Sliding Scales (6 page)

His studies, common to all AAnn who entered the Service, did not prepare him for the height of the human. While AAnn varied considerably less in individual physical dimensions than did the softskins, they tended to see eye to eye with a goodly number of them. That was not the case with this specimen. It gazed down at Takuuna from a considerable, if not commanding, height. Takuuna guessed its weight at a hundred kuyster or less. The administrator was not intimidated, only surprised. Of additional interest was the small winged creature that lay across the human's shoulders like a decorative insignia. Though not sapient, it was scale-skinned and quite colorful. It eyed the administrator intently, almost as if sensing his irritation.

Turning from the window through which he was contemplating the city, the human took notice of the administrator's gaze. Reaching up and out with one spongy hand, he smiled. Takuuna recognized the expression from his lessons. It was one of an extensive range of expressions the softskins could produce with their disgustingly flexible, soft facial features.

“This is Pip.” Though he had been told that the human could speak the civilized language, Takuuna was still startled by the human's glibness and lack of accent. Well, fluency would simplify things.

“I am Ssecondary Adminisstrator Takuuna. I am to be your esscort during your sstay on Jasst.” He saluted, simultaneously sheathing his claws, bowing slightly, and turning his head to the right to expose his jugular. Adding to his astonishment, the human proceeded to replicate the gesture, though he had no claws worthy of the designation to sheathe. Instead, he curled the tips of his fingers slightly inward.

The impressive showing only enhanced Takuuna's suspicions. How came a human who professed to be traveling alone, on his own private business, and having nothing to do with either the Commonwealth military or diplomatic service, to have such knowledge of AAnn language and ways? In the straightforward AAnn manner, he asked as much.

“The gaining of knowledge is a hobby of mine,” the human replied. “In some ways, it's my life. By the way, you can call me Flinx.”

At least that was pronounceable, the administrator appreciated. Not the usual barbaric multiplicity of vowels that made so many human names and words sound like their user existed in a state of perpetual drowning. In fact, he found it easier to enunciate than the great majority of Vssey names.

“I am told you have come to Jasst to do nothing.”

“More or less.” The human smiled anew. With a couple of modest exceptions, Takuuna noted, every one of its teeth was as flat as the soles of an infant's feet. As useless in a fight as Vsseyan grinding plates, he mused. It did not make him less wary. Humans, he knew from his studies, could fight well without having to resort to biting. He glanced down at the equally hopeless excuses for proper claws that tipped each of the softskin's fingers. Or scratching.

Too soon to think of fighting. Rationale first. Meanwhile, the softskin was not the only one capable of learning from new experiences.

“And you have come alone. There is no one elsse on your sship? No crew?”

“The onboard AI takes care of everything,” Flinx assured him. “I came here because few do. I like places like that. They help me think.” The human seemed to pause.
“Although while I'm here I'm not supposed to do any more thinking than is absolutely necessary.”

Was the softskin mentally addled? Takuuna found himself wondering. No, he decided. The creature was too alert for that. Too aware, too quick, and too logical with its responses. There was something else. Something he could not put a claw on. That he would eventually isolate this puzzling component of the softskin, Takuuna had no doubt. Until then, he would do as he had been ordered, while subtly seeking out the visitor's secrets—and weaknesses.

Both sets of eyelids blinked twice. “It sseemss that I have been placed at your disspossal, worthy guesst Flinx. What would you like to ssee firsst?”

The human lifted its shoulders slightly and then dropped them in a gesture Takuuna did not recognize. He found himself wishing he had paid more attention to the relevant studies. As was only natural, during his matriculation period he had focused his attention far more on the thranx, humankind's close allies and the AAnn's ancient irritants. Humans, he now saw, were nothing like the thranx.

“What would you suggest?”

The administrator considered. “Without knowing more about you or your perssonal tasstess, it iss difficult to resspond to ssuch a query.” The human did not rise to the bait, but merely waited patiently. It had been worth a try, Takuuna felt. “I am an adminisstrator, not a guide. You ssay that you are interessted in gaining knowledge. What do you know of Jasst's ecology?”

“Very little,” Flinx replied honestly.

Takuuna hissed softly. “It hass one prevailing characterisstic. Sslowness. Nothing here movess quickly. Certainly not the dominant sspeciess, the Vssey.”

“I've already noticed that. It's hard to move fast in the absence of legs.”

“Truly.” With a start, Takuuna realized that the human was making an attempt at humor. It was an effort that fell well within the restricted parameters of what the AAnn regarded as amusing. “The great majority of advanced life-formss on Jasst are either ssedentary, as the Vssey themsselvess once were, or incapable of rapid movement. A ssingle kravune from my homeworld could make a hundred of them prey each and every day without ssacrificing sso much as one of itss own sscaless.”

“That would explain the vigilance of the immigration officials at the port.”

He misses nothing, Takuuna thought. He comes here claiming to be in search of nothing, but sees everything. A trained observer, or merely an enthusiastic one?

“Come. I will introduce you to the sslowness that iss Jasst.” Raising up on the balls of both sandaled feet, he pivoted ceremoniously and started for the door.

As Flinx followed, he sensed Pip's continuing unease. She had been restless ever since they had entered the administrator's presence. Flinx did his best to calm her. Attacking their official escort would be a poor way to convince the local authorities that he meant no harm.

Besides, he had also perceived the antagonism that was being directed toward him. Unlike Pip, he thought little of it. It was no more than one would expect from any AAnn. They were instinctively and unremittingly hostile to anyone not of their own kind—and often to those as well. As he knew from long experience, this very consistency of enmity made it difficult to guess their intentions. How could you tell when someone was really angry at you when they existed in a state of perpetual animosity?

There
were
degrees of anger, though. So far, the one called Takuuna had emitted little more than the usual nervous
unfriendliness. A Vsseyan guide would have been more agreeable. On the other hand, he reflected as he followed the AAnn through the doorway, given the average pace at which things Vssey moved, he suspected that seeing anything substantial in their company would require a minimal commitment of a year or two.

Once in the aircar and outside the city, Takuuna seemed to relax. While hardly what one would call a convivial conversationalist, he at least deigned to engage in some interspecies small talk. Flinx's fluency in the AAnn language, with its multiple honorifics and stylized grammar, continued to surprise the administrator. Unlike many individuals who had spent time in Flinx's company, Takuuna showed no fear of Pip. Maybe it was the scales they shared, Flinx mused.

It was midday before he thought to dip into the food supplies that had thoughtfully been provided—not by the AAnn, but by the Vsseyan authorities. As it sampled a bit of each, the analyzer on his belt told him what was edible, what was poisonous, and what was likely to make a good solvent. Some of it was nutritious, little of it was tasty. Vsseyan food, apparently, was as bland as those who had supplied it. Though she nibbled on what was offered to her, Pip plainly shared his opinion.

Water had also been provided. As for Takuuna, he did not offer to share any of his own provisions. Flinx would have been shocked had his guide volunteered to do so. Such a generous gesture would have been most un-AAnn.

Chewing determinedly on a squarish loaf of something with the consistency of heat-softened plastic and a faint flavor of spoiled cheese, he debated whether to extract a piece of compressed chocolate from the emergency pack that was also secured to his belt. Once popped into his mouth, it would expand into something substantial and filling. He held off. They had traveled a good distance already,
and he had no idea where they were going. The landscape, with its fantastical twisted growths and dense but neatly spaced vegetation, had engaged the majority of his attention. Eating, and the need to forget what he was eating, induced him to reengage his host in conversation.

“Is this meant to be a general tour of the countryside, or do you have some specific destination in mind?” Flinx squirmed in his seat. He was too tall for the curving protective dome, and the sharply down-angled slope of the chair seat caused his knees to come close to eye level with his face. Furthermore, part of his backside kept trying to push out through the slot in the back of the seat that was designed to accommodate the AAnn tail.

Sitting opposite him in the other front chair, Takuuna took no note of his guest's discomfort. “We are traveling to Saudaunn Chasm. It iss a bit remote, but home to a unique biological phenomenon that well exemplifiess the uniqueness of Jasstian fauna. One such as yoursself who collectss knowledge will appreciate it.” He added a third-degree gesture of curiosity, tempered with mild irritation. “Meanwhile, iss not this a fasscinating and beautiful place?”

It would be to the AAnn, Flinx reflected as he gazed out through the dome. No wonder they were so protective of their rights here. Since his arrival, he had noted that the native people, the Vssey, were very much in charge of their own world. Flinx doubted they even realized the kind of danger to their sovereignty the AAnn represented. And while the AAnn could move very rapidly when they wanted to, they could also be very patient in the pursuit of their aims.

It was none of his business, he reminded himself firmly. He was here on vacation, to relax and do nothing of consequence. Interstellar politics, interstellar disputes—he had left that all behind, along with the situation on New
Riviera and the search he was supposed to be making for a certain strayed weapons platform. He should be, needed to be, drinking in the beauty of the local landscape.

“What's that?” he asked, pointing in the direction of a tree that looked like it had swallowed live explosives. Its branches grew in every direction according to no discernible pattern. The ends expanded and flattened out until they were as thin as paper.

Takuuna hissed sibilantly at the control panel on his left, and the aircar changed direction by a fraction of a degree, still heading steadily northeastward.

“Fwellen tree. Like a great deal of Jasstian flora, it hass no leavess. The flattened tipss of itss branchess collect moissture from the air and convey it through hollow spacess in the branchess all the way to the main trunk. Itss root ssysstem is very disspersse and sshallow and barely sstrong enough to keep it from toppling over.”

Flinx nodded appreciatively. “You like this world, don't you?”

Pausing in his chewing of a spongy, dat-flavored snack ball, the administrator looked over sharply at his unwanted guest. “In what sspirit iss the quesstion assked?”

“I just meant that from your gestures and the brightness of your eyes when you describe something, it suggests that you're very comfortable here.” He looked on idly as Pip explored a corner of the front console, her tongue poking in and out of hollows, looking for dropped tidbits.

“We are guesstss here. The Empire hass no dessignss on Jasst, and we enjoy an excellent relationsship with our hosstss, the Vssey. Ssince you assk, it iss a bit cooler and a bit damper than what we prefer, but yess, we like it here. What are you implying?”

Keeping an eye on Pip, Flinx smiled easily. “I wasn't implying anything. And I didn't ask whether the Empire
likes Jast, or even if your kind does. I was asking the question of you, and you alone.”

He is either very shrewd, a thoroughly annoyed Takuuna reflected, or else entirely ingenuous. If the latter, then there is nothing to worry about. If the former, then I am acting the fool. That could not be allowed to continue. And there were his other considerations.

Administrator Takuuna began to plot-weave.

“This Saudaunn Chasm we're going to see.” Pip had returned to his lap. “What's so special about it? I've seen many canyons.”

“Not one like thiss,” his host assured him. “We are not going there for the canyon itsself sso much as we are for fauna it hosstss.”

“What kind of fauna?” asked his guest, newly curious.

“
Vsstisst
, you will ssee.”

It was evening before they arrived in the vicinity of Saudaunn, and darkness had settled in tightly around the aircar before Takuuna finally located what he felt would be a propitious place to spend the evening. Another traveler might have balked at the prospect of spending a night in a strange locale with only an insensitive AAnn for company. Not Flinx. He had spent many alien nights on many alien worlds in far more unpredictable company. Besides, he wasn't alone, as Pip promptly reminded him. The instant they emerged from the confines of the aircar into the crisp, dry, and increasingly chill night air of the Jastian plateau, she wriggled straightaway down his shirt collar and huddled against his torso.

“Don't worry,” he told her, stroking her through his shirt. “We'll just have a quick look around and then you and I will sleep the night in the aircar.” He glanced over at Takuuna, who was striding with typical AAnn fluidity and grace toward a rocky promontory. “We
are
going to sleep in the aircar, right?”

His escort glanced back at him. Moonlight from one of Jast's two satellites glinted off narrowing eyes as he responded with a gesture of—well, suffice to say it was not polite. “I am charged with sserving as your guide. I am neither hotelier nor concierge. I intend to ssleep insside the aircar, yess. You may take your resst wherever you wissh.”