• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 796 0

well as ceremonial purpose. Its extent and the specific design of the highly embellished walls served to mute the volume of ongoing AAnn political deliberations. Apparently there was no such thing as a quiet debate among the AAnn. Flinx felt that the sometimes petty bickering he overheard as he loped onward alongside Eiipul was unworthy of the grand surroundings. Nevertheless, in the course of all the ancillary hissing and screaming it seemed that necessary decisions were eventually arrived at, consensus was periodically reached, and the resultant resolutions were set down to form new policy throughout the Empire. Though each noble was first and foremost out to advance the cause of him or herself and their extended families, it was clear that the raucous alien process still managed the work of successfully governing the Empire.

Reflecting on how closely the system reminded him of certain less savory aspects of human political discourse, Flinx found himself wondering not for the first time how the soft-spoken, conciliatory thranx had ever succeeded in establishing a functional political union with his own far more fractious species.

At the touch of a clawed hand on the forearm of his suit, he leaned to his left, the better to hear his guide's whispered hiss.

“Ssay nothing. Leave everything to me. You do not know the proper protocolss. We musst work our way through the cusstomary Sspiral that Sswirlss. Within it you encounter a politeness that exisstss nowhere elsse in Krrassin, or for that matter anywhere the length and breadth of the Empire. As I have told you, we will not face challenge in the traditional ssensse. Here all battless are fought with wordss and phrassess, with gessturess and eye contact. It iss a ssign of resspect.”

“Respect?” Flinx murmured in response. “Respect for what?”

“For the eminence of the Emperor, of coursse.” Raising a hand, Eiipul gestured toward the center of the crowd immediately in front of them. It was composed of stylish AAnn strolling in an ever-tightening spiral. “He iss there, at the nexuss. The loci of Empire. We musst reach him. It will not be a ssimple matter.”

Flinx had already surmised as much. Making personal contact with a head of government was never easy. Ignoring the sporadic interrogatories that were lobbed in his direction, Flinx kept his jaws shut and stayed close to Eiipul, marveling as his host demonstrated exquisite skill with both language and gesticulation. With proficiency born of long experience the AAnn noble replied to, deflected, or disregarded each and every query that came his way, including those that were intended for his tall companion. In this manner they worked their way deeper and deeper into the eddying throng of nobles, bureaucrats, and advisers.

It was amazing to see so many commanding, combative AAnn functioning in such close quarters with nary a knife or claw being unleashed. Occasionally Flinx was nudged sharply by a passing nye or accidentally found himself bumping up against a crowding individual he could not avoid. Out on the street any of these contacts would have been sufficient reason for the offended to initiate personal combat. Here in The Eye of the Nye, at the hub of Empire, an atypical civility governed everything that was said, gestured, or done.

“There!” Raising one hand, Eiipul pointed with two of his four fingers. A modest open space loomed not far ahead of them, a circle of deference. Leaning against a resting post at its center, an elderly nye crouched low. Unpretentious, functional, and formal, his garb suggested nothing about his identity or his station. His attire contrasted powerfully with the far more costly, elegant apparel of those who swirled around him. At the moment he was conversing with a high-level government functionary from offworld. The latter's gestures were filled with fawning, while his tone dripped supplication. Both nye were flanked by two discreetly armed guards nearly as tall as Flinx.

“Jirasst, human! Before uss sstandss the Beloved, the Wisse, the Clear-thinking and Ssharp-of-wit, Highesst Prince-of-the-Circle