as much as we can. After the ceremony’s over, I’ll arrange a longer session for you with Captain Grizz and her crew.”

  Todd cast a significant look at the commander of the Alredep honor guard, and immediately his troops moved in to form a barrier between the Gringg and the news-gatherers. Then Todd and the others politely herded their guests into the building.

  “I know who planned that little diversion,” Todd muttered to his father. “I just don’t know why!”

  “The ‘why’ worries me, too,” Ken said.

  “I must check the records of ze grrrid operrators,” Hrrestan said. “Zere have been too many unauzorized uses of zat facility!” He twitched muzzle and whiskers, and his tail lashed angrily.

  When they reached their destination, Todd sighed with relief, thinking as he did so that maybe such relief was premature.

  “Who was so kind as to arrange a press interview?” he said, glancing around those already seated at the table.

  “There were no news-gatherers when we entered,” Barnstable said, glancing up casually from his personal clipboard. “Just the usual bunch of onlookers one would expect.”

  “Surely”—Greene grinned smugly—“you want as much publicity as you can get on such a momentous occasion? Surely you don’t wish to keep any of these negotiations secret?”

  “Surely you don’t expect me to believe you didn’t arrange it, Greene,” Todd countered with an insincere smile.

  “Please, let us put aside rancor,” Hrrestan said in Middle Hrruban, hand raised for silence. “Will you not all sit down? This is the final phase of our negotiations. I have here three copies of the Treaty worked out between Admiral Sumitral, Captain Grzzeearoghh, Second Speaker Hrrto, Admiral Barnstable, myself, and Zodd Rrev. The suggestions and input come from many quarters and have taken days to compile. I ask you all to glance over this document to ensure that all the salient points discussed have been included to your individual satisfaction.”

  It was only when Hrrestan sat down that he realized half the room was more interested in the ornate timepiece at one end of the room—admittedly a fine piece of engineering, since it registered the precise time in the administrative centers on Hrruba, Earth, and Rraladoon. He had the distinct sense that only the Gringg and Rraladoonans had paid any attention to his brief words. While he was not of a Stripe that took offense at minor snubs and slurs, he was decidedly uneasy about the atmosphere in the chamber. He glanced at Speaker Hrrto, who had his eyes carefully averted.

  To Hrrestan’s surprise, the Spacedep commander asked to be recognized. He nodded to Greene, and the Hayuman rose.

  “The agenda of this meeting does not allow sufficient time to read every clause of this weighty document,” Greene said, making a show of the effort it took for him to raise the weight of the thick document. “There were many points that had to be discussed in great detail. We will need more time for a thorough reading than you have allowed.”

  “I must point out, Commander, that you are not an official member of the Trade Treaty Committee,” Hrrestan said in Middle Hrruban for the voder to translate. “You were present only as an observer for the Admiral, who was involved in another discussion.”

  “However, as the Admiral’s appointed representative, surely I may speak to that point?”

  There was the slightest edge of smug superiority about Greene’s manner that irritated Todd. The commander was obviously initiating yet another delaying stratagem. Why? The question was beginning to obsess Todd.

  “You attended all the meetings, that is true,” Hrrestan said, replying with dignity. “You had ample opportunity to bring up any points then for clarification. Read!”

  As Greene quickly riffled a few pages, and then held the document open, it was clear to Todd that the man was totally familiar with the contents.

  “On page fourteen, clause five, subsection twelve, there is an ambiguity in wording that I feel ought to be clarified,” and he read it out.

  “I hear no such ambiguity,” Hrrestan said. “And furthermore”—he tapped the keys on the terminal nearest him—“here is a transcript of that particular discussion. You will note that the wording is exactly as it was decided upon at that meeting.”

  “Ah, I see that you are correct,” Greene said, all affability even a
s he turned pages again to a new section. “Would you also check paragraph nine, clause three, Honored co-leader? Now is that as it was decided? I really do feel there’s been an error in the quantity of lithium with respect to trade weights.”

  Todd began to fidget, but a glance from Hrrestan suggested to him that his colleague would allow only so much of Greene’s “disputations.”

  “No,” Jilamey said bluntly. “That’s written as decided upon, Commander. And you know it!” He pointed an accusing finger at Greene.

  “I do, Mr. Landreau?” Greene asked, all innocence.

  “You forget, Greene, that I have an eidetic memory,” Jilamey said.

  Captain Grizz raised her brow at the new word, and Jilamey leaned across the table to clarify the term.

  “Ev,” Sumitral said, turning to Barnstable, “what is all this in aid of?”

  “Well, you can’t expect me to sign a faulty or error-strewn Trade Agreement, now can you?” Barnstable said, raising his eyebrows at Sumitral. “And I never approve of a document I haven’t read thoroughly.”

  “Your approval of this document is not required,” Todd said bluntly. “This is Alreldep business. You are here as an observer, Admiral, and on our sufferance.”

  Barnstable raised his eyebrows in placid amusement at the warning.

  “But I,” Hrrto said firmly, “wish to read the text before it is signed.” Second Speaker glanced round the table. “I would be failing in my duty to my Stripe and my position were I to dispense with such a formality”—he bowed courteously to Hrrestan—“for such a momentous document.”

  Todd had to stifle his impatience. The conspiracy of delay which he had suspected was now proven. Spacedep and Second Speaker were clearly working together to slow the proceedings down to a crawl. Fortunately the Gringg seemed unconcerned by the delay. So Todd offered the oval mass of the Gringg-language copy to Eonneh, who brought it to Grizz. She flipped to the first page of the document and began to read.

  Most of the Hayumans crowded around Admiral Barnstable, who had pulled the Basic-language copy over in front of him. Kiachif put a pair of spectacles on his nose and peered down them at the pages, scanning as Barnstable read to himself.

  Just then, the first quiet, decorous intrusion of Spacedep aides began, the first with just a whispered message for Greene, the second and the third bringing him message cubes, which he read before passing them to Barnstable for his perusal.

  Mllaba stood behind Second Speaker as he read slowly. She hissed, startled as Jilamey Landreau sidled up to look over Hrrto’s other shoulder.

  “Too much of a crowd over there,” he said, smiling at her winsomely. “Just as well I can read formal High Hrruban as easily as Basic.”

  “Provisions for trade, galactic court, common currency based on table of values . . .” Barnstable muttered to himself after spending several minutes thumbing through the pristine pages. “Wait just a nanosecond, here—what is this?” he demanded, planting an indignant finger in the middle of one page. “What is this about a panel for scientific interchange to be chaired by the Gringg?”

  “At my humble suggestion,” Honey replied. “The Gringg see that Hrruba and Terra require an arbiter of scientific matters to ensure most efficient development of important technology. We will do this for you, in exchange for a place among you.”

  “Never!” cried Barnstable. “Ridiculous! Afroza, you can’t sign this,” he boomed at Sumitral.

  “I can, Ev, and I shall,” Sumitral said. “I have the permission of the Amalgamated Worlds Council to do so.”

  “But a seat on the Joint Supervisory Council overseeing trade!” Barnstable’s face turned bright red with aggravation.

  “If the Gringg trade with you,” Grizz asked, “is it not fair to allow us a small say in the laws and privileges? We will agree to abide by them. If we governed, would you not expect such a courtesy?”

  For that Barnstable had no objection. “I . . . suppose so.”

  “We keep faith,” Grizz replied. “Even as you have asked us, we have kept our ship in the same orbit you recommended many weeks ago.”

  Greene was surprised to have that fact raised. Could the Gringg suspect? Had they instrumentation powerful enough to see through the large Rraladoon moon which was obscuring the approach of the fleets?

  For another half hour everyone read quietly while Todd and Hrriss became more uneasy. Todd drummed his fingers on the tabletop. Every legitimate signatory for this Trade Agreement had been intimately involved and had approved each day’s finished negotiations. Why delay the inevitable? Or did those messengers mean the Spacedep contingent were waiting for something more?

  Greene had edged forward and was perched on the edge of his seat, turning an occasional worried glance at Captain Castleton, who responded with small shakes of her head.

  “And what is this?” Mllaba asked a few minutes later, pointing over her senior’s arm at a statement near the end of the document. “A section of Treaty Island to be designated as an Embassy of the Gringg?”

  “Of course,” Todd said. “As we discussed at length last Tuesday afternoon, they will have ambassadorial status to Rraladoon. It’s an acceptable compromise, since they are not actually members of our Hayuman-Hrruban alliance. No, change that to ‘federation.’ An alliance suggests there is an enemy to ally against.”

  To Todd’s surprise and concern, Castleton visibly winced at his wording. She looked almost guilty, but he continued with his explanation. “They are entitled to have a base for their trading houses and a diplomatic compound. I’m still not at all happy to see the Hrrunatan inhabited, but that part of the continent’s useless for anything else, so it might as well be a spaceport, and the Gringg are to have their own quarters there as well as here in the Treaty Center.” He looked around the table at the troubled expressions. “Look, you’ll have to accept that the universe isn’t composed of only two sentient races anymore”—he stared significantly at Greene—“or just one. We’ve been sought out by a third. One day there may even be more.” He kept his grin at their dismay to himself. “That portion of the text was agreed on yesterday morning.”

  “And you agreed to this?” Barnstable demanded of Hrrto. “When? After I left? How could you?”

  Suddenly stung by the Hayuman’s presumption, Hrrto struck back. “Hrruba does not answer to Earth for its actions,” he replied. “It sounded quite reasonable to me when I discovered how much that would benefit Hrruba you Hayumans would deny us.”

  “Now, wait!” Barnstable roared. “We deny you? What about you and your precious grids?”

  “Just a moment, Admiral,” Kiachif said soothingly. “To be just, judicious, and nonjudgmental, there are processes we deny the Hrrubans and could very well offer without any loss to ourselves, if you understand me. Our new cryogenic techniques for one thing.”

  “That’s top secret military only!” Greene said, narrowing his eyes at the Codep captain.

  “As if we have a constant call for frozen soldiers,” replied Kiachif with a snort.

  “If we may be allowed to mediate this point—” Grizz began pleasantly, with her paws folded over her belly. “The function of trading is to sell to others what they do not themselves have. Both parties should gain in the exchange.”

  “So let’s exchange,” Jilamey said eagerly. “Let’s exchange spaceships for grid systems. Amalgamated Worlds would gain what they need and Hrruba would be able to explore more efficiently. That’d be the greatest trade—and the greatest gain—possible.” He beamed around the table, apparently unaware of the frozen, outraged silence.

  “And, under special auspices, that might very well be possible,” Hrrto said. Mllaba nearly choked and jumped from her seat to whisper urgently in Second Speaker’s ear. After only a few words, he pushed her from him.

  “D’you mean that, Second Speaker?” Jilamey asked, incredulous.

&nb
sp; Just then two ensigns hurried quietly into the meeting room and placed a communications unit on the floor next to Barnstable. Todd noticed that the unit was operational.

  “Now just a moment, Barnstable,” Todd said, rising from his chair. “This is a closed session and that thing is on broadcast. You two”—he pointed to the ensigns—“get that out of here, on the double.”

  Hrriss indicated his distaste with a swish of his tail. Hrrto, usually a stickler for protocol, glanced up and seemed to draw in on himself.

  Todd’s order was ignored as, hard on the heels of the Spacedep technicians, uniformed Hrrubans brought a similar unit for Hrrrv.

  “Just what is going on here?” Todd demanded, glaring at Barnstable and Hrrrv. Neither answered him. “I want an answer, or, by all that’s holy, you’ll leave this meeting!”

  “Not until you’ve seen what we can now show you, Reeve,” Greene said, pitching his voice louder, his eyes fixed on Todd. “You’ve lost this one, Reeve. You and your all-for-one, one-for-all!” He sneered. “You’ve lousy judgment, Reeve.”

  “In what respect, Greene? or by the powers of the office Hrrestan and I hold, you’ll be off this planet and you’ll never get back on it!”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Todd saw the smug grin on Barnstable’s face. He nodded at Greene, an obvious signal to continue.

  “Yes, you’ve erred catastrophically in the matter of the Gringg. These great, peace-loving creatures you’re so eager to invite everywhere! That you’re stupid enough to trust.”

  Sumitral and Hrrestan both leaped to their feet.

  “If you fault Reeve’s judgment, then you fault ours, too,” Sumitral said in a cold, hard voice.

  “You’re obviously getting a little too old to practice basic common sense, Sumitral,” Barnstable said. “If you resign now, we can probably see that your long service is suitably rewarded.”

  “My what?” Sumitral’s face was expressionless, but his tone was unforgiving.