Kamiton had chosen a nephew of Zainal's, firstborn son of Zainal's favorite sister, which confirmed Zainal's premonition that the news was bad. As Kris often did, she compared the new arrival to her beloved Zainal. She did not expect any familial resemblance, although she noticed as the young man-probably in his mid-twenties approached that he was slightly shorter than Zainal but still tall for a Catteni. He had the heavy build of the true Catteni, born and adapted to Catten's heavier gravity. His grayish skin and yellow eyes were expectable. Zainal's Botany tan had altered his skin tone to a more vibrant shade of taupe and made Paxel seem drabber by comparison. But it was in the features that the main difference was plainly visible. She had always liked Zainal's nose, which was not as fleshy as most Catteni. Certainly, Zainal's mouth was better shaped, not as thick as Paxel's and far more flexible, often giving her hints as to his mood. It was severe enough right now, though; she noted the little flattening of his lips, indicating that he found this situation disagree-able and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. She suspected then that he was anticipating a problem.
So, in his capacity as one of the governors of Botany, Zainal greeted his nephew Paxel affably and offered him coffee-a great new favorite of Catteni. Paxel grinned, showing three gold caps, a sight that caused Kris to have to hide an astonished grin. Zainal covered her astonishment by introducing Paxel, name and rank, first to Dwardie. "This is a sister's firstborn, Emassi Paxel. I make you known to Eminent Dwardie, and my mate, Excellent Lady Emassi Kris, and Pe-ter Easley." He reached for the message, which Paxel somewhat reluctantly handed over.
It bore Kamiton's name, plus the characters that confirmed that other Catteni officials were aware that a message had been sent to him. That did not bode well. He waved Paxel to a chair at the table in the hangar office. Then he broke the seal and could not suppress a grunt of dismay. When he had digested its import, he tossed the letter across the table to Kris, who could read some Catteni, though probably not all the diplomatic terms and courtesies. The gist of the message stood out as if written in red: "Barevi merchants will not sur-render any Terran goods retrieved by the Eosi or Catteni captains."
Paxel's eyes had mirrored astonishment when Zainal gave the message first to Kris, rather than to Peter. Very few Catteni women were ever consulted on matters of significance.
"You mean, they need a bribe to give us back anything?" she demanded, outraged. "And sent your sister's firstborn with the news so you wouldn't kill him out of hand?"
Zainal managed not to grin at her quick understanding of the ploy. She flicked the message across the smooth table toward Peter. "What?" Dorothy Dwardie was equally incensed. She read the note over Peter's shoulder.
"They're very acquisitive, the merchants of Barevi," Kris said, having dealt with them during her enslavement on the trade planet and more recently during her clandestine visit disguised as a Catteni officer.
"They don't mind dealing in stolen goods?" Dorothy asked, frowning at the message that Peter peered at in a total lack of comprehension, for it was in Catteni script.
"Most if not all of what they sell has been 'acquired,' one way or another," Kris said, watching Paxel's reaction.
"Business is at a standstill now that there is no new material com-ing in from Eosian"-Paxel cleared his throat-" development." "Development?" Peter echoed, glaring at the young man. "Polite terminology for forced acquisition," Kris translated com-posedly. "However, knowing how Barevi operates, this doesn't surprise me," she said, indicating the message. "I didn't think we'd get anything back without a quid pro quo."
"A what?" Zainal frowned at words he didn't understand.
"Old Latin saying. Something for something," she told him in a low voice.
"But we must have the loot returned to us," Peter said, "since the production lines for many essential parts are no longer functioning. The spare parts that the Catteni 'acquired' could rectify a great many useless vehicles:'
"Agreed, to the necessity to repossess the parts, especially those communication elements," Kris said.
"Business on Barevi is at a standstill, and the merchants refuse to surrender trading goods," Paxel repeated, as if that was the most important consideration.
"Even if we used the same technologies:" Peter began, irate. Kris held up her hand. "It's a fine sample of Catteni psychology," she said, smiling at Paxel. Being a firstborn was some protection for Paxel as far as his treatment as the messenger was concerned, but Kris did not intend to mince words or exchange false courtesies. "It drops, it stays-until it's paid for-one way or another," she went on, using the slogan facetiously in an effort to relieve the tension in the office. "We were promised restitution of materials forcibly removed from Earth's manufacturing facilities," Peter said. She gave him a long, cool look.
"The merchants require compensation." "That's piracy," Dorothy said, equally annoyed.
"That's business," Kris said. "I know the merchants. They love haggling. It's a way of life. Besides which, we've already made use of many pirated commodities that the first Barevi expedition brought back." She gave Dorothy a quelling look. Dorothy probably hadn't considered those goods as "loot" since they had been paid for, at least at the Barevi market. Now Kris could wonder if the merchants had been paid for the tab run up against a bogus ship's account. Oh well, that was for the Catteni accountants to resolve.
"But Kamiton-" Peter began.
"Supreme Emassi Kamiton," Paxel said, "promised in good faith what regretfully he cannot now deliver. He is trying to resolve a delicate situation for all concerned." His bow to Zainal was full of respect.
Zainal was impressed by Paxel's poise and tried to hide his disappointment at finding many of his own, perhaps too ambitious, plans now being thwarted by Barevian high-handedness. Establishing easy communication links between Botany and Earth was vital as the pres-ent connection was fragile and subject to more delays than mere distance. The "spurt" technique of communications, developed for contact with the Martian colony, was ideal for shooting wads of messages from Earth to Botany and reduced, somewhat, the time lag, but he had hoped to install similar links to the other forced colony worlds that would strengthen Botany in the new balance of power in this part of the galaxy-at least in having easy communication with like-minded, Terran-populated worlds.
The restoration of some basic commodity manufactories in the food industry, flour mills and food preservation, was essential not only to revive local economies and open the infrastructure of the damaged urban areas, but also to provide trade goods to the now hungry mar-kets of Barevi. The setback of having to ransom what the Barevian merchants had lying about useless in their stalls was a further insult. Of primary importance was the repair and recommissioning of power sources that had fallen in the initial Catteni onslaught, or later when the Resistance forces were trying to force the Catteni conquerors off Terra. The restoration of easy communications was vital to the re-construction effort. It was imperative to know where relief supplies were most critically needed as well as how to help relieve local emer-gencies. Priorities had to be assessed by appropriate experts and on-site information was needed to do so. He would like to see comm sats above the other nine Catteni worlds and links to Catten and Barevi. He grinned at Paxeclass="underline" messages would then be easier to send and less dangerous to give. He wondered idly if Kamiton had quite antici-pated the problems he was facing as the new leader of the Catteni. Certainly, when the man blithely promised the return of looted ma-terial-and Zainal had specifically mentioned what had been trans-ported to Barevi, since he already knew how many captured goods were on display in. that marketplace-Zainal had been dubious, even then, about the possibility of an easy repossession. Kamiton was obvi-ously not enjoying as much support as he had anticipated or Zainal had hoped for. So Kamiton had dumped the problem back in Zainal's lap.