Toc238718022” class=“calibre9” id=“Toc238718022”>

Nothing they had experienced in their young lives prepared Eiipul’s offspring or Kiijeem for that reaction. The brother dropped his pistol while his sister, stumbling backward until she pressed up against the nearest wall, just did manage to keep a shaky grip on hers. To his credit Kiijeem held his ground. Or perhaps he was simply unable to move. Frozen to the spot, he stared at the resting platform on which the noble, the estimable, the most venerable Lord Eiipul IX was twitching and tossing and shrieking like a newborn that had been cast into a fire. AAnn, especially those in their prime, did not react like this. No matter the circumstances, regardless of pain or suffering, they forever held fast to a legacy of stoicism that bordered on the fanatical.

Confronted with the unexpectedly violent reaction, Flinx did the only thing he could think of: bending over and reaching down, he wrapped both arms around the possessed nye and held him tightly as he tried to still the convulsions. While Pip slithered crazily around his neck and shoulders, he pulled the AAnn as close to him as he dared. Madly flailing claws slashed at his bare chest. Wincing from the pain, turning his head to one side to protect his eyes and face, Flinx ignored the cuts and lacerations as he concentrated on projecting feelings of reassurance, comfort, and support onto the sufferer. Uncertain how to react, desperately wanting to help but afraid to interfere, the three younger AAnn remained as they were and just stared.

Slowly, agonizingly, little by emotive little, Flinx brought Lord Eiipul IX back. Back to reality, back to himself. The AAnn’s turbulent emotions calmed, the terror that had inundated him receded. An outer eyelid flickered, then the inner. His mind began to clear and his gaze to focus. Unhelpfully, the first thing they saw was the naked alien specter of Flinx hovering over him.

Instinctively, a four-fingered, claw-tipped hand rose and pushed. Releasing his hold with his left arm, Flinx quickly slid his right out from beneath the AAnn’s back and moved away. Blood from the nye’s unconscious, automatic clawing oozed down the tall human’s bare chest and belly to mix with the perspiration that always lingered from the debilitating mental journey.

Tentatively, Eiipul IXc stepped forward to peer down at the patriarch. “Honored ssire, we have been sso truly truly vexed! We have sseen you alive yet dead. We did not know what to do, how to help.” Her gaze rose to the wounded softskin bleeding silently nearby. “We wanted to kill the vissitor—but at the ssame time we were afraid to kill it.”

Grimacing, Lord Eiipul raised himself to a sitting position. His unusually rapid breathing was the only remaining indication that he had undergone an experience out of the ordinary. That, and the dark red liquid trickling from his mouth. His jaws had been clenched tightly enough to bleed.

He did not answer his offspring, did not respond to her declaration. Swinging his legs and tail off the platform, he placed his sandaled feet on the floor, stood motionless long enough to be confident of his balance, and then started toward the watching Flinx. On the third step he stumbled and nearly fell. Alarmed, the twins broke in his direction, but he waved them off. Using his tail for balance, he resumed his slow advance on the softskin.

Halting within arm’s reach, Eiipul turned his head to the left and exposed his throat. Within the room, no one breathed. When Flinx continued to hesitate, the noble reached out, took the human’s right hand, and placed it against his unprotected neck.

“You cannot kill me,” he declared solemnly, “becausse I have jusst died.”

As he observed the tableau, Kiijeem found himself remembering. Remembering how insistent he had been that the softskin allow him to share in the hazily described experience. How the human had refused and how angry he, Kiijeem AVMd, had become. He tried to swallow, only to discover that all the moisture had fled from his throat.

Flinx lowered his arm, allowing the AAnn to turn his head back to him once again. “I’m sorry. When words failed, I didn’t know any other way to convince you.” Turning, he walked over to the sweeping window. Inclining his head, he bent slightly at the waist in order to look up at the night sky.

“It keeps speeding up. The phenomenon that’s coming this way. I and my friends—the few Commonwealth scientists who are also aware of it—thought it would be hundreds of years before the danger it poses would become imminent.” Straightening as he reached up to caress Pip, he turned to look back at his host. “Each time I reach out to encounter it I’m less certain of that time frame. If it keeps on accelerating it’s conceivable it might burst out of the Great Emptiness and begin to affect the outer reaches of the galaxy as soon as in our lifetimes.”

“Sshannt, ssoftsskin. There iss no need for additional emphassiss. I will not doubt your word again.” Pivoting slightly, he finally addressed his offspring. “Sstand and breathe. I am alive, I am well, but I am changed. As would be anyone who had been obliged to sshare what I have jusst sshared.” He looked back at Flinx. “I do not know how you did what you jusst did, human. Manifesstly, you are different. The how and why of that I leave to cleverer, more sspecialized mindss than mine. For now I will content mysself with that which I know. With what I have—experienced. I know it wass not an illussion. Would that it had been. You have accomplisshed what you intended, human. I believe your sstory.”

For the first time that evening, Flinx allowed himself to unwind slightly. “Then you agree to hide me until my ship can return to pick me up, and will help me travel to the pickup site unobserved?”

Lord Eiipul regarded the softskin standing before him. “No.”

Flinx could not hide his surprise. The AAnn’s emotions belied his response. Something was being left unsaid. “I don’t understand.”

“As you have all too clearly sshown,” Eiipul replied, “thiss danger iss one that threatenss all civilizationss, all living thingss. It iss not, sshould not, be the province of one sspeciess—far less a ssingle repressentative of that sspeciess. You bear a burden I would not sshare for the chance to be chossen Emperor.

“The Empire and the Commonwealth sstand at oddss yet pressently hold to an uneassy peace. It iss plain to me that all ssuch conflict musst be put asside lesst an unforesseen incident, an unpredictable encounter, might interfere with your effortss to try and counter thiss … thiss …”

Eloquent as Lord Eiipul was, he could not find the words to describe what he had just experienced. It was likely he did not wish to. Describing would require remembering. “While it iss unlikely you will be given overt assisstance, it musst be made certain that you are permitted to proceed with the assurance that no facet of the Empire will in any way interfere with your effortss.”

This was getting out of hand, Flinx saw. All he wanted was help in getting off Blasusarr safely and unobtrusively. But Lord Eiipul would not be denied.

“I ssee only one way to achieve ssuch assurance, for good and for a certainty.” He was watching the softskin closely. “What I jusst ssurvived. What you jusst sshowed to me. Can you—can you sshare it with more than one individual at a time?”

“I don’t know,” Flinx answered honestly. “I myself have previously shared the contact with multiple minds, but they accompanied me unbidden, and they weren’t human.”

“All to the good.” Lord Eiipul sounded encouraged. “Neither am I. Neither are thosse with whom I wissh you to sshare sso that they too may be convinced, and sso that the Empire will do what it can to facilitate your effortss to ssave uss all.”

Unable to stand by in silence any longer, Eiipul IXc stepped forward. “Honored parent, are you ssuggessting that the horror you jusst ssurvived be sshared with other nye?”

“It iss the only way,” he told her with atypical gentleness. “I mysself would not accept the ssoftsskin’ss wordss by themsselvess. I had to be sshown. I had to experience. It would be the ssame with any otherss. They would not accept jusst an explanation any more than did I. Only by experiencing will they believe.” He turned back to the waiting Flinx.

“I will take the preparatory sstepss. At the appropriate moment, I will make the necessary introduction.” He gestured to where Flinx’s simsuit was neatly laid out on a polished section of floor. “I fear that for one more time, at leasst, you musst employ your ingeniouss dissguisse.”

Flinx took a deep breath. It was evident from his emotions as well as from his words that Lord Eiipul was not going to be dissuaded from the course of action he had chosen. On the positive side, Flinx had to admit that it would be very useful in the furtherance of his activities if the representatives of the AAnn Empire, wherever and whenever he might happen to encounter them, had been specifically instructed to give a certain tall young human freedom to proceed wherever and however he wished.

“All right,” he replied resignedly. “If you think it’s that necessary. With whom do you want me to share? Mates of yours? Other family members?” He mulled other possibilities. “Representatives of the military?”

Lord Eiipul gestured first-degree inclusiveness underscored with pure unconditionality. “As the threat you sshowed to me iss the greatesst that can be imagined, sso therefore musst the greatesst be expossed to it. I sshall assume the necessary rissk.”

Flinx was instantly on guard. “What risk?”

The AAnn met his gaze unflinchingly. “I will make arrangementss sso that you can sshare your experience of thiss galaxy-wide threat with the Imperial Gathering and with the Emperor himsself.”

Startled hisses rose from his offspring. “Honored ssire, no!” Eiipul IXb rushed his parent, followed closely by his sister. Flinx noted that Kiijeem held back. This was a family matter. No matter what opinion he might hold, no matter what insight he felt he could bring to the discussion, the twins’ friend would remain aloof from the debate. If the outcome went well, he stood to benefit. If it ended in disaster, he could claim noninvolvement. No wonder the strongest emotion Flinx read from his young friend was satisfaction. The feelings currently being broadcast by the two Eiipul progeny constituted another emotive state entirely.

They were frightened, as well as indignant.

“Conssider, my lord,” his daughter was pleading, “that if the unprecedented confrontation you proposse sshould fail, it could mean the end of your career.”

“Not only your career.” Her brother was politely irate. “The family Eiipul itsself could be ruined. Everything that our ancesstorss have built, our illusstriouss family hisstory, our sstanding within the Empire—all could be ssacrificed on the altar of a hassty decission. We could losse everything—even our name.”

Their patriarch was silent. For a moment Flinx thought the fretful twins might have persuaded Lord Eiipul to change his mind. But as it turned out he was only gathering his thoughts.

“If you had come into contact with the ssame monsstroussness as did I, you would undersstand,” he informed his offspring gravely. “You would hassten to my ssupport and not think to challenge it. But you sstood outsside the dire. For thiss I am grateful. For thiss you sshould be grateful. Revel in your continued ignorance and be glad our vissitor hass chossen not to convey to you the full force of hiss knowledge.” Off to one side, Kiijeem eyed Flinx meaningfully as Lord Eiipul turned back to the softskin.

“You musst do as I ssuggesst.” The noble’s tail flicked sharply to the right. “Otherwisse, I will not help you.”

There it was. Whatever happened from now on, Flinx could consider himself absolved. The decision had been forced on him. Decision, and opportunity. Still…

“I don’t know if I can do what you request, Lord Eiipul. I’ve never tried, at least not intentionally, to share the experience with more than one other sentient at a time.”

“You sshared with me.” From the dispenser at his side the AAnn noble drew forth a fresh libation. “You will find the Emperor an admirable entity, and there are many in the Gathering who are wiser and more knowledgeable than mysself. None, I think, will be immune to the importance of what you musst reveal to them.”

“Speaking of immunity,” Flinx reminded his host, “there is danger involved. You now know that.”

“Better than I would wissh to,” Eiipul admitted. “Yet all knowledge concealss within it danger to a greater or lesser degree.” He gestured third-degree amusement. “If it did not, governmentss would not be sso anxiouss to regulate it.” Coming closer, he lowered his voice.

“I give you, Flinx of the Commonwealth, Flinx LLVVRXX of the Tier Ssaiinn, a chance to interact with the ssupreme leaderss of the Empire. It iss an opportunity no human hass ever been offered before. Not the head of your government, not the Lasst Ressort of your United Church, not the mosst eminent among your sscientissts, not the resspected leaderss of your military. You musst sshow my own kind what iss at sstake.” He stepped back. “Only then will you be assured of a ssafe departure from thiss world, and the chance to carry on your essential work.”

Flinx found himself pondering what was at once an offer and a command. If he refused Eiipul’s request, his options would be seriously limited. If he agreed, and could bring it off, there could be ancillary benefits. Thinking back to his time on Jast among the Tier of Ssaiinn inevitably led him to fond remembrances of one exceptional AAnn: the female, Chraluuc, who had looked after and taken a special interest in him. She had wanted him to be a bridge between humans and her kind. Here was an opportunity to do so on a scale neither of them could ever have foreseen.

Of course, if he failed in the effort not only would humans and AAnn not be drawn closer together, but he could quite easily end up dead.

He refocused his attention on the noble nye waiting in front of him. His emotions elevated but under control, Eiipul awaited his answer.

“If you can really get me that kind of audience,” Flinx sighed, “I’ll try to do what you ask. I’ll try as I’ve never tried before.”

“Excellent, my illicit friend! I will sstart work immediately.” Eiipul gestured to his left. “Meanwhile, you are my guesst. We will enssconce you in a part of the ressidence that iss clossed to vissitorss, even to family. There you can resst and recover your sstrength. You will need it all, I think,” he concluded solemnly.

“Honored ssire,” his daughter protested. “Thiss iss madness! If the ssoftsskin iss found out, if it becomess known we are harboring a human illegally arrived on Blasussarr, that will be the end of our family sstatuss as ssurely as if all of uss perisshed at the human’ss handss!”

“Then,” Lord Eiipul told his protesting offspring firmly, “it will behoove you and your brother and your friend to enssure that that eventuality doess not come to pass. Azzissn?”

Taking a respectful step backward, she dropped her eyes and mumbled reluctantly, “Azzissn.” In this unhappy acquiescence she was joined by her brother and also by the attentive Kiijeem.

“It iss decided.” Turning back to his unforeseen guest, Lord Eiipul started to extend a welcoming tail tip. Remembering that his visitor was conspicuously deficient in that department, the noble quickly substituted a proffered hand instead. Four scaly fingers gripped five decidedly softer ones.

“Now then, can you eat proper food?”

“I find most AAnn cuisine quite agreeable, as does my companion.” Flinx added a slight nod in the direction of the minidrag riding comfortably on his left shoulder. “Though after a while a steady regimen of meat and its synthetic derivatives does become tiresome.”

His host responded with a visible shudder. “I undersstand. I am familiar with the human diet. At leasst you are not thranx. We will try to sscrounge ssome ‘edible’ plant matter sso you can vary your intake. Meanwhile, I would have you tell me everything you can about thiss horror that sspeedss toward uss and threatenss all of exisstence.” He sucked in a deep, whistling breath. “Though I have but infinitessimally ssenssed it for mysself, I would sstill know more. If there iss more to know.” Taking Flinx’s hand, he led the taller human toward a lift. His offspring and their friend trailed obediently behind.

“Well,” Flinx began, “it’s manifestly the largest life-form that’s ever been identified—if it can be called a life-form in the usual sense.”

Lord Eiipul gestured second-degree ignorance. “The universse iss far too vasst to be comprehended by beingss as inssignificant as oursselvess. We can look, we can sspeculate, we can even meassure, but we cannot comprehend. Who can ssay but that there may exisst larger entitiess sstill, perhapss even thosse capable of feeding on such an immenssity as threatenss uss now?”

Struggling to imagine something vast enough to threaten the Great Evil that was racing toward the outskirts of the Milky Way, Flinx found that he agreed unhesitatingly with his host. Nothing “living” could be as large as the Great Evil, yet it patently existed. Why could there not exist something greater still? The attempt to envision anything so immense simply overwhelmed the rudimentary network of neurons that comprised an ordinary mind. Even mathematics was overwhelmed. At such times it helped enormously to have an anchor, a grounding. Something solid and real and true to hold on to.

It was at such times that he invariably thought of Clarity Held.

They settled Flinx in a small storage area, aboveground and safely away from passing eyes both AAnn and electronic. Unlike the large subterranean chamber where he had previously been hidden, this one had lights, a heated sand sleeping basin, access to AAnn entertainment, even a window. Lord Eiipul assured Flinx that the likelihood of him being discovered was virtually nil. In the absence of a direct reference or reason, Krrassin Security would never stoop to quizzing the members of an important family about a possible sighting of an offworlder wanted for something as insignificant as credit forgery.

Time proved that the noble Eiipul knew whereof he spoke. Visitors and members of the extended family came and went without coming anywhere near Flinx’s isolated chamber. Safe and secure, he was able at last to rest and relax.

The only interruptions to his daily routine arrived in the form of the still wary Eiipul offspring. When not occupied with daily studies, tasks, or family business, they joined Kiijeem in frequenting the softskin’s hideaway, peppering him with questions about everything from daily life in the reviled Commonwealth to the nature of the colorful scaled flying creature that was the human’s constant companion. Flinx answered them all readily. Ignorance breeds hatred, while conversely, education slays ignorance. Knowledge, he knew from a lifetime of personal experience, is a more effective weapon than a gun. As Truzenzuzex had once pointed out, it’s hard to convince an enemy of the rightness of your cause while you’re blowing his head off.

He would have been happy to stay in the storeroom awaiting the return of the reconfigured Teacher. Such a simplistic solution to his situation was not to be, however. Converted to a greater reality by what Flinx had shared with him, Lord Eiipul was convinced the attempt had to be made to sway the entire Imperial Gathering. If it could be done, a reluctant Flinx knew, it would be a milestone not only in the history of the Empire but in AAnn-human relations as well.

And all he had wanted to do was spend a few days on Blasusarr to prove to himself that that could be done. Was he fated, he wondered, to never be allowed to do anything small and simple?

When the day arrived to escort Flinx into the very heart of Krrassin there was no need to hide him. Sealed securely in his simsuit he was such the figure of an ordinary AAnn that the twins found themselves once more taken aback by the perfection of the illusion. Once his guest had again donned the eye-averting ijkk, Lord Eiipul accompanied him out into the characteristically harsh Blasusarrian light of early morning. The integrated polarizing lenses that camouflaged Flinx’s eyes immediately darkened to protect his more sensitive human retinas. He felt his eyes watering anyway. He had not stepped outside since entering the Eiipul compound.

He remembered to fold his tail as Eiipul preceded him into the private family vehicle. The interior was far more luxurious than that of the various public transports he had ridden in the course of his stay on Blasusarr. Rare woods and lustrous concaves of tactile glass lined the walls. Powerfully rhythmic AAnn music, all drums and bells and atonal electronics, emanated discreetly from an unseen source.

As the automated craft rose, rotated, and smoothly accelerated through a waiting gap in the residence’s security barrier, Flinx stared out the tinted canopy at the surrounding synthetic desert. After a while, the expensive pseudo-canyons and faux buttes gave way to more utilitarian structures of poured and molded walls and domes. These prosaic edifices jumped through no aesthetic hoops in expensive attempts to disguise their function.

Though traveling at maximum altitude on a level reserved for VIPs, the AAnn aircar still had to negotiate a bevy of traffic. This was Krrassin, after all. The capital, the economic and military hub, the heart of the AAnn interstellar Empire. The homeworld of the Commonwealth’s most dynamic and cunning adversaries.

Flinx felt no anxiety, experienced no discomfort at this knowledge. Having never felt quite at home anywhere, not even on Moth, he was therefore equally at ease everywhere in the galaxy. Vagabond and chameleon that he was, home was wherever he happened to be at the moment.

That realization did not entirely squelch the rising trepidation he felt as the nearly silent vehicle drew within sight of the central administrative compound. Here decisions were made that affected not only Krrassin, but Blasusarr and all the worlds of the Empire. The lives, the futures of billions of intelligent beings ebbed and flowed according to judgments rendered within the complex by a hundred or so of the most noble AAnn. Actual choices and preferences were discussed, debated, fought over, and finally voted upon within a single structure known as The Eye of the Nye.

That impressive mass now loomed directly ahead. Analogous constructions on Earth consisted of clusters of needle-like towers or immense domes. On Hivehom, several substantial artificial caverns had been deftly hollowed out of the ground to serve the needs of the greater hive.

In contrast to both, The Eye of the Nye took the form of a single immense rock several square kilometers in extent. Rust red in hue, it had been skillfully shot through with ornamental streaks of azure and silver. In keeping with the traditions of those it had been built to accommodate, it was only five stories high. As always and especially in this sacrosanct place, the AAnn had built outward and not upward. If tradition held true throughout, Flinx knew, the hall would have an internal configuration like an iceberg, with the preponderance of its extensive chambers and corridors situated belowground.

Matte-flat in the morning sun, the red roof was perfectly level and utterly unadorned; devoid of antennae, signs, drifting decorations, spires, or any kind of architectural fillip. In contrast, the building’s streaks of silver and slashes of bright blue exploded against his retinas.

He was going in there. Essentially alone, to try to influence an entire alien polity. One that would regard him, as Lord Eiipul originally had, with ingrained suspicion or worse. The Teacher was right: surely he was mentally unbalanced. Pip stirred uneasily against his side in the suit’s internal pouch. He struggled to prepare himself mentally. Maybe it was better if he was a little crazy.

Madness is always the best armor against reality.

It was also a cheap out. He knew he wasn’t mad. Retreating into psychosis would have been easy, especially in light of all that he knew and had experienced. Holding on to sanity was always the more difficult course for any sentient being.

The true immensity of the structure did not really hit home until the aircar cleared Security and proceeded deeper into the complex. The Great Hall was a city unto itself, frantic with activity and invested with purpose. Other vehicles darted in all directions, usually at a greater velocity than their own. When his host ordered the transport to turn down a narrower corridor, they found themselves traveling among a swarm of workers riding personalized vehicles.

After what seemed like half an hour they arrived at a parking area. As they disembarked, Eiipul told Flinx it was safe to remove the ijkk and leave it behind.

“No one will be looking for a common criminal in here,” he explained confidently. “The kind of antissocial figure repressented by your falsse AAnn identity would never make it passt the firsst ssecurity checkpoint.”

Taking extra care with his servo-assisted AAnn gait, Flinx loped alongside Lord Eiipul as they made their way through crowds of busy, intent AAnn. Focused on their individual tasks, hardly any of the workers glanced in the direction of the two nye. Flinx was unusually tall for an AAnn, but not to the point of drawing impolite (and potentially challenge-triggering) stares. The only interruptions came from the occasional passerby who would pause long enough to salute the status of the important noble who was Flinx’s host and guide.

The final corridor they entered was different from any that had preceded it. Longer than most and devoid of doorways or branching passages, it had been machined from a single tube of some pale golden-brown metal. It reminded Flinx of translucent bronze. The hordes of workers had thinned here as well. Only a few AAnn strode the impressive span. Though their voices were kept to a respectful hiss, they still echoed off the flawless, seamless curved walls and ceiling.

“We are very closse now.” Flinx noted that in this place even Lord Eiipul had lowered his voice. “Make no eye contact with anyone we meet, resspond to no queriess. As my guesst, you are protected from challenge within The Eye. But I am not omnipotent. Even my influence hass itss limitss.”

Flinx gestured third-degree understanding. It was enough. Ahead, the light was growing brighter. The tunnel corridor was opening out into a larger space. How much larger he could not imagine until he and his host entered the chamber at the end of the bronze-colored corridor. He did not gasp for breath: in his short life he had seen far too much to be overawed by a mere room. But while he was not overawed, he was certainly impressed.

He had stood in chambers with higher ceilings. The core of a faraway structure that housed a certain ancient weapon/musical instrument, for example, rose to a greater peak. He had wandered through more extensive artificial voids, such as the interior of an ancient construct that appeared from the outside to be a methane dwarf but was in reality an unimaginably massive alien starship. But he had never before entered into one that was at once so expansive, so alien, and so beautiful.

The AAnn artisans who comprised the Tier of Ssaiinn would have approved, he decided as he admired his surroundings. For all he knew, some of them might have contributed to the decoration.

The inner sanctum known as The Eye of the Nye ran almost the entire width of the building. A full five stories high, it was crowned by an immense shallow dome of synthetic quartz that had been treated to change color at predetermined intervals. One moment it was a deep, rich amethyst purple, the next a golden citrine yellow, then transparent as crystal, followed by a tinting of sapphire blue, after which it appeared shot through with simulated rutile—the material of which the dome was composed progressively traversing every color of the visible spectrum.

Mammoth metallic bas-reliefs moving slowly across the walls depicted the history of the AAnn, from the race’s humble beginnings as small nomadic bands struggling to survive the harsh landscape of Blasusarr, to the great internecine wars of unification finally won by Keisscha the Firsst, to the rapid rise of technology and the eventual expansion of the Empire to other worlds. Gaps in this hovering history were filled with dazzling knife-edge mosaics fashioned of gemstones and rare metals. Formed from a single continuous viscous pour of bonding chemicals infused with tons of finely ground synthetic corundum, the artfully sculpted floor glistened as if paved with a trillion trillion minuscule jewels.

In addition to the traditional spiral glowlamps, natural light pouring in through the immense dome provided not only plenty of illumination but additional heat. Without the simsuit’s integral climate control, heatstroke would have felled Flinx an hour ago.

Hovering in sharp contrast to the long-established and time-honored conventional ornamentation, contemporary no-nonsense AAnn infolos drifted everywhere. Their presence constituted an exorbitant waste of energy whose purpose was not only to supply information but to celebrate the importance of The Eye and those who were allowed to work therein. As he and his host made their way forward through the cavernous chamber, Flinx saw numerous nye gathered around one or more of the highly responsive migratory knowledge-base projections. Many of the most important decisions involving the course of the Empire were hotly debated in front of those infolos, Eiipul informed him, with the results to be voted on later.

Though the discussions were frequently loud and seemingly hostile, Flinx knew that such voluble acrimony was characteristic of the AAnn. Surprisingly, physical confrontations seemed to be lacking. When queried about this, Lord Eiipul responded with a gesture of second-degree amusement. The highly knowledgeable human was apparently ignorant of something that was a well-known fact to every AAnn.

“Challengess are forbidden in The Eye of the Nye. With sso much high sstatuss at sstake, if confrontationss were allowed here they would take up too much of the time essential to actually making crucial decissionss.” Extending one arm in a broad, sweeping gesture, he indicated the vast, crowded, noisy space in which they stood. “For the ssake of the Empire, argumentss made in here can only be contessted with verbal violence.”

Flinx started to nod, caught himself just in time, and responded instead with the appropriate gesture. “What happens when disagreements unresolved inside find their way outside?”

“On ssuch occassionss,” his guide informed him matter-of-factly, “it iss not uncommon for vacanciess to appear in the body politic. Thiss iss not a problem. For every noble or technocrat who perisshess in a challenge, ten eagerly await to take their place.”

Flinx was hardly surprised by the noble’s explanation. “I’d always heard that AAnn affairs of state were a bloody business.”

Eiipul took no umbrage at his guest’s remark. “Toughness iss forged in conflict. I mysself have taken and ssurvived many physsical as well as verbal blowss, and have prevailed in as many combatss as debatess.” Holding up his left arm and turning sideways, he showed Flinx a depression that ran lengthwise from elbow to shoulder. “You mark where musscle and connective tissue iss missing and was not resstored? The result of a ssomewhat heated disspute involving continental economicss.” He lowered the permanently scarred arm.

Flinx was at once appalled and impressed. Personally, he could not recall having read or heard of an instance where a human economist had resolved a disagreement with a fellow academician by ripping out the other’s tendons and ligaments. Clearly, Lord Eiipul regarded the disfigurement as a mark of honor. AAnn medical science was more than advanced enough for him to have had the muscle repaired or restored, had he so desired.

The great expanse of The Eye had a practical as well as ceremonial purpose. Its extent and the specific design of the highly embellished walls served to mute the volume of ongoing AAnn political deliberations. Apparently there was no such thing as a quiet debate among the AAnn. Flinx felt that the sometimes petty bickering he overheard as he loped onward alongside Eiipul was unworthy of the grand surroundings. Nevertheless, in the course of all the ancillary hissing and screaming it seemed that necessary decisions were eventually arrived at, consensus was periodically reached, and the resultant resolutions were set down to form new policy throughout the Empire. Though each noble was first and foremost out to advance the cause of him or herself and their extended families, it was clear that the raucous alien process still managed the work of successfully governing the Empire.

Reflecting on how closely the system reminded him of certain less savory aspects of human political discourse, Flinx found himself wondering not for the first time how the soft-spoken, conciliatory thranx had ever succeeded in establishing a functional political union with his own far more fractious species.

At the touch of a clawed hand on the forearm of his suit, he leaned to his left, the better to hear his guide’s whispered hiss.

“Ssay nothing. Leave everything to me. You do not know the proper protocolss. We musst work our way through the cusstomary Sspiral that Sswirlss. Within it you encounter a politeness that exisstss nowhere elsse in Krrassin, or for that matter anywhere the length and breadth of the Empire. As I have told you, we will not face challenge in the traditional ssensse. Here all battless are fought with wordss and phrassess, with gessturess and eye contact. It iss a ssign of resspect.”

“Respect?” Flinx murmured in response. “Respect for what?”

“For the eminence of the Emperor, of coursse.” Raising a hand, Eiipul gestured toward the center of the crowd immediately in front of them. It was composed of stylish AAnn strolling in an ever-tightening spiral. “He iss there, at the nexuss. The loci of Empire. We musst reach him. It will not be a ssimple matter.”

Flinx had already surmised as much. Making personal contact with a head of government was never easy. Ignoring the sporadic interrogatories that were lobbed in his direction, Flinx kept his jaws shut and stayed close to Eiipul, marveling as his host demonstrated exquisite skill with both language and gesticulation. With proficiency born of long experience the AAnn noble replied to, deflected, or disregarded each and every query that came his way, including those that were intended for his tall companion. In this manner they worked their way deeper and deeper into the eddying throng of nobles, bureaucrats, and advisers.

It was amazing to see so many commanding, combative AAnn functioning in such close quarters with nary a knife or claw being unleashed. Occasionally Flinx was nudged sharply by a passing nye or accidentally found himself bumping up against a crowding individual he could not avoid. Out on the street any of these contacts would have been sufficient reason for the offended to initiate personal combat. Here in The Eye of the Nye, at the hub of Empire, an atypical civility governed everything that was said, gestured, or done.

“There!” Raising one hand, Eiipul pointed with two of his four fingers. A modest open space loomed not far ahead of them, a circle of deference. Leaning against a resting post at its center, an elderly nye crouched low. Unpretentious, functional, and formal, his garb suggested nothing about his identity or his station. His attire contrasted powerfully with the far more costly, elegant apparel of those who swirled around him. At the moment he was conversing with a high-level government functionary from offworld. The latter’s gestures were filled with fawning, while his tone dripped supplication. Both nye were flanked by two discreetly armed guards nearly as tall as Flinx.

“Jirasst, human! Before uss sstandss the Beloved, the Wisse, the Clear-thinking and Ssharp-of-wit, Highesst Prince-of-the-Circle Navvur W, Emperor of all the AAnn.” Breathy reverence was absent from Lord Eiipul’s voice. In its place there was a wealth of genuine respect. “In hiss persson iss embodied all the hisstory of my kind and all itss hopess for a bountiful and prossperouss future. We sstand here at the heart of the Empire.” Once more he glanced over at Flinx, his voice low. “No human hass ever sstood sso near to the Imperial Pressence. Whatever happenss from now on, whatever your fate, know that you are the recipient of a ssingular honor.”

“I don’t feel honored,” Flinx replied in his usual self-possessed tone. “I feel hot and itchy. No matter how hard it tries to keep me comfortable and how much I work with the interior lining, some part of this simsuit always grates.”

Lord Eiipul gestured second-degree exasperation. “Truly, you are an unclassifiable example of your ssad, illfated sspeciess. Desspite having sshared the dreadful experience you promissed and having thereby become convinced of the truth of your outrageouss assertionss, a part of me sstill findss you to be afflicted with a deep and dissturbing madness.”

“That makes two of us,” Flinx told him.

Eiipul looked up sharply. “Thiss iss not the time or place to tell me ssuch a thing.”

Flinx had to smile. Recognizing the expression as one that had no proper AAnn analog, the simsuit’s programming and mouth-servos did not try to reproduce it.

“I’m waxing sarcastic.” He hastened to reassure his already nervous host. “Madness would be too easy an excuse for my actions and some of the things I’ve done in my life. Repeated excursions into idiosyncrasy and the inexplicable sometimes mark me as eccentric but—I’m not mad. It would be too painless an excuse.”

His host relaxed—slightly. “Pleasse remember if you would, trazzakk, that more than jusst your expendable ssoftsskin life iss at sstake here.”

“That’s true,” Flinx agreed. “The lives of everyone are at stake here.” Able to see over the heads of the majority of swarming, deliberating AAnn, he strained for a better view of the Emperor. “How do we present ourselves?”

A much-relieved Eiipul was able to turn thoughtful again. “We are very near, truly. From here on we musst take our time and proceed with caution. Every etiquette musst be obsserved. Converssations cannot be ignored.” He nodded forward. “As iss normal, otherss will try to engage uss in debate with an eye toward denying uss access. Attemptss will be made to divert uss from our preferred coursse. I will do my besst to facilitate our final approach, employing all of my sskillss at missdirection and evassion. With time and patience we will be able to …” He broke off to gape at the visitor. “What are you doing?”

“Saving time,” Flinx told him calmly. “Mother Mastiff always did scold me about never having any patience.”

In the center of The Eye of the Nye, within shouting range of the greatly beloved and most exalted Emperor Navvur W and surrounded by hundreds of the most eminent representatives of the AAnn Empire, any one of whom would be eager to acquire immediate status by tearing a presumptuous softskin to pieces, Flinx systematically began to disrobe….