The Cause of Death by Roger MacBride Allen

Author:Roger MacBride Allen [Allen, Roger MacBride]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Spectra
Published: 2009-10-25T07:00:00+00:00

SIXTEENTHELEK

"Ah, there you both are," High Thelek Saffeer called out. "Come, Agent Wolfson. You too, Agent Mendez. Please, join us."

Senior Inquirist Brox 231 watched nervously as the two human agents approached the table. He glanced over at Thelek Saffeer. The fool was positively radiating confidence, utterly sure that he had already won, that the game was over before it began. The High Thelek had of course known that the humans suspected their Pavlat-made clothes were bugged, and that therefore it was to be expected that the humans would wear their own clothes, however absurd-looking, when they wanted a private chat. The Thelek, Brox knew, had deliberately used that knowledge to arrange for this meeting to take place when the humans were badly dressed. What sort of creature would go to that effort merely to make an opponent look bad?

"Welcome, welcome to you both," the Thelek said.

"Thank for welcome," said the younger of the two humans, the male. Mendez, that was the name. The Thelek had spoken in Reqwar Pavlat, and Mendez had at least done his best to answer in the same language.

"You are of course the brave human lawkeepers Mendez and Wolfson," said the Thelek. "I am known to you. I present Brox 231, of the planet Kendal." It did not escape Brox's notice that the Thelek did not identify him as an Inquirist of the Kendari Inquiries Service. On the other hand, the humans were not likely to assume he had come to Reqwar as a tourist.

Both humans turned to Brox, and nodded very slightly. "My partner and I greet you," said Agent Wolfson, likewise in Pavlat, very stiffly and correctly. And we don't much like seeing you here. They didn't say it, but they might as well have done so.

"Please," said the Thelek. "Sit down, join us."

The two humans exchanged a quick glance, a half nod that Brox would not have caught at all, if not for the training he had received on human nonvocal communications. The humans were unsure of their ground, but confident enough about each other to go forward without discussion. Brox felt sure the Thelek hadn't spotted any of that. He was taking a terrible risk with a face-to-face meeting if he couldn't interpret human reactions better than that.

The two humans took to their seats at the two more or less human-style chairs set at the six-sided table, between Brox and the High Thelek. There was no food or drink set at their places, and their chairs were equidistant between Brox and the High Thelek so that they had to sit at the angles of the table, rather than at the sides. All that was theater, of course, and Brox had no doubt the humans were receiving the message that the High Thelek was sending. We have placed chairs suited to your species, so you know you were expected. We have not arranged a comfortable place for you, or a meal, however, so that you will know you are not worthy to eat with the High Thelek, though Brox the Kendari has received that honor.

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