Trang (41 page)

There was no place for these
things, but there they were. Philippe wondered if, one day, the Union would
decide that the same was true of all of them.

Predictably, Philippe was once again able to see
Kre-Pi-Twa-Ki-Tik-Nao—whom he had begun mentally referring to as just
“Creepy”—the one day he was meditating just because he needed to relax a
little.

During his absence, the relative
harmony between the alien species had become strained—a situation that Philippe
was forced to conclude that he and Arne both had worsened, however
inadvertently.

The spark had been the attempt by
that Host merchant to better the living conditions of the Snake Boys. The
merchant had sought support from other aliens for his campaign, and had gotten
the backing of the Pincushions and the Cyclopes.

But the Cyclopes were all
new—Endless Courage had rotated out while Philippe was on Earth—and led by
Stern Duty, they was taking a more militant tone. They wanted to change the
entire way the station was run. Much to Philippe’s chagrin, they pointed to the
way multinational organizations on Earth operated as an example of how the
station should be governed—apparently Brave Loyalty had not kept his meetings
with Philippe entirely secret.

The Hosts had, of course, been
politely but completely inflexible, noting that running the station was
their
destiny, and strongly implying that obeying the Hosts’ rules was everyone
else’s. The Blobbos were hostile toward any idea that emerged from the
Cyclopes, whom they unapologetically viewed as untrustworthy and aggressive.
The Swimmers and the humans remained neutral, as did the Magic Man and the
White Spiders, assuming that either of those two species was even aware a
conflict existed.

Arne’s illness was apparently
viewed as an opportunity to score points against the Hosts by the Cyclopes, who
began publicly denouncing the “poisoning” of the second human diplomat.
Philippe had several conversations with Stern Duty and other Cyclopes, pointing
out that the humans did not consider the poisoning to be deliberate or even the
result of negligence on behalf of the Hosts.

The Cyclopes kept describing Arne’s
illness in those terms in public, however, and Philippe began to wonder if
perhaps they were not entirely unfamiliar with the concept of a smear campaign.
Many of the aliens on the station had noticed that Arne was not as chummy with
the Hosts as Philippe had been. That, combined with the fact that the Cyclopes
kept using Earth examples when talking about representative forms of station
government, had given rise to speculation that perhaps the humans were not as
neutral as they claimed.

So Philippe had to initiate a
little campaign of his own, repeating publicly and often that the humans did
not
blame the Hosts for what happened to Arne, noting again and again that the
Hosts had tried to warn him away from the food.

Philippe was a little uncomfortable
positioning the humans more toward the Hosts’ side: He, of course, ardently
believed that governments
should
be representative, and he never liked
having to say that he had no relevant opinion on how a place was run. He also
felt sympathetic to the Snake Boys, who really did need more space, and he
certainly didn’t want to damage their cause.

But Philippe disliked more the idea
of being used, and when the Cyclopes ignored his multiple requests that they
stop saying that Arne was deliberately poisoned, he began to wonder what his
options were. Could he file formal protests? Ask the Swimmer drones to play a
little disclaimer every time a Cyclops was overheard blaming the Hosts for
Arne’s absence?

He was trying to put it all out of
his mind for a brief spell, and, of course, that meant that his meditation
practice went quite well, which meant that the candle’s light once again
morphed into Creepy.

“What?” Creepy looked dumbfounded.
“No, no, no. I’ve got nothing to do with your Jesus. I’m a scientist. I study
matter and the blossoms of energy. I’m not religious.”

“You’re not?” exhaled Philippe.

“Of course not,” said the Host.
“Perhaps it is different on your planet, but on my planet, religion is just a
bunch of silly crap fabricated to make you think that your family is better
than any other family. No decent person of any intelligence believes in
religion. Religion has brought nothing but pain to my people. I’d like to see
all of it gone.”

Philippe took a deep breath before
responding. “‘Abandon your divisive religions, and listen to me, for I will
show you the genuine truth.’”

Creepy sat for a moment. “Yeah,
that’s basically what I said,” he replied cautiously. “But I tried to be a
little more poetic. How did you know about that?”

“The ones who took me. I mean,
there’s just no way I’m going back home, right? If they’re telling you about
me, then the history’s already been written.” He looked dismal. “Do you know
how long it’s been since I was taken?”

“Since you vanished?” Inhale.
“About 850 Earth years.”

“What is that in Host years?”

It was hard to stay relaxed and
remember how to convert the years at the same time, but Philippe realized about
halfway through that there probably wasn’t any point to what he was doing.

Philippe came out to greet his visitor. The Host merchant
was looking concerned, and Philippe ushered him through the no man’s zone and
into the conference room.

“I apologize about the clutter,” he
said, gesturing at the gold gifts. He had moved the ones from his office into
the conference room and stacked them so that they took up less space, but they
still dominated the room. There was also a White Spider on the ceiling, and
Philippe found himself thinking that it looked a bit tatty.

“Those must be the gifts given when
the second human diplomat became ill,” said the merchant. “I am of the opinion
that he was not allowed to take them back to your planet because of security
concerns.”

“You are correct on both counts,”
said Philippe.

“I am of the opinion that giving
gifts is not a functional tradition on this station,” said the merchant,
looking over the items.

The Host gave a quick tutorial. As Philippe
had suspected, the gifts were mainly symbolic—statues representing friendship,
plaques containing symbols for good health, and the like.

“And this,” said the Host,
gesturing at what looked like a golden rod with a wire at the end, “is a
Pincushion organ of renewal, in the act of imparting health to another
Pincushion.”

Philippe looked at the rod and
started. “I thought that was the organ through which the Pincushions exchanged
genetic information,” he said carefully.

“It is,” said the merchant. “That
is how they maintain longevity. Their longevity is why they rarely need to
actually reproduce.”

“How interesting,” said Philippe.

“It is,” said the Host. “They
rarely die, but they also do not live quite as we do since their genetic makeup
is always changing. I often wonder if they really maintain the same identity
throughout one lifetime, or if it is more accurate to describe them as
constantly dying and being reborn by increments.”

“Please do not take this
observation as an insult to your chosen career,” said Philippe, “but you do
seem very philosophical for a merchant.”

The merchant looked up from the
rod, amused. “Despite what some may think, I was not allowed to come onto this
station solely because of my wife. I have come to visit you, however, to
discuss something else.”

“My efforts to secure larger living
facilities for the Snake Boys,” said the merchant, looking worried. “I fear
they were a terrible mistake.”

Philippe thought for a moment
before replying. He was going to have to proceed very cautiously.

“As you know, my government is
neutral in this matter, since we are new to this station and do not feel
competent to criticize its governance,” he said. “But on a personal level, I
believe that your intentions were good, and I do not think you should feel
badly for having tried to better the lives of the Snake Boys.”

“What is your opinion of the
Cyclopes, given that one of them attacked you?” the merchant asked.

Philippe took a deep breath. This
conversation was definitely moving to treacherous ground. “The attack on me was
an isolated criminal incident,” he replied. “My government has friendly
relations with the Cyclopes, as we do with all the other people on this
station.”

“I ask because they are asking me
to help with something, and I am unsure if I should provide this assistance,”
said the merchant. “The Cyclopes have been critical of this station’s
governance. They now are suggesting that the people on this station create an
organizational structure to settle trade disputes. Your people do not currently
have a trade agreement in place, so I will explain: Currently disputes are
either settled between the two parties, or if they cannot be resolved, the
Hosts pass judgment.”

“I see,” said Philippe.

“My concern is that the Cyclopes
have asked me to provide them with a great deal of information about my
family’s trading operations, since we have a contract to provide foodstuffs to
the Snake Boys. I cannot understand what harm it would do my family’s business
to provide this information. But I also cannot understand why the Cyclopes would
want such information.” The merchant looked even more concerned. “I know the
Blobbos think they are untrustworthy, and currently the Pincushions think very
poorly of the Cyclopes as well.”

“They do?” asked Philippe, mildly
surprised. The Pincushions, along with the Cyclopes, had been backing the Snake
Boys’ bid for more living space.

“Yes, they are offended by the
Cyclopes’ attitude toward poisoners,” said the Host. “While I found the
Cyclopes helpful in the beginning, the departure of Endless Courage and the
arrival of Stern Duty has marked a change in their attitude that is distressing
to me. I have been made particularly unhappy by the Cyclopes’ comments blaming
our diplomats for the poisoning of your second human diplomat.”

“Well,” said Philippe, “I am
speaking here as a private individual, not as a representative of Earth. But I
would say that if you are made uncomfortable by a request, then you should
decline the request. If you are concerned that you will offend the Cyclopes,
you could always say that your business associates do not want that information
revealed.”