Dirge by Alan Dean Foster Read Free Book Online Page A

Adjami was rubbing a recently fallen leaf between his fingers, wondering what wondrous esoteric pharmaceuticals it might contain. “What do your people think about the Pitar? Officially they’ve been very reticent on the subject, but I’ve spent enough time in the company of your kind to recognize that more is being discussed in private than is being said openly.” He smiled, showing a number of ceramic teeth. “Though short the requisite number of limbs, I have managed to acquire a small vocabulary of gestures.”
    She whistled softly, matching his amusement. “I have seen you watching. Many humans watch but do not see. Many see but do not learn. Many learn but easily forget.” Truhands flashed. “There is no general consensus on the Pitar. The Grand Council continues to receive and absorb information. As you well know, this new intelligence is reluctant to disclose much about themselves. This invariably makes some of us suspicious.”
    Adjami looked away. Atop a dead tree, an oropendula was warbling. “It’s said they are shy.”
    “Who says this?” Her tone was sharper than she intended; while more controlled than any human, neither were the thranx devoid of emotion. To calm herself, she recited one of the fifty-five mantras of Desvendapur. “Not the Pitar. To them their reticence to discuss and deal with many subjects is normal. It is the human media who have branded them bashful.” Antennae coiled. “Humans evidently find such racial coyness becoming. My people are of a different mind.”
    “You said some of you find their ongoing restraint suspicious.” Adjami gazed curiously into unfathomable, golden, compound eyes. “In what way?”
    As would any thranx caught out by a direct question, Hathvupredek first considered what was known and then what was suspected before replying.
    “We realize that despite appearances, the Pitar are not you. We are hardly experts in the analysis of mammalian behavior, much of which we regard as impulsive and indicative of an intelligence that occasionally veers into the retrograde. It is not even that we suspect the Pitar of hiding something.”
    “What could they hide?” Adjami added. “They immediately provided us with the coordinates for their twin homeworlds, which have subsequently been verified. I know of at least two KK-drive ships that have already made passing visits to both. They encountered nothing untoward at either stop, and were greeted in the same cordial, curious, restrained manner that the Pitar have demonstrated during their stay on Earth. There was no ambush, no indication of enormous fleets of armed vessels lying in wait or hiding to avoid discovery. It must be accepted that the Pitar are simply a reticent folk.”
    “So are the thranx.” Despite the human’s persuasive reasoning, the councilor knew that her superiors were far from ready to concede the Pitar’s benevolence. “It is not that we are distrustful or even especially suspicious. We are simply more cautious in our dealings with other species.” She shifted her position on the log bench. “This is not only a racial characteristic. Some of it certainly arises from our delicate dance of disharmony with the AAnn that has been ongoing now for more than three hundred and fifty of your years.”
    Adjami could not resist a dig. “We’ve been dealing with the AAnn for less than a hundred years and we’ve managed to get along. Sure, there have been occasional misunderstandings and minor confrontations, but we’ve always managed to smooth things over.”
    “The AAnn are spontaneous. In that they are far more like you than us. But when it suits their needs and aims they can also show patience. They are like a recurring virus that will not go away.” All four hands gestured simultaneously. “We desire only to make certain that in the Pitar you have not encountered a species that is even more patient than the AAnn.”
    “A nicely diplomatic oblique damnation.” Bending forward, Adjami