The Man Who Used the Universe by Alan Dean Foster

Author:Alan Dean Foster [Foster, Alan Dean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 2nd Rank
ISBN: 9781587150494
Publisher: * Clean Text
Published: 1999-12-01T08:00:00+00:00

"By no means, young one." She was being funny. Chaheel was nearly her age. Maternal humor, the psychologist mused. "But truly has the volume lessened. There are times when I think the Orischians, for example, now loathe us more than the humans."

"Of course," Chaheel reminded her, "the lessening of tension has taken place primarily among humans who have regular contact with us or who are accustomed to our presence here in large metropolitan centers."

"I suppose that's so," she said. "You still hear of violent incidents taking place on outlying worlds. Restavon, Terra, and Evenwaith are the only places where we have been truly accepted." Her voice dropped to a guttural whisper. "That will matter no longer when we assume control of their government."

Chaheel expressed surprise. "So you know about that."

"I am senior functionary here," she informed him pridefully. "It would be impossible for me to function properly without knowing the true intentions of the Families."

Her aura of professionalism faded and she asked with sudden interest, "I understand you have actually met Kee-yes vain Lewmaklin himself."

"Twice." He was a touch put off by the admiration in her voice. "Once quite recently when he offered me my present position here. That was barely a year ago." Have I been in this place another entire year, he mused? The home-longing bit at his soul once again.

"The other time was many years ago on one of our own worlds. I was instructed to monitor him while he witnessed a Birthing."

Purel Manz was shocked. "That is difficult for me to believe. Did it not come from so respected an individual as yourself, I should not believe it."

"It's true. I found it hard to accept at the time myself. Permission was granted him."

"Well, he is such an important person," she murmured. You've no idea how important, Purel Manz, he thought. "I suppose exceptions must be made." But the shock still showed in the contractions of her eyelids.

"Tell me," Chaheel asked her, "how many others on the Nuel staff here know that their commercial work is only part of a greater plan to infiltrate and subvert human government and commerce?"

"Only my personal assistant. The rest believe only that they participate in interworld commerce, which is of itself beneficial to the worlds of the Families. Most tolerate the drawbacks of working on a UTW planet in return for the remuneration, which benefits their immediate families and which is considerable. Lewmaklin pays his employees well.

"And as I told you, it has become much easier here these past few years, much more tolerant than it was for those of us who had to be first. It will be a gentle takeover when it finally comes. Humans are not so bad after all, when they can be disabused of some of their more primitive, deeply ingrained prejudices."

"You almost sound as though you're becoming fond of the race," Chaheel suggested.

"When you work with certain individuals, no matter what their shape or attitudes, for as long as twelve years, it is hard not to form some sort of attachment.

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