Jo Clayton: Fire in the Sky

“Hm, there is a slight problem that the good Sageen possibly didn’t mention. Our surveyors chose this location because there were sufficient freshwater springs, bedrock close to the surface, easy access to the sea-and it seemed… mmm… unclaimed. There were two structures of a sort in place, but they were looked so ancient and… mmm… unsteady a breath would blow them over. Obviously long abandoned. So we simply removed them. Unfortunately, abandoned was not the correct description. We shall probably have to pay compensation to maintain passable relations with the locals.” The Goлs twitched his nose and flattened round ears against his skull. “Very annoying.”

The Goлs Koraka hoeh Dexios was a tall Yarak with lively brown eyes and fur like golden-bronze plush; he wore a light workrobe that covered him from chin to ankle, but from the way he moved as he paced about the tower room, his body was limber and very fit. The mask markings on his face were sharply outlined, the white band beneath the black narrow and crisp. He had the assurance of one who knew he was handsome and didn’t need to wonder how people would react to him.

“We have been fairly successful at establishing trade. Contact with smugglers and such has prepared the way for us. To a degree. There is still some… mmm… hostility because we’ve obviously come to stay, though we have been overcoming that little by little. It would be easier if we could speak local, but we haven’t attempted… mmm… to solicit language donors, though we have been collecting sound samples with EYEs, entering them into the Trans-Am for analysis. It’s a slower process and prone to odd inaccuracies, but has less chance of… mmm… annoying the locals. With that unfortunate business with those hovels and with the Chave interfering like they are…” He flung his arms out, flattened his ears against his head. “Ssssah! Killing a couple of locals with a cutter and leaving their mutilated bodies lying on the road. With tooth marks yet!”

They were in the office of the Goлs, the glass bubble at the top of the pyramid in the center of the Enclosure. It was a mostly empty room with pretensions to elegance, lots of polished wood veneer, a Menaviddan carpet, a Clovel polymorph cycling through at least ten major mutations, and a scatter of small rarities laid about with careful casualness. Half a dozen pulochairs floated about the only indication that this was an office, a desk with its operating sensors discreetly covered except for a small screen in a privacy hood that the Goлs glanced at each time he passed it.

Aslan was in the seat of honor, a large pulochair with a pseudo-moss surface whose dark green was a pleasant complement to her coloring. In her own pulo which was cycled to dark amber, Shadith was briefly amused by this small sample of the Goлs’ cleverness, though he was perhaps not as clever as he thought or it wouldn’t show so much.

Her amusement faded as he continued his attempts to overwhelm Aslan with his abundant charm. Shadith dropped her hand on the harpcase and gazed out through the smoky glass wall, the flow of his words passing over her head. In the distance she could see a localized glimmer floating near the top of a tree. She couldn’t make out the details, but she thought it was one of those aerial intelligences she’d seen in the flakes.

Come on, Yarak, finish this. I want to see those creatures with my own eyes. Gods, they don’t look real. Like something Sarmaylen sculpted out of golden glass. The bits of local music included on those flakes haunted her; she wanted to hear it, not recorded, not inside where nuance was lost. Her impatience to get out set small itches to crawling along her skin.

“… thing which Rep Sageen would not have mentioned. We captured a band of local children on a thieving raid. We’ve treated them as well as we could and plan to release them eventually. One of the local adults has approached us. Apparently he knows a few words of tradespeak. Which isn’t all that helpful, but we have managed to make clear to him that we expect some recompense for this intrusion before we return the young thieves. We have suggested using the Trans-Am for a language exchange, but haven’t pushed it. Our contact was emphatic in his refusal.” He made an angry spitting sound. “The k’tar’t Chave have acted like the fornicating swine they are and have poisoned the well for us. Communication between the continents is better than we expected,” a quick wry smile, a graceful flip of narrow hands, “or appreciate. The only advantage we have is that we look nothing like those heavy-world ‘k’trin.” He spread his arms in a gesture that swept the loose robe into dramatic folds. “I must warn you, Scholar. The Chave are irritated by our presence because it limits their actions; they like to have exclusive control of a world, so detailed reports of their activities don’t get out. They have some sensitivity to public censure. As do we all,” he added with a quick smile and a twinkle of his dark russet eyes. “So far, they’ve been… mmm… annoying nuisances with their sabotage and their attempts to stir up our locals. Musni gnawing at the walls. Since you’ll be a part of our operation, in their eyes, at least, you should be on guard against treachery among suborned locals and vandalism, both subtle and unsubtle, once the Chave turn their attention to you.”

Aslan shifted impatiently in her pulo; it flowed into a new conformation and changed color slightly. “I’ve done my homework, Goлs Koraka. University’s records are quite extensive. And Manager Shears and I have run missions in delicate situations before this. We understand the need for security.”

Shadith suppressed a smile. It wasn’t only the Chave who’d have a rough time getting into Aslan’s files as Goлs Koraka hoeh Dexios would discover soon enough.

The Goлs glanced at the screen and came round the desk to perch on the edge. “Of course, of course. I spoke from concern, not from lack of confidence, Scholar. It worries me that you won’t take residence in the enclosure. However, I must defer to your experience with such things. We have extracted a few concessions from the locals. If they approve you as intermediary, they will arrange housing as you’ve requested in the nearest… mmm dumel, I think the word is. Communication has been difficult. Signing is mmm. limited. As I’m sure you know, Scholar. And our contact has only the few words of interlingue he’s learned from free traders and smugglers. He is more sophisticated in interspecies contact than one would have expected from the isolation of this world. Probably because of the interaction the two sapient species have been forced into over the past three millennia, if my memory of dates is accurate. We’ve done some testing on hair and skin cells from the Cousins among our young captives. My techs tell me it’s almost certain their presence here is a result of the first Diaspora, probably due to a massive system failure on their colony ship. It’s not a sector one would choose to explore, if the choice were available.”

Aslan shifted again. When she spoke, her voice was sharp with displeasure. “I have to convince your contact to accept us? That’s another thing your Rep didn’t bother to mention.”

The Goлs shrugged, spread his hands. “It didn’t seem important. In any case, I’ve arranged a meeting tomorrow noon with our contact, a Cousin by name

Maorgan and his… mum. companion whose name I don’t know. If it even has a name. My aides tell me your gear has been off-loaded and put in secure storage until you need it and your temporary quarters are ready. Your Manager and young associates are there, waiting for you. Is there anything else I can do?”

“Yes. I’d like to see your captives, if I may.”