Rep. Rodrec Zeramblin (Wedney-Majority) sighed, and poked at his pad. He was used to Haxo Gascec going off on tangents, but not generally in the office of the Floor Leader.

“That animal killed a girl, Madam Floor Leader. The law is the law. Why can’t we move to expedite matters? Why won’t you act?”

Rodrec smiled as he saw the Floor Leader take a deep breath. “There are good reasons, Haxo,” she said. She seemed to consider listing them off, but instead turned to Zeramblin, and said, “Rodrec, do you have those poll numbers?”

He chuckled. “Yes, Madam Floor Leader. Rep. Gascec, the reason I would caution the Floor Leader against acting is that the flash polls show significant support for freeing this human. It’s intense, it’s across the board – if we do the opposite, if we try to fry him fast – well, I hope you haven’t signed a long lease on your apartment.”

“Frak the polls! There’s right, and there’s wrong!”

“Indeed, Representative,” a cool, measured voice replied. “And yet you seem much more exercised about the death of one Titan than the hundreds of our fertilized roe that she sacrificed.”

“You aren’t even a member of the majority….”

“But Rep. Sezhow is a member of this cabinet, Rep. Gascec. You are not. You are here out of respect for your subcaucus. And you will demonstrate respect for the loss suffered by her people, or so help me I will dissolve this government,” the Floor Leader barked, eyes blazing.

“You wouldn’t,” Gascec said.

“Try me.”

Gascec took in a deep breath. “I am sorry,” he said, after a moment. “I recognize that this was a tragic loss. But the loss of the girl was no less tragic. And….”

“If not for the death of the girl, we might not know anything about this crime,” Josu Reus said. “Her death, while sad, has given us a window into the operations of the Insectoid underworld. You have to recognize….”

“Josu, you are not seriously arguing that a girl’s death is okay, are you?” asked the Treasury minister, Krym Aegae.

“She set her flight plan; she flew her ship,” the Minister of Law said.

“Look,” Rodrec said, holding up a hand. “This here – right here – is the problem. This issue unites the opposition and divides us badly. Rep. Gascec, I understand how you feel. A whole lot of my constituents – all of our constituents, excepting Minister Sezhow – are pretty squarely in the ‘kill the animal’ category. But a surprising number aren’t. And that includes members. You wanted the whip count, Madam Floor Leader, I got it – 391 members of the majority would vote to expedite the euthanasia of this human. We’re over 100 votes short, and if you think Aspire or New Empire are gonna give us those votes, good luck.”

“What if you put the government on the line? Made it a vote of confidence?” Asked Gascec.

Xeum smiled tightly. “First, there is no chance I’d risk this government over the fate of one human. Second…Rodrec, I have a feeling you have the punch line.”

“Yes, Madam Floor Leader. I asked every no vote that question, Rep. Gascec. You know how many would swing? Zero. Not a single one.”

“It’s hypothetical!” Gascec hollered.

“It’s insanity,” Aegae added.

“It’s my position,” the Floor Leader said.

Everyone in the room stopped at that statement. Rodrec leaned back just a bit; he knew where the Floor Leader stood on the issue, of course. She was the first person he’d asked.

“Madam Floor Leader, you cannot be serious,” Gascec said, aghast.

“Oh, I can, Haxo. I can. Look, I’m with you – I’m not choosing a human over a Titan. Humans are animals, Titans are people, everyone in this room, even Rep. Sezhow, can agree on that. But…well, I have a couple humans. I know Rodrec’s girlfriend does. Josu, didn’t you have some growing up?”

“Two. And Luza, Terith, Keli and I have been talking about getting a couple for the kids.”

“Exactly. And no, Haxo, I wouldn’t put the life of my pets over injury to an innocent citizen of the Empire. But I can tell you, if my neighbor came over, tried to eat one of my pets? I’d hope to the Emperor that she’d frakking choke to death. And I guarantee every other owner of a human feels the same way. Add in the fact that the people of Great Ocean view this human as almost heroic –”

“Not heroic,” Rep. Sezhow said. “We do not approve of his taking violent actions. However…we do not fault him for them. And I will be honest, I cannot say that I am overly disappointed in the outcome.”

Rodrec stifled a laugh. That was as close to bloodthirsty as he’d ever seen a Dunnermac.

Gascec shook his head. “Madam Floor Leader, if you mean to pardon….”

“Don’t be an idiot, Haxo, I’m not going to pardon the human. I know Tradition would walk if we did, and I already told you, I’m not risking this government over one human. But I’m also not going to rush his execution. And if the locals in Rutger find a reason to release him…well, I can tell you I’m not going to shed one tear for a girl who brought Dunnermac roe to be slaughtered, and who was merrily chowing down on live humans. And I’m surprised you don’t feel the same, Haxo. I thought you believed in law and order?”

Haxo Gascec shook his head. “My subcaucus is going to be furious. If we walk….”

“If you walk,” Xeum Agace said, coolly, “then I pick up my pad and call Stana Pron, and tell him that I’ve lost Tradition, and how’d he like to be part of a grand coalition, and oh, by the way, I’ll be happy to bring a bill to the floor freeing that human in Rutger, I know his caucus is very upset about it. And then, Haxo, we’ll go to the voters, and let them decide our fate, and as Rodrec was saying, they ain’t on your side.”

Gascec was fuming, but he knew damn well that the Floor Leader was right. He quietly sat down.

“All right,” Agace said, as if nothing had just transpired. “Now, Rep. Jophon, how badly do you think this is going to hurt our relations with the Insectoids?”

* * *

“Lissi!”

Olisi Ix had not gotten more than three steps inside her childhood home when a four-centiunit tall guided missile came screaming down from a shelf in the entryway. Out of old habit, she caught the pinkish blur, and pulled it to her cheek.

“Dibble, you goofball, how long were you waiting up there?”

“Since Naron said you were coming to visit. Not long. An hour or so.”

“Hmmf,” Olisi said, gently squeezing the tiny human clinging to her. “One of these days, I’m not gonna be able to catch you, you know.”

“I’ll be fine,” Dibble said. “It’s not that far down.”

Olisi pulled the pet from her cheek, gave him a quick kiss, and then looked at him, just for a moment.

“What?”

“Nothin’, Dibs,” Olisi said. “Just thinking.”

“Darling, are you okay?”

Olisi looked up at her mother, who had come into the entryway. “Yeah, mom, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, that…I mean, that girl…you must be devastated.”

Olisi sighed. “Honestly…not really.”

“But you go to school with her!”

“Mom, can I get in the great room before you start badgering me?”

Euthu sighed, and gave her daughter a hug. “I’m not badgering you, Liss. Just…girl your age, from your college….”

Olisi chuckled as they walked into the house. “It’s funny – you’d think so. But really…well, I mean, if I go fly to Slook and start messing around with Drazari, I’d probably get myself killed, and that would be bad for me. But nobody would say, ‘Oh, Olisi Ix, how tragic.’ They’d say, ‘Stupid girl got what was coming to her.’ That’s kind of the mood on campus – you go to dinner with the Insectoids, you can’t be shocked to end up dead or a maggothead. She got off lucky just ending up dead.”

“Hey, sis!” Naron called.

“And why are you here, instead of taking care of my niece?” Olisi said.

“Selen is bringing Ulla later. You think I’d deny her a chance to see her Aunt Leeohlesli? Also, if you want to keep that tack up with mom and dad, I’d appreciate it – it was getting lonely one-on-two.”

Olisi tousled Dibble’s hair. “You guys can’t be serious. What if it had been Dibble who she’d tried to eat?”

“Well…I’m not saying it would be no big deal,” her father, Viono, said. “But still…a person is dead.”

“Lot of people are dead,” Olisi said. “120 or so.”

That made the room rather quiet. “What?” Olisi added. “You aren’t counting the humans?”

“Well…we weren’t,” Naron said. “You are?”

Olisi walked over to a couch, and sat down, setting Dibble on the armrest. “You know what my toughest class this semester is? Advanced Theoretical Physics. Ridiculously hard. But my professor is really, really good. Tough, but he kind of has to be to get us through it. Still, I have learned more about physics in a few months than I had learned all of last year. He’s easily the best professor I have. And he’s a human.”

“I didn’t know you were in a class with the human professor,” Naron said. “I’d heard he was a fake, it was really his girlfriend behind it.”

Olisi laughed. “That’s hilarious. Not saying Dr. Bass isn’t smart, just saying that the idea of anyone controlling Dr. Freeman is silly.”

“Oh, come now, Liss. Someone’s just taught him what to say,” Euthu said.

“Well…I suppose, same way I was taught what to say about physics – by being taught physics. Trust me, mom, he understands his stuff. First few weeks, a few smartasses tried to catch him out, throw out trick questions, or something really hard that wasn’t in our text. He handed them their butts.”

“So there’s one genius human? So what?” Viono asked.

“So what? Dad…if there’s a human out there capable of being a college professor…what else are they capable of?”

“I can read,” a small voice said.

“Oh, Dibble, you can’t,” Naron said.

“Don’t be silly,” Viono added.

“It’s cute you think so,” Euthu said.

“Really?” Olisi asked. “When did you figure that out?”

She ignored that her parents and older brother all looked at her as if she was a credulous nincompoop. As did Dibble.

“I was watchin’ that show when Ulla was over, and they were showing how the letters go together – ‘Ishaytan’ sounds like ‘ai,’ and ‘kapezhe’ sounds like ‘kuh,’ and I started looking at some of the letters in the room and trying to figure out what they said. You guys sleep a long time, it gets boring at night.”

“Okay,” Viono said with a smirk. He opened his pad, and pulled up a children’s book his granddaughter was fond of. “Read this.”

Dibble looked at the pad, and furrowed his brow for a second. “The…the pilot flew his ship one day, to the spass…no…space base on the moon. He did no…did not know that he would meet…a friend named Dibithoon.”

Olisi chuckled. “That was very good, Dibble! Very good! You sure can read!”

“He must have memorized it,” Naron said. “When you were reading to Ulla.”

Viono shook his head, but kept his eyes on his pet. “No,” he said. “He was sounding out the words. He….” He chuckled in spite of himself. He could hardly believe he was saying this. “He looked just like you kids did, when you started to read.”

“Can I have some more stories like that, to read when you’re asleep?” Dibble asked, putting on his best pleading look.

Euthu sighed, and smiled. “Of course, Dibs. Of course you can.”

“Great,” Dibble said. “And I think it’s sad the girl died, even though she was eating a human. That wasn’t nice, what she did, but nobody should have to die.”

Olisi stroked Dibble’s back gently. “You’re right, Dibble,” she said softly. “Nobody should have to. Not the humans, or the Dunnermac roe, or Keeran Leffen.”

She looked up at her family, which was rather in shock. “I told you,” she said, triumphantly. “We have no idea what they’re capable of. I don’t know that they’re all ready to start holding down jobs and going to school – but I know that we’ve never bothered to figure it out. Maybe it’s time we did.”

Viono shook his head. “They’re still awfully vulnerable.”

“Maybe,” Olisi said looking at the pet they’d had since she was 14, a pet that had taught himself to read. “But whose fault is that? Theirs? Or ours?”

* * *

“Rhionne is here to see you, your majesty.”

Tiernan ColVanos, fourth of that name, Emperor of Archavia and All Its Possessions, Prince Consort of Juteneim, winced at the message coming through the intercom from his secretary.

“Acknowledged.” The regal monarch sighed and turned to his wife, the Empress Rajenlif, who was sitting in a plain wooden chair, idly sharpening one of her carving tools.

“She comes!” Tiernan said to her in mocking panic. “Quick! Go put on that silly poofy court gown of yours and I’ll hide underneath it.”

The only response he got from his wife was a barely noticeable quirk of her lip and an arched brow.

“Imagine that.” The Empress spoke in a mild tone. “The Great Tiernan the Fourth, afraid of a teenage girl.”

“Not just any girl.” Tiernan responded. “Your daughter.”

“Ah. I see.” Rajenlif nodded and returned to her tools. “When she’s in a good mood you’re more than happy to claim her, but when she’s mad, then she’s mine.”

“That is when she reminds me most of you, after all.” Tiernan chuckled.

“Very cute.”

The conversation was cut short as the door to Tiernan’s office was shoved open with a bang. Shortly thereafter entered their youngest daughter, Princess Rhionne.

The young lady strode into the room, breathing hard both from emotion and from having to ascend the three flights of stairs that separated Tiernan’s office from that of his secretary.

“Good morning dearest.” Tiernan greeted.

“How could you do this?!” The young woman roared as she stomped across the rather large office towards her father’s desk. “I thought you of all people would understand what’s at stake!”

“Rhionne Skohgal ColVanos!” Rajenlif snapped, looking angrily at her daughter. “I don’t care how upset you are, you are not to speak to your father in that tone!”

Rhionne was brought up short by her mother’s rebuke. Scowling, she took a breath and tried to recompose herself.

Fighting the urge to let an amused smile show on his face, Tiernan took a moment to take in his daughter’s appearance.

Rhionne angrily brushed a lock of her light brown hair out of her face, tucking one of the small pair of braids she wore- in honor of her Jotnar heritage- behind her ear. Her skin was a medium tan, perhaps dead center between his own dark brown and Rajenlif’s very pale. Tiernan’s gaze, however, was immediately drawn to her eyes. They were grey-green, like her mother’s, and currently blazing with righteous fury and indignation.

“I’m sorry father.” Rhionne murmured after a moment, and surprisingly it sounded like she meant the sentiment.

“You’re forgiven.” Tiernan replied, nodding.

“Now, I want to know why you haven’t stepped in to stop the madness over that poor human in Rutger.” Rhionne began again, in a quieter though no less intense tone.

Tiernan sighed and rubbed his forehead. “What would you have me do? March into Rutger and demand his release and threaten to start beheading someone?”

“Well maybe not the last part, but the first part sounded okay.”

“I can’t do that Rhi.”

“Why not?!” Rhionne shot back hotly. “Are you not the Emperor of Archavia and All Its Possessions?”

“Yes.” Tiernan fought to remain calm, to not answer the challenge in his daughter’s voice with his own. “But you want me to solve this by fiat. I can’t. I’m as bound by the law as any other citizen, perhaps even more so. I will not undermine the local authorities in this matter. Our family gave up the ability to impose our will on the people when we gave up dictatorship and nothing- not even saving a life- will ever make me take it back. Do you understand?”

Rhionne chewed on her lip and looked away.

With a sigh Tiernan rose to his feet and walked around the desk until he stood in front of his daughter. Cupping her chin in his hand he tilted her head up so he could look her in the eye.

“Rhi… I understand why you’re so upset. I do.” Tiernan continued in a soft tone of voice, using his thumb to wipe away the tear that had appeared on her cheek.

“I just can’t help but think, what if it had been-”

“I know.” Tiernan sighed. “But even though I’m the Emperor, and even though I now understand that a human soul is worth no less than a Titan’s… I can’t force people onto the right path. This is up to the authorities in Rutger. I have issued statements condemning what has happened and holding the Hive responsible for what they’ve done, and urging the people in Rutger to follow what I believe is the correct path… but that is all I can do.”

Rhionne nodded sadly. “I… I understand.”

“There’s hope.” Tiernan pulled his daughter into a hug and stroked her hair. “I understand that public opinion is generally in his favor, and many organizations are rallying to help him.”

“Good.” Rhionne sighed. “Thank you. I’m sorry I disturbed you.”

The young woman turned to go and Tiernan watched her leave, a dull ache in his chest.

After the office door shut, Rajenlif looked up from her work, a wry smirk on her face. “Is that true, what you told her about the organizations trying to help him?”

“It is.”

“Well.” The Empress muttered. “Looks like your network of informants is as thorough as ever.”

Rajenlif scraped her whetstone across the carving knife one final time.

“Almost as good as the one Pryvani Tarsuss has.”