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continued to trundle on past.  Why shoul the population respon to the predicament of an unfamiliar
alien?
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 Because, came the triumphant reply,  the human has lost its memory! It is an innocent in every sense of
the wor . If the scaled ones will accuse and harass a sentient with no memory, it suggests that no
individual, no matter how guiltless, is safe from the indifferent vindictiveness of AAnn authority. At the
least, any substantial public reaction shoul make our own authorities think again about how much
cooperation to exten to these AAnn who are living and working here among us.
The more Lwo-Dvuum thought about it, the more efficacious the suggestion sounded. By directing
support to an alien such as the human, no one could accuse the circle of attempting to shield one of its
own. They could show that even other AAnn resented the activities of the Authority that had been put in
charge of the investigation into the two incidents.
The human itself, of course, was incidental. Surely it could not object to the Vssey raising a defense on
its behalf. Riding the walkway and plotting in silence, Lwo-Dvuum wondered if the human actually might
be involved in some way with the two attacks that had been made against the AAnn presence. It seemed
unlikely. Svi-Ormoth had said that the creature had lost its memory. That raised the intriguing question of
why the interrogator Takuuna was so interested in it.
The more he pondered the state of affairs, the more Lwo-Dvuum saw possible benefits to the cause.
The educator remembered wishing, some time ago, for something different with which to unsettle the
AAnn. An incident. A diversion. An event. It was entirely possible that the resourceful Svi-Ormoth had
found one.
Use the case of the human to aggravate the AAnn. It was an invigorating idea. What the human might
think of it, the educator could not imagine. Perhaps, as events developed, Lwo-Dvuum might find the
opportunity to meet the creature and learn what there was about it that so interested the detested AAnn
official.
Meanwhile, the ever-expanding circle would use the case of the human to further their own interests.
Without having met it, without even being familiar with its species, Lwo-Dvuum already considered the
human an ally. Whether the human had any opinion on the matter was not important. Anything that
unsettled the AAnn benefited the Vssey. With luck, the situation might even be used to sway the AAnn s
greatest ally: the indecisiveness of Vsseyan public opinion.
Save the poor human. See how the AAnn truly treat sentients other than themselves, even one devoid of
memory. Lwo-Dvuum was much pleased. The educator could see the leaders on the mass
communications readings already.
As he made his way through the administrative compound, Takuuna wondered what Keliichu wanted
that required the administrator s corporeal presence. He was very busy and wondered, sensibly, why
information could not be exchanged via communicator. Passed into the chief administrator s inner
sanctum, he did not have to wait long to find out.
Keliichu was upset. That much was readily apparent. Takuuna immediately slipped into defensive mode,
his sandaled feet instinctively seeking firmer purchase on the smooth floor.
 I thought, truly, that the human sspy in whosse company you sspent time wass dead.
More than a little taken aback, Takuuna sought to gather his thoughts.  Truly, I thought the ssame,
respected Adminisstrator. I ssaw him plunge over the edge of Ssaudaun Chasm. When I went to look
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over the sside, there wass no ssign of him.
 There iss now. At the terse wave of a hand, several images in succession materialized above the chief
administrator s desk.
Takuuna recognized the human Flinx instantly. He also recognized at least one of the AAnn beside him: it
was the attractive female from the Ssaiinn complex.
 Yess, I know. He dwellss among the missguided artissans of the Tier of Ssaiinn, who live in issolation
far out on the Smuldaar Plateau. I too wass only recently made aware of hiss unexpected and
inexplicable ssurvival, and have only jusst returned from traveling there to bring him in for quesstioning.
Unfortunately, the memberss of the Tier, operating under a ssysstem normal nye can only pity, refussed
to let him return with me. Outrageouss, truly! Naturally, not wanting to provoke a confrontation with
helpless artissanss, I wass compelled to return to Sskokossass to ssee to ssome necessary legalitiess.
Thesse are now in hand. It wass my intention, truly, to return to the Tier ss complex later thiss very day
to bring the ssoftsskin in.
 No, hissed Keliichu.
Takuuna almost swallowed his tongue.   No, honored Adminisstrator? You do not wissh me to
recover the human sspy?
Keliichu s tone was unrelenting.  Firsstly, Secondary Adminisstrator Takuuna, we do not know that the
human iss in fact a sspy, or a persson of ssubverssive intent who hass been working with Vsseyan
dissidentss.
 Honored one, I musst protesst! My perssonal experience clearly indicated that 
 Calm yoursself, Takuuna. If the human hass indeed losst hiss memory, as our own people of thiss Tier
inssisst, then it doess not matter what he wass truly?
 But he could recover thosse dangerouss memoriess at any time, resspected Keliichu, Takuuna
protested earnestly.
 Perhapss. In any casse, the circumsstances ssurrounding the ssoftsskin have changed. Have you had
occassion to recently view the latesst planetary media?
Yet again Takuuna was confronted by a combination of request and accusation whose immediate
significance escaped him.  Directing the sspecial unit occupiess the great majority of my time, venerated
Keliichu. I am afraid I have no time for perussing the ussual lugubriouss native drivel.
Keliichu gestured third-degree understanding, oddly punctuated with second-degree irony.  Perhapss
you sshould allocate it a little of your preciouss time. Another wave of his hand replaced the images of
Flinx and AAnn artists with selections from the general Vsseyan media. Surprisingly, these in turn also
contained images of the human, though Takuuna could not read the accompanying local script. He had
never wasted any time learning it.
He did not have to strain for clarification because without pausing Keliichu proceeded to interpret it for
him.  It sseemss that word of your previouss attempt to take the human into cusstody got out. There hass
been a leak ssomewhere. As Takuuna started to protest, the chief administrator waved him off.  How
or where doess not matter now. We have the reality of it to deal with. And the reality iss that at leasst an [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]