

Squatter's Rights

by

Hollis Rentchler

Smashwords Edition

Squatter's Rights Copyright © 2012 by Viking Horde Media

Cover art copyright © 2012 by Alan L. Lickiss, Jacob Lickiss, and Rebecca Lickiss

Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Squatter's Rights

Red and orange streaked through the star-studded violet sky, promising a new day, new discoveries, and new excitement. Oxana Kharmadi sighed with satisfaction, now finished with her night's work and more than ready to skip a little sleep to officially document her discoveries.

In the brush and scrub to her left she heard something moving. She quickly finished packing her equipment away in her kit, and cautiously, quietly, moved to see what it was. The flora on this planet grew only just taller than the top of her head, and she'd found no fauna other than insects and tiny vertebrates.

Except for the one time. Though she had no proof of what she thought she'd seen. She hardly believed it herself anymore. Three days ago, in the wee hours of the morning as the sun was just about to rise, she remembered seeing a half-meter tall, six-legged, spider-like animal disappearing into the thick scrub around the grassy plain she'd been researching. She'd only gotten a glance, off to the side, so she couldn't be certain. And no one else had seen anything even remotely like it.

Kharmadi had reported it. Though it made her sound like an idiot, and the rest of the scientific expedition had treated her as such since. The fact that this was her first exploratory expedition with the Terran Colonial Agency hadn't helped either. The scientists kept telling her scare stories to see what she'd believe, the military branch frankly scoffed at her, and the administrators and sociologists from the Colonial Agency had become increasingly patronizing.

Peering between the soft, fuzzy, sour-mint scented branches of fur brush, Kharmadi listened intently. Hearing a branch break farther away, she stepped out of her fur brush blind and headed toward the sound. A couple of meters away she found the broken branch.

Something, other than herself was definitely moving through the pungent scrub. She could make out the sounds of branches slapping ahead of her.

Slowly, making certain that she held the branches, and carefully put them back, to keep from making any noise, she followed whatever it was. Her caution slowed her and when she stepped out of the fur brush stand, she found herself alone looking out over an expanse of high-grass prairie.

The sun was now completely up, but even with the added light she couldn't see anything that might have been crawling through the brush. The waving, blue, waist-high grasses hid their secrets as well as an ocean.

Not far distant were a string of rounded hillocks and mounds, that looked as if a giant mole had tunneled through the meadow, leaving behind one to two meter tall swells.

Disappointed at losing her quarry, Kharmadi headed through the tall grass for the hills. She hadn't seen any similar geographic features in the previous meadows. Perhaps she'd find something useful here. She topped the first hillock, and stumbled in shock, twisting her ankle and falling down the other side of the hill. She slid to a stop at the feet of what was unmistakably an alien creature.

Whatever it was, it was humanoid, with head, torso, arms, and legs in the usual places. Its body was covered in some sort of draped toga fastened at both shoulders, over a tight suit that fitted all the way to its wrists, booted feet, and neck. Its hands had five digits; a thumb, three fingers, and another thumb on the opposite side. It had purple eyes, and its head was covered with short curly purple horns. It stood stock still, staring down at Kharmadi.

There were other aliens in the galaxy. Kharmadi had even met some. There were a few races that helped Terrans, others just ignored them. Few seemed hostile. It seemed to be generally accepted that the universe was big enough for everyone. However, Kharmadi had never seen or heard of anything like this.

"Hello." As Kharmadi got to her feet, the creature hurriedly backed away, screaming, its arms going protectively around its pot-belly.

There were shouts, and several more of the creatures came running. Some held what could only be electronic or security devices. Definitely manufactured, and of a high enough technology that Kharmadi couldn't assume she was dealing with primitives. She was quickly surrounded.

Most of the others appeared to be dressed like the first, though their clothing came in various colors and stylized drapings. Their eye and horn colors ranged from blue to purple, with their skin a much paler version. They appeared no more hostile than a group of Terrans with a strange, wild animal in their midst.

She tried smiling, but no one smiled back. She tried to think of another way that Terrans, or other aliens, showed friendship. Slowly she reached for the water flask clipped to her hip belt. There were rivers and streams on this planet, presumably these others would recognize water. Once she poured it out of the bottle. The others fumbled with their hand-held devices and muttered to each other.

Taking the cup off the top, Kharmadi poured a little onto her fingers. "See, just water." She poured some into a cup, and took a drink. "Mmmm, good." Setting the flask and cup, still half filled with water, down on the ground, she backed slowly away. The circle surrounding her widened. "Any takers?"

The one she'd first startled said something and held a hand out. Another put a device in the extended hand, and the purple horned creature approached the flask and cup. It dipped a section of the device into the cup, and the device whirred and beeped.

After a moment examining the device's readout, the creature set the device down, picked up the flask, and sniffed. It looked at Kharmadi then back at the flask. Then it poured a little water over one hand, wetting both thumbs and fingers. It looked again at Kharmadi, and poured water into its cupped hand to drink.

Kharmadi couldn't help grinning and chuckling. The beings surrounding her stirred, so she stopped and held her hands up in half-surrender. "Sorry."

Purple horns imitated her gesture, without grinning or saying a word.

Realizing she was out of her depth, Kharmadi slowly reached for her messenger. The aliens around her shifted and murmured sounding unhappy. Purple horns backed away, leaving her cup and flask on the ground.

She paged the head of the exploratory science division on the planet, Dr. Cleveland Ayers, sending him both video of the aliens around her, and the message, "I have a situation here."

"Infinite worlds!" Dr. Ayers voice sounded thinly electronic and very, very far away through the messager's speakers. "Where are you?"

As she gave him general directions, as best she could remember her path, the aliens around her began talking and shouting amongst themselves.

"Maybe I should try to meet you half-way," she whispered nervously.

"Yes, that would probably be best. I'll get a crew together, and we'll find you as quickly as we can. Ayers out."

Kharmadi tried slowly backing up the hill, but her ankle hurt, making her footing treacherous. In any case the aliens showed no sign of letting her leave. They stopped shouting at each other and began shouting at her.

"Uhm." Kharmadi steadied herself, while standing on the slope of the hill. "The problem is, I," she pointed to herself, "am one." She held up one finger. "And you," she pointed around herself, "are," she looked around counting quickly, "twenty-two." Kharmadi opened and closed her hands twice, then held up two fingers.

Purple horns shouted something over the general hub-bub, and the noise lessened to a gentle murmur.

"I'm going to go," Kharmadi pointed to herself, then walked two fingers up the palm of her other hand. "You come too." She pointed to them then walked her fingers up her palm again.

A long and occasionally shouted discussion amongst the aliens followed this. Kharmadi edged her way slowly up the hill. The aliens kept her surrounded, but seemed reluctant to get too close to her. So by the mere expedient of taking small steps in the direction she wanted to go, Kharmadi was able to creep back the way she'd come. They hadn't quite crossed the meadow when a troop of Terrans burst from the fur brush.

The aliens quickly formed ranks around Kharmadi. The largest grabbed her by the arm, held a device to her head and shouted something.

The military squad that Dr. Ayers had brought instantly formed their own defensive ranks around the unarmed Terran scientists and administrators. Kharmadi recognized the tall, imposing figure of General Baxter when he stepped forward only from vids she had seen of him.

"Kharmadi? Are you unharmed?" he asked.

"Fine. I'm perfectly okay." Kharmadi grinned back. "They're actually very nice people, after you get over the initial shock."

"General Baxter, if you will let us take it from here." The colony's Chief Administrator, Uljana Koleka a thin austere woman, pushed her way through to the front. "Please, request that your soldiers put their weapons away."

"There are clear procedures to be followed when Terrans under my protection are threatened." The general glared down at Uljana. "You will have to wait until the situation is defused."

In the silence that followed the two groups sized each other up. The tips of the high blue grasses rustled around them, tossed in the breeze like ocean waves.

Kharmadi sighed to herself, before speaking up. "Could we worry about jurisdiction later? If they were going to hurt me they had many, many opportunities prior to this. When the odds were in their favor."

Uljana glared at Kharmadi. "Kharmadi, if you'd followed proper procedure and reported them first before attempting contact, none of us would be in this situation."

"And we can't be certain they won't hurt you," Baxter said. "We don't know anything about them."

"Sure we do." Kharmadi shifted to take all the weight off of her injured ankle. "Or I do at least. They drink water, and their most vital organs are in their heads and bellies."

"How do you know that, Kharmadi?" Dr. Ayers grayed head peered around the trooper in front of him.

"This one is pointing a weapon to my head, which undoubtedly means that a hit to one of their heads would be serious if not fatal." Kharmadi looked up at the alien holding her. Its blue horned head was just turning from looking at the other Terrans to her. As if trying to interpret what they were saying. "When I fell down the hill at that one's feet," Kharmadi pointed to purple horns, "It grabbed its belly and screamed and backed away from me. Also, it drank some water from my flask."

"Kharmadi, where is your water flask now?" Uljana asked.

"I think I left it back there." Kharmadi winced.

"Kharmadi! Equipment doesn't really appear out of the void," Uljana said through gritted teeth. "You people seem to think we have unlimited supplies here." She stopped, apparently recognizing that this wasn't the time for that old lecture.

"Sorry."

"This is all very much beside the point," Baxter said.

"I agree." Uljana turned back to him. "If you will let us attempt to communicate with them we will be able to take care of this situation."

Baxter shook his head. "I can't risk them taking any more hostages until we are certain they aren't hostile."

The aliens had been holding their own arguments, all the while. Kharmadi wondered idly if they too were arguing over who had jurisdiction or precedence, or fighting over the subsequent honor or blame, as the case may be.

The purple horned one stepped in front of her, with its back to the other humans. It pointed its center finger at the alien holding the weapon to Kharmadi's head. Then with the three center fingers together and the thumbs interlocked beneath, it pointed its fingers at her head before putting its hand down by its side. Then it waved a hand at the other Terrans, mimed the soldiers' stance, then put its hand down at its side.

"Excuse me," Kharmadi called out to the Terran arguers.

"Yes, Kharmadi," Baxter said.

"We saw," Uljana sounded triumphant, "it would appear they will put down their weapons if we put down ours." She smiled smugly at Baxter, who gave the order.

A wave of relief passed through both groups as the weapons came down. Kharmadi could see a lessening of the tension in the aliens, though her big blue-horned captor kept a tight grip on her arm. One of the smaller ones clapped once, and Kharmadi would have sworn the others around it were trying to shush it.

"I wonder what that means," Dr. Ayers said.

"We'll know soon enough." Uljana stepped briskly forward, smiled at the aliens, spread her empty hands out before her, and began what had to be a practiced - and to Kharmadi's mind rather useless - speech.

As she spoke her greeting of peace and friendship, several of the aliens jabbered and muttered amongst themselves. When Uljana stopped, a medium sized alien with long straight purple horns hanging limply around its face stepped forward, clasped both hands together with a strange twining of thumbs around its pot belly, bowed slightly, and began its own speech. All presumably recorded by various sorts of equipment, both Terran and alien.

Uljana motioned one of the techs forward. "Now if we can just get them to let our equipment examine theirs we can begin some real communication." She and the tech both tried various miming motions to explain what they wanted, but the aliens wouldn't let the tech or any Terran equipment near any of their alien equipment.

The aliens kept putting the equipment behind their backs, or handing it off to another, father away from the Terrans.

"We're getting no where," Baxter said impatiently.

"Unfortunately, in order to build a vocabulary, we need to let our communications unit record information off their machines to interpret." Uljana ground her teeth in frustration. "If we could just get one word."

"Water," Dr. Ayers said, as he stepped forward. He looked very old and stooped beside the vibrant Uljana. "The communications unit looks first for scientific and mathematical formulas, since chemicals and physics are universal. Water is a chemical. Did anyone think to bring a water flask?"

No one had.

"Wait. I have an idea." Kharmadi snapped a blade of grass off half way down. After tying a knot at both ends, she tied a third in the middle, shaping the whole into a V. Big blue horns, on her left, gripped her arm tighter, but didn't interfere. Kharmadi held up her finished work. "H2O." Looking at Purple horns, she said distinctly, "Water." She handed it the tied blade of grass, and mimed drinking. "Water."

Purple horns looked from her to the strange grass sculpture in its hands and back, over and over as she repeated, "Water," and mimed drinking.

Suddenly its eyes went wide, and it said something that sounded like, "Irsa." It began babbling to the others, pointing to each of the three knots.

The whole lot of aliens began babbling, shouting, and murmuring. Purple horns held up Kharmadi's sculpture, and said, "Irsa. Water."

"Yes." Uljana nodded, then stopped as Dr. Ayers pointed out that the aliens had no idea what nodding or "Yes" meant. "Water. Irsa." Uljana again mimed the Terran equipment talking to the alien equipment, but again the aliens didn't seem to understand.

Dr. Ayers held his hand beside his mouth, with the fingers and thumb opening and closing as if working a puppet, while he said, "Kharmadi, do this when you talk to me. Doesn't matter what you say, but say something."

Feeling foolish, Kharmadi made a puppet hand by her head. "Uh, well. I think I sprained my ankle when I fell. Which is why I couldn't report this before they discovered me."

"Oh, Kharmadi, I'm sorry to hear that," Dr. Ayers said conversationally, keeping his hand-puppet going. "We'll get you back to a medic as soon as we can."

"I don't want to miss out on this."

Nodding, Dr. Ayers said, "Now, put your hand close by some piece of their equipment, and keep it talking." He moved his hand to rest beside the tech's communication unit, as Kharmadi reached out to put her hand-puppet near a device being held by the alien standing in front and off to the side of her.

Big blue horns jerked on Kharmadi's arm to pull her away from the equipment, but Purple horns intervened, and Kharmadi was allowed to continue. After another tense discussion between the alien group, Purple horns looked at Dr. Ayers.

It held up one hand, with fingers and thumbs curled into a fist, the back of the hand toward Dr. Ayers. When it was certain it had Dr. Ayers' attention, it began to lift and close its center finger.

"That looks obscene," General Baxter said, folding his arms, and turning slightly away.

"But only to us," Uljana answered. "I wish I knew what it means."

"It's binary code. One, zero, one, zero." Dr. Ayers nodded his head vigorously, and held up his hand in a similar way, but used his pointer finger. "It's trying to tell us they use binary code."

Within a few minutes, the aliens had agreed to let their equipment "talk" to the communications unit. Shortly after that the communications unit began slowly reporting the alien labels for various chemicals. Both groups began milling around, stomping down the tall grass, and generally keeping themselves amused.

It was abundantly clear to Kharmadi which of the aliens and Terrans were scientists, as they were the ones clustered around the equipment, becoming more excited with each piddly revelation. Uljana stood back, boredly waiting until the unit had reached a critical level of understanding when she could finally begin communicating with the aliens.

One of the soldiers approached Kharmadi with a first aid kit. Big blue horns growled something unmistakably threatening, but the soldier merely opened her box and pulled out the inflatable splint. Big blue horns sat on the trampled grass beside Kharmadi, and watched intently as the soldier began peeling off Kharmadi's boot and socks.

"Well, Kharmadi, think it might be broken?" the soldier asked.

"No." Kharmadi tried not to wince when her foot twisted as soldier slid the inflatable splint on. "It's only sprained."

Big blue horns shouted to another alien when the soldier finished and stood up to retrieve her kit from nearby. Another alien came over, and started to hold a device near Kharmadi's ankle.

"No." The soldier gently swatted the device away. "We don't know how it works. It might harm her accidentally."

The alien and the soldier argued for a moment, before Kharmadi intervened. "Just let them. I'll deal with whatever happens later."

Kharmadi felt nothing as the alien held the device over her ankle. It babbled something to Big blue horns, and tried to mime something to Kharmadi.

"Yes, thank you." Kharmadi nodded, not knowing what else to do.

The alien seemed at something of a loss itself, and after a moment's hesitation wandered off.

Tiredness from a full night's work finally caught up with Kharmadi, and she yawned.

Big blue horns released her suddenly, and moved quickly away.

The soldier shrugged. "I guess now that they know you're injured you're free to go." She gave Kharmadi a hand up.

With the soldier's help Kharmadi limped over to Dr. Ayers. Kharmadi smiled. "Looks to be a busy morning."

Dr. Ayers smiled back and nodded. "You get yourself back to a real medic, and get some sleep. Nothing exciting is going to happen here for a while. Hopefully next time you see these people, we'll be able to talk to them."

"I'm fine. It's just a sprain," Kharmadi protested. "I want to stay."

"Kharmadi, get yourself to a medic. Now." Dr. Ayers reached for the buckle to her equipment belt. "Give me this; I'll decant any useful information from it. You've done enough today already." He gestured to the soldier beside Kharmadi. "Take her back to the settlement, and see that she gets to a medic."

The soldier glanced at General Baxter, standing and listening nearby. Baxter nodded, and the soldier grabbed Kharmadi's arm in a grasp comparable to Big blue horn's. "Let's go."

Kharmadi limped back to the settlement, torn between frustration and elation.

#

Three days later Kharmadi sat at her desk fuming. She hadn't yet been back to see the aliens. In fact, everyone above her seemed to be dumping their work onto her, so that they could go see the new aliens. Terra and the new Intergalactic Alliance that was working on a new Interspecies Treaty were sending representatives out to make certain everything was on the up-and-up, and that these new aliens weren't being mistreated by the colonists. The way things were going she might finish her tour here without ever again contacting the aliens she'd found.

Unfortunately, even after three days the colonists were still having trouble talking with the aliens. The communications unit was still sorting out the alien's mathematical and chemical conventions. The bigwigs were still working on proper protocol and precedence. Luckily the military had decided the new aliens weren't a threat, though they sent an armed "honor squad" with every visit to the meadow between the alien's village and the colonists' settlement.

The worst part, as far as Kharmadi was concerned, was that she hadn't been able to return to the field and collect samples. Her real tasks had been put on hold so that she could cover other people's work while they fiddled with the new aliens. She wasn't even able to finish cataloging the samples she'd already gathered. Instead she sat at her desk filling out forms and writing reports for people higher up the org chart.

Worse yet, all the reports seemed to be about the new aliens, the Rcyyt. One from Dr. Ayers reporting how the Rcyyt lived underground - in fact under the hillocks Kharmadi had climbed - to support a report by General Baxter on why the reconnaissance missions hadn't spotted any native intelligent life. Another by Dr. Kasis O'Flynn on what she'd seen of Rcyyt agricultural techniques, and why a reconnaissance mission wouldn't spot that either. Ad infinitum. Kharmadi pulled up a form to commit to officialdom what all had been given to the Rcyyt as "presents to the natives."

A soldier entered her office, just as she pulled up another form. He nodded to her. "Dr. Kharmadi? You're wanted in the meadow."

Kharmadi dropped the stylus in surprise and it fell through the hologramatic screen on her desk, turning the neat empty form into so much static. "What about?" She hurriedly started shutting her desk down.

"Don't know. The aliens keep asking for you."

"Asking for me?"

"They keep saying Kharmadi. Don't know what they want." The soldier shrugged. "So Dr. Ayers said to get you, and bring you back."

Trying not to look smug, Kharmadi followed the soldier back to the meadow, though she couldn't figure out what the aliens wanted with her, or why. Still it was flattering.

An enormous pavilion had been set up for shade. Underneath the canvas, on one side of a cleared and leveled area, a table had been set up with several benches for the humans. On the opposite side several aliens lounged on oddly shaped seats with outcroppings to hold their equipment.

"Ah," Dr. Ayers stood as he sighted Kharmadi. "There you are."

Uljana sighed. "Now maybe we can make some progress." She looked at the aliens while motioned to Kharmadi, and said, "Here's Kharmadi."

All seven of the aliens turned to look at Kharmadi, but said nothing. Kharmadi waited with ever growing curiosity to see what they wanted. However the aliens examined her with what seemed to her to be the same curiosity.

"It would seem we've been mistaken again," Uljana said with frustration. "They didn't want to see her at all."

"Then what could they mean when they say Kharmadi?" Uljana's assistant said petulantly. "It doesn't even sound like one of their words."

"How should I know?" Uljana said.

"Maybe this group isn't one of the ones that wants to talk to me," Kharmadi said.

"Sit." Dr. Ayers moved to create room for her on his bench. "Let's see what happens."

After a few more minutes of silence the aliens began to talk amongst themselves again. Off to the side the communications unit recorded information from a small blue alien projection box. Kharmadi glanced at Dr. Ayers and shrugged.

"All right." Uljana powered up her desk. "Let me try this again." After a few minutes of examining her screen, she looked at the aliens and said, "Terra mior appo Rcyyt."

This launched the listening aliens into a jabbering frenzy, punctuated by flourishes of the various equipment they kept near to hand. Uljana turned back to her screen, obviously hoping they'd mention something that her computer could translate.

After a few moments the central alien turned toward Uljana and said, "Kharmadi." When Uljana looked up, despair on her face, it said, "Rcyyt mix Terra yes."

Kharmadi covered her mouth, but couldn't stop laughing.

"What's so funny?" Uljana demanded.

"It would appear they think 'Kharmadi' is a word that means, 'may I have your attention.' I don't think they realize it is a name." Kharmadi bit her lip to stop laughing.

Dr. Ayers pulled up a recorded version of their first meeting with the aliens, fast forwarding to portions where Kharmadi's name was used. He leaned back as he shut his desk down. "It would appear she is correct."

"I thought we were past the 'Me Tarzan, you Jane' part." Uljana leaned forward to examine the same recording on her screen. At the end of it she groaned. "If we don't get farther than this before the officials get here, we're going to look like complete idiots. I don't understand why this is taking so long. Within three days the Titans were already hammering out a treaty with Terra. We're missing something here." She shook her head. "All right, lets start back at the beginning again."

Holding her hand to her chest, Uljana said, "Chief Administrator Uljana Koleka." She stood up and stepped behind her assistant, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Assistant Administrator Alois Lagast." She moved to stand behind Dr. Ayers, and put her hands on his shoulders. "Dr. Cleveland Ayers." Then, standing behind Kharmadi, with her hands on Kharmadi's shoulders she said, "Dr. Oxana Kharmadi."

The aliens were silent for a moment, then began again conferring over their equipment. After a bit the central alien said, "Kharmadi."

Kharmadi waved and said, "Yes? Hi!"

After conferring again, the central alien stood and walked to stand in front of Kharmadi. It clasped its hands together in front, over its pot belly, with the thumbs strangely entwined, and bowed low, before giving a short speech. Kharmadi didn't understand a single word. She turned to Dr. Ayers.

"I didn't get any of that either," he said. "Anyone else?"

The wind stirred the grass around them, and breezed gently through the pavilion, while the communications unit toiled away off to the side.

Dr. Ayers shrugged, and nodded at the waiting alien. "Yes."

"They understand yes?" Kharmadi whispered.

"Yes, and nodding. We seem to have that in common actually."

"Ah." Kharmadi clasped her hands, and gave a small sitting bow. "Yes. Yes, of course. Whatever you said is fine." She nodded too, just in case.

The alien relaxed, and sat down. No sooner had it made itself comfortable on its seat than the others started jabbering at it. After a moment, another of the aliens stood. Kharmadi recognized Purple horns.

It approached her, and made its own little speech, much shorter than the other alien's, and without the little bow.

When Kharmadi looked to him, Dr. Ayers said, "Didn't get any of that either."

Purple horns mimed drinking and setting the cup down, then walked its thumbs up the opposite hand and pointed to her using its central finger, then pointed off in the direction of its village, then pointed down to where it'd set the pretend cup.

"My flask." Kharmadi stood. "I guess I'm going to get my flask."

"Be careful," Uljana said.

"Perhaps we should send a guard with her," Baxter said. "Lieutenant Duffy, accompany Kharmadi to the alien village."

Dr. Ayers grabbed her arm. "This one's name is Duyhu Vhawk Fdohe Jlool Gdyl Vwo Iol. They're very particular about their names. They don't allow nicknames."

"I'm supposed to remember all that?"

"Do your best."

"I just won't use anyone's name," Kharmadi said as she walked away behind Purple horns.

"That seems to be the best way," Duffy whispered beside her. "Just think of it as Iol."

They followed Iol back to the village. Iol said something to another alien, who rushed off. Iol babbled a bit to them, then fell silent.

In a minutes they were surrounded by aliens of various sizes. Duffy shifted uncomfortably under the combined alien stares, but Kharmadi took the opportunity to stare right back.

A very small alien crept closer, until it stood beside Iol, and gripped the hem of Iol's over-robe. The little one was only just taller than Iol's knee. Iol patted its head, murmuring something.

Kharmadi crouched down. "Hi. I guess you probably wanted to see the aliens too?"

The little one's eyes got very big, and it hid behind Iol, covering its purple horned head in the folds of Iol's over-robe.

Sheepishly, Kharmadi stood. She tried clasping her hands and bowing to Iol. "Sorry."

Iol bowed back, reaching behind to pat the little one again. Iol said something, but Kharmadi wasn't certain if it was meant for her or the little one.

An alien ran up, carrying Kharmadi's flask. Iol presented it to her with a bow and a flourish. Kharmadi bowed back, before hooking the flask back to her utility belt.

"All right," Duffy said nervously. "Let's go."

"Wait." Near the base of one of the mounds was an approximately two-meter high shimmering half-oval. A red-barked, branching, leafless plant grew beside it. "I want to check this out."

"I doubt they'll invite you in. Nobody gets in," Duffy said. "I think that's a door, or a window, or whatever their equivalent is."

"Not that. The plant. It's not like any of the others I've seen here." Kharmadi crouched down by the plant, examining it without touching it. "It's completely different from anything else here. No fur, no tendrils, and see how inflexible it appears. It doesn't bend in the wind."

"So take a sample, and let's go."

"I didn't bring my sampling kit, and I wouldn't dare touch it without one." She turned back to grin at Duffy. "It might be the local equivalent of poison ivy."

Iol said something to Duffy, who shook his head. "She's a biologist. It's a plant. What can I do?"

The little one approached cautiously. "Kilbo."

"Is that what this is?" Kharmadi pointed to the plant. "Kilbo?"

"Kilbo." The little one pointed to the plant, and started babbling away. Kharmadi listened intently, as if she could understand.

When the little one finished, she nodded. "Ah, yes. Thank you." She added a little bow.

Puffing up a bit, the little one crept closer, and whispered something.

"Oh, yes." Kharmadi nodded.

A little hand reached out, cautiously, and touched Kharmadi's hair. Kharmadi held perfectly still as the little alien ran its fingers through her short hair. It looked at its hand a moment, then clapped twice.

Kharmadi looked up to see Iol staring at her wide eyed, grinding its mouth. Before she could move the little one had reached out to run its fingers through her hair again. She held still, hoping Iol wasn't getting upset, hoping she hadn't committed some terrible breech of etiquette.

Instead, other little ones approached her, all reaching out to touch her hair.

"Dr. Kharmadi?" Duffy said, nervously glancing at Iol. "I don't think this is a good idea."

Since Kharmadi could hear Iol's teeth grinding, she had to agree, but she was afraid to upset the children. So Kharmadi held still, and let the children run their fingers through her hair.

Suddenly a little blue horned child looked at its hand wide eyed. Kharmadi glanced at its hand. A single strand of her plain brown hair rested in its palm. Quickly it tried to put the hair back, before she saw it.

"It's all right. Hair falls out all the time." The strand slipped from her head to rest on her nose. Kharmadi pinched it off her nose before it could tickle her to a sneeze.

The little blue horned one backed away, quickly. Kharmadi caught it by the hand. It stared wide eyed as she gently put the strand back in its hand, and closed its fingers. "Here, you keep it as a souvenir of the time you touched the alien's head. Yes?" She nodded.

Opening its hand the little one stared at the strand of hair there, then at Kharmadi.

The first purple horned child looked from its friend's hand to Kharmadi also, then looked into its own empty hand. The little blue horned one closed its fist around the strand of hair, and clapped its open hand against its fist twice.

It didn't take an interpreter to recognize the jealousy. Kharmadi raked her fingers through her hair, tugging out loose strands. She began handing them out, one to each of the children. After seven she began to suspect that several of the gathered children either hadn't been around originally, or they were coming back for seconds.

"That's enough." She stood up.

Iol bowed, and said something. When Kharmadi started to bow back, it shook its head. Then touched its horns with its center finger before pointing at her.

"It's all right." Kharmadi plucked a strand from the top of her forehead, tossed it away, then mimed another growing back.

Wide eyed, Iol stared at her. Then repeated her mime.

"Yes. It'll grow back." Kharmadi turned to Duffy. "I guess horns don't grow back."

"I wish they wouldn't use that finger."

Kharmadi looked back to see that Iol still pointed to her with its center finger. She held up her hand with the center finger pointed, then folded it back into her fist. "No." She shook her head. "Not that one. This one." She pointed with her pointer finger. Kharmadi had to repeat the whole thing several times for Iol.

Repeating her mime, Iol had trouble using the Terrans' preferred finger, and appeared confused.

"Don't ask," Kharmadi said. "Just use the other finger. Trust me."

Iol escorted them back to the meadow, where the meeting was breaking up. Kharmadi watched as Iol gave a quick precis of their adventures in the Rcyyt village to its people, ignoring Duffy as he did the same for the Terrans. The other Rcyyt seemed surprised about hair also, and looked at her curiously.

Uljana sighed. "You two accomplished more by retrieving that flask than we did all day." She tossed her carry-computer into its soft sling with disgust.

"It was the kids really." Kharmadi winced at the look on Uljana's face. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say. Kharmadi didn't want Uljana to explode.

"Children," Uljana breathed. "There's an idea." She turned to Baxter. "Children always pick things up faster than adults. Perhaps if our children played with their children, supervised of course, we'd find that rosetta stone piece we need to really communicate."

After a moment's careful consideration, General Baxter nodded. "With appropriate supervision, I think that would be all right."

While Uljana and Baxter mimed to convey this idea to the Rcyyt, Kharmadi pigeonholed Dr. Ayers.

"I need to get back to collecting my field samples." She motioned around them. "I haven't even started on this meadow yet. Before we let the children run through here we have to make certain there isn't anything poisonous."

Dr. Ayers nodded as he gathered up his stuff. "Tonight. You and O'Flynn and Troan and Poole can work together tonight to give this meadow the all clear."

While that hadn't been quite what Kharmadi had wanted, it was enough.

#

"Wake up, sleepy head!" Dr. Ayers practically sang as he burst into Kharmadi's quarters.

Kharmadi pulled the thin thermo-blanket over her head, and rolled in her bed to face the wall. "Leave me alone. I was up all night. Getting the meadow the all clear, remember?"

"And you've slept all day." He didn't sound the least bit repentant. "Get up, we're having a celebration." He shook her shoulder. "We're finally able to communicate with the Rcyyt."

Flinging off the blanket Kharmadi sat up. "And?"

Her small quarters consisted of a single room, basically a bedroom, off of her specimen lab. She had no kitchen facilities, taking her meals in the colony mess, and used the bathroom off of the specimen lab. A built-in, padded, sleep ledge served as her bed and the only furniture in the room. Her "real" quarters were in orbit on the colony ship. Since Kharmadi didn't plan on staying with the colony she couldn't see putting them to the expense and trouble of setting her up with a home.

Dr. Ayers frowned down at her. "Do you always sleep in your work clothes?"

"I put on clean after I showered." Kharmadi levered herself up and out of bed. "It saves me ever so much time getting ready in the morning. Or evening, as the case may be." She grinned at him. "So what happened?"

"The children made the big breakthrough." Dr. Ayers shook his head, but he couldn't help grinning. "Remember 'water?'" He motioned for Kharmadi to follow him. "We thought we were looking at chemical and mathematical information from the Rcyyt. But water is also food. They thought we wanted information on their food."

"Food." Kharmadi winced. "Which is also composed of chemicals. Please don't tell me our communication unit has been trying to parse their cookbooks."

"That's ... pretty close." Dr. Ayers motioned to the bonfire, already burning near the central gathering place of their encampment. "Once we got that straightened out, the communication unit started grinding away on their language. When they were repeating 'Rcyyt mix Terra yes,' they were trying to say they wanted to ally with us." He grinned at her. "You were right; they really are a very friendly species. Though perhaps a bit stuffy."

All the Terran community had gathered around the bonfire, and to start off the celebration Uljana Koleka announced a holiday for everyone the next day. Everyone that wanted to could come to the meadow, meet the Rcyyt, and try their luck at communicating.

Which gave Kharmadi an idea. She sought out Dr. Ayers and Uljana for permission to bring several Rcyyt back to look over the specimens in her lab. Perhaps as natives they could speed things along in her cataloging.

Even though she'd been sleeping most of the day, Kharmadi only stayed at the celebration a short time, before heading back for her bed. She wanted to be awake and ready to go as quickly as possible in the morning. There was so much to discover.

Getting some of the Rcyyt to follow her back to camp was the hardest part of the day. The whole thing apparently had to be decided by several Rcyyt committees, starting with figuring out what the silly Terran wanted all the way through who should get to go.

In the end Iol and several others accompanied her back to the specimen lab. They were absolutely fascinated with her set up, poking their purple horned heads into every nook and cranny of the lab, even the bathroom and her quarters. In turn they provided her with much information on the animal and plant specimens she'd found.

Using several holo views of the planet, pointers, and miming, they were able to expand her knowledge of the various geographical habitats and spread of the plants and creatures she'd cataloged so far. Either they didn't understand her or they simply didn't want to share any information on how widespread they might be, or how large their population was. So, Kharmadi decided to ask if they knew of any larger animals on the planet.

She showed them videos she'd made of several of the insectoid creatures, miming to indicate bigger.

Iol shook his head, and held his hand up with thumbs spread to indicate the average size of the insectoids.

"Yes, but not this particular animal, a different one." Kharmadi ran her hands through her hair in frustration, as she tried to think of some way to convey her question in signs.

The aliens just stared at her.

"Wait!" A few taps and a data chip switch enabled Kharmadi to pull up a video she'd made years before of her now deceased pet cat. Lucifer glared at the screen with his usual haughty disdain, then stalked away, black fur shining like sleek silk, tail flicking a warning as the video followed him around her old apartment.

"This," Kharmadi pointed to the specimen cage with the small insectoid from the previous video, "Is about this big. Cat," she pointed to the current video running in an unending loop, "Is about this big." She indicated the size of Lucifer with her hands. Iol held his hands out at about the same size and nodded to her. "Now is there anything," Kharmadi pointed to all her cages, filled and unfilled, "About as big as the cat?"

Iol shook his head, as did the others. They jabbered away to her, incomprehensibly, but indicated that there were no other animals on the planet larger than thumbs-width.

"Darn. I could have sworn I saw something bigger. And it's so unusual to have a planet where there's such a large gap in size between animals. Usually there's a spectrum of sizes from very small to very large." She looked at the aliens, all holding very still and watching her. She sighed. "And you can't understand a word I'm saying."

Kharmadi sat at her chair and turned off the video of Lucifer. Iol tapped the blank with his thumb, followed by a terrible mime of his hand walking without any of the grace or art of a cat.

"Oh, you like my video, do you?" Kharmadi grinned. "And they said I had no cinematographic talent." After letting Lucifer parade through another couple of times, she pulled out an entertainment chip. "You might like this one a little better."

She put on a short computer-cartoon video of a knight fighting, and defeating, a dragon. The video had all the colorful effects the creators could stuff into it, including glaring bright flames, shining armor, iridescent scales, and fluffy clouds of smoke cleaved with super sharp sword. It even had its own peppy, thrilling, musical score. The Rcyyt were enthralled, staring at the screen in captivated rapture.

It took a few moments before the Rcyyt stopped staring at the blank video. Iol bowed to her, hands clasped, said something, and nodded to the video.

"Sure." Kharmadi ran it again, and again, and again. After a while it dawned on her that such intense interest had to be significant. "Don't you have videos?"

The Rcyyt ignored her, too caught up in the video playing away.

Kharmadi slipped away from them. "Perhaps I should get a mobile unit that we can take with us to show everyone else." A bit of coaxing, and a demonstration of the video in her carry-computer, allowed Kharmadi to ease the aliens out of her lab.

The video was a hit with all the Rcyyt back at the meadow. The four that had accompanied her preened and posed as they demonstrated their superior knowledge.

Using the communications unit, Uljana was able to determine that the Rcyyt had no video-motion type art, only static two and three dimensional representations. They did have a type of video, but had used it only for educational or factual purposes. The idea of fictional videos, or even recreational videos had never occurred to them.

Uljana patted Kharmadi's back. "One step forward, two steps sideways. But we're getting there."

#

The next day Kharmadi received permission to collect samples from the brush stand at the far north end of the meadow. At about mid-morning when she emerged from the brush with several filled collection cages she found five of the older Terran children gathered in a huddle.

"What's going on?" Kharmadi asked.

A girl just on the verge of puberty glared at her and sighed. "Those others, the aliens, they're just so static and formal and dull. And tiny. I suppose you'll make us go back and play with them."

"No. Not if you don't want to." Kharmadi shrugged. "It's not my job to police you."

The children peered into the collection cages as Kharmadi stacked them in the shade. "What are those?"

"Don't touch! You can look, but don't touch. That's the most important thing to remember." Pointing to the top cage and moving down, Kharmadi named each of the insectoids as they'd been categorized by Terrans, adding their Rcyyt name if she knew it, and briefly described their habitat and niche in the food chain.

While she spoke, several of the Rcyyt children joined them. They really were very tiny compared with the Terran children. Iol, two other Rcyyt adults, and Kasis O'Flynn stood at the edges of Kharmadi's little crowd. Kasis grinned at Kharmadi, jiggling the spare kit she had brought with her. "Need any help?"

"Can we help too?" the girl asked. The other Terran children picked it up with a chorus of, "Can we? Please, can we?"

"Now, Jane," Kasis said. "Do you think you can be good? Follow all the rules? Stay out of trouble?"

All the Terran children assured Kasis that they could. The Rcyyt looked on politely and quietly, if somewhat bewildered as to exactly what was going on.

Kharmadi began passing out nets to the children. "I'll let you catch the insectoids, but you can't touch them. The plants here are all surveyed, and are nonpoisonous, but I can't be sure of the fauna, so don't touch. Once you've got an insectoid in your net, call either Dr. Flynn or I, and we'll come get it out of your net. You don't touch it. Understand."

"Yes, Dr. Kharmadi." Each of the Terran children repeated his or her agreement in a very bored sing-song.

When Kharmadi ran out of nets, Kasis pulled some from her kit. As the Terran children dispersed, the first Rcyyt child stepped up to Kharmadi, hand outstretched.

"Uhm." Kharmadi looked up at Iol and the big blue horned Rcyyt beside it. "Yes?"

Big blue horns nodded and said, "Yes."

Glancing at Kasis, Kharmadi said, "I guess it would be okay. I hope they know what not to touch."

Kasis shrugged, "They should. They're native."

Several of the Rcyyt children ran off without nets, to catch the insectoids in their hands. Kharmadi tried to warn Iol and Big blue horns, but they didn't understand.

"You worry too much." Kasis put a restraining hand on Kharmadi.

Kharmadi sighed and nodded. She looked at the three adult Rcyyt and said, "On your heads be it."

"There we go." Kasis smiled, and motioned for the others to follow them into the brush. "Let's go see if the kids have caught anything."

With all the children running, shouting, and crunching through the brush, Kharmadi expected they would catch very little. Instead they quickly filled her collection cages. After releasing several duplicates, Kharmadi started the children searching for ones she didn't already have.

The Rcyyt adults seemed to understand what Kharmadi wanted. They chased after, and directed, the Rcyyt children, passing out praise and encouragement as necessary.

Kasis caught Kharmadi alone, pulling her farther away from the others for a moment. "Over here in the shade." Kasis ducked down, so Kharmadi did too. "I've been watching the Rcyyt, making notes and reports. It's my new assignment. That big blue-horned one, there's something different about it."

"What do you mean?" Kharmadi peeked out between the soft, fuzzy, sour-mint scented branches of fur brush at Big blue horns.

"It doesn't run as fast as the others, and it keeps at least one hand on that enormous belly." Kasis paused a moment while Kharmadi watched the Rcyyt. "I don't know if it is just bigger and slower, or if the swelling is a sign of sickness such as cancer, or what. It's the one that had you captive when we first found you. Do you remember anything about that one in particular? Is it strong or weak? Is its mid-section hard or soft or could you tell?"

"Oh, it's strong. At least its grip was. I don't think I could have easily broken away. I don't really remember anything else, just its grip." Kharmadi shrugged, breathing deep the sour-mint scent of the fur brush. "And it smelled funny. Kind of sweet and musty at the same time. But that may be the way they all smell. That's the only one I've ever gotten really close enough to smell."

"I've smelled a lot of them." Kasis peered out of the fuzzy fur brush. "They do seem to use a lot of perfumes and scents. So scent probably isn't important." She frowned. "We'd better get back out there. Keep an eye out, let me know if you see anything unusual, or usual, or anything at all."

Now that it had been pointed out to her, Kharmadi could see that Big blue horns was bigger around than the other Rcyyt. Much bigger. But not really slower, just more cautious, keeping an eye more on where it was going and what it was doing than the others.

Also, Kharmadi couldn't help but notice that Iol and Big blue horns spent more time together than either did with the third adult Rcyyt. And they spent more time following after, looking at, and calling encouragement to a small purple horned child, than any other of the children.

With her attention splintered on watching the Rcyyt and keeping the Terran children from touching the insectoids, Kharmadi paid little heed to the path she took, and ended up falling flat on her face in a large stand of fur brush. The soft fuzzy branches enveloped her, wrapping around her body, cushioning her fall, but hampering her escape.

For every branch she pushed off of herself it seemed another waited to wrap around her. Spitting fur fuzz and squawking, Kharmadi tried unsuccessfully to get out of her soft furry trap. Kasis, Iol and an assortment of children ran to her aid. Kasis and Iol pulled branches from her while the children watched wide eyed.

"Are you supposed to touch those?" the girl, Jane, asked fearfully.

"This is why you need to be careful," Kharmadi said sternly, trying to cover her embarrassment.

The Terran children nodded to each other. The little purple horned child clapped its hands. Iol shook its head at the child.

Kasis grabbed Kharmadi's hand and pulled her up out of the fur brush. She grinned at Kharmadi. "Yes, do as Dr. Kharmadi says, not as she does."

The Terran children grinned, too.

Biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing, Kharmadi dusted fur off her coveralls, unable to gather any real dignity to herself.

A couple of the Rcyyt children were clapping now. Iol appeared to be trying to stop them. Kharmadi just swept an exaggerated bow. "Thank you. Thank you. There will be no encore."

Jane snickered. Egged on by Kasis, the Terran children joined the Rcyyt, clapping and cheering too.

After a few more bows, Kharmadi waved her hands at them to send them off. "Get back to work all of you."

Iol ground its teeth, and urged the Rcyyt children to move along. Once the children were off, Iol faced Kharmadi with its hands clasped over its round belly, and made a short speech. Though Kharmadi couldn't understand the exact words, she guessed he was worried.

Kharmadi shrugged. "Yeah, well, if I do something stupid, I deserve that." She smiled and clapped, then bowed with her hands clasped in front of her. "Don't worry about it."

Iol looked around, first at the crushed and broken fur brush, then at the children scattered through the brush stand. It nodded.

After Iol walked away, Kasis laughed and ruffled Kharmadi's hair. "Let's get back to work." She clapped as she ran off toward a cluster of children calling her. "I'm coming. I'm coming."

Taking a few minutes, Kharmadi surveyed the areas around her. The Terran children ran and shouted and laughed and squealed. The Rcyyt children walked or stalked their prey, making as little noise as possible. Kharmadi noticed what could have been hand signals passing between the Rcyyt.

She checked the collection cages, finding them nearly full. Once all the cages were full she called off the hunt and returned to camp to fill out her reports and catalog the insectoids.

That evening she spent with Kasis, discussing her observations and conjectures. Kasis' own perceptions mirrored Kharmadi's, but neither had enough information to make any certain conclusions.

#

Three nights later, Kharmadi lay still and quiet next to the high grasses of the meadow, observing activity in the flattened areas where the Terrans and Rcyyt had been so busy this past week. She could hear the buzz, hum, click, and chirp of the insectoids in the high grasses, but nothing stirred in the flattened area. A telling indication of the impact of Terrans on the local ecosystem.

As she lay watching, while her equipment recorded and counted, something broke a branch in the fur brush at the edge of the meadow. Kharmadi held her breath, watching as several half-meter tall, six legged, spider-like creatures emerged from the furry bramble.

She had net in one hand and port-a-cage in the other in the space of time between one breath and another. Without stopping to think, or be amazed, Kharmadi netted the largest of the bunch, which had fortunately frozen as the others scattered. The thing tried to claw its way out of the net, even to the point of methodically untwisting the net from around it as Kharmadi opened the port-a-cage.

Kharmadi ended up touching it as she quickly stuffed it in the cage, since it had almost escaped the net. It didn't bite, neither did it exude anything caustic or poisonous. It felt smooth, hairless, and cool to Kharmadi, with soft, dry skin over hard bony body. The tentacles themselves had bones in the upper portion, where they connected with the body, but were boneless and pliable at the ends.

It stuck tentacles out of the cage's bars, feeling the door's mechanisms. An indication of intelligence?

Kharmadi wasn't certain. Several animal species were known to be able to open doors, windows, and cages – simple mechanical kinds – without other signs of intelligence. She hesitated, wondering if she should release it, on the potential of its intelligence.

However, if she did she had no way of knowing if she could ever find another one. In fact, how could the native Rcyyt not know of the spider-like creatures' existence? Kharmadi decided to take the creature back to her lab, and turn the problem of what it was and how to proceed over to Dr. Ayers.

Examining it in the bright light of the three moons, Kharmadi could see no sign of any eyes. It appeared to sniff with a sort of snout on one end, so she assumed it could smell, but she could see no mouth, and it didn't make any noises at all. She had expected at least whimpering or howling. A large lump on the top of the creature, its back, resembled a camel's hump, and appeared to be soft, in that it flopped a bit from side to side as the creature wriggled and squirmed in the cage. The lump's movement resembled a back pack, and Kharmadi wondered if she'd captured an ill or injured specimen.

The feisty thing had wrapped its tentacles around the door's locking mechanism and was well on the way to opening the door. Kharmadi grabbed a simple keypad-lock and slapped it on the door. The creature began investigating this new lock as Kharmadi stacked the cage and the rest of her stuff on a wagon to take back to camp.

By the time they'd reached the camp, Kharmadi was beginning to have serious reservations about the creature she'd caught. It had begun to type various combinations into the keypad lock. Though not very methodically. It merely tapped against the keypad randomly for a bit, then paused, then repeated.

After dumping it into one of the largest specimen cages in her lab, Kharmadi slapped an old-fashioned lock with a key onto the door. The creature paced its cage, sniffing everything and running its tentacles across every surface. She watched it as the sun rose outside, contemplating what to do.

In the brighter light of her lab she could see that the spider-like creature was the same purplish color as the horns on the Rcyyt. But other than that there was no resemblance between the two species. Though this was the first species that Kharmadi had seen whose color resembled the Rcyyt. The creature definitely had no eyes and no obvious means of hearing. When it stood, Kharmadi could see that underneath it had what appeared to be a mouth, along with other, mysterious features. It still made no noise, and showed no sign it realized she was there.

The lump on the top of the creature appeared to be a pouch of some sort. The opening gaped slightly, but not enough to allow Kharmadi to see inside. The entire lump, pouch and all, was just smaller than Kharmadi's head. The skin of the pouch appeared to be stretched and tight. Kharmadi wondered if perhaps the creature used it to transport things.

She set her recording equipment to document everything it did. Then she crouched down by the cage to look at it again.

"Well," she said. "You wait here. I'll get Dr. Ayers after I get a shower. Then we'll decide what to do with you." She grabbed a towel from the closet, and headed for the bathroom.

As the warm water washed away the dust and debris she'd picked up though her night of wallowing in the muck and dirt and bramble in the meadow, Kharmadi mulled the strange creature over. She couldn't wait to bring Dr. Ayers in to view it.

After a quick scrub, she wrapped the towel around herself and stepped out to check her lab. Not certain if she would find the creature still caged.

Instead Iol and Big blue horns were crouched over the cage, frantically trying to open it. As soon as they heard her they both whirled around, standing so as to block her view of the creature in the cage.

The three stared at each other for a moment. Iol appeared the same, if rather upset, but Big blue horns looked as if it had gone on a sudden, extreme diet. The enormous belly was gone. The plop-plunk of water dripping off Kharmadi echoed in the suddenly quiet lab. The agitation of the Rcyyt only served to make Kharmadi more nervous.

"Hello," she said, "I wasn't really expecting company this morning."

Big blue horns began shouting. Only Iol hanging on its arm prevented Big blue horns from attacking Kharmadi.

Clutching her towel tighter, Kharmadi backed up until she hit the wall. "What? What's the matter?" With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, Kharmadi knew she'd done something very, very wrong. Sidling around them with her back to the wall, she made her way to her desk, picked up the key, and tossed it to them.

Iol caught it with one hand, and had no problem urging Big blue horns to ignore Kharmadi in favor of releasing the creature in the cage. They turned their backs on Kharmadi, blocking her view of the creature, and began fussing at the cage's door. The cage's hinges squeaked, and Iol stood up, with its back turned to Big blue horns and the cage. It spread the folds of its loose clothing as if to hide whatever was going on behind it.

Kharmadi stared horrified into Iol's wide dark purple eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset anyone. What is the matter?"

Big blue horns rose, fastening its draped toga at the shoulders. Then its hands began petting and patting its now restored, enormous mid-section, while it cooed and murmured softly.

"Oh-oh," Kharmadi whispered. "What happened here?"

Iol gently urged Big blue horns towards the door. It looked back at Kharmadi, and covered its mouth momentarily, before saying, "No talk."

Slumping against her desk, Kharmadi shivered against a sudden chill in the air. Whatever had happened, whatever she'd done, there was going to be big trouble. She headed for her bedroom, and dressed quickly.

Dr. Ayers had left camp, so Kharmadi had to page him. Getting him to leave the meadow and come back to camp without telling him why was nearly impossible, but she finally convinced him.

"This had better be important," Dr. Ayers growled as he walked into Kharmadi's lab.

"It is." Kharmadi winced at the thought of how critical it might end up being. "But I think I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

"Excuse me?" Dr. Ayers folded his arms, while standing aggressively over Kharmadi. "And who gave you that order?"

"I think you'd better watch this." Kharmadi pulled up the recordings she'd made that morning on her computer. "I found a very interesting specimen last night."

"Oh!" Dr. Ayers pulled a chair closer to her desk to watch. "You really did find a giant purple spider!"

"Wait. Watch the whole thing."

Dr. Ayers watched the whole recording, his eyes getting wider and more horrified with each passing moment. When the recording finished he covered his face with his hands. "Oh no."

"I came to the same conclusion." Kharmadi shut down her computer. "Did you understand anything of what they said?"

"Very little. Very, very little." He peeked out from the top of his fingers. "Most of the words I didn't understand, but from what I did, I could tell they weren't very happy with you."

"I got that far on my own. What about the giant purple spider?"

"Something, or rather someone, very important to them obviously."

"And I kidnapped it."

"And you kidnapped it."

Kharmadi closed her eyes. "So, now what?"

Dr. Ayers covered his face with his hands again. "First, I'm going to get a translation of everything they said. Maybe that will give us a better idea of exactly what was going on." He uncovered his face and reached for her computer. "Perhaps when Iol said, 'No talk,' what he meant was that he wasn't going to tell anyone what had happened. So, we are in the clear." He looked over at Kharmadi. "Or rather, you are." He pulled the translation program from his computer over to hers, and began translating Iol and Big blue horns' conversation on the recording. "And, this evening we'll need to bring this to the administration's and security's attention."

They waited the few moments while the computer worked, then ran the recording again, translated. It had been a simple translation, literal rather than meaningful, and at a more elementary level than an adult Rcyyt would use. One word, "Citi," was earmarked as a possible proper name, and left in Rcyyt, but noted before the recording replayed. There were many staticy pauses in the translation, indicating an unknown word.

"There," Iol was saying, "Citi here, told you."

"Static, static." Big blue horns' gaze raked the lab. "Hurt Citi?"

"No. Fine, told you. Open cage, Citi out." Iol rattled the lock frantically. "Locked cage. Lock unknown. No open."

"No open, what?" Big blue horns shouted and rattled the lock, nearly moving the cage. "She out! She out!"

"Calm. Calm. Examine, understand lock." Iol searched the lock, muttering. "No combination pad. No puzzle solution."

Big blue horns began shouting, and frantically clawing at the door. "Open now! Static, static, static, static. Terran Dr. Kharmadi static, static, examine static! Terrans all static, static! Citi out now."

"Give time! Calm! Patience!" Iol pushed Big blue horns away from the cage door. Iol ran its hands over the top edges and corners of the cage, while Big blue horns held the end of one tentacle. Iol muttered, "Open somehow."

"Citi static," Big blue horns crooned. "Static, static, static. Citi static." Several tentacles emerged from the cage, and began slithering and twisting over Big blue horn's arms.

At the sound of a door opening, both Rcyyt stood, whirling around, though Kharmadi herself remained outside the recording.

"Hello." Kharmadi's voice had been recorded. "I wasn't really expecting company this morning."

"Static you!" Big blue horns lunged nearly off the recording. "Static, static, static, static, static! Captured Citi! Examined! Static! Static, static!"

Iol hung on Big blue horn's arm. "No! Calm! Terran Dr. Kharmadi understand lock! Open. Citi fine."

Big blue horns kept shouting. "Static! All scientists, Terrans, static! Citi out now! No touch Citi! Static, static, static, static!"

"What? What's the matter?" Kharmadi's voice asked worriedly.

"Static you!" Big blue horns twisted and turned in Iol's grip watching the movements of Kharmadi off screen. "Citi hurt, you have trouble! Static, static!"

Jangling keys arced into the recording, and Iol caught them with one hand.

"Open lock, Citi out. All fine. Come." Iol turned Big blue horns back to the cage. In moments the lock was open, and Iol stood, spreading the folds of its loose clothing, hiding Big blue horns and the creature Citi from the off camera Kharmadi. However the recording clearly showed Big blue horns unfastening and half removing its outer toga, and scooping up Citi. As Citi wrapped its tentacles around Big blue horns a fold of Big blue horns' inner suit opened, and it appeared that the spider-like Citi's mouth fastened onto a portion of Big blue horns' chest. Big blue horns cooed, "Everything okay. Calm. Citi home soon."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset anyone. What is the matter?" Kharmadi's voice said.

Big blue horns rose and fastened its toga.

Kharmadi finally appeared at the very edge of the recording. "Oh-oh. What happened here?"

"Go now." Iol pushed and directed the unresisting Big blue horns towards the door. "Hurry. Terrans awake soon. Go home village. No one know."

"Everyone know," Big blue horns said. "Everyone static, static."

"Village know," Iol said. "No one discuss. No one static. Static, static, not polite. Rcyyt pretend, Terrans pretend. Tell Terran Dr. Kharmadi." Iol looked back at Kharmadi, covered its mouth briefly, and said in standard Terran, "No talk."

The recording ended, leaving only a blank screen.

Dr. Ayers sighed. "I'm not certain that really cleared up any ambiguities."

Kharmadi nodded ruefully. "I'll start thinking that perhaps the spider-creatures are their children, but that doesn't explain the small Rcyyt that are underfoot all over their village, and that play with our children." She winced and bowed her head. "And I'd really hate to think that I kidnapped one of their children."

"Not a child. No. I'm fairly certain of that. They all have that pot-bellied look. So everyone of them must have one." Dr. Ayers flashed through the recording to the portion that showed Big blue horns picking up Citi. He reviewed it in slow motion. "Some sort of symbiotic relationship, obviously. But what function does the spider-creature serve? And is Citi a proper name, for this one creature, or a more generic name for these creatures?"

"And what does 'No talk' mean?"

Shaking his head slowly, Dr. Ayers said, "I'd still only be guessing. Something isn't polite, and they expect their own people to pretend something, and hope we will too. Dare we hope that public discussion is what isn't polite and that intelligent people are expected to pretend this never happened?"

"Why would intelligent people pretend something didn't happen?" Kharmadi flashed through to the end of the recording, replaying the last bits of the Rcyyt conversation. "Wouldn't intelligent people talk things out, work out their differences, and explain what is expected of others?"

"In intelligent Terran society that would be the norm. However there are Terran populations that expect you to know and follow the rules without anyone having to tell you. Who knows where the Rcyyt are on that scale." Dr. Ayers stood and stretched. "Well, let's see about getting a better translation of that recording, and set up some meetings with Uljana and her staff, and General Baxter and his staff." He grinned at Kharmadi. "As bad as this may seem, it actually may end up improving our understanding of the Rcyyt and our relationship with them."

#

"You kidnapped a Rcyyt?" Uljana shouted.

"Not exactly," Kharmadi said. The meeting ended up being held in the largest conference room, which was really an amphitheater. There wasn't anyplace else that would fit everyone attending. Kharmadi could feel the horrified stares from the surrounding theater seats. Her unenviable mistake had landed her a position in the center staging area at the large conference table. "The Rcyyt denied any knowledge of these creatures previously. They claimed there were no animals on the planet any larger than the insectoids."

"Other than themselves, of course," Uljana said dryly.

"Well, yes." Kharmadi winced under Uljana's glare.

"They said nothing about it today?" Dr. Ayers asked Uljana.

"There was no mention of any problems." Uljana merely glanced at Dr. Ayers before turning her glare back onto Kharmadi. "I didn't know anything was amiss until I was asked to attend this meeting."

Kharmadi withered under Uljana's fury.

"Perhaps we should show the recording Dr. Kharmadi made before we pass judgment, Ms. Koleka." Dr. Ayers sighed. "I'm afraid the incident is just not simple enough for an easy solution."

The recording he played had been through a better translator. The result being fewer staticy pauses, Citi identified as a given name, and the translated Rcyyt language sounding fluid rather than choppy. Unfortunately enough staticy pauses and cryptic phrases remained to render the meaning of much of what the Rcyyt said enigmatic.

After the recording finished playing, silence fell over the assembled Terrans. Uljana still frowned, but her fury had abated to be replaced by a more generalized confusion. Everyone seemed to be waiting for someone else to say something.

General Baxter broke the silence. "Could someone please explain that to me?"

"Dr. Ayers?" Uljana said.

Dr. Ayers shrugged. "Obviously the spider-like creatures are important to them. But what capacity they serve is unknown. And exactly what they meant by 'No talk' is up for debate."

Dr. Jack Troan, near the front of the crowded amphitheater, stood up. "Could it be that the spider-like creatures are the females and the humanoid creatures are males? After all they did refer to it as 'she.'"

"Or vice versa," someone from the back of the crowd shouted. "Perhaps the translator got it wrong. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Do we even know if they are divided into male and female?" Dr. Kasis O'Flynn asked from beside Dr. Troan.

The debate raged through the amphitheater, with various people shouting out their theories and any number of small groups muttering to themselves. Dr. Ayers occasionally tried to restore some sort of order to the discussion, but Uljana merely leaned back in her chair to listen. Kharmadi kept silent. She'd considered the problem all day, and come to the conclusion that they simply didn't have enough information to truly understand what had happened. She worried what would happen when everyone finally came to the same conclusion.

When the gathered assembly began repeating all the various theories put forth as to what role the spider-like creatures played in Rcyyt society, Dr. Ayers turned the discussion over to the question of what the Rcyyt meant by "No talk."

This question, at least, could be deliberated to a conclusion, and it didn't take nearly as long as the first debate.

"For now, until we get more information and understanding," Uljana ordered, "No one is to mention the incident to any of the Rcyyt. Or in any way refer to it. Is that understood?"

Various noises of assent circulated around the room, and Uljana turned to Dr. Ayers. "I'll enter that into the official record, and include it with the packet we're preparing for the official representatives from Terra and the Intergalactic Alliance."

General Baxter leaned forward in his seat, to whisper to Uljana, Dr. Ayers, and Kharmadi. "Perhaps not everyone should keep quiet about this incident." He looked meaningfully at Kharmadi. "Duyhu Vhawk Fdohe Jlool Gdyl Vwo Iol didn't seem either as upset or as reluctant to communicate in the recording. And in the past it has also seemed almost friendly toward Kharmadi."

"We were the first two to run into each other," Kharmadi muttered.

"Perhaps you could find an opportunity to speak with it alone," Baxter said. "Perhaps you could feign ignorance, and find out about the spider-like creatures."

"I wouldn't have to feign ignorance."

"That sounds like an excellent suggestion," Dr. Ayers said, smiling.

After a judicious pause, Uljana added, "I would agree to that."

Kharmadi slunk down in her chair. She'd gone into the meeting knowing she would come out of it with some punishment. She just wished it had been a simple reprimand, or a negative notation in her official personnel file.

#

Three days later she managed to lure Iol away from the other Rcyyt and to her office with a specific question on one of the planet's insectoids. Since Iol seemed to be the local insectoid expert, it appeared to be a reasonable and rational request.

The best translator had been installed onto Kharmadi's computer for just this occasion. With her computer up translating for both of them, and unknown to Iol recording everything they said and did, she had her question answered quickly. Then, wiping her sweaty palms on the knees of her pants, Kharmadi gathered her courage and asked, "What did you mean by no talk?" After listening to the translation, Iol looked down at its hands in its lap, so she quickly added, "I don't want to hurt anyone, but if I don't know what I'm doing I might."

Iol nodded, but kept looking at its hands and sitting rigidly. It spoke very quietly, but the computer translated his words at a normal volume. "We don't talk about them. It is forbidden."

"The creatures? Like the one I caught?" Kharmadi bit her lip and winced, realizing she'd just broken a Rcyyt taboo with her questions.

This elicited another nod, but no other response.

"Okay," Kharmadi said slowly. "But how do I keep other Terrans from making the same mistake I did?"

After a moment's teeth grinding, Iol spoke. "Among us everyone knows, but no one speaks of it. Such a mistake could only be made at twilight, when the sun is on the other side of the planet. Terrans shouldn't be out at that time. The Rcyyt are not."

"The whole night?" Kharmadi asked. "You're talking about a curfew covering the whole night?"

The translator sputtered through that translation, so Kharmadi knew that either it didn't have enough Rcyyt words for what she'd said or it was having trouble reconciling certain concepts. Before Iol could respond, the computer announced, "There is no 'night,' 'nighttime,' or any related words in Rcyyt language, the closest translation is twilight."

"They really don't talk about this do they?" Kharmadi muttered, forgetting that she'd programmed the computer to translate everything either of them said. Which it promptly did.

Iol finally looked up as its hands clapped twice. "No, we do not speak of this." Iol glanced at her, then held up its hand with all the fingers fisted except the middle finger. "Why should we not do this?"

"That is a rude gesture that stands as a symbol of a Terran insult." Kharmadi noticed that Iol no longer seemed as rigid as a moment ago. Perhaps it would be best to go with a change of subject now. Even if she didn't get all the information Uljana, Baxter, and Dr. Ayers wanted.

"I understand." Iol nodded sagely. "I would not wish to imply that someone is stupid."

"That's not exactly what it means." Kharmadi consulted with the translator to determine if it had the words for an exact translation, but it didn't. However, as Iol listened with increasingly widening eyes and slowly paling face, she managed to convey the meaning in general terms.

"We will not do this rude gesture around Terrans ever again," Iol assured her solemnly. The translator added his murmured aside, "And perhaps not among ourselves either."

Kharmadi grinned. "Oh I wouldn't go that far. You never know when you'll need a good insult."

Iol shook his head. "No. It is forbidden."

"Is it now?" Kharmadi hesitated a moment, wondering if his word choice was deliberate or just a quirk of the translator, then asked, "Are many things forbidden?"

"Not many. We do have many laws covering many subjects, and those we must obey. But the things that are forbidden, more than just illegal also unthinkable, are of a related nature." Iol slowly nodded at Kharmadi, watching to see if she understood him.

"Oh no." Kharmadi scrubbed her face with her hands. "Great. Just great."

#

The next day the delegations from Terra and the Intergalactic Alliance arrived. Kharmadi recognized an old friend, Everest Lee, currently serving as one of the Terran Ambassadors to the Intergalactic Alliance. All the usual criticizing and disparaging of prior actions and intentions ensued, with the accompanying righteous indignation and blame throwing, as each coterie jockeyed for position and honor. By the end of the day both the delegation from Terra and the delegation from the Intergalactic Alliance were attempting separate negotiations with the new aliens. The Terran colonists found themselves marginalized by both groups and relegated to the status of tolerated annoyances, with orders to pack up and prepare to leave.

The Rcyyt were completely confused.

Everest Lee and his co-ambassador to the Intergalactic Alliance, Maddog Hurd, found themselves viewed as potential traitors by both sides. After spending most of the day being treated as pariahs, they sought out Kharmadi, on the theory that misery loves company.

"Amazing how fast a situation can flash down the crapper," Maddog grumbled as he sat at Kharmadi's computer fiddling with his report for the Terran Home Office.

Everest stopped pulling his hair and sighed. "We just need to keep our eyes and ears open for an opportunity. Maybe this ceremony debacle tomorrow will provide us a wedge."

"Don't count on it." Maddog hunched in his chair to better glare at the computer display.

"What ceremony debacle?" Kharmadi asked as she assembled the results of her raid on the colony's mess on a fold-out table for her guests.

"While trying to find an excuse to put off both the Terrans and the I.A. the Rcyyt begged out of meetings tomorrow on the grounds that they'd had a birth in the village and would be busy with the naming ceremony." Everest picked among the displayed treats of ration provender and nearly past-date leftovers to create a gourmet's nightmare for his supper. "However both groups pounced on the ceremony as an opportunity to 'solidify relations.' I had the impression the Rcyyt were trying to think of a way to uninvite their unwanted guests, but were too polite to simply say so."

Maddog slouched farther down, as he frowned at the display. "Did you really kidnap a Rcyyt of the opposite sex of the ones everyone is negotiating with?"

"Apparently." Kharmadi glared at the back of his head. She didn't need reminding of the cause of her own troubles.

Instead of scolding her, Maddog sat up straight and turned around grinning to face Kharmadi and Everest. "Maybe that's our opportunity. Maybe that's the wedge we can use."

"What?" Kharmadi asked.

"Yes!" Everest practically leapt out of his chair to pace Kharmadi's lab. "What if instead of negotiating with the humanoid half of the Rcyyt equation we negotiated with the arachnoid half."

They both turned to stare eagerly at her.

"No." Kharmadi spoke as emphatically as she could, but neither of the others seemed the least quelled. "No, no, no." They still grinned at her. "No!"

"All we need from you is to know how to find them," Maddog said.

"I only found them by accident, not on purpose." Kharmadi shook her finger at Maddog. "I don't know how to find them. Even if I did, I wouldn't help you. So there. End of discussion."

Everest moved his chair close to hers and sat beside her. "Just think about it. The arachnoids are obviously oppressed. Allowed out only at night. Constantly concealed under clothing. Ignored and worse, forbidden." He leaned close and spoke in his most persuasive voice. "We negotiate with the arachnoids, get the alliances desperately needed by both Terra and the I.A., and improve life for the Rcyyt themselves. Everybody wins, the universe is a better place, and it's all because of you."

"No." Kharmadi got up and walked away from those soulful brown eyes and sincere pleading tones. She had to if she wanted to keep saying no. "For all we know the arachnoids oppress the humanoids, forcing them into virtual slavery to care for and meet the arachnoids every whim. Besides which, the humanoids won't even acknowledge the arachnoids existence. How then will you ever get them to agree to a treaty negotiated by people they pretend don't exist?"

Before Everest could martial an argument for this, they heard Iol's voice calling from the other side of the door. "Terran Dr. Kharmadi?"

Kharmadi opened the door, and Iol rushed in closing the door on the darkness behind it as if some horror had chased it here. Out of the corner of her eye Kharmadi saw Maddog surreptitiously turn on both the translator and the record function of the computer.

Iol bowed deeply to Kharmadi, and began speaking in rapid, breathless Rcyyt. As soon as it stopped, the computer played the translation. "Terran Dr. Kharmadi, I beg you. You must stop the others from coming to the naming ceremony. It is . . . ." The translation ended in static.

"I'm sorry. I don't have either the power, or the authority, to stop them." Kharmadi motioned to the seat she had vacated beside Everest. "Why don't you sit down. Maybe if we talk about this we can figure something out."

The Rcyyt hesitated, looking from Maddog at Kharmadi's computer, to Everest, then back to Kharmadi.

"They're old friends." Kharmadi motioned to the empty chair again. "You can trust them. I do."

"What is the problem?" Everest asked as he repositioned the empty chair beside him to improve the recording, while attempting to make his actions appear to be an echo of Kharmadi's invitation to sit.

As it sat, Iol said, "The naming ceremony is only . . . ." The translation ended in static again. Iol glared at the computer. It tried four Rcyyt words, each being translated only as static. Apparently giving up on the computer, Iol turned to Kharmadi. "I don't know how to make you understand."

Kharmadi grabbed a folding stool she used when gathering data in the field, flipped it open one handed and sat across from Iol. "Start by telling us about the ceremony."

"It is a . . . ." Iol threw a withering glare at the computer's static, before regrouping. "It is for family."

The computer translation added, "The Rcyyt word used indicates more of a tribal or political affiliation, above and beyond mere biological relation, though that is included."

After the computer finished, Iol added, "It is not serious. It is for fun." Iol looked expectantly at Kharmadi.

Unfortunately whatever leap of alien logic it hoped she'd make eluded her. "It's a lighthearted occasion for celebrating?"

Iol closed its eyes. Kharmadi was certain the sound of its grinding teeth would be picked up on the recording. "Yes. But more importantly no."

"Why don't you describe the ceremony for us?" Everest prompted gently.

Opening its eyes, Iol took a deep breath before answering. "All the family's adults gather and form concentric circles, the innermost being for the new child's parents, more distant relatives in outer circles."

"Ah ha!" Maddog interrupted. "Only biological relatives may attend."

"Not necessarily. Those that have mated into the family, but remain members of another family may attend, as well as other friends."

"Oh." Maddog slouched back down in his seat. "Go on."

"The child is taken, still sleeping, from the pouch and passed from one adult to the next, in order of relation, until it cries. The adult holding the child when it cries has the honor of naming the child, but that is the only honor they get." Iol twisted its fingers in a way that reminded Kharmadi of hand wringing.

"I don't see the problem." Everest looked to Kharmadi. "Do you?"

"I can see several problems. Not all of them with or in the ceremony. I just don't know which they fear." Kharmadi turned her attention to Iol. "What, exactly, do you think will cause a problem?"

"I'm afraid the naming will fall to one of the Terrans. This is the third child for my mate and I, and they all of them sleep far too soundly." Iol held its hands cupped together in front of it as if examining a tiny infant cradled inside. "Most children are named by someone within the first two circles, since they wake outside the warmth of the pouch. But our previous children have gone through all the circles at least once before waking. And this one sleeps as soundly as the others."

"Oh, it's your child that's being named." Maddog grinned at Iol. "Congratulations! Who is your mate?"

Kharmadi gasped, fearing this might be a forbidden question, but Iol merely nodded in acknowledgment of the compliment and said, "Unsi Tremeb Yhew Gnews Erone Ggonm Kedat Bybri is my mate."

Maddog pulled up a likeness of the named Rcyyt on the computer, and said, "Is this it?"

Nodding at the display - a magnificent portrait of Big blue horns firmly holding Kharmadi in place at the first meeting of Terrans and Rcyyt - Iol said, "That is."

"Big blue horns?" Kharmadi said incredulously, forgetting the computer would automatically translate her words. "Sorry. I didn't know its name."

Iol clapped quietly. "My mate would be pleased at that description."

"At least it's complimentary," Everest said soothingly to Kharmadi. He looked from the screen display to Iol to Kharmadi. "However. . . ."

Frowning Kharmadi tried to interpret the various expressions that passed his face, unsuccessfully. "What?"

Everest glared at her a moment, before perking up. He looked at Iol. "What did you say your mate's name was?"

No Terran could have missed the stress Everest put on the word "mate," but the translator would. Everything would be translated at the same volume and tone. It was a built in design feature, to make certain that the translations were only literal, just the words and their meanings. The makers felt that keeping emotions out of the translations were the best way to defuse any potential communications problems.

Kharmadi caught Everest's meaning that time, even as she missed Iol's response. If Big blue horns, Bybri, was Iol's mate then where did Citi fall into the picture? Kharmadi winced as she remembered Iol talking about taking the child from the pouch during the ceremony. Citi's pouch had been full of something. Kharmadi'd kidnapped an alien infant. It was only a matter of time before the Rcyyt tossed her in their equivalent of jail, and threw away the key. The surprise was that they hadn't formed a posse and hung her already. It certainly explained Big blue horn's - Bybri, Kharmadi had to remember the name - anger the other morning.

"I'm going to ask a stupid question," Maddog's voice cut through Kharmadi's thoughts. "Feel free to deck me if I'm out of line, but. . . . Which of you is the mother and which is the father?"

A lot of static and a long translator aside accompanied the last bit. Iol closed his eyes and shook his head. "What? I don't understand."

Maddog twisted his mouth and slouched while he thought for a moment. "Ah." He straightened up. "You have a new baby, someone gave birth, who was it?"

Iol scooted a little away from Maddog, at least as much as the small chair would allow. "My mate, Unsi Tremeb Yhew Gnews Erone Ggonm Kedat Bybri."

"Can you give birth?" Maddog asked.

"No." Iol started to rise.

"Wait!" Kharmadi and Everest said at the same time. Iol stopped.

"If you don't ask stupid questions you're never going to learn anything," Maddog said. "Among us Terrans only the women, like Kharmadi, can give birth-"

"Shut up!" Everest shouted, as he moved to block Iol's exit. "We're getting off the subject here." He turned his soulful brown eyes and his best pleading gaze on Iol. "Let's get back to talking about the ceremony, and why Terrans shouldn't attend."

"The name!" Maddog shouted. "He doesn't want us to name the child."

Iol stopped trying to inch around Everest.

"If you told us what you wanted to name the child, we could make sure all the Terrans and others present knew what to name the child," Everest said in his best coaxing voice. It didn't seem to be working.

"What were you going to name the child?" Kharmadi asked.

"Elari, but that is not the problem."

"What is?" Kharmadi asked.

Flopping down onto the chair, with none of the Rcyyt's usual elegance, Iol muttered a moment to itself. Then it was Iol's turn to wince as the translator automatically translated its aside. "Maybe the other families are right. Maybe we should do away with the crudeness of the naming ceremony."

"Other families don't have the naming ceremony?" Maddog asked. Kharmadi waved him off, sat in her camp chair, and said to Iol, "Ignore him."

"Ah ha!" Everest grinned at the others. "I think I've got it. There used to be an old Terran custom where someone was named king, or queen, of the fools. On fool's day, I believe. But, being named king or queen was the only honor they got. They were ridiculed, and laughed at, and generally treated rudely. Though some did court the honor, it was considered by most to be disrespectful, and eventually the custom died out."

"What is fool's day?" Iol asked.

"It's a day we set aside to play tricks and jokes on one another," Everest said. "For fun, usually. Sometimes it does get out of hand."

Iol nodded. "Yes, it is like you describe. The old custom of fool's day."

"I wouldn't worry too much. We'll explain it to the others, and no one will get upset," Maddog said, confidently leaning back in his chair.

The sound of teeth grinding in the silent lab greeted Maddog's pronouncement.

"Who decides where everyone stands?" Everest asked.

"The child's parents."

"Just make sure Kharmadi is the first Terran. Every time she gets near an infant it cries." Everest grinned. "The kid won't get past her. Trust me."

"But I do not wish Terran Dr. Oxana Kharmadi to be made the subject of such coarse humor." Iol glared at Everest. "I don't want any aliens to-" Iol stopped before finishing the sentence.

"What, see you at your worst?" Maddog asked, tilting back farther in his chair.

Kharmadi reached for one of his chair's legs, one of the three not touching the floor. "Keep it up, Maddog, and I'll dump you."

The chair thumped as Maddog straightened up and sat in the chair properly. Iol started to clap, then stilled its hands in its lap.

"Will any of the other families be attending the ceremony?" Everest asked. Kharmadi could almost see the calculations going on in his head.

"No."

"I'm sorry." Kharmadi clasped her hands in front of her and bowed while seated. "I don't have the authority or ability to stop anyone from attending tomorrow. Each of the groups out there is jockeying for position, and each thinks that at the ceremony they'll find the key to understanding you, to getting you to agree to ally with them."

Hands twitching, Iol seemed to think about what Kharmadi said. Finally Iol drew a deep breath, and shook its head. "I fear what they may think of us after the naming ceremony."

"I'm sorry." Kharmadi bowed again. "Perhaps we should fear what you'll think of us after you've seen how boorish we can be. Like when we barge in when we're not wanted."

"I'm afraid everyone will be there," Everest said.

"Is there nothing you can do?" Iol asked Kharmadi.

"I'm sorry." Kharmadi slumped slightly. "The only thing I can think to tell you is that this is your ceremony, you must set the bounds for it and enforce them."

Iol hunched in the chair. A gesture of defeat common to both species. As he stood he said, "We will endeavor to keep the ceremony as dignified as possible."

"Stay awhile." Everest again moved to block Iol's departure. "We can talk some more. Get to know each other better. Perhaps prevent such problems in the future."

"No. I must go." Iol firmly grabbed Everest's arm, and pushed him out of the way. "I only have permission to be out for a short while. I must return to the village."

After Iol left, Everest looked at Maddog and said, "Did we get all that?"

"Yes, of course," Maddog said indignantly.

"We aren't going to share it, yet," Everest said.

"Of course!"

"A baby," Kharmadi groaned. "I kidnapped a baby!"

"Stands to reason." Maddog leaned back in the chair again. "If Iol is the father, and Bybri is the mother, then Citi is the child."

Everest paused in the act of popping a bite into his mouth. "I don't think so. He said the child is taken from the pouch. It looks like the spider creatures are merely eggs on legs, produced by the humanoid Rcyyt to gestate children. I'm guessing Bybri gets very thin tomorrow."

"If it's only to gestate then dies off, why would they name it?" Kharmadi slumped in her camp chair. "Names are so important to them they have ceremonies, and you have to use their full, correct names."

"She's got a point." Maddog brought the chair down to sit properly. "And if it is only to gestate, why would Iol have one? Why would the children have one. You can't miss any of their pot bellies."

"They don't all have them." Shrugging, Everest added, "Obviously this is going to take more thought."

#

The Rcyyt very politely greeted the tsunami of unwanted guests the next morning. Kharmadi flattered herself well versed enough in Rcyyt body language to interpret their extreme, almost rude, politeness as nervousness. The grinding of many Rcyyt teeth was another clue.

The ceremony proceeded almost exactly as Iol had described it. A great deal of time was taken up with deciding who would stand where in the various circles. Neither the official Terran representatives nor the delegates from the Intergalactic Alliance were happy with the Rcyyt decision to put the all the colonists in one circle and all other aliens in the next, outer circle. The official Rcyyt spokesperson claimed that all the aliens had to go in order of their introduction to the Rcyyt. Which meant that the Terran and I.A. representatives were mixed together in the outermost circle, unable to see or hear very much of what went on in the center.

From her position in the second to the last circle, Kharmadi couldn't see either. She spent most of her time biting her lip and hoping to hear a high-pitched infant squeal.

Unfortunately, in due time she saw the tiny nude infant, sleeping quite soundly, being passed through the circle in front of her. Each Rcyyt in its turn jiggled, jostled, spoke to, blew in the face of, and in almost every conceivable way attempted to wake the tiny alien. To no avail. Far too soon, Kharmadi saw the Rcyyt in front of her turn around to hand the child back.

Only as she reached out to take her turn did Kharmadi realize her palms were sweating. She hastily pulled her hands back and wiped them on her coveralls. The Rcyyt handing her the infant took this as its opportunity to try again to wake the child. Kharmadi tried a weak smile, hoping she didn't look panicked, and took a deep breath.

From behind her someone said, "Get on with it!"

Reluctantly Kharmadi took the infant in her hands.

It was far smaller than her previous experience with Terran infants, and definitely lighter. It was a pale purply-blue color, completely bald, wrinkled, thin, and fit easily into her two cupped hands. Other than that, it looked remarkably Terran, all scrunched up into a fetal position that hid whatever differences might be found on its chest, stomach, or crotch, with its hands balled into fists by its cheeks. It felt warm and soft in her hands, not as bony as she would have suspected from its gaunt appearance. Its tiny, tiny feet, not even as big as the last section of her thumbs, with such tiny minuscule toes, were irresistible. Kharmadi leaned over her cupped hands, letting her lips barely brush those tiny toes in the gentlest of kisses.

The piercing howl, completely out of pitch and volume for such a tiny thing, startled Kharmadi, and she hastily looked around for someone to take nasty, noisy, ungrateful wretch.

An older Rcyyt approached with Iol and Bybri. The older Rcyyt spoke, and a piece of equipment held by Bybri translated, "What would you name the baby?"

Amazed that no one would take the baby from her, no matter how much she held it out to them, it took a moment before Kharmadi could remember what name she was supposed to give. "Elari."

"And what is your one name?"

"What?" Kharmadi turned to Iol for help. "What's a one name?" At that moment, she felt something warm and wet spreading over her hands. Looking down she saw some clearish sort of fluid dripping from her hands.

"What is your one name?" the elder Rcyyt asked again.

"Someone who knows something about these should take this." Kharmadi thrust the little alien at the elder. "It's leaking all over the ground."

Bybri plucked the infant up by one leg and stuffed it down the front of her toga without a care. Kharmadi could feel her eyes bulging out in shock. "Will he, she, whatever it is, be all right?"

"Yes." Bybri nodded. "They leak all the time."

"No, that's not-"

Uljana handed Kharmadi a wipe from a kit around her waist. "Here, clean your hands. Your one name is your first name."

"Oh." Kharmadi nodded to the elderly Rcyyt. "My one name is Oxana."

"Oxana," it repeated. The elderly Rcyyt reached toward Bybri, who hauled the infant out the same way she'd stuffed it in. Holding the infant high, the elder turned in a slow circle, and said, "Behold Bybri Iol Elari!"

A murmured wave of, "Bybri Iol Elari," ran through the Rcyyt.

This time Bybri accepted the infant respectfully, in suitably cupped hands, and returned it ceremoniously to the inside of her toga. The three Rcyyt bowed to Kharmadi, who bowed quickly back, then to each other. The elderly Rcyyt then again turned in a slow circle as it spoke, "We are done here. All may leave."

"That's it?" Maddog muttered from behind Kharmadi.

"Some of us didn't even get to hold it," Dr. Isette Poole said from nearby.

The Rcyyt froze, though Kharmadi suspected only those colonists that had spent the most time with the Rcyyt would notice the difference from their usual calm stance. She began to suspect that the reason the Rcyyt didn't want any aliens at the ceremony was because most of the aliens were scientists itching for a closer examination of Rcyyt anatomy. A newborn infant struck Kharmadi as a most inappropriate lab specimen.

Wondering how much of her sudden protectiveness stemmed from guilt, she turned her fiercest glare on Poole. "That's the way it goes. We don't want little Elari leaking any more than is absolutely necessary."

Poole shrugged and turned away. Kharmadi heard Maddog snickering behind her. She ignored him and turned her attention to the Rcyyt in front of her. Uljana was thanking the elderly Rcyyt for allowing the colonists to attend, as the head of the I.A.'s delegation maneuvered against the leader of the official Terran representatives to get the elderly Rcyyt's attention next. Most of the Rcyyt were slowly moving away, as if they didn't want anyone to notice their departure.

Kharmadi followed a few paces behind Iol and Bybri, until they were far enough away from the officials that she could whisper, "What is my one name used for?"

Iol paused, then reached for a rectangular box at his wrist. He held it up so that Kharmadi could see the read-out. She repeated her question. Rcyyt words appeared in the read out. Iol hesitated before answering.

"Two names are needed. A one name, and another name. I can't say more."

"I understand." Kharmadi bowed, and let the Rcyyt escape.

#

"I thought this ceremony was going to show us the real Rcyyt," Maddog complained later as he again fiddled with his report on Kharmadi's lab computer. "Instead they were as uptightly dignified as ever. If that was an example of the Rcyyt being wild, crude, and disrespectful, I'd be afraid to see them demure and polite."

"I thought they were rather clever." Kharmadi looked up from where she'd been tending a cage of insectoids, feeding them some of the sour-mint scented tendrils from a fuzz bush. "Truncating the whole thing and getting rid of us, so they could have their fun in peace."

"What?" Maddog spun around in his seat as the chair screeched and scuffed the floor beneath him. "What do you mean they got rid of us?"

"They got rid of us." Kharmadi checked the water dish, finding it three quarters full with no obvious dirt or chaff in it. "They gave us a bit of ceremony, enough to keep us happy, then sent us away so they could party the Rcyyt way without us."

"She's right!" Everest flung himself down in the straight-backed chair next to Maddog. "I didn't notice it until she pointed it out, but they did."

Maddog growled at his report on the computer. "I think I'll leave that part out."

"So why did they want your 'one name?'" Everest stared at Kharmadi. "I saw you corner Iol as he was sneaking away. What did he say?"

"He said they 'needed a one name and another name.' That's all I got. Make of it what you will." Having finished her evening check on her specimens Kharmadi sat on her camp stool to wait out Maddog and Everest, who seemed determined to take over her lab for their own purposes. Not that it was likely to do any good; most of the colonists had already started packing. A ship would be arriving shortly to transport them someplace else. Terra might consider co-colonizing a planet with another race, or competing to colonize a planet, but they wouldn't colonize another race's home planet. That would just be wrong.

Frowning at Maddog, Everest asked, "The one name Iol chose was Elari right?"

"Yes." Maddog pondered a moment, then looked up as if enlightened. "Then the other name must be for Elari's arachnoid."

"Yes." Everest grinned as he slowly stood up and faced Kharmadi. "You've got an alien named after you!"

"That is not fair!" Maddog scooted the chair to sit facing the computer display. "She kidnapped their baby \- well, babies since they come in pairs - and they name one after her. Meanwhile, we who have harmed no one get pushed over and shoved aside so that someone else can hog all the glory and history." He glanced at Kharmadi apparently aware of her furious glare. "No offense."

Kharmadi shrugged. "I am not in charge here."

"If there was only some way we could get them to agree to negotiate with us, instead of the I.A. or the Terran reps." Everest looked pleadingly at Kharmadi from his seat in her office chair. "You have a way with them. Maybe you could-"

"The colonists want to stay. I can't arrange that either."

"Terran Dr. Oxana Kharmadi?" Iol called from outside Kharmadi's lab. He added something in Rcyyt, but Kharmadi couldn't understand it, and they didn't have the translator running.

Maddog opened the translator and recorder as Kharmadi opened the door, letting Iol and the last warm rays of sunset into the lab. She tried a welcoming smile, and asked, "What's the matter?"

Iol glanced back at the setting sun, and the sleepy Terran colony, before he shut the door. "I have a problem. Could you help?"

"We'll try," Everest said, as he positioned a chair for Iol. He motioned for Iol to sit. "What do you need?"

After opening and closing his mouth several times without saying anything; Iol finally sat with a quiet dignity. He took a deep breath, and said, "We are worried."

"About what?" Kharmadi asked.

After making a short speech, Iol waited patiently while the computer translated his words. "We are worried and since you came up with a plan to ease everyone through the naming ceremony, we hoped you might have some idea to help us."

"I don't get it." Maddog flung himself and his chair back away from the computer display again. "I just don't get it."

Everest, Kharmadi, and Iol all stared at Maddog. Iol asked, "What is it you don't understand?"

"Why would you come to her?" Maddog waved his hand at Kharmadi. "Why? She stumbles headfirst into your village, scaring everyone half to death, turns your world upside down, and kidnaps your baby. So why would you come to her?"

Iol wrinkled his forehead. "She didn't intend any harm, and she has assisted us in understanding Terrans. She's intelligent, patient, and kind. It was her idea to have the children play together to increase communications between our peoples."

Maddog slumped in his chair, glaring bulldog-like at Iol. "So why not go to the I.A. delegates or the Terran representatives? Or even the Colonial authorities? Why her? It makes no sense."

"It is true that normally such problems are brought to the Clan Elders." Iol twiddled his hands nervously in his lap. "However, whenever the elders have had problems communicating or," his head bobbled on his shoulders, "other problems, they have found her to be a good source to mine for potential solutions."

"Ah," Everest breathed. "But, they don't go to her. They send you. So, you are also a good source to mine for potential solutions."

Iol drew himself up straighter in his seat. "Yes. This is true." His hands lay still in his lap, with the four thumbs interlocked. "I have had, and offered, solutions to the elders. And my solutions have worked."

Filing his body language and facial expression away under Rcyyt smirking and gloating, Kharmadi grinned and said, "I suppose that doesn't hurt if you're trying to become a Clan Elder."

"Oh no." Iol shook his head solemnly. "Such actions are very helpful." He nodded vigorously.

"You forgot the translator doesn't do irony," Everest said to Kharmadi.

Once glance at the strange look Iol gave the translation of that sentence made Kharmadi shrug. "Perhaps the Rcyyt don't do irony either."

"We understand the concept," Iol responded, "but irony isn't generally used in formal conversation."

"Is this a formal conversation?" Everest leaned toward Iol. "What would make it informal?"

"This is all very much beside the point," Maddog shouted before Iol could answer. "Kharmadi kidnapped a Rcyyt, uh, you-know, complete with near term infant - his infant, no less - and yet here he is fawning all over her."

"I don't think he's fawning." Everest leaned back in his seat.

Kharmadi sighed. "Let's not bring that up again. That wasn't what I intended, I'm not real proud of it, and I'm sorry it ever happened." She glanced at Iol, wondering about his reaction to Maddog's outburst.

Iol had been watching Maddog. He moved his hands up, placing them over his pot belly like a pregnant woman. "If you disapprove of her actions so strongly, why are you here, using her equipment and resources?" Iol leaned toward Maddog. "And going to her for solutions to your problems?"

While Kharmadi only grinned, Everest actually snickered. "Well, Maddog. Why are we here?"

"Got me there." Maddog grinned. "I guess it's because she makes us laugh."

"She makes you laugh?" Iol wrinkled his forehead again. "This is an acceptable reason?"

"Certainly." Maddog grinned bigger. "Terrans use that excuse all the time."

"I see." Iol nodded once, before turning to Kharmadi. "We are worried and since you came up with a plan to ease everyone through the naming ceremony, we hoped you might have some idea to help us."

"I'll do my best." Kharmadi nodded, trying to look wise and thoughtful. "What seems to be the problem?"

Iol glanced out the window, at the increasingly dark outdoors.

"Are you afraid of the dark?" Maddog asked.

"No. I have permission to be out."

"You need permission to be out at night?"

"Maddog," Kharmadi said warningly.

"Yes." Iol seemed unperterbed.

"Why?" Maddog asked.

Iol blinked, and looked again out the window. "Because it is twilight."

"Can he just tell us what the problem is before you interrupt him again?" Kharmadi didn't bother to keep the irritation from her voice, knowing it wouldn't come through the translation. She tried again to look wise and thoughtful. "So what is the problem?"

"We are worried." Iol stared intently at her.

"Ah!" Everest also seemed to be trying to look studious and intelligent. "But what is it that is worrying you?"

"You, Terrans, and the I.A., are very powerful." Iol paused, seeming to be gathering himself for something. "Your equipment can tell you how to talk to us. You can do things we can not do. You know things we do not know. There are many different kinds of people in the I.A., we are only one kind."

"We only want to be your friends," Maddog said.

"Maddog, hush!" Kharmadi glared at him, before nodding at Iol. "Go on."

Iol spread his hands palms up away from his sides, as if in surrender. "You say you wish to be friends, but we are to you as the insectoids. You could crush us without even noticing. What could we do?"

"You're not that powerless." Kharmadi imitated his gesture, hoping it was the appropriate thing to do. "But I can understand what you mean, and how you might feel that way. What can we do to help?"

"We do not wish to lose our home." Iol wrapped his arms around his pot belly protectively. He ground his teeth and looked down at his arms.

"Of course!" Kharmadi began.

"We understand completely," Everest interrupted. "And you've come to the right place. We can help you there." He glanced at Kharmadi, as if trying to keep her quiet. "If your elders will insist to the I.A. delegates and the Terran representatives that you, the Rcyyt, will only negotiate with us," he motioned to himself and Maddog, "and the colony's elders, we will guarantee you that this entire planet will be yours. We'll guarantee that the planet will legally belong to the Rcyyt. You will govern it. You'll decide who can stay, and who has to leave. How people must behave; we'll even help you enforce your laws. If you will negotiate with us, we promise that you will keep your homes, your traditions, your laws, your planet, everything."

Iol blinked as he looked intently at Everest. "Everything?" Everest nodded. Iol turned his earnest gaze on Maddog, who appeared to be holding his breath. Finally, Iol turned to Kharmadi. "Is this true? Can he do as he says?"

Kharmadi bit the inside of her lip. She didn't need to check to know Everest had his best pleading look on for her. The simple answer was "yes," but it was incomplete. The Rcyyt would get the same agreement from anyone and everyone on the planet. Anyone trying to take over another species home planet would find themselves facing the combined wrath of the rest of the universe. That was one thing every species agreed on. Still, Kharmadi didn't want to ruin her chance at staying and learning all she could here. She nodded slowly. "Yes. It is true."

Maddog blew out a long breath. Everest allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up slightly, as he nodded sagely at Iol. "Do we have a deal?"

Smoothing his outer toga as he stood, Iol said, "I will speak with the elders."

After he'd left, Everest grinned at Maddog. "We did it. We're going to land the Rcyyt."

"Yes!" Maddog began messing with his report.

When Everest smiled at her, Kharmadi said, "You owe me."

"Now, now. You get what you wanted, too. You and the rest of the colony can stay. For a while at least."

#

"I don't think it worked," Maddog said as he paced in a circle around Kharmadi's lab. Kharmadi had finally succeeded in dislodging him from her computer, and was busy bringing her own reports up to date. Along with trying to ignore the two men grousing impatiently.

"Maybe, maybe not." Everest sat with his head back and eyes closed, pretending to be resting.

"Holing up here was a bad idea." Maddog continued his circuit of the lab at a steady slow rate. "We should've been out there trying to get back into the thick of it. We shouldn't have let them marginalize us."

"Perhaps you're right." Everest didn't move a muscle.

"Or at least out trying to schmooze the Rcyyt."

"You're both free to leave anytime you want," Kharmadi said as she filed one report and pulled up the next.

The lab door opened, and Uljana walked in, leaving Dr. Ayers and General Baxter standing just outside the door behind her. "Apparently we're wanted at the negotiations. Us, and you three." Her mouth twisted a moment. "I was given to understand that Kharmadi had something to do with this request."

Kharmadi tried her best to look innocent and ignorant of all such goings on.

"Would this have anything to do with Iol's visit here last night?" Uljana glared at Kharmadi. "The one you neglected to report."

"Could be." Kharmadi shrugged and hurried out of her lab. The sun shone brightly down on them as they headed toward the fur brush stand between the colony and the Rcyyt village. Bluish tendrils of sour-mint scented fuzz undulated around them as they walked along the well-worn path to the meadow.

General Baxter towered over her. "Tell me you didn't kidnap another alien."

"No!" Kharmadi said quickly.

Dr. Ayers stepped up beside Kharmadi. "I think it is premature to accuse Dr. Kharmadi of some unknown crime before we even know why we are being summoned."

"It can't be good," Uljana said.

"Why not?" Maddog nearly suppressed his grin.

"The only thing I can think of," General Baxter said ominously, "is that they wish to press charges against Kharmadi for kidnapping a Rcyyt."

"Oh, I don't think so." Everest plucked a stray fuzzy branch to sniff. "For one they don't want to discuss their reproduction within their own group. I doubt they want to make a scene about it with strangers. Besides, I doubt they want to advertise that their reproductive organs go wandering off by themselves, out of control and into trouble." He grinned at Baxter. "And two, I think they like Kharmadi. And you."

Uljana stopped everyone before they exited the fur brush stand. "Just let me do the talking, and deal with whatever comes up. And please, everyone, stay calm." She led the way back out into the bright sunshine of the meadow.

The six were admitted to the shade of the pavilion. The chief I.A. delegate and lead Terran representative glared at them. Uljana managed to give them her best bureaucratic smile. "I believe you sent for us. How may we assist?"

The lead Terran representative, Ambassador Sabino, frowned. "The Rcyyt insist on negotiating any and all treaties with, and through, you. You six specifically, and the colony in general." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Would you have any idea why?"

"None at all." Uljana appeared to be truly astonished, but soon smiled.

"Perhaps you should ask them." Everest moved to stand beside Uljana.

"We did. They said it was because you, more specifically Dr. Kharmadi, made them clap. You wouldn't know what that means?"

It seemed to Kharmadi that everyone there turned to stare at her. She shrugged, wishing she could disappear into the ground, and stammered out, "I guess I make them laugh."

"Personally," Sabino said, "I don't see anything the least bit funny about you."

"You just need to get to know her better," Everest said. He stepped forward, past Uljana and the leaders of the I.A. and Terran groups to stand in front of the Rcyyt elders. He made a short speech, thanking the Rcyyt for their confidence in the colonists, in his associate, and in himself; thanking the Rcyyt for being willing to consider an alliance with people of another species; and pledging to see that the treaties the Rcyyt entered into were fair, honorable, and mutually beneficial for all concerned.

"I said to let me handle things," Uljana groused quietly. "He's going to make a mess of this."

Maddog leaned toward her to whisper. "He does good work. You can trust him."

Uljana just shook her head.

Everest, meanwhile, continued on a roll, pitching his voice to be picked up clearly by all the recording equipment. "And as a gesture of our goodwill, we hereby promise that this planet shall remain in the possession of the Rcyyt. This planet, and everyone on it, shall be governed by your laws. Your homes, traditions, cultures, and customs will always be here for you."

The elderly spokesperson for the Rcyyt bowed to Everest. "We accept, and thank you. Also we have made a record of your words and our agreement with them. For us this agreement has become a binding treaty between us. Is it so with you?"

"It is so with us," Everest said. As the Rcyyt bowed again, Everest also bowed.

Sabino cleared his throat. "May I have a private word with these six, before we continue."

The elderly Rcyyt nodded, and the six followed away from the Rcyyt, back almost to the fur brush stand.

"Why did you give them the planet?" Sabino demanded.

Everest smiled smugly. "It is their planet. And in my judgment, knowing that it would remain theirs will make them more open to accepting the rest of the universe and further treaty negotiations."

"It's not their planet," Sabino said. "Their village is just a colony, not all that different from ours."

Baxter shook his head. Uljana gasped in surprise. Dr. Ayers looked enlightened. Maddog remained impassive. Kharmadi winced. She should have known. All the hints were there. The strange plants in the village, the tremendous size difference between the Rcyyt and all the other fauna, and the lack of evidence of natives before the colony landed.

Everest's smile appeared false and as if it had been plastered to his face. "I still think they'll be more open to negotiations now."

"I doubt it. They have shown no interest in anything the rest of the universe has to offer. And if they shut us out because of what you've done today, I'll personally carry the torch to light the bonfire when you're burned at the stake."

His smile didn't slip one bit as Everest said, "Let's just see how it goes."

When they returned to the pavilion, they ousted the current squatters at the main table, and turned their attention to the Rcyyt.

Uljana managed to get the first word in by standing and bowing. "Perhaps there are other things we can agree on."

"Yes." The elderly Rcyyt nodded, bowing while seated. "There has been much discussion among us about your entertainment media."

"Really?" Everest said, jockeying for position with Uljana. "Perhaps you'd care to set up a trade agreement."

Knowing that there was little she could contribute to the proceedings, Kharmadi looked over the assembled Rcyyt, until she found Iol. He was staring back at her, his bottom jaw working back and forth, grinding his teeth. So Kharmadi knew he was worried. She smiled at him. When he didn't respond, she realized he probably wasn't certain what a smile meant.

Kharmadi lifted her hands from her lap, and holding them up where he could see them, began slowly and silently clapping.

After a moment, Iol's jaw stopped moving. With his hands clasped across his round middle, Iol bowed to her while sitting. Kharmadi made a similar sitting bow.

Maddog leaned toward her and whispered, "What's so funny?"

Without taking her eyes off Iol, Kharmadi answered, "We are."

The End

Squatter's Rights copyright © 2012 by Viking Horde Media

Cover art copyright © 2012 by Alan L. Lickiss, Jacob Lickiss, and Rebecca Lickiss

**A Preview of a Novel by Hollis Rentchler **

Cross Contamination

By

Hollis Rentchler

○○○

Flinging open a window in the bedroom allowed the ship's recirculated fresh air in from the fake outdoors. Dr. Frankie Mesu breathed in the comforting smells of undisturbed dust and musty air mingled with the re-circulated fresh air on the fake breeze. Her quarters were exactly the way she'd left them fifteen hours ago, standard Terran issue: bare white-gray military walls with barracks style furniture. She'd lived here for three years, while working her way up the corporate ladder of the Titan science ship Mother's Milk. She'd just never gotten around to personalizing her quarters. She'd become Director of the Infectious Diseases Laboratory by hard work and perseverance. Frankie never spent that much time in her quarters if she could avoid it. It was just a place to crash when she couldn't work any more.

Her kitchen cupboards were just as barren as the rest of her quarters, but only because she'd forgotten to requisition supplies, again. Fortunately, she'd grabbed a late bite as she dragged her way home.

The giant Titans had been generous in the depths and height, if not width and breadth, of the Terran sector of the ship. Her bedroom had a magnificent view of the Terran great outdoors from the pseudo-east end of the Terran sector at a fourteenth-story height. Frankie wondered briefly if the Titans had been as generous with the other two alien species on board.

She looked around at her room. A single bed and the cleaning closet made up the entire furniture in the room. She didn't count the shed clothing littering the floor, the detritus of her last several flops at the apartment. She scooped it all up and crammed it into the cleaning closet. Once the housework was done, she announced, "Planner, book me for my regular at the baths."

The computer replied, "Unable to comply. There is a semi-private opening in the mud baths. All other bathing tomorrow is public."

Just my luck, Frankie thought. Her day off from the lab and nothing would go right. "Fine, fine. Just get me whatever privacy is available."

She grabbed her slick, neon-purple-over-glittering-yellow mud suit from the clean side of the closet and stepped into the little bathroom for a shower. If she put the suit on tonight she could sleep later in the morning. The computer voice returned. "You are scheduled for a semi-private mud bath at 10:00. All the rest are public. Swim at 11:00, hot and cold at 11:30, and long soak at 12:00."

"Good enough."

Even after her shower one look in the bathroom mirror was enough to frighten several years off her life. Frankie stared at her wiry black hair, flattened out here, sticking out there, and in desperate need of cutting. She usually kept it so short she didn't need to bother with it. Now she couldn't remember when her last haircut was. Her brown-black eyes were surrounded with creases, and they were usually her best feature. Surprisingly, pulling down on her lower lids to better survey the crimson blood vessels crawling over her eyeballs didn't improve things. Her normally dark-brown skin looked dull and sallow.

"You're just not used to normal Terrans. You've spent too much time with the lab rats, who're mostly Deuces," Frankie told herself sternly, referring to her underlings in the lab, as she turned away. It didn't sound convincing, not even spoken aloud. "Fine, fine," she assured her reflection, "I'll take a few mega doses of vitamins and get a haircut."

Frankie kicked her shed clothing into the corner behind the toilet. That extra few minutes of sleep sounded better with every passing moment.

Opening the bathroom door, Frankie noticed a strange, sugar-sweet smell. Her toes stubbed against something warm and squishy, but firm. Looking down she saw a Deuce romeo squatting on the floor beside the bathroom door. Of course Frankie had never actually seen one before, only line drawings, but it was unmistakable.

Quick, she thought, what do I know about romeos? They are the separate, independently mobile, sexual organs of the male of the Deuces. The words came to her from the ship's new arrival briefings. What else? Romeos and juliets, the females, seek each other out during the sleep periods of the Deuces. No one was to speak of them to the Deuces, or within earshot of the Deuces. None of which was helpful in the current situation.

It shuffled to a standing position. It was, as the briefing indicated, about half a meter tall. It stood on six legs, looking rather like a large, bony, hairless, purple spider. It had no head, face, or eyes, only a smelling organ, on what could be called the front, facing Frankie. Supposedly it found its way about through smell and touch. She noticed nervously that it stood between her and the door to the hallway.

Deuces didn't come into the Terran section of the ship. They wouldn't. It never, ever happened. There was no sign of a Deuce main body in her bedroom. That she'd recognize. So how did it get here?

Stay calm, it's probably just lost, Frankie thought. There were rumors of occasional reports of romeos being sighted outside the Deuce sector. Who would have guessed they were true?

Her nervousness turned to outright alarm, when the thing executed an incredibly graceful maneuver turning itself upside down. It still stood up on its tentacles with the smeller facing towards her. On the now-revealed underside, just beyond the smeller, was the tiny mouth it used for eating. After that a gaping hole, that kept enlarging as she watched.

Now seemed like an excellent time to panic. Frankie grabbed her old, soft, fuzzy, green robe off the hook behind the door, she threw it over her garish mud suit, and ran as fast as she could around the romeo, to the hall leading to her exterior door. She dashed to the front door, flung it open, and crashed through to the apartment corridor.

○○○

Chief Sandili Kala walked the corridors of the Terran apartment building at a steady moderate pace, trying to appear alert and confident. It wouldn't help matters if everyone knew how bored and frustrated he was. "Security Chief" sounded important until you tacked on the "In Training." Not that Chief Tawrl would let Sandy forget it for a moment. Nor would Chief Tawrl, an Anuran, ever forgive the Titans for letting a mere Terran replace him.

Replace him eventually. Sandy suspected that sometimes Tawrl added the thought, "Over my dead body."

For now, Sandy had to walk a beat through the Terran sector, and do every nasty job Tawrl could think up. Sandy used this as an opportunity to get to know everyone, or at least every Terran, on board. However, the apartment corridors were deserted. Occasionally he might hear some normal sound or two from an apartment, but he had no reason to stop and knock on any doors. Unless there was some sort of security trouble, he had to keep walking.

At the corner lobby where the apartment building adjoined the North Bazaar, Sandy saw a few people waiting for the express elevator. He recognized the two women, but introduced himself again anyway. "Hello, I'm Sandili Kala, the new Security Chief."

He shook hands with each of them.

"Eric Swinson. Nice to meet you." Male, tall, thin, receeding brown hair, brown eyes, in a pilot's uniform, but relaxed, not making trouble.

"Jana Olton. We met yesterday." Female, tall, thin, curly brown hair, hazel eyes, pretty, clingy little black dress, bubblingly happy, with Eric for the evening, but trying to surreptitiously check others out.

"Dahlia Haswell." Female, average height, plump, long dark hair, brown eyes, lacey little black dress.

"We also met yesterday." Dahlia tugged on Sandy's hand rather than release it. "Why don't you come with us to JoJo's?"

"Sorry, not tonight," Sandy said.

"If you'd rather, we could lose these two and just go to my place," Dahlia said, winking at Sandy.

Jana snorted.

"Sorry. I'm on duty." Sandy reclaimed his hand. "I'm walking a beat tonight, but you go ahead and have a good time."

Luckily the express arrived, and the three got on board.

He headed up to the next floor and down the next corridor. He almost wished he could go with them. Almost. He recognized the club's name. It was the place the head Terran sociologist had been trying to convince him to visit. A moment's thought brought her vital statistics to Sandy's mind. Dr. Aleah Danby, average height, blond hair, blue eyes, killer curves, and a mind like a terrier: fast, frantic, and won't let go. She appeared on two of his mental lists, "Not Likely to be a Security Problem" and "Avoid at all Costs."

So far most of the women he'd met were chasing after him, and hinting that he'd be welcome to drop by their place. Not that Sandy minded, but Tawrl seemed determined to keep him from anything that might be associated with fun. And it was beginning to be a bit intimidating to be constantly surrounded by eager, hungry, demanding women.

Dr. Danby believed in healthful forthrightness in her social dealings, and made no secret of her pursuit, even informing other women that she wanted him. It reminded him uneasily of teenage girls warning others away from a boy they had only just met. It seemed childish.

Up another floor to the fourteenth, back again towards the North Bazaar. Sandy had only a very short list of people he suspected would be security problems. With only about four thousand Terrans it was fairly simple to pick out the troublemakers, and most were in the group of five hundred Terrans under age twenty-one.

As Sandy approached the end of the fourteenth corridor, a door suddenly burst open, and a woman ran out, straight at him. He mentally filed her vital statistics as he braced himself for impact.

Female, average height, dark hair, dark eyes, brown skin, wearing a fuzzy green robe and garishly colored swimsuit that emphasized enchanting curves. She looked frightened, tired, and oddly determined. She plowed right into him, head down like a battering ram against his solar plexus. Sandy absorbed the blow with a forced grunt, remaining standing in place. She bounced off him, and his arms went around her to catch her and keep her from falling. She felt oddly small and vulnerable, tottering in his grasp to find her balance, her hands clutching his sleeves, and she appeared confused as she stared at his shirt front.

"Is everything all right?" Sandy asked, trying to sound gentle and not out of breath from a blow.

* * *

To read the rest get Cross Contamination at www.smashwords.com

About the author:

Hollis hails from the great state of Missouri. Fascinated with science at an early age, she found herself creating aliens out of clay, tinker-toys, and whatever came to hand. Disappointingly lightning did not bring them to life. Apparently you can't believe everything you read. Since she couldn't bring them to life for real, she decided to bring them to life on paper. Always a loner she has spurned social media, but hopes to acquire a web site in the future. Everyone says she has to have one.

About the cover artists:

Alan L. Lickiss lives in Colorado with his wife, Rebecca, their children, and an ever changing variety of pets the children just can't seem to live without. He works, he writes, he's an avid photographer. See more of his artwork at: http://cophotog.deviantart.com/

Jacob Lickiss recently began creating interesting backgrounds along with the other things he does (programming, school, creating robots, etc.). You can see more of his backgrounds and other artwork at: http://towneater.deviantart.com

Rebecca Lickiss began telling stories at an early age. She's recently discovered that the miracle that is photoshop can make up entirely for the fact that she can't draw a straight line.

Discover other books by this author at www.Smashwords.com and www.vikinghorde.com

Discover other books and short stories at www.vikinghorde.com

Also due for release in 2012 from Viking Horde Media:

Final Exams by Hollis Rentchler

Fhe, the legally non-existent reproductive half of a Rcyyt, must discover who murdered Uar's, his other-half's, professor as they get caught in a web of blackmail and deceit.

