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Flinx had to smile. “Are you sure you're not preparing for a career in the Imperial diplomatic corps?”

“I have not yet chossen a life pace,” Kiijeem confessed. A slight pressure on the end of his spine caused him to look down and back. Having coiled around his tail, Pip was playing with the twitching tip.

“She likes you,” Flinx told his host. “You should be flattered. She usually doesn't take quickly to strangers.”

Kiijeem turned back to the human. While the absence of a tail had many disadvantages, there was one clear benefit. The softskin could sit on any surface, in any position, without the risk of damage to the smallest of his vertebrae.

“Her epidermiss iss very ssimilar to that of my kind. I feel that sshe ssenssess a kinsship.”

“I'm sure that she does,” Flinx agreed. But if you try to hurt me, superficial similarities notwithstanding, she'll kill you without a second's hesitation. He did not voice the caution. Despite his deepening camaraderie with the young AAnn, there was nothing to be gained by filling him in on every little detail.

It was getting late. Or rather, early. Soon the sun would be up. Kiijeem straightened his body, rising up out of his resting crouch, his tail stiffening behind him. “Thesse passt dayss and the captivating time I have sspent in your company have enabled me to come to a decission.”

Flinx tensed slightly, readying himself for whatever might come. “Truly, it is always constructive when one comes to a decision.”

Both optical membranes were withdrawn as the youth looked over at him. “My decission iss—that I am not afraid of you any longer.”

Flinx relaxed. “That's a good decision to come to.” Extending an arm, he indicated the landscaped surroundings where he had spent the past week in comparative safety and comfort. “For my part, I have to point out that as agreeable as our meetings and conversations have been, we both know they can't continue forever. I've already spent more time here than I intended—and that has been because of you. I'm not complaining, mind—knowledge has been passed in both directions. But now …” Using both hands he executed a first-degree gesture of urgency. “Now I am truly compelled to move onward because of matters that lie beyond my control. It's time for me to leave.”

Kiijeem eyed his guest speculatively. “You are expected ssomewhere elsse? You do not sstrike me as the type of individual who fretss over a missed appointment.”

“The appointment I have to keep,” Flinx replied solemnly, “involves the future of your kind as well as mine. As well as everyone's.” How to describe his situation to this youthful representative of another species? How to convey even a hint of the seriousness, the weight, the overwhelming burden that life and circumstance had placed on his shoulders? Should he even try? If he tried, would his explanation make any sense? And if it did, what were the chances of it being believed? Better to keep his reasoning nonspecific and ill-defined.

“All I can tell you, Kiijeem, is that for the sake of the Commonwealth and the Empire, I must be allowed to return to my ship.”

His host considered. His response, when it was finally forthcoming, was not encouraging. “I have been able to keep you ssafe here becausse my family iss highly resspected, elevated in sstatuss, and dwellss on property that iss professionally ssecured.” A clawed hand gestured toward the distant, night-shadowed fence line. “But once you are beyond the family boundariess you will once again rissk attracting the notice of Imperial Ssecurity and find yoursself ssubject to public ssearching.”

Flinx gestured over at his now thoroughly aired-out simsuit. “I passed secretly and safely among you for a full teverravak. I can do so again. I only need to keep my identity a secret long enough to get out of the city. I've prearranged a location with my ship. It's situated well outside the city, in a locality infrequently visited by locals. A place where a fast-moving shuttle can touch down just long enough to make an unauthorized pickup. By the time its vector