Chapter Sixteen

The court of the Emperor MUUNIINAA III was designed to impress and overawe, from its profusion of bejeweled robotics and whisper-silent electronic attendants to the luxuriousness of its furnishings. The fact that everything in the throne room was functional as well as decorative was wholly indicative of the AAnn mind-set. While the AAnn were fond of ceremony, it was never allowed to get in the way of operational efficiency. This extended from the lowliest sand monitor to the highest levels of government.

The emperor, of course, had not possessed absolute powers since ancient times. It was an elective position, as were those of lord and baron and the lesser nobles who ruled beneath them. It was simply that the AAnn could not let go of tradition, so they adapted it to fit a contemporary, star traversing cluster of systems and worlds. Though it rang of history and ancient regimes, it was in reality about as feudal in nature as the programming of the latest massive parallel quantum computers that navigated the ships that darted and plunged through space-plus.

So while Lord Huudra Ap and Baron Keekil YN wore the ceremonial robes of high office, each noble's elegant attire and gem-studded investitures powered individual defensive screens and a full suite of communications gear to keep them in constant touch with both immediate underlings and detached constituencies. Standing with bowed heads and lowered tails as the Emperor retired from the chamber to deal with the mountainous and decidedly unglamorous paperwork of office, they exchanged a glance that signified a mutual need to talk.

Other groups broke away from the assembly to chat informally or to discuss matters of serious import. For Huudra and Keekil it was a matter of both.

Heads bobbed in greeting, and finely manicured claws were courteously sheathed. In addition to their repertoire of other skills, both nobles were masters of manners. Together with several other nobles, they formed one of the dozen or so organized cliques that dominated the politics of the assembly. The matter that Keekil wished to discuss with Huudra, however, had nothing to do with imminent business of state. It was more a matter for mutual speculation that both had made a specialty of theirs. Aware that everyone from the opposition parties to the emperor himself relied on them for the most current information on the matter, they had made it their business to keep in constant communication with those far-flung representatives of the Empire who were in a position to be knowledgeable.

It was in this spirit of curiosity and need that Huudra greeted his friend and ally, whom he would not hesitate to undermine to advance his own status and position. Keekil hissed a warm greeting, quite aware of what his associate was thinking. He was thinking the same thing. There was no animosity involved. It was the natural order of things. Such constant competition strengthened the assembly, and by inference, the Empire.

"It is all sso very peculiar." Keekil favored blue in his robes, in all its most sallow permutations. Even the communicator that hovered patiently several centimeters to the left of his mouth was plated in gleaming pale blue metal. "Thiss business of the thranx attempting to make alliess of the mammalss."

Huudra excused himself long enough to answer a priority call and suggest several alternatives to a disagreeable situation to the technocrat on the other end. "Apologiess, honored Keekil. Then you think the inssectiles are sserious about it?"

The baron gestured assent, adding a supportive hiss. " Yess, I do. The quesstion iss, are these humanss?"

Overhead, hoverators hummed back and forth, scanning for intruders, petitioners, and possible assassins. The temperature in the room was high, the humidity a tolerable 6 percent. Both nobles' personal communicator suites hummed for attention. For the moment, they were ignored.

"My own ressearchess indicate an inherent reluctance on the part of the human population, both on their homeworld and their coloniess. More than that, they sseem to have a vissceral fear of the thranx sshape." He hissed his amusement. "Can you imagine it? Deciding intersstellar politicss on the basiss of sshape? They are an immature sspeciess!"

"There iss nothing immature about their technology," Keekil reminded his aristocratic colleague. "Their weaponry iss the equal of the besst of the Empire's—or of the thranx. Their communicationss are ssuperb. Their sshipss ..." The baron gesticulated admiration mixed with paranoia, a difficult gesture for any but the most accomplished orator to execute eloquently. "Their sshipss are elegant."

Huudra drew back his upper lip to reveal even, sharp teeth set in a long jaw. "I have sseen ssome of the preliminary reportss. There iss ssome dissagreement as to whether they are better than ourss."

"If they do indeed exceed the capabilitiess of ourss, then they are better as well than anything flown by the thranx." Irritated, Keekil waved a ringed hand across his waist. The persistent hum of communications demanding response promptly died.

"That would be reasson enough to sseek them as alliess." Huudra scratched at a loose scale on the side of his neck. Sparkling in the bright artificial light of the throne room, it fell to the floor and was promptly vacuumed away by an unobtrusive remote cleaner built to resemble a four-legged kerpk. "Our interesstss would be better sserved by convincing them to become confederatess of the Empire."

"You know our envoyss have had little ssuccess in pers-suading the humanss of the many advantagess that would lie in aligning themsselvess with our interesstss." Raising a hand, Keekil had to wait less than a minute for a drifting sus-tainer to place a filled drinking utensil between his fingers.

"Yess." Huudra was not thirsty. Idly, he wondered if Keekil's drink might be poisoned. It was a natural thought, as was the corollary that the baron would not be so readily consuming the contents of the container if they had not been thoroughly tested by an independent machine prior to arrival. "These mamalss value their independence."

"That will have to change. I am persuaded by our pssych sspecialisstss that the humanss can be convinced. We already know that they are resisstant to pressure. Nor have rational ar-gumentss ssucceeded in sswaying them."

Huudra indicated his irritation. He ranked Keekil, but not by enough to intimidate the other noble. "Then what are we to do?"

"Have patience, I am told. The most convinced human iss one that hass convinced itsself. Wait for them to entreat uss. When that happenss, it will make for a sstronger alliance between uss, as well as one in which we remain the dominant component." The baron sipped at his refreshment. "There iss only one problem: otherss who have the ssame hope."

"The benighted, dirt-loving insectiles." Huudra added a general curse notable for its grace of understatement.

"Truth. They have had only the most modesst ssuccess thuss far in overcoming the humanss' natural antipathy toward them. For that matter, a great many thranx find the appearance, habitss, and activitiess of humanss detestable. Thiss mutual abhorrence iss of coursse greatly to our benefit."

"Then nothing hass changed." Huudra prepared to depart. The administration of his own fief awaited, and decisions waited on no AAnn.

"That iss not entirely true, honored friend, if certain re-portss are to be believed."

Huudra hesitated. "What reportss? I have heard nothing to indicate that the relationsship between human and thranx hass changed. Certainly not for the better."

Keekil gestured apology mixed with slyness. "Perhapss that iss becausse my ssources are more penetrating than yourss." He was unable to resist the dig.

Huundra scowled. "I will grant you the ssmall triumph of esspionage—if you have ssomething worth hearing."

"There iss ssomething very ssecret afoot. Information sspeakss to a great rissk the thranx are taking, in concert with a few sselect human alliess."

The lord of the Southern Fief spat his disbelief. "The thranx do not gamble. They are cautiouss, calculating, and predictable. They do not take 'risskss,' esspecially on matterss of ssuch importance."

Keekil refused to be put off. "Nevertheless, the report iss there, for any who care to read it. It claimss that the inssectiless have embarked on a rissky coursse of action that, if ssuccessful, would greatly accelerate the improvement of their relationss with the humanss."

Huudra's instinctive inclination led him to shrug off this outrageous claim. The thranx did not gamble, and any attempt to rush humans into a decision, as experience had already shown, usually had the opposite effect. The insectiles knew this as well as the AAnn, and whatever else the eight-limbed might be, they were not stupid.

"I would deign to perusse ssuch a report," he replied absently, thus presenting a formal request to see the analysis in question. "I do not dissmiss it out of hand. I ssimply find it difficult to countenance."

"As do I." Finishing the last of his drink, Keekil held the utensil high over his head. A cleaner swooped down to pluck it painlessly from his fingers. "Yet to ignore it sshould the information it containss mature to fruition could prove perilouss."

It was a diplomatic way of saying that their titles, not to mention their tails, might be at stake. Buried as he was in administrative work, Huudra knew he could not ignore any report that commented upon human-thranx relations, no matter how seemingly ludicrous. Not when he and Keekil had been charged with keeping the emperor's council informed of the matter. He hissed soft resignation.

"I will read it through, of coursse. Tell me, honored colleague: Sshould the leasst of it prove to have a basiss in fact, iss there anything we can do about it?" The thought of frustrating the aims of the pedantic but indomitable thranx raised his spirits.

Keekil blinked slyly. "Jusst possibly, honored associate. Jusst possibly. The thranx are not the only sspeciess capable of ssubtle interference in the affairss of other sspeciess of ssig-nificance. It iss amazing how with a little imagination and careful planning, one ssecret can be turned againsst another."

Caucusing quietly, they exited the room as the rest of the assembly trickled out behind them. The more Huudra heard of Keekil's intentions, the greater his professional admiration for his colleague. In the shifting sands where cunning slithered, none traveled more subtlely than the AAnn.