The V'Dan (10 page)

It did mean that Jackie couldn’t sit with Li’eth at lunch, but she could feel him engaged in multiple video conversations in his quarters. Somewhere in there, he managed to snatch enough bites to count as a meal, and returned to the observation lounge looking composed and neatly uniformed as usual.

The meeting with the Solaricans and the Tlassians was held after lunch, after a break long enough to cool down and dehumidify the other side of the observation lounge. As with the Choya, Li’eth had prepared a speech to explain the next two races before opening the window. There was a different mix in the Terran audience this time; Captain al-Fulan had been replaced by his second-in-command, Lieutenant First Class Jasmine Buraq. Clees was still on hand with his cameras at the back, but the historian was now a Thai man, Surat Juntasa.

He sat in the front row to Jackie’s right at a politely murmured request, and peered at the shuttered window through a pair of archaic-style glasses. Seated next to him, when he turned his head away a little, she could see the heads-up display on the inner side of the lenses and realized he was using
a piece of personal recording equipment more discreet than Panaklion’s hovering equipment.

Catching her looking his way, he smiled and spoke in Thai, tapping the metal frame of his glasses.
“I inherited these from my great-grandfather. Twenty-first-century interface equipment, reprogrammed to communicate with modern equipment. They still work. Not everything that is old is obsolete.”

Her Thai was a little rusty, but she managed to reply in kind.
“I’m glad your eyesight is fine, Juntasa. I was worried for a moment as to why you needed them.”

He shrugged.
“As the body ages, the eyes that wax in youth will wane past middle age. Besides, I can pick up thermal images from these things. The whole thin bar across the top doesn’t just provide stability; it’s a sensor input like the old gaming systems of . . .”

He had to break off when a voice came through the comm unit in the wall.
“We are ready on this side.”

“Ambassador?” Li’eth asked her, while the others fell quiet, ending their own conversations. He waited while she looked around, then at a gesture from her, he replied through the pickups.
“. . . I will give them the introduction now, then open the shutters when all is ready.”

“Acknowledged.”

This time around, Jackie resolved not to be as distracted. She would pay attention to every little thing. Oddly, it wasn’t easy. Her body wanted to shift in her seat, when she knew she had to stay respectfully, attentively still.

“The next two Alliance races you will see are the two who get along best with our fellow V’Dan,” Li’eth stated, gesturing at the shutter-covered wall. “In your language, they would be described as
felinoid
, for the Solaricans, and
saurian
, or
reptilian
, for the Tlassians. Amusingly enough, there are evolutionary patterns that have created creatures similar to your
monkeys
on the Solarican and Tlassian motherworlds . . . but they are not related to each other, nor to your monkeys, just as your cats and lizards are not related to either of these races.

“For all that they evolved on separate worlds, the Solaricans and the Tlassians can consume several of the same foods, live in the same general conditions and climate ranges—the Solaricans prefer temperatures that are a little bit cooler,” he
allowed, “but they can tolerate heat, just as the Tlassians can tolerate cold conditions.”

“They are warm-blooded?” Maria asked from her seat at the far end of the front row. “The Tlassians regulate their body temperature biologically, rather than assisting it with external temperatures?”

“Yes,” Li’eth confirmed. (
I am glad she explained what that meant,
) he added in a brief aside to Jackie. Continuing out loud, he dipped briefly into the backgrounds of each race. “The Solaricans have several pockets of colonies scattered around the galaxy, and admit as much, but they prefer not to invoke cross-regional trade since they claim that once you know five or six interstellar visiting races, they are similar enough not to bother with such things. Out of politeness, we have chosen to believe them . . . but the Empire secretly suspects it is because the cost of transporting trade goods is prohibitively expensive. Particularly as the hub of all their travel, their homeworld, lies well above the galactic plane.

“The Tlassians, on the other hand, are the nearer of the two, and are our closest neighbors. They occupy a swath of the galaxy that lies ‘upstream’ of the V’Dan Empire—‘downstream’ is toward the black hole at the center of the galaxy,” he clarified, “as everything slowly drains in that direction—and have happily allowed pockets of the Empire to settle on their colonyworlds, just as we have allowed some of their settlers to build homes on our own. The Solaricans have a few enclaves here and there, but tend to strive to be self-sufficient wherever possible.”

“Just like cats,” someone in the back row joked under his breath. The Imperial Prince frowned.

“No,
not
just like cats. Their political structure requires them to be self-sufficient. Based upon the felines we brought with us to V’Dan, most cats tend to be modestly social at best, and often are loners. Solaricans tend to form strong social bonds. They are in a precarious position, however, as there is only so much of the resources of the Empire overall that can be dedicated toward any one particular clutch of Solarican settlements,” he informed them. “That means they must limit the potential for conflict, and one of the easiest ways to do that is not to get into situations where problems and misunderstandings between species could escalate into open aggression and combat.”

Jackie was pleased when the man muttered a soft but sincere, “Sorry, I didn’t think.”

“Please do think,” Li’eth stated earnestly, looking at each of the Terrans seated before him. “You may not meet many Choya, but you will meet a lot of Tlassians and Solaricans, many Gatsugi, and on average more K’Katta than the Choya. Please think in advance about what you might say, how you would gesture, and even the way that you smile.”

“Diplomacy 101,” Rosa stated.

Li’eth, who had been given a chance to study some of the classes offered in Terran learning institutions, nodded at her, understanding the reference. “Exactly. Basic diplomacy rules. The Solaricans, because of their rules on not evoking any conflicts, tend to be a little reserved around strangers. Once they get to know individuals, they can be warm and welcoming. Tlassians, on the other hand, are much more open in their lives. Which brings me to a warning about interspecies . . . relationships.”

“A warning?” Jackie asked, glancing at the others. They, too, looked curious.

“Yes, a warning. Tlassian attitudes toward things which most V’Dans, and presumably most Terrans, find private and personal . . . tend to be more open and direct. Additionally, they find the scent of certain of our kind to be . . . intriguing. If I may be blunt and direct, rather than diplomatic,” he added, and switched languages to Terranglo, “
a typical Tlassian might find one of you sexually attractive, based on how you smell in person . . . and they might make an offer to engage in sexual activities. They will make this offer even if you are in public, surrounded by others, though the actual act is expected to take place elsewhere. They are not pushy about it, however.
”

Jackie felt her face heat a little. Glancing to either side, she saw she wasn’t the only one; even the unflappable Rosa was looking a bit pink in the cheeks.
“How should we handle this, diplomatically? How could it even work, if they’re a completely different species?”

“Tlassians and V’Dan—Humans—have similar, ah, equipment,”
Li’eth explained. He was grateful it would take a while for the interpreters to catch up on their language and
translate this part. It wasn’t entirely proper for a member of the Imperial bloodline to discuss such things, let alone so openly.
“There are no known diseases that can cross between the two, though of course that is based solely upon V’Dan information. In terms of function and capacity for pleasure, both species work in similar ways. And, of course, it should be obvious that there is no way to crossbreed between the two species. Only the Feyori can do that, and only by
becoming
the same species as their intended target.”

“So it’s acceptable to simply say ‘No, thank you,’ when turning them down?”
Jackie asked. Receiving a nod, she asked next,
“What is the proper protocol if one is instead intrigued by such things? That is, after there have been reassurances that our pathogens won’t harm them.”

“Jackie,”
Rosa murmured, her tone quelling.

“I am not going to tell anyone they
have
to explore in those directions,”
Jackie countered firmly.
“But I am equally reluctant to say they
cannot
, either, as it is their body and their life, not mine. Nor yours, for that matter. The only instance in which I could is if there is a sound reason, such as interspecies pathogens, or who knows what. Similar methods doesn’t necessarily mean the exact same.”

Li’eth reassured them quickly.
“Like us, they do not copulate in public but will offer to make arrangements for a date, then see how things go from there, which is very similar to V’Dan custom, save that we’re a bit more discreet,”
he told the listening Terrans.
“As for differences in, ah, expectations, actions, and reactions, it is advisable to do a lot of research beforehand. There are resources in our data matrices, which can be made available. It’s not common, but neither is it unknown for V’Dan and Tlassians to . . . indulge.

“Both nations’ viewpoint on the matter is, so long as everyone involved is fully adult, fully willing, and have done research beforehand . . . it isn’t anyone else’s business. As in any relationship with one of our own kind, casual or otherwise, I would advise getting to know a particular individual as well as the mechanics of the subject in general before exploring in such directions.”

Seeing the Terrans nod impatiently, Li’eth figured the subject had been covered sufficiently. It wasn’t something he was
personally familiar with, being from the Imperial Tier, but he could have named five people of the First Tier who he had heard had indulged in such things. He continued in V’Dan.

“Above all else, even if it offends your personal preferences, please consider it a compliment if a Tlassian makes such a suggestion. They will not take offense if you say a simple ‘No,’ and they will respect your decision. In fact, they will not bring it up again with you in particular if you do say ‘no’ . . . so there is no need to
remain
offended. And if there is no need to remain offended, there is no need to be offended in the first place. Agreed?” he asked.

“Agreed,” Jackie replied, nodding. “We will make sure it gets put into any protocol handbooks involving
Human
-Tlassian interactions.”

“Excellent. One other thing,” Li’eth added. “Don’t worry about not being able to tell genders apart. They do not have as much overt gender dimorphism as our species does. Tlassian females tend to be a little larger than most males, but they are comfortable with being called by neutral terms. With all that said, are you ready to meet them?”

At a nod from the gathered Terrans, he turned to the controls, contacted the other side to let them know the Terrans were ready, and, upon receiving clearance, retracted the shutters.

This time, the same two V’Dan reporters were there, but a different officer occupied the front seat. It was a red-uniformed male with his pale cheeks and ash-blond hair spotted in dark purple rosettes, similar to Shi’ol’s grass-green markings. Next to them were seated two vaguely feline figures in the front row, two more in the back, and to the right of them, closest to Li’eth’s side of the observation window, a trio of Tlassians all seated in the front.

The Tlassians were more eye-catching in a way; the one on the left had purplish, rugged skin shaded to light brown and beige, with a purple-and-beige crest stretching across the skull, sort of like a halo. The center Tlassian had a mottled, banded greenish hide, and the last one had a yellow face, fading to blue toward the back of the head and along the almost triangular sides of the neck. The two-part coloring extended down into blue on the backs of his or her hands, with yellow on the inner forearms, palms, and fingertips.

Their eyes were more forward-facing than a typical lizard’s, and their limbs looked like they had more freedom of movement. Their garments were sleeveless and cross-folded in front, sort of like a
jinbei
, a sleeveless Japanese jacket, and their trousers were made from gathered folds, each leg almost as broad as a skirt, gathered at the knee. The one with the yellow-and-blue coloring wore sandals baring claw-tipped toes, while the other two wore boots. Their tails could be seen tucked under the stools they used, or curling around to the side, though the limbs didn’t look quite as flexible as the tails of the Solaricans in the middle seats.

Those four, the two Solaricans seated in the foreground and the two in the back, were more humanoid in their general build than the Tlassians, though otherwise they were quite felinoid in appearance. The slope of their brows to their noses were different than expected, more lionish than house cat, and their jawlines gave them a sort of heavy-jawed, muzzle-like air, but weren’t nearly as pronounced as the Tlassians, with their forward-thrusting snouts and large nostrils. Both species had taller than expected skulls, too, given how they did look vaguely like Terran lizards and cats.

Fur colors and coat lengths varied quite a lot among the Solaricans. The first one to catch Jackie’s eye, seated just to the left of the Tlassians, bore a very short, plush, almost velvet-length coat of fur in a soft cloud silver, outlining a whipcord body. The second one she focused on, seated closest to the V’Dan on Jackie’s left, was a shaggy-maned felinoid with a hide of predominantly thick cream fur with brown and ginger blotches that had apparently been trimmed short on the limbs with the alien equivalent of barber clippers, save for an almost decorative “ruff” at his or her wrists and ankles. The color of that trimmed, neatly combed, long fur was a rich cream blotched here and there with solid ginger-spice and coffee-brown patches.