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In English, Tom de la Rosa said, “She’s not going to wait for Atvar and Ttomalss. She’s going to try to wheedle it out of you, Frank.” He grinned to show Coffey he didn’t mean that seriously.
“She can try,” Coffey said, also in English. “I know what I can tell her, and I know what I can’t.”
Karen eyed Kassquit. Even if she didn’t wear clothes, she probably wasn’t cut out to be a spy. Karen sighed. Life was different from the movies. Here was a naked woman on the other side, and she didn’t seem to be using her charms for purposes of espionage. What was the world-what were the worlds-coming to?
Kassquit stared at Ttomalss in something approaching horror. “The Big Uglies dared spy on the conversations of the Emperor himself?” She cast down her eyes at mentioning her sovereign.
Ttomalss also looked down at the floor for a moment as he made the affirmative gesture. “I am afraid that is a truth, yes. What is even more disturbing is that they were able to eavesdrop on the Emperor’s conversation with Fleetlord Atvar. We have had no luck listening to their private conversations.”
“That is not a matter of luck. It is a matter of technology,” Kassquit pointed out.
“You are correct. I wish you were not,” Ttomalss told her. “And the technology the wild Big Uglies brought here is bound to be years out of date on Tosev 3. Just how far out of date it may be is a matter of considerable concern to us.”
“I understand that, yes,” Kassquit agreed. “Can you tell me what the Emperor and the fleetlord were talking about, or are you going to be as obscure as the wild Tosevites?” She added the last bit as artlessly as she could. With luck, it would get Ttomalss to talk where he might otherwise have kept quiet.
And it did. He said, “In fact, their conversation does relate to advancing Tosevite technology. They were discussing whether that advancing technology made a preventive war necessary.”
“Oh,” Kassquit said, and then, “Oh, dear.” She tried to gather herself. “The Race has talked about this for many years, but always abandoned the idea. Why is it back on the agenda now?”
Ttomalss hesitated. Then he shrugged. “The wild Big Uglies already know this, so there is no longer any reason why you should not. Do you remember my colleague back on Tosev 3, Senior Researcher Felless?”
“Yes,” Kassquit said. “I must tell you I did not like her much.”
“Felless is difficult for members of the Race to like, too-except when she has been tasting ginger, of course.” Ttomalss qualified that with a fine, sarcastic, eye-turret-waggling leer. But he continued, “However difficult she may be, no one doubts her ability-when she is not tasting ginger. She noticed some unusual Tosevite technological development and sent word of it here.”
“What sort of development?” Kassquit asked.
“We are not yet completely sure of that,” Ttomalss answered. “But the physicists are convinced it will have important results at some point in the future.”
“What sort of important results? How far in the future?”
“Again, we are not completely certain,” Ttomalss said.
Kassquit eyed him. “Precisely what are you certain of, superior sir?”
Ttomalss shifted uneasily in his chair. “What do you mean? Do you intend that for sarcasm?”
“Oh, no, superior sir. How could I possibly be sarcastic because you are evading my questions? What do you suppose might provoke me into doing something of that sort?”
“This is not helpful.” Ttomalss’ voice was thick with disapproval.
“No, it is not,” Kassquit agreed. “Your evasions are not helpful, either. The Tosevites evade my questions, too. I can understand that. They are not citizens of the Empire, and do not trouble their livers over its concerns. But I thought you and I were on the same side.”
“Until the experiments progress further, I cannot offer you a report on them,” Ttomalss said, which sounded like another evasion to Kassquit. Then he asked, “What questions are the Big Uglies evading?”
“The ones you would expect: the ones that have to do with dealings between the United States and the Empire. As I say, those evasions make sense. The ones you put forward strike me as absurd.”
“You do not understand the full situation,” Ttomalss said.
“That is a truth. I do not. And the reason I do not is that you will not tell me enough to let me understand it,” Kassquit said angrily.
“When I am authorized to give you all the details, you may be assured that I will,” Ttomalss said.
“Oh? And why may I be assured of that?” Kassquit snapped, even more angrily than before.
Ttomalss’ tailstump quivered, so she’d succeeded in angering him, too. “If you do not care for my choices in this matter, I suggest that you take it up with Fleetlord Atvar, or with the Emperor himself.”
“I thank you, superior sir. I thank you so very much.” The way Kassquit bent into the posture of respect had no respect whatsoever in it. The way Ttomalss’ tailstump quivered more than ever said he knew it, too. Kassquit went on, “It shall be done. Perhaps one of them has a certain minimal respect for the truth.” She straightened, turned her back, and stalked out of his chamber.
She started to go to Atvar’s room. Then she stopped in the hallway and made the negative gesture. She would do that if all else failed. The 37th Emperor Risson had granted her an audience. Perhaps he would speak to her as well. And if he did, she intended to hurl that right into Ttomalss’ snout.
Telephoning the Emperor, of course, was not so simple as putting a call in to the palace and expecting him to pick it up on the other end of the line. But it was easier for her than it might have been for a female of the Race. The sight of her Tosevite features in the monitor got her quickly transferred from a low-level functionary to a mid-level functionary to Herrep himself, for the males and females who served the Emperor remembered he had received two Big Uglies not long before.
The protocol master was made of sterner stuff. “What is the purpose of this call?” Herrep asked. His interrogative cough was the chilliest Kassquit had ever heard.
“To discuss with his Majesty relations between the Empire and the wild Big Uglies,” Kassquit answered. “You will agree, superior sir, that this matter is of relevance-I should say, of unique relevance-to me.”
Herrep could hardly deny that. She was a citizen of the Empire and a Big Ugly. No one else on Home could say both those things. She knew she wasn’t wild. She wondered if Herrep would remember. To him, wouldn’t one Big Ugly be the same as another?
“Wait,” he said. “I will see if his Majesty wishes to speak to you.” A pleasant, almost hypnotic moving pattern replaced his image on the monitor. Soft music began to play. Kassquit drummed her fingers on the desk in her room. They did not make sharp clic
ks, as those of a member of the Race would have done. Her fingerclaws were short and broad and blunt; she wore artificial ones to work the Race’s switches and operate its keyboards.
She was beginning to wonder how patient she ought to be when the pattern vanished and the music fell silent. A male’s face looked out at her. It wasn’t Herrep‘s; it belonged to the 37th Emperor Risson. Kassquit scrambled to assume the special posture of respect. “I greet you, your Majesty. I thank you for taking the time to speak with me.”
“You are welcome, Researcher,” Risson replied. “We need not stand on much ceremony on the telephone. Am I correct in believing you have learned discussions with the wild Tosevites have gone less well than we might have wished?”
“Yes, your Majesty,” Kassquit said. “I have learned that. It dismays me. What dismays me even more is that I have been unable to learn why these talks have taken this unfortunate turn.”
“There are two main reasons,” the Emperor told her. “The first is Tosevite arrogance over issues of sovereignty and equality. Under other circumstances, this might be solved with patience and good will on both sides. I believe such patience does exist.”
“What are these other circumstances, if I may ask?” Kassquit said.
“The wild Big Uglies are pulling ahead of us technologically,” Risson said. “They rubbed our snouts in this recently, when they showed they could monitor our voice communications and could keep us from monitoring theirs.”
“A shocking breach of privacy,” Kassquit said sympathetically.
“Shocking because they were able to do it,” Risson said. “After all, we have been trying to spy on them, too. But they succeeded and we failed. And their technology changes so much faster than ours. What do they currently have on Tosev 3? If we do not stop them now, will we be able to later?”
Kassquit knew those were all good questions. She also knew the Race had been debating them for years. “Why worry so much now?” she asked. “How has the situation changed for the worse?”
