“I will certainly never turn down an invitation, Poron,” Scylane Rimosi said, “I am wondering why you wanted me to watch this with you, though.”

Cesil chomped on a burnleaf blunt, and glowered at the viewscreen. “Lystar’s interviewing him.”

“I know,” Rimosi said. “It should be fun to watch.”

“Hmm.” Cesil poured out a kapskrasi, and watched the screen. Momp Lystar was, as far as most Federationers were concerned, the best newsman in the Federation. He was tough, he was thorough, he was friendly – and he was a firm believer in the Federation Way.

Scylane looked over at the Federation’s guide, and raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think Lystar’s gonna take him apart?”

“Lystar’s interviewing him. Straight up,” Cesil said, setting the blunt down and taking a sip of alcohol. “One-on-one. No others there.”

It took Rimosi a moment to catch on. “Oh. You don’t…look, Poron, I don’t think….”

“Well, you frakking well should!” Cesil said, slamming the crystal glass on the table. “Lystar’s intervewed lots of people. And now he’s interviewing a human. A frakking human! The fact that he’s showing up at all….”

“Poron, it’s not…he’s interviewed Ler, too,” Rimosi said, calmly. “He hasn’t limited it just to Titans. It’s not just their inferiority. It’s that they aren’t us. And he most certainly is not one of us.”

“Yeah,” Cesil said. “But they are.”

They were the rabble who were presently occupying Walak Central Square, and the jerkwads who had been staging daily protests in Gleebo, the mobs throughout the Federation who’d been building since the Human Rights Riot.

Cesil was waiting to crush them; he was not prepared, unfortunately, to put the next part of his plan into place, and he knew that if he moved in prematurely, the government in Tuaut would intervene.

He’d tried to walk a fine line. He’d made the expected statement that his government found the Zeramblin Act to be contrary to the charter, and he had met Jonto Cethje’s lawsuits with counterclaims based heavily on pre-Magilna jurisprudence. Oh, it wouldn’t stand up, but he didn’t need it to. He just needed to gum up the works, and keep giving the Empire no reason to immediately intervene. They didn’t want to. Even Loona Armac was circumspect about military action against a province. It had been over a hundred years, after all, since any had been tried.

But he had to be careful about his actions. He couldn’t smash the protests, not the way he wanted to. They were watching closely, and that was fine. Let them watch the protests…and ignore the movement of materiel between Sol Federation and Profa and System 610048. But if he closed them down…well, the Empire was weak, but they weren’t completely without intestinal fortitude.

Alas, he’d even had to call off the Block. Well…not off. They were counter-protesting in large numbers opposite the Walak folks. But while the Blockers could easily disperse the crowd…well, Lemescu had passed along a message from Qorni, which was blunt. Nobody was willing to pretend there was a difference between the Block and the Titan Party anymore. As far as Qorni was concerned, an attack by the Block on peaceful protesters would be like an attack by peacekeepers.

So far, she hadn’t put troops on alert, nor had she seriously threatened his control. Just a bit longer, and it wouldn’t matter, but….

He had to be patient. Just a bit longer, and they could move.

“And now,” said Momp Lystar’s voice, drifting over from the viewscreen, “I’d like to welcome, just out of a cage at the Human Owners’ Society, Yamanu Neutha. Yamanu, good to have you here.”

“Momp, good of you to have me. And just so you know, it can’t have been a HOS; I understand that Lyroo Prenn pulled the charter of all Federation operations. It’s more of an illegal detention facility, one which should be closed down immediately.”

“It’s a place for pet humans, Yamanu. Like yourself.”

Yamanu smiled; he’d been warned about Lystar. But he’d spent human centuries dealing with people who called him a pet; this was an old game, and if he was tired of it, he was still able to play with the best of them.

“Momp, you’re familiar with Article XXI of the Imperial Charter, I’m sure.”

“Well…of course I am. Are you suggesting you are?”

“’All provinces of the Federation are bound to obey Imperial Law and the Imperial Charter.’ That’s the first line in perhaps the most important section of the Charter; it’s what makes the Federation a single entity, one nation.”

“When it was first written, Titans were the only species in the Empire, you know,” Momp said.

“True, but Imperial Law, starting with the Dunnermac Equality Act, has been very clear; all Class One Sentient citizens of the Empire are equal, regardless of their species. The Zeramblin Act made many humans in the Empire into citizens, and all of us into Class One Sentients. The Federation is bound to obey.”

Cesil threw his half-empty glass at the viewscreen; had the screen been made of glass, rather than transparent carbon, it would have shattered spectacularly. As it was, the crystal tumbler was the one to yield, falling to the floor in a dozen pieces.

“For frak’s sake, Momp!” Cesil shouted. “Why not just ask him to explain how great Tez Magilna is?”

The interview had continued in the interim, with Lystar pressing Yamanu on all the many reasons that humans were at risk in Titan territories, which Yamanu had generally agreed with.

“I’m not saying that you have to change your society, eliminate shuttles, and always watch for humans wherever you go,” Yamanu said. “Some basic safety changes will need to be made, but those of us who want to live among Titans are going to have to do what we’ve always done, and adjust to a world built for you.”

“You know, you keep talking about the adjustments you make, but what about the one world you actually control, your province, Avalon?”

Yamanu blinked. “Actually, I live in Tuaut….”

“I mean the human province, obviously,” Momp said. “You say you should be able to move to Walak. Well, let’s say I want to move to, what is the city there?”

“The capital is Atlantis,” Yamanu said.

“Right. Sure. So let’s say I want to move to Atlantis. I can’t. It’s too small. I can’t go to the restaurants there, or go for a jog. If all Imperial Citizens are supposed to be able to move anywhere, what the frak are the Avalonians doing to adjust to us?”

Yamanu smiled; Lystar obviously thought he’d made a very winning point here. It almost made Yamma feel bad to shred it.

“Well, first, Titans do live on Avalon, in the Tayas Mons compound – well, actually, it’s technically a small town now. There are gravitic dampeners under it, which makes things much more comfortable – you probably wouldn’t enjoy living in 300 percent of Archavian gravity.”

“All well and good. But still, the city….”

“You’re right,” Yamanu said. “You can’t go into the city full-sized. Just like you and I can’t go into the Deepwater District of Great Ocean without a rebreather. Just like Ler and Dunnermac and Titans can’t go to some of the highest treetops on Homeworld-of-the-People, lest you break the branches there. Just like no non-Ler is going to last very long outside of Ndnd without a very good air conditioner. And certainly, there will be places in Titan cities that can’t be made safe for humans without causing problems for the Titans – and nobody is suggesting that you destroy them for our benefit.”

“Still, Avalon is restricting immigration, is it not?”

Yamanu managed not to sigh. “Avalon is a Table III colony. It’s still developing, and as such, it has the right under Imperial law to manage its growth. But you know what? The Avalonian Council is studying the feasibility of terraforming Herakleos III, the moon nearest Avalon. Its gravity is well-suited to Titans, and it’s close enough that hologram bandwidth would not be cost-prohibitive. Now, that’s a ways off, of course – they’re still working to figure out how to integrate millions of human immigrants. But the point is, the Avalonians do want Titans, and Dunnermac, and Ler to be able to move to their province someday. Because they and we are part of this Empire now. We are part of this Empire, and that means that we are bound to the four other member species, just as you are. And that we humans have a responsibility to work with you as the equals we all are.”

Momp Lystar was now sweating a bit, Yamanu noticed. He got the sense that the enormous interviewer had underestimated him.

Back in the Guide’s residence, Scylane Rimosi was sure of it.

“Lystar, frakking what the frak,” he muttered.

“You see why I was nervous,” Cesil said, while pacing.

“What I’m amazed by,” Rimosi said, “is how poised the little frakker is. Thought sure him getting picked up by the HOS….”

“Were you behind that?” Cesil asked.

“Behind it? Not exactly. Just…made a suggestion.”

Cesil chuckled. “Embarrassing for him, I suppose they stripped him, checked his chip, whole rigamarole?”

“Yup. But he seems to have taken it in stride.”

“He’s not an idiot,” Cesil said. He caught the question being asked, and muttered, “Gorram it, no, Momp…just….”

“So you’re married to a Titan?” Lystar pressed Yamanu.

“Yes, I am. And tremendously lucky.”

“Because she can take care of the more difficult tasks.”

“Lifting things is easier for her,” Yamanu said, “but finding things that she’s dropped under the couch is easier for me, so it works out.”

“And you claim to have children with her?”

“It’s not a claim,” Yamanu said. “Martin and Malala are legally mine. You can check with the Imperial Records Office. It’s DNA-verified.”

“So you mated with a Titan? How?”

“We loved each other,” Yamanu said. “Very much.”

“No, I mean…how? That’s disgusting!”

Yamanu took a breath in, and let it out. “Which part?” he asked.

“Which…you little vermin, you crawl up the skirt of a good Titan woman, and you ask what’s disgusting about it?”

The outburst shocked Lystar as much as anyone. He was a good interviewer, and normally good at hiding his outrage. He was flustered. It didn’t happen often.

“Mr. Lystar,” Yamanu said, calmly, “if you think that’s all there is to conceiving a child, well, you may want to complain to your sex education teacher back in secondary school. And if you think I’m crawling up any article of clothing on my wife without her enthusiastic consent…well, I can assure you, I’m not suicidal. Now, you may continue to insult me and my wife if you wish, and if so, have at it. But Mr. Lystar, I don’t think that’s going to make me look bad; do you?”

Lystar stared for a long moment, before he said, “So your next protest….”

“We’re going to Krogh Fazala in two days, to continue reaching out to the many Federationers who have been supporting our message,” Yamanu said.

“You’ll be doing one of your…play-acting bits?”

“We will be taking direct action,” Yamanu said. “Asserting the rights that are our due under Imperial law.”

“And when are you going to go home, and leave the Federation alone?”

“When you treat your human citizens as citizens. And not a second sooner,” Yamanu said. “So if you want me to go…try that.”

“We’ll leave it there….”

“He’ll leave it there. Frak him,” Cesil said.

“Neutha’s awfully frakking good. Do we need to take further action?”

“No,” Cesil said, staring down the viewscreen. “He’s a gorram hero to the babies in the Federation, and there are a lot of people here who seem to hang on his every word. We hurt him, they get mad. No, we’re gonna wait him out. How long?”

“Our friends are nearly ready,” Scylane said. “And we will be to 80 percent in about two weeks.”

Cesil nodded. “Push harder. We need to be ready. The longer we wait, the more this movement builds strength.”

“They aren’t a majority, Poron.”

“No,” Cesil said. “But that doesn’t mean they aren’t a threat.”

****

It would be so easy.

“But whhhhhhhy?” the little Human woman whined in a tone not dissimilar to a child that had been told she had to eat something disgusting, green and broccoli shaped.

A pinch of her fingers would all it would take to make part of the small woman’s body go ‘pop’ and then annoying whining would turn to entertaining shrieks of agony. Myrell momentarily lost herself in that thought but was soon wrenched back to reality by more high pitched complaining.

“Enough!” Myrell snapped, her eyes flashing with anger, her practised goody, goody act breaking for a moment.

Pri stopped and stood still and afraid.

“You will go to the classes and play a nice little Human because your master has ordered you to.” She snapped getting closer and closer to the tiny woman on the desk. “I have a reason for ordering you to do so. I have a purpose for you. You owe me for taking you and feeding you and looking after of you. I could have just left you there.”

Myrell rose back up and composed herself.

“And when this is all over you can come home with me and meet my friend Pryvani and I know she will just love you.” Myrell said and tussled the little woman’s hair.

“You…you really think so?” Pri asked nervously.

“I know so!” Myrell smiled. “And don’t worry about the classes. You just need to go! You don’t need to work or do well. You are perfect just as you are.”

“I am?”

Myrell beamed and batted her lashes in a way she had learned that disarmed Titans and Humans. “You are! And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If Pryvani won’t have you I will keep you myself.”

“I’d like that.” Pri smiled.

“Good! Now time to go. Just as we practiced remember?” Myrell said extending her hand.

Pri nodded that she understood and stepped in her master’s hand.

It didn’t take Myrell long to make the walk from the compound and into the residential section of the city. She stopped and looked around when she was certain the street was clear of sentient life and bent over and started to retie her shoe laces. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of the tiny blonde woman skipping away.

Myrell sighed and stood up, examining her pad to see where she was scheduled to be this morning.

“She’s a useful little girl…” Myrell thought to herself. “I wonder if it’d be more fun to kill her or keep her as my pet when this is all over?”

She shrugged and started to hum a sweet tune as she gently skipped down the wide street as the sun crept its way above the horizon. Along the pavements people were walking to and fro heading to their morning classes or group sessions. Myrell smiled sweetly at them as she went.

“I suppose all of these things will be mine when it’s over. I’ll keep Pri…unless she gets really annoying.” She mused silently to herself.

Myrell let out a girlish laugh and waved to a group of Humans on a street corner. “Good morning all you lovely people! I hope you have a wonderful day!”

————-

Author’s note – once again thanks to D.X. All of the Federation material in this story has been contributed by him.