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We can certainly deal with your ships. When the conquest fleet came to Tosev 3, the wild Big Uglies hadn’t even been sure its ships were there till the fighting started. They’d thought the scoutcraft were electronic faults in their radar systems. Now… Who could say what they could do now?
But Atvar said, “Suppose they do not decelerate?”
“Excuse me?” the American Tosevite replied.
“Suppose they do not decelerate?” Atvar repeated. “A large ship at half light speed is a formidable projectile weapon, would you not agree?”
Nicole Nichols didn’t say anything for a little while. When she did, it was one cautious word: “Possibly.”
Atvar’s mouth fell open. He knew what that meant. It meant the answer was yes, but the American Big Uglies hadn’t worried about the question till now. But even though he laughed, he also watched as the wheels began to spin behind Major Nichols’ eyes. The Tosevite female was starting to calculate ways by which her not-empire could knock out starships that were also projectiles.
She said, “They still would not arrive for some time. I believe that we would probably be able to intercept them once they got there. And I should also point out that you would have a hard time aiming them precisely. You would be more likely to hit areas on Tosev 3 that you rule than you would be to hit the United States.”
“So what?” Atvar answered. “By then, we would be out to destroy all Tosevites. Enough impacts of that sort might well render Tosev 3 uninhabitable, which would be the point of the exercise. For many years, we have considered the possibility that this might become necessary. We never thought it was urgent enough to attempt. If you launch a war against us, though…”
He wondered if that would surprise Nicole Nichols. If it did, she didn’t show it, not so he could see. She said, “No doubt you would try. Whether you would succeed… That is a matter for doubt, Exalted Fleetlord.”
“Many things are,” Atvar said. “We did not think so, not till we made the acquaintance of you Tosevites. You taught us there are no certainties in matters military. You should remember it, too, especially when a mistake in these matters could lead to the destruction of a world.”
“Or of three worlds,” Major Nichols said.
“Or of four,” Atvar said. “That would be a disaster for four species. The Empire will not go down alone.” He used an emphatic cough.
Did the wild Big Ugly finally begin to believe he was serious, believe the Race was serious? Again, he had a harder time judging than he would have for any citizen of the Empire. Tosevites were alien, biologically and culturally. Nicole Nichols said, “I will take your words back to my superiors. You may be sure we will treat them with the importance they deserve.”
How much importance did the Tosevite female think that was? A little? A lot? She did not say. Atvar almost asked her. The only thing that stopped him was the suspicion that she wouldn’t tell him the truth.
After she left, Atvar took notes on their conversation and his impressions of it. He wanted to get those impressions down while they were still fresh in his mind. He was about two-thirds of the way through when the telephone hissed for attention. He hissed, too, in annoyance. He thought about letting whoever was on the other end of the line record a message, but the hissing got under his scales. As much to shut it up as for any other reason, he said, “This is Fleetlord Atvar. I greet you.”
Kassquit’s image appeared on the screen. She sketched the posture of respect. “And I greet you, Exalted Fleetlord. May I come to see you? There is something of some importance that I would like to discuss with you.”
“Give me a little while, Researcher,” Atvar answered. “I am finishing up some work. After that, I would be glad to hear what you have to say.”
“I thank you. It shall be done.” Kassquit broke the connection.
A wild Big Ugly would probably have come to Atvar’s room too soon. The Tosevites’ notion of a little while was shorter than the Race‘s. What that said about the two species, Atvar would rather not have contemplated. Kassquit, though, was a citizen of the Empire, and understood its rhythms. A moment after Atvar finished his notes, the door hisser announced that she was there.
When he opened the door, Kassquit came in and gave him the full posture of respect. She rose. They exchanged polite greetings. “What can I do for you?” Atvar asked.
“Exalted Fleetlord, I would like you to speak for Sam Yeager to the American Big Uglies from the Commodore Perry, ” Kassquit replied.
“I have done it,” Atvar said. “Much good has it done me. The crewfemale from the Commodore Perry is full of her own rightness to the choking point. She becomes offensive to those around her because they do not share in what she reckons her magnificence.”
He was going to add that even the name of the American Tosevites’ new starship was an affront to the Empire. He was going to, yes, but before he could Kassquit murmured, “How very much like the Race.”
Both of Atvar’s eye turrets broke off from their usual scan of his surroundings and swung sharply toward her. His voice was also sharp as he snapped, “If that is a joke, Researcher, it is in questionable taste.”
“A joke, Exalted Fleetlord?” Kassquit made the negative gesture. “Not at all. By no means, in fact. Ever since the Race conquered the Rabotevs, it set itself up as the standard of comparison, the standard of emulation. Now the glove is on the other hand, is it not?”
“But we…” Atvar’s voice trailed away. Again, he didn’t get the chance to say what he’d planned to: that the Race, having the most advanced civilization and technology, had earned the right to tell other species what they ought to do and how they ought to live. Somewhere up in the sky, the Commodore Perry laughed at his pretensions. The Big Uglies had pretensions of their own. He’d resented those. What had the Rabotevs and Hallessi thought about the Race’s pretensions before they were fully assimilated into the Empire? How long had it been since a member of the Race thought to ask the question? Had a member of the Race ever thought to ask it?
His silence told its own story. Quietly, Kassquit said, “Do you see, Exalted Fleetlord? I think perhaps you do.”
“I think perhaps I do, too,” Atvar answered, also quietly. “Humility is something we have not had to worry much about lately.” He laughed, not that it was funny from anyone’s point of view except maybe a Tosevite‘s. “Lately!” Another laugh, this one even more bitter. “We have not had to worry about it since Home was unified. From this, we concluded we did not have to worry about it at all.”
“Change has returned to the Race. Change has come to the Empire,” Kassquit said. “We had better embrace it, or soon there will be no more Empire.”
She was a citizen of the Empire. She was a Big Ugly. If that did not make her a symbol of change, what would? And she was right. Anyone with eye turrets in his head could see that. “It is a truth,” Atvar said. “Not a welcome truth, mind you, but a truth nonetheless.”
“You spent many years on Tosev 3. You can see this,” Kassquit said. “Will those who have lived all their lives on Home and who are not familiar with wild Big Uglies and what they can do?”
“Oh, yes. Oh, yes.” Atvar made the affirmative gesture. “If the Big Uglies can fly between their sun and ours in a fifth of a year while we take more than forty years to make the same journey, they will see. They will have to see.”
“For the Empire’s sake, I hope so,” Kassquit said, which could only mean she wasn’t completely convinced. “And I do thank you for speaking up for Sam Yeager, whether it did all you hoped or not. In his case, the wild Big Uglies should not be allowed to match the Race’s high-handedness.”
“We agree there,” Atvar said. “The American Tosevites from the Admiral Peary also agree on it. Whether we and they can persuade the newly hatched Americans from the Commodore Perry may be a different question.”
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“Arrogance lets you think you can do great things,” Kassquit said. “To that extent, it is good. But arrogance also makes you think no one else can do anything great. That, I fear, is anything but good.”
“Again, we agree,” Atvar said. “I do not see how anyone could disagree-anyone who is not very arrogant, I mean.” Did that include the crew of the Commodore Perry? Did it, for that matter, include most of the Race? Atvar could pose the question. Knowing the answer was something else again. Actually, he feared he did know the answer-but it was not the one he wanted.
Jonathan Yeager and Major Nicole Nichols sat in the refectory in the Americans’ hotel in Sitneff. Jonathan was finishing an azwaca cutlet. People said every unfamiliar meat tasted like chicken. As far as he was concerned, azwaca really did. Major Nichols had ordered zisuili ribs. She had enough bones in front of her to make a good start on building a frame house. She wasn’t a big woman, and she certainly wasn’t fat; she was in the hard good shape the military encouraged. She sure could put it away, though.
A sheet of paper lay on the table between them. Jonathan tapped it with his forefinger. “You see,” he said.
Major Nichols nodded. “Yes. So I do. Very impressive.” No matter what she said, she did not sound much impressed.
“If you don’t take my father home, the rest of us don’t want to go, either,” Jonathan insisted. How readily he’d got the other Americans to put their signatures on the petition surprised and touched him. It had been much easier than he’d worried it would be when he first thought about taking the step.
She looked at the paper, then up at him. She was a strikingly attractive woman, but she had a sniper’s cold eyes. “Forgive me, Mr. Yeager, but you and your wife can’t be objective about your father.”
That only made Jonathan angry. He did his best not to show it. “I’m sure you’re right,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to try to be objective about him. But you’re pretending not to see something. My signature and Karen’s aren’t the only ones there. Every American on Home has signed it. That includes Major Coffey. Anyone would expect him to be on your side, not ours, if my dad had done anything even the least little bit out of line. And Shiplord Straha and Shuttlecraft Pilot Nesseref signed it, too, and you were the ones who brought them to Home.”
