Castleton turned to look at him with a surprised but pleased expression, her eyes glowing.
“Look, Greene,” Todd said, facing the chastened officer, “it’s your job to err on the side of caution. Just stick to that, avoid explosives, and leave us planetary types to do ours.”
Greene’s face flushed, and his lips were pressed tight. He turned to Barnstable. “Sir, I wish to tender my resignation and accept full responsibility for my actions, authorized and unauthorized.”
“You acted under my authority, so I bear the responsibility, too, which is to safeguard this colony as I would our homeworld. I did as I thought advisable under the very . . . unusual circumstances. And that’s that!” He turned toward Hrrto and Hrrestan, then muttered brief, crisp orders into the communicator. “Red Alert’s cancelled and my units are returning to previous duties.”
“I have done ze zame,” Captain Hrrrv said with an impassive expression and dulled eyes.
Barnstable exchanged a glance with the Hrruban captain and cleared his throat. “With your permission, Captain Grizz—” he said, and she nodded, lowering her eyelids briefly. He cleared his throat again. “I would welcome a full tour of your ship and its facilities. I believe Captain Hrrrv would, too.” He even attempted a smile at the Gringg.
At a gesture from Castleton, the marines returned the Gringg’s collars, shouldered their weapons, and filed out of the room. Hrrrv’s squad followed.
Barnstable swivelled his chair to face Greene.
“In view of the unauthorized actions you personally initiated which put civilians in danger, I accept your resignation, Jon. What may serve a combat officer well is simply no good in an aide. Perhaps you’re more suited for other duties.”
“If I may suggest an alternative for Commander Greene, Admiral,” Captain Castleton said, her manner devoid of emotion, “the Hamilton has an opening for an executive officer. Commander Fletcher’s tour of duty is over in two weeks’ time. I would certainly accept Commander Greene as a replacement.”
Barnstable’s snowy eyebrows rose high on his forehead, and he favored her with a paternal smile. “Whatever you say, Grace. It looks like someone has to keep a leash on him.”
“I won’t let him out of my sight for long, sir,” Castleton said. Her eyes met Greene’s, his expression changing from stern endurance of disgrace to surprise. He pushed back his chair and stood up.
“Request permission to be excused for a moment, sir?” he said, saluting both Barnstable and Castleton. Grace looked queryingly at the Admiral, and he flicked his fingers for her to answer.
“Granted, mister,” Castleton said. Without another word Greene stalked from the room.
Todd leaned sideways to Hrriss. “Whaddya want to bet there won’t be any protesters awaiting our departure?”
“I never bet on a sure thing!” Hrriss wrinkled his nose. “Hope no one will need ze grid for ze next few hours.”
“Admirrrral,” Hrrestan said severely to Barnstable. “In all this confrontation, I have seen that Spacedep has been closely involved. Why should it be necessary to start trouble where there isn’t any?”
Barnstable glared at the tabletop. “You have to admit that that tape was pretty damning. What else was I to do to protect the colony?”
“You could have informed ze colony leaders of your suspicions,” Hrrestan said fiercely. Then he turned to Second Speaker.
“And for you, a Speaker of the High Council, to go along with such machinations!” Hrrestan said. Todd heard the hurt and suppressed anger in his colleague’s voice and trembled as he had when he and Hrriss were small, caught by his friend’s father, doing something they knew they shouldn’t. “We must learn to see all beings as potential friends, for we are terribly alone in the void of space. No offer of friendship should be rejected out of hand. See what you nearly did, destroying the peace both our species have enjoyed. For the sake of Hayumankind, for the sake of all Hrruba, for our hopes for the future, we must never come this close again to disaster!”
Hrrto gazed at him thoughtfully. No one spoke, for Hrrestan’s words struck home in every heart.
Sumitral broke the silence. “Well, gentlefolks, we do have some business to conclude here. Are there now any changes to be made to the Trade Agreement?”
Silently, Barnstable shook his head. Second Speaker glanced up and blinked.
“No.”
Grizz spoke for the first time, smiling. She had been watching and listening to the whole interchange with the greatest of interest, and now beamed upon Todd. “I find all to be very well.”
“Then let nothing delay the signing,” Sumitral said urgently. “Shall we make this official?”
“All in favor?” Todd said. The vote was unanimous. A moment later, he sent a clerk running to the Duplication Office with the approved copies of the Tripartite Trade Agreement.
* * *
The party went outside to the prepared table. The Alreldep guard withdrew to each corner and stood proudly flanking the officials, obviously relieved to be back on ceremonial duty. It was such a momentous occasion that Todd felt quite six years old again. He could almost feel Hrruna’s reassuring presence as that six-year-old helped to formulate the Decision at Doona.
As they neared the table, Todd could see that the news-gatherers were gone and those that remained were smiling with friendliness, eager to be present at an auspicious occasion. Grizz, accompanied by her two scribes and her son, took her place at the end of the table and rolled her haunches gracefully onto the pad provided. Sumitral took his place opposite her and waited until Second had seated himself at the center of the table.
Todd, Hrriss, and Hrrestan opened the copies of the Trade Treaty Agreement and placed one before each of the signatories. Ken Reeve dipped the archaic pens into the inkwells and handed them ceremoniously to each delegate.
“Hayumans, Hrrubans, and Gringg,” Sumitral said, turning to the crowd. “I welcome all of you to witness the signing of this historic trade agreement between our three peoples. This is only the beginning of what I hope will be a long and fruitful alliance.”
There was a wild cheer. The deep voices of the Gringg boomed louder and lower than the rest of the crowd. Flowers, brought along specially for the occasion by Rraladoonans, were thrown into the air like confetti. A handful of fragrant stephanotis landed on the treaty table in front of Second Speaker Hrrto.
“An omen, Speaker?” Mllaba whispered the question in his ear.
“I believe so, Mllaba,” Hrrto said, nodding.
When the Trade Agreement was placed before him with the page open to the complex and beautiful seal of Hrruba, ready for his signature, Hrrto took up the pen and signed. He felt relieved, strangely at ease, as if more had been settled that day than the peaceful accord of three diverse and independent races.
* * *
“ . . . For our hopes for the future, this must not be!”
The tape ended, and the lights came on in the High Council Room. Hrrto glanced around at his fellow High Council members. Sixth Speaker was looking irritated, Fifth thoughtful. The sergeant-at-arms was smiling slightly. At a glance from Hrrto, he snapped his jaw closed and assumed a properly blank expression.
Second Speaker rose and placed his hands on the desk. “This concludes the file I have been assembling on Hrrestan, son of Hrrindan. You have had copies for your personal review, and heard personal witnesses testify to his wisdom and devotion to Hrruba. I nominate him for the seat of First Speaker of the High Council, and withdraw my own candidacy in his favor.”
Gasps and muttering from the rest of the council. Mllaba looked absolutely livid, but suppressed her anger as best she could even if she couldn’t control the twitching of her tail.
Hrrto did not entirely regret that he was unable to help her advance further, but he no longer envied anyone who must sit in the First Speaker’s chair. The power—which ol
d Hrruna had rarely invoked—was simply not worth the attendant responsibility. Younger, stronger shoulders would bear the burdens better. He would be remembered, however, perhaps as often as Hrruna, as the Stripe who had secured unlimited quantities of purralinium from the Gringg. It would be enough.
“He is a younger, stronger person, impartial and possessed of great patience and wisdom. With all humility, I would serve the Council and Hrruba best by remaining as Second Speaker. In that capacity, I can cement the relationships with the Gringg which I have already begun. Therefore, as temporary Council leader, I direct the sergeant to commence the voting for the First Speakership.”
Each member placed his hands on the hidden panel below the level of the table. The blind monitor at the head of the table would tally the votes without revealing who had cast them. The sergeant stood up.
“The nominees for the position of First Speaker are Fifth Speaker for Health and Medicine, Sixth Speaker for Production, Carrdmarr, an industrialist and philanthropist of Hrruba, and Hrrestan, Village and Colony Leader of Rraladoona and Chief Liaison Officer to Hrruba,” the sergeant intoned. “For Fifth Speaker?”
One light went on at the tally board.
* * *
As tradition dictated on Doona-Rraladoon, the construction of new quarters—in this case the Gringg Embassy—became a community affair.
The site chosen for the Gringg compound was a woody area near the northern sea on the banks of the Treaty River, the major artery on the small continent.
From all over Rraladoon, trunks of the fast-growing rla trees were brought in and cut to size according to the blueprints drawn up by a team of indigenous architects and the Gringg. Vats of strong smelling rlba bubbled in several places on the site. Hayumans and Hrrubans in respirators with brushes full of the sticky sap treated the timbers, which became strong as iron and rigid in their newly cut shapes, yet still light enough to be hauled about by two sturdy workers or one Gringg. Other teams carried the finished beams and wall sections to the builders. It was all going by the numbers.
While those workers prepared the building materials, heavy loading equipment that had been used to build the Center and the Councillors’ Residences had been rolled down, and were now in use excavating a deep swimming hole, with dams at each end to keep the level suitably high.
In the spirit of cooperation, artists from every village worked alongside the Gringg scribes to stencil and paint handsome, colorful designs as soon as the walls were ready.
When Todd arrived that morning on the site, he estimated that there must have been five hundred people pitching in to help. He was inordinately pleased by that—another subtle vote of confidence in himself and Hrrestan. When he and Hrriss had put out the word that volunteers were needed, the response had been so overwhelmingly enthusiastic that they’d had to set up two shifts. Feeding the large crew presented no problem; over a hundred households had offered to supply meals.
“At this rate, it could be finished in two days,” Todd told Hrrestan, who was sitting at a safe distance from the sawyers, going over the blueprints. Amid loud cries to keep clear of danger, workers raised the pylons for the foundation. Gringg, using mighty hammers, almost casually pounded them into the ground. From where they sat, Todd could see how enormous the finished complex would be. But then, the Gringg liked a lot of space. The curved archways were a lot like the halls on their ship.
“As quickly as the rlba sets,” Hrrestan agreed cheerfully in Low Hrruban. “It is hot enough to dry the sap, but not too hot. Donations of furnishings have also been coming in. Have you noticed them? I asked Kelly and Nrrna to take careful notes so the donors can be thanked.”
The generosity of the Rraladoonans was indeed impressive. Piles of tapestries, cushions, carefully boxed works of art, even some electronic entertainment equipment, lay upon outspread tarps under a vast expanse of waterproof canvas. The period of settled weather had been chosen intentionally, but with such fine gifts, no chance was being taken. Kelly and Nrrna climbed around the heap of goods, compiling a rough inventory.
“Hey, the pickings are great! The Gringg’ll be able to furnish several embassies with what’s come in,” Kelly called to Todd, waving her clipboard.
Todd grinned, and held up a hand, still slightly yellowed from last week’s bruising rock. Hrrestan glanced at it.
“Kiachif tracked the culprit down.”
“He did?” Todd was surprised. “Is he still breathing?” he asked, knowing Kiachif’s penchant for making the punishment fit the crime.
Hrrestan grinned. “Kiachif is careful to keep his customers. The man is from a trading company which does a lot of business with Spacedep. With all the false rumors being circulated, he evidently believed that the Gringg were going to be allowed sanctions that would ruin his business.”
“So, what punishment fit his crime?” Todd asked, seeing Hrrestan was amused.
“Tell, tell, tell!” Kelly cried, coming over to join them.
“Kiachif demanded a cut-rate for all merchandise he is now empowered to supply at the spaceport.” Hrrestan’s dropped jaw indicated how well he approved of the solution, and Todd’s smile was just as big.
Kelly turned wide eyes on her husband. “You’ve given up fighting the spaceport?”
“Well,” Todd said, dragging out the word and the suspense, “a triangle is a much more stable construction than a two-sided affair.” He heaved a sigh. “And with the Gringg mediating, I don’t foresee the problems that obsessed me when the project was first suggested.”
“The Gringg have done us many favors,” Hrrestan said, and answered a hail from a group of workers, leaving the two Reeves together.
“That’s a tremendous relief, darling,” Kelly said, giving him a firm hug and a long kiss. “You don’t know how Nrrna and I have worried . . .”
“Oh, yes, I do,” Todd said, and held her tightly for a long moment more when she would have disengaged. “Yes, I know,” he added more softly, “and I’ve blessed you for letting me make up my own mind.”
“Humph,” she said, struggling out of his embrace. “As if any agency but you will make up your mind!” Todd followed her as she went back to inventory-taking. “So when will that start?”
“Right after Snake Hunt,” Todd replied, with a broad sweep of his arm. “Which will be soon. Ben Adjei predicts it’ll start in two days at the most.”
Kelly gave a groan of dismay. “Oh, lordy, will we have time to finish the Gringg house?”
Todd laughed, waving his hand at the hustling workers. “I don’t see why not. At least they’ll have a roof over their heads. They’re as eager to join the Hunt as anyone else on Rraladoona right now.” He grinned broadly. “That’ll be some sight! Gringg tackling Big Momma Snakes.”
Nrrna looked up from note-taking. “Hrriss says to tell you zat ze Sighters say ze snakes are gazzering on ze sea marshes. Some are even heading for ze dunes.”
“Good, good!” Todd said, nodding.
Nrrna grinned. “Ze children have talked of nozzing else all day. Zey arre eager to show Zeddy what a G.B.M.S. looks like.”
“From a safe distance, I hope.” Todd looked around. There were numerous children on the site, but he couldn’t spot his twins. “That reminds me: where are they?”
Kelly glanced up. “Hmm? They were around here just a minute ago, with Teddy in tow. Together with Nrrna’s two, they’re so inseparable I’m starting to think of them as the Fearless Five.” She stood up and called out the twins’ names.
“Over here, Dad,” Alec’s unhappy voice came from around the back of the tarpaulins.
Todd found the five youngsters sitting together in a heap. Hrrana had her tail wound firmly around Teddy’s leg, and Hrrunival was sandwiched between the Alley Cats with his head on Alison’s lap. All of them wore glum expressions.
“So what’s wrong here, Cats?” Todd asked.
&n
bsp; “Daddy, couldn’t Teddy stay here with us?” the twins asked in hopeful unison. “We’re afraid if he goes away, we’ll never see him ever.”
“Well, since his mother’s a starship captain as well as a fully accredited consul to Rraladoona, she might be spending a lot of time either in the embassy or running cargoes between our world and his,” Todd explained. “So you might get to see him as often as you do Ali Kiachif.”
“That’d be okay,” Alec said. He had screwed his face up under his mop of red hair, hardly daring to let hope show.
“You may be absolutely certain that we will be staying in touch with our Gringg friends,” Kelly promised, sitting down on the tarp’s edge beside them.
“How?” Alison asked.
“How?” Todd echoed, beating Alec’s identical query.
Kelly smiled. “Oh, Grizz has signed on my computer bulletin board. Her engineer and that marvellous Cardiff worked out a conversion program. Her entries will be holographic or audio/video for a time, but the Gringg have all the parameters to create a congruent written-language program. I gave them a lot of read-and-listen books to help them connect the spoken to the written word.”
“What kind of books?” Todd asked, eyebrows raised, seeing the mischievous gleam in his wife’s eyes.
Kelly affected innocence. “Very simple ones to start with. Children’s books, like The Three Bears, and Winnie the Pooh.”
Todd laughed and hugged her close. “Thank you, love.”
“But of course! I don’t want to lose touch with them either,” Kelly said, and reassured the children with her smile. “So you can message to Teddy as often as you want.”
“I’m glad,” Alison said, seizing Teddy’s paw. “I like him.”
Teddy blinked at her shyly. “I like you too, Alison.”
“And me?” Hrrunival demanded, determined not to be left out.
Treaty at Doona Page 39
