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trunk.  What about input from your companions on your difficult journey to the village where you were
finally picked up?
Hasa made a face.  They didn t see anything. I found it. Me. They didn t believe me about it even after I
explained everything to them. I m the sole discoverer, and I expect to be treated as such.
 I m sure you will be. Commonwealth citizen or not, she decided, she positively did not like this man.
Skilled and qualified he might be, but he was also vulgar, shallow, boastful, conceited, and self-centered.
Furthermore, she did not like the way he looked at her at all. It was certainly not with the respect due the
Commonwealth s ranking representative on Fluva.
 I want a parade, he declared brashly.  I want an official proclamation acknowledging my
accomplishment. It s not every day a new intelligent species is discovered.
She eyed him dryly. The more she learned about the pannula s discoverer, the less enthused she was
able to be about the undeniably astonishing discovery itself.  Anything else you want?
He leered at her so blatantly she would have slapped him except for the distance between them. Jack
never noticed the voiceless exchange. He was too busy examining exposed mycelium.
There was not much she could do by way of reprisal. Jack and a totally enthralled team from his
department validated the obnoxious bioprospector s claims. The two members of the first rescue party,
the Sakuntala Jemunu-jah and the Deyzara Masurathoo, did not dispute Hasa s claim of sole finding. As
much as she disliked having to do so, she was forced to affix her official endorsement to the affidavit of
discovery that was forwarded a week later to Commonwealth Science Headquarters on Earth and
Hivehom.
Compensation for having to tender congratulations to a repellent specimen like Hasa came in the form of
an unexpected and unusually expeditious reply from Earth to her most recent communiqué. She read
through the lengthy space-minus response several times. Only when she was sure it meant everything it
said and that she fully understood all the implications did she decide to call the summit.
20
It was as big a room as could be safely, easily, and reasonably erected on Fluva. Considering that the
entire structure was suspended by strilk cables from a combination of pylons and trees, it was relatively
spacious. The astonishingly lightweight dome itself was made from an aerogel alloy. Not as strong as
plexalloy, but it didn t have to be. The crystal-clear structure had been blown into place, not poured or
welded.
Beneath the arching transparency were curving walls of similar material, stained to translucence to block
out views of the town and varzea outside. The sturdy interior walls had been covered with patterned
tri-reliefs of scenes from the Viisiiviisii and of Deyzara and Sakuntala village life.
Filling the wall at the far end of the circular edifice was a grand semidrift map of the Commonwealth,
framed with quotations from the United Church and symbols of both secular and spiritual power. The
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overall effect on someone entering from the outside was inspiring without being oppressive. It ought to
be: the entire layout had been vetted by the appropriate branches of the Commonwealth Department for
Contact with New Sentient Species, Class V sector. Every visual effect was intentional and nothing had
been left to chance or improvisation.
Matthias liked the building. She would have preferred to have had her offices in the large, airy space.
But the dome had been designed to accommodate and impress large groups, not to facilitate the often
dull, boring work of daily administration. It was entirely functional, but not for bureaucrats.
The dais behind which she stood was equipped with instrumentation that would allow her to amplify her
voice, have it instantly and simultaneously translated into as many as a hundred different languages,
defend her position from attack by explosive and energy weapons, project elaborate tridee diagrams and
constructs into the air between her and the audience, and, if necessary, supply a quick meal. It faced
dozens of seats. Some balanced on three legs in the style favored by the Deyzara. Others were
suspended in the fashion of the Sakuntala. Not from the dome, which could not handle such weight, but
from graceful arcs of supportive composite. No column of rain fell through the center of the building in the
manner of traditional Sakuntala meetinghouses. Humans desired to avoid the relentless, unending
downpours of Fluva, not invite it inside their buildings. That much leeway in construction had been
granted to her predecessors.
The steady patter of rain was a distant susurration high overhead. Unlike individual rain gear, the roof of
the gathering chamber was not static-charged to repel moisture. Raindrops ran in all directions from its
apex, forming an attractive pattern overhead that gently dispersed the light falling within. The combination
of smoothly dispersed liquid and distant beating had a soothing effect, which was exactly what its
designers had intended.
Certainly none of the venerable personages who were slowly filling the available seats were exhibiting
overt hostility to one another, although plenty of that lay seething beneath their diplomatic exteriors. She
perceived it in the agitated way the Deyzara shifted their trunks, in the swift, short flicking of Sakuntala
tails and ears. For now, it was enough that no one took a swing at another or openly flaunted weaponry.
While she had not personally made the acquaintance of everyone present, there were enough familiar
faces to make her feel comfortable. On the indigenous side, Naneci-tok was present together with a
small retinue representing the burgeoning Sakuntala merchant class. Jemunu-jah sat on her immediate left,
in the place of honored influence. The administrator also recognized Cecolou, head of the powerful and
influential C Tiu clan, and a few others.
Representing the Deyzara, Masurathoo sat in front in the middle of a row of respected members of the
mercantile and social communities. Her attention tended to focus on the assembling Sakuntala. Not
because she favored them, but because the body wrappings worn by the Deyzara were blinding in their [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]