"Could your excellency possibly enlighten me further as to the doubtless impeccable reasoning that has led your excellency to that conclusion?"
"Kif are involved. They would not readily convey this person closer to mahen centers of power. They had rather seek areas where circumstances are more favorable to them."
Meaning the border, the Disputed Territories that were still, despite aunt Pyanfar's good offices, a matter of disagreement between kif and mahendo'sat. She had no quarrel with that reasoning. She was only glad to hear it confirmed.
"But, enlighten me again, excellency: how has this individual known we were coming? How has gtst managed to evade us not once but consecutively? Or is this gtst doing?"
Tlisi-tlas-tin carefully set down gtst cup, with that twist of the wrist that signaled an end of tea, and a seriousness approaching severe.
"I cannot say."
"I have trespassed. But may I ask: do you advise us to continue as we are, and pursue this individual to Kshshti? And is there reasonable likelihood that there we may discharge our responsibilities and increase our respectability?''
"We must continue. We must go to Kshshti. There is no question."
"I thank your excellency for your most extreme good will. I am always enlightened and invigorated by your discourse. As your excellency knows, there is a mahe pressing us closely, who has offered us bribes and threats in his insistence to view the Preciousness…"
"Unthinkable!"
"I take it our refusals of this individual are wise."
"Villainy, utter villainy. Avoid this person!"
"He thought he could lay hands on your excellency's servant and extract information. The foresight of my crewwoman prevented him doing this. I therefore suspect he does not have the full cooperation of the directors of this station, or he could have laid hands on gtstisi. I think that he knew of gtstisi existence here, but not the exact whereabouts, nor could he discover it before we did… quite unexpectedly and by the forwardness of this juvenile person, and thanks in no part to the mahe in question."
"Most impressive." Tlisi-tlas-tin gave a slight glance aside to the servant. "Most desperate."
"I understand from this mahe that stsho were murdered here, most recently. He implied this was connected to the disappearance of Atli-lyen-tlas.”
"Distressing. Most distressing. Is there other information which may be tastefully asked?"
"He implied that the sight or even information about the nature of the Preciousness might enable him to make a critical judgment of its meaning."
Gtstcrest fluttered, lifted and lowered. "Unmitigated and unjustified arrogance!"
"I take it your excellency does not approve of his proposal."
"I perform indignities upon his graceless proposal."
"Is he possibly telling a falsehood?"
"In a most shameless fashion. This is a trading style well-known among mahendo'sat, this obtaining piece after piece of what one wants."
"A mahe could not possibly understand the meaning hi the sending of the Preciousness."
"You are far more tasteful than he and you do not comprehend."
"Most certainly so, excellency."
White fingers reached for the cup again, and turned it. The conversation was ended. "A symmetry of information has been reached," gtst said. "Do you agree?"
There were a handful of questions she would ask that would not get answers — questions like: what part are the kif playing? Are they working for anyone but themselves?
The stsho might think they were. That was the trouble. Everything was the stsho's estimate of what was going on… and the stsho had had their fingers burned before. The stsho might be the last to know what was going on. The stsho might be the last to know that they were understood by the mahen scientists who wrote treatises on their psyche.
Gtstexcellency said that no mahe could comprehend the nature of the Preciousness — but Haisi chased them from star to star trying to learn what it was?
One could conclude that a mahen Personage might not be the only player in this contest… that the information Haisi wanted might be going to someone who could interpret it.
"I have a thought, excellency."
One did not break the symmetry of a conversation. Tlisi-tlas-tin's brow knit and gtst mouth drew thin in displeasure.
"Would a stsho hire a mahe to ask us about the Preciousness?"
The frown deepened and lifted.
"Or enter into collusion with some mahe for that purpose?" Another frown settled on Tlisi-tlas-tin's brow.
"These are disturbing questions," gtst said.
"Are they wise questions, excellency?"
There was no immediate answer.
She cleared her throat. "Graceless as it might be, I might purvey him false information, and I would for your excellency's protection do so, if it would not offend you. But I would not know what falsehood might be believed by whoever hired him."
Tlisi-tlas-tin's respiration increased markedly. "These are most distressing ideas. I must consider them."
That the stsho would deceive… was well-established. But lying was not a word one tossed about carelessly, dealing with other species. Some species did. Some didn't. Some would, individually. Some would, collectively. And what some called lying others called an answer for indecent curiosity. Meddling with reality or its perception was, at least among oxy-breathers thus far studied, what intercultural scientists called a potential flashpoint — a ticking bomb in any interspecies dealings: the more alien, the worse in potential.
"I take my leave of your excellency. I entrust matters to your wisdom and discretion. Should I fail in elegance, I trust that your grace and most excellent sense will advise me to a more proper course."
"Most gracious."
"Most excellent and enlightening."
She hated bowing and backing. It wasn't hani. And she didn't do it all the way to the door, not quite.
Being hani.
No question then where they were going — and since they had missed that wretch Atli-lyen-tlas twice due to gtst damnable haste in going wherever gtst was going (one suspected now, away from them) speed might be of the essence. Which meant no delay in loading cargo, no great mass to what they could take, and no time to fuss about the niceties of what they took.
"Got a few possibilities, captain," Tarras said. ‘'Kshshti not being an unusual destination out of here.''
Meaning that they couldn't be too picky on that account either.
Hilfy read the list. It was a matter of figuring what they could load quickly, and one of the best answers was something light and valuable and easily disposed of in a port that bordered kif territory (she shuddered to think, and refused to carry small edible animals) and likewise lay on the receiving end of two lanes coming out of mahen territory, and one port away from stsho space and tc'a.
Methane load, maybe, which she hated almost as much as the small edible animals.
Or pharmaceuticals. She read the latest market reports from a ship inbound from Kshshti, ran it through the computer program that could spot the relative bad deals and bargains compared to markets elsewhere, factored with points of origin for the goods in question, plus a set of keywords like shortage and various diseases and rise and fall of prices in the business news. It advised, at least, it read news faster than a mortal eye could scan it, and it liked the pharmaceuticals possibility, the radioactives (another load she was not fond of, since one was at the mercy of the company in question's packaging practices, inspection was not easy, and some of them were appallingly naive about what a loader did to cans.) But Kita was an importer of such materials, while Kefk, one step further on from Kshshti, was a moderate exporter of said materials and reasonably would be shipping them to Kshshti… figuring trade possibilities was a headache on a border, because you couldn’t 't get thoroughly accurate information across said border: traders lied, governments lied, and the black market flourished, but a well-known ship was ill-advised to play that game.