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.The creature nodded, but it was hard to say if she d convinced it to bring trade goods when it cameagain. What about a trip home?Miranda hadn t really realized that Stacy, Deborah, and Jan had followed her until Stacy spoke up.She could see right off that the Vernamin wasn t happy about the suggestion even before it spoke.Itspread two of its arms in a strangely human-like shrug. We did not bring you here.We have no notionof where your home world might be. But you have the capability?Again the thing shrugged. We have the capability of space flight, but unfortunately not the range theSheloni are capable of.This is why we did not aid the Hirachi in returning to their home world.Miranda studied the thing angrily for a long moment. Of course it had nothing to do with the fact thatthey re so good at collecting thejasumi. We would not have been happy to return them regardless, theVernamin admitted,  but the factremains that it is not within our capabilities.Miranda was obliged to admit that that was possibly true.Humans certainly didn t have a huge range ofcapabilities in space flight.It was almost easier to accept it as truth than to consider the bug like aliens might be moretechnologically advanced than humans. But the trader might, Stacy persisted.The alien focused on her.The prolonged silence was indication enough of thought without any sort ofexpression. The Hirachi bartered for you, did they not? They said we were free, Stacy said a little defensively. And you feel no obligation to repay their generosity?Miranda felt discomfort settle with a twist in her belly. We don t have any wayto repay it.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html The female of the species always has much to offer the male, the alien contradicted. It is the nature ofthe female to reproduce young, to nurture, to give comfort & to bring about structure, order, and culturebecause they have need of it to ensure the safety and survival of their off-spring. They re not interested in us, Deborah said flatly. We aren t their species.Miranda thought the bug-alien looked almost surprised and then amused. They are vastly different thantheir brethren then.The Sheloni has sprinkled the solar system with the Hirachi they stole away from theirhome world.It was the Sheloni who introduced the Earth females to the Hirachi to begin with.And thosewho have been gifted with the Earth females seem completely content with them.They have off-spring,and thus the Earth females seem content, as well. I guess they are different, Miranda said glumly, not completely certain she believed the tale anyway.The Vernamin shrugged. That will change when their spawning season is upon them, you may becertain.They will have a great difficulty resisting the need & now that the threat of having their youngenslaved or being separated from them has been removed.And once the deed is done they will be boundto the females who bear their young. They are a noble species as I said, admirable.They have suffered much, surmounted great tragedyand hardship and still retained a noble spirit.They are strong.Strange, they may seem to you, but there ismuch they have to offer your off-spring.Miranda smiled thinly.She was sold.She didn t know about the others, but she d been sold before theVernamin s praise.That wasn t the problem.The problem was trying to sell the Hirachi on the idea whenthey couldn t claim nobleness, or anything else the Hirachi would consider desirable qualities to pass on.She hated to admit it, and wouldn t, but evenshe thought the Hirachi would be breeding down.Intellectually, she supposed they were on par at least close.She didn t think they were superior,particularly in light of the fact that the Hirachi had obviously been plucked from their own civilization andpitched into the same stone age they had and were thriving.Physically, they were just plain inferior.She didn t think size was necessarily the be all and end all ofphysical superiority, but the human enclave barely had the strength and stamina to survive the hardshipsthey d encountered thus far and that was withhelp.If not for the Hirachi, she didn t doubt they d bewell on their way into a downward spiral by now.Accepting the Vernamin s comments to mean an end to the negotiations, she nodded. We ll havesomething to trade when you return, she said firmly, with far more confidence than she felt. We ll needtools and weapons.If we do well, we d also be interested in a few things of comfort clothing, or atleast the materials to make clothing, grooming supplies like soap and combs, some sort of bedding.They watched the Vernamin until it had disappeared into the ship again and finally moved away.Theyhadn t actually seen that the ship disturbed the ground much when it moved, but they preferred not totake any chance of being fried.The ship rose, moved slowly across the compound toward the bins.Abeam of light not unlike the one that had snatched them up appeared below the ship.When itdisappeared again, there was a large bin similar to those holding thejasumi.Moving again, the shiphovered over each of the bins, rather like a bee extracting the pollen from flowers, and the beamappeared once more, extracting their goods. It was a female, Deborah said emphatically.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlMiranda, Jan, and Stacy all turned to stare at her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]